Re-Coil - J.T. Nicholas Page 0,80
would need to be made to support the unique anatomy of your new meat. And when working outside, every little mistake, every hesitancy, everything that took a second and a half when it used to only take a second, compounded on each other.
The final sum of that calculation if you were not either very careful, very lucky, or, preferably, both, was death.
What choice did we have but to risk it?
“Yeah,” I said, trying to force more certainty into my voice than I felt. “Yeah, I think I can get aboard.” I hesitated. Something had been bothering me from the very beginning, a thought that I’d kept pushed back to the darkest corners of my mind. It was a memory, mine but not mine, an image from the shuttle my branch had boarded. It was the image of a pair of dead eyes snapping open, and the ponderous rise of what I now knew to be a Bliss-infected puppet. “But then what?” I asked.
“What?” Shay said.
I turned my attention to Korben, staring hard at his cold black eyes. “The plan, as I understand it, is that I swim over there and get the ship under control. That means engines or bridge.” It wasn’t a question. I’d done this enough times that I knew those were the only two places to do what I needed to do to get the ship back in trim. “And on a ship that size, there’s no way the engine compartment is going to do me any good. I’m going in because the security guys can’t, right? Not until they can do a hard dock?”
Korben nodded, an expectant smile on his face. The bastard knew what I was getting at.
“And that’s not just a small shuttle. Even with the better equipment I procured from Genetechnic, it’s going to take time to cut into the hull. I’m talking hours.” Another nod. “Then how in the holy fuck am I supposed to deal with whatever countermeasures—by which I mean army of cyber-zombies—that the virus is bound to have on that ship by now? There were over a thousand souls. If even ten percent of them have been infected…” I trailed off. I was aware of Shay staring at me in horror, as the realization of what I was actually walking into dawned on her. “I somehow doubt the vaunted intellect of this artificial intelligence is going to let me walk onto the ship and undo its plans. All the skill in the world won’t do me a damn bit of good if I get torn apart by a bunch of AI meat-puppets,” I finished.
“Not to worry, Mr. Langston. I will be coming with you,” Korben replied.
“The hell you say,” I spat back. “What we’re talking about is dangerous enough already. You try and play spaceman and you’re a bigger risk to me than the virus. If you don’t know what you’re doing out there, you’ll get us both killed.”
“If,” he replied succinctly. Then he shrugged, a bare movement of the shoulders. “It’s not as if you have a choice in the matter. I will be coming with you, Mr. Langston.” He offered another smile, this one more sincere. “To protect you, I assure you. You’ve already pointed out the dangers. Without someone willing to attempt the boarding, you won’t have much of a chance at all. And, if it will make you feel better, I will wait until you’re most of the way through the hull before I swim over. I assure you, I have no intention of jostling your elbow. Just keeping the… what did you call them?” He paused then smiled appreciatively. “Ah, yes. Meat-puppets. I will be keeping the meat-puppets off your back while you work.”
Shay rested a hand on my shoulder, and I turned to meet her eyes. “If he’s willing,” she said, then trailed off.
I nodded. I didn’t like it, but Shay was right. If I were a sentient nano-virus hell-bent on wiping clean the minds of humanity and I’d gone to all the trouble of sending a passenger liner tumbling through space, I wouldn’t just leave the bridge unguarded. There was no way for me to do what I needed to do on that ship and fight off whatever “security” the virus had in place. I needed someone to guard my back. The thought of the assassin who had spent months “cleaning up” the mess Genetechnic made of things and racking up God alone knew what kind of body count along the way