Dan pressed back, then selected outside, and found himself floating in space in front of the ship. "Ok," he thought, "who's taking this picture? Apparently they have cameras on flexible booms extending out in front of the ship." He drifted across the surface of the probe, inspecting the parabolic dishes that looked ahead and to the side, allowing the craft to navigate across the galaxy. Each of the dishes was gimballed, like an eye that can look in many different directions while the craft remains fixed in space. Dan moved across the radar array and approached the base of the kinetic energy weapon that nearly destroyed them six days earlier. It was a huge metal column attached to the surface by a ball and socket joint, giving it 360 degrees of motion. Supports ran from the shell up to the midpoint of the tube. These could be shortened or lengthened to pull the tube in any direction, thus aiming the device. At present the supports were all the same length, and the tube stood perpendicular to the surface of the shell. This was the default configuration, since an interstellar asteroid would almost certainly approach from the front as the ship hurtled through space. Dan moved past four more parabolic dishes, and could go no farther. Apparently the Arcots only equipped the front of the ship with cameras, assuming damage was unlikely to occur from behind. That's why they saw no cameras when they landed next to the hatch.
On a whim, he rolled over and looked straight ahead. A bright star stood out against the background of constellations - their sun - as seen from Neptune's orbit. Dan activated the zoom feature and the bright white dot grew into a sphere with several sunspots across its face. A simple recipe, a large ball of hydrogen floating in space, and you get heat, light, convection, magnetic fields, sunspots, solar flares, and (from a safe distance) undeniable beauty. Physics was the first architect and artist, and it would continue to create its masterpieces long after humans (and Arcots) had run their course.
Dan pulled back and surveyed the stars about the sun. One, just to the right of the sun, was not especially bright, but seemed to have a blue tint. He zoomed in as far as the Arcot telescopes would permit, and the continents of Earth came into view. A large scale weather pattern was visible just off the coast of India. "Our best terrestrial scopes can't see this far," he thought, "not in this detail." Since the Earth was almost at opposition it was fully lit, providing a nearly complete view. He watched the Earth for almost a half hour as it turned gently under his gaze. Finally he pulled back to magnification 1 and looked to the left of the sun, in search of a yellow star. "It ought to be here - if memory serves." He spotted it and zoomed in. The dot expanded into a yellow-white sphere, half in sunlight and half in shadow. The rings were clearly visible, and Titan was rising from behind the planet. "It's beautiful." he said aloud, to nobody in particular. "Simply beautiful."
"Yes it is." agreed Nancy.
Dan nearly jumped out of his chair. "Jesus Christ!"
"Sorry."
He sat back down, picking the keyboard up off the floor. "So - you two sleepy heads finally decided to get up?"
"yeah, I didn't sleep well last night."
"You either?" he turned to Garvin.
"Right."
"Right." echoed Dan, his face breaking into a grin.
Nancy sat on the couch behind Dan, and Garvin took the chair off to the side. "I see you decided to step outside this morning."
"Yes. You can see all the forward antennas, and the defense mechanism that shot at us." He turned his view back towards the ship.
Nancy was anxious to get down to business. "Dan, have you looked at the front station - where we are now?"
"I was just about to do that." He went back to the global icons, then into the front station, stepping through the living quarters room by room. The bedrooms, bathroom, and kitchen were as they left them, complete with clothes, toothbrushes, nutrabar wrappers, and so on.
"Everything seems in order." Nancy observed. "Try the control room. Let's see if we can see ourselves."
Dan pressed back and studied the additional icons. "I don't really know what they call it. Maybe it's that one. It doesn't say control room - it roughly translates as observation room." He selected it, and an image of their room appeared on the screen. Garvin and Nancy were not visible from this vantage point, but Dan could be seen looking into the screen. And on that screen, Dan could be seen looking into the screen, and so on, limited only by the resolution of the pixels.
"Hey," Nancy began. She was going to comment on the infinite chain of images, but her voice shouted back at them from the front of the room. It seemed to be spread across time, as though the syllable would never end. "Hey - ey - ey - ey - ey..." A shrill tone emerged, and quickly took over. Within a second it dominated everything else, its volume increasing geometrically. There was no time to search for the mute button; Dan hit back, and the room icons reappeared.
Nancy took her hands off her ears. "Apparently they have audio. My voice created a feedback loop, like a microphone too close to the speaker."
"We never noticed before," said Garvin, "because all the rooms on board are silent."
"I could probably mute it, or turn down the volume." offered Dan, studying the keyboard.
"Don't worry about it." said Nancy. "We don't need to watch ourselves. But I wonder - does the audio run in both directions?"
"Don't know."
"Let's find out." She rose and opened the door to the entryway. "I'll step in here and close the door. You look in on me, and we'll see if we can talk to each other."
She closed the door and Dan called up the entryway, with Nancy standing in the center of the small room. "Nans, I'm looking at you right now - can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear." she replied. "Though I don't see any speakers in the walls, and it's not entirely clear where your voice is coming from."
"Well I'm talking to you again - can you isolate the sound?"
"I think the speakers are overhead. But it doesn't really matter. Go back to the monitor; I'm coming back in."
The couch at the back of the room was long enough for three Arcots to sit comfortably. In a moment of inspiration Nancy stretched out, enjoying its full length. "Gentlemen, this is where I'm sleeping from now on." She propped her feet up using two pillows. Her legs were starting to swell in response to the high gravity. They had to get out of here, and soon. "Dan, keep looking through this complex. See if you can find the engine room."
"That's easy." He pointed to an icon that said engines, clear as day, assuming you could read Arcotian. For the next hour he took Garvin, and NASA (courtesy of his head-cam), on a tour of the probe's engines. Nancy watched from her recumbent position, but she made a conscious effort not to get involved in the details. Garvin was the lead engineer. If anyone could make sense of the foreign technology, it would be him. She needed to step back and come up with a plan.
The engine room was huge, perhaps ten times as large as the power room, and it was filled with coils and plates and magnets and particle accelerators, and other devices that Garvin didn't recognize at all. "I'm sorry," he said, "but I don't understand any of this. I may as well be looking at ancient hieroglyphics prior to the Rosetta Stone."
