Kella paced the bridge, each step taken in frustration. Gavin’s remote floated nearby idly watching her pace back and forth. They were still some fourteen hours from Tal Rho’an. She’d visited the bridge after picking her quarters and hadn’t left since. Although Gavin wasn’t looking forward to visiting the planet, each passing hour was a step closer to freedom. For Kella, each passing hour was a step in the wrong direction and a dismal future.
She still blamed Gavin for the mess she now found herself in and was not at all satisfied with how things had turned out in the brig. She was currently wracking her brains for every little scrap of information she had committed to memory before she started the job. Much of it had been on how to breach the mountain stronghold’s security systems. But there had been some on the objective itself. If she could only remember the details on the computer security system it would help her in her plan to bypass the computer’s control and take over the plane, or at least navigation.
By time the stupid thing concluded its business, it would be far too late for her to return to Proxy. Hell, it may already be too late. There was a good chance that Tenner already had the mercenary fleet searching for her. She had to get word to him that she was only delayed. If she was quick about it, she might avoid reprimand. She only needed to get past the damned computer!
“Enough,” she said angrily. “I’ll wait in my cabin. Wake me when we get there.” She stormed from the bridge. The remote silently watched her go without saying a word. Kella continued on down the long passageway leaving the bridge behind and entered the ship proper. It held enough barrack room for twenty men and had quarters for a handful of officers. She’d picked the suite nearest the bottom of the ship. Gavin had asked her why she’d chosen the room, but she evaded an answer.
Her true purpose was just as sinister as Gavin probably expected. But even so, she knew he could do nothing once she made her move. The room she had picked was special. In the corner was the emergency maintenance access hatch for the inner bulkheads lining the bottom of the ship. From there she could access the crawlspaces and gain unfettered access to the ship’s secure areas. There were obstacles, however. There were security choke points that if activated, would not only block her route, but seal her down there.
To avoid that, she was going to use one of the oldest tricks in the book. But since it was a computer, it just might work. Claiming modesty, she’d destroyed the two camera lenses in the room effectively blinding the computer. Since there was no other person on the ship, it was a good bet that, with just one more final touch she’d fool the computer into thinking she was actually still in her room.
She pulled a mini data-com from her pocket and pulled up the tiny holo-menu. It had a small speaker and several useful sounds programmed into it. She’d used it to fool people on more than one occasion. It was small enough to be missed in all but the most stringent of searches, and better yet, was electronically shielded to bypass detectors.
She found the sound file she was looking for and pulled it up. She hit play and quickly placed it on the floor. A loud crash erupted from the d-com followed by a recording of her swearing and throwing other objects and basically having a major tantrum. For a little device, it could put out enough sound to shatter glass, and even could mimic directionality. In the synthesized cacophony she quickly pulled open the hatch and slid down the ladder. With any luck, she’d be in the computer core before the computer realized the recording looped.
The crawl space below was cramped and disgusting. Covered in sludge, oil, and other debris from its construction, it was a place not meant to be visited often. She pulled out a light attached to a headband and switched it on. It illuminated the murky space for only a few meters before her before darkness took over once more. Steeling herself, she started forward through the muck.
In minutes, she had traversed the crawl space towards the center of the ship. Before her was a T-junction with another access hatch above her. If the schematics she’d memorized had been correct, and if she was judging her position properly, she’d need to take a right at the junction, pass two more hatches, then a left, and another right, and her destination was at the next hatch. It took her far longer than she would have liked to make the journey, crawling along the space, but at least the security hadn’t been activated. That was a reassuring thought.
Finally, she found her hatch, and slowly pushed it open. Cold air assaulted her face, and a dim reddish-hued gloom pervaded past the hatch. Definitely the computer core, alright. She pulled herself up from the crawlspace and into the core. She was glad to be out of the tiny, dank place. If all went well, she wouldn’t need to go back that way.
“Hi there,” a voice said behind her and Kella jumped. She spun around and came eye to eye with the computer’s floating remote.
“How the hell?” she began, furious at having been discovered.
“Wasn’t too hard, really. I mean the recording was a nice touch and all, but I knew you were going to pull some sort of stunt. And I wasn’t born yesterday, you know. I actually half-expected you to use the old pillows-in-the-sheets routine. But this was a nice twist on the classic.”
Kella’s anger was boiling over. It was one thing to have been caught, but another entirely to be mocked about it. But so what? It was a floating camera, for crying out loud. The computer access console was right behind it. What would it do, look at her funny?
She quickly dodged around the remote and ran for the console. As she closed in on it, the remote quickly flew past her and locked it down. She swore in frustration and backhanded the camera out of the way, but kept running. In her mind’s map, she remembered another access console in the next bay over. The computer core on the Praetorian was large, and divided into four independent bays with access consoles located in the last three. The first bay was for the cooling systems and had no direct access. The bay she was in now was for database storage. The next bay was the VI housing, followed by the AI Core.
She ran flat out for the VI bay leaving the floating remote behind. It tried to follow, but was not quick enough on its small repulsors. The door separating the two bays began to close. She threw herself into a headlong tumble and easily made it past the barrier. It shut quietly behind her, locking the remote out. In a continuous motion, she regained her footing from the tumble and jogged towards the second console. She quickly tapped the screen and brought the holo-interface to life. It shimmered above the screen. Kella worked quickly and accessed the command structure. She had an idea of what she was looking for, but wasn’t sure where it was located in the system. The override was a safeguard against the computer, so it shouldn’t be too hard to locate.
She waved her hand over a large group of files, and found one that caught her eye. She poked it to bring it up for viewing. This is it! she thought victoriously, but as she executed the file, the console shut down.
“The hell?” she said pounding her fists on the screen.
“Close call, if I do say so myself. You know, you can run really fast,” the computer’s voice came from below her knee. Kella looked down and saw a maintenance bot connected with the console’s service port. In anger, she kicked the bot away and it exploded into pieces against the far wall. She was down to one last console, one last room. If she didn’t get the file activated this time, her mutiny was through, and she didn’t want to think of the consequences then. She took off for the last bay.
She picked up speed towards the door, but it did not close. Suspicious, she slowed a little. The room beyond was bathed in green light. As she made the threshold, she stopped completely. In the room beyond, where the AI Core should have been, was a massive, clear container filled with a green liquid that appeared to be luminescent. She’d never seen anything like it before. There were no computers in the room. No AI Core. No consoles. No interfaces. Instead, there was just the tube. And in the center of the tube, suspended in the green liquid by a multitude of cables and devices was a human body.
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