Chapter 30
The vent hatch opened slowly, it opened by the feet of the aliens. Uncomfortably close. If there was one time he wished he didn't have a highly developed sense of smell it was now. He cringed silently, they didn't seem to mind. they were engrossed in their pompous casual conversations. He couldn't simply interrupt them now. He ducked back inside the vent, accessing his almost all powerful computer. It occurred to him that he could disable the ship using nothing but the computer if its range was long enough. Unfortunately, he could only hack something within a couple of metres. Hence he needed to get to the captain's room, which was all- powerful. He accessed their work panel, he disabled all communications. He heard the conversations stop abruptly, the tapping which then ensued, was a testament to their confusion. He drove a small spike into their feet simultaneously, the garment offered no resistance. The pair jumped, they gave a small cry of panic before they slumped back onto their seats. They began making nonsensical noises as the toxins in the spikes kicked in. Good, he thought. The scanners would still read two people, and the brain was still active. The only way they could notice was if another person looked directly at them. He extricated himself from beside their feet. These aliens didn't wear the white alloy suits. In fact they seemed to wear very little. There wasn't any exposed skin per se but they wore skin tight one- piece jumpsuits. It clung to their bodies, extenuating every curve and orifice. It had a very oily complexion to it, and looked like tin foil. They had to wear this frankly degrading clothing. It was to make sure they couldn't bring anything against regulation into these important rooms, the scanner drones could see right through the material. Meaning they couldn't wear anything over, or under it. Of course there were three individual life signals in the cubicle now. What would happen now is a drone will investigate the cubicle. Right on cue it appeared at the door. The door to the cubicle was blocked by a green field, to stop anyone falling out. It would only disable when the anti gravity floating platform, was 'docked' at the door, or a drone has arrived to investigate. It fizzled out. Through the door entered the drone, the red light glaring like the eyes of a monster. Picking up Trilby's life signs it locked onto him. The red light grew brighter, it read him as a threat. Trilby was bent over the screen of the computer. Slowly he hacked into the drone's system. As the red light grew brighter its weapons engaged, big scary weapons. He needed the drone to lock on and engage. Slowly, he changed the coding. A simple change. He changed the words,' threat' to 'friendly'. Instantly the light turned blue. He breathed a sigh of relief- he had been holding his breath. Any sudden movement or sign of panic would have set the drone off. The drone's system had reset with the change. Words appeared on the screen. 'Awaiting input,'. Changing Trilby from 'threat' to 'friendly' had changed the goal and criteria of the drone, as such it needed new criteria. They look dangerous and scary but I guess they are just misunderstood, he chuckled. Yet he couldn't help but be taken aback as to the blinding ease to which he hacked the drone. Bet they think no one could get this far unnoticed, he thought. Nevertheless, the drone's change may have been flagged. And sure enough the drone started moving. The protocol for a change of criteria was the drone returning to the drone base for reprioritising. Trilby grabbed the drone's underside, latching on with his claws. It bore the weight, apparently it didn't mind. It floated through the room, like a disembodied spirit. Trilby wasn't entirely confident in his position. He wasn't well hidden, just- inconspicuous. He had to hope no one would see him. The drone buzzed, as it proceeded at an agonizingly slow pace, Trilby felt the tension rise like a wave. If he had calculated right the path to the drone base went directly past the captain's room. It proceeded on a meandering trajectory, up down, left right. Apparently it the coding wasn't very good. I'm surprised no one has been shot yet. The apparent lax in security was no doubt a result of Hamsterviel's overconfidence. It was clear he thought he was in no trouble. After all, what force could stop thousands of soldiers. Thus a little lax in attention is allowed. Little did he know. The drone came very close to the wall of the captain's room, Trilby was, for a moment, convinced they would crash. When it didn't, he jumped to the ground. The drone kept its sporadic path. He was very much in the open now- a big blue monster in the middle of a tin foiled party. He reached for the door. He needed to get inside. The door panel flashed. 'Password'. He knew it. It was the same as the mainframe password. Only the officials on the ship knew it. He entered the letters and numbers, sweat glistened on his brow. He liked his plans a lot more when they didn't involve him sitting out in the open. He typed in the numbers. Letting them flash on the screen above. Then the lights turned red. He blinked. All around him the blue lights- reminiscent peace- was transformed into the abominable hellfire. He felt his pores tighten, his fur prickle with indignation. He felt drones start to swarm. Like mayflies they flew in every possible direction, the unmistakable sound of weapons engaging. The red scanner lights flaring, the object of their destruction, at the edge of their vision. The cubicles around him, engaged their lockdown protocols. metallic screens encased each cubicle with heavy duty alloy. The doors locked, the red halo absolving them of their purpose. Trilby pressed himself against the door, as it too switched to a red maw. The keypad- complete with half of the combination became encased, the metal shoving trilby from the wall. He fell into the open space. The commotion, grew steadily more intense. Drones had noticed Trilby, they surrounded him. Engulfing him in a wave of machinery and dangerous weaponry. He held his breath. No sudden movements and they won't shoot. He looked around, it must be here. This protocol was irreversible. There! A blue light in the sea of red. It was the only one who didn't see him as a threat. He typed a quick line of code followed by a sentence. Standing slowly he lifted the computer. The red lights followed his movements. Almost all the available drones were staring at him. He stood completely still as the drone came to his side. He typed another line of code. He stuffed the computer, and his headset, into its wiring. The drone turned round and floated away. He sat back down. His plan had failed, yet he had his suspicions. All may not be lost. He had one more trick. He sat bathed in red. The drones continuing to circle him. Weapons trained. Locked on. There was nowhere to run. However, was there any reason he couldn't do damage from the inside?