11.
Kel's stomach still groaned from the dodgy cucumber as he hid in an alcove on the main corridor, while Lloyd ran a bypass on the hatch lock - the lock that Chen had promptly installed after finding Kel snooping around his lair previously.
Kel's stomach still groaned from the dodgy cucumber as he hid in an alcove on the main corridor, while Lloyd ran a bypass on the hatch lock - the lock that Chen had promptly installed after finding Kel snooping around his lair previously.
"Got to
give that boffin sod some credit, this lock has some nifty anti-intrusion
software tacked on to it" said Lloyd, his voice echoing in the empty
corridor.
"Ssshhh"
hissed Kel, wary of Chen returning, wary of his gun.
They had left
Chen with Delilah in the canteen, the female companion practically pouncing on
the scientist as Chen emerged to grab some food. She'd abandoned her initially
flirtations approach, Chen wasn't interested and Kel worried that the
distraction wasn't going to work. Then Delilah surprised him, and more
importantly, Chen, by launching into a worryingly well informed tirade on the
positive role of the congloms in modern scientific research. Which was, of
course, like a red rag to a bull for Chen who responded with an impassioned
attack on the conglom economic and scientific model. Other's in the canteen
looked on uncomfortably as the two argued. Delilah's surprisingly deep
understanding of free market economics up against the scientist's model of a
more equitable system.
Kel couldn't
help but laugh as he left the canteen to go and meet up with Lloyd. Delilah was
a woman of sometimes alarming depth. He just hoped that depth could keep Chen
occupied for long enough to find out what he was up to.
With a beep,
and then a clunk, the lock blinked off and the hatch swung open. Lloyd headed
inside with a self-satisfied grunt, followed by Kel who gave a last nervous
look down the corridor before stepping into Chen’s hastily assembled computer
lab.
The smell in
the dank room had got worse since Kel was last there, but Lloyd seemed
oblivious as he slipped into the displays projected by the powerful computer
network, hands busy manipulating the data feeds. Kel didn't have a clue what
was going on. He could barely manage his own iris augment, let alone stand at
the centre of a powerful computer network using multiple displays which seemed
to dance and spin around Lloyd. Charts were called up, replaced by video, or
microscope feeds. Maps and equations popped into the air, then disappeared in a
haze of other data.
"Oh,
fuuuuuck" Lloyd said after a couple of minutes.
"What?"
demanded Kel.
"Look"
urged Lloyd. In front of Kel popped into existence an image of Europa, those
familiar cracks on the otherwise smooth surface of the moon slowly orbiting in
front of him.
"Europa.
So what?"
"Just
look" Lloyd spoke with a seriousness that Kel hadn't heard before.
The image of
Europa span faster, then zoomed on a smaller section of the moon above which a
small cartwheel like shape slowly turned.
"That
us?" Kel reached a hand up, to try and touch the image, but it just went
straight through, the air he'd disturbed sending dust particles spinning in the
light projected by the image.
"Uh huh,
now check this out" a red dotted line started to arc away from the loop
habitat. The image that Lloyd had called up shifted to track the red line as it
curved in towards the moon's surface. Down it went, through the magnetosphere,
through the thin atmosphere, the dotted line tracked into towards a collection
of buildings on the moon's surface. The line pierced them and the image flashed
red, the light casting eerie shadows around the room they were in.
"Er, I'm
not sure what I'm watching" wondered Kel uncertainly.
"He's
going to fuck the new factory"
"What"
"Fuck it
hard"
"Lloyd,
what's he going to do?" Kel was starting to get scared.
"The mad
bastard is going to use my scripts to get something on board the supply ship"
“That's what
you said earlier, before the fancy graphics and, you know, swearing"
“Yeah, except
then I didn't think the something would actually be him"
"I don't
follow" said Kel "He's going to steal the ship? Head back
Earth-wards? But he had the opportunity to go back with the rest of his science
team and rejected it?"
"He
ain't going back to Earth. All this fancy equipment is modelling an impact
path" Lloyd ran a hand down his face and exhaled.
"A
what?"
"He
ain't a pilot and you can't just tell the AI where to go, so he's gonna wipe
the ship control and add in his own flight path"
"Can we
go back to explaining the 'impact' bit"
"He's
gonna send the ship straight into the new conglom factory"
"Fuuuuuck"
"That
was my reaction" said Lloyd.
"So what
do we do? You can wipe the flight plans, right?" Kel's mind was
racing .
"Sure,
but don't you think that's gonna piss off the grumpy guy with the gun?"
Lloyd's moved nervously, the images around him flickered.
"I think
it probably would" said Chen.
Kel and Lloyd
jumped, turning towards the hatchway in unison. The hatchway in which Chen
stood in front of. With his gun raised.
"I paid
you good money to install this with no questions asked Lloyd" Chen pointed
his gun at the now shivering systems analyst.
