System Failure by Joe Zieja

Author:Joe Zieja
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery / Saga Press

Divine Calculations

The war room looked so different from the last time Rogers had been inside that Rogers almost didn’t know where he was. Someone had gone through it with gusto, clearing out all of the refuse, emptying the garbage barrel that had been burning just a week ago—Rogers had been the one to set it ablaze, actually—and replacing the half-broken conference table with a deep mahogany monstrosity that ate up almost the entire space. The walls had been repainted, the chairs had been replaced. A holographic projector of a similar make and model to the one that Rogers had seen and admired on the Thelicosan ship Ambuscade was suspended from the ceiling above the middle of the table, ready to make abundantly clear in three dimensions exactly how hopeless their situation was.

And, worst of all, the masterfully constructed blanket fort was now completely gone. That was almost too much to bear.

Rogers sat down at the only available seat; the other seats at the table were filled with the new members of the Joint Force. Scanning the room, he couldn’t find the Viking, or even Tunger. Aside from Deet, who was only barely tolerable, there wasn’t anyone in the room he actually liked.

It seemed like lately Rogers was always walking into rooms filled with people he didn’t like. And now this one had a way to deliver presentations. Rogers hated presentations.

“Alright,” he said. “Would someone please explain to me why the newest member of our motley crew is doing the space boogie?”

He looked up, examining the faces of everyone in the room. Thrumeaux looked distinctly unimpressed, maybe even bored. She’d completely changed her uniform into something that Rogers could only describe as aristocratic, a blue double-breasted jacket with surprisingly nothing on the front that indicated achievements, or even her name. Nothing about it looked comfortable, though Thrumeaux didn’t seem to mind. Krell puffed his chest out, posturing himself like some kind of ape vying for dominance.

Keffoule, on the other hand, looked daggers at him. Thankfully, Xan wasn’t there to contribute to the dirty looks.

“He is not doing the space boogie,” Keffoule said. “Please, sit down and observe before you make any judgments. We are about to discover the location of the Galaxy Eater.”

Rogers tapped his fingers on the table, staring at Keffoule. He could have continued to banter with her, continued telling her that all of this math/psychic crap was as crazy as, oh, maybe, asking someone to marry them the first time you met them. But, in the effort of moving all of this along so he could either retire or be dead, he waved a hand ambiguously in the air, indicating that whatever was happening should continue to happen without any further interference from him.

Nothing happened.

“Well?” Rogers asked.

“Well what?” Krell asked. “All you did was wave your hand.”

“You think you can just come in here, wave your hand, and make things happen?” Thrumeaux asked. “You didn’t even tell us what you wanted us to do when you waved the hand.

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