Took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, so Plan B is out.” Filled him in fast on what was going on, including that we’d nixed the idea of swimming down there.
“Wise choice, Commander. I honestly don’t think someone untrained in scuba would have a chance of survival, A-C or no A-C. Not even Christopher, not even with his speed.”
“Ten minutes,” Adriana called.
“Jeff agrees. I don’t want to count our team out, but it’s not looking good, Jerry. Can the helicarrier do anything?”
“Uh, pick up survivors. The Treeship can’t allow anyone to beam in or out right now.”
“They have beaming technology?”
“Yes, but it’s useless at the moment. During landing, the Treeship is incredibly vulnerable, with all power focused on the safe landing. It’s part of why they’re heading for the landing site they are—it was made for ships like theirs.”
“I’m officially done with the entire idea of us being in the boondocks. Apparently we’re the vacation getaway of choice for this entire damn galaxy.”
“Eight minutes.”
“Jerry, anything? Any ideas at all? I’m really open to anything crazy that anyone wants to suggest, and I totally include the Vata in that. Oh, my God, we are so stupid! Is Tevvik there?”
“He is. Well, in his ship, I mean, but he’s in the same vicinity. I can transfer your call to his ship while still keeping you connected to me. Hang on.”
“Seven minutes.”
“You know, Adriana,” Tim said, “that is getting really annoying. And it’s not like Chuck and the others aren’t aware that time’s ticking away.”
“She can count down if she wants to,” Buchanan said in a very calm and also very protective way that suggested that Tim was about one syllable away from getting punched in the face. Reminded me a lot of Jeff.
“Uh, sure, okay, yeah, the pressure’s probably what Chuck actually needs right now,” Tim said. “I’ll just go over and mop his brow or something.” He shot me the WTH look as he skedaddled over to Chuckie.
Jeff leaned his chin on my head and sighed. “All the good stuff won’t matter if we can’t save these people.”
“No, it won’t matter if we can’t stop the Aicirtap.” Would have said more, but Tevvik came on the line. Shared what was going on as fast as humanly possible. “So can you connect to this machine and make it stop?”
“Let me try . . . ow!” There was a lot of cursing that the universal translator wasn’t catching, probably because it related to Vatusan anatomy. “It’s rigged. It’s rigged against us. How could anything that old be set up to repel Vata?”
“Five minutes.”
“It was set up by people who knew the Vata were here and also knew how to circumvent you. I’ll say this for the now dead piles of dust—they were damned smart and cagy, and they were chess masters.” Heaved a sigh. “Our enemy may be dead, but, as he said, he’s about to get the last laugh.”
“The hell with that,” Chuckie snarled. “That bastard who spent his entire life trying to ruin mine is not going to win. Put the Vata on speaker, Kitty.”
Trotted over and did as requested. Those not involved in cleanup came with us. Which was pretty much everyone, since cleaning up didn’t matter at the moment. Put my phone down next to White’s. “Tevvik, you’re on with Chuckie.”
“Can I just unplug this damn machine?” Chuckie asked. “Or will that trigger the bomb? Any guesses?”
“Something made to repel us is likely on some sort of kill switch,” Tevvik said. “To me, that seems a given and the risk is too high to safely attempt.”
The lights went out, the computer stayed on. Rahmi had taken over cleanup and was zapping another pile of clone bodies. “Why are you doing that?” I asked when she was done.
“Three minutes.” Tim wasn’t wrong, Adriana doing this was nerve-wracking. But I understood why she was—everyone dealt with fear in their own ways.
“Just because things look as if they are at the end doesn’t mean that they are,” Rahmi said calmly, as she unplugged the Killer Octopus. “I know you’ve been in similar situations and overcome them to be victorious. I see no reason to assume that this time will be different. You and Charles will figure it out.”
“I’m tired of being in crazed mad scientist lairs, but you’re right, we get out of them. I mean, during Operation Confusion, when we left the room of Hot Zombies we had the entire place folding in on itself on top of us. And Mister White, Chuckie, and I are still here to talk about it.”
Chuckie jerked. “Oh my God, could it be that simple?” He looked around wildly and shoved Tim, who’d righted the best available chair to sit in, out of said chair.
“God, is it me?” Tim asked as Chuckie flung the chair in front of the obvious place someone would sit if they were managing this system, then flung himself into it. The system suddenly seemed far more active.
“V.A.R.I.S., this is Doctor LaRue Demorte Gaultier,” Chuckie said.
“Negative,” the computer said, in a computer voice I remembered. “Doctor Gaultier is a woman.”
“Rahmi! Get over here!” Chuckie leaped out of the chair.
But Wruck beat Rahmi to the punch. He shifted into LaRue and sat down. “V.A.R.I.S., this is Doctor Gaultier,” he said in her voice. “Well done.”
“Thank you, Doctor. What may I assist you with?”
“Status of explosive devices in the Persian Gulf,” Chuckie said, which Wruck repeated in LaRue’s voice.
“All bombs ready to explode in—”
“One minute.”
“– one minute,” the computer echoed.
“Terminate the program,” Wruck said.
“Cannot do that, Doctor Gaultier.”
“No,” Chuckie said. “Terminate Protocol Close Encounter.”
Wruck repeated this.
“Forty-five seconds.”
“Are you sure, Doctor Gaultier?” V.A.R.I.S. asked.
“Yes,” Wruck said.
Nothing.
“We’ve achieved checkmate,” Chuckie said and Wruck repeated.
Nothing.
Chuckie looked at me. “Kitty, there’s got to be a code phrase to confirm. I think that’s what it’s waiting for. What do you have?”
“Thirty seconds.”
Chuckie had guessed for Cliff. But the person who’d created V.A.R.I.S. was LaRue. Flipped my Megalomania Girl cape on and considered what LaRue would have used for a confirmation of cancellation. All I could come up with was what the LaRue in Bizarro World had said to me, roughly right before I killed her.
“Ten seconds.”
“The only good Naked Ape is a dead Naked Ape.”
CHAPTER 93
WRUCK REPEATED THIS, while everyone gave me looks that said they thought the Treeship was going down.
“Thank you for confirmation, Doctor Gaultier,” V.A.R.I.S. said. “Explosives have been deactivated.”
“All of them?” Wruck asked.
“Yes, Doctor Gaultier. All explosives in and around Kharg Island and all explosives on the underwater docking area have been deactivated.”
The entire room let out its collective breath. Heard breaths being let out via both cell phones, too.