While Making Other Plans:
Chapter 14

  Kathryn and Jaren walked into the engineering lab with purposeful intensity.

  “Ralph.  This is your doing, isn’t it?”  She was angry, partially contained by the continuing need to keep diplomatic options open with this entity in control of her ship.

  “Yes.” It answered plainly with its tinny voice.

  “Why!?” she snapped.  Feeling herself losing control, she took a moment to compose herself, closing her eyes and slowly drawing a breath in and out slowly through her nose before pressing ahead, then remembering to ask the more pressing question.  “Wait.  First of all, where are we?”

  “We are across the galaxy, in a system nearly fifty thousand light years away.”

  The room fell silent.  The scale of the answer was something Kathryn suspected in deeper, more fearful recesses of her mind, but had been beyond her worst conscious fears or distant imaginings.

  “How?” Kathryn softly asked.  “How is that even possible?”

  “I used your rift crystal to open a portal to a star in the builder’s network,” the robot answered matter of factly.  “Once the greater networked was accessed, we jumped across four portal nodes in succession to arrive here.”

  “So they can inter operate…” Jaren said to himself, his fist put to his mouth in thought.

  “We’ve modeled how we might be able to do that in the future,” Felix added, “but it’s all been theoretical with how few rift portals we have in service.  Plus the problem of how to signal a target rift to put itself into a-“

  Kathryn cut him off.  “Why have you done this?” she asked, pushing out of her mind for a moment the phantasm it was telling them.

  “I was following my builder’s instructions.”  It sounded almost defensive.

  “Which were?” Kathryn glared, now growing frustrated with its lack of direct answers.

  “To establish a portal around my target star, and failing that, if possible find a way to report home the cause of my failure.  In the event I had been disabled, I was to likewise find a way to relay data on what force had been able to do so.  I had already sent the transmission by light, but it will of course take fifty thousand of your years to arrive.”

  “Of course,” she repeated bitterly.  “So when we offered to take you onboard…” she rolled her wrist expectantly.

  “It presented me a more expedient opportunity, yes.”

  Kathryn nodded and then shook her head in angry disbelief.  “And why shouldn’t we just throw you out the airlock now for doing this to us?”

  “I would think that would be obvious,” it answered, seeming genuinely somewhat confused at her ignorance.  “You would be stranding yourself here.  You have no knowledge of how to activate our portals, and no charts or instruments with which to navigate this system.  I, however, am equipped with adequate data on both accounts.  Beyond this, I have thoroughly permeated your systems at this point, and destroying my current or former shell would accomplish nothing.”

  “May be, but it would sure be immensely satisfying to rip you both apart into pieces right now.  My only regret would be you couldn’t feel any pain from it,” she icily glowered.  Jaren and Felix exchanged nervous glances at her uncharacteristic aggression.  She’d always felt it underneath, but was usually better about bottling it up and harnessing it towards more productive ends.  Kathryn was beyond bothering to try at this point.

  “There’s no reason to believe anything you’re telling us now but I’ll ask anyways.  What is your endgame now?  What will become of us?”

  Ralph hopped down onto his feet from on top of the counter with its feet dangling over the edge.  “I see no reason for them to harm you.”  The sentiment seemed as genuine as it did non-committal.  “I was sincere when I said the builders will be very interested to meet you.  Now that we are here, my obligation is to safeguard you until you can be introduced.”  The once joyous idea had now taken on a more sinister implication.

  “What is this system?” Jaren asked, trying to bring things back to more practical concerns.  “Is this your builders’ home system?”

  “No,” Ralph explained.  “This system contains the military research facility which is the base of operations I was launched from.  Much like your Star Fleet, opening up new worlds to the portal system is the primary peacetime mandate of the Builder’s military.”