"You're saying we're not going to go in their and take over the engine any time soon." Nancy concluded.
"Not a chance. And you wouldn't want to in any case. I mean, you don't redirect a car from inside the engine block - you grab the steering wheel."
"You're right. And I keep thinking the steering wheel is right here inside this room. We just can't see it. But I could be wrong. Dan, keep looking around and see what else is here. Maybe this is, as the icon says, merely for observation, and another room controls the ship." She turned her head away from the screen and closed her eyes.
"Just a supply room." said Garvin, as Dan moved through another area of the complex.
"Yes, but they sure have a lot of stuff."
"Looks like spare parts, large and small. I've seen some of those components in the engine room, and the power room."
Dan went through three more rooms without incident, then entered the sleep room. He drew a quick breath in as three Arcots stared at him across the screen. Their large yellow eyes seemed to fixate on him specifically, even though he knew that was impossible. Still, by circumstance, they happened to be staring straight into the camera that recorded the opening pictures for that room. Garvin wanted to scream, but he remembered the bidirectional audio. He didn't want to announce to the Arcots, "Hey, we're here, in the observation lounge, and we're scared to death of you." So he held it in his throat, allowing only a small gasp to escape. Dan hit the back button, then released his emotions.
"Captain, there are Arcots on board!"
Nancy sat up and looked at the icons on the screen. "What!"
"Right there." He pointed to the sleep room. "I went into that room and saw three Arcots staring right at me."
"He's right Captain." Garvin corroborated. "Three Arcots, and they were staring right at us. But - there was something about them. I couldn't quite see from the side." He stood up and sat next to Nancy on the couch. "I'll be able to see better from here. Anyways, it was only a few seconds, but they were motionless, all three of them, absolutely motionless. It's called the sleep room - isn't that right Dan - the sleep room?" Garvin didn't wait for an answer. "I think their frozen."
"Suspended animation?" asked Nancy.
"I think so."
"That makes sense. It all makes sense. No ship could maintain itself for thousands of years without help. The computer revives them whenever it encounters a problem that it cannot solve. They come out, solve the problem, and go back into hibernation for another thousand years or so, until the next problem occurs. That's why the living quarters are stocked with food, and that's why some of the food has been eaten from the front station, where most of the repairs would take place."
Dan made a quick estimate, based on the nutritional needs of a typical Arcot. "Looking at the missing bars, I'd say they came out five or six times. That's pretty good for 5,000 years of continuous operation."
"Dan, drop into the room again, and everyone remain silent until we're sure of our hypothesis."
He did as directed, and the three Arcots appeared, each inside some kind of glass case. They remained motionless as Dan panned from one side to the other. Each case had a display above it that Dan was keen to translate. He motioned to Nancy.
"It's ok. Garvin's right - they're frozen. You can go ahead and speak."
"The display over each one gives their vital signs. Pulse 0, respiration 0, temperature," he took a moment to translate in his head, "around -150, metabolic rate 0."
"Yep, that clinches it. They're frozen all right. Dan, we're walking all around in their space ship, riding in their cars, and tapping into their computer, and there is no alarm? Why doesn't the system wake these guys up and ask them to check it out?"
"Because we haven't broken anything." suggested Garvin. "Everything is running as it should. Remember, they don't expect humans to be on board."
"We didn't break anything?" retorted Dan. "We blew up their communications dish with a nuclear bomb!"
"Yeah, I forgot about that." Garvin thought for a moment. "I guess they didn't expect any damage on the back of the ship. There are lots of cameras and sensors at the front, but nothing in the back. It's just a metal dish - what could go wrong?"
"Damn lucky for us." Nancy assessed. "If they had been revived, and seen the damage, they would have met us as we came through the hatch and blown us away. Lucky. I don't believe in luck, but that was lucky." They paused for a moment, looking at the Arcots. Then Nancy took the next step. "I want to see them in person. Dan, where are they?"
"Right down the hall. If you had knocked a hole in your bedroom wall last night you would have run right into them."
"Gee, that gives me a warm feeling inside."
Dan was wearing the head-cam, and he knew where he was going - two good reasons for him to take the lead. They walked down the hall past four supply rooms, then turned into a room that was not much bigger than the bedroom. Three glass cases stood against the far wall, with displays overhead. Garvin walked right up to the glass and had a good look at the Arcot inside. From the neck down he almost looked like a human - a human with green skin that is. "He's wearing a short sleeve shirt, pants, and steel toed work shoes - and he appears to be unarmed, though I wouldn't bet the farm on it."
"The weapons are over here." Nancy pointed to a rack on the side wall that held three large guns. They were bigger than a handgun, and smaller than a rifle. Nancy picked one up and examined it. "The barrel is capped with a glass lens. There is no hole, no exit for a projectile. It's a directed energy weapon, somewhat like a laser. I'll just call it a laser for now."
"May I see it?" Dan asked.
"Just don't pull the trigger - I'm sure it's loaded."
Dan studied the knobs on the handle. "One knob controls power, another controls frequency, and the third controls spread, whatever that means."
"It's probably the dispersion angle of the beam."
"yeah, I suppose. There's no indication of the angle, nor are there any units on the power, so I don't know how much power I am holding in my hand. Might be enough to blow away this complex. But Captain, I'm guessing the scale is logarithmic. Each click doubles the power, or something like that. I only say that because of the red to blue scale around the knob, which is usually logarithmic in the Arcot world."
Nancy looked over his shoulder. "That's a lot of power for a hand-held device. Maybe we should take it outside and learn how to use it. We definitely can't compete with our handguns."
"Just remember," warned Garvin, "you break something and these guys come to life."
"Yes, and I'd rather deal with them on my terms, than have them sneak up behind me when I'm not expecting it." Everyone waited for her to take the next logical step. "Eventually we're going to do something to this ship that will be interpreted as damage. Even if we find a way to change course, they might want to know why. I say we kill them here and now."
"I agree." said Dan.
