“All right.”
she continued,
I depressurized the lock and opened the outside hatch. There was a slight jar as if we’d bumped into something. A moment later, she literally shouted,
I went straight out the door into a brilliant illumination that lit up my eyes even though they were closed. I raised both arms to form a shield so I didn’t arrive on my helmet. Keeping my eyes closed during that jump was a bitch. But it worked! My hands contacted the hull just above the air lock. I got hold of a rim or something and pushed my way inside.
I closed the door first to shut down the radiation. Then I was able to see again. Ark’s voice asked whether I’d made it, and I heard Gabe saying thank God. I started depressurization.
A few lights were scattered around the interior of an almost circular room filled with electrical equipment. Zykum was standing directly across the chamber.
said Ark.
The room showed no sign of a problem. We couldn’t hear anything, of course. And the lights seemed okay. “Is that her?” I asked, pointing at an aquamarine cube inside a frame. It resembled Ark’s and appeared to be of identical dimensions.
There was only one switch close by. Actually it was more like a push button. I pushed it.
Usually, with a push button, you can tell when it triggers a reaction. You can feel the click or whatever. But if you’re wearing a pressure suit, you have no idea what, if anything, is happening. In this case—
I tried again. A couple of times. The button was inside a small rim.
And Ark was back:
I tried to remove the cube from the frame. And got nothing. “Ark, can I cut through the frame without damaging or killing her?”
He was back in a few seconds.
“Okay.” I started working on it. Cut the cord. Then Sayla was talking again. “How’s she doing that? I thought I’d shut down the power.”
“Oh, good. What is she saying?”
I used the cutter to slice into the metal immediately in front of Sayla. Then I stopped. “Sayla,” I said, “you okay?”
I expected her to respond to Ark. Instead she said,
I cut a fairly narrow path around the cube, ready to stop if she told me to. When I’d finished I lifted her out of the panel. she said.
Zykum led the way back to the air lock. We all got in and I closed the inner door and started depressurization. “You still there?” I asked Belle.
Fortunately she added that I should close my eyes before opening the outer hatch.
said Sayla in Standard.
I placed Sayla in the pouch so I’d have my hands free. She said she was okay, that she felt secure. And she laughed. A minute later I opened the outer hatch, and experienced again the blast of light against my eyelids.
Then Belle was on the circuit:
“You go first, Ark,” I said. “Just have Zykum jump straight out. Not too fast. When you get there, get right into the air lock. And make room.”
said Ark.
I waited and felt a ripple of some sort go through the deck. said Belle.
. It seemed to take forever. Finally she was back:
“Do it, Ark,” I said.
The robot left.
Belle waited about ten seconds before she was back.
“Okay, Belle. I’m not going anywhere.”
And after what seemed an interminable delay:
I might have pushed off with more energy than I should have. But I got the straight-ahead part right. I moved through the glare and began telling myself the , the air lock, seemed farther this time than it had been before. Then I collided with the hull. The magnetic boots secured me and on my left I touched the open hatch.
I got inside, blundered into Zykum, pulled the hatch shut, and felt the pressurization start. Belle informed me we were about to leave the area. I got pushed against the bulkhead as we started to accelerate.
XXVIII.
.
We surfaced fifteen hours away from Kaleska. Ark asked us.
“After we drop you and Sayla off,” Gabe said, “we’ll be heading home.”
Gabe’s eyes widened. He thought, as I did, that we were going to be asked to perform another service. “We’re running a bit late, Ark. We’d like to hang around and help if we could, but we need to get back.”
For a moment he was silent. Then:
It was never clear whether the assorted AIs scattered around the planet merely formed a web of connections, or whether they were in fact a single sapient being, of whom Sayla was a beloved member.
“We’d like to do that,” said Gabe, “but please understand time is an issue. How long will it take before you can put it together?”
“Good.” He looked at me and saw that I agreed. “Then we have no problem with it.”