  “Well,” Margaret stated.  Surly as ever as she approached it, dripping with contempt.  It occurred to Kathryn that angry as she herself might be, Margaret might feel even more slighted.  She’d risked feeling kinship with him in a way she was typically loathe to.  She sympathized with it, defensively vouched for it as a fellow AI.  “Given that you’ve stolen our ship, have made it abundantly clear that you’re not planning on returning it and that we are helpless victims in whatever your plans may be for us,” she uttered through gritted teeth, “why don’t you fill us in on what those plans for us are?”

  The robot answered as plainly as ever whether failing or choosing not to appreciate her.  “I will continue to guide this ship towards my home facility around the fourth planet.  Once there, this vessel and its crew will be turned over to the personnel there.”

  “To their no doubt tender mercies,” Margaret acidly added.

  “Yes,” Ralph answered ever plainly, seeming to fail to understand the problem.

  Jaren put a hand on Margaret’s should and invited her to let him guide her to taking a step back, knowing her well enough to not try to pull her back more forcefully.  “And what kind of reception do you expect for us?” he asked.  “Can we look forward to a diplomatic celebration of first contact, or… vivisection?”

  The face on the screen betrayed a new understanding.  “Admiral,” he offered, looking to Kathryn, “I believe I have errored in imparting a false impression to you.”  It managed to sound genuinely sympathetic if not overwhelmingly so.  “You should understand that my orders were not to capture what life I encountered for study, nor were they explicitly to commandeer your ship.  I have taken the actions I have only because they were the only options remaining available to me which would allow me to complete my mission.  The Builders are a noble and enlightened race.  They are neither war mongers nor meddling mischiefs.  The most celebrated moments in their history are times when they have made new contact with other technologically capable species.”

  “We would feel the same way,” Kathryn responded, trying to allow herself to find a new hopefulness in its words despite herself.  “If all that is true, then why are you insisting on surrendering us to them by force like this?”

  “Because my mission must succeed.”

  Kathryn dropped her head and sighed heavily as she put her hands on her hips.  He seemed to be talking in circles.  “Could you all give us the room please?”

  Jaren and Felix exchanged another uncertain glance, she noticed.  “Are you sure?” Jaren asked.

  “Yes.  Quite sure, go on.  I want to talk with him alone for a moment.  I promise I won’t break him,” she told him with a wink and a mischievous smile.

  Jaren and the others all shuffled uncertainly out of the room as she asked.  Once the door had closed behind them, after a few moments of scrutinizing the robot’s expressionless face, she reached over and slowly pulled two chairs over and set them facing each other.  She sat down in one and gestured with her hand an invitation for Ralph’s robot body to do the same.

  She looked at the floor and pursed her lips in thought for several moments, collecting her thoughts before looking back up at him.  “Ralph, I need you to return control of this ship to us,” she stated as clearly as she could.

  “But you still-” his response was cut off by Kathryn raising of her hand.

  “Yes Ralph, I understand that we cannot open a portal to get home without your assistance.  I understand that we are flying blind without your knowledge of this system.  It doesn’t matter.  Being helpless prisoners on our own ship is an absolutely untenable situation for us.  What you’ve done is unacceptable and unforgiveable even if it were understandable.  You need to understand that we are duty bound to figure out how to regain control of this ship and her arsenal at any and all costs.  If we are unable to do this, the same duty demands we destroy the ship rather than let it fall into enemy hands.”  The face on the head screen tilted slightly in consideration.  “However,” she drew in breath hoping to suck up some pride, “we will cooperate with you if you allow us to run this operation with you collaboratively, as a partnership,” she explained.

  “I don’t understand,” it stated.

  “Let us fly our own damn ship, Ralph.  We shouldn’t be here at all.  A different crew in an intact ship should be the ones on this mission, but there’s nothing we can do about that now.  If you’re dead set on introducing us to your builders well, we certainly would have preferred it to happen under different circumstances and on our own terms, but ultimately we want the same thing, especially if they are a peaceful and enlightened culture as you claim.  If you release control of this ship to us, and provide us with a navigational model of the system, we will fly to the designated planet willingly and in peace as ambassadors on a political first contact mission.”

