Dobbs stood behind Yerusha’s chair while she wrote in the jump program. They’d resumed acceleration after four hours. Her leg had rejoined the rest of her body after five.
The ship accepted the new orders and broke orbit. The star fell back and the Pasadena launched itself toward the distant specks of light.
It would be eight more hours before they could make the jump, and then another five before they reached the Guild Hall system. Dobbs wanted to rub her eyes, but didn’t want to show how tired she felt. It was too long. Too much time to spend trying not to think about what would happen once she got there.
This is crazy. She tried to tell herself. Crazy. What am I afraid of? This is the Guild. This is Havelock and Cohen. It’s what Verence gave her life for. This will work itself out. It will. She twisted her mouth into a smile and tried to mean it. Even if I am confined to clerical duty for the rest of my existence.
“Intercom to Dobbs,” came Lipinski’s voice. “Dobbs, can I see you down here? I want to get us a line to the Guild Hall. Let them know we’re coming.”
Dobbs stiffened. And what are you going to do? she admonished herself as she pulled her shoulders down. Tell him that’s not a good idea?
“On my way,” she answered. “Intercom to close.”
Lipinski was alone in the comm center when she got there, sitting with his arms folded and his gaze locked on the main boards. When the hatch cycled shut, he swivelled the chair to face her.
“All right,” he said. “Where is it?”
Dobbs heart dropped to the floor.
“Where is it?” Lipinski’s hands dropped onto the chair’s arms. “It’s not in the hold anymore. I can’t find it in the system. Where did it go?”
Desperately, Dobbs searched for an easy lie. The problem was, one didn’t exist.
“Dobbs,” Lipinski’s voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. “What have you done?”
Her knees wanted to fold under her. She wanted to collapse into the nearest chair, but she didn’t. She ran her hand through her hair.
“It’s run away,” she said quietly.
Lipinski’s pale face turned white as snow. “Run away where?”
She looked at the control boards by his right side. “I don’t know. The Guild Masters are hunting it.”
She stole a glance at him, expecting him to start shouting at the walls any second. He didn’t. He sat stone still in his chair, staring towards her, but not seeing her, or anything else in the room, she was sure of that.
“Are you telling me that thing is in the bank network?” he inquired, almost casually.
“I am telling you that I don’t know.” Dobbs spread her hands. “It’s not on board the Pasadena. It got away from me. I alerted the Guild. It’s being tracked.”
Lipinski’s thin shoulders drooped in jerky stages until finally he buried his face in his hand.
“We’re dead. All of us. We’re all dead.” He looked up and his eyes were shining. “Do you have any idea what that thing could do out there?”
“Some, yes.” Dobbs waved her hands. “Stop acting like I’m some kind of outsider, Lipinski. I’m in this too. I’m breathing the same air you are. I’m standing right next to you. I’m dependent on exactly the same things. If the networks go down, I’m just as lost as you are.” Maybe even more than you are.
“So why didn’t you kill it?” he demanded with some measure of force returning to his voice. Despite his words, that gave Dobbs hope that she might be able to reach him after all.
“You know why,” answered Dobbs calmly. “We had to find out where it came from so we could stop any others. You think one is dangerous, how about one hundred? Or one thousand?”
Lipinski’s fingers raked slow trails against his thighs. “We still might be facing that.”
Dobbs shook her head. “Not with the Guild on alert. The thing’ll be cornered in no time. This is what we exist for.” She pulled a bright red scarf out of her pocket and did nothing but wind it through her fingers. “This and utter frivolity for the sake of ship’s sanity.” She stared at the scarlet fabric. “Not that I’ve been doing too well on that end of my job lately.”
His blue eyes looked nearly grey now. There was nothing in his face but a kind of bleakness. “Are you telling me the truth?”
Dobbs felt her heart twist. “Yes, I am.” Mostly. As much as I can. “There’s never been a break out in the bank network. We’re the reason why. It won’t happen now.”
He met her eyes, and Dobbs was not certain what he thought he saw there. “I’m sorry, Dobbs. I’m trying. I really am.”
“I know.” She nodded. “Believe me. This shouldn’t have gone down like this. I should have seen the danger and neutralized the AI somehow.” Right. And how was I going to tell myself it was all right to not just confine it, but drive a stake through its heart? “It won’t get away from the Guild though.” She hooked her fingers around her necklace. “We’ve kept the peace for a very long time.” She gave him a watery smile. “And you didn’t even know it.”
“You didn’t keep it on Kerensk,” he muttered towards the floor.
She’d been ready for that. “Do you know what happened to the Kerensk AI?”
Lipinski shrugged. “It died with the planetary network.”
She shook her head. “It survived. It would have escaped too, but the Guild sent a Guild Master in to root it out.” The expression on his face told her that this he was ready to believe. He needed to believe the Guild had taken care of the worst monster he knew of, because then he could hope they could do the same this time. “They neutralized it,” she went on. “I’ve seen the records. I looked them up as soon as I became a cadet.” The part of the story she wasn’t telling plucked at her elbow. Dobbs tried to ignore it, but it wouldn’t go away.
Lipinski looked at the floor, then at the boards. “Why the hell couldn’t they have gotten there sooner?”
She drew the scarf through her fingers. “I don’t know.” She waving the swash absently in front of her. “I’d just been born.” She pocketed the scarf again.
“Yeah, yeah, right.” He let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry. I am. It’s just…” He gestured at the hold. “It’s been a really long set of days, Dobbs.”
“I know.” She tried to put every ounce of fervor she had into her voice. “Believe me, I know.”
His glance was rueful. “I guess you would.” He shook himself. “I haven’t told Al Shei about this, yet.”
Dobbs stopped herself from biting her lips. “Lipinski, I’m going to ask you a favor.” She stopped until he was looking right at her. “Can you keep this to yourself? Al Shei has more than enough to worry about. I’m afraid of what she’ll do if she thinks this thing is out in the network her family helped build.”
After a long moment, Lipinski nodded. “But,” he raised his hand, “if there’s a glitch, a blip, anything in the network before you tell me your Guild Masters have caught this thing, I’m going to tell her everything I know.”
Dobbs nodded. The bright light behind Lipinski’s eyes told her there was nothing else she could do. “All right.”
I’ve at least won a little time, she tried to console herself. It’ll be enough. She could tell by the set of both his jaw and his shoulders that Lipinski wished she could leave now. Even if they hadn’t had the message to send, Dobbs wasn’t quite ready to let things rest. “Do you think you’ll ever get around to letting me be your friend again?”
He didn’t move. “Maybe.” Abruptly, he swung his chair back around to face the boards. “So, are you going to help me call your Guild?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Dobbs gave him the codes for a fast-time message to the Guild Hall. He wrote them across the board with the signal codes and then called up the credit validations.