CHAPTER 22
August 25, 2089
“Mimi, are you certain this is the panel?” Ray asked quietly.
“Yes, Ray,” the AI instructed him via an image in his HUD view. “Remove the outer hasps on each side underneath the beveled edge here, here, and here.”
“I feel it right there. Got it.” Ray ran his fingers in behind the top of the panel until he felt the rest of the hasps and popped it free. He eased the panel down and stuck it to his tool case with a bit of hook-and-loop tape.
He shined a light down into the instrument box that was on the interior bulkhead just beneath the gamma ray telescope on the port aft section of the ship. The surface-mounted integrated nanocircuitry was so overwhelmingly complex that there would be no way to actually adjust the system at the component level. The components were beyond microscopic. But that was immaterial to Ray as he was more prepared than merely trying to hack into a system.
“Circuit board identified,” Mimi said as a small card about three centimeters by two centimeters was highlighted in his view. Circles and arrows appeared, pointing out fasteners and two small screws.
“Yep. Got it.” Ray reached into his little brown tool case and pulled a small tool about the size of an ink pen from within it. He carefully worked his hand through the box and placed the tip of the tool on the fasteners. As he depressed a small membrane on the side of the tool, there was a faint whirring sound as the magnetic tip backed out the screws. He set the screws against the magnetic plate in his toolbox and then carefully popped the circuit card free and stowed it away amongst the other things in his kit. He then pulled a small translucent silver plastic bag from the kit and opened the ziplocked end. He looked at the card as he extracted it from the bag, noting that it looked just like the one he’d removed.
“There we go.” He placed it into the slot and then reached for the tool and the screws stuck to the magnetic plate.
* * *
Roy Burbank shuffled swiftly down the corridor. He laughed at himself as he passed by the cryosleep room entrance that he’d gotten lost in the night before. He was following a map in his head to the gamma ray telescopes, starting with the one at the port aft of the ship. He had to make certain that the systems hadn’t been monkeyed around with. He wasn’t exactly sure how he would know, but he had seen every circuit board, every wire, and every screw of that system during testing. He just thought something, if anything were wrong, would stick out for him to see. At least, that was what he was hoping for.
He cycled the hatch on telescope instrument room and was immediately startled by the door being pulled open before he could grasp the lever. The light from inside the room silhouetted a man standing in the hatchway. At first glance Roy thought it was a man he knew, but that couldn’t be.
“Patrick?” Roy rubbed at his eyes and blinked several times. “What the f—”
He didn’t have time to finish his statement as the man pushed off the floor and bounded into him like a missile. Roy was still confused, and even more so, as he was slammed against another bulkhead just outside the doorway. His head cracked against the metal wall with a thud and he saw stars. He hit hard enough to be concussed. He then felt a fist pound into his nose and then his eyes began to sting and tear up. He could feel blood rushing from his nostrils down his face and could taste the saltiness from it on his lips.
“P-Patrick, what are you doing here?” Roy stammered as he fought to get free from the man’s grip. “Stop it!”
Roy flailed helplessly against his attacker, but he honestly had no idea how to fight. Roy realized that as far as he could recall, he’d never even been in a fight as a boy. He punched, slapped, and squirmed but he was overmatched and quickly overwhelmed. He felt something press against his neck and then sting like a wasp had gotten him there.
“Patrick O’Hearn? When did you start wearing glasse . . . ” Roy slurred as the light in the room tunneled out and he became indifferent to what was going on around him. He looked up, confused, as one of his old engineering team members stood over him doing . . . well, Roy wasn’t sure what. His head rolled sideways and he could see through the hatchway of the telescope room to the windows. He looked at the stars visible through the window beyond the telescope aperture. His mind drifted. Roy was tired. Very tired. He just wanted to sleep.
* * *
“Dammit, now I have to deal with this.” Ray Gaines looked at the now unconscious Dr. Burbank. “What the hell were you doing coming in here, Roy? Mimi, jam his AI. Deactivate it if you can.”
“I’ve already deactivated it, Roy. It was a low-level data assistant,” Mimi responded.
“Good.”
Ray quickly ran through scenarios in his mind. How could he cover up this? If they found Burbank, then they would know something was up. If they didn’t find Burbank, they’d know something was up. Somehow, they had to think Burbank left the ship as planned and all was well. That was going to be tough.
“I guess contingency plan B is now going to have to be plan A.” Ray grabbed Roy under the arms and tossed him over his right shoulder. “Come on, Roy, we’ve got work to do.”
Ray shuffled down the corridor a few meters to the entrance of the cryosleep room. He was his typically calm self even though his plans just had a major disruption. Mimi was keeping the cameras hacked and was watching all the tracking data for crew. The cryosleep room was very rarely visited and it was approaching lunchtime. He was likely to be uninterrupted for some time to come. There was time. He could manage the problem.
“Mimi, cycle the cryobed for Thomas Pinkersly.”
“Wake cycle initiated.”
“Good. Roy, I’m leaving you here for a moment. I have to finish up next door. Don’t go away. I’ll be right back.” Ray chuckled lightly.
* * *
“What the hell is going on?” Thomas Pinkersly blinked at the lights while holding his left hand to his forehead. “Why are you here?”
“There’s been a complication, Pinkersly.” Ray grunted. “Now get out of that thing and get your clothes off.”
“We had a deal,” Pinkersly protested. “My family . . . ”
“Shut up and do what I said if you want your deal to continue.” Ray began undressing Roy Burbank and tossing his clothes into a pile to the side. “Put those on and put your clothes on him—now.”
“I think I’m gonna throw up,” Pinkersly said. “Is he dead?”
“No, he’s not dead. Now shut up and get moving.” Ray cycled through various menus in his HUD, looking for the right instructions. “Here we go. Cryo initiation procedures. Mimi, can you identify the right sequence for this?”
“I am currently erasing the history of this bed and will have it ready in a moment,” Mimi replied. “Be certain to remove any binding items of jewelry or clothing from him.”
“Just get the bed ready.” He paused for moment. “Mimi, rewrite Burbank’s ID file for Pinkersly. And vice versa.”
“Understood, Ray.”
It took the better part of ten minutes, but Ray and Pinkersly managed to get Roy into the cryobed, seal it, and have Mimi cycle the sleep initiation sequence. Pinkersly followed closely behind Ray down the corridor.
The docking airlock was open and Ray ushered Pinkersly through with a smile while flashing their security data cards to the guards there. All he had to do was get him through security, into his private quarters, and keep Jacobs away from him until he could get Pinkersly up to speed on Burbank’s identity.
“Ray Gaines, State Department. This is Dr. Roy Burbank.” Ray held his data card to the scanner. The enlisted E-3 Space Force guard read the screen and then looked at them.
“Welcome aboard, Dr. Burbank. Good to see you again, Mr. Gaines.” The soldier motioned them through.