Garvin merely nodded. He had opposed her before, regarding the communications dish, and he was wrong. Dead wrong. The Arcots were trying to destroy every living thing on Earth, forever more. If Nancy said kill, he would kill, without hesitation. But he was still obligated to give her the best technical advice. "Captain, that glass is very thick. I don't know if our guns will penetrate it. And ironically, a bullet might not kill them at these temperatures. Their bodies are rock hard, like granite. The bullet would literally bounce off, creating only a minor flesh wound where it had chipped away some of the skin."
"How about this?" Nancy held up the laser.
"Sure, but I don't know how to use it. We might wind up blowing away the entire complex, and ourselves with it, and that would be the end of the Earth."
"Captain." Dan pointed to a solitary button just above the first glass case. "If I'm translating that word correctly, that button will revive the first Arcot. He comes out of his case, and we blow him away."
"I like it. But he may be conscious for a couple minutes before he opens the door. I don't want him to see us. I don't want him to have time to formulate a plan. He's faster than us, and stronger. We need the element of surprise. Dan, you watch this room from the lounge. I'll stand outside the door, out of sight, with my communicator set to earphone. When he is all the way out of the case, and the door is closed, and he's in the middle of the room, say the word now. That will be my cue. And Garvin, take these three lasers around to the bedroom and put them under my bed. I don't know how to use them, and I don't want them laying around for the Arcots. Clear?"
Her friends nodded, and followed her instructions. Nancy activated her communicator and moved to the hallway, just outside the door. She could hear Dan's voice in her right ear.
"Ok Nans, I'm monitoring the room. The display now says waking in progress. His body temperature is climbing a degree every few seconds. I'm estimating 10 to 15 minutes, so you might want to sit down and get comfortable." Nancy did as he suggested. Dan called out the temperature, degree by degree. "-104, -103, -102. Hey, Garvin's back. Did you stash the lasers?"
"Yes."
"Ok Nans, the lasers are under your bed. I assume you want Garvin to stay here with me. If you want him with you, come down and let us know. There's still plenty of time; he's at -98."
Time seemed to pass very slowly. Finally the Arcot reached room temperature. "Captain I'm getting a pulse. 5 beats per minute, now 8. You better stand up and have your gun at the ready." Once again Nancy took his advice. "Respiration beginning, 6 breaths per minute, now 10. He's almost at body temperature. Stand by. Pulse now 60. He just blinked; I think he's waking up. He's turning his head from side to side - appears to be conscious."
A synthesized Arcot voice filled the sleep room. Nancy and Dan both heard it, and Dan provided a translation, almost in real time.
"Attention name, you have been revived manually. The computer is unaware of any problems. All systems are nominal, and the mission is proceeding according to plan. The reason for your revival is unknown. The door will open in 30 seconds."
After a pause Dan resumed his commentary. "The door is opening, and he's stepping out into the room. One step, two steps. Wait a minute - he's noticed the missing weapons. Wow, that was fast! Captain he just pressed the revive button over the other two chambers."
"Shit!" Nancy almost said it out loud - but she dare not make a sound, so she kept her thoughts to herself. "Why didn't I see that coming? The Arcots aren't stupid. When in doubt, call for backup."
"Nans, he's just standing there waiting for his friends to thaw out - but he's still facing the door. I'm sure we don't want to fight all three of them at once, and the clock is ticking. So I'm going to say - now!"
Nancy sprang into the room, drew a bead on the Arcot's head, and noticed that he was already moving, dropping towards the floor. She lowered her gun in response and gently squeezed the trigger. Blood spattered against the wall and grayish white matter spilled out of his head as he tumbled onto the floor.
"Nice." complimented Dan, as Garvin clapped in the background. "He was fast - but you were faster. Come on back to the lounge and we'll decide what to do with his buddies."
Nancy was already on her way. She opened the door and her stern expression quelled their premature jubilation. "Listen up. I've never seen faster reflexes. I caught him by surprise, and he still came this close to dodging the bullet." She held her hands a few inches apart. "In ten minutes we're going to be facing two of them, and they'll see the body on the floor and the blood on the wall. They'll be on their guard. We need to stay sharp. Here's what I want to do. I'll stand on one side of the door - Garvin you stand on the other. Dan, you monitor the room and keep us apprised, as you did before. When they have taken two steps out of their chambers, say the word now. Garvin, you take the one on the right, and I'll take the one on the left. Remember, they move fast."
They took their stations at opposite sides of the door and waited for Dan's directive. After eleven long minutes, they heard the synthesized voice from inside the room.
"It's the same message." reported Dan. "Revived manually, no problems, all systems go. Stand by, the doors will open in a few seconds."
"Now!"
Nancy and Garvin almost collided as they jumped through the doorway. The Arcot on the left tried to drop, but Nancy anticipated his movements. Her aim was true, and a second blood spatter spread across the wall, overlaying the first. The Arcot quivered on the floor, then lay still. Garvin's shot would have killed a human, but his agile target jumped to the left, and the bullet sailed through the glass in the third chamber and embedded in the back wall. With head down, the third Arcot charged, but Garvin's second shot was true, and all three Arcots were dead on the floor. Nancy and Garvin went back out into the hall and sat on the floor, arms and legs shaking.
"Captain, you better get back here." urged Dan. "Chamber 3 is leaking some kind of coolant. I can hear the hiss, and a cloud is forming in the room. I don't know what the stuff is, but it could be toxic."
"Let's go." said Nancy, motioning to Garvin, though she could barely stand up. Garvin helped her to her feet, and they returned to the lounge. She was careful to close the door behind her, because the unidentified vapors were drifting out into the hall.
"Looks like you struck a coolant line." said Dan.
"Yeah."
"But that spells serious trouble." Dan pointed to a red light on the screen. As if in confirmation, a synthesized voice could be heard throughout the ship. It echoed all around the inside of the shell, so that one sentence blended into the next.
"Can you..."
Dan put a finger to his lips. He had to concentrate to understand the words. When the last echos faded away he summarized.
"Damage to cryogenic unit 3. Team 1 is already dispatched. Team 1 appears to be dead or injured. Team 2 is now being dispatched."
"There are more of them on board?" Nancy grew pale at the thought.