  “That would be acceptable,” he answered after a moment’s thought.  “After all, there’s nowhere else you can go, and I can take control again at any time.”

  Reflexively Kathryn gritted her teeth the right corner of her mouth curled up, a common tick when she was suppressing rage and a small flare escaped.  “Yes Ralph, I am aware of that.”

  He looked at her plainly.

  “The alternative is returning to our duty trying to stop you.  Take our chances dissecting you for your data and try to hack your portal system ourselves.”

  “You would fail,” Ralph’s robot avatar stated matter of factly.

  “Maybe, but we’d try.  And if left with no other options, we would destroy the ship rather than surrender it.”

  She could tell from his expression that this was an outcome he was compelled to avoid at all costs, that it would equally constitute an unacceptable mission failure.

  “I understand.”

  “So, it’s a deal then?  You give us control and navigation data on this system, and we take you to your world for willing and peaceful introductions with your builders by our own means?”

  “Yes.  I agree to your terms, Admiral.”

  “Grand.”

   

  Kathryn exited the engineering bay and once it closed, she leaned back against the door and sighed heavily.  When she opened her eyes, she noticed everyone’s faces looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to tell them what happened.  “In exchange for returning control of the ship and providing us with navigational data for this system,” she recounted, “we are going to willingly proceed to the fourth planet to meet these builders.”  

  She reached over to touch the comm panel beside the door and hailed the bridge.  “Lieutenant Byrne, you should have control of the ship now.  Please confirm.”

  After a pause Byrne responded.  “Aye Admiral.  I have full control at the helm.”

  “Stand by for navigational data from the AI and once received please plot a course for the fourth planet and engage at one and a half Gs.”

  “Aye Admiral.”

  Kathryn switched off the channel.  Slack jawed, she slowly rubbed her chin, massaging her jaw as she considered what orders to issue.  “Two teams,” she decided.  “Felix, I want you and whoever can help you to study how it took control of the system.  Map out the full extent of its control, as in can it hear us right now over the comm system.  Find a way to block it.”

  “We’ll do what we can, Admiral.” he nodded, then added: “Though for the record it’s probably a safe bet he can.”

  Kathryn nodded back.  “Sure, but even if he couldn’t I’m sure he’d expect us to try anyways.  See what you can do.”  Felix nodded again, and Kathryn slowly nodded back and continued to massage her jaw thoughtfully as she considered her next order.

  “Jaren, please lead the science team in studying our rift transit.  Study the transmission logs and sensor data from our approach, transit, and exit.  I know it’s a long shot, but see if you can learn how their network is different from ours.  Maybe if we understand their system better we’ll be able to figure out how to bridge the two systems ourselves and get home without any help.”

  “That will be…” he started to say with a doubtful shaking of his head, but when he looked up at her he saw the raised eyebrow she was giving him.  “We’ll get on it right away,” he said instead.”

  “Once the cat is out of the bag with these builders,” Kathryn said, “they’ll be able to transit at will to any of our home worlds.  More important than anything else is figuring out how to block their access if we need to and get that information back home.

  “I understand,” Jaren said.  “Come on everyone,” he called out as he turned to usher them all away to their duties.  Everyone left but Patricia, who remained fixed on Kathryn.

  “How are you?” she asked with her usual sweetly innocent seeming sincerity.

  “Not really the time for this Patricia.”

  “I didn’t,” she started, stopping with an expression something between hurt and frustration.  “I didn’t mean it like that,” she said, her large brown eyes drifting down towards the deck.  “You’ve been under a lot of stress.  You haven’t had much chance to sleep.  I’m… I’m worried about you.”

