part0129

Al Jahi ran to get it herself. “In his port,” gasped Leroux, still pressing. Alice didn’t move forward to help, though Al Jahi’s hands shook too much to get it on the first try. She watched the Leroux fall into her training, her body following the pulsing wave of press and release, press, release and retreat for the computer to administer a shock and then returning to do it all again. The only sound for a few moments was the deep whoosh of Leroux’s breath and the periodic ring of the computer. Alice felt her own breath even out as the minutes ticked on. He wasn’t coming back.

“I need another dose of adrenaline,” said Leroux.

“It’s not going to save him,” said Alice. “It’s been too long. His body has shut down.”

“Please, Chione.”

Al Jahi shook her head and pulled Leroux’s hands from the Captain’s chest. “I’m sorry Joan. Oxwell is right. It’s done.”

Leroux fell a step back. She wiped the sweat from her face and sank into a nearby chair. “But I saved him,” she muttered, “He was stable.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” said Al Jahi. “I— I better notify the others.”

Alice knew she had mere hours, perhaps less, before the shock of the news wore off and the others would begin to question her in earnest. She had to get rid of the syringe. “I think I need— I think I’m going to be—”

Leroux looked up at her, still dazed. “You need to throw up Oxwell?” she asked blankly.

Alice nodded. “I think so,” she gasped, sucking in great whooping gales of air.

“Whoa, Oxwell, sit down,” said Leroux, springing up. “You’ll hyperventilate.”

“No, I need air. I need— outside.”

“Okay, okay, take it easy, we’ll get you outside.” Leroux put a hand on her back and led her down the hall toward the equipment lock. “It’s been a terrible few days for you in particular. First Dorothy and now— I’m sorry, Alice. I’ve been so wrapped up in everything I didn’t even think. Maybe we should call Dr. Cardiff.”

“Let me just— I just need space. Just for a minute.”

They’d reached the lock. Leroux opened the door. “Can you get down the ladder?” she asked.

“Yes, I think so,” said Alice.

“I’ll get Dr. Cardiff. We’ll give you a minute.”

Alice nodded her thanks and climbed slowly down into the open air. She bent over her knees for a moment until she was certain Leroux had gone. There would only be a few moments until either Dr. Cardiff found her or the others returned from the field lab. She hurried to the charred remains of the isolation chamber, ignoring Issk’ath as its eyes followed her. They’d never believe it over one of their own anyway. But she made certain to press into a small space behind a bubbled, blackened wall of burned plastic so that it could not see what she did. Alice made certain the syringe was recapped and knelt beside the emergency cabinet. The metal had dented in the blast. Too far to open the doors. She swore under her breath, but then her fingers found a small gap at the hinge. She pushed the slim syringe through and heard it clatter against the shelves inside. It would take someone a decent effort and tools to get it open. She’d have time to think of something else if they tried.

“Oxwell?” called Dr. Cardiff from the Wolfinger’s ladder. “Oxwell? I only want to talk.”

Alice didn’t bother moving, still crouched in the ash. “I’m here,” she said and watched Cardiff pick her way through the broken metal and plastic toward her. The doctor crouched beside her.

“It isn’t your fault. You did your best for Dorothy, no one could have asked for more. She wouldn’t want you to punish yourself for something that couldn’t be helped.”

“It’s not just her now,” said Alice, “The Captain died on my watch too.”

“I’m sure there’s an explanation. A— a medication error or some residual effect from his injury. We’ll find out what happened to the Captain, don’t worry. Nobody blames you.”

Alice nodded meekly and let Dr. Cardiff lead her out of the wreckage. Issk’ath’s eyes followed her into the Wolfinger. “You should clean up,” said Cardiff, “It’ll make you feel better. Maybe get some rest. I can get you a sedative—”

“No!” shouted Alice.

“Of course, of course not,” said Cardiff, keeping her voice calm and soothing. “It was just an option.”

“Thank you, doctor. I think I’ll be okay. I’ll— I’ll be in my quarters. The others will need you too.”

Cardiff nodded and patted her back. Alice went to take a shower and waited for the questions to start.

It was over dinner. Most of them just fiddling with the rations packs rather than eating. It was Spixworth that started it. He probably meant to be kind, to get it out there and dissuade the others of her guilt. “Did you see anyone, Alice?” he asked.

