Ghostworld (Deathstalker Prelude) by Simon R. Green Read Free Book Online Page A

stopped, it’ll be hell’s own problem to get them all started again. If that were to happen, the Empire would not be at all happy—and guess which three people sitting in this cabin right now would be most likely to be saddled with the blame?”
    “Is there anything we can do to help?” said Ripper.
    “Short of getting me into the Base so I can get my hands on the main computer terminals, no, not really. Odin is working his electronic nuts off trying to find a way into the main computers, but something down here is playing merry hell with our comm signals, which means Odin isn’t working at anywhere near his full capacity.
    “On top of all that, there’s something definitely wrong with the computers I have been able to reach. The information I’ve been getting from them makes no sense at all. Half is just gibberish, and the rest is impossible. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear some of these systems have been reprogrammed from the bottom up.”
    Stasiak and Ripper looked at each other, and Ripper leaned forward in his seat. “Are you saying someone within the Base could have crashed the systems deliberately?”
    “Yes. I’d have to say that was a definite possibility.”
    “In which case,” said Ripper slowly, “we could be dealing with enemy action.”
    “Maybe,” said Diana. “I can’t say for sure. Some of these changes make no sense at all.”
    Ripper got to his feet. “Lew, I think you and I had better take a stroll round the perimeter. Make sure everything’s secure.”
    Stasiak leaned back in his seat and deliberately stretched out his legs. “Come on, Rip, have a heart. It’s cold out there. I’m rather attached to my fingers and toes and I’d like to hang on to them. You take a walk, if you feel like it. I’m sure Diana and I can come up with something to keep us occupied while you’re gone. Right, Diana?”
    “In your dreams,” said the esper calmly. “You’re not my type, Lew. I prefer my men a little higher up the evolutionary scale.”
    “Can I take that as a maybe?” said Stasiak, getting reluctantly to his feet.
    “Think of it more as a get-the-hell-out-of-here.”
    “All right,” said Stasiak. “I can take a hint. Lead the way, Rip. I’m just dying to take a nice little stroll in subzero temperatures and watch my extremities turn blue.”
    The esper chuckled briefly, intent on the comm panels, but she didn’t relax until she heard the airlock door close behind the two marines. Stasiak was all right, in his way, but she had to be careful who she allowed to get close to her. There were always people ready to take advantage of her esper abilities. But it wasn’t safe to stay unattached, either. Espers always had a need for someone to stand between them and the Empire, someone strong enough to protect a second-class citizen like an esper from official displeasure and political pogroms. Stasiak was too far down the ladder to be of any use to her, and Ripper wasn’t much better … She realised her thoughts were drifting, and made herself concentrate on the screens before her. The information from Base Thirteen’s computers flowed endlessly on, much of it enigmatic and no bloody use to her at all.
    “I’m picking up something … unusual,” said Odin suddenly. “I thought at first it was what was left of the Base’s AI, but now I’m not sure. It’s as though something inside the Base is trying to respond to my enquiries, but in a manner unlike anything I’ve ever encountered before.”
    “Put it on the main screen,” said Diana, and then frowned as the AI showed her a record of its questions and the Base’s responses. The answers were garbled and obscure, bordering on the edge of meaning without actually achieving it. Diana ran a few simple checks to see if the gibberish might contain some kind of code, but if it did, it was buried so deep she couldn’t find it. And yet the words continued to nag at her, trying to tell her … something. “Run a full