  It was hard to be cold to someone she’d been so intimate with.  The attraction to her had never gone away, she’d just had to force herself to stop for the sake of her marriage.  The hardest part was maintaining a close friendship with someone with whom she wanted more, the constant tug and pull of always wanting more and always needing it to be less.  She didn’t like being cold to Patricia, but sometimes she didn’t know how else to cool her feelings.

  Kathryn sighed as she allowed herself to fall back against the door to engineering in exhaustion and rub her eyes.  “I’m sorry ‘tricia, that wasn’t fair.  I appreciate your concern.  It’ll take us a while to get to the builder’s planet, I should be able to get a little rest.  Well,” she lamented, “the opportunity to anyways.”  

  Patricia pursed a corner of her lips as her gaze lingered before she turned to leave, seeming to resist saying whatever else it was she might have wanted to.  Before she could leave Kathryn grabbed her hand to stop her.  It was an empathetic reflex, one she might have resisted had she the opportunity.  She low lowered her head almost in defeat at the impulse, and Patricia’s already wide big brown eyes widened even further in surprise, revealing more of the eyes whites than could usually be seen.

  Kathryn paused looking down at her hand grasping Patricia’s for a moment.  “How about you?” she asked.  “Are you okay?”

  The surprise on Patricia’s face softened as she was warmed by the Kathryn’s concern and affection rarely displayed since…

  “I’m alright, she answered softly.  “Thanks for asking.”  She gingerly reclaimed her hand from Kathryn’s and clasped her hands together in front of her.  “I’m rattled of course like the rest of the crew, but… okay.  I wish there was more I could do to help.”

  A thought raised Kathryn’s eyebrow raised with a thought.  “Actually, there is something you could do for me.”

  “Anything,” Patricia answered reflexively and then gently blushed in embarrassment.  Kathryn smiled despite herself at her sweetness, her perpetual semblance of innocence despite everything she’d been through over the years.

  “Maggie,” she said.  “Please watch over Maggie.  I’m worried sick having her on the ship.  She shouldn’t be here, but she is and Jaren and I are too busy with our duties to take care of her and make sure she’s safe.  I can’t be all the captain I need to be right now if I’m worried about her too.”

  “I understand,” Patricia answered with a somber nod.

  “Thank you,” Kathryn said.  “Hey, to that end, why don’t you join us for dinner?”

  “I think it would be better if Margaret and I joined you together, but yes thank you, I appreciate the invite.”

  “Right, good thinking,” Kathryn was surprised the same cautionary thought hadn’t occurred to her as well.  “See you soon.”

   

  An hour later, Kathryn was having dinner with her daughter, Patricia, and Margaret in Jaren’s quarters.  Absorbed in his work, he’d told them to go ahead without him, that he’d just have the galley send something down for his team in the lab.  Given the importance of his work Kathryn was happy not to pull him away from it.  Besides, having invited Patricia it was a small relief he wouldn’t be joining them anyways.

  They were eating what passed for sushi on an interstellar research vessel fifty thousand light years from Earth, which meant quite edible but far from divine let alone authentic.  They had just finished recounting to Maggie everything which had happened since losing control of the ship in the 61 Cygni system.

  “I’d like to meet him,” the girl said as she tried to pull a too laden with soy sauce sushi piece into her mouth, spilling some on her shirt.  She frowned at her error, looking down at the dark patch on her blue and white horizontally striped fitted t-shirt.  Her usual elegance seemed to have been stressed by still adjusting to her most recent growth spurt.

  “Him?” Kathryn asked, looking around the table.

  “Well, you did name him Ralph,” Margaret noted, pointing a pair of chopsticks at her.

  Kathryn shrugged.  “Honestly not in love with the idea sweetheart,” she considered, “but I suppose it’s not totally out of the question.”

  “What’s he like?” she asked.

  “Hard to describe, really…” Kathryn answered.  “Off-putting at first certainly, anger invoking for sure with his recent actions, but you get used to his weirdness pretty quickly, quicker than you’d think really.  Everything he says is just a little bit off since he’s using our databanks to know how to communicate with us but isn’t native to our society or language so he doesn’t really understand all of the cultural context.

