by Robert Boren
“You’re worried,” Izzy said.
“Of course, I worry about every decision I have to make,” I told her, “but it’s okay. I’m working through the scenarios. So far, I think the benefits of hiding in Valla Cappos outweigh the risks, but I need a few more minutes.”
“Make sure it’s not more than a few minutes, Captain. We’re 67.945% more likely to be caught in orbit than we would be on the surface of Valla Cappos.”
I turned to him and chuckled. “You’re only telling us part of the story. It’s more likely we’ll get caught in this orbit than on the surface of Valla Cappos, but what does that really mean?”
“I’m not following,” Izzy said.
Nolan smirked. “He wants to know what the overall probability that we’ll be caught is. Nice tactic, but shouldn’t you finish going through the scenarios and make a decision instead of splitting hairs?”
“Humor me. Given everything we know right now, what’s the probability that we’ll get caught?”
“It’ll be a guess,” Nolan said.
“Bullshit,” I said. “You’ve already made that calculation. So have I, but I want to see how close we are.”
Nolan snickered. “Fair enough. My calculations show that we have a 10.772 percent chance of being caught by the Central Authority, with the help of the Overlords, of course.”
“Is that the mean or the median?” I asked.
“It’s the mean, as I’m sure you already figured out,” Nolan said.
Tim laughed. “Are you kidding me?”
Izzy’s eyes narrowed as she stared at Nolan. “Wait, so we have a smidgen over or under 10% chance we’ll be caught, regardless of if we go into that plague infested monster world, or if we stay in this nice clean orbit?”
“Didn’t they teach you arithmetic?” Nolan asked.
“We can hold the important part of this conversation without having the exact numbers spelled out,” Izzy said.
Nolan shook his head. “You must be a fine poker player.”
“I’ll bet I can beat you,” Izzy said.
I laughed. “Don’t take her up on that, Nolan. Poker isn’t all math. Ever heard of bluffing?”
“Knowing when to bluff is partly math-based as well,” Nolan said, “but this is pointless. What’s it gonna be, Captain?”
“I haven’t decided yet, and since we know there’s not a lot of danger here from a statistical standpoint, I’m not gonna rush myself. I do have one question, though.”
“Question?”
“Yeah, Nolan, a question. Why do you want to go to the surface of this planet? What’s the angle? You just tried to play the oldest trick in the book.”
“What’s that?”
“You tried to lie with statistics, and frankly I distrust your numbers.”
Nolan chuckled. “Oh, you came out with something different?”
“I was close to your 10.772 percent, actually.”
“How close?”
“You would ask that. I came up with 10.778 overall.”
“But what about the difference between the two choices?”
“Opposite of your assessment,” I said. “I think the dangers we’d be exposed to on the surface of Valla Cappos trump the slightly greater chance of being discovered in this orbit.”
“You don’t know enough about the sensors being used by the Overlords.”
“You used the needle in the haystack concept earlier,” I said. “That’s what will keep us from being caught. You know this, probably better than I do, so what do you really want? Why do you really want to go to Valla Cappos? You’re hiding something.”
Nolan sighed. “Can we talk in private?”
“Oh, this is gonna be good,” Izzy said.
“You and Tim will need to stay on the bridge the entire time we’re gone,” Nolan said. “Promise me.”
Tim chuckled. “Oh please. We aren’t gonna eavesdrop.”
“Yeah, what gives?” Izzy asked.
I knew Nolan would be honest with me now, given his expression. “You’ve got five minutes. In my quarters. Izzy and Tim, stay on the bridge. That’s an order.”
“Yes sir,” Tim said, Izzy nodding in agreement.
I made eye contact with Nolan. “Okay?”
“Fair enough,” Nolan said. We left the bridge, heading down the long hallway.
“This had better be good,” I said, glancing back at Nolan, who was trying to keep up with me.
“Will you slow down a little? I’m a lot older than you.”
