Then he flicked an edge of the board.
"Your wish?” The ship asked in its sexy voice.
His cheeks flushed. He needed to change the voice to something more appropriate. “Scan cargo hold five for contaminants harmful to humans. And I don't want the chemical names. I want the street names."
"Such a scan would be harmful to the life form inside the cargo hold."
"Then do a scan that won't hurt her,” Yu snapped.
"I have a list of the contaminants,” the ship said. “Some do not have street names. I am confused as to how you would like this information. Would you care for the chemical names in the absence of street names? Or would you like symptoms and cause of death?"
"Just scroll through it,” he said.
The ship created its own holoscreen and presented a list that scrolled so fast Yu had trouble reading it.
But what he did see chilled him.
He cursed. “Ship, how good are our medical facilities?"
"Adequate to most needs."
"How about someone exposed to all that crap you're scrolling at me?"
"Ah,” the ship said as if it were human. “We have adequate equipment, but no guiding medical persona. I can download something from the nearest human settlement, but I can't guarantee its ability to solve any problems that might arise—"
"How soon before someone trapped in that cargo hold starts showing symptoms?"
"From which contaminant?” the ship asked.
"Any of them,” Yu said, wishing the damn computer wasn't so literal.
"Well, the first compound—"
"No,” he said. “When will the first symptom from anything in that hold show up?"
"Mr. Yu,” the ship said in that rich voice, which at the moment seemed more sulky than sexy, “symptoms should have started appearing within the first hour of contamination."
"Scan the life form. Is it healthy?"
"I do not have a baseline for my scan. I do not know what condition the life form was in before it got on the ship."
"Just scan her, would you?” He clenched a fist, then opened it slowly. He didn't dare hit a ship that ran on touch.
"The scans are inconclusive. If the life form was in perfect health, then it is showing symptoms,” the ship said.
Yu cursed again. “How long do we have before the illnesses caused by this stuff become irreversible?"
"Impossible to say without a baseline,” the ship said.
"Assume she was healthy,” Yu snapped.
"Then two to twenty-four Earth hours. I would suggest a treatment facility, since you do not want to download a medical persona. Would you like a list of the nearest venues?"
Yu rolled his eyes. Any treatment facility in this sector of the solar system would be an Earth Alliance Base. He didn't dare go near those places.
"Download the best persona you can find,” he said. “Better yet, download two or three of them. Pay the fees if you have to. I want cutting-edge stuff. Modern technology. Nothing older than last year."
"Yes, sir,” the ship said. “This will take fifteen Earth minutes for the various scans and downloads. May I suggest you remove the life form from the cargo hold and put it in quarantine?"
"You may suggest any damn thing you want,” he muttered. But he opened his links and sent a message to Nafti.
Get her out of there, but don't go near her. Put her in the quarantine area, the regulation one for humans, okay?
How do I get her there without touching her? Nafti asked.
I dunno, Yu sent. Tell her she's going to die if she doesn't do what she's told.
But you said we can't kill her, Nafti sent.
Not us, stupid, Yu sent. The hold itself'll kill her. Tell her the quarantine room is our exam facility. She'll run for it.
Hope you're right, Nafti sent, then signed off.
Yu hoped he was right too. Because this job was a lot more trouble than he had bargained for.
* * * *
Yu monitored the decontamination from the bridge. He wanted to avoid the woman as much as possible—not because she was contaminated, but because he didn't want her face burned into his memory any more than it already was. He wanted to be done with this job—and quickly.
Unlike some of his equipment, the decontamination machine was state of the art. He needed the best for his own use. Often he went into areas that weren't Alliance supervised or Alliance approved. He didn't want to wear an environmental suit all the time, and he didn't want to bring back any exotic diseases.
Shindo's decontamination went well. The machine caught and eliminated more than 95 percent of the contaminants. The remaining 5 percent would be tough to get, however, and that was why he needed the medical personas.
He had them installed in the medical lab, which he had never used. He kept the lab well stocked, however, since he traveled alone so often.
Nafti had supervised Shindo's trip from the cargo hold to the decontamination unit to the medical lab. Then Nafti had locked her in there, and had gone exploring the rest of the ship himself.
Yu didn't know what Nafti was about, but he could guess. The man was a horrible hypochondriac, and he was probably trying to see if those contaminants had spread from the cargo holds to the rest of the ship.
A bell sounded. It was an audio alert that he had set up so that he would notice any unusual behavior.
"Yes?” he said to the ship.
"The medical lab has sealed itself off,” the ship said.
"What does that mean?” Yu asked.
"I can no longer access information from the medical lab,” the ship said.
"How is that possible?” Yu asked. But he knew. The ship had several systems grafted one on top of the other. If a knowledgeable person managed to tap one system, that person could lock out the remaining systems.
Apparently Shindo was more knowledgeable about ship's systems that he knew.
Yu cursed and bent over the board, trying to override whatever the hell she had done. He had investigated her as best he could before taking this job. He had thought he knew the limits of her knowledge.
