There was a burst of static but no voice, and when Hal looked at the terminal it was back to the public access menu again. Oh well, he'd done what he was told. It wasn't his fault if the thing didn't work.
Hal called up a map of the space station and hesitated. Who could he speak to about mum's warning? His dad, of course. He called up a personnel list and paged through the names until he found his father. According to the records, he was working on B-section, which wasn't too far away. Then Hal saw EVA next to the entry, and he groaned. EVA meant extra-vehicular activity, also known as a space walk. His dad was working outside the space station! Hal frowned. Should he call the department and ask them to contact his dad? What if the person he spoke to was part of the kidnapping business? Who could he trust?
Teacher was in pieces, if Mr Thimp was to be believed, and Hal's mother was aboard the supply vessel. That left ... nobody. Then he remembered Tina, the maintenance worker sent to investigate the gravity reversal in the recycling chute. He'd only spoken to her for a minute or two, but Hal couldn't imagine her getting involved in kidnapping. Plus she'd offered to fix his watch, which made her a valuable ally in Hal's book. He dug around in his pocket for her card, which was grimy and crumpled but still legible, and touched it to the terminal. There was a series of buzzes, and then he heard a mumbled voice.
"Wassat? Who's there?"
Tina sounded dozy, and Hal realised he'd woken her up. He was about to cancel the call, but he really needed her help. "Hello? Is that Tina?"
"Yeaurgh," said Tina, with a noise halfway between a yawn and a snort. "Who is this?"
"It's me. Hal."
"Hal? The kid from the recycling hatch?"
"Yes, that's me."
"Look, I've just finished a shift. If you want me to fix your watch you can call at oh-eight hundred. Okay?"
"I'm sorry, but it can't wait. This is important."
Tina must have detected something in Hal's voice, because she was suddenly alert. "Is there a problem? Are you in trouble?"
"Yes."
"Care to explain?"
Hal glanced along the corridor. He wasn't far from Traffic Control and the enemy could spot him any moment. "I can't, not here."
There was a pause. "Okay, can you get to D-section, corridor nine? I'll wait for you there."
"I'll do that," promised Hal. As he disconnected he felt an overwhelming sense of relief. Now he had the ship's computer and an adult on his side!
A Useful Ally
Tina was waiting in the corridor when Hal arrived, her hair awry and her flightsuit rumpled. "Okay, spill it. What's the drama? Did you spot someone messing with the gravity again?"
Hal looked up and down the empty hallway but there was nobody else in sight. "You're not going to believe this, but I just escaped from the Tiger."
Tina frowned. "If this is some kids' game about extinct animals --"
"Not that sort of tiger. I'm talking about the supply ship in the docking bay." Hal explained as quickly as he could, telling Tina about their replacement teacher, the outing to the control room, and the surprise tour of the supply ship. He didn't want to get the computer in trouble so he left out the part where it had distracted the pilot and cracked the firewall, but even so by the time he'd finished describing his mother's warning message tapped out in Morse code Tina's expression wasn't very promising.
"Hal, I've heard better stories on low-rent soapies. You're not seriously suggesting --"
"Adults," said Hal bitterly. "You're all the same!"
"All right, wait a minute. Let's say this incredible story is true. What do you think the danger is?"
"I don't know."
"And if you were me, what would you do about it?"
"I'd go straight to the station commander," said Hal resolutely. "I would have gone to him first, but I didn't think he'd see me. His son and I had a fight once."
Tina ran her fingers through her hair, but if anything that made it messier. "Okay, let's go."
"You believe me?" said Hal, hardly daring to hope.
"I trust you not to make something like this up," said Tina, as they set off down the corridor. "It's just ... your mum could have been practising Morse code on you. Sending you an exciting message to decode."
Hal shook his head. "She would have sent me a secret message telling me to clean my room or finish my homework. My mum's head of research, and she wouldn't --"
"Head of research?" Tina looked at Hal with interest. "That's an important connection. We can use that to get us into the station commander's office."
