Far-out Show (9781465735829) (49 page)

“What is that?” Hasley shouted over the
music.

Svenly cut off the audio. “It’s the
inhabitant’s surprise. Effective interference. We’re recording it
all for study but we’re only listening to it now and then long
enough to verify that we can’t see or hear anything from Wilburps’s
signals. He’s passing it all onto us, maybe to punish us.”

“We believe the inhabitant is causing it.
Watch the recording and you see that the interference begins
exactly when he activates one of the two devices he brought into
that inside-while-it’s-outside place with him. Inconveniently once
he activated it we can’t see or hear him any more so we don’t know
if he knows the effect he’s having,” Venrik said.

“Have you analyzed the noise? How do they
generate something like that?” Lacrat asked, wincing at the memory
of it.

“A zerpy is scanning it continuously now,”
Svenly said. “It finds few repetitions except in short stretches so
it is not the kind of cyclic noise generator we’d likely devise if
we were intent on messing up signals and the minds of those
monitoring them,” Venrik said. “Our analysis shows there’s more in
the signals than the interfering parts but those in some way
overwhelm what we think is probably Wilburps’s signals.”

“So when you figure out how to remove the
annoying part the zerpy’s recordings should be clear?” Hasley
asked.

“No way to be sure but that’s possible,”
Venrik said. “We don’t know enough about the technical parts yet to
be certain.”

“How long did this interference continue?”
Feedle asked.

“Up to this minute,” Svenly said. He tapped a
button and a snatch of Montgomery Gentry singing “One In Every
Crowd” at high decibel level filled the room but the screen showed
only snow. He cut it off. “Yeah, to this very minute.”

“Can our signals get through to the zerpy?”
Feedle asked.

“We can’t tell since we can’t see or hear
what is happening,” Svenly said, only with effort resisting a
dre
!

Hasley shepherded Feedle and Lacrat out into
the hall.

“You didn’t have to rush me out of there,”
Feedle said. “The worst I would have done was slap him for that
sneer.”

“I wasn’t thinking about that but if I had I
would have done the same thing,” Hasley said. “We don’t know where
we are with the crew any more so it’s dumb to provoke them but we
have to focus on the Nerber situation.”

“We should have them try to transport him up
right now to find out if they can,” Lacrat said.

“That’s my thought,” Hasley said. “We don’t
want to lose him and along with him all the show material of his
debriefing interviews and all that’s stored in the zerpy. That also
keeps us in good shape with the governors’ demands.”

“What do we do if that interference does keep
the transporter from getting him?” Feedle asked.

“Concentrate the techs on finding how to
disable the source,” Hasley answered. “The sooner they know they
have to do that as a top priority, the more time they have to find
a solution before we lose all the profit Nerber and that zerpy
represent.”

“I’ll supervise as Biccup tries it,” Feedle
said. “With me looking over his shoulder he won’t dare fake any
problems.”

“Why would he do that?” Lacrat asked.

“To give them leverage in dealing with us,”
Feedle said. “At least that’s what I’d do if I were the tech.”

“I’ll stay here and pass along any
developments that might affect other things,” Lacrat said.

* * *

The control room almost sparked from the
tension when Hasley and Feedle entered. Eroder was at the main
console, Icetop at one side console, Yelpam at the other. All
glanced at the new arrivals, then refocused on the information on
the consoles. The producers stood inside the door to get a sense of
what was going on.

“It seems like it should be simple but, with
limited and only short repetitions, our programs can’t identify the
patterns that’d key us in to how to stop this,” Yelpam said.

Icetop called, “Biccup is ready to try to
transport up the source of the interference on your command,
Eroder.”

“Wait! Would that be safe?” Hasley asked.

“The last of the recorded image showed the
inhabitant throw a switch on his device so we’re going on the idea
that if we can get it in reach we can shut if off by reversing that
switch,” Eroder said. “We’ve tried all the ways we can think of to
shut it off from here and those didn’t work.” He called to Icetop,
“Tell him to try it.”