"So it would seem."
"Find them, fast!"
Dan looked at the icons for the front station. "Captain we've been through most of these rooms. I don't think they're here. The second team is probably in the back station, which we haven't explored yet."
"Go. Look for a sleep room, like the one down the hall."
Dan selected back station, looked through a screen full of icons, and found sleep room. Three more Arcots appeared, frozen in their glass cases. The temperatures overhead were rising, one degree at a time.
"What will they do when they wake up?" Nancy was once again asking Dan to anticipate the actions of an alien mind, which was an impossible task. But Dan's guess was better than hers.
"The computer will tell them that the forward sleep chamber has failed, and team 1 is dead. They'll assume their companions died because of the failure, but I'm sure they'll go to their observation room, like the one we're in now, and take a look. They'll see the blood on the floor, and the head wounds, and they'll know all three were murdered. They will not, initially, suspect each other, so the last assumption, no matter how unlikely, must be the case. Humans are on board. We are not capable of interstellar travel, so they will assume, and then confirm, that they are already within our solar system, and the mission is near completion. They may try to hunt us down, but I think their mission is more important. They've already sacrificed their lives for the cause. They already bought a one way ticket to oblivion. After verifying some details with the ship's computer, they will conclude, as we did, that the surest path to success is to scuttle the ship, killing all life on board. I mean, we can't derail the mission if we're dead. One laser blast into the antimatter tank will do the trick. The other five tanks will blow, as Garvin has outlined, the entire shell will fragment, the atmosphere will disappear, we will all die, and the core will slam into Earth in two and a half years."
Dan sat back and took a deep breath. The ball was now in Nancy's court.
"We have to interrupt their chain of logic. We have to make them act irrationally. Every creature, no matter how advanced, has an emotional base that operates at the subconscious level. It is a holdover from our evolutionary past. We must trigger an emotion that will distract them from their stated goal."
"Make them mad." suggested Garvin.
"They're already mad, aren't they?" asked Dan. "Humans have boarded their ship and murdered their crewmates."
"Not mad enough." said Nancy. "They need to drop everything and come after us. Dan, how can we stick our tongues out at the Arcots? What is the analogous gesture?"
"The closest thing is to extend your pinky directly at another Arcot. It is a terrible insult." He demonstrated by pointing his pinky at Nancy.
"Great. Garvin, go back to the sleep room. Stand over the bodies and point both pinkies at the camera over the door. When they tune in, they'll see you standing victorious over three dead Arcots. That should get their attention."
"You're assuming that cloud of vapor isn't poisonous."
"Yes, I suppose I am. Check it out with one of those magic devices of yours, and if you can live in it for a few minutes, then go. We'll call you back as soon as we can."
Garvin got up and opened the door just a crack, just wide enough for his spectrometer. "It's an organic fluro-chloro compound, similar to freon, but much more complicated. We don't know anything about it. It's probably biologically inert, but we don't know for sure."
"Go." Nancy repeated, "and take shallow breaths. If you feel dizzy or nauseous, then get back here in a hurry."
Garvin stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind him. Nancy turned back to Dan. "Have you figured out how to control the audio? I want to hear what they're saying, but I don't want them to hear us."
"Yes, I think so." Dan brought up an audio screen similar to a mixer, and pulled one of the levels down to zero. "That should do it, but I'm not making any guarantees."
"Of course. Now quickly, go back to the sleep room. They'll be waking up any minute. When they emerge, follow their every move. Let's hope they stay together."
"I think they will." The three Arcots reappeared, with the temperature overhead sliding past zero. "It won't be long."
Pulse and respiration began as the Arcots reached room temperature. A few minutes later they were conscious, and the computer gave them their instructions. Dan translated for Nancy's benefit.
"Attention team 2. You have been revived because of a failure in sleep chamber 3 in the front station. Team 1 has been revived, but they appear to be injured or dead. Cause of death is unknown. It could be related to the failure in their sleep unit. Please investigate."
The Arcots stepped out of their chambers and began speaking to one another. Dan translated the words, without making an effort to indicate who was talking. Nancy could almost tell, by correlating Dan's words with the images on the screen, but the distinction wasn't important.
"Can a single failure kill all three of them?"
"Possible, but not likely."
"Well - let's have a look. If that's all it is, and everything else is ok, I'm inclined to go back to sleep. We can't bring them back to life - so what else is there to do?"
"I agree."
The Arcots left the sleep room, and Dan followed them out into the hall. They walked silently down the hall and into the observation lounge, and once again Dan switched rooms in response. They settled into chairs, with one Arcot in the command position. He called up the monitor, then the front station, then the sleep room. All three Arcots jumped up as they saw Garvin, his pinkies extended towards them, and his feet straddling a dead Arcot on the floor. By this time blood had covered most of the floor, with patches of brain for color.
"A human!" The speech was loud and rapid, with one Arcot interrupting another. Dan kept up as best he could.
"And he's giving us the pinky."
"How did he get on board?"
"Look, they've all been murdered."
"Some kind of crude projectile weapon. Inefficient, but I guess it works at close range."
"Apparently."
"He's really ugly."
"Let's go kill the bastard."
"I'll get the lasers."
They exited the lounge, went back to the sleep room, gathered their weapons, came back through the lounge, took one last hateful look at Garvin on the way through, and ran through the entryway and into the living quarters. Nancy spoke into her communicator as Dan followed the Arcots down the hall.
"Garvin, they took the bait. Get back here right away. They'll be here in four and a half hours, and we need a plan."
Garvin walked in, took several deep breaths, and sat down next to Nancy. She continued to think out loud, hoping for a contribution from the others.
"We can't engage them in a fire fight, not our guns against their lasers. And we don't have time to become proficient with their weapons. We need another idea."
"A roadside bomb." suggested Garvin. "The car trips the mechanism, and the Arcots are blown to bits."
"We could do that at station 2, but we didn't bring any bombs with us. The Arcots probably have a similar device in their supply room, but we don't have time to find it, and learn to use it. And if the bomb doesn't go off, we're done for. We only have one chance. I need another idea."
