Infinity Beach - Jack McDevitt [140]
“And that was—?”
“To remain with the ship and inform its—” the AI searched for a word, “—inform its supervisor of our final destination.”
“Who is the supervisor?”
“I don’t know.”
“The intelligence behind this thing must be a moron” grumbled Kim. “Why make a grab instead of introducing themselves?”
“What else do you know of its physical structure?” asked Solly.
“I detected free hydrogen molecules. Methane. Oxygen. It seemed, however, not to have a coherent physical form.”
“A ghost,” said Kim.
“I do not understand the connection with folklore.”
“It’s okay,” said Solly. “Neither do we.”
“One of these things is hanging around Lake Remorse,” said Kim.
Solly nodded. “I think you’re right.”
“Hammersmith,” said the Patrol vessel, “are you currently engaged in EVA?”
Solly blinked twice. No.
“You have an open air lock.”
If it wasn’t gone by now—Solly closed up, reopened the air ducts, and started the pumps. Forty minutes later they had a green board and were able to remove the suits.
“What next?” he asked as he wriggled back into his clothes.
“Go home,” she said. “Get a message to Matt. We need the Institute to figure out a way to sweep the ship to make sure the intruder’s gone. Then we can turn over the intercepts and wait for world acclaim.”
Solly returned a simple yeah.
The Patrol vehicle was now within optical range. They watched it move from port to starboard, apparently conducting a visual inspection. It was smaller than the Hammersmith, but it looked efficient and deadly. A ring antenna rotated slowly. “Hammersmith,” they said, “we will be coming aboard. Blink once to acknowledge.”
“That’s not routine,” said Solly. “They probably have orders to take us into custody.”
“It’ll get straightened out when Matt—” A puzzled expression had appeared on Solly’s face. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
He shushed her and cupped his ear. The engines were changing pitch. The mains grew louder and Kim sank back, was pushed back, into her seat. They were changing course. And accelerating.
“What the hell—?” Solly punched keys on the status board.
The Patrol demanded they return to base course and speed.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Don’t know. Ham, what’s happening? Ham?”
The mains were still cranking up. “We’re moving toward jump status,” Solly said.
“That goddamn thing is still here.” Kim barely breathed the words.
Solly went to manual again and pulled the emergency engine cut-off toggle. Nothing happened. They continued to accelerate.
“It’s taking the ship.” Kim felt panic rising in her belly. “Heading for home.”
“Isn’t gonna happen.” Solly went back into the closet, where she knew he was going to cut the power again.
She heard him remove the panel, heard him pull the switch. “Goddammit,” he said. “It doesn’t work. The son of a bitch has killed the circuit.”
“What can we do?” asked Kim.
He consulted the status board. “It’s going home,” he said. “Taking us with it.”
“Can we disable the engines?”
“Not if we can’t shut down the power. There’s not enough time.”
She was unbuckling. “How about hitting them with a wrench?”
“They’d probably blow on the spot. There’s a safer way.”
She followed him out into the passageway and down the stairs. “What? Do these things have a self-destruct mechanism?”
“More or less. All we have to do is cut in the jump engines prematurely. Before they’re ready. That’s instant overload. Do you have the disk?”
“What? How do you mean?”
“Blow it up, Kim. Come on, let’s go.”
He meant the intercept disk, the one with the Hunter recordings. She stopped to snatch it out of her room. “Get your commlink too,” he said.
There were a few other items as well that she’d have liked to save, but it didn’t look as if they’d have time to pack.
“Didn’t you say there was a safety feature?” she asked.
“I’ve already overridden it.” They were hurrying down to the first level.
“How do we do it without getting killed?”
“From the lander,” he said. “But we have to make this fast.”
They retrieved Emily’s body. Then Solly led the way to the launch bay and stopped in front of