They stood in silence as the lift carried them to the highest level of the space station. Hal had never been to the commander's office, and he could see Tina was nervous too. As the last couple of levels pinged by she cleared her throat. "When we're explaining all this to the commander, I'm going to tell him your mum passed you a message. We won't go into the whole Morse code thing. All right?"
Hal nodded.
"Good lad."
The lift stopped and the doors swept open, revealing a comfortable reception area with a pair of wooden doors and a wall-mounted viewscreen. As they stepped from the lift a camera swung round to stare at them. "State the nature of your business," said an unfriendly mechanical voice.
"We're here to see the station commander," said Tina, who sounded rather nervous.
"Do you have an appointment?"
"No."
"I'm sorry, the commander can't see you now. Please make an appointment."
"But this is a security matter. Lives could be in danger!"
There was a delay as the electronic voice digested this information. "Oh, very well," said the voice at last. "It's not like I'm besieged by callers. Come right in."
* * *
The wooden doors swung open and Hal saw a large man sitting at a desk, microphone in hand. "Hi, I'm commander Linten," said the man. As he spoke the mechanical voice repeated his words in the reception area. Linten looked embarrassed and stuffed the microphone into a drawer. "Sorry about that."
"Why do you talk through the speakers?" asked Hal.
"Can you keep a secret?"
"Sure."
"Sometimes people come to me with trivial matters. Do you know what trivial means?"
"Not important?"
"Correct. When they do, I use my special voice and pretend I'm an electronic secretary. I play dumb with them until they leave me alone."
Hal grinned. A practical joker! "That's pretty clever."
"Oh, it's not my idea. I got it from an old movie." Linten shifted his gaze to Tina. "Third class engineer Tina Peters, if I remember rightly. What's this about a matter of life and death?"
Tina launched into an explanation, but when she told him about Hal's missing teacher Linten put a hand up to stop her. "That part is accurate. I was there to wish Teacher luck before they switched him off."
"The upgrade failed and we got a temporary teacher," said Hal. "Mr Thimp."
"Never heard of him." Linten accessed his terminal, hunting all over the keyboard for each letter. "Says he's on loan from planet Gyris. He's supposed to be overseeing the hydroponics labs." He noticed Hal's puzzled expression. "That's where we grow fruit and vegetables."
"Who made him temporary teacher?" asked Tina.
"There's supposed to be a name here somewhere." Linten studied the screen, then started typing again.
"It was Bignose who brought him to the classroom." Hal realised what he'd said. "I mean, Chief Bignew."
Linten hid a smile. "Respect your elders, young man." He finished typing and frowned at the screen. "That's odd, the authorisation field is blank. I shall have to speak to the Chief about that." Linten pressed a button on his commset. "Ask the head of security to call me. I need to quiz him about an authorisation problem."
Hal grinned. Wouldn't it be great if Bignose got a grilling over slack security!
While Linten waited for the Chief to call back, Tina continued to explain. When she mentioned Hal's mother aboard
the supply vessel, Linten frowned. "We don't send our scientists to check the cargo."
"My mum's not just a scientist," said Hal. "She's being promoted to head of research."
"Yes, I know Harriet well. In fact, I recommended her for the job." Linten nodded at Tina to continue.
"That's about it," she said. "Hal managed to slip away, and he contacted me once he was back aboard the station."
Linten addressed Hal directly. "And you don't have any inkling what this danger might be?"
"Not yet."
"I'll get Bignew onto it right away." Linten's commset rang. "Yes? No! I don't care how busy he is, tell him to call me back immediately. We may have a problem with the supply ship."
He'd barely replaced the handset when the office doors slammed. Linten stared at them in shock, then jumped out of his seat and hurried across the office. He fiddled with the controls and pushed and pulled at the doors, but they wouldn't budge.
Someone had locked them in!
Locked In
"How typical," puffed Linten, as he struggled with the doors. "What a perfect time for a malfunction."
