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engine overload and self-destruction.
Rick s jaw dropped. Self-destruction? It was bad enough that the override itself had
apparently been overridden, but Sleepwalker s engines weren t programmed for self-
destruction! But even as he had that thought, he saw a tell-tale spike in the engine s
power signature.
Self-destruct in one minute, fifty seconds.
Someone or something had messed with his ship and his computer. Rick threw
himself into a seat. Quickly, his fingers flew across the keys of the auxiliary input, rarely
used because with Elvie they usually could rely on voice commands. But Elvie didn t
seem to be home at the moment&
Self-destruct in one minute, forty seconds.
Rick slapped his forehead. That s what was wrong with her& the voice had no
personality because it wasn t Elvie& it was the computer itself speaking. Somehow
Elvie had been erased from the system. He had to reboot her from backups.
As he shoved in the data-store crystal, he wondered how out of date the
information on it was. Elvie was responsible for copying herself, but he knew she didn t
do it as often as she should. He watched the loader as it sucked in the crystal and
blinked a few times. Holding his breath and mentally crossing his fingers, he watched
the gauge as it indicated the backup data was loading. Slowly, too slowly. Blasted
interface. He should have had time, but the upload was creeping along.
Self-destruct in one minute, thirty seconds. Self-destruct in one minute, twenty
seconds. Self-destruct in one minute, ten& Hey, what idiot started overloading the
engines?
Rick barked a laugh in relief at hearing the computer s impersonal voice replaced
by Elvie s irritated tones.
Ricky? What s going on?
No time to explain now, Elvie. You need to shut down that power spike.
There was a moment s silence. Rick, I m not sure I can. It is set to overload in forty-
four seconds. You should get out of the ship now before it does.
I m not leaving you. If the ship goes, you ll die.
I ll no longer function& not die. Her words slowed and he knew that most of her
focus was on stopping the overload before it sent the ship s engines into a catastrophic
explosion. But that doesn t mean you need to stay, Rick.
But I am staying, Elvie. Thomas and Harriet are missing and I don t have any way
to track them. I need you for that and I m not giving you up.
You need& me? Her voice sounded surprised and pleased. There was another
long silence and Rick watched the gauge displaying the engine status as it rose toward
critical mass. It crept closer to the red-line mark, beyond which he knew it would
108
Rogues
explode. For a moment it hovered just below that mark before it began subsiding. As
it moved, it picked up speed, quickly reaching the normal operating range.
Rick let out a breath he hadn t realized he was holding. The ship was safe and so
were they.
That was a near miss. I was really worried after finding the darts and blood
Darts? Blood? Ricky, my sensors indicate we re on Deltan. There are three days
missing from my logs. And I can t find Thomas or Harriet!
Rick breathed a sigh of relief. Elvie had backed herself up more recently than he d
feared. Three days wasn t bad. She d updated the backup when they were most of the
way from Willing Park, well after all the important stuff had happened. He wouldn t
have to explain everything from before Sedilous and Harriet.
That s what I was going to ask you. I delivered the vaccine to everyone we d
scheduled, and when I got back here, my pass codes didn t work. You weren t awake,
or conscious, or whatever it is you are when you re functioning.
I know that part, Ricky. Elvie s tone was tart. Any doubt Rick had that it was
really her evaporated. Tell me how we got here and where Thomas and Harriet are.
Oh and while you re at it, what happened to those three days!
We don t have time to talk now, but I promise I ll tell you everything once we re
under way. Right now I need you to figure out who was on our ship and in your
computer system. I have some clean-up work to do in the hold, but as soon as you
know enough to tell us where they were taken, we need to lift off and rescue Harriet
and Thomas.
Do you know where that is?
He paused. I m guessing that wherever Chris-kid and company are is where we re
going to find them. Rick turned to head for the hold. You figure it out, Elvie.
Rick& Her voice sounded hesitant. I think I might have been responsible for
what happened to Thomas and Harriet. I m looking at the comm records and I think I
caught a virus& because I was talking to one of Christian s AIs.
Elvie, I know you wouldn t have done anything on purpose.
No. But it is still my fault. I was talking to Guvnor& he seemed so nice.
Do you think he infected you on purpose?
I don t know. Her voice was speculative. It was a multipart worm& could have
been introduced without his knowledge.
Let s assume for the moment it was. And Elvie&
What, Rick?
It wasn t your fault. You trusted someone and something went wrong. That
happens. Let s get focused on fixing the situation.
Okay, Rick. I ll do that.
109
Liddy Midnight & Cricket Starr
As he reached the hold, Elvie hailed him. Incoming call, Ricky. From Harriet s
friend Bernie. For Harriet. You want to take it?
Sure.
The speaker crackled and Bernie s lovely voice filled the space. Harriet! I m so glad
you re safe.
Rick broke in. Harriet s not here, Ms. LaJunta. This is Rick.
Oh that s not what I wanted to hear. Rick heard the tapping of something,
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