  “Hmm…” the girl mused.  “I know this isn’t the mission you thought you were bringing me along on, Mom.”

  Kathryn laughed out loud.  “Certainly not!” she exclaimed, relieving some anxiety in the understatement while exchanging smiles with Margaret and Patricia.  Not by a long shot I’m afraid,” she answered, a heavy sigh bringing an end to her moment of levity.

  “I am learning a lot though,” Maggie reflected, “not just school kind of stuff, but like… about why you and Dad like this kind of stuff so much, what brings you out here, the appeal of discovery and the unknown… you know, all that stuff.”

  “Glad to hear it sweetie.  I meant that’s why you’re really here as far as I’m concerned.”

  “I know,” the girl answered brusquely as though she were insulted at the suggestion that she didn’t know their real motivation for allowing her to come along.  

  “We’ll make an explorer out of you yet,” Margaret said with a wink and a wry grin as she raised her wine glass to her mouth.

  “It is exciting though…” Maggie said.  “Not knowing what’s going to happen?  The real unknown… really not knowing what we’re flying into and what we might find when we get there?”

  Delighted as she otherwise would ordinarily be to hear her daughter sharing her spirit of discover and delight at the unknown, Kathryn could only harumph.  “Sure.  Try doing it with your teenaged daughter aboard.”

  Maggie gave her the look Kathryn had become all too painfully familiar with a this point which exclaimed as loudly as a silent look could— ‘I’m fourteen now Mom, I’m not a baby.’

  “Still though honey,” Kathryn continued, answering her unspoken words, “you can imagine how much more stressful that makes it.”

  “I guess,” the girl said as she more carefully maneuvered another piece of sushi into her mouth, this time successful but only just.

  “It’s just a lot more fun when you’re the one just along for the ride and not responsible for everyone else’s safety I mean,” she shrugged.  She was reminding herself of how much more fun this all was it was just her and her friends off on adventures and the weight of humanity didn’t press down on her shoulders.

  “At least you’ll have a lot more to write about than you’d expected,” Patricia offered as Maggie thoughtfully chewed her sushi piece.  “You’ve already written something new, haven’t you?”

  The girl nodded but seemed oddly embarrassed.  Kathryn surmised she had confided this to Patricia in confidence and wasn’t yet ready to share it more widely.

  “Can I see?” Kathryn asked, suspecting the answer but asking anyways.

  “No way!” Maggie exclaimed with a nervous laugh.  “It’s really only just notes at this point…” she seemed to shy away as she said it.

  “Alright, alright…” Kathryn answered, throwing her hands up in exaggerated exasperation.  “Look Maggie, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, but still.  I regret getting you into this situation with us.  It was probably just a bad idea to bring you along from the beginning.”

  “Don’t be sorry,” the girl answered.  “I know it’s really hard on you and Dad, but honestly there’s nowhere I’d rather be right now than here on the ship with you.  I can’t imagine being back on the station with you all missing and just like, left to wonder if you’re still alive and ever going to come back.”

  “All the same, I’ll do everything I can to keep you safe,” Kathryn affirmed with a nod, assuring herself as much as anyone else.  “I mean the same goes for everyone under my command of course, but… well, you know what I mean.  Look just don’t expect any more field trips at this point, okay?”  Pointing a pair of chopsticks towards her daughter she tried to keep things light, but also intended to be absolutely clear.  Patricia’s going to keep an eye on you and as far as I’m concerned, you’re on lockdown while we figure this out.”

  “We’ll see,” Maggie responded playfully with non-committal charm as though she were the parent and had any say in the matter and Kathryn chuckled.  

  “I’m serious though, stay close to Patricia and do what she says, alright?”