“What happened to the urgency?” I asked him as we got to my door. It opened when it sensed me there, and I ushered Nolan in. “We can sit at the table.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Nolan said, taking a seat.
“All right, you have the floor.”
“I believe there’s an Overlord agent aboard this ship.”
“That’s why we changed course, remember?”
Nolan eyed me. “I want to know who the plant is, but not as badly as I want to ensure we don’t get caught. We can’t take any chances.”
“Your probability numbers don’t support your concern.”
“Because there’s no way to quantify the existence of an Overlord agent being on board. If you try to include it, then the probability goes from 10.772% up to roughly 85%. It shouldn’t be possible that an Overlord agent got onboard, but my intuition says it is.”
I laughed. “Intuition?”
“Yeah, intuition,” Nolan said. “You know, the same kind of intuition I used to come up with the frequency module. The same kind of intuition Carlson used to invent the Samson Drive.”
“What do you propose?”
“We’re safe as long as the bridge is populated,” Nolan said.
“Ah, you trust Izzy and Tim?”
“Yes, I do. They aren’t smart enough to betray us.”
I shook my head. “So you want us to plant ourselves under one of the oceans on Valla Cappos, so it’ll be a lot more difficult for an Overlord agent to get a message out if they get onto the bridge alone.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?” I asked.
“Until I figure out who the Overlord agent is,” Nolan said.
“And then what?”
Nolan shrugged. “Then we eliminate the problem and get back to our mission on Sheppard One.”
{ 3 }
Mosasaurs
N olan and I got back to the Zephyrus’s bridge.
“Izzy, we’re going to Valla Cappos.”
“You sure, Captain?”
“I’m sure. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”
Izzy looked at me for a long minute, then turned to Nolan. “You’ve got the coordinates for our spot?”
“Get the system up and I’ll punch it in manually,” Nolan said.
“I thought you said you could wipe data out of our PA system,” Izzy said, glancing at me. “Just send it to me and we’ll clean it up later.”
“Nope,” Nolan said. “Anything can happen, and I haven’t finished my analysis of the PA system yet.”
Tim shook his head in disgust. “Wait, you don’t even have the analysis done, and you’re telling us you can wipe our history? What about the coordinates Izzy put in there to jump from Earth? They’re in the PA system.”
Izzy glanced at him. “There was nothing illegal about the coordinates for the jump from Earth. Going to a level eight world is illegal.”
Nolan chuckled. “Precisely, my dear. As for the PA system, I took a quick look for certain things that are important and saw that I’ll be able to break into the system. I’ll do it when I can, but it’s lower priority than other things I’m dealing with now. It won’t be a problem, unless we get compromised.”
“Is this okay with you, Captain?” Izzy asked.
“Yes, it’s okay, Izzy. I’ll take responsibility for using the manual override.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll wipe that history too,” Nolan said. “I already know how to do that.”
“Of course you do,” cracked Tim.
Nolan took Izzy’s seat and input the coordinates. The Zephyrus took off, Nolan getting up and letting Izzy back into the pilot’s seat. We were in Valla Cappos’s orbit in minutes, and then came down into it’s largest ocean, the ship sinking beneath the surface and going into the tread program.
Izzy looked at me. “We’re treading water, Captain. What level do you want to maintain?”
“Let’s take her down to 350 fathoms. That ought to be far enough.”
Izzy nodded and made the adjustments. We felt the ship move slightly as it descended.
“Strong currents in this ocean,” Tim said. “Feel that?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nolan said. “It won’t be a problem. Take me to those torpedoes you were talking about earlier.”
“Captain, what are we gonna tell the rest of the crew?” Izzy asked. “I’m sure they sensed that we’re submerged again.”
“Let me handle that,” I said.
“Yes sir.”
“Coming with us, Captain?” Tim asked.
“No, you two go ahead. I’ve got some work to do up here.”