“Well— maybe you left for a minute. Just to go to the bathroom or get a cup of coffee?”

“No, I was there the entire time.”

“Did you fall asleep? Even just for a little? Maybe you didn’t even realize you were dreaming,” said Liu.

Alice shrugged. “I don’t think so.”

“Can’t we just check the feed?” asked Titov.

“I already did,” said Al Jahi. “They both had them off. Captain Stratton’s was off so he wouldn’t be disturbed after the surgery. I assume yours was off because you were concentrating on reports, Oxwell?”

“Can’t you force the record? Like the Admiral does in emergencies?” asked Titov.

Al Jahi shook her head. “I could override and turn them on, but I can’t go back, there’s no record. The only visual is the feed outlet in the corner. And you can’t see anything on it. Just Oxwell and Titov’s work station. It isn’t aimed toward the clinic.”

“So maybe it was Alice then,” said Martham. “I know you don’t want to say it, or think it. I don’t either. But if no one left and no one entered, what does that leave?”

“Me? Why would I kill the captain?”

“I don’t know,” said Martham, “I’m not sure why any of us would.”

“Maybe it wasn’t any of us,” said Rebecca.

“You think it’s one of your little gray men, Emery?” sneered Martham.

“We found a sentient being, Martham. Are you really—”

Liu clutched his head. “Enough! This isn’t the time for a pissing contest. Our captain, my best friend , is lying dead in the next room and we don’t know why.” The group sat silent for a long moment.

“We aren’t even certain it was intentional yet,” said Dr. Cardiff. “Maybe Emery is right. Maybe it was a computer error or the dosage timer accidentally reset or something.”

“It would have shown up in the log— the computer error would have triggered a report,” said Al Jahi.

“And the dosage timer is supposed to shut off and alarm if there is any kind of power fluctuation or reset or anything. It doesn’t deliver the next dose for that very reason. I know, we’ve had issues with it before,” offered Leroux.

“Not if someone did it and covered it up. Maybe someone did use the computer or the dosage timer, but it wasn’t an error. They might even tamper with the access logs to show that they’d never done anything at all,” said Martham. “Who among us knows how to do that? Liu? Al Jahi? Leroux? They all know the Wolfinger better than any of us. Plus, as Liu just pointed out, they had a longer relationship with Stratton. Long enough to start hating him—”

“Hey!” shouted Liu, standing up and stabbing a finger at her, “Who made you the Inspector General? Al Jahi is the ranking officer here, it’s her show. If anyone is going to start a line of questioning, it ought to be her.”

Martham stared at him. “What if she’s the one who killed him? It should be one of us. We’re the scientists. And we’ve nothing to gain by killing the captain. And none of us would know how to erase the logs—”

“You’re talking about mutiny, Martham!”

She stood up, leaning forward on her hands. “It’s a long way home, Liu. And there’s more of us than there are of you—”

“It should be Issk’ath,” Rebecca interrupted. Everyone turned to look at her. “It should be Issk’ath that investigates the captain’s death.”

Cardiff shook her head. “Why?”

“It’s impartial— it refuses to take sides, it says it has no moral context for us so it can’t judge, only report. It has no relationship with any of us, not really, except maybe Dorothy. It’s intelligent, we know that much, and it wants to come with us. We can make it useful, if it’s willing.”

“How do you know it wasn’t Issk’ath that did it?” asked Blick. “It’s got far more reason to do it than any of us seem to. Captain Stratton would never have agreed to take it back to the Keseburg. No way. And if it really is talking to Dorothy somehow— well, Stratton made her stay out there alone. If anyone was to blame for her death, it was him. Maybe she wanted to get back at him.”

Spixworth shook his head. “Insects don’t kill for revenge. Territory, resources, mates, sure. But not hate .”

“It’s not an insect. It’s a machine. A thinking machine. Built by a people that destroyed themselves and waged war. We don’t know what it is capable of. Besides, it has already been in the computers,” said Blick.

“But Titov and Stratton blew up the isolation chamber. They disrupted its connection to our system,” said Al Jahi.

“You sure? We don’t need a hardwired connection. We have the feed. And that thing had Dorothy’s. At least for a while. Are you certain it didn’t find some alternate path? Or it’s not just picking up the feed remotely?”

