Baxter Moon, Galactic Scout by John Zakour Page B

was right. Wow, I had never thought of that. Our mission was going to be even more significant than I thought.
    The bot rolled out of the room. I was pretty sure it said, “Have a nice warp. If you need me just send me an email,” but truthfully, I wasn’t paying a lot of attention. I was deep in thought, at least as deep in thought as I ever get. Were we really going to be the first teens in hyperspace? Did they know how that might affect us? Did they care? What the bloop were we doing out here anyhow? We’re just a bunch of kids. Sure we’ve been training for a few years, but we have no experience. I couldn’t help thinking that maybe Earth Gov wanted us to fail. Did they maybe they want a war? Maybe they thought the planet was getting too complacent and a war would shock us into working harder. Maybe they thought ten billion people on the planet were too many. Did they want to cull some out? Maybe I was just thinking too much? Maybe I had read too many conspiracy blogs.
    Before I got too deep into my thoughts, SC came on over the intercom.
    “As per GiS’s request, I have loaded all mission data into your quarter’s personal computer station,” SC said.
    “Thanks,” I said, leaving the world of the paranoid.
    “I have also downloaded all the specs from your shuttle and Shuttle K-II.”
    “Thanks,” I said. Though I was pretty certain I wasn’t going to look at those at all. I looked up at the screen. “What about transmissions to the shuttles?” I asked.
    There was silence for a few tics. “I never computed the possibilities that those would be important,” SC said. There was more silence. “Why would they be important?”
    “Just a hunch,” I said. “I admit I have no idea where it came from.”
    “I will look into it,” SC said.
    * * * *
    When I arrived at the conference room, the rest of the group was already sitting around a long metal table, each staring down at the table’s built-in computer screens. GiS looked up at me.
    “You’re late,” he said.
    “SC, what time is it?” I asked.
    “09:29.90,” SC answered.
    “Well, you’re the last one here,” GiS said,
    “So I’ve noticed,” I said as I slid to the one open chair between Zenna and Kymm.
    I sat down. I patted Zenna on the back. I gave Kymm my best smile.
    “What have I missed?” I asked.
    “Do you mean missed now?” Zenna asked.
    “Ah, yes,” I answered.
    “Not much. GiS and K-999 were just explaining to us the importance of being prompt.”
    “Gee, sorry I missed that,” I said.
    Zenna leaned over to me and whispered. “Don’t worry. You’ve heard it about a thousand times!”
    “Thanks, Zen,” I whispered back.
    GiS cleared his throat to get our attention. We all turned toward him.
    “We need to figure out sooner than ASAP what happened to Kappa’s shuttle and how to fix it,” GiS said.
    “Scans have shown the shuttle is physically fine,” K-999 said as gruff as ever.
    “So why not erase the software, then copy Shuttle Sigma-II’s software over it,” Chriz suggested. “The two shuttles are identical; it should be a snap.”
    Elvin and Lobi just looked at each other. It figures the two super brains couldn’t figure out the easy solution.
    “That will work,” Elvin said.
    Lobi just nodded in agreement.
    “Good,” GiS said. “One problem solved. Of course that still doesn’t tell us what caused the problem and how we can prevent it from happening again.”
    “It has to be related to what happened to Axel,” Kymm said, as sure of herself as ever.
    “It doesn’t have to be,” GiS said, keeping Kymm from getting too sure of herself. “But I admit, it is a possibility.”
    Kymm smiled to herself and then at me.
    “I suppose it is possible to reprogram an android and a shuttle,” K-999 said. “Difficult but possible.”
    “I could do it,” Elvin said.
    “So could I,” Lobi said.
    “Me too,” Chriz added.
    Zenna shook her head. “I might be able to, but I wouldn’t want to.”
    I