Izzy watched the two men leave the bridge, then swiveled her chair towards me. “Do you trust Nolan?”
I smiled. “That’s a difficult question to answer.”
“Try.”
“I trust that he doesn’t want to get caught. He’s got more at stake than we do, and his heart is in the right place.”
She snickered. “He has a heart? You sure about that?”
“It’s not unusual for a genius to mock anybody who’s not at his intellectual level.”
“Sounds kinda like an excuse, Captain.”
“Maybe a little. Don’t worry, though, he won’t sell us out. He’ll push the envelope to achieve his objective, but I can’t blame him for that, because we’ve done the same thing by joining him.”
“I’m here because of my loyalty to you.”
“And I thank you for that. Tim’s the same way.”
“Tim’s suspicious as hell. He thinks Nolan is playing you.”
I shrugged. “Yes, I know, but when things get dicey and Nolan holds up, Tim will start to accept things.”
“What does the corporation think you’re doing?”
“Commanding their prototype,” I said, “and that’s essentially what I’m doing. That’s all I can say about it, though. Sorry.”
“The Corporation knows all of us are aboard, except Nolan, right?”
“No comment. Sorry, I can fill you in eventually, but you’ll just have to trust me for now, okay?”
Izzy stared at me for a moment, then nodded and turned back to her pilot station. “I’ve got all the sensors running. I’ve set alarms, but while I’m awake I’ll watch most of the time.”
“You’re really nervous about the Mosasaurs, aren’t you?”
“Yes, and with good reason,” she said, not looking up from her screen.
“Have they ever attacked a ship this size?”
She swiveled her chair back towards me. “Not that I know of, but they’ve destroyed two smaller ships.”
“How much smaller?”
“One was about fifty meters, the other about seventy,” she said.
“You’re talking about shuttles. We’re a lot larger than that, and a lot better armed.”
“True, but we can’t use our normal weapons, remember? Look up the attack on the seventy-foot vehicle. Several Mosasaurs got together and coordinated an attack. They shouldn’t have been able to take out that shuttle, but they did. Killed sixteen people.”
I got up. “Put the front camera on screen.”
“Nolan will mess with you for that,” Izzy quipped, shaking her head.
“Who cares? Do it.”
Izzy nodded, speaking into her PA. The screen changed to the underwater view, remarkably bright considering our depth.
“It’s pretty. I can cycle through all the cameras if you’d like. We have fourteen, all pointed in different directions.”
“Good idea,” I said. “It’ll keep us entertained if nothing else.”
“Why does Nolan have a problem with the display?”
“He knows human eyes can miss things that our sensors won’t, and the display while we’re underway isn’t even a camera view. It’s a simulation, and as Nolan said, it is only for comfort. Cameras won’t work while we’re in a wormhole. Using the display in this situation is different.”
My PA sounded the incoming call tone. I answered, and Deacon’s face showed up on my screen.
“Hey, Cappy,” he said. “Mind if I come chat with you?”
“Come on up. I was just about to call you.”
“Be there in a few minutes.” His face left the screen.
“Wow!” I said, pointing to a large school of brightly colored fish going by one of the upper cameras.
“Nice, huh?” Izzy asked. “Good news too. When we see all the fish disappear, that’s when we should worry.”
The bridge door slid open, a portly man with a red beard and scraggly hair walking in. He nodded to Izzy as he approached me.
“Hey, Deacon, how are you?” I asked.
“Good, old friend. You?” He sat down in one of the observer’s seats.
“Fine. You’re wondering why we’re submerged, and where we are?”
“Well, that, and we’d like to know what happened when we left. I know we were firing our main gun. We could hear it down in engineering. We’re wondering why a prototype would have to shoot its way out of Earth.”
“We’re on a special mission for the Corporation.”
Deacon eyed me. “I see. And you can’t tell me much about it, can you?”
“No. Sorry. Beyond my control.”
“How much danger are we in?” he asked, leaning back in his chair.