“But it said it wasn’t programmed for deception,” said Rebecca.

“No, Emery, it said deception wasn’t a ‘priority’ for it. I was there. I would think murder would move that up the list of options,” said Liu.

Alice felt a warm wave of relief. She’d expected to have to push a little harder, but they’d convince themselves that Issk’ath and the planet were dangerous. She didn’t need to resort to more violence. Titov puffed out his cheeks and crossed his arms.

“What are we supposed to do next, then?” he asked. “If it’s in the system, can we get it out? Would we even know if we were successful? Or are we just waiting for it to pick us off?”

“You’re assuming it wants to. It had reason to kill the captain, for its own sake and for Dorothy’s. But if it really did kill him, does it have a reason to kill the rest of us?” asked Dr. Cardiff.

“I tried to blow it up,” said Titov, “so…yeah.”

“But it’s had access to us for days, it’s been in the labs around our equipment, it could have killed all of us any time it wanted,” protested Rebecca.

“Maybe it was trying to figure out which of us it needs to get back to the Keseburg and eliminating those it thinks aren’t necessary. It would have to be careful, not raise suspicion. It’ll pick us off one by one.”

“We’ll remove the feeds,” said Al Jahi. “We can disrupt them— Leroux, you’ve done it before. When Poltin’s chip was malfunctioning, remember? We’ll have to rely on manual options of treating injuries and we’ll have to work from consoles on the way back, but at least we’ll be safe from the kind of thing that killed the captain.”

“Until it decides to crash the ship if we don’t take it back to the Keseburg. For all we know it’s got access to every system. Guidance, life support, fire suppression, air locks— everything ,” said Blick.

“Maybe it’s got nothing to do with the captain’s death,” protested Rebecca. “This isn’t rational. Martham, you are such a believer in science, does any of this speculation strike you as rational?”

“It’s rational to try to avoid being killed, Emery. Is there some other method of figuring this out? Because if you have a suggestion, by all means, go ahead.”

“We could try talking to it.”

The room erupted in angry protests.

“We need to kill it, is what we need to do,” said Titov. “It’s the only way to be sure.”

“But it didn’t even do anything!” said Spixworth.

“We don’t know that. And even if it didn’t, do you really want to risk making it angry if we don’t take it? We don’t have a choice.”

Liu shook his head. “We don’t know if it would hurt us. You saw what it did when we tried to blow it up— it backed off after warning us. It had Gabriel. It could have killed him right then, but it left him alone when he asked. I don’t think it killed him. What’s more, I don’t think it would try to hurt us if we just decided to leave.”

“That’s too many assumptions, Liu,” said Martham.

“Okay,” Blick broke in, “but even if we can come to some agreement about whether killing Issk’ath is the right thing to do— how would we? Our weapons don’t work at all. It walked out of an explosion without even a dent. And if it’s telling the truth, it’s lasted decades, maybe centuries out in the elements without any noticeable decay. How are we supposed to do it?”

“We have to stay,” said Alice abruptly. It was the ideal solution. She wouldn’t have to convince them or stop them. The Keseburg would assume they’d been lost. They’d never know about this place. The room fell silent around her.

“What?” gasped Al Jahi. “What are you talking about? We can’t stay here. That thing outlasted its own people by years. We don’t stand a chance.”

“I wasn’t implying that we did,” said Alice. “But the Keseburg still has a chance, as long as we don’t lead it back to them.”

“What chance? There are people waiting for us. For this place. You want them to just keep wandering for another millennium? Dying out as the Spindling gets worse or the elemental printers break or the ship deteriorates? You’re as bad as Emery. We can’t stay. In fact, what’s the next flight window, Liu?” She turned to the pilot. He tapped his feed and his eyes flickered as he read.

“Eighteen hours.”

“Make it happen. All of you. That’s my order. No more discussion, we’re going home. We’ll let the Admiral sort it out. Get your gear and your reports—”

“And Issk’ath?” asked Emery, “What do you mean to do about it?”

Al Jahi stopped for a moment. “We’re taking it,” she said at last.

“You’re leading it right back to our families,” cried Titov.