"Captain, they're in the car and heading this way." Dan was tracking the Arcots as they accelerated up to cruising speed. A small dot on the graphical display above the roadway started at the back station, and moved out along one of the connecting paths. "They're coming up via station 1. I don't know if that helps. At least they won't be passing by station 2."
"I think it does help." Garvin stood up and walked over to the screen. "Captain, I can use the laser to cut out a section of the road, right here." He pointed to the schematic, on the path from station 1 to the front, about an inch from the front. "A section of roadway, from one cable to the next, is about 100 feet. Even if they can stop in time, they won't be able to cross the void. We excise a section at least 20 miles from the front, so this complex remains out of range of their lasers. I'm assuming even the narrowest beam spreads out to some degree, and becomes weak over long distances."
"Why can't they simply turn around and go back to station 1?" Dan asked.
"Because - Nancy is going to go down to station 2, then over to station 1, and cut a slice out of the road right here." His finger slid along the path and stopped just shy of station 1. "They'll be trapped between these two points. Again, make sure you are at least 20 miles from station 1."
Nancy stood up and protested. "Garvin, there's not enough time for me to get there, and I can't drive an Arcot car on manual to reach your designated point in the road, and I don't know how to use an Arcot laser."
"You do have time, if you leave right now. The Arcots traverse the path from the back of the ship to station 1, then from station 1 to the front, while you go from front to station 2, and then to station 1. They'll discover the gap and turn around, but you still have at least an hour before they get back to station 1. You can make your cut and get out of there."
"But I don't..."
"Do you have a better idea? There's not much time."
"No, I don't."
"Here - take the head-cam." Dan took the device from his head and handed it to Nancy. "When you get within range of station 2 it will transmit the accumulated audio and video to Earth, and download any messages from NASA."
Nancy took the cam with unsteady hands, still unsure of the plan. They went to the bedroom and retrieved the lasers - one per person - then they went outside to the intersection and called for a car. It appeared quickly, and Nancy got in. Dan gave her a rapid fire lesson on the icons in front of her, then stepped back as she closed the door. Nancy pressed station 2 and the car sped away.
Garvin spoke into his communicator. "Ok Nans, keep your line open, and don't be afraid to interrupt with questions. There are two knobs at the back of the laser. One sets power and the other sets beam dispersion. A third knob on the side adjusts frequency. I'm going to experiment on the shell, and then on a tiny patch of road. Then I'll give you the proper settings. You'll only be in range for about 20 minutes, so we're going to have to move fast. Also, Dan has called for a second car. He'll figure out how to do some manual driving, and then he'll tell you what to do. Set your communicator on record, in case you need to replay any of these instructions later."
Garvin pointed his laser at the shell and experimented with power levels and beam angles. Red spots appeared overhead, and he measured the temperature with his thermal spectrometer. When he realized the laser did not have the power of a nuclear bomb, he aimed it at the road just ahead of his feet. After melting/burning several spots in the metal, he opened his communicator and issued his report.
"Nans, here's the story on the laser. The knob on the handle that is closest to your hand is power. Turn it to the halfway point, between red and blue. Any higher and you put so much heat into the metal that it almost explodes. The midpoint will cut through the metal like an oxi-acetylene torch. That's what you want. The next knob back is the angle. Turn it all the way to the left, for a fine beam. You want a thin kerf; no need to waste time melting a lot of metal. The last knob is frequency, and I suggest you leave that one alone, because I don't understand it. I think this thing can crank out other wave lengths, like microwave, ultraviolet, or even xrays, but you want it on infrared, in the middle, to melt the metal. Oh by the way, the laser seems to put out a beam of white light no matter the frequency. I think this is the equivalent of tracer fire, so you know where you're aiming the device. The tracer light gets brighter with more power, but it isn't directly proportional. It's just an indicator - more light means more power. If your power level is set correctly, you'll have no trouble seeing the small white spot in the road. First cut the guardrail, then start at one side of the road and move across to the other. You'll need to spend extra time cutting the magnetic guideways, as they are thick. You may run into other support beams below the road. Just keep going until you've cut through, all the way across. Remember to keep the beam spread at minimum, or you'll burn your feet off. I'm sure you don't want to do that. Good luck. I'm handing you off to Dan now; he has a few words to say before you drive out of range."
"Nans, the manual driving is easy. The key is the scroll bar on the right. If the dot is in the center, you are motionless. Slide it up to move forward, and down to move backwards. The distance from the center is your velocity. When you want to go back to automatic driving, touch the icon on the upper left of the screen. You'll see the familiar display with all six stations. Just pick the one where you want to go. Are you coming back here after you make the cut, or are we all going to meet back at station 2?"
"You stay where you are, and I'll come back to you. These Arcots are just a distraction. Our mission remains, and we can only accomplish that at front station. Dan, go back to the observation lounge, and keep an eye on the Arcots, and Garvin, and me, until we get back. with your two-way audio, you can coordinate our efforts."
"I understand." said Dan. "Captain you're moving out of range. I'm headed back to the lounge right now; maybe I can talk to you from there."
Dan settled into the big chair in the middle of the lounge and pulled the keyboard onto his lap. He had just discovered the presets last night. The Arcots were interested in the generator at station 3, the engine room, and the front of the ship. These locations could be brought up at the touch of a button. Dan cleared the presets to make room for his own settings. He went to the roads, and quickly found Garvin sitting in a car in the intersection.
"Ok, Garvin, I'm talking to you through the ship's audio. Turn your communicator off and just talk to me in a normal voice."
"Ok Dan, it sounds like you're here in the car with me, but your voice is coming out of the speaker in front of me, instead of the passenger seat. Can you hear me all right?"
"Loud and clear. Now - I'll talk you through it. Touch station 1, as though that was your destination. The car will turn 90 degrees, and then accelerate. As soon as it gets up to 60 mph, give or take, I want you to hit the icon at the upper left. That will switch you over to manual driving."
"Great." mumbled Garvin in a somewhat sarcastic tone. He did as directed, and Dan tracked his progress on the big screen.
