Have Tech, Will Travel (SCE Books 1-4) - Keith R. A. DeCandido_. [et al.] [53]
Or, more to the point, he and 111 did.
Without her, he suddenly doubted his own instincts. Always, in the past, they had checked each other, each constantly confirming the other’s work, providing a comforting redundancy that made them so much more efficient. With her, he would have instantly known what was wrong with Ganitriul, and quite possibly have been able to fix it without requiring access to the central core— though that, in all likelihood, would have been safer in any event. Now, though, he could not even be completely sure if his diagnostic was correct.
That had never happened before.
He wondered if this was how the Eerlikka felt when Ganitriul malfunctioned. To suddenly have all the order and sense of your life be taken away from you . . .
His tricorder beeped. Gazing at the readout, he said, “Commander, I am reading a forcefield around this corner.”
As they turned the corner, they saw what the tricorder read.
“Great,” Gomez said. “Any way around this?”
110 studied the map of the caverns. “There is an alternate route, but it will add an hour to our travel time. In addition, two of the Eerlikka patrols are on that route. This is the most direct way to the core, and is presently free of any of our pursuers.”
“Ganitriul, can you release this forcefield?”
“I can, but at the moment the forcefield is holding back a gas that will render all of you unconscious. I have been unable to vent the gas, which is why I put up the forcefields.”
“Damn.”
110 asked, “Ganitriul, is there a manual override to the ventilation system?”
“Yes, there is. Would you like me to show it to you?”
“Please,” 110 said.
110 heard Hawkins mutter, “Why the hell couldn’t it mention that sooner?” as a small panel opened up in the floor.
Gomez smiled at the security guard and said, “GIGO.”
“Excuse me?” Hawkins asked.
“Garbage in, garbage out. Old saying about computers. They’re only as good as what you put into them. Kind of a nice reminder that Ganitriul, for all its sophistication, is still a machine. It didn’t volunteer the information about the manual override because we didn’t ask.”
Meanwhile, 110 got down on his hands and knees and peered into the manual override. Its operation was fairly complex, but his interaction with Ganitriul earlier served him well—he knew his way around the supercomputer’s systems now. He started entering the codes that would allow access to the override controls.
As he worked, the forcefields went down. The air quickly turned an odd shade of green as the gas that the forcefields had held in check started to spread throughout the cavern.
His vision swimming, 110 worked frantically at the console, fighting against unconsciousness . . .
CHAPTER
8
“Talk to me, boys and girls.”
Unlike the casual atmosphere of the meeting that morning, David Gold thought the tension in the briefing room of the da Vinci now was thick enough to cut with one of Rachel’s boning knives.
Gold sat once again at the head of the table, with La Forge and Duffy on either side of him, Abramowitz and Faulwell next to Duffy, Lense and Stevens next to La Forge, and Blue in her usual seat at the other end.
“We got the shields back on-line,” Duffy said, “but I don’t know how long they’ll last.”
Stevens put in, “I’ve never seen anything quite like that weapon they used. I’ve gone over the sensor data three times—so has Commander La Forge,” he added, with a nod to the officer, “and we can’t figure out why it knocked out our shields.”
“I have some guesses as to how to defend against it,” La Forge added, “but until we actually get shot at again by them, I don’t have any idea if it’ll work.”
Gold leaned back and sighed. “So, basically, we’re defenseless. What about weapons?”
“They’re all fine,” Duffy said. “We had to reroute half the—”
“Bridge to captain.”
Gold looked up. “Go ahead, McAllan.”
“Sir, the Sugihara is in the midst of a rescue operation of their own. Apparently, there’s a Talarian freighter whose