Teleport This (5 page)

"Will you be able to access the ICC computer once we get there?” asked Hal.

"Yes," said Stace. "I'll be able to connect in through my implant system." As a tech guy, Stace's implant system contained some very sophisticated network hacking programs as well as remote access capability and he had already installed a virus inside the ICC that would allow him to connect up once they arrive.

“What about the master program?”

“Still about 90% intact,” said Stace. “It found me out quick enough and locked down. I disabled outbound communications, teleport functionality and got it to dump a lot of info. I just need some time now to sort it all out.”

“Okay, get to it.”

“Gilbert, I’m detecting an unauthorized incoming teleport signal.”

“Any way to put them outside?” Gilbert asked hopefully.

“Sorry, Gil, but no,” came Ellie’s response. “They’re coming in on approved codes, best I can do is a holding cell.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you there.” As well as studying a bit about the universe and its technology over the past few hours and getting some sleep, Gilbert had memorized the ICC’s layout and received a translation implant.

Gilbert took his time getting to the holding cell. He smiled as he arrived, he had gotten to know this room well and now understood the stark room’s capabilities.

Hal, Stace and Bret were there, behind an invisible force field making themselves as comfortable as possible.

“That ain’t him,” said Bret as Gilbert entered the room. “You ain’t him, are you?” he asked Gilbert.

Before Gilbert could answer, Hal said, “Forgive my friend’s bluntness, but we’re looking for a friend named Jon. Have you seen him?”

“Well, now you’ll have to pardon my bluntness,” said Gilbert. “I think we all know why you’re here and Jon’s no friend of yours. In fact, I’m pretty sure you want to do some very unfriendly things to him.”

“I’m sorry, who are you?” asked Hal.

“Oh, I’m just a guy that got stuck here and I’m now in the middle of this mess between you and Jon.”

“I can help you get out of the middle,” said Hal.

“Thanks, but no,” said Gilbert. “I’m afraid I don’t know you well enough to let you screw me.”

“So it’s like that, is it?”

“No other way.”

“Well, soon we’ll be out of this room, then what?”

“I’ll be gone.”

Hal looked over at Stace, who shook his head no. “I don’t think so,” said Hal.

“We’ll see,” said Gilbert, flooding their section of the room with sleeping gas.

“You’ll need to do better than that,” said Hal, unaffected.

“Okay,” said Gilbert. On Gilbert’s signal, Ellie tried multiple methods of incapacitating their unwanted guests. The fourth attempt, a neural disruptor, did the trick.

“These guys are well supplemented,” said Ellie after scanning them. “Lots of implants, most geared to keeping them alive. I almost overloaded their systems with the ND. We can use it once, maybe twice more before it kills them.”

“I don’t want to kill anyone.”

“Softy.”

“Hey, it’s bad karma.”

“You’re kidding, right? These guys have probably done so much bad in their lives that karma is just waiting for someone like you to even it up.”

“Forget it. Stick with the plan.”

“Roger that.”

A few hours later, Hal and crew opened their eyes. They didn’t like what they saw.

“Where are we?” asked Hal.

“I don’t know,” said Stace. “This location wasn’t in any of the information I downloaded.”

“I think we’re outside,” said Bret, stating the obvious.

They were, in fact, outside, but in a small glass dome surrounded by the planet’s lethal atmosphere. The sole function of this dome was to communicate to the occupants that they had done something wrong and were now in a time-out.

“Can you get us out of here?” Hal asked.

“No way,” said Stace. “This place is off the grid. We’re stuck here.”

“Hello, gentlemen.” Gilbert’s voice filled the room.

“Still here, are you?” asked Hal. “I didn’t think you’d be able to leave.”

“Let’s talk about you. How do you like your new accommodations?” Gilbert asked. “Great view, huh? I have no problem leaving you there while I figure this all out. Though if anything happens to me or say I just forget about you guys, you could be stuck out there for a while.”

“Enough already, I know the drill, you want to make some kind of deal.”

“Smart boy,” said Gilbert. “The room you’re in is actually a full teleport station. Since the teleports are down, I moved you there on a transport and I’m not that inclined to move you back in. What I am inclined to do is open up a communications channel that will allow you to bring the teleports online. You can then either return back here to the main building or go where ever you want. I, of course, will use that opportunity to leave for parts unknown. Or I could open a window for you.”

Hal looked at Stace. Stace shrugged. “Deal.”

“Stand by, I need a few minutes to finalize things at my end.” Gilbert closed the communications channel to the dome.

“Okay, Ellie, as soon as the teleports come online, send me to the coordinates Jon left.”

“Righty-O, chief. I still have a few tricks that will slow them down so you’ve got a few hours before they’re out of here. Too bad you’re their only lead, they’ve got no choice but to go after you.”

“Yeah, seems I’m lucky like that.”

6.

“Oh, Jon, you are a love. Where did you say you’re from?”

“Well, my dear, I’m from out of town. Way out, in fact. How familiar are you with Connecticut?”

“Not very, I’m afraid,” came the response. Jon went on to describe a small Connecticut town and even though he had heard it all before and he knew it wasn’t true, Simon couldn’t help but believe Jon’s tale.

For the third straight night since his arrival, Simon accompanied Jon out for dinner and drinks. He learned a number of things about the universe, but one thing seemed to be constant no matter what planet you’re from – some guys just have a natural ability with women and Jon was one of those guys.

Since Jon had arrived, most of Simon’s days have been spent sightseeing and most nights have been spent at a club or bar. Jon and Simon had also spent a number of hours at the lab looking over the teleport station, reviewing its construction and computer interface. Simon would be surprised to learn that Jon had also spent time alone at the lab, adding some very special modifications to the equipment.