She was a scientist, but one that specialized in chemical and biological systems. She had never flown a ship, never taken piloting classes, never so much as hired a private vehicle.
She seemed to have no technical skills at all except for the ones needed for her job.
Apparently she had more technical skills than he realized.
The door to the bridge opened and Nafti came in, wearing a battered environmental suit.
"You were wrong to trust those bots,” Nafti was saying. He tapped on his suit. “You should be wearing one of these. You should go through the decontamination just like that woman did."
Yu didn't say anything. He had to concentrate on getting the medical lab back on line. Whatever the hell that woman was doing—good or bad—it worried him.
He was hoping it was just the new medical personas causing a glitch in the system, but if that was the case, so far he couldn't find it.
"You're not listening!” Nafti said.
Yu sighed. He hadn't been listening. But he lied. “I am listening. You don't understand."
"What don't I understand?"
"That you're a hypochondriac."
"What?"
"You got a headache when she started pounding. Then the canny woman mentions contaminants, which all ships have, and you go off the deep end. You put on that suit, which, by the way, looks like it might have some integrity issues, and you go all over the ship looking for contamination, forgetting that the suit is probably contaminated from its contact with the hold."
Nafti looked down. The suit creaked as he did so, and Yu saw a rip along the neck.
"I did carry the wrong cargo in the hold,” Yu said, “and I clearly didn't double-check whether or not the bots were full. I thought they worked. Obviously they didn't. But the ship is fine or we wouldn't have been allowed in and out of the ports, especially the ports in the Earth Alliance."
Which wasn't really true. He had dozens of ways to make sure his ship wasn't thoroughly inspected.
"Honestly?” Nafti sounded vulnerable.
"Yes, honestly,” Yu said. “Remember that the holds have their own environmental systems. I showed you that when I hired you years ago. You asked about it."
Nafti reached up and removed the helmet. His face was covered with beads of sweat and his skin was red. Obviously the suit's environmental system hadn't worked properly either.
Yu tapped a few areas on the security monitor, trying to get access to the medical lab.
"I did ask, didn't I?” Nafti said.
"Yes,” Yu said.
"I'm not a hypochondriac,” Nafti said.
"Then what are you?"
"A worrier."
"What would you have done if this entire ship were contaminated and I refused to pay for your medical help?” Yu asked.
"It's not, right?” Nafti asked.
Yu ran his hand along the security board. “What did I just say?"
"You said it wasn't."
"Then maybe you should believe me,” Yu said, “and stop thinking about the authorities."
"I wasn't,” Nafti said.
"Deny that you would demand a full decontamination of the ship when we got to the next port,” Yu said.
"It was only sensible if the ship's contaminated."
Yu leaned forward. “Think, you dumbass. What happens when you get a full decon?"
"The ship gets inspected....” Nafti's voice trailed off. “Oh."
"Yeah, oh. Do you know how many unapproved systems I have on this ship?"
"Is that why you've never had an inspection?"
"What do you think?” Yu snapped.
Nafti wiped at his face with his gloved hand. “Sorry."
"You should be,” Yu said. “When I hired you, I demanded your full trust. You violated that today."
"I got scared."
"I know.” Yu double-checked the security board a final time. “Take off the suit."
"I'm not sure I should."
"It's got a rip in the back. It never worked right. We've got to destroy the thing."
Nafti reached around back, then stuck a gloved finger inside the rip and started. Apparently, he had touched his own skin. He cursed.
"Next time, let me do the thinking, okay?” Yu said. “I didn't hire you to think."
Nafti unhooked the front of the suit. The fasteners still worked. They opened themselves quickly once he started the sequence.
"Sorry,” Nafti said again.
He stepped out of the suit and left it in a pile near the navigation controls.
"I need you to get back to work,” Yu said.
"Can I go to my quarters first? I'd like to change."
And he'd probably shower and linger, making sure he hadn't contracted anything from the flawed suit.
"No,” Yu said. “Get to the medical lab."
"Why? They're diagnosing her. She should be there for a while."
"She should,” Yu said, “and so far as I can tell, she still is."
"What do you mean, so far as you can tell?"
"The lab isolated itself."
"What does that mean, isolated itself?"
"Maybe the three medical programs we just bought overloaded the system. That's what I hope it means."
"You think she could've done something."
"I doubt it,” Yu lied.
Nafti squared his shoulders. He looked reluctant to leave.
"When you're there,” Yu said, “you can have the medical system make sure you're healthy, okay?"
Nafti brightened. “Okay."
He kicked the suit aside and left the bridge.
Yu summoned one of the cleaning bots and gave it orders to pick up the suit and send it through the ship's disintegration unit.
Then he tried the security monitor again. Nothing. He couldn't get through to the lab. He tried opening a back door and going at the lab from the basic part of the system. Still not possible.
He might have to dismantle the system from the outside just to get to her.
Yu sighed. That would be too much work.
If she wasn't out by the time they got to the rendezvous point, he would dismantle the system.