Everyone waited tensely. Yelpam touched a
switch and George Strait singing “Troubadour” filled the room but
at a greatly reduced volume. They all shuddered a bit but at the
lower volume at least didn’t automatically cover their ears.

“He can’t make it happen,” Icetop reported.
“He could get an isolated lock on the item but couldn’t move it
very much.”

“Too bad. Maybe we’ll get another chance when
we know more about it and other earth stuff,” Yelpam said. “It’d be
useful to be able to mess up communications that effectively with
the push of a button.”

Hasley asked, “What happened when you tried
to turn it off down there?”

“We bombarded it with signals but for some
reason that made our signals and the noise itself echo. The effect
would make us all crazy in a hurry,” Eroder said. “Fortunately the
echoes faded once we stopped sending our signals.”

After a sideways glance to be sure Feedle was
listening Icetop said, “We’re picking up those other strange
signals too. The ones that seem to be coming from here on the ship.
I can’t stop wondering if that Seer back on Ormelex could be
right.”

“About what?” Yelpam asked, recognizing where
this was to go.

“Could Zipper be the cause? Well, his ghost
since by the usual signs he’s dead,” Icetop said.

“That’s superstitious nonsense,” Hasley said
quickly. He knew that Feedle’s belief in such stuff was known to
all and he correctly feared this was a ploy to upset her.

“Maybe so or maybe there’s something we
should have thought more about back when that Ormelexian
wise-one-with-visionaries Fetgut warned about what he said he could
only describe as
peculiars
if anyone dared to travel through
a snaggiewarp. Many citizens thought his warning sounded scary,”
Yelpam said.

“But the citizens paying attention recognized
that wise-one-with-visionaries is only Fetgut’s weekend chore. His
day job was as part of the team that designed and built this ship,”
Hasley said, eager to get them beyond this subject.

“I’m only saying that maybe Zipper’s ghost
might be as good an explanation as we have for now so maybe
somebody should think about ways to placate his memory,” Icetop
said. “That seems like a job for those in charge.”

“Fetgut admitted in an interview about the
predictions he made that he was trying to prepare everyone for
specific systems on this ship to malfunction since they weren’t
properly tested and corrected,” Lacrat said. “Oh, wait. Systems
like communications malfunctioning would fit with what he said. Uh,
never mind... I guess.”

“Maybe we should tell Molten to ask whatever
is only showing on the sensors as a blur if it’s Zipper’s remnant,”
Eroder said in a tone that didn’t reveal how serious he was. “He’s
searching right now for whatever that is or to convince himself
it’s not anything substantial.”

* * *

Molten was indeed moving quietly along a hall
at the back of
Whizybeam
, sweeping the beam of a flashlight
around since this area was only dimly lit to conserve energy.

The secret zerpy that would confusingly be
called Minx-Zink if anyone onboard knew its split personality code
names, was hovering in the hall doorway of a storage room where it
had retreated after its latest periodic check on the status of the
ship’s various systems. It was trying hard to phone home its latest
readings but since Krinkle’s jammer signals were affecting it along
with the ship’s systems it was having problems doing that. If a
zerpy could be exasperated this one would have been.

Then its sensors detected faint sounds
nearby. It ran a visual check of its surroundings but found nothing
its program identified as an Ormelexian so it remained on standby
alert.

When it detected irregular changes in the
lighting it switched on its
Prepare to go inactive
routine.

When Molten cautiously approached to see what
was protruding a bit from the doorway, the zerpy saw an Ormelexian
and reacted as programmed.

Minx-Zink zipped into the hallway, zagged
around Molten – who dodged to avoid it since he had never seen any
zerpy act like this before – and scooted down the hall with Molten
hurrying to keep it in sight but not in a rush to get close.

Molten said into his mobile communicator,
“Can anyone in the control room see the hall I’m in on visual. Can
you see the zerpy I’m following? I need an identifier on the
device. It’s unmarked and I don’t recognize even its class. But
it’s acting like I didn’t know they could be programmed to
act.”