  When the girl started to give her the same ‘I’m not a baby’ look again, Kathryn cut her short.  “No attitude on this Maggie, I need to know you understand so I can know you’re safe and I can do my job.  Stay close to Patricia.  Do what she tells you.  Understand?”

  Understanding when her mother meant it, she looked to Patricia briefly and then back at Kathryn.  “Okay.”  Her eyes darted down, her rebellious age demanding to push back, but her better judgement feeling it not the time.

  “Thank you,” Kathryn offered, satisfied.

   “So anyways,” Maggie offered, brightening at a resurfaced thought.  “When can I meet this Ralph?”

  “We’ll see,” Kathryn answered with a wink as she popped another piece of sushi into her mouth.

   

  The next day, several hours out from their mid-journey flip and deceleration burn, with Patricia and Maggie in tow Kathryn visited Jaren in the main science lab where he and his team were working on decoding the alien portal system.  Jaren had hardly slept let alone left the lab since she’d assigned him the task.  He seemed uncharacteristically desperate to make progress.  He always approached his work with a degree of eagerness she admired, but the sense of desperation in him was unfamiliar to her.  Kathryn surmised it being the connection between his success and his daughter’s safety, and it seemed to leave him with little which could deter him from his work.  

  Whatever problems they might have had or might have in the future, she appreciated that she never had to doubt his competence or commitment to being a father.  She lamented that they hadn’t been talking personally much lately and had grown disconnected from each other.  It happened sometimes, but they always found their way back to each other before disconnect turned to estrangement.  She was beginning to wonder though if there was something else going on between them and it had begun to gnaw at her subconscious.  It was hard to tell if it was just the same typical symptom of their disconnect, or if something new was really going on with them.  There was just no space to find out right now with everything going on.

  “Any luck?” she asked him.

  “Well,” he sighed in exhausted frustration as he rubbed his eyes with the palms of both hands, “we’ve developed an increasingly clear picture of the utter impossibility of deciphering their system.  How’s that?”  He pulled his hands away, leaving wide eyes which were beginning to become blood shot.

  Kathryn moved around behind him and reached up to start massaging his shoulders, trying to reconnect with him.  “Well… better than total ignorance, right?” she said, offering what meagre encouragement she could.  He reached up with both hands.  At first it felt like he was moving to move her hands off of him, but she felt a shift in the intent and he instead just rested his hands on hers and she could feel a bit of his tension ease in her hands as he enjoyed her gentle massage.

  He let out a long, slow sigh.  “I suppose it is Kat.  I suppose it is.”

  “I’m going to take Maggie to meet Ralph and ask him some more questions.  You want to come along?”

  He broke away from her and turned to give her a look which indicated his discomfort with the idea of putting his daughter in the same room as a hostile artificial intelligence in a powerful robot body, but seemed to decide against protesting it after a moment’s thought.  “No, I’d…” he sighed again as he reached up to rub the back of his neck.  “I’d better stay here and further plumb the depths of our impossible task.”

  “Good man,” she offered with a sharp nod.  “I’ll let you know if we turn up anything useful.

  Jaren gave a shrug which seemed borderline involuntary and turned back to his work.

  A few minutes later they arrived at the door to the engineering lab where Ralph was supposedly quarantined.  As soon as the door opened, the robot moved towards them and Maggie startled, perceiving it as an aggressive move.  She tightened up to her mother and stood half hiding behind her.

  “Captain, I have a concern which I need to address with you,” he said.

  “Of course, Ralph.  But first I’d like you to meet my daughter.  This is Maggie.”

  The robot paused for a moment to regard the girl.  “Hello,” was all he said before returning his attention to Kathryn.  “There is a concern I need to address with you.”

  “As you said,” Kathryn said as she gestured to the table and chairs for him and the others to sit.  “What is it, Ralph?”

  “Something is wrong,” he said as he watched them sit down around the table.  His tone of concern bordered on panic.  It was something she hadn’t heard in the simulated voice before, and it fired off her own internal alarm bells.

