Expert Assistance

  “Very well. Send us down.”

  Jake and Evvie materialized in the food processing center. Jake glanced around, looking for the guardbot. When he found it he motioned to Evvie. The two of them quietly approached the robot as it carried out its night patrol.

  The guardbot would not have scared anyone had they walked up on it from behind, as Jake and Evvie did. It was a meter-tall gray cylinder with four small wheels surrounding a single tread. Looking at it from that direction, a person might have assumed it was a prop robot from an ancient movie, replete with remote controls and a sound generator.

  Only when it turned around did it look more serious. Two centimeters from the cylinder top was a red light. It was the housing for the bot’s sensor array. The light wasn’t essential, but generations of studies had proved that a robot with a red light near the top was more threatening than one with no light, or with a different color of light. Ten centimeters below the light was a stubby black finger signifying the bot’s stun blaster. The edge of the finger started to turn blue when it turned to face Jake and Evvie.

  Jake nodded at Evvie and towards the bot. Evvie nodded back, and tapped the screen of Jake’s perscomp.

  The bot’s program immediately noticed the two intruders and was about to order the blaster to fire. But the bot received its orders over the air, and another part of its programming told it to inquire first before shooting, in case this was a surprise inspection. Jake had set up his perscomp to transmit instructions to the bot over the frequency it was expecting its new orders. The instructions were simple: Jake and Evvie were indeed carrying out an inspection, and the bot should not interfere with them. Unaware it was being lied to, the guardbot turned away from the two and went back to its patrol routine.

  Jake nodded in satisfaction to Evvie. She handed the perscomp to him. He gave her a small device that looked like a pistol. He pointed to a corner of the large room. Evvie headed in that direction, while he walked to the injection equipment.

  Jake suspected that a weapons discharge might set off an alarm, so vaporizing the drug supply was out of the question. His next thought was to let Evvie coat a corrosive agent onto the supply. He thought better of it when he realized that she do more damage with something like that. His final choice was to give her a sonic injector loaded with an agent that would render the Lypinisan-05 ineffective.

  He had a similar conundrum when trying to figure out how to disable the drug injection system. The solution was so obvious that he was slightly ashamed that it hadn’t occurred to him immediately. He shut the system down, took a fine-point laser-drill from his belt, and used it to fry several tiny but extremely crucial, and expensive to replace, parts.

  Within ten minutes Jake and Evvie had completed their tasks. They teleported back to the ship. Evvie went immediately to bed, while Jake put away the tools. When he was done he told Odin to monitor the listening device in the executive meeting room, and he went to sleep.

  The next day Odin reported that the subject of the injection system was the sole topic of an executive meeting set for two hours before dinner. Jake took a seat at his chair on the upper deck of the bridge. Evvie sat down next to him, and on cue the device began broadcasting the meeting to them.

  “We have a serious problem,” one of the executives, a man named Thorne, told the others. “It seems that last night our drug injection equipment was damaged.”

  “Sabotaged?” one the executives asked.

  “I’m not sure. Some vital parts were burned, maybe by a laser. The guardbot’s log shows that two people were in the room during the night. The video doesn’t show anything out of the ordinary.”

  “Was the video tampered with?” Maxis asked.

  “I don’t think so. I couldn’t see any traces of tampering, and the feed seems okay. I have to believe that something did happen.”

  “Can we replace the damaged parts?”

  “We can, sir, but it’ll take a standard month to get them ordered and shipped out here.”

  “So do it.”

  “Sir, these parts are expensive. Look at these numbers I printed out.” There was the sound of Thorne handing Maxis sheets of paper.

  “Ah.”

  “Yes, sir. The cost eats up most of this quarter’s repair budget.”

  “We’ve already budgeted that to upgrade the silver extraction equipment,” another executive said.

  “I know,” Maxis snapped. “We can’t take care of this, and do that upgrade.”

