Bruce Bethke - Maverick

“Cut tin’ laser,” Wolrufwhispered. “Must ‘ave found us. ” She looked at the clock. “Fifteen seconds t’ jump. ”

“Ship? Repair status. ”

“Hyperdrive control still out. Master? I am experiencing new hull damage in Section 17A. ”

“Sev’n… six… ”

“Thicken the hull in that section. Keep them out. ”

“Four…t’ree…”

“Negative effect, master. Stand by for hull breach. ”

“ ‘Un… zero… ’at’s it. ” Wolruf shrugged and stepped back from the control panel, her ears sagging forlornly.

“Hull breached in 17A. Hyperdrive control circuits restored. ”

“What?” Avery and Wolruf froze for a moment, staring at each other. Then both leapt on the jump control handle and slammed it down.

A moment later, the Wild Goose Chase was somewhere else.

Avery wrestled himself out from under Wolruf and grabbed the intercom grid. “Ship! Can you contain the boarding party?”

“What boarding party?” the ship asked innocently.

“Wha-?” Avery turned to Derec, a wild and confused look on his face. “. Derec? See if you can use your commlink to get an exterior view. ” Before he’d finished speaking, Derec had closed his eyes, invoked the commlink, and patched into the ship’s optic feeds.

“Nothing,” he said hoarsely. “Starfield. No other ships. I see the hull. ” He gasped. “Ouch! We took some serious damage. ”

“But where are the boarders?” Avery demanded. “Check Section 17. ”

“I’m getting there. Section 15. Section 16; I see the limpet, it’s welded onto the hull. Section 17. ” Derec’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “They’re gone!”

“Gone? Where?”

Wolruf roused herself from the corner Avery had pushed her into. ‘ If they ‘ur lucky,” she said in a tired rasp, “they got fried by the en’rgy pulse from th’ jump. ”

“That’s lucky?”

Wolruf indulged in a good shake and then shambled over to join Avery and Derec. “Don’t ‘u know nothin ’ about ‘yperspace? Magn’tic polar’ties reverse. If ‘u live t’rough th’ insertion, ‘ur boot magnets repel th’ ship’s magn’tic field. Only for a picosecon’, but ‘at’s long enough t’ blow ‘u off like a rocket. ”

. Derec’s face paled. “You mean, they could still be alive, but floating in hyperspace?”

Wolruf laid a paw on Derec’s shoulder and sagged against him. “. Derec, if they made it int’ ‘yperspace, they could still be alive for centuries. ”

. Derec was still considering that idea when Wolruf took a deep breath and stood up straight. “What’s done iss done. What we need t’ do now is figure out where we are. ” She pushed off Derec, staggered over to the control console, and started punching buttons. As if in response, the normal cabin lighting returned, and the air recirculation fans kicked in with a buzz.

“Internal environment restored,” the ship announced pleasantly. “Thank you for your patience. ”

Blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light, Derec put his hand on Wolruf’s shoulder and tried to turn her around. She shrugged it off. “What do you mean, figure out where we are?” he asked. “We jumped right on schedule. ”

“We jumped four seconds late,” she said without looking up, “an’ with th’ wrong calc’lations. We ‘ad the extra mass of th’ boardin’ party, an’ we lost ship’s mass in the fight. ” She paused to punch a few more buttons and study the readouts. “No tellin’ ‘ow far off th’ jump was skewed. ”

Avery gently took Derec by the elbow and pulled him out of Wolruf’s way. “Anything we can do to help?”

“Yeah. ” She tweaked a control and brought the main viewscreen back to life. “Fix Mandelbrot an’ get ‘im down ‘ere. I need ‘im. ”

Derec scowled. “But-”

“Come on, son. ” Tugging Derec’s elbow again, Avery began to steer him toward the lift. “Robot’s Rules of Order Number I: Never argue with the pilot until you’re back on the ground. ” The lift doors hissed open.

“But-”

“Mandelbrot needs you. ” Derec seemed to accept that argument, at least long enough for Avery to get him into the lift.

The doors hissed shut, and they started up.

Central’s one red eye flared on the moment Dr. Anastasi entered the atrium. “Working. ” The massive brain’s voice was oddly flat and toneless, although Janet thought she detected a vaguely feminine inflection and the incongruous clacking of relays in the background.

“Good morning, Central,” Janet said pleasantly, as if speaking to a small child. “Are we feeling well today?”

“Feeling does not compute. ”

Dr. Anastasi’s eyes went wide. Slowly, as if expecting at any moment to see the “Celebrity Practical Jokes” camera robot step out of hiding, she turned to Basalom and arched an eyebrow. “Did I miss something?”

“Checking, madam. ” Basalom activated his internal commlink and patched into the city maintenance system. A moment later, he had his answer. “Central’s personality module is temporarily off-line for repairs. Its numeric computational powers and cerebellar functions are-I quote the technicians’ report-’unimpaired. ’ “

“No editorial comments, please. ”

“Sorry, madam. ” Something that sounded ever so slightly like a snicker escaped from Basalom’s speech membrane. Dr. Anastasi chose to let it pass… Central is currently operating in absolute literal mode,” Basalom added. “I advise using extreme caution in your choice of words. ”

“Oh. ” Janet looked at Central’s console input/output device again. “Are you trying to tell me that arguing with Central would be a complete waste of time?”

“It depends on how you define’ waste, ‘ madam. ” The sound Basalom emitted this time was without question a snicker. “You might find it extremely amusing!” He turned his head and brought a hand up to his face, as if trying to pretend that his sputtered laugh was a sneeze.

Frowning, Janet nodded slowly. “I might. ” Then she looked up and smiled, as if she’d just been struck by a particularly good idea. “Oh, and Basalom dear, could you add something to my calendar?”

Basalom bowed deeply. “Of course, mistress. Your wish is my command!”

“One of my robots has been acting quite strangely lately. When we get back to the ship, remind me to remove his brain and either fix it-” Her smile vanished, and her tone shifted to a low-pitched growl. “-or scrap it!”

Basalom straightened up in the way that only a being with picosecond reflexes can. “Yes, madam. ”

“That’s better. Now for the matter at hand. ” She turned to Central’s I/O console. “Central, where is Beta?”

“Working. ” A short flurry of mechanical beeps came out, followed by something surprisingly like teletype noise. “City Supervisor 3… is at present in Conference Room 32. ”

“Why?”

More clacking. “The meeting in which City Supervisor 3 is participating… has not yet concluded. ”

“What meeting?”

Clack clack clack. “City Planning Meeting 1042-dash-A. ”

Janet frowned at Basalom. “Absolute literal mode, huh?” Blinking nervously, Basalom nodded.

A scowl darkened Janet’s face. “Not good,” she said to herself. “I explicitly ordered Beta to meet me here at this time. The Second Law should have compelled him to leave his meeting in time to make it here. Unless…

“Central! Are there other humans in this city?”

Clack clack pause ding! “Ne-ga-tive. ”

Janet ran a hand through her long blond hair and paused to scratch her head. “So where the deuce is Beta?”