Interrogative 01: Tiago and the Masterless Read Online Free PDF Page B

three miles in diameter. The chance that Interrogative would spot a telescope, even if it were looking for it, were small. The chance that a telescope would spot the ship... that was much more possible. He broke out of those thoughts. He had to deal with the missiles now.
    "Third wave?"
    "No sign of that, Captain. I think it might just be these two salvos. Thirty-four missiles incoming, total. Still scanning," Six-six-four replied.
    "I'm guessing we know the composition of the missiles. Nothing nuclear, right? I mean this is a moderately low tech world."
    "One minute to first wave impact. Conventional explosives. The guidance makes me want to raise our tech estimate to Clophernial-eight," Six-six-four said.
    "Can we disable the missiles instead of letting them splat on the shields?" Tiago asked.
    "Targeting guidance with forward lasers," Audra said.
    "No, target propulsion," Tiago said.
    Audra set about her task. In the back of his mind, the discontinuity jarred him. The computer let her fire missiles and lasers but it wouldn't let her operate the lift. There was something more to this tangle of prohibitions. He'd have to figure that out before it yielded a fatal surprise.
    "We disabled thirty. Four impacted. Reading no damage. No, update that. Five impacts. Looks like one of the disabled missiles drifted into the shields, Captain," Six-six-four said.
    "I'm going exo-vehicular, you have the command," he said.
    "Can't command," she said.
    "Right. Damn. Interrogative. Transfer command to repair shuttle three. I'll run the ship from exo," he said.
    If he'd turned around, he would have seen Audra trying to decide if she should try to stop him. Not knowing why he was going exo – going when nothing was damaged – left her unable to process an answer. Going exo while there might still be more incoming made no sense either. He entered the lift as she tried to sort all of this out.
    Audra turned on the interior cameras and keyed them to his motion. The lift descended to the correct floor. She watched him try to walk out of the lift. The doors would not open.
    "Interrogative. Why won't the doors open?" Tiago said.
    "Air recyclers were shut down. Atmosphere was reduced below fifty percent," the computer said.
    "Interrogative. Restore standard environmental settings to cargo bay one," Tiago said.
    "Forty seconds until safe levels. Three minutes for complete restoration," the computer said.
    When Tiago entered the cargo bay, Six-six-four continued to watch him. Something interfered with her gaining access to the interior shuttle cameras. Everything thing she tried came back 'equipment not responding.' She tried the communications system.
    "I'm not seeing you," she said.
    "Don't worry about it," Tiago replied.
    The shuttle could hold a crew of six, if they didn't need much equipment. It had more than enough room for Tiago alone. He slipped into the pilot's seat. He wasn't a trained pilot, but these things pretty much flew themselves. He reached over to the co-pilot's seat and brought up the Interrogative's command console. He could now run the repair ship and the Interrogative , both, from here.
    "RS3. We need to go exo. Interrogative. This shuttle needs access to cargo airlock one," he said.
    The ship taxied toward the exit and was soon outside the ship. Tiago found a spot close to where the remaining missiles were drifting.
    "RS3. Tether to surface. Interrogative. Shut down forward shields. RS3. Propel to within two feet of nearest missile. RS3. Collect missile with left repair claw," Tiago said, issuing one command after another.
    He got twenty of them before the limits of the tether made the remaining collection impractical. He could have instructed Interrogative to move forward, but he had gathered enough for his needs. He issued the commands necessary to return to the cargo bay. Once inside, he headed back to the bridge.
    "Why did you bring live ordnance onto the ship? Isn't that dangerous?" Audra asked, concerned.
    "They can't