Fatal Error - Keith R. A. DeCandido [13]
“That is not what my readings indicate. Please wait a moment.” A pause, then Ganitriul continued. “My apologies. It appears my readings were incorrect. Lieutenant Commander Corsi, please tell me what you are reading now.”
Corsi looked at her tricorder. “Two hundred kilojoules. That’s within 110’s tolerances.”
Nodding, 110 said, “Yes, it is.”
110 placed a small hand inside the dataport, which altered its size to accommodate the size and shape of the Bynar’s hand. A nimbus of electricity started to form around 110, further illuminating the chamber. Then the Bynar let out a rapid-fire burst in the binary language of his people, which the universal translator simply rendered as a high-pitched whine. Bart had said, when Sonya first arrived on the da Vinci, that the translators could be modified to understand the Bynar tongue, but Sonya had never seen the need. Now she was sorry she hadn’t taken him up on it.
While this went on, Drew said, “Sir, I’ve got some weird readings here.”
“Define weird, Drew,” Corsi said.
“I’m getting occasional life-form readings—but then they just disappear. The tricorder thinks they’re Eerlikka.”
“My apologies,” Ganitriul said. “Those are sensor ghosts. That is a part of the tour that is given to visitors to these caverns. I provide a recreation of the excavation of the moon, and it includes representations of the workers. The simulation includes sensor readings of the workers. I will attempt to prevent that program from running, but I can make no assurances that I will be successful.”
“Do the best you can, Ganitriul,” Sonya said, trying to sound understanding.
Corsi walked up to her and said, in a low tone that only Sonya could hear, “It’s a computer, Commander, not a kid with a toy.”
Matching the security chief’s tone, Sonya said, “It’s an intelligent computer. I think treating it with respect is perfectly reasonable.”
Shrugging, Corsi said, “I guess.”
Sonya noticed the light in the cavern growing dimmer. She turned to see that 110 had removed his hand from the dataport. “I have found the problem,” he said as the glow faded from around him. “An invasive program has been introduced into Ganitriul’s system.”
“Sabotage,” Corsi said.
“Yes, Lieutenant Commander.”
“I do not doubt your diagnosis, 110, but I do not understand how it came to be. I have no record of any invasive programs being inserted into my system.”
“Once we have fixed the problem, I can show you how it was done, Ganitriul.”
“Can the program be safely removed?” Sonya asked.
“It is possible, yes. We will need—”
Sonya did not learn what 110 would need, as he was interrupted by some kind of blaster fire, which struck Hawkins in the left shoulder.
The security guard cried out in pain and fell to the cavern ground, grabbing his left shoulder with his right hand and dropping his phaser rifle.
As Corsi raised her own rifle to return fire, Ganitriul said, “A security measure has activated. No energy weapons will fire within the confines of the installation.”
Corsi pressed the firing button on her rifle anyhow, but nothing happened. “Dammit,” she muttered.
It was then that the lights came back up.
Sonya blinked the spots out of her eyes and found herself surrounded by twelve Eerlikka. Some of them were also blinking—with upper and lower eyelids—in response to the greater illumination. Some were holstering their blasters and unholstering large curved, bladed weapons.
“Death to the aliens!” one of them cried.
Several more repeated, “Death to the aliens!”
Then they charged.
Ansed held her breath as the Senbolma left the atmosphere of Eerlik. So far, she thought, so good.
The owner of the Senbolma was an old man named Emarur, who expressed a certain reluctance to test his ship in quite this manner. He had been hoping to remain in dock until the crisis passed. However, he could not turn down a specific request from the First Speaker and the last remaining priest, especially since they were willing to share the risk with him by taking the flight.
Besides, the Senbolma going to