Indra Station by Joseph R. Lallo

Author:Joseph R. Lallo
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Joseph R. Lallo

Chapter 7

A door on the space station slid open, and Michella poked her head inside. It was dark, like much of the station. The door itself had no view window. After scanning the perimeter of the room, she spotted a pair of service conduit hatches.

“Okay. Good. The coast is clear and there’s a way out if we get cornered. We’ll hide here for now,” Michella said.

Preethy drifted in behind her, and Michella carefully secured the door.

“I would have preferred to find a place with a maintenance console so we could keep an eye on them,” she said.

“Now that we are hidden, would you kindly explain yourself?” Preethy said.

“A little gratitude wouldn’t be out of line. I did just rescue you.”

“We are still in the station without a means of escape. We aren’t rescued, we are just trapped together.”

“We’re free to move and I have access to the system. That’s better than you had.”

“I had just finished persuading my captor to betray her cohorts and get me to safety when you came along, zapped her into unconsciousness, and stuffed her bound body into a supply locker. Were it not for you, I would be free right now.”

“And just how exactly was I supposed to know that?”

“You shouldn’t have needed to know it, because you weren’t supposed to be here. Now, an explanation, please.”

“How about we figure out what we’re going to do, then we fight about it?” Michella countered.

Preethy crossed her arms. “If you’ve got access to our systems, I assume you’ve got one of our dongles?”

“Naturally. You really ought to improve your security screening.”

“Our security screening was impeccable until spurious claims of financial malfeasance forced us to replace our own employees with hastily secured off-planet contractors in order to avoid missing deadlines.”

“There was every reason to—”

“We’d agreed to figure out what we’re going to do before fighting. May I please use your slidepad and dongle?”

Michella resisted the childish urge to point out that Preethy had started it. Instead, she handed over the two devices.

“I have administrative access to the system. If they haven’t deactivated the internal data network, I should be able to load the remote console and limit their access further. That will slow them down.” She entered in some credentials and worked her way into the system.

“Just what are they trying to do?”

“They are trying to secure full access to the station and its capabilities.”

“Obviously. But what are those capabilities.” Michella fetched her pad. “From what I’ve been able to work out, either this is a very fancy weather station or it’s a weapon.”

“Both are accurate descriptors, depending on the person in charge. I’ll be brief. The device can create and/or control large weather systems, and it is the hope of David Kelso and/or Ramses Hatch to use that capability to extort my uncle.” She finished tapping through settings. “There. I have reset all of their settings changes and locked them out of the system.”

“Does that mean we can call for help?”

“No. They physically disconnected all transmitters powerful enough to do so.

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