  “I don’t think we should postpone that upgrade, sir,” Thorne said. “Silver is definitely trending up now. We’ll need that upgrade to maximize revenue.”

  “Stef, what’s the impact of the system going down?”

  “Nothing for about a month,” answered a woman who sounded a bit too young to be an executive, “then adrenaline rises for about a week.”

  “Would increased work prevent any problems?”

  “I think so.”

  “Then it seems we have a solution,” Maxis told the others. “We’ll cut fifteen minutes to the work schedule, starting next week, then add fifteen more starting three weeks later. We’ll explain it by saying we’ll use the increased revenue to do that upgrade. Thorne, draft a memo to that effect. Tina, get the order for those parts sent in tomorrow.”

  “Sir, we may also have to order more Lypinisan-05. The supply seems tampered with. I’ll have to run some tests to make sure.”

  “Damn. Okay, Ross, test the supply. Find out how much we’ll need, and how much a new supply will cost us. Check the generic suppliers. Maybe if we can find a cheaper source, we can persuade OmniPharmaCo to lower their price to us. The rest of you, look for places to temporarily cut costs. Our positions are on the line here, along with our income. Since the day’s almost over, and not everything can be done at night, we’ll hold this matter over until the day after tomorrow, morning meeting. We are adjourned.” Everyone rose from their seats without talking and quickly left the room.

  “Okay, Odin, that’s enough.” Jake turned to Evvie. “Well,...” Her eyes were shut. “Wake up!”

  “I’m not sleeping.”

  “Then what were you doing?”

  “Resting. That was boring, Jake. Bor-ring!”

  “Oh, really? Odin, tell Evvie what she missed.”

  “Maxis’ reaction to this situation was both predictable and inefficient. Rather than absorb a loss of profits to resolve the problem, he chose to employ accounting tricks, and to shift the burden onto the workers.”

  “So?” Evvie asked.

  “So,” Jake said, “Maxis is behaving like a typical bad guy. Not only will knowledge of the existence of the injection system aid our cause, but so will knowledge of his response to our sabotaging it. He’s making the people pay for something that ought to come out of his pocket. I don’t think they’ll be happy to hear that, do you?”

  “No, I guess not.”

  “Good. Speaking of which...” Jake stood up. “Come with me. I’ve figured out a good way for you to help the cause.” He led her to the communications and sensor room. “This will be where you’ll play your part from.”

  It took her a moment to catch on. “Oh, I get it. You want me to make pirate broadcasts. I secretly send attack signals to our friends on the planet so they can sabotage Maxis and his thugs?”

  “No. I want you to help subvert Maxis’ authority by making fun of him, and by pointing out the flaws in the system. Spread rumors. You’re a teenager, you ought to be very good at that.”

  “Oh.”

  “Start figuring out to work everything. Don’t send any messages right now. Wait for my orders, like always. Just play around and get the hang of everything.”

  “Hey, I already know how to use some of this.”

  “Figure it all out. Oh, and figure out the identity cloaking equipment. After all, everyone knows your face and voice.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “We don’t need any celebrity endorsements.” Evvie shook her head. Jake sigh
ed, then said, “If Maxis sees you, he might start looking for you. And then he might find us, and...”

  “Oh.”

  “Right, oh. Once you get this figured out, we’ll work on scripts.”

  “I can write my own material. I do it all the time. Well, most of the time. Oh, okay, some of the time. I can write.”

  Jake paused for a moment to think. “Let me put it to you this way.” He took a step closer to her. “I’ll let you improvise, so long as you stick the main point of the script, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Then get to it.” He turned to leave.

  “Wait.”

  “What?”

  “Can’t you show me...?”

  “Manuals are on the shelf over there.”

  “Manuals? I have read, too? Geez, this is just like school.”

  “Think of it as continuing education. What you might learn may advance your career as a pop star. But if this is too much work for you, well, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the video of this story when it comes out.”

  “Over there, huh? Well, a little reading won’t kill me, right? And like you said, I’ll learn some things the other stars don’t know. Can only help me, right?”