“I have you and the zerpy in view,” Biccup
responded. “It doesn’t respond and identify itself and every zerpy
on record to be aboard checks in so this one’s a stranger. I’m
attempting a probe scan of its programs but it must have a way to
thwart that because all I’m getting is hashed up signal.”

Finding a spot that suited its programmed
preferences, Minx-Zink rose and stuck to the wall close to the
ceiling outside the edit room.

“It has become stationary near the wall,”
Molten reported.

“This is interesting. A part of the
interference with our systems just abruptly ended. As if that zerpy
were causing it and shut itself down so it stopped,” Biccup
said.

Molten went closer but not too close. He
pressed the side of his head against the wall to see the details
better. “It seems to be attached to the wall. There’s no space to
show it’s only hovering up there near the hall ceiling.”

“Keep an eye on it. Others are on their way
to have a look. It might answer a number of our questions,” Biccup
said.

* * *

Soon Icetop and Yelpam arrived with a chest
full of diagnostic tools. They examined the unknown zerpy first
from a distance, then when they were more confident it presented no
special threat, up close.

They found that its exterior wouldn’t allow
their standard tools to read its inner programmed secrets. They
found it was firmly attached to the wall – and to the main
structural beam just under the wall covering. They then found that
no tool they had and not even the combined muscular effort of the
three of them could dislodge it.

Standing back to consider this Icetop asked,
“Thoughts?”

“It’s definitely a zerpy from Ormelex,”
Molten said. “It must be a late generation design and have features
not available in any that were available to most groups at the time
we left on this expedition.”

“Nicely qualified,” Yelpam said. “It’s here
and can do things we’ve never seen a zerpy do. That says it has to
be an advanced design that was only known to a limited few but not
anything impossible. Groups developing zerpies themselves or those
with enough money to buy first dibs on the latest and still secret
designs would consider it state- of-the-art.”

“Why did it stop and why rush to this
particular spot before it did so?” Molten wondered aloud.

“My guess is that it was sneaky-sneaked on
board to spy on things,” Icetop said. “It’s not listed to be aboard
so we weren’t supposed to ever know it was here. It’s plain and if
you hadn’t seen it moving you could pass right by it without
thinking it was more than a cable junction box on the wall. To keep
its secrets, it should shut itself down if anyone discovered it. It
would be harder to cover its signals if it were working, and if you
can detect its signals you can figure out its programs.”

Yelpam was thinking that through and now
said, “If you wanted to keep its secrets and maybe still be able to
use it even after it had been discovered you would need to keep it
from being easily taken apart – or ejected from the ship. You’d
program it to go to a spot where it could firmly attach itself and
grab tight.”

Molten was following the line of thought. He
checked a diagram that he had called up on his handheld
communicator. “To discourage anyone from removing it you’d have it
attach itself where it could not only get a tight grip but where
removing it forcibly would likely badly damage the ship’s
superstructure. Like at this spot where major structural beams come
together. We’d have to cut out sections of overhead support beams
and wall to remove it and who’d be willing to risk going through
the rough ride through the snaggiewarp to get home in a ship that
much compromised?”

“Nothing proven but a lot of reasonable
possibilities,” Icetop said. “Now we only need a few answers and we
can forget this thing starting with, Who put it on board – or who
paid them to do that?”

“Does it just spy and report back or can it
take control of the ship’s systems?” Molten said. “Guys putting out
what it likely cost to buy the latest still-secret device wouldn’t
be content with anything less than ultimate control.”

“That’s a scary thought but likely true,”
Yelpam said. “More questions. How is it holding on so tight? Which
leads to, How do we get it to detach without damaging
Whizybeam
? There has to be a way to make it let go. And
what’s it doing that our standard probes can’t penetrate it?”

“Assuming, and I’m willing to do so, that
this is what’s been showing up as the blurs and interference on the
ship’s standard security and motion detection systems, it must also
have fascinating programs to mess with those,” Molten said.

“Yeah, it’d need to confuse those to move
around undetected in the routinely monitored areas and while
tapping into some systems to monitor them,” Yelpam agreed.