Administrative Tower
The tower was empty when Jen Sin returned.
“Light Keeper Lorith is in her workroom,” Tocohl said, in answer to his query. “She asked me to call if there was need.”
“I see.”
He drew a cup of water from the dispenser, vaguely disturbed. He and Lorith had been used to being much in each other’s company, on those occasions when they were awake. They had slept together more often than apart, taking what comfort there was in the midst of the madness in which they functioned. This awakening—this present time, he corrected himself roughly—they seemed…not attuned.
Granted, they had been busy, each at their tasks, and the necessity of splitting the administrative watch had perhaps limited their shared off-time.
Which, he reminded himself, draining the cup, was what the station schedule was meant to regularize.
He sighed. Well. He would seek her out, the next time they were both properly on-shift, and talk with her.
He drew another cup of water and went to the desk.
Seating himself, he brought the screen live, and opened the station log.
“Mentor Jones and I have finished designing the program you requested,” Tocohl continued. “He asked me to present this fact to you, and to answer any questions you might have. If there is need, the mentor is also available to you.”
“I take from this that you and Mentor Jones are satisfied that the program will effectively decommission any device listening for the voice of Ahab-Esais?”
“Yes, though the only true test of our craft is to deploy it.”
“Understood. Do you or Mentor Jones have any additional thoughts about this project that you wish me to hear?”
A small hesitation.
“I reiterate my previously stated concern regarding the escalation of hostilities.”
“Noted. And Mentor Jones?”
“Mentor Jones believes that Director Ling, to whom Mentor Yo was—obligated—will build anew and better, after he has recovered his equilibrium.”
“Thus do we encourage innovation, and add to the tale of our good works,” Jen Sin murmured. “Pray continue to shelter Ahab-Esais inside the station’s shields. As you will have heard on-dock, we are expecting shipwrights from the Carresens Yard, who may be able to aid her. If they find themselves at a loss, we will await whatever technicians Korval might send.”
“Yes, sir.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I am a tyrant, I apprehend. Is there something else on this topic?”
“No, sir. Shall I deploy the program?”
“Surely, it falls within the light keeper’s honor to do so, though I am not prepared to settle the point with pistols. Is it possible that mine be the hand? Or must I stand as the genius behind the action, and order you to deploy the program?”
Another small hesitation.
“The program presently resides in an isolated environment. It is killware, and dangerous by its nature. There is…less chance of error, if I am the one to release it.”
“Then let the log show that you acted to protect the station and all who depend upon it, at my order. Deploy the program at will, Pilot Tocohl.”
“Yes,” she said, and a bare moment later:
“Deployed.”