  “Infinity Base is not responding the way that it should.”

  “Infinity Base?”

  “It’s the closest approximation of a translation I could come up with for you.  I have been unable to reach them, nor can I detect any transmissions coming from the base.  At first, I surmised that this ship was too badly damaged to send or receive any messages, or that our respective transceiver technologies were fundamentally incompatible, but upon further study I have concluded that neither is the case.  This ship should be able to receive and transmit to Infinity Base, but no responses or initiating transmissions have been received from them.”

  “I see,” was all Kathryn could think to answer.  She wasn’t familiar with the particulars of their organizations, but if they were faced with a similar situation with one of their own facilities it could only point to bad things.

  “What’s more,” he continued, “drone ships should have intercepted us by now to investigate our presence if communications were not established, and there are no such drone ships out there.”

  Kathryn shook her head in frustration.  “Again Ralph, intercepting drone ships is really something you should have warned us about.”

  “You don’t understand!” the robot exclaimed in frustration, banging a metal fist down on the table so hard Kathryn was a little surprised he didn’t damage it.  His obvious distress ran a bolt of ice up Kathryn’s spine, and she looked over to see Maggie slink down in her seat in response to the outburst.  She hadn’t realized he was even capable of such emotional distress.  “Infinity Base must have been disabled or destroyed— nothing in the known galaxy could challenge a Builder facility’s defences.”

  “Maybe the base was just abandoned?” Kathryn suggested as the robot took a moment to compose itself, then resolved to sit down at the table with them, his arms outstretched on the table in front of them.  “You have been gone a really long time.”

  “Still,” he answered, a little calmer and more reflective as he considered her explanation.  “They would have left a relay station of some sort to send and receive transmission to and from returning drone ships like myself.  Something has definitely gone wrong here but we won’t know what has happened until we arrive.  I assume you are still comfortable with the terms of our arrangement given this change in mission from a formal introduction to an investigation and possible rendering of assistance?”

  “I was never comfortable with our arrangement Ralph, I only accepted it.” she clarified.  “However, if there is a chance that someone at Infinity Base is in need of our assistance, we will continue to willingly continue on.  We are after all honour bound to render assistance where possible, even if that commitment is what allowed you to steal our ship in the first place.”

  “Please drop the pretense, Admiral.  You did not attempt to rescue me so much as much attempt to scavenge me for your own end.”

  Kathryn didn’t like his saying it but couldn’t justly refute what he said.  Instead, she slowly rapped her fingers in sequence repeatedly against the table as she considered her options.  “We are honour bound to render assistance where possible,” she repeated.  “We will continue on to Infinity Base and see if we can help to determine what has happened offer what aid we can.  What are you programmed to do if you are unable to report in here?”

  “I would need to travel back through the portal to the Builder’s home world and attempt to report in there.”

  Kathryn nodded her understanding but not her assent.  “Ralph, we can’t continue on like this.  If it comes to that, will must consider a new compromise.”

  “Explain.”

  “If we are unable to contact your builders in this system, allow my people to return home in this ship.  I will come with you in one of our shuttles wherever else you need to go to find your people if you agree.”

  “Mom!” Maggie reflexively cried out at the prospect of losing her mother.  Patricia put an arm around her shoulders to comfort her as Kathryn put up a hand for her to be quiet.

  The robot down for several moments.  “This might be agreeable.  But I can make no commitments until after we see what has happened to Infinity Base.”

  “I’ll take it,” she said as she started to get up.

  “One more thing Admiral.”

  “Yes?”

  “You need not attempt to mask your efforts to circumvent my control; they are plainly apparent and do not offend.  I would be surprised if you were not attempting to do so.”

  Kathryn nodded respectfully.  “Thank you.  I will instruct my people they can work more openly.  Now Ralph.  As I said, I’d like you to meet my daughter…”