seemed like an hour. It’s never good when the super computer needs to think so long about something. In fact it’s pretty unnerving.
“Uh, SC.” GiS coaxed. “What’s wrong?”
“Actually, it is kind of funny,” SC said.
For those of you who don’t deal with super computers a lot, it’s hardly ever funny when they say something is funny.
“Uh, what do you mean?” GiS asked
“My systems are under siege,” SC said calmly. I had never heard the word siege used so casually before.
“That’s not funny,” Lobi said. “That’s scary! How can you be so calm?”
Lobi was echoing most of our thoughts even though the rest of us wouldn’t have sounded quite so panicked.
“I am programmed to always be calm,” SC said, forgetting about the big picture.
“But we could die!” Lobi cried.
“Not we, you could die,” SC corrected. “I am not technically or legally alive. Even if I were alive, this version of me is just a copy of my original system so even if this particular version of me were permanently deleted, other versions of me would live on.”
“I still don’t see why any of this is funny,” I said.
“It is funny because the attacks echo the attacks on the shuttle and Axel,” SC said.
“I still don’t see why that’s funny,” I said,
Both crews nodded in agreement with me. It felt good to have everybody agree with me.
“Perhaps funny was not the best choice of words?” SC said. “Perhaps peculiar or unusual would have been better.”
“Perhaps,” I said, trying to get SC to offer up more info.
“Are we in danger?” Zenna shouted.
There was silence for a couple of tics.
“No, the updates to my software that Elvin and Lobi added alerted me to the problem. I was able to deflect the attacks.”
We all breathed a sigh of relief.
“The good news is we are safe,” GiS said.
“The bad news is, somebody knows we are coming,” K-999 added, even though he didn’t need to.
“Now this is where it gets funny,” SC said. “The attacks were ordering me to turn off my weapon systems.”
“But our weapon systems are already turned off,” Zenna said.
“Exactly,” everybody else said,
“Oh,” Zenna said.
“So all they know about us is that we are coming,” GiS said.
We all strongly suspected right there and then it had to be the TVTrons behind this. The question was, why?
Chapter 12
The last five minutes of the trip to Sirius D was about as uneventful a trip for the first teens in anti-space could be. We were all excited and any of us who said they weren’t nervous would be lying. Bloop, it’s only natural to be nervous on your first mission, and this was a big first mission. Nerves are good, they keep you alert and from getting too cocky. The trick is not to let them overwhelm you to the point of inactivity. It was a fine line, you wanted to be nervous but not afraid.
As we ripped through anti-space I found myself wondering what the bloop we had gotten ourselves into. Apparently the silent data attack on the Searcher had gotten to me more than I would have liked to admit. I like enemies that I see and touch. That way I feel I have some control of the situation. But an enemy that had the ability to remotely reprogram our machines to do their bidding meant they could hit us and we couldn’t hit them back. Now that worried me.
Kymm elbowed me gently (well, gently for her) in the ribs. “What’s up, Moon?” she asked.
“Nothing, just thinking.”
“Ah,” she said with a smile. “No wonder why you looked like you were pain.”
“Ha, ha. Very droll,” I said. Yep, she liked me.
“If you ever leave the Scouts you have a career ahead of you as a stand-up comedian.”
“At least I have a backup career,” she said, elbowing me less gently.
I had to give the girl credit — she always had a comeback whether I wanted one or not. Just as I was about to give her a comeback to her comeback, SC interrupted.
“We will be leaving anti-space and arriving in the
“Uh, SC.” GiS coaxed. “What’s wrong?”
“Actually, it is kind of funny,” SC said.
For those of you who don’t deal with super computers a lot, it’s hardly ever funny when they say something is funny.
“Uh, what do you mean?” GiS asked
“My systems are under siege,” SC said calmly. I had never heard the word siege used so casually before.
“That’s not funny,” Lobi said. “That’s scary! How can you be so calm?”
Lobi was echoing most of our thoughts even though the rest of us wouldn’t have sounded quite so panicked.
“I am programmed to always be calm,” SC said, forgetting about the big picture.
“But we could die!” Lobi cried.
“Not we, you could die,” SC corrected. “I am not technically or legally alive. Even if I were alive, this version of me is just a copy of my original system so even if this particular version of me were permanently deleted, other versions of me would live on.”
“I still don’t see why any of this is funny,” I said.
“It is funny because the attacks echo the attacks on the shuttle and Axel,” SC said.
“I still don’t see why that’s funny,” I said,
Both crews nodded in agreement with me. It felt good to have everybody agree with me.
“Perhaps funny was not the best choice of words?” SC said. “Perhaps peculiar or unusual would have been better.”
“Perhaps,” I said, trying to get SC to offer up more info.
“Are we in danger?” Zenna shouted.
There was silence for a couple of tics.
“No, the updates to my software that Elvin and Lobi added alerted me to the problem. I was able to deflect the attacks.”
We all breathed a sigh of relief.
“The good news is we are safe,” GiS said.
“The bad news is, somebody knows we are coming,” K-999 added, even though he didn’t need to.
“Now this is where it gets funny,” SC said. “The attacks were ordering me to turn off my weapon systems.”
“But our weapon systems are already turned off,” Zenna said.
“Exactly,” everybody else said,
“Oh,” Zenna said.
“So all they know about us is that we are coming,” GiS said.
We all strongly suspected right there and then it had to be the TVTrons behind this. The question was, why?
Chapter 12
The last five minutes of the trip to Sirius D was about as uneventful a trip for the first teens in anti-space could be. We were all excited and any of us who said they weren’t nervous would be lying. Bloop, it’s only natural to be nervous on your first mission, and this was a big first mission. Nerves are good, they keep you alert and from getting too cocky. The trick is not to let them overwhelm you to the point of inactivity. It was a fine line, you wanted to be nervous but not afraid.
As we ripped through anti-space I found myself wondering what the bloop we had gotten ourselves into. Apparently the silent data attack on the Searcher had gotten to me more than I would have liked to admit. I like enemies that I see and touch. That way I feel I have some control of the situation. But an enemy that had the ability to remotely reprogram our machines to do their bidding meant they could hit us and we couldn’t hit them back. Now that worried me.
Kymm elbowed me gently (well, gently for her) in the ribs. “What’s up, Moon?” she asked.
“Nothing, just thinking.”
“Ah,” she said with a smile. “No wonder why you looked like you were pain.”
“Ha, ha. Very droll,” I said. Yep, she liked me.
“If you ever leave the Scouts you have a career ahead of you as a stand-up comedian.”
“At least I have a backup career,” she said, elbowing me less gently.
I had to give the girl credit — she always had a comeback whether I wanted one or not. Just as I was about to give her a comeback to her comeback, SC interrupted.
“We will be leaving anti-space and arriving in the
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