“But if we can’t trust her, who can we trust?” Sylvia asked, “We don’t trust anyone. We send the message everywhere, spray it across the Inner and Outer Systems. Aybee, can you take over all the communications channels?”
“For a general broadcast?” Aybee glared at the panel for a few seconds, then slowly nodded. “Guess so. Takes a few minutes to set it up—and if I grab ’em all, we’ll be noticed. I’ll have to push a hundred other users right off the system. Everyone in Ransome’s Hole will head this way.”
“That’s a different worry. Get the com system ready. Sylvia and I will work on the message.”
“Give me five. Make me a formatted data set, all ready to send.” Aybee bent over the panel and began to work. After a few minutes he swore and looked up. “Problem. System’s not set up for general broadcast.”
“Can’t you jury-rig?” Bey could hear the sound of his own voice changing, and his hands were starting to tremble. He did not have long to get to a form-change tank.
“I can. But I’ll have to sit here and baby it. It’s a low data rate, too—I’m going to need half an hour’s transmission. But as soon as we start, this whole habitat will start to buzz.”
“Agreed.” Bey stood up. “Sylvia, you can finish the message. We want everyone in the system to know that Ransome is the cause of control and communications breakdown. Tell them the location data for Ransome’s Hole, what he’s been doing, all you know about him. Ask help from anyone who can give it. Say we need a hundred ships or a thousand, from anywhere in the system, and while you’re at it add a note saying that there’s a leak in Cinnabar Baker’s office. If it’s Baker herself, that takes care of it. If not, she’ll do something fast. And you, Aybee, as soon as you’re ready, grab the outgoing circuits and send the message.”
“What about you?” Sylvia had stood up when Bey did, supporting him as he swayed to his feet.
“I’ve got to guarantee Aybee his thirty minutes. Hold the fort here. Don’t try to leave, even if you finish sending the message. Just he low until I get back.”
“Bey, you look terrible.” Sylvia could feel his arm trembling. “I ought to come with you.”
“No. You couldn’t help me, and sending that message is top priority. Get it ready, then help Aybee send it.”
“What are you going to do?”
Bey gave her a wan smile. “I wish I knew. Don’t worry, I’ll think of something. Aybee, take a ten-second break and tell me how to get to Ransome’s personal quarters. Maybe I can cut off our trouble there, right at the top.”
Aybee nodded, paused for a moment, then rattled off a series of directions. Then he bent back to his control panel. It was Sylvia who watched unhappily as Bey blundered toward the door. He still resembled Ransome in general appearance, but his body language was subtly wrong. His movements had become jerky, with violent and random twitches of muscle in his arms and legs.
Sylvia kept silent and forced herself to watch him go. Bey thought he had another half hour before he was forced to find a form-change tank. She suspected that was irrelevant. Long before that, Bey would be unable to pass as Black Ransome to anyone with eyes or ears.
Chapter 27
“God does not play dice.”
“God not only plays dice, but also sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.”
“God knows what God does.”
There was silence in the communications center for five minutes after Bey left. Sylvia quickly completed the formatted message and defined a directory reference for it, but then she was reluctant to speak and break Aybee’s concentration. He was setting up the master sequence that would take over in one swoop every outgoing message circuit in Ransome’s Hole, and it was important to provide no hint of that intention until the moment came for override.
Finally he glanced across to Sylvia and nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be. Where’s the message?”
“I put it into a restricted access bank for safety—so no one can take a peek by accident.”
“Right idea. Password?”
“ ‘LUCKY.’ ”
“Yeah. Let’s hope.” Aybee entered the final call sequence and sat back in his chair. There was a moment’s pause, then a flicker of lights across the full display. He nodded. “Okay. We’re in business. Now the fun starts—people are being bounced off com circuits all over the habitat.”
“Will they know the command came from here?”
“Dunno. Probably. I couldn’t see any way to stop it, but I did my best to make ’em freeze. I slapped Ransome’s name on everything, so it looks like he’s the one grabbing circuits.” He stood up. “Keep your eye on that readout. If it goes to zero, yell. It means I’ll have to take over. We’ll be all done when it hits two eighty. Then we can release the channels.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Still don’t know. Bey said lie low, but we don’t want to just sit here. We need to be useful.” Aybee went to the door, opened it a fraction, and peered out. At once he drew back and allowed the door to close.
“What’s wrong?”
“Guys outside. Four of ’em.”
“Heading this way?”
“No. Not even looking. Just standing there. Bey’s doing, for a bet. He sent ’em here to stop anybody getting in. But it means we’re stuck.” Aybee stared around the communications center, then walked across to a horizontal trapdoor set in the curved floor. He lifted it and peered through.
“That won’t help.” Sylvia had followed his actions. “There’s only a kernel down there. The door just gives access to the outside of the shields. You won’t be able to get out that way.”
“I know. I just want to take a look. I’ve been itching to get close to a live kernel ever since I arrived here.” He paused with the trapdoor half-open. “How’s that counter?”
“Up to one seventy.”
“Going smooth. Let me take a little peek here.” Aybee lay down with his head through the opening of the trapdoor. “It’s a live one, all right. Whopping cable for the sensors. Big junction box, too—just like it was on the space farm’s kernel.” He craned farther into the opening, wriggling his body forward across the floor until only his hips and legs were visible to Sylvia. “And its own computer console.” His voice was muffled. “Seems like there’s a direct link from the kernel sensors to the habitat’s central computer. Now, why do that, unless…” Another eighteen inches of Aybee disappeared through the trapdoor.
The count in front of Sylvia had been climbing steadily. It finally reached 280 and froze there, lights blinking softly. A message complete indicator flashed on. She released all the com circuits and walked across to the trapdoor. She tapped Aybee on the thigh.
“What’s up?” His body twisted around so he could look at her.
“Nothing bad, but we’re all done with the message. If you want to go down there, you’ll find it easier feet first.” She waited as he turned, then followed him down the narrow ladder until they were both standing on the outer shield of a kernel. Sylvia stared down at the black, polished surface.
“How do you know this is an active kernel?”
Aybee pointed. “There’s the control unit for angular momentum. I’ve checked a bunch of ’em these last couple of weeks. Most of them aren’t connected to spin-up/spin-down systems, so they’re not ready as energy sources or energy storage. Matter of fact, I’m not sure just what they are doing.” He paused. “This is a live one, though. Hooked up and active and ready to roll.”