  Nine

  Hip To Be A Rebel

  The mine workers of Antioch Two knew theirs was a hard life. They were at their jobs from breakfast to dinner, with a “long” break for lunch and shorter breaks at midmorning and mid-afternoon. They weren’t paid as such; in exchange for their labor they were given unlimited food, a place to live, unlimited access to cultural activities and material, and a free off-world retirement plan. Clothing was provided, but styles and variations were not. Slacking on the job was not tolerated. Advancement options were strictly limited. Parents could only have one child unless they managed to advance up the ladder or gain other recognition.

  Still, most told themselves, their lives could be much worse. They could be forced to actually dig the minerals out of the planet.

  In fact their “work” was not hard physical labor as such. Some workers had to operate the machines that did the real digging, but this mainly consisted of pushing keypads and moving joysticks. Others drove carts that carried the trailers into which the raw ore was dumped to a separation station. Some worked at the separation station, and a few more worked the system that transported the separated ore to the refinery. Days were long and duties repetitive, but danger was low and tiring effort was even more minimal. Work days were uneventful unless something went wrong, and things rarely went wrong.

  Then one day, specifically a few days after the drug injection system was sabotaged, something did go wrong. The mining machinery came to an abrupt stop. Power levels in the equipment and vehicles suddenly dropped to zero. At first everyone assumed it was due to a failure in the power system, until they realized that the lights were still on and the life support system was still active.

  The next strange thing to happen was that the intercom system came alive.

  “Hey, there, citizens!” a perky voice called. “This is Edie Freedom, your voice of resistance. Say, all you in the mines. Did you know your labor brings in over one and a half million credits every year in profits to your planet? And guess where all those profits don’t go? To you!

  “Wait, it gets better. You’re not supposed to be treated this way, but your boss is handing out creds to keep his suppliers looking the other way. Isn’t that nice of Mister Maxis?

  “Now, unpaid workers, here’s some subversive music to give you time to think about these uncool arrangements.”

  The music that followed was not what Maxis would have allowed to be played over the planet’s audiocast system. The norm were passive, nonvocal arrangements of pop standards. What did follow were classic rock tunes about rebellion, outlaw behavior, and goofing off. Almost a dozen songs played before the audio was switched off and the power was restored to the equipment.

  ***

  That night Odin told Jake that he believed the Rosens were trying to get in touch with him. When asked why he believed that, Odin said, “They appear to be attempting to send out audio signals on various frequencies.”

  “Oh. Well, tell them to stop before they get intercepted.” Jake paused for an instant. “Y’know, I really ought to send them something so that if they have to get in contact with us, they’d be able to.”

  “Wise thinking, Jake. I shall prepare an inventory of parts on hand, and remind you of the project in the morning.”

  “Thank you.”

  “In the meantime, the Rosens on screen.”

  The couple appeared on the bridge screen in front of Jake. “Were you the one who sent out that audiocast today?” Clarissa asked breathlessly.

  “Who else would it be? The Galaxy’s Top Forty?”

  “Oh, right.”

  “What do we do now?” Daniel asked.

  “Nothing.” Jake smiled. “Let Maxis pull his hair out trying to figure out where the audio is coming from. He’ll waste his guards’ time and effort, and his credits, looking for the source.”

  “He won’t trace it back to you?”

  “No. Odin’s gotten into his systems, spoofed the trail, and just generally made certain there’s no way we can be found. But he and the other execs will go nuts searching for a secret transmitter, or a penetration into his software and hardware.”

  “Is there anything we should do?” Daniel asked again.

  “No. Oh, you might warn everyone to expect Maxis to crack down on you when nothing turns up.”

  “Like what?”

  “My guess is maybe eliminating breaks, or cutting your lunch hour down.”

  “Oh. Well, I suppose we can handle that.”

  “Just make certain word gets out as a rumor, not as your informed opinion.”

  “Right.”

