With the danger past, the passengers, including my family, were finally able to relax. Talk quickly turned to discussions of what the world was like back in my time. While I did my best to answer everyone's questions, I was still troubled by something.
A missing valve handle, I silently recounted while others were talking around me, and the malfunctioning sensors. Was it just an accident… or something more sinister?
"Miss Découverte?" one of the stewardesses spoke. "I'm sorry to intrude…"
"No worries," I responded, my thoughts returning to the present. "My mind was elsewhere. What can I do for you?"
"If it's not too much trouble," the stewardess spoke, "the captain would like you to come to the flight deck."
"Wow, Onee-san, I am so jealous!" Claru exclaimed, thumping my shoulder.
"I'll be right back," I chuckled as I floated off after the stewardess.
"Ah, Jayden! Welcome back!" the captain greeted as I emerged into the flight deck.
"What's up?"
"I need a fresh pair of unclouded eyes," he grimly remarked, looking straight at me.
"I think we've both come to the same conclusion," I just as grimly replied.
"Sabotage," Morgu, the copilot, injected.
"But why?" I wondered. "And more importantly, who?"
"I don't know," the captain replied, "but I think you can help."
"How?" I wondered.
"You're not as familiar with our systems as we are," Gortu, the engineer explained. "You might be able to pick out what we would overlook."
For several seconds, I floated there, absorbing what the flight crew was telling me.
"Not much we can tell from the vent valve," I chuckled, "now that it's covered with plas-steel. That leaves the pressure sensors and why they failed."
"Agreed," Gortu said, nodding.
"How is the system controlled?" I asked. "Computer programming?"
"Not as unfamiliar as we first thought," Morgu remarked, grinning.
"Something in the system has to monitor the sensors," I explained, "interpret the data, and how to respond. Can you bring up the code specific to the pressure sensors?"
After touching a few keys, the programming code lit up on one of the engineer's screens.
"This is where the sensor data comes in," Gortu explained, pointing to the screen. "This is the value of the pressure sensor data."
"Where is that converted and displayed on the screens?" I asked.
Gortu scrolled down the page. "Here… this value."
As I was looking at the code, I suddenly exclaimed, "Wait! Scroll back up!"
"Spot something?" the captain wondered, floating closer.
"Maybe," I cautioned, leaning over Gortu's shoulder. "There! Stop!"
"What is it?" Morgu wondered, joining the huddle.
"This value here is the input from the pressure sensors," I said, pointing at the screen. "Scroll down further. Hold it! That's good. And yet, right here," and I planted my finger under a single line of very simple code, "that same value is reset to a constant value of one!"
"So, by the time the program gets down to the line of code that controls whether an alert is sounded or not…" the captain muttered, growing more alarmed.
"The value the program sees is not the true value of the sensors!" Gortu exclaimed. "The system wouldn't know we were in danger!"
"Can you edit the program?" I asked. "Remove that line of code?"
"Watch me!" Gortu growled, fingers flying across the keyboard.
"Sabotage!" Morgu hissed. "Someone was trying to kill us!"
"That's got it!" Gortu crowed in triumph, lifting his hands from the keys.
And yet, even as we watched, the corrected code rewrote itself back to the flawed version.
"What the hell?!" the captain exclaimed.
Gortu tried once more to correct the code, but it simply rewrote itself again.
"A computer virus?" I asked aloud.
"A what?" Morgu wondered.
"Malicious computer code that infiltrates a computer system and overrides the programming," I explained. "Back in the 21st century, it was pretty prevalent among the computers of the day. That's why antivirus software was developed."
"All of our computer systems have protection like that," Gortu argued. "But that would mean…"
"Someone has hacked into your system," I finished.
"Hacked?" the captain pondered.
"Gained illegal access and control of your systems," I explained. "Electronic warfare?"
"I'm confused," Morgu complained.
"Back in my day," I said, glancing around me, "when wars between nations were still prevalent, opposing countries would try to gain illegal entry into another country's computer systems. Gortu, can you back trace where the overwrite command came from?"
"Yes," he replied, eyes lighting up.
"I'm guessing this attack is from outside the shuttle," I went on. "It couldn't have been anyone on board. They were all unconscious."
"Got it!" Gortu exclaimed, grinning broadly. "Signal's coming in via our positional data transponder."
"Can you break the link?" I asked. "Turn it off?"
"No ship can legally fly through space without their transponder on," Morgu explained.
"Gortu, turn it off," the captain ordered.
"Aye, sir!" the engineer replied, flicking the necessary switch.
"But, Captain…" Morgu protested.
"Try and correct the program now," the captain ordered.
Gortu complied. For several minutes, we watched the screen, waiting to see if the coding would rewrite itself, but it remained intact.
"Morgu, contact the sector controller," the captain ordered. "Advise them of the situation and why we're not squawking."
"Aye, sir!"
"Gortu, keep an eye on that system," the captain instructed his engineer. "Let me know if anything else goes south."
"Got it, Skip!"
"That still leaves us with a very thorny problem," the captain remarked, eyeing me closely.
"I agree," I said, grasping the back of Gortu's chair. "I saw that vent valve and the missing handle. I understand it takes a special tool to remove and install the bolt that holds the lever in place, so I think we can conclude the removal was deliberate."
"Agreed," the captain muttered.
"We've already determined that the shuttle's systems were being attacked from some outside source," I went on. "Gortu, how far back were you able to trace the source?"
"I could only trace it as far back as Nova Tokyo," he muttered, clearly frustrated. "Sorry, skipper."
"Whoever was behind the attack was probably using some sort of ghost," I said, glancing about at the others, "a dummy system that would not be traceable back to the owner. But it does tell us something."
"Yes," Gortu agreed, meeting my gaze. "Whoever was behind it is technologically savvy."
"And ruthless," I added. "Whoever was behind this was willing to kill everyone on the shuttle. For all we know, that may have been the intent."
"So then, Miss 'Holmes'," the captain remarked, smiling as he used a reference to that fictional detective from around my time, "what do we do now?"
"Elementary, my dear Watson," I replied, grinning back at him, "we speak with the passengers!"
"And start a full-blown panic?!" Morgu exclaimed. "Are you out of your mind?"
"An unknown individual in Nova Tokyo is pissed at someone on this flight," I replied. "Talking to the passengers may give us a clue to who it might be."
I started with the flight crew, speaking with them at length about this incident, but none of them could come up with any possible suspects.
It didn't go any better with the passengers. A few did panic when we began discussing my suspicions, and it took a while… plus a little saké… to finally calm them down, but the end result was the same. No one could come up with a reason for the attack.
"Onee-san, what about you?" Claru wondered.
"Me?!" I stammered. "Of everyone here, I am probably the least likely to be the subject of such an attack. I've been out of cold sleep barely a week now! How could I have possibly made any enemies in such a short time?"
And then, a possibility crossed my mind, one that must've shown on my face.
"Jayden, what is it?" Papa asked.
"Just a passing thought," I quietly replied, trying to reassure him.
The hurt look in Counselor Icaru's eyes! Could my choosing Claru's family over his have been enough to send him over the edge? He didn't seem the type, and yet…
Just like the Apollo astronauts of my time, it took us three days to make the lunar transit. During all that time, I repeatedly spoke with everyone on board… captain, crew, and passengers. The answer always came back the same.
Once more, I was reminded of that fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes and a specific quote attributed to him… "When you eliminate all other possibilities, whatever remains, however unlikely, must be the truth!"
I had been the target! But why?