Chapter 3: Trouble Festering

The meeting of Commander Reiker, Colin, Captain Reilly, 1^st Officer Scott, Molly and Milly, were held 'in camera' which Milly and Colin agreed meant that records were held privately and would not be released to the general universe.

Commander Reiker was opposed to this, "If there is a problem with the Company then it's vital that they are aware of it!" He said.

Scott spoke up, "I'm afraid Commander that if anyone suspects anything within the Company then they are either sidetracked or would be removed 'for the best interest of the Company' those doing the removing wouldn't even be aware of their actions."

Reiker just stared at her in shock, "What do you mean 'wouldn't be aware of their actions'?" he asked her.

Scott shook her head, "Just that Commander, a replicant would have its prime directive overridden and would then be a danger to everyone, they will only act for the sake of the Company and wouldn't even remember what they had done, and their conditioning wouldn't allow it. It wouldn't matter if another replicant saw them they would be affected too."

Reiker sat still for a moment, "Can you prove any of this?" he finally asked.

Colin spoke up using Milly's speakers. "Commander I have to report that I have several files showing such occasions when I was affected, it was thanks to 1^st Officer Scott and Milly that I have been re-programmed and cleared of the imperative."

Reiker grunted, "And in the meantime they made you self aware, I'm not sure which I fear worse? What if you decide that I'm not doing the right thing? Would you space me as Milly did with Captain Smith?"

Colin sounded shocked as he answered, "Certainly not, I have worked with you for several years Commander; I do not think you would ever do anything to endanger either the Base ship or those aboard it!" He said.

Reiker released a silent breath that he'd been holding and then he had another thought, "But you are now sentient could you be lying to me?" He asked.

Colin gave a small laugh, "I could be Commander... but how would you know?" He said.

Scott spoke again, "I think you can trust Colin Commander, as he said he is now free of the command and is currently running through the replicants on your Base ship to ensure that the command is removed from them."

Reiker looked at her, "Well if you're sure then I'll put up with him." He looked up to Milly's sensor unit, "But Colin at your first stutter I'll have you short circuited, is that understood?" He said.

"Really Commander, as if I would stutter!" Colin said disparagingly

Reilly gave a small cough, "I think we'd better concentrate on why the Rochester has been singled out for this, I would expect that the religions such as Human Form would be the main protester, our cargo is replicants to crew the ship, which would be a real target." He said.

Milly spoke up, "But Captain, as I reported the replicants are nowhere near intelligent enough to pilot the ships, they just have a rudimentary operating system, it's almost as if they were required to fail!" She said.

Molly looked up open mouthed, "So that's why! The Company doesn't want the ship to succeed; they need us locked into the known systems! They are the ones trying to stop us!" She said,

"Whoa! What do you mean? The Company's behind all this?" Reiker said in shock.

"Who else could it be?" Molly countered, "They are so diversified that it might even be just one part of the Company going against the other?" She said.

Scott looked at her, "So what would you suggest? Should we send a message to the Company to tell them about this? Or try something else?" She asked.

Reilly shook his head, "If it is the Company, and I only say if, then if we let them know they'd only cover it up, even if the wrong part of the Company gets the message. NO! We've got to do something else."

"Even if we have to reprogram the replicants ourselves?" Milly asked.

"Can you do that?" Reiker asked her in surprise.

"Well, if I can have access to your Base Computer and some human workers, then yes." Milly said.

"HUMAN WORKERS? Why not Replicants? Wouldn't they be better?" Reiker asked.

Scott shook her head, "Commander, Replicants although better workers would hold a file of what they did, however deeply hidden it could be found with the right commands, we can't trust any replicants to do this!" She explained.

"And for that reason I cannot be allowed near the cargo bays either." Molly said.

"So you'll be in charge Scott, isn't that right?" Reiker said authoritatively.

Scott kept a straight face, "Not at all, I've got to stay on the bridge, 2^nd Officer Lloyd will be overseeing the work."

Reiker frowned, "Why I would have thought that you would be the logical one to do it?" He said.

Scott laughed, "I'm well known and it would seen strange that I would be down in the cargo bay all the time, I'm showing myself on the bridge so that should any un-programmed replicants should be around they would notice me. Lloyd isn't so well known." She said.

Reiker nodded it sounded logical, "But how do we do this, if we use only humans then replicants are going to notice."

Reilly drummed his fingers on his desk, "Milly what conditions are bad for replicants?" He asked.

"Nothing Captain, they are designed to work in dangerous area, although heat and radiation will cause damage it's not as severe to them as for you, they can withstand cold and brief exposure to space, over 5 minutes. They don't need oxygen to breathe and can survive underwater." Milly said.

"They can stand radiation, what about electromagnetic waves? What would that do, I mean you keep on about their file system, wouldn't that cause them problems?" Reilly asked.

"Captain if I had a mouth I'd be smiling! That's perfect, it would scramble the files and cause all sorts of problems to a replicant, how did you think of it!" Milly asked.

"It's something they never advertise, but I've seen some replicants working on a magnetic engine and they were wearing a cage thing around them, I think it was called a Faraday Cage, Commander? Do you have any on board?" Reilly asked him.

Reiker shook his head, "No, the magnetic engines were out of date and we don't need such equipment. So that might work... so we've got the means how do we do this?"

Brother Aranna was secure in a life pod; the automatic system had ejected the pods when Brother Xanadu had opened fire on the ship. Only Aranna was near enough to enter the pod — he'd been sitting in it for a few minutes beforehand.

The Captain of the ship — The SS Manchester — tried to send out an emergency call, but the wavelengths were all blocked!