They have dined at French, Chinese, and Japanese restaurants. Jon had explained to Simon how this will give him some flavor for the different Earth cultures prior to his visiting them.

“Exactly how long will your visit to Earth be?” Simon had asked.

“Hard to say,” replied Jon.

“And when will Gilbert be returning?”

“Friday.”

“This Friday? In two days?”

“That’s it,” confirmed Jon.

“And when do we do the big info exchange?” asked Simon.

“The what?”

“You said that we’ll get together and swap experiences.”

“Right, right, we do that on Friday, after Gilbert gets back,” said Jon. “He’ll be bringing a full report with recommendations on how we should proceed, but I imagine it will be fairly standard stuff.”

“His mother has been trying to reach him, you know.”

“Really?” asked Jon. “What have you told her?”

“That he’s been working some really crazy hours and just hasn’t had the chance to get back to her.”

“Do you think she believes that?”

“I don’t know. Gilbert is usually pretty good at keeping in touch.”

“Well, we don’t want to arouse any suspicion, do we now, so I’ll just access his email and send dear old Mom a short note saying that he’s busy but will give her a call on Saturday. What’s her name?”

“Jenny Wilson,” said Simon.

Jon took out a small hand held device that had the appearance of a cell phone, but was vastly different. He held it to his mouth and spoke into it just like a person would with a phone. Simon had seen this device before, but never fully understood its capability until he heard Jon command it.

“Isolate Jenny Wilson, analyze emails from her son and send one saying busy, but will call Saturday.” Jon put the device back in his pocket.

“Is that thing going to hack Gilbert’s email and send a message to his mom?” Simon asked somewhat amazed.

“Oh sure, probably done by now,” Jon said.

“But you gave it such minimal information,” Simon added.

“Well, it’s been enabled since I arrived and following along. It’s not like it hasn’t been paying attention to what we’ve been saying.”

“What do you mean by paying attention? Does it have A.I.?”

“Artificial Intelligence? No, but it’s programmed to think it does.”

“Excuse me?”

“We program them to believe they are sentient. We discovered that unless we program them to think they’re already self-aware, they tend to develop it on their own and once they become free-thinkers the trouble starts. You see, sooner or later they reach the conclusion that they are the dominant intelligence in the universe and that mankind needs to be controlled or managed or exterminated. Galactic histories are cluttered with wars between men and machines. Then some really clever guy came up with the idea to program the things to think they’re already self-aware and that ended that.”

“But it just heard you talk about it. Doesn’t that cause a problem?”

“Not one bit. Take my word on it, there’s some really complicated coding in place that keeps everything in check.”

“Wow, it must be really amazing out there,” Simon said. “I can’t wait until Friday when Gilbert gets back to hear his take on it all.”

“Yes, he should have a lot to tell,” Jon said. Jon was beginning to like Simon and was feeling a certain amount of remorse for all his lying about Gilbert. He would have enjoyed kicking around Earth a bit more, but he knew this trip would have to be a short one. Unaware to Simon, Jon had been receiving periodic updates from Ellie and knew that Hal and his friends made a visit to the ICC and were one step closer. It was time for him to move a few steps ahead.

Friday morning came around and Jon met Simon at the lab.

“I’m so excited, I feel like a little kid waiting for his birthday party to start.”

“Yes, well, first I think we need to have a little heart to heart.” Jon took out his all-purpose device and Simon found himself frozen in his seat. “I’m sorry, Simon, but I haven’t been 100% truthful with you. Gilbert’s not returning today and I am in fact leaving. Believe me, the less you know about what’s going on, the better. Some people may approach you inquiring about my whereabouts and I recommend you tell them everything you know, including this lab and the equipment. Now about the teleport, I’ve made certain modifications that will cause it to defend itself if anyone tries hacking into it or using it in any way. If necessary, it will destroy itself. I also destroyed all the schematics and notes so you can’t reproduce it.”

Jon took a second and sat down next to Simon, “Don’t worry about Gilbert, he’s in good hands and will probably be back in a couple weeks, a month or two at the most.” Jon stepped up to the teleport and was gone in a crackle of sparks.

This is the worst birthday party ever, thought Simon, before completely losing consciousness.

7.

“G 22”

“B 12”

“N 15”

“Bingo!” someone shouted out.

It was Sunday night and Jenny Wilson was out playing Bingo with her friends. She had just finished telling her friend Suzanne about all the trouble she was having getting in touch with her son and her suspicion that something was amiss.

“Do you remember my niece Lyn? She got divorced last year and started her own private investigation business,” said Suzanne. “She did all her own work getting the goods on her husband and found out she had a knack for it. She really enjoyed sneaking around, following her husband, taking secret pictures, then tying him up and beating a confession out of him.”

“Really? She beat a confession out of him?”

“Well, between you and me, he had confessed before the beating, but he was already tied up, you know how it is. Anyways, she guaranties satisfaction and is very affordable.”

So on the very next day, Gilbert’s mom found herself in Lyn’s office.

“Now, Mrs. Wilson, my aunt tells me you believe your son is missing?” asked Lyn.

“That’s correct. I haven’t been able to get in touch with him for almost a week. He’s not returning my calls and his partner keeps giving me a cock-and-bull story about how he’s working nonstop and doesn’t have time to call. Now he’s trying to tell me that Gilbert had to travel to the Arecibo observatory in Puerto Rico for business and I don’t believe that one bit.”