Otherwise, he would wait to see if Nafti could bully his way inside.
If anyone could do that, it would be his hypochondriac employee. Nafti was too scared to be denied access for long.
* * * *
Yu was beginning to panic.
The medical lab had been on its own for almost an hour, which was long enough for someone with hacking abilities to find links to the ship's control panel.
Yu had realized that about ten minutes ago and set the panel to respond only to his vocal and touch commands, hoping he wasn't too late.
Damn that woman. She was smarter than he had thought.
And Nafti hadn't contacted him, which Yu had thought he would. The moment Nafti had gotten a diagnosis from the medical personas, he should have told Yu. He would have told Yu.
Which led Yu to believe that Nafti hadn't gotten into the lab yet.
Then the door to the bridge opened. Finally. He checked the controls and saw that the lab was still offline.
"Took you long enough to get here,” Yu said. “What's she doing down there?"
Something felt wrong. He couldn't quite say what it was—a faint scent, a sound—but whatever it was, it made him turn.
Just in time to avoid being jabbed with a hypo.
The woman was in front of him, her hair falling across her face, her skin covered with reddish blisters, her eyes wild. She dropped the hypo and grabbed something from her belt.
He reached for her.
She slashed at him, and he yelped. Pain burned through his palm.
She was holding a laser scalpel.
He cursed and backed away. A laser scalpel was a close-up weapon. His hand was useless. His fingers ached, and two of them wouldn't bend.
She'd severed something.
"What the hell are you doing?” he asked as he continued to back away. She came forward, the scalpel extended as if it were a knife.
"Saving myself,” she said.
"Where's Nafti?"
"In the medical bay,” she said. The tone of her voice was odd.
Yu's heart started to pound even harder. Nafti had confronted her, and he wasn't here. Had she attacked him too?
She lunged at Yu, and he moved to the right, grabbing her shirt with his left hand. More hypos fell onto the floor. She whirled, slashing with that vicious laser. It nicked his side—he felt the burn, knew it wasn't as deep as the cut to his right hand.
He had to do something, and quick.
He yanked her toward him with the shirt, let go, and for a brief moment, thought she'd regain her balance. She didn't. He grabbed her by the hair and forced her head back.
He shoved his foot into her knees, forcing her down. She slashed, getting a thigh this time, and the wound brought tears to his eyes.
He felt a moment of surprise—she might actually win this fight—and then he smashed her face into the side of the console.
She went limp, but he didn't trust it, so he smashed her face again. Then once more just because she had pissed him off.
Stupid woman.
He let go of her hair and she toppled.
She didn't move.
He hadn't expected that. He stood above her for a moment, catching his breath, feeling the ache from his various wounds.
She had no training as a fighter. It would have shown up in her records.
But then she'd had no computer training either, that he'd known of, and look at what she had done in the medical lab.
The medical lab. Where she had gotten her weapons.
Then somehow she had snuck up here without letting the computer know where she was and nearly taken over the bridge.
Nearly taken over his ship.
He was shaking. She could h
ave killed him.
He collected the laser scalpel and its friends—she had hidden two more—as well as the hypos. He found cydoleen pills in her pocket and recognized them as extreme antitoxins. He put those back. The medical personas had probably given them to her to help with the contamination.
Then he searched the rest of her, finding two more scalpels—one against her ankle and another between her breasts.
He set all the makeshift weapons aside, dragged her to a chair on the far side of the bridge, and threw her in it. She listed to one side. She was covered in blood—and it looked like he had broken her nose.
"Computer, lock her into zero-g position in Chair Six."
The chair closed around her, so that she couldn't float. Zero-g position also kept her a prisoner, unable to move, unable to set herself free without the proper commands.
Still, he made sure. This woman was smarter than he had given her credit for.
"Release her on my command only."
The computer cheeped its affirmative.
Her head lolled forward, hair covering her face.
Yu studied her for an extra minute, stunned she had gotten so close.
Then he examined his wounds.
His thigh was cut open. She'd barely missed the artery. He would need some medical attention to close the wound properly, but that one wasn't life threatening.
Neither was the wound on his side. He'd lost a chunk of skin, but nothing else. He didn't know enough about his own internal anatomy to know if she'd gotten close to anything important.
But his hand was an issue. He could see the bones and the connective tissue, some of it severed. The pain was exquisite.
Repairing that might take more than three cheap medical programs and some bandages. He'd probably have to stop at some space dock and have a real expert repair his hand.
Or replace it.
He shuddered, then he kicked Chair Six. The woman's head lolled to the other side. Blood dripped from her nose. Yu'd done some damage of his own.
He was pleased about that. He'd leave her untreated. She could feel the pain for a while.
Behind him, the computer cooed. That was a different kind of alert, to let him know that whatever he'd been working on had succeeded.
In this case, he'd been trying to get into the medical lab. The computer had finally broken through whatever she had set up.
He turned to the nearest console and saw images of the medical bay.
Analog SFF, January-February 2009 Page 34