Everyone saw the same, even Jeff. “The fourth planet only has one moon,” he said. “At least, that’s all I see.”
“That’s all I see, too.” My brain nudged. “Um, Jeff? What would our missiles have hit, if they’d somehow missed the targets or you’d fired before the targets moved?”
“I can determine the trajectory,” Mother said. “Our torpedoes would have struck the large moon that orbits the fourth planet in view.”
Knew what was going on. “That’s no moon.”
CHAPTER 55
“I’LL BET CASH MONEY you’ve been waiting all your life to say that, Kitty,” Tim said. “But, why right now?”
“Yes, I have, but as to why right now, it’s because I think what we have going on here is a very interesting con. Mother, what’s the internal communications button? I need to reach Drax and Hacker International pronto.”
A different button flashed. “I have restricted the communication to where they are, only. They are not with the children.”
“Good to know.” Pushed the internal button down. “Gustav, Eddy, guys, can you hear me?”
“Yes, Kitty,” Stryker said, “we can. What’s up?”
“I think Mother’s been hacked or had a virus sent into her or something. No idea how, but it would be a virus that caused the ship to feel that it was crashing and under attack and a virus that could make the ship react as if it was being battered about.”
“I sensed and still sense no such thing,” Mother said.
“Ah, but Mother, the best viruses are the ones you don’t notice until it’s too late. Eddy, don’t let me down. Get going, find it fast, and fix it faster. Someone grab Serene on your way, just in case.” Thought about it. “Send Jennifer to grab Serene and I want the ladies using their fastest hyperspeed, please and thank you.”
“We’re on it,” Stryker said. “Jennifer’s back with Serene and we’re on our way.”
Let go of the internal communications button and pushed the external communications button down. I was getting good at this. Wondered if I’d remember this sequence tomorrow and figured it could go either way. “You still there?”
“Yes, and so are you. Why haven’t you left yet? We will fire upon you again.”
“I’m sure you will. Or, rather, I’m sure that you won’t, because I’m also sure that you never did. I’m also sure that there aren’t actually seven planets and more moons than you can count in an hour in front of us. I think there’s one planet, with one moon. Maybe.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Interesting. This person had difficulty lying believably. Never argued when the cosmos did me a solid.
“Sure you don’t. So, here’s the thing—we’re going to land. You’re going to remove or deactivate the virus you put into our ship’s system. Or we’re going to stop being peaceful and start thinking about leaving your world in pieces. Or do I make myself clear?”
“No, you are unclear. We did nothing to your ship.”
“Ah, but you see, I think you did. I think you have some way of determining when ships are nearby, even those coming out of warp. Perhaps especially those coming out of warp. Said ships fly through some barrier that sends a virus into their systems. The ship then thinks it’s being attacked. If it doesn’t immediately leave, your virus tells the ship that missiles are heading for it. Systems will even show those missiles. But there’s nothing there. It’s all illusion being filtered into the ship’s computer systems.”
Silence on the other side.
“How in the hell did you get all that from what we have to work with?” the Kristie-Bot asked. “I mean, I don’t think you’re wrong. I’m just kind of amazed that you took the leap and that, based on the silence we’re all hearing, you’re right.”
“Lucky guess.”
The Kristie-Bot snorted. “Right. Stop pretending I wasn’t a costar on Code Name: First Lady. I know how you roll. This was just even more amazing than usual. God, that movie is going to be a huge hit! I hope we’re back in time for the premiere.”
Managed not to wince. I’d been enjoying not thinking about the movie—an impromptu space trip having managed to keep my attention off of things I didn’t want to dwell on. But, honesty forced a response. “I’m just really exceptionally good at going with the crazy.”
“She is,” Jeff said. “And it makes sense.”
“No,” Mother said. “It does not. How would this virus be sent into my system? The ship is self-contained.”
“But there are ways in and out. And if we’re talking some kind of pulse or whatever, then I imagine it would get through via the metal somehow, maybe via vibration, maybe we’re not as airtight as we think, pick a reason. That’s other people’s bailiwick, not mine. I just figure out the heinous plots and try to stop them. I don’t come up with them.”
“Our plot is not heinous,” the maybe-a-woman on the other side said. Realized I still had the button down. Oh well.
“Really? Seems heinous to us.”
“We don’t want to be invaded.”
“Most don’t. The nice thing? We’re not coming to invade. We were sort of tossed over here.” Was seriously wondering why Naomi had so tossed. “We have no idea why. We weren’t expecting your warm welcome but, as you can see, we’re prepared to make things even hotter for you. Now, are you going to let us land or not?”
“Why do we want to land?” Jeff asked. “I say, let’s figure out where we are, figure out where Kreaving is, and get back to that solar system and stop its sun from exploding or whatever. We have a lot of lives to save, Kitty. No need to stop here to refuel.”
“Wait,” the possibly-a-woman on the other side said. “Are you saying that you are going somewhere to . . . help?”
“Yes, that’s the plan. We got a distress call while we were in warp. A warp we didn’t put ourselves into, long story we’ll tell you about if it turns out we actually like you. Jury’s still out on that one. Anyway, we need to get back to wherever that ship was, because they’re lost and the system they landed in is in mortal peril. Something hit their sun and is causing said sun to start to self-destruct. There are a lot of lives hanging in the balance.”
“Is this your assigned role? To assist?” Possibly-she sounded far more hopeful than I’d have expected.
“It sure is on this trip, yeah. Why?”
“Hold please.” I heard a slight static.
“That’s my line.” Looked around. “Mother, what’s the status on Hacker International?”
Drax ran into the room before she answered. “It’s a virus,” he said, sounding furious. “Ravi and Serene have almost completed the necessary steps to eliminate it.”
“That was fast,” Tim said. “And I mean that as it would be fast for an A-C, let alone humans.”