In the story so far, Vikki the beautiful young woman is unaware that the spaceship Stardiver four is under attack by a pirate hoard. The pirates are using every technology to capture the spaceship.
CHAPTER 11
TRAPPED
"Obee." Her voice was impatient and demanding. "What are you doing? Playing checkers? I thought you were the 'King Of Cyber Warriors.' We are getting far too much resistance from Stardiver Four. Have you gotten the command code yet?"
"Not yet, but I am close."
"Close is not what I wanted to hear, Fatso, I need them to stop shooting back at us. Shut down their guns. Mess with their aim, give them false targets, anything. We can't last long in an all out fight."
"Their systems are much more advanced than we thought. It's not like hacking into the banks. Dumping money into your accounts was easy. The Stardiver is all new technology. It looks governmental, or military, or something. The sunspots are causing static and chopping up our transmission."
"Don't give me excuses, Fatso. Do something now to stop their defenses, or you will wish you were back in prison."
Her face disappeared and was replaced by images of the ships, and screens of jumbled numbers. Angry for disappointing her he muttered, "OK, I'll show you what I got." He launched cyber attacks to shut down more systems on the ship. He took over anything that can be turned off, shut down, or locked. On the Stardiver doors closed, lights went out, the air was removed from some areas and double pressure put into the next. He garbled communications and shut down security monitoring. It was all small stuff, and a resourceful crew would quickly overcome them, but he still couldn't get to the heart of the ship's brain. He couldn't shut it down entirely. A bad feeling that someone or something was playing with him.
In frustration and rage Obee lashed out at anything weak. He dropped a program into the system. The cyber warriors next to him cursed and pulled the equipment off their faces; blinded by brilliant lights and deafened by the head phones. He smiled.
"Stupid idiots," Obee thought. "None of you are half as good as me anyway. Now her holiness will know just how hard this is. I will be the only one who gives her victory. She'll be grateful to me."
The ship fought back, his screens went blank. Obee launched more cyber attacks. Any door with a lock would be locked, and every light went out. He was able to shut down some of the engines. He shut down power plants and the power grid. His screens showed a darkened and crippled Stardiver that spun helplessly in space, but it was still fighting like a wild animal. "What are you?"
"I wonder..." Obee risked taking off the screen from the helmet and breaking the connection. To escape the chair took both hands and several lunges. He waddled to the door and squeezed through; across the corridor was a view port covered by an armored steel shutter. Crossing the corridor he pushed the pad next to the port and the shutter rolled up. He saw the Stardiver in real space. It was not spinning helplessly in space like the viewscreen showed only a few lights are out and it was maneuvering into attack position.
The ship had been playing with him, it did more to him than he did to it. Back in his chair he gave one last push and launched every attack he had.
* * *
Vikki was enjoying her fantasy, the vidscreen in her goggles displayed people running in terror as she stalked them. She was a tiger but the sensors picked up changes in her interest level and created a new story making it more exciting. She turned into a powerful beautiful queen of wizards. Warriors followed her doing heroic deeds, but she used her powers to defeat greater foes than the warriors could.
The headset with the goggles and soundproof earphones gave her a world of her own, a complete escape, and it isolated her from the world of reality.
A torpedo hit and reality tossed Vicky off the pile of laundry bags to sprawl onto the floor. Her first thought was, "Wow, this game has some great effects. But how could it knock me onto the floor?" Something beneath her trembled. Slowly she put a hand on the metal floor and felt the ship vibrating with the battle.
"Shit!" Vikki cursed as she jerked the vidgoggles off of her face. The darkness was a shock. "Lights," she commanded. "Lights." She got up and lunged for the door. The main room was empty except for laundry equipment. Above the door was a faint green light that did little to ease her panic.
"Bobby! Where are you?"
It only took three bounds to cross the room to the door. Every door had a window so you could see if the other side was safe, but this one didn't.
"What if," thoughts filled her mind. "What if there was an explosion and the door opens onto empty space? What if there was a hull breach and the other side was a vacuum? What if the ship came apart and I am all alone in a dismembered section? What if there was a fire?" Doors closed and sealed to contain the air. In an emergency to open a door could mean death. She looked around the room for a helmet. She checked the emergency cartridge in her suit. It had only five minutes of air. She reached behind her collar for the pop-up hood that served as an emergency helmet, no, she wore the skin tight suit that showed off her curves- beautiful but no help.
Touching the communicator in her collar she called. "Mom! Dad! What is happening?" Only static came out of it.
Panic began to grip her. "Where is my bag?" A few bounds took her to the back room where she found the bag on the floor. Inside was a personal computer. She touched the screen trying to get a signal but the screen was snowy shadows of conflicting scenes.
"Screw it." Vicky bounded back to the door. Next to the door was the pale square of light. A touch would open the door, maybe to death. She gulped air and held her breath. Her hand went up to press against the square. Nothing happened. Above the square, a panel lit up, words formed on it, "Egress forbidden."
"What?"
Words scrolled across the panel screen, "For your safety this door is sealed until inspected by engineering."
***
Deep inside the computer complex of the Stardiver the brain fought back against Obee. It learned and studied the attack he used, replicated it and launched it.
Obee cursed and tore the equipment from his face. His eyes burned and ears rang.
(c) Adron
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(c) Adron
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