“No more than usual, but the Overlords are interested. They’ve transmitted a order for us to give up the Zephyrus.”
“They don’t have that authority. It’s corporation property, and it’s registered as a prototype.”
“Exactly,” I said.
“They want that new frequency module, I suspect.”
I froze, staring at him as he chuckled.
“Didn’t think I knew about that, did you Cappy?”
“You can see the frequency readouts someplace, can’t you?”
“Yep. What is it? New cloaking device?”
I sighed. “That’s the basic function. The Zephyrus is not trackable by the Central Authority or the Overlords. Don’t spread that around.”
“Some of the crew already have a pretty good idea, you know,” Deacon said. “Some of them are brilliant. Deneuve, for instance. That kid shows real promise. Reminds me of you when you were young.”
“Can you keep them calm?”
“Will I regret telling them they’re not in danger?” Deacon asked.
I shrugged. “No more than usual.”
Deacon laughed. “Fair enough, Cappy. Anything we need to be ready for?”
“There is some aggressive wild life in this ocean. We might have to defend ourselves.”
“Crap. What?”
“Mosasaurs.”
Deacon rubbed his beard. “No problem with our plasma weapons, but I’ll bet we don’t want anybody to know where we are. That rules them out.”
I just smiled, causing Deacon to chuckle again. “You promise to tell me the whole story someday?”
“I promise. One other thing.”
“What’s that?” Deacon asked.
“We’re afraid there might be an Overlord plant in the crew. Keep your eyes open, okay?”
Deacon’s brow furrowed. “Son of a bitch. If I find one, I’ll skin them alive and send them out the airlock.”
I shook my head. “No, if that’s what we’re dealing with, they’re liable to be dangerous. Notify me immediately and we’ll take care of it. You’re too old and fat for a fight.”
“Hey!” he said, grinning.
<
br /> “Just keep your eyes open, all right?”
“Will do, Cappy. See you later.”
He got up and left the bridge.
Izzy turned towards me. “That old fart loves you.”
“The feeling’s mutual,” I said.
Nolan and Tim came back onto the bridge.
“What was he doing here?” Nolan asked.
“Who?”
“Stop it, Captain. The Chief Engineer.”
“The crew are wondering why we had to shoot our way off Earth, and why we’re submerged now. Oh, and where we are, of course.”
“What did you tell them?” Nolan asked.
“As little as possible, but here’s a little tidbit of knowledge for you. He knew about the Frequency Module.”
Nolan smiled. “Well, at least I know you’ve got a Chief Engineer worth his salt. He probably saw the readouts, although the difference is subtle.”
“Yep.”
“Commendable. What did you tell him?”
“I told him it was basically a cloaking device, and that we weren’t trackable. I also mentioned that the Overlords have demanded we turn over the Zephyrus to them.”
“Are you sure that’s wise?” Nolan asked.
“He knows the Overlords have no authority to take this ship, and he understands what the classification of prototype means. Since I know most of the crew has no use for the Overlords, I thought it might build a little camaraderie.”
“You keep surprising me, Captain. Remind me to be nice to the Chief Engineer. He sounds worthy of respect.”
“Nolan,” I said.
“What?”
“Be nice to the Chief Engineer.”
Tim laughed, shaking his head. Nolan rolled his eyes.
“What about the torpedoes?” I asked.
“Those are nice units. We could send them out an airlock and then start them. They’ll swim to wherever we tell them.”
“They worry me,” Tim said.
Nolan nodded in agreement. “I’d like to know how they got here. I’m going down there later to take one apart.”
“Why?” I asked.
“To make sure their targeting system hasn’t been compromised, and to make sure they aren’t sending out a beacon transmission. You don’t mind, I hope.”
“Why didn’t you do that while you were down there?”
“Some of the crew were busy in there,” Nolan said, “plus I didn’t have my tools with me. I’ll do it later, after most of the crew has turned in.”