“I’m leading us back to help. Look, we know it might be in our systems. And we know we don’t really have anything to disable it—” she held up her hand as Rebecca started to protest. “Disable it, Emery, not ‘kill’. At least not yet. If we think of something, we’ll change plans. We can’t risk it destroying the ship for the same reason we can’t stay here. The Keseburg has to know. So it has to come with us. It won’t destroy the Wolfinger while it’s on board.”

“But it will get access to the Keseburg’s systems the same way, as soon as we clear the interference,” said Liu, “They’ll be hostages too.”

Al Jahi hesitated. She tapped her feed, clicking it off. The others followed her lead. She glanced up at the small camera above the food printer in the corner. Blick saw. “Think I need a cup of coffee after all that,” he said casually, heading for the printer. “Ah,” he said leaning on the wall. “These bunks are so uncomfortable. Be glad to get home to my own bed.” He stretched, his body covering any view the camera might have of the room. Al Jahi didn’t wait, she spun around and pulled the old manual wrench from Liu’s pocket. “Think I’d like to see one more sunrise here,” she said, handing it to him, “Not sure how soon we’ll be back. Wouldn’t you?”

Liu looked confused. “Sure,” he said slowly, trying to remember what they’d been doing during that first sunrise.

“Emery,” called Al Jahi over her shoulder, “You can let Issk’ath know the good news. Maybe get its help to fix the equipment lock door. Shame how old ships like this don’t have draybots. No way to fix stuff like that except good old-fashioned manual labor. No electrical shortcuts out here.” She was staring at Liu.

“Of course, Captain,” stammered Emery.

Liu finally understood. He gripped the wrench. He’d been trying to position the communications array during that sunrise. If they disabled it, they’d prevent Issk’ath from accessing the Keseburg until they were aboard, but they’d also have no way to warn them. And they’d have to rely on ancient navigation equipment that had never been upgraded after the invention of the feed. It had been generations. Liu had been trained in it, he’d had to rely on it when they’d arrived, but it still made him nervous. He wanted to tell Al Jahi, to warn her about what she wanted him to do, but he couldn’t think of a way to do it without being overheard. So he nodded slowly. She nodded back.

“Okay, people, let’s get that mobile lab secured and our samples back to the ship. I want to make that launch window.” Al Jahi turned back to them and people began to move.

“What about— what about Gabriel?” asked Leroux. “We should do something for him. Maybe like we did for Dorothy.”

“I’m sorry, Joan. We can’t. We have to find out what happened to him. We seem to be stuck, but the Keseburg will know what to do. We have to take him home.”

“And in the meantime? You expect us to share a ship with a murderer?” demanded Martham. “We have to figure out who did this and how before we’re trapped in a tiny metal box with them. Or it.”

“What do you want to do, Martham? Sit around until one of us confesses? We don’t even know that it wasn’t an accident or a glitch in the system.”

Martham didn’t have an answer. “Look,” she said at last, “I just think this is a bad idea. A terrible idea.”

“We all think it’s a terrible idea,” said Blick, “but it’s the only one we’ve got. Maybe we can take precautions.”

“What kind of precautions?”

“I’ll authorize sidearms. For now,” said Al Jahi. “It won’t do any good if it’s the robot, but if it was one of us—”

“Giving out weapons isn’t going to help,” said Dr. Cardiff. “It could lead to accidents or misinterpretations. And if there is a killer among us, why wouldn’t they use the jolts to put us all out and then kill us?”

Al Jahi sighed. “Suggestions?” she asked.

“We group up,” said Rebecca. “There’s ten of us, we’ll go in three groups, nobody ever alone with one other person. You, Leroux, and Liu need to stay on the Wolfinger anyway for flight prep and Dr. Cardiff can help Leroux, she has medical training. Martham, Blick, and Titov still have samples to pack in the mobile lab. Spixworth, myself and Alice all have tasks to finish in the nest. We’ll take Issk’ath with us, it’s offered to help us fill in the gaps in our data. Everyone stays in their groups when we aren’t all together. It’s eighteen hours and a forty-eight-hour flight, we can keep each other safe that long.”

“You okay with taking the robot, Spixworth?” asked Al Jahi.

He nodded. “Don’t think it much matters how far away that thing is, if it wants to get us, it will. But I don’t think it does. It has no reason to. Besides, Issk’ath knows everything there is to know about the nest and its colony. It says it’s the last one. I may never get another chance to study them.”