From: pjd@hpespjd.fc.hp.com (Paul Dorweiler)
Subject: Space Cadets  episode 25
Summary:  YIKES!
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 06:51:23 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Fort Collins, CO

Spaaaaaaaaace Cadets, episode #25: "Going My Way??"

===============================================================================

{To recap for anyone who might not remember that touching moment...
 *virtual sniff*:

 Dohram and Andrea were walking toward a smaller side street.  Once they got
 there, Dohram pulled Andrea into an alcove and activated the exosuit's
 cloaking field.  He brought her into his embrace.}

D: "I can't keep this cloaking field up for long, but at least right now no
    one can see us."

{And so, standing in a deserted alley, with a slight tingling sensation from
 the cloaking field and emotions washing over both of them, Dohram and Andrea
 embraced and kissed each other passionately.}

===============================================================================

{After a minute or so, Dohram and Andrea parted lips.}

D: "When you disappeared from Nymph, I thought .. I'd lost you for good."

A: *smiles* "You won't get rid of me that easily, Dohram."

D: "Ugh!  Years and years of searching for someone I could love who might
    somehow be interested in me .. and she thinks I want to get rid of her???"

A: "Well, we can debate it once we're out of this system.  Whattaya say we try
    to get off this planet?"

D: "Agreed.  But not before this..."

{The two lovebirds kiss again.}

===============================================================================

(Right about now I was starting to get nervous.  Well, as nervous as an AI in
 a space fighter can get, that is.  See, the crew of the transport was out
 doing a hull fatigue check, and they were starting to look over the section
 of hull that the Shark was latched to....)

$ MROC??

* Yes, MORC.

$ HELP!

* What is it this time, little AI-brother?

$ There are some techs doing an outside hull check of this transport, and it's
  only a matter of time before they get over to where the Shark is latched..

* Hmmm.  That _would_ be a problem, then.  Let me have the Shark sensors for a
  bit...

$ Okay.

===============================================================================

{Dohram and Andrea had finally de-embraced, only after the exosuit screamed at
 Dohram that the current active powercell was just about ready to die.  They
 made certain no one was in the alley, and re-emerged into the "real" world.}

D: "Well, we'd better keep moving.  It won't take Gizmos long to regain your
    trail."

A: "How did you get here, anyway?"

D: "I brought the Shark.  It's latched to a Gizmo transport ship in the
    spaceport just outside the east side of this city."

A: "Well, let's get moving east, then!"

{Dohram and Andrea returned to the main street and began walking east.}

#MROC, any luck getting that transport's departure time yet?

#Yes, 0430 local time tomorrow.  Ender wants you and Andrea in the Shark when
 that transport leaves, and you're not to detach from that transport until you
 hear from him.

#Hmmm.  Sounds like another one of his twisted plans again...

#Yes, but that's the least of our problems right now.  The Shark will be
 detected in roughly fifteen minutes by a tech crew doing a hull sweep.

#FRAC!  Just like Gizmos to check a hull...  OK, master AI, any suggestions?

#Well, even if the Shark had cloaking capability, the hull scan would spot
 the extra mass, so we're gonna have to either get them to stop scanning, or
 get the Shark off that hull.

#Yeah, but if we move the Shark, it'll get noticed right away.  Any chance you
 can jam, disable, or otherwise screw up that tech crew?

#Not easily.  They are using four hovercraft loaded with fatigue scanners.

#Hmmmm.  What if we give them something to work on far enough away from the
 Shark that they might forget to scan the rest of that section?

#Depends on how thorough they are, I guess..

#Okay, send out the Eeel someplace far enough away from the Shark but still
 in an unscanned area, and have it deform the hull so that it looks like a
 subspace distortion fatigue.

#Got it.  Eeel leaving the Shark shortly.

{The Eeel is a tiny robot originally intended to be planted on an enemy ship,
 which would burrow its way toward a powerplant and attempt to overload it.
 Useful if you ever had to attack a much larger ship....}

===============================================================================

{In a manner of minutes, one of the hovercraft stopped right over the spot the
 Eeel had visited.  Soon all four techs were on the hull, using hand scanners
 to determine the extent of the damage.  While they were looking at the
 "fatigue" I sent the Eeel up to their hovercraft.}

Tech 1: "Hey!  What's happening to our hovercraft?"

Tech 2: "Looks like a hover field failure.  It'd better not hit the ..."

{The hovercraft hit the hull and exploded.}

Tech 2: "hull."

{Soon all of the techs were busy trying to repair the small "fatigue" and the
 somewhat larger "wound" caused by the hovercraft.  I left the Eeel in the
 area to spy on their conversations.  They seemed quite worried about getting
 the ship repaired in time to make the "new" scheduled departure.  It seemed
 there was an urgent, hazardous mission that this transport had been reassigned
 to at the last minute, and it didn't sound like the one I'd been able to find
 through the spaceport schedules.....}

===============================================================================

{While all this "fun" with the spaceport techs was going on, I was also
 keeping a real-time city map going for Dohram.  I noticed that on more than
 one occasion he deviated from my designated course, and I had to re-compute
 a new route.}

{Dohram and Andrea were speaking in very low voices to each other...}

D: "Not that way.  Guards."

A: "..patrol to the right."

D: "Too open.  Stick to the side streets."

{And so it went for almost a half an hour.  They were attempting to evade
 what they later described as "twelve patrols for every 'normal' person on
 the streets".}

===============================================================================

{Suddenly, upon turning onto a smaller street, Dohram and Andrea found
 themselves facing a line of Gizmonics police brandishing stun rifles.  Their
 backs were also quickly covered with another line of police...}

"HALT!  ANY ATTEMPTS TO MOVE, AND WE WILL SHOOT!"

===============================================================================

What will happen to Dohram and Andrea?  Will they be captured?  Will the
transport leave without them?  And what, if anything, can Ender and Kathy do
to help their friends lightyears away?

Well, grab a bottle of Pepto-Bismol and wait for the next diet version of:

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCE  CAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDETSS!!!!

 
Dohram
Official Hobbes of the RFA, Dennis Mukai gallery owner
(and eternal bachelor... not necessarily by choice, for those who've asked)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Dorweiler  (Dohram) | Hobbes: "I don't know.  What did it sound like?"
pjd@hpespjd.fc.hp.com    | Calvin: "Sort of like breathing and drooling and
Hewlett-Packard Company  |          ripping the meat off human bones!"    
Fort Collins, CO         | Both:   "YAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"