  “Oh, and tomorrow, I’m going to work on something that you can use if you want to contact us.”

  “Great.”

  “Until then, sit tight. We’re just getting this show started.”

  ***

  The next day during the main lunch for the workers there was another audio interruption in the routine.

  “Edie Freedom here again,” the perky, electronically cloaked voice said. “I was just wondering how Sordius Maxis got a name like that. Aren’t you wondering the same thing? Y’know, his initials are S and M. Maybe that has something to do with it?”

  Bits of giggles broke out among the workers. At least one even spat out a bit of food onto his plate. The two human guards looking on didn’t try to sober up the chortling crowd. They were too busy listening in themselves.

  “Say, I don’t mean to imply that ol’ Max is a pervert. But, he does get all those creds from your labor. And he never goes on vacations, never throws big parties, and doesn’t invest in more mines. Where do all those creds go? Here’s some tunes to help you think.”

  This time the audio cut out after only three songs, but the damage had been done. An hour later Maxis called in his executives for an emergency meeting. Listening in through the bug, Jake could tell that the man in charge was white-hot with anger.

  “I want these broadcasts stopped!” he screamed once the last executive was seated. “I don’t care what it takes or how much its costs!”

  “We still can’t find the source,” Thorne reported. “I had guards searching yesterday, last night, and this morning. Nothing! I went through our software, in case it came in through a data stream. There’s been no tampering, no hacking, no trace of where these broadcasts are coming from.”

  “Well, they aren’t coming in through magic, are they? Keep looking.”

  “What do we do in the meantime?” the young woman named Tina asked. “If something isn’t done, the workers will think someone’s getting away with making us look bad.”

  “End the midmorning and mid-afternoon breaks,” Maxis answered. “We need the increased output. If they complain, tell them we’ll reinstate the breaks if they tell us who’s behind these broadcasts
. Now, get back to work.”

  As the meeting broke up and the audio faded to nothing, Jake shook his head. “What did I say? It’s like Maxis is reading from a script.”

  He stood up. “Odin, where’s Evvie?”

  “I believe she’s working on her next broadcast. In the comm room.”

  “Thanks.” Jake left the bridge and went to the comm room. Sure enough, Evvie was looking over her lines and scanning a playlist. Jake felt some relief at the sight of her applying herself to the effort. Maybe there’s hope for her yet, he thought.

  She turned to him as he entered the room. “Hey, Jake. What’d ya think?”

  “About?”

  “My broadcast. That ‘S and M’ gag go over well?”

  “Apparently so. Maxis has just revoked breaks for the workers. I’m surprised that you got the joke, though.”

  “Well, I had to look it up,” she admitted. “The research made me fell kinda...nasty. I hope you’re not going to make me tell more of those kinds of jokes. I don’t want to get caught looking up that sort of stuff.”

  “I won’t. I came here because I think we need to let the people know who’s supporting ‘Edie’s’ broadcasts.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, aside from the workers, who is Edie speaking for? What group?”

  “Oh, you want to form a group?”

  “Not yet. Just a name for the group to start with.”

  Evvie smiled. “I’m glad you’re asking me, Jake. I’ve been doing some more research on rebellions and stuff. I’ll bet I can come up with a great name.”

  “Well, I did have my own ideas. If you’d like to give it a shot, go.”

  “Okay.” She thought for a moment. “I suppose we have to get the planet’s name into it, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.” She thought a bit more. “How about the Antioch Liberation Front?”

  “A-L-F. Alf.” Jake shook his head. “Too cutesy.”

  “Antioch Rebellion... Force.”

  “A-R-F. Arf. Extremely silly. Try again.”

  “Rebels for Antioch Freedom. R-A-F.”

  “Royal Air Force. Major name in Earth history.”

  “Oh. Yeah, might be too confusing when the video comes out. How about the Antioch Liberation Army?”

  “A-L-A? Okay name, but the initials sound like a business firm or a lobbying group.”