Perfect World Somewhere

Chapter 28

Mr. Marlow held the usual crew briefing in the lobby, before the next shift started.

"This should be a fairly routine descent," he said, hands clasped behind his back. "We have two junior gymnastics teams aboard. Thus, the third level guest cabins are overrun with teenagers. Let's hope they stay out of trouble. Mr. Wetzel, the Ballroom will need to be prepared immediately, as the Owens-Carpenter wedding party has bumped their event start up to eight standard time." He paused, looking about. "Are there any other concerns?"

Mr. Wetzel cleared his throat. "Sir, if I may. The wedding party added an extra thirty guests to the roster, but we only ordered enough Detreaux Springs water for the original count. Whatever should we do? I've searched every vendor, to no avail. It's a disaster." He looked as if the entire world had collapsed onto his shoulders.

"Leave it to the concierge, Mr. Wetzel."

"But..."

Mr. Marlow raised an authoritative palm. "I'll handle it, thank you. Very well, you all know what to do. Let's get started."

Lily went to her office, reclined in the comfortable leather chair, and crossed her ankles on the desk. She filed her pre-launch reports through Zora, with a few simple voice commands. Then she relaxed for several minutes, watching the screens before her. These panels displayed the status of every robotic network on the lift. Zora maintained almost everything, which made the drudge work easy. She was accustomed to managing entire systems on her own, from her previous work with Hir Zilejager and Delia.

The robots handled the mundane duties, like plunging toilets and fixing appliances. A fleet of thirty engineer and custodian models were all at her command.

This is looking pretty good, she told herself.

Barely an hour after launch, she received a call from security.

She answered, in her most professional tone. "Good day, Mr. Paynter. How may I be of assistance?"

"Good day to you, Miss Fairpoole," he said, with a little too much cheer. His features were lined and weathered on hologram.

"And, how may I assist you, sir?" It felt awkward to repeat herself.

"I've got a job for you. One of the new sentries. Big surprise there, right?"

She sighed. "What seems to be the issue?"

"Erratic behavior on patrol. We pulled it from duty, and I'm sending it to you for inspection." He tipped the brim of his hat. "By the way, it's nice to have another pretty face around here. Over and out."

What an odd man. She was glad when the malfunctioned sentry and its robotic escort arrived without their human supervisor. Robots were always easier to deal with than people.

She brought it into the shop, connected her display and the spray of filament cables. Speaking her interface commands, she accessed within seconds. The new technology didn't require fingertip sensors, but she wore them anyway. They provided higher accuracy, and it was how she'd always worked.

To her dismay, Mr. Paynter arrived to check on the status of his robot. She would have preferred him to call.

He waved the two sentries beside him away. "Return to patrol."

"Yes, sir," they said in unison, and trudged out the door.

She removed her display visor to face him. "I haven't found anything specific yet, but there's a string of suspect code in one of the core files. I'm tracing it. It'll just take a little longer to identify the source."

His eyes widened. "Damn. You actually know what you're doing. Not like that last sap we had in here."

"What do you mean?" Curiosity burned, though she hated gossip.