"Ok Garvin, you're on manual, and clipping along at a manageable speed. Look at the scrollbar on the right; the yellow dot is about a third of the way above center. In about 20 minutes I'll tell you to stop. Don't just yank the dot down to center, or you'll slam into the wind shield. With no seatbelts, you don't want to do that. Slowly pull the dot down to center, so that your car decelerates gently to zero. I'll tell you when."
Dan marked Garvin's car as the first preset, then switched back to the roads, starting at the back. He moved towards station 1 at high speed, and soon located the Arcots' car. "They're mechanics," he thought, "not interstellar ambassadors, so they probably don't speak English - but there's no point in taking chances." He muted the audio in the outgoing direction, then activated the second preset. Switching back to view #1, he resumed his instructions.
"Ok Garvin, I'm back with you. I just stepped away for a moment to keep an eye on our friends. They're on there way; all is going according to plan."
"Am I approaching the cut point?"
"You are. Slow your car down gently, over the next two minutes, and you should be in position."
Garvin eased the speed control down to center and the car decelerated in response. When it came to a stop he donned his pack, picked up his laser, and stepped outside. Dan switched to the road outside the car and marked a third preset.
"Can you hear me out on the road?"
"Loud and clear."
"Ok - you may as well get back in the car."
"What?"
"Listen, the minute you cut through the magnetic guideway you're going to break a circuit, and that's going to raise an alarm. I think the Arcots, headed your way, will see a red light on their dashboard, and what will they do?"
"I don't know, what will they do?"
"I don't know either, but they might go back to the observation lounge, look at what we're doing, and make a new plan. In any case, they are sure to stay away from the trap we are trying to set."
"What do you suggest?"
"How long will it take you to excise the section of road?"
"Twenty minutes - half hour tops."
"All right. When they're a half hour away from your position, I want you to make your cut. If, at that point, they see an alert, and recognize the trap, and turn around, Nancy will still have time to cut her section - just enough time. It's going to be tight."
"All right - but I'll wait out here. I don't know how to turn on the air conditioning when the car is parked, so I may as well stay outside. I'll get in position; you watch the Arcots and tell me when to start."
With his laser under one arm, Garvin walked fifteen feet to the first cable connecting the road with the shell above. The final cut would occur just beyond this cable, but the first cut would take place 100 feet down the road, just behind the next cable. Once both cuts were made, the intervening section of road, with no cables for support, would plunge into the red core below. Then Garvin would ride back to safety, out of range of the Arcots and their lasers. "Remember to put the car in reverse." he chuckled to himself as he imagined the vehicle driving off into the abyss with him inside. He approached the second cable and sat down to wait.
"Do you think I could cut the guardrails in advance?" he asked, assuming Dan was still listening. "That would save a little time."
"I don't think that would break any circuits or raise any alarms, but really, I wouldn't chance it. You're not saving a lot of time. You can probably cut through each guardrail in 30 seconds flat. I'd wait if I were you."
"Right."
"I'm going to locate Nancy now. You stay where you are; I have your location on preset. I'll get back to you when it's time to cut."
Dan went back to the roads, starting at the front and moving towards station 2. He found Nancy's car and put it on preset 5. There were 12 presets available, and at this rate he might need most of them.
"Nancy, can you hear me?"
She jumped at the sound of his voice.
"Sorry about that, it's just me. Are you all right?"
"Fine. I'm just cruising along to station 2."
"You and the Arcots left at almost the same time, so you're right in sync. Of course you're going to station 2 and they're going to station 1. You have about 93 minutes, so just sit back and relax. When you reach station 2, the car will stop at the intersection. Hit station 1 and you'll be on your way. I'll be watching, to make sure you push the right buttons."
"Please do; I'm not proud."
Dan switched back to the Arcots, who were talking amongst themselves. He was able to understand most of their conversation.
"Have you noticed, the roof is practically room temperature?"
"So."
"So - the engines are off. We're either coasting between the stars, or we are approaching Earth, or the humans have somehow damaged the engines."
"I can't imagine they have attained interstellar travel in such a short time. We must be in their solar system."
"I can't believe they still have space flight at all. They should be back to subsistence farming and tribal warfare by now."
"Well apparently they still maintain a technological society. We didn't expect that. Maybe they have even progressed beyond their solar system."
"No - nobody could progress that fast, not in a few thousand years. They're clever, and they didn't go under like the other civilizations we've encountered, but they're not a race of geniuses. I've seen their television shows."
"Ok, so we're approaching Earth, so what?"
"I don't know - I just want to figure out where we stand. If they haven't done any damage, then our mission is practically over. They came on board and killed team 1. So what. It's not going to make any difference."
"Well I still want the pleasure of killing that human, and I want to do it very slowly, over several weeks." He practically licked his lips at the thought.
"Fine - have your fun, as long as it doesn't jeopardize the mission."
Dan made a mental note to avoid capture at all cost, pointing the laser at himself if necessary. The Arcots were silent, so he switched back to Garvin, and then to Nancy, and then back to the Arcots. "If only they had picture in picture." he thought as he spent two minutes at one location, then moved to another, and then another. Finally the Arcots sailed past station 1, and five minutes later Nancy came to a gentle stop at station 2. Before Dan could offer instructions she pushed the correct button and began her two hour journey across to station 1.
"Nicely done." complimented Dan.
"I had a good teacher. By the way, the cam is showing a solid radio connection. It has already transmitted half of its data, and I think it will finish before I go out of range. There's also a couple messages from Nasa. I'll look at them on the way to station 1 and let you know if there's anything urgent that we need to be aware of right away. Otherwise we can watch the messages when I get back."
"Sounds like a plan."
for over an hour the Arcots were silent, and Nancy was silent, and Garvin was silent. Dan simply watched each in turn, and tracked the progress of the two moving cars. Finally he pressed Garvin into service.
"Ok Garvin, the Arcots are about a half hour out. Start making your cuts."
