Abandoned (Hidden Worlds Book 2) by Bethany Burke

Author:Bethany Burke [Burke, Bethany]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blushing Books
Published: 2022-09-19T16:00:00+00:00

“Praise be,” Rogett said when he saw me. “We’re hopin’ you can answer this.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked and then with one look I knew. The screen on the computer was black save for two words. “System Failure.”

“It went down this mornin’ with no warnin’,” Rogett explained. “It seemed to be working fine then it froze up. I shut it down, turned it back on and got this.” He ran his hand through his hair, exasperated. “And just when we were gettin’ some useful information, too.”

I didn’t ask what that information was. Instead, I took the seat another man vacated to give me, trying to recall what the technicians had done when we’d faced similar problems with computers on Earth. We always had such reliable support people; one ping and they were there to solve almost any malfunction in minutes. Usually I ignored what they did, but sometimes I paid attention, and of course that was on Earth systems, on people’s personal terms. Reliability in computers that were running interstellar spaceships had to be a different level entirely. Did these “fix” in the same way? Still, there was a protocol they used; I’d observed it enough times to know. But would it work on this older system? I wasn’t sure.

I began to fiddle with the keys, working slowly. Beside me Rogett stretched, yawned and then stood “I’ll leave you to it, lass. I’ve been at it three hours and I need a bite to eat. You’ll be all right?”

“Yes,” I answered softly. “It’s easier if no one is watching me.” That was completely true, though not quite for the reasons I was implying

He left. I was alone. I began to work quickly. I rebooted the computer and then hit one of the top keys bearing a circle made of two curving arrows. I pressed the key, crossed my fingers, and prayed. The words “Root Directory” popped up on the screen.

I’d done it. I held my breath as I accessed the AutoFix application, which was similar to the one on the computers I’d used. A seemingly endless string of code scrolled down the screen as the computer ran massive internal diagnostics.

“Come on, come on!” I said hurriedly, glancing back towards the door. Finally, it stopped and the screen went temporarily black and then flashed on again. Another success. Operations were completely restored.

I guessed that I did not have a lot of time. I had no idea what I would find when I started poking, but based on my thoughts of the previous night, the first two things I needed were good maps of Gamma Rigel Two and the daily schedule from the day prior to the crash. I hesitated and then made my decision: maps first.

Quickly I accessed the internal search mode and typed in “map Gamma Rigel Two.” The response flashed back: Not found. I searched multiple different ways. Still nothing. Not only could I find no map of GR2, but I could also find no entries whatsoever.

Maybe, I decided, I was searching wrong.

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