Empire of Light

Corso opened his mouth and paused momentarily. 'No, not yet.'

Martinez leaned over the console, and Corso watched as he pulled up screeds of data, muttering while he worked.

'Take a look at this,' he said, moving to one side. Corso glanced at the data and saw that it was a series of logs.

'The past twelve hours of visual records,' explained Martinez. 'All of them wiped. You need high-level access to be able to pull off a trick like that – the kind of access only an interface chair gives you.'

Corso stared at the data. 'Before you start pointing fingers at the team, remember our passenger in the hold. Besides, the Mos Hadroch might have triggered some glitches early on as well.'

Martinez frowned. 'Trader's stuck inside his own ship. He surely can't pull off a trick like this from inside there, can he?'

'I don't know,' Corso replied. 'But then, I don't know if Ted or Dakota could have pulled this off either.'

Just then, Lamoureaux came on to the bridge, looking distinctly out of breath. 'I came straight back here as soon as I heard the alarm. What's happened?'

Corso ignored the look on Martinez's face as he turned to face the machine-head. 'We don't know yet,' he told Lamoureaux. 'I was hoping you might know something.'

Lamoureaux shook his head. 'Most of the data-space is down. Dakota would tell you just the same.'

'Where is she?' asked Martinez.

'She's on her way here.'

'Just to be clear about it, even with the ship's networks down, you can still talk to each other?'

'Sure.' Lamoureaux nodded. 'Machine-head hardware creates its own spontaneous networks, as long as you're reasonably close to each other.'

'Could you get in touch with any of the others by using your implants?' asked Corso.

Lamoureaux thought for a moment. 'Like use them to reroute some of the low-level comms? Yeah, maybe. The primary systems are down, but secondary and back-up seem to be rebooting spontaneously.'

'Go to it,' said Corso.

Lamoureaux headed back to the interface chair.

'All right,' said Martinez, just as Schiller and Perez entered the bridge, 'here's what we're going to do. We've got no idea if this is hostile action, but until we know otherwise we have to assume it is. We need to find out where everyone is and start piecing together how all this happened.'

'And if we can't find them?'

'Then we go looking,' Martinez replied. Dakota reached the hub twenty minutes after the alarm had shut off and found Nancy Schiller and Dan Perez already waiting there. Both were armed with pulse-rifles.

'That leaves just Driscoll and Olivarri,' Schiller observed to Perez, as Dakota approached.

'Any idea what's going on?' asked Dakota, grabbing a wall rung.

'We're assuming it's sabotage until we know otherwise,' said Perez. 'We're just keeping an eye out.'

'What for?'

'Can't rule out a third party,' Schiller growled, patting her rifle. 'Lots of places on board for a saboteur to hide in. That means we've got to be ready for any surprises.'

'But no word from Driscoll or Olivarri?'

Perez shook his head. 'Not yet.'

'Look, you're forgetting about Trader. I'll go back down to the stern and check he's still where he should be.' She started to head back the way she had come.

'No,' said Schiller, raising her rifle towards Dakota. 'You stay right here where we can see you.'

'Okay,' said Dakota, turning back slowly. 'If that's what you want.'

Perez put one hand on the barrel of Schiller's rifle and pushed it back down. 'Nancy, let's first work out what happened before jumping to any conclusions, okay?'

Schiller's mouth worked like she wanted to say something in response, but then she relented, lowering her rifle and muttering something foul under her breath.

'Look, right now we're just trying to figure out where everyone is,' Perez explained. 'Most comms are still down, so we've been sitting tight and waiting to see who makes it back here, assuming they've got the sense to head for the bridge. If Olivarri and Driscoll don't show, we're going to go looking for them.'

'In that case,' said Dakota, 'you're going to want to break out the spider-mechs, especially if you think there might be saboteurs on board. They're independent of the Mjollnir's control systems, so they probably won't have been affected by whatever's happened. Plus, they can move around the ship and report back a lot faster than any of us can. In fact, I could run a couple of dozen of them at once single-handed. That'd free you up to-'

'Goddammit, no,' snarled Schiller, clearly working up a temper. 'How do we know she's not the one who did all this?' she said, gesturing towards Dakota. 'Maybe if we lock up her and Lamoureaux, we won't have to worry about either of them sabotaging anything else until we have some idea just what the fuck is going on.'

'You have no idea what you're talking about,' Dakota snapped, now losing her own temper. 'I'm sick and tired of you thinking everyone with an implant is some kind of devil out to-'

'Stop it, both of you!' Perez yelled. 'Keep this crap up and we won't even deserve to survive what's up ahead. We either work together or we give up now. Standing around pointing fingers solves nothing.' He looked at Dakota. 'It's a good idea, Miss Merrick – but I'm coming with you.' Ty panicked when at first he couldn't raise anyone over the comms system, then nearly convinced himself he was trapped there in the lab as the doors failed to respond. But he soon located the emergency overrides and made his way out into the passageway beyond.

When the alarm finally shut off, his ears still rang in the sudden silence. He pushed himself cautiously along through the ship, u

He worked his way onwards until he reached a hydroponics deck filled with lush scents, the air warm and humid. There was also a transport station there, but when he tried one of the waiting cars it didn't respond.

He was going to have to get himself to the bridge the hard way.

Ty retraced his steps, pushing himself along a wide passageway until he found his path blocked by an enormous pressure door that must have slid into place when the alarm went off. He stared at it, dismayed, wondering if the ship had lost atmosphere in some areas. He tried the overrides, but this time they didn't work.

He doubled back and tried another route. Once again, he found his way barred, but this time the overrides did work.

He passed through three more such doors on his journey towards the centrifuge, before he sighted several bright points of light moving towards him from up ahead. He waited until they drew closer, finally resolving into half-a-dozen spider-mechs propelling themselves forward on gentle puffs of gas.

'Hey! Driscoll! Is that you?'

Ty recognized Dan Perez coming along the passageway a short distance behind the spiders, accompanied by Dakota Merrick. Ty moved to one side to let the spiders pass. Two of them cut off down a side passage, while the rest kept on in the same direction, heading back towards the hydroponics deck.

'Where were you when the alert sounded?' asked Dakota, as she and Perez drew abreast of him.

'In the labs,' Ty replied. 'I had trouble getting out.'

'And the Mos Hadroch? It's still where it should be?'

The question surprised Ty. For some reason, the possibility that it might be in danger had simply never occurred to him. 'It's fine,' he replied. 'But who would want to take it?'

Dakota got a strange look on her face. 'One of us should go back and stay there, keep an eye on things.'

'Then, in that case, I might as well go back myself,' said Ty.

Perez nodded. 'Yeah, good idea. We just needed to make sure everyone was all right while the comms are down. The others are up on the bridge trying to figure out what happened. I'll send a couple of spiders with you as well, just in case.'