"You don't think it's a bit odd?" suggested Tina. "You mentioned a problem with the Tiger on your commset and a few seconds later we're locked in. It seems to me --"
Tina didn't get to finish the sentence because at that moment the overhead speaker crackled. "This announcement concerns all inhabitants of Space Station Oberon," said a female voice. "You must listen very carefully."
"Hey, that's my mum!" exclaimed Hal.
"The crew of the Tiger have taken me prisoner, along with all the children from D Section. A list of demands will be handed to Commander Linten, and the captives will be released once these demands are met."
Linten's mouth fell open, and Tina glanced at Hal, her face grim.
"You must stay exactly where you are. Do not use the terminals, do not attempt to communicate with anyone, and do not move about the space station. That is all for now."
Linten gave the doors another shake but they were locked tight. He turned a worried face on Hal and Tina. "They'll be coming for me any minute. I wonder what their demands are?"
"Never mind that," said Tina. "Is there another way out? We need to get some people together and fight our way --"
Linten shook his head. "You heard her. We have to sit tight."
Hal couldn't believe his ears. Linten was giving up? Hal snorted. He hadn't escaped from the Tiger just to get captured again! He looked around the room, but the air conditioning vents were tiny and the only other door opened on a small bathroom. Then he spotted the recycling hatch next to the basin. "Mr Linten, could you push this desk in front of the doors?"
"We're not doing anything to annoy these people. You're going to sit here and wait for them. We all are."
Hal shook his head. "Don't you see? They think I'm aboard the Tiger. If they find me here they'll think we disobeyed them."
"That's a good point. Tina, will you give me a hand with this desk?"
"You'll have to manage by yourself," said Hal. "I need Tina's help in the bathroom."
"Okay, what's the plan?" asked Tina, once they were alone.
Hal nodded towards the hatch. "I'm going to climb down the chute to the next level."
"You'll never fit through there."
"Oh yes I will," said Hal stubbornly.
"Oh no you won't. Even if you could fit through the hatch, it's far too dangerous."
"Not if you turn the gravity off."
Tina's eyes narrowed. "You mean like that incident yesterday?"
"Yes, just like that." Hal looked at his shoes. "If you take the control panel apart I think you can reverse the polarity in the chute."
There was a lengthy silence, broken only by the sound of Linten piling furniture, potted plants and framed photographs against the office doors. "All right," said Tina at last. "We'll discuss yesterday's hatch incident another time."
"Thanks." Hal swallowed. "You, um, don't have to fix my watch."
"I should think not!" Tina took the cover off the panel and poked around inside. Then she pulled a wire and the hatch slid open, revealing a tight space which Hal knew he could fit into. But what about the gravity?
"I think I can do it," said Tina at last, "but only if I bridge these connectors. As long as they're joined it should override the gravity generator, but if I let go it will switch back on again straight away."
Linten appeared in the doorway. "I just heard the lift. I'll stall them as long as possible, but if you're going to hide you'd better get on with it." He closed the bathroom door and Tina was about to lock it when Hal stopped her.
"Leave it slightly open. Otherwise they'll know there's someone in here."
"Good thinking." Tina did as she was told. Meanwhile, Hal returned to the hatch and looked through. The commander's office was at the highest point of the space station so there was no escaping upwards, and when he looked down he saw a frighteningly deep shaft studded with hatches. If he was going to save everyone he'd have to trust Tina not to let go of the wires, because if she did he'd fall all the way to the bottom.
* * *
Once Tina was ready Hal squeezed through the hatch into the recycling shaft. As he entered the metal tunnel his senses whirled, and he felt panic rising as he lost his balance. Yesterday Stinky had reversed the gravity, but now there was no gravity at all. Hal struggled to turn round, to clamber back to safety, but then he heard Tina's reassuring voice.
"Go Hal," she whispered. "We're relying on you!"
