Chapter 2
Lt. Wong went back to where the AI lay on the floor. "I'm
not mechanically inclined," he explained, "but is there
anything I can do to help?"
"Open up my abdomen," the AI explained, "press
those two marks that look like moles. A panel will open. You'll
see a connection box. There's an arrow on it pointing up. Pull
out all the connections below the arrow. That will disconnect my
lower extremities and keep the damaged circuits down there from
doing me any further damage."
Wong followed the instructions and a few moments later the
twitching in the AI's legs stopped.
"Listen," the AI continued, "I've got to shut down
in a few minutes to conserve energy. There's three things on that
disk I gave you. One is The Chigs' plans for the next few days.
They know about your coming offensive, and are planning counter
strikes to delay or stop it. If you act quickly you'll be able to
mass your forces and drive off their attacks. The second thing is
a partial list of The Chigs' operatives among your people, and
also a means of exposing more of them."
The AI reached down to his side and pulled up a device. "The
third thing is instructions for making these. With them you can
operate any Chig weapon by simply plugging them in and pulling
the trigger. They override The Chigs' bio controls. You must
understand, you must get this disk DIRECTLY to your commanding
officer. It must not fall into the hands of The IC. If it does
The Chigs will know about it immediately. Do you understand
me?"
"Yes," Lt. Wong answered, putting his hand on the disk
in his pocket. "I understand. But why are you doing
this?" "Can't explain now," the AI moaned.
"Watch me. The IC will try to destroy me. Don't let them
know you have that disk. Don't let them know!" His words
faded off and his head sank to the side. Wong went back to his
seat putting the disk in his pocket. "Flight leader,"
he finally called, "I'm developing an engine problem. I'm
going to have to shut down a few minutes to fix it. Go on
ahead."
"Negative! Negative!" Captain Vansen snapped. "Too
dangerous to leave a non maneuverable ship in these
circumstances. Squadron shut down. Take up defensive positions
and stand by. Hop to it, Wong! We don't want to sit here very
long!"
"Yes sir!" Wong answered. He then began to rhymatically
tap his running lights. In her ship the captain watched them
curiously.
"Captain," she muttered, "EVA my ship. Utmost
importance!" She hesitated a moment then maneuvered her
vessel close to Wong's ship. Sealing her space suit she opened
her cockpit, attached a safety line to a bracket just below it,
pointed a little device at Wong's hatch. It flew from her hand,
attached to a bracket by the hatch and the hatch opened. The
captain clipped a shorter cable to her waist. The other end of
the line and hand over hand pulled herself to Wong's ship, got in
the hatch and closed it. When it repressurized she entered the
cabin. "What is it, Wong?" she asked.
Wong took the disk from his pocket. "This has to get to the
captain," he explained, "directly to him. IC MUSTN'T
get their hands on it. I know you don't have much trust of AIs.
I'll admit, I don't either, but this one's different. If what is
on this disk is what he says it is, it would save millions of
lives! I'll never get it through. IC would pick me up as soon as
I land, but you can."
The captain took the disk and looked at it. "What's on
it?" she asked.
Wong explained, and the captain whistled. "All right,"
she said. "I'll take it. You keep IC busy!"
Wong nodded. "Another thing," he put in, "the AI
believes IC will try to destroy him. Let the commander
know."
The captain nodded. "Emergency air is running out," she
commented. "These suits only have a ten minute capability
outside the ships. I've got to get back." She reached in her
pocket and took out a computer disk. "They may be looking
for a disk," she commented, "take this one. It will
delay them a few minutes."
Wong nodded, slipped the disk in his pocket. The captain went
back out through the airlock, regained her ship. A few minutes
later Wong announced he had his engines repaired.
"Good!" the captain snapped. "I'm getting tired of
sitting here! Let's go!"
They continued on. It was not long before the carrier came into
view. "Fighters report to your bay," operations
ordered. "Uncleared vehicle, pad four. Security and IC units
waiting."
"Understood!" Lt. Wong snapped. He watched the fighters
disappear and then pitched his ship towards the landing platform
then hesitated a few moments.
"What's the matter?" control asked.
"This ship's taken a pounding," Wong snapped. "Her
controls aren't responding too well. I don't wanna overshoot and
smash a hole in the hull! Give me a moment."
A sharp older voice barked "Convey your information in a
proper manner, Lt. Wong! Do not snap at my operations
officers!"
"Understood," Wong answered. "Sorry, sir!"
"It's all right lieutenant," the officer continued.
"Bring your ship in."
"Yes sir!" Wong continued.
He faked difficulty a few minutes longer, then brought his ship
in.
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