Fleet of Worlds by Larry Niven & Edward M Lerner

Author:Larry Niven & Edward M Lerner [Niven, Larry & Lerner, Edward M]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780765357830
Google: zsyMKOemAwgC
Amazon: B007SRWMAY
Barnesnoble: B007SRWMAY
Goodreads: 302537
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 2007-10-16T04:00:00+00:00

Carefully, they pried up the disc. Eric, now shirtless, eyed the controls set in the edge. “It looks standard—with the minor problem that the customary maintenance keypad has been removed. Anything could be in the memory chip.” His lips were blue and his breathing labored. “Maybe, if we remove the programming chip, it will reset to default settings.” Cough. “Not that we know where its default setting would send us.”

“There’s no way to give it an address?”

“Only by communicator, and only then with an authentication code we can’t give it.”

They were out of options. “Eric, we have to turn ourselves in. You need medical help, and soon.”

Cough. “I didn’t know you cared.”

“You came along to help me. That makes you my responsibility.” And, if not in the way Eric would wish it, she found she did care. “Unless you have a better idea.”

“You walk out. I tell them I came alone.”

The offer made Kirsten feel even worse. “We’re in this together.”

The murmuring below continued to taunt her. Through the railing, holograms came and went: Colonists/humans. A grain ship. The nature-preserve world, now revealing enough continental outline through its clouds to suggest NP5. Still-indistinguishable hints of text.

Why a grain ship and NP5? The newest world in the Fleet was still being eco-formed. It had no grain to export. “Eric, that’s NP5, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know.” Cough. “Maybe. Judging by the amount of cloud cover. Geography isn’t my strong point.”

The Human Studies Institute had an interest in NP5. That sufficed to pique her interest. Kirsten pointed at the disc. “Let’s remove the memory chip. There’s only one way to find out the disc’s default address. Worst case, we’ll surrender there.”

“All right.”

She pried out the part.

“Wait. Not like that.” Cough. “Say we get away. The next time someone here uses this disc, they’ll also be sent to the default location. Someone will check out the disc, and see that the chip is gone.” Cough. “They’ll see that someone has tampered with the disc.” Wheezing, he took the chip from her, bent a pin and put the chip back into place. “Let them think the chip had a bent pin all along, and the bent pin just now came completely unplugged. Random floor vibrations, not intruders.” Together they set the disc back into the floor.

He picked up an awkward parcel, their boots knotted inside his shirt, and stepped. He did not reappear on the level below. She stepped after—

To join him among a crowd of gaping Citizens. A holo-sign labeled the nearest structure as Department of Public Safety. The default disc address, of course.

“Let’s go,” she said. She took his arm and pulled/lifted him toward an array of public stepping discs.

After several random hops through public spaces, they popped aboard Explorer. Omar’s eyes widened, and she could only imagine how bedraggled they must look.

“Two minutes to spare,” Kirsten said. “I’ll get Eric into the autodoc. You get us on our way.”

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