85
“Oh shit!”
“Back out of there!” Heather gasped.
Jennifer’s fingers were already flying across the keyboard, activating the commands that would jump the subspace transmitter to another coordinate, still within the Rho Building, but onto a conventional computer subnet.
Jennifer leaned back. “Done.”
“Thank God.” Heather suddenly remembered to breathe.
Mark had begun to pace beside the workbench. “You know what this means? That damn Stephenson has somehow managed to activate the alien computer system on the Rho Ship. God only knows how long he has had access to it.”
Jennifer shook her head. “Just because it’s turned on doesn’t mean he’s able to understand the data. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
“I wouldn’t make that bet. What about you, Heather?”
“Me either. I’d say there’s roughly an 84.61538 percent probability that he’s gotten at least some control over the system.”
“Roughly?” A grin softened the worry lines in Mark’s face.
Heather shrugged. “That still leaves two chances out of thirteen that I’m wrong.”
“Well let’s hope you’re wrong,” said Jennifer. “From the way the alien data pattern was changing, I’d say something noticed our intrusion. I’d rather think it wasn’t Dr. Stephenson.”
“I’m not sure I like thinking about what else might have noticed us either,” said Mark.
“Well they can’t have figured out much,” Heather replied. “We were only in there a few seconds randomly hopping around the neural net. There’s no way to trace the subspace signal back to us.”
“No way we know of,” corrected Mark.
Heather closed her eyes. “Even an alien trace is highly unlikely.”
“Please don’t recite the odds. We’ll take your word for it.”
An angry response had just started to form on her lips when she noticed Mark’s quick wink. He’d been pulling her chain, and she’d almost rewarded him.
As Heather stared, Mark’s face blurred ever so slightly. For a moment, it seemed that his eyes hollowed and long, greasy, blond hair hung over his shoulders. Then the vision was gone as quickly as it had come.
How long had it been since her last dose of medication? Five hours and thirteen minutes. More than an hour overdue.
“Sorry, guys. I’ve got to go home and take my meds. Mom’s probably about to come looking for me.”
Jennifer raised an eyebrow. “What about this?”
“I don’t know. I think it’s safe to keep searching for Stephenson’s computer, so long as you don’t access that ship. Wish I could stay and help, but I can’t. At least not until tomorrow. See you then.”
As she made her way out of the workshop, Heather felt another vision building in her mind. Without pausing to wave good-bye, she broke into a run, letting the door slam behind her.