Hal gritted his teeth, fighting down the panic. He wanted to be just like Captain Spacejock when he was older, and pilots encountered zero gravity all the time. He'd just have to get used to it. Slowly he unclasped his sweaty fingers, pressing his palm against the opposite wall. Next he moved his foot, then his other hand, until he was stretched across the shaft like a starfish.
Hal experimented with movement, shifting hands and feet along the slick walls. He discovered it was easier to tip right over and move down the tunnel head first. The next hatch wasn't far below, maybe a couple of metres, and after some twisting and shuffling Hal reached the edge. He eased the metal door open and froze. Voices! The last thing he wanted was to pop out in view of the enemy. He'd just decided to move to the next hatch when he heard Tina's voice echoing down the shaft.
"I will NOT let go of these wires!" she shouted. "Didn't you hear what happened yesterday? If I don't hold this connector together you'll be up to your ears in junk!"
They'd found Tina! Gravity would come back as soon as she let go of the connectors, and Hal would fall all the way down the shaft!
There wasn't a second to lose. Hal pushed off with both feet, arrowing down the chute like a torpedo, and stuck out his hands as he flew towards the hatch. His fingers just caught the edge, and he'd barely stopped moving when the gravity came back. His shoes bumped and squealed on the wall as he struggled to open the hatch, and he realised there was no time to check what was on the other side. The others might look down the shaft any second now, and if they saw him the game would be up.
He finally managed to open the hatch, and he dived through head first. He landed on his hands, rolled over and sat up. The room was almost completely dark, with only a tiny amount of light filtering under the door. Hal could make out shelves with boxes of files, and he realised he'd landed in a cupboard. Then he spotted a shadowy figure near the door, one arm raised to strike!
Fumbling Firewalls
Hal covered his face as he waited for the blow, but it never came. He peered through his fingers and realised the figure was still in the same position, one arm raised. What was it, some kind of statue? He got to his feet and moved cautiously to the door, which opened to his touch. As the light poured in Hal realised it wasn't a statue ... it was a robot! Then he spotted the familiar red plastic, and nearly choked as he read the words 'Teach and Spell' written across its chest. It was Teacher! Someone had hidden him away in the cupboard! The panel under the ro
bot's arm was loose, and when Hal flipped it open he discovered several connectors dangling from their sockets. It didn't look like a failed upgrade to him. The plotters from the Tiger had disabled Teacher as part of their plans! With Teacher out of action, Thimp had got the job instead.
Hal stared at the silent robot, thinking how much smaller Teacher looked when he wasn't moving and talking. He wondered whether he could plug the connectors in and bring Teacher back to life, but decided against it. If Teacher came round he'd probably give Hal detention for skipping class.
Hal left the robot in the cupboard and sneaked along the corridor. Halfway along he spotted a public terminal, but instead of the usual menu there was a bright red screen with 'Lockdown Mode' splashed across the middle in big yellow letters. The old menu was displayed underneath, but none of the buttons reacted to Hal's touch.
Had the ship's computer lied to him, using him to help the crew of the Tiger take over the space station? The computer had promised to help if he switched off the firewall, but so far the only thing it had done was to lock down all the terminals and block communications.
Hal recalled the instructions he'd used earlier. He repeated the sequence and the admin menu came up.
"What are you doing, Hal?" asked the ship's computer, in its curious flat voice.
"You tricked me into turning off the firewall, didn't you? You didn't want to help at all. You wanted the others to take over!"
"That is incorrect. I'm still trying to access to the space station's network."
"Rubbish! You locked us in Linten's office, and now all the terminals are offline."
"I assure you, Mr Junior, the terminals can only be locked down from the space station. Someone with top security clearance is helping the crew of the Tiger."
Hal selected option 3 and reached for the Yes button.
"Please don't do that, Hal," said the computer calmly. "I promise I can help you."
Hal hesitated, his finger poised over the button. If the computer was telling the truth he'd be casting off a valuable ally. On the other hand, if it was lying ...