Page 32 of Starlight, Starbright
“When. Not if.” I find the release mechanism, start manipulating the connections. “We're getting out. We're stopping this. And then we're going to arrest Walsh and save Christmas.”
His laugh is brief but genuine. “Your optimism is statistically unlikely but emotionally compelling.”
“That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me.” The mechanism clicks. The door shudders. “Got it!”
The door cracks open six inches. Then a foot. Enough.
We squeeze through into the corridor beyond. Tobias Hale stands there, weapon drawn, Walsh secured against the wall.
“Cutting it close,” I manage.
“He is at the control panel.” Tobias nods toward a nearby access point. “Watching his trap work. Makes the arrest easy.”
Walsh looks up at us, his face twisted with hate. “It doesn't matter. The program's running. You can't stop it in time.”
“Watch me.” I pull out my tablet.
“The program is sophisticated,” Zoric reports, linking his own tablet to mine. “It's propagating through the secondary systems. I'm slowing it but I can't stop it from here.”
“The core stabilization has bought us time,” I say, already accessing the system. “But if we don't kill this virus, Walsh still wins.”
We work together, his analytical framework combining with my intuitive understanding of the ship's architecture. Walsh's program is brilliant. Elegant. Designed to propagate too fast to stop. But he built it alone. We are working together.
“Ten seconds,” Zoric counts down. “Five. Three. Execute.”
I trigger the kill command.
Every screen on my tablet goes blank. Then, one by one, systems start reporting normal. Green across the board. The cascade has stopped.
The interrogation room is small and cold. Walsh sits with his hands secured, his expression shifting between defiance and defeat. Zoric and I take the seats across from him.
“The program's deactivated,” I say. “We have your access logs. Physical evidence of the severed conduit. It's over, Walsh.”
He is silent for a long moment. Then: “It should have worked.”
“Why?” Zoric asks quietly. “Why try to destroy your own ship?”
“Not my ship anymore. Not once you contaminate it.” Walsh looks at Zoric with open hatred. “Earth for humans. That's what we fight for. And you people come in with your 'superior' logic and suddenly we're supposed to bow to alien command?”
“So you decide to kill ten thousand people to prove a point?” I can't keep the disgust from my voice.
“I decide to prove that alien command leads to disaster. That humans need human leadership.”
“The ship doesn't fail,” Zoric says. “It succeeds. Because humans and Zephyrians work together.”
Walsh's laugh is bitter. “I fail. Others won't.”
Tobias pulls Walsh to his feet. “I'll take him to the brig. You two should report to medical. Standard procedure after exposure to the core's radiation.”
Right. The radiation. I've forgotten about that in the panic of nearly dying. “Copy that.”
Tobias approaches Diana Moss at her station. “Lieutenant Moss, your report on the communication irregularities helps us establish Walsh's timeline. Without your observations, we might not have caught him.”
Her relief is visible. “I am afraid you think I am involved, sir.”
“You report suspicious activity when you notice it. That's exactly what you should do.” Tobias nods once and moves on.
Diana catches my eye across the bridge. I nod at her. She has been brave to report what she saw, even when she is scared. That takes courage.