"I...d..didn't...th....think....you
had...th...this...planned"
"Chen,
what are you hoping to achieve here?" Kel was surprised at how calm he
felt in asking such a direct question to a suicidal nut case with a gun.
Chen swung
his gun round to Kel, who promptly realised that the feeling of calmness was
inversely proportional to having a gun aimed at him.
"The
congloms only seem to understand the seriousness of a situation when they see
it on their balance sheets. And so I am finally going to get heard"
"By
pretty much nuking the new facility?" Kel had unconsciously raised his
hands, as if this was some kind of primitive stick up.
"That's
about the sum of it" Chen nodded slowly. "Look, Kel, Lloyd, I don't
want to drag you in to this, don't want to hurt you. But you must understand
that you are currently standing between me and the final act of my life's
work" he traced the gun back and forth between them.
"Th...that's...c...c...c...cool.
I w....was....just...l...leaving....anyway" stammered Lloyd.
"What
then?" Kel's face hardened.
"What?"
Chen irritatedly swung back to the companion.
"What
happens after your 'life's work' is complete?" asked Kel "You think
the congloms are gonna turn round and say 'maybe that nut case had a point
after all - let's bring back the science budget?'" Kel's impression of a
conglom exec caused Lloyd to give him a puzzled look.
"I don't
care what they do, I just want to show them that their money driven decisions
have a tangible impact on their oh so important bottom line" Chen spoke
through gritted teeth.
Lloyd looked over at Kel with a look that said
stop pissing off the mental, but Kel ignored him.
"You
don't care about what happens to Europa; to the loop; to us?"
"I'm
beginning to care less and less the more and more you ask stupid
questions" the gun was clearly aimed at Kel's head.
"What's
going to happen after you destroy the factory?" Kel ignored the gun
"What do you think the Congloms will do? Maybe go to all the expense of
shipping us back to Earth from the loop to ensure a completely transparent
enquiry as to what went wrong up here? Or maybe have a much cheaper accident at
the o2 unit, forget we ever existed and send the drones back to rebuild the
factory?" Kel raised his eyebrows in enquiry.
"I, er,
they wouldn't do that, er, would they?" for the first time doubt flashed
across Chen's face.
"You're
not thick Chen. You know how the congloms think, you just haven't worked it all
through. Your dumb move here costs us all. What's worse is that it doesn't get
you anywhere. Maybe that microbe they named after you gets changed. But maybe
also the congloms never send a scientist anywhere ever again. It just isn't VFM
if the guys in white coats occasionally go mental and blow up a trillion
dollars worth of factory facility"
"Fuuuuuck"
Chen exclaimed, rubbing his forehead with the gun.
"That's
what we said" Lloyd's stammer had gone; even his drug addled mind could
see the tide of the conversation turn.
"I can't
go on like this though" the gun was waving around as Chen spoke "Trapped
up here, most of the labs off limit, the sub ice science facility
destroyed"
Kel smiled.
Partly because an idea was forming in his mind, but also because Delilah was
now creeping up behind Chen hefting what looked like a large steel pipe.
"It's ok
Delilah" he said. Chen whirled round, but Delilah was too quick; with
something approaching a fight hardened nonchalance she batted the gun out of
his hand.
"You
want me to brain this nut job?" she hefted the pipe above Chen, who was
rubbing his hand.
"No.
I've got an idea" Kel smile grew wider.
"What?"
Chen almost spat the word.
"Well.
We've got a supply ship coming in that you're all set to board and wipe the AI.
We've got a habitat loop full of technical specialists all but forgotten by the
congloms. We've got a room full of high-tech scientific apparatus" Kel
indicated around them "And you've got a wish to piss off The Man" he
nodded at Chen.
"So?"
but Chen's looked showed that he was beginning to follow Kel's thinking.
"We can
wipe that ship from the conglom consciousness right?" he asked Lloyd
"Make them forget the supply ship ever existed?"
"Er,
sure, why not" Lloyd definitely wasn't following Kel's thinking.
"So, we
have a ship, a crew and a vendetta" said Kel, counting fingers
"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the solar system's first space
pirate" he saluted Chen.
"But I
start screwing with their shipments, then you still might end up with that o2
accident?" Chen was trying to find cracks in Kel's thinking.
"You
play it smart. Use the kit you've got built here to screw them a little at a
time. You take out a factory in one go, they get pissed off. The occasional
shipment drone goes missing, who notices? But it all adds up. Plus, you sell
the stuff via here and we all get a little slice"
"15%"
said Delilah.
"What?"
asked Kel, caught off guard.
"We get
a 15% slice of the proceeds. Call it a technical assistance fee" her eyes
had lit up; the next stage towards world domination for the fearsome
companion.
"Uh,
sure" said Kel.
"Ok"
said Chen.
"Cooooool"
said Lloyd
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