Fatal Error - Keith R. A. DeCandido [32]
Most impressive of all, none of the errors the program introduced would actually cause the system to shut down. After all, if the system shut down, it was easy enough to diagnose the problem at the spot where the system crashed. But as long as the system was still operating—if not functioning properly—it made it that much harder to seek out the problem.
But 110 had found it.
Now he had to get rid of it.
The problem was, he could not simply eliminate the program. That is to say, he could, but that would not solve Ganitriul’s problem. Whatever changes the program had initiated would remain once the program was wiped, and it would still not be able to function properly. What 110 had to do was backtrack: find all the changes the program had made, fix them, keep it from making any further changes, and then, finally, wipe the program.
With 111, it could have been done easily.
By himself, it would be extremely difficult.
But, as Commander Gomez said, he had to try.
So he did.
The process was slow. He almost missed a few of the equations that had been altered.
In the end, however, he found all the changes that had been made.
Then he eliminated the program.
I did it! he thought, triumphantly.
He turned around to tell Commander Gomez that he had succeeded, only to find himself knocked to the ground by Hawkins. Some kind of blaster fire went over his head.
110 looked up to see a large hole in the door, and an Eerlikka standing on the other side, firing a blaster.
Then a forcefield came up in front of the door. The Eerlikka still fired into it, but the forcefield simply absorbed the impact.
The Eerlikka tried to fire again, but her weapon no longer worked.
“Security protocols activated. Hostile forces have been neutralized,” Ganitriul said. “I once again have full control of all my operations. The hostiles outside the door are now trapped behind forcefields, their weapons deactivated.”
The three humans all broke into grins. “Good work, 110,” Gomez said.
110 returned the smile. “Thank you, Commander.”
Gomez asked, “Ganitriul, can you show us what’s happening with the da Vinci?”
“Of course. The da Vinci is presently in standard orbit around the moon,” Ganitriul said, as an image of the da Vinci and another ship flickered to life on the interface. “The Pevvni ship is the same one that engaged the da Vinci earlier.”
“Can you put us in touch with the da Vinci?”
“Yes. I have boosted the signal in your combadge so that it can penetrate the crust of the moon.”
Tapping her combadge, Gomez said, “Gomez to da Vinci.”
“Gold here. Good to hear your voice, Commander.”
“Likewise, Captain.”
“Assuming that is your voice. You sound like a Horta.”
Gomez laughed, then coughed once. “I got on the bad side of some gas. It’s nothing that can’t be dealt with, sir. In any case, mission accomplished: 110 has fixed Ganitriul. All its operations are back to normal.”
“Good. We’ve got a bit of a standoff here—we have control of the Senbolma, but our transporters and weapons are out. We’d like to send a boarding party over there.”
Corsi said, “Ganitriul, can you send Hawkins, Drew, and I to the Senbolma?”
“Yes.”
Turning to Gomez, Corsi said, “With your permission, we can be that boarding party.”
Gomez nodded. “Permission granted.”
It would have been inaccurate to say that it was all over, but still, Sonya Gomez was impressed with how quickly things had calmed down. Corsi, Hawkins, and Drew took control of the Senbolma, subduing Undlar and his two accomplices in fairly short order. The three Eerlikka were taken into custody by the first Enforcement ship that had been able to get itself into Eerlik orbit. The weather on