Garvin started at the right, for no particular reason. He cut through the guardrail, just behind the cable, then pointed the bright white spot at the metal floor just ahead of his feet. "Welding glasses would sure help." he thought, blinking his eyes. It took two minutes to cut through each magnetic guideway, and five minutes to slice the supporting beam that ran beneath the center of the road. "Half way done - just keep going." With a little practice he moved the heat beam along at just the right speed, slowing down for the next two guideways. Only the left guardrail remained. If he had looked behind him, Garvin would have noticed the road hanging down on the right, presenting a three foot vertical gap. When the last thread was cut, would the structure snap, dropping him into the fiery tempest below? Since he didn't look back, he didn't even bother to ask the question. Dan was about to issue a warning, but it was too late. Garvin sliced through the last piece of steel and the roadway dropped ten feet, like the end of a diving board under load. Garvin lost his footing and nearly fell to his death, his left arm and leg hanging over the edge. The road bounced up and down, up and down, like a slow spring. Garvin remained motionless, waiting for the oscillations to dampen. Slowly, he pulled himself back from the brink, back to safety.
"You scared the shit out of me." said Dan. "I was going to warn you about the drop, I could see it coming, but you cut through before I could say anything."
"Yeah, well you might let Nancy know before the same thing happens to her."
"I will. Listen, you almost lost your laser, and that's an essential piece of hardware. It's hanging out over the edge - do you see it?"
"Yes I see it."
"Well grab it, gently, and make your second cut. I know you're pretty shook up, and I don't mean to rush you, but the Arcots are still coming, and I can't predict what they will do. I'm sure you want some distance between you and them before they arrive."
"Indeed I do." He picked up the laser. "You check on our friends, and I'll make the second cut."
Garvin shook his wrist, which was slightly sprained in the fall, then walked back to the first cable just in front of his car. Once again he started to cut, slicing from right to left. "I hope they don't have an alert system built in." he mused. "They'll sail right off the edge, and that will be the end of that. Just like the Bridge on the River Kwai." He was about to cut the last guardrail when the metal failed under the strain. The loud "Crack!" bounced around the inside of the shell and blended into a continuous echo that sounded like distant thunder. Free of its moorings, the roadway fell at a speed that seemed unnatural to Garvin, as though it were pulled down by a magnet. It raced away, spinning and tumbling, and within 30 seconds it was a mere dot against the red orb below. Garvin reached for the cable at his left and looked away, trying to beat back his vertigo.
"Nancy, we've got a problem." Dan's voice was urgent as he spoke through the Arcot communications system into Nancy's car. "No time to talk, just listen. Start slowing your car down, but gradually, so you don't slam into the windshield." Nancy put one hand against the dash for support and pulled the yellow dot down toward the center line while Dan continued. "You're well out of range of station 1, so there's no problem there, but you have to get out and move fast. The Arcots were alerted the moment Garvin broke the circuit in the guideway. They saw the red light, and the car told them where the break was. They realize it's a trap, and they're headed back your way. They've switch to manual driving, and they have the peddle to the metal. They're moving at more than twice cruising speed - probably the top speed of the car. Any faster and they'd have to worry about pushing the speed of sound. So instead of a comfortable 90 minutes you might have 25 minutes before they show up at your door. Do you understand?"
Nancy brought the car to a stop and opened the door. "I understand."
"Remember what I told you about the road dropping out from under you after you make the first cut. Angle the laser a good distance away from your feet, and hold on to the guardrail as you cut through."
Nancy sprinted past the first cable and up to the second. "Are you still with me?"
"Still with you, and I'll stay with you til you're done. Garvin is safe; he can take care of himself. Now start at the right, nice and easy. You'll need extra time as you go through the magnetic guideways."
"Should I up the power, to cut through faster?"
"Maybe a little, but not too much. The metal can literally explode in front of you if you pour too much heat into it per second."
Nancy tweaked the power up just a bit, and as if in confirmation, the metal seemed to snap and pop in places as she moved the beam along. That was another good reason to point the beam well ahead of her feet. She made the cut in eleven minutes, and the road dropped down with a lurch, just as Dan had forewarned. With her hand on the left guardrail, Nancy managed to keep her feet. She raced back to the first cable and started to make the second cut. Through the right guardrail, across the right lane, across the left lane, and up to the left guardrail. Then she looked up and saw the Arcots' car, a mere dot in the distance. She stared at it for a moment, like a deer in the headlights, until Dan broke the spell.
"come on Nans, keep going!"
In another minute the cut was complete, and 100 feet of roadway plunged into the red hot core below. At the same time the Arcots pulled to a stop across the void. Dan, with his bird's eye view, switched from one side of the gap to the other, using two of his presets. He saw the driver jump out of the car, lift his laser, and take aim.
"Nancy, hit the deck, they're shooting at you!"
She fell prostrate onto the roadway, as the lights exploded overhead. She wanted to jump up and run behind the car, but she felt it was safer to lie flat. Perhaps she could slither back, like a snake. A section of the guardrail vaporized to her left, then a spot on the shell became red hot to her right. "He's not a good aim." she thought. "They're mechanics, not trained soldiers." She was about to take comfort in this thought when she felt a burst of heat on her face, like the combined fury of ten suns. Yet it didn't blow her head off. She soon discerned her opponent's strategy. To make up for his bad aim, he had widened the beam angle. He would literally bake her to death. And gradually he was narrowing the beam, thus increasing the heat pouring into Nancy's body. She felt as if her hair would burst into flames. Standing up, or even sitting up was out of the question. It was time to shoot back. She could see the white light emanating from her adversary's laser. After all, tracer fire works in both directions. She moved the power to full and pointed her weapon straight into the light. "Don't pull the trigger; squeeze it, gently." The Arcot's body literally exploded as water and blood turned to steam. Pieces of charred skin and clothing drifted down like rain. The other two Arcots jumped back in their car, but they soon realized the vehicle was dead in the water, its power having been cut at both ends. They jumped out of the car and ran down the road, putting some distance between them and the formidable human sharp-shooter.
"Nice job Nancy. One down, and the other two are on the run. I don't think you can get them; their car is in the way."
"I'm sure that's no accident."
"I'm sure not - they're very smart."
"Dan, is there any reason for me to stay here?"
"Not unless you're looking for another fire fight."
"Not particularly. I'm coming back to you via station 2, just the way I came. Call Garvin back, if he isn't already on his way. I'll feel better when we're all in the same room."
Garvin stumbled into the lounge, collapsed on the couch, and let his laser clatter onto the floor. Turning to the big screen he saw the two Arcots sitting on the road several yards away from their useless car. "I see you're keeping an eye on our friends."
"I am."
"Nancy's on her way back?"
"She is. I told her she could get here faster on manual, but she's pretty shaken, and doesn't want to drive, so it'll be about four hours before she gets here. She had a fire fight with one of the Arcots, and she received some minor burns on her arms and face. I told her to stop by station 2 and pick up the medical kit."
"Fire fight?"
"Yeah, she blew the Arcot out of his skin. Literally. It was glorious. The other two saw it and hid behind the car."
"That's good, but those two are alive to fight another day, and that worries me."
"Me too - that's why I'm monitoring them."
"Isn't there some way we can kill them?"
"I don't see how."
"Neither do I." said Garvin, rearranging the pillows under his head. "What have they been talking about?"
"They know they're in our solar system, and the mission is almost over. But that's all they know. They need more information, and that means they have to get to an observation lounge. They're trying to think of a way to get across the gap. They talked about blasting hand holes in the shell with the laser, then walking hand over hand, like a fly on the roof, across the void. I think they realize that is not going to work. They can't hang by one hand and drill the next hole with the laser as they move across, and they can't drill the holes all the way across, properly spaced and properly shaped, while sitting on one side."
"A clever idea though."
"Then they were going to slide along the wires that provide the power for the lights and cameras, but those wires would never hold the weight of an Arcot."
"Again, very creative. Keep listening, in case they come up with something workable."
"At the moment they're not saying anything, just sitting there thinking."
Garvin thought for a moment. "Dan, that area is well lit, and obviously the cameras are working, yet the car is dead, because we cut the power from both sides."
"Yes, the overhead lights and cameras must run on a separate circuit. Watch this." He turned the view to the side, then up to the roof, and the screen went blank. "The cameras in the road, that use to show us the ceiling, have no power." He turned the image back to the roadway. "But the cameras above, looking down, are still working, along with the overhead lights."
"So we could have blown out the wires overhead, on each side, and plunged the Arcots into darkness?"
"Not total darkness. The red hot core puts out enough light to see what you're doing, once your eyes adjust - and besides, we wouldn't be able to spy on them."
Preferring a more comfortable venue, the Arcots moved to the back seat of their car, leaving the doors open for ventilation. For the next four hours they talked about how ugly humans were, how long they could live without food or water, how important it was to rid the galaxy of lesser life forms, and whether they could throw a tethered object across the void, if they had a rope long enough, and how they might secure it on the far side. It all seemed to go nowhere, which is exactly what Dan wanted to hear. Without the benefit of Dan's translations, Garvin fell asleep on the couch, and was just coming out of a dream when Nancy burst into the room.
"Hello hello, I come bearing gifts." She sat down in a chair next to Garvin, who was sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He looked at the burns on her face, and she answered his unspoken question. "Yes, I put aloe on them. Not too bad - first degree." She opened up the medical kit and rummaged inside. "I took a moment to toss in some additional items. Some soap," she pulled out a bar and held it up, "some shampoo, and, best of all,..." She pulled out a small wrapped item and handed it to Garvin. Then she tossed another towards Dan, aiming high to compensate for the gravity. Finally she pulled one out for herself.
Garvin slowly unwrapped the item and lifted his eyes to heaven. "Chocolate." he sighed, as he took the first bite.
"Make it last, I only brought 12 bars. That's one a day for each of us for four days." She got up and sat next to Garvin on the couch. "Now, while you're savoring that, I have something you'll want to see. It's a message from NASA." She pulled the cam out of the bag and held it between herself and Garvin so they could both watch the small screen. "Dan, I'll turn it up so you can hear; sounds like the Arcots aren't talking at the moment anyways."
Andrew appeared on the screen, wearing a somewhat forced smile. He tried to sound cheerful as he contemplated the destruction of the Earth.
"Hello Explorer 29. You seem to be making good progress. All the engineers here on Earth are still trying to comprehend the scope of the Arcot technology. We're pouring over the images you sent down, the antimatter tank, the generator, and so on. It's simply unbelievable." He adjusted his glasses, took a sip of water, and continued. "Now, Nancy, as for your question, we think we have an answer, but any time you dabble in alien technology you're running a big risk. If you want to safely disrupt power distribution, we recommend a D29 explosive. I know you have them on the ship, but I don't know if you brought them with you. If not, you may have to improvise. Anyways, the D29 has just enough power to blow the cable, but not enough power to damage the generator or the antimatter tank. Our engineers have prepared a diagram." Andrew disappeared behind a picture of the power room. The spherical generator was in the center of the image, with the power converter to its right. A cable connected the two units, and an arrow pointed to the cable just as it entered the power converter. A red square rested on the cable at that point, and was labeled D29. "You can see in this picture where to place the explosive. It will damage the power conditioning unit, but it shouldn't harm the generator. We're a little worried about the blast, the shock wave through the air - it could shatter the outer wall of the antimatter tank, and then you're done for. We've simulated it here - set off a D29 a few yards from a pane of glass with 1.6 atmospheres of pressure on one side and vacuum on the other, and it didn't break, but I have to tell you, we're right on the edge. You could use a D26, and that would be safer, but we don't understand the materials in that cable, and you want to make sure it's severed. That's all we can tell you from here. You'll have to decide whether to go with the D26 or the D29. Your call."
The image disappeared and Andrew returned. He paused, but did not end the transmission. Garvin took advantage of the lull. "Captain, I think the D26 would be fine. The wires are superconducting, but they're not superstrong. What sorts of explosives did we bring with us?"
"I packed a wide variety - and I'm glad I did."
Andrew resumed his message. "That's all we have for now. It looks like you just went to sleep, so we'll catch up with you in the morning. Be careful out there. Over and out."
Garvin crumpled up his empty candy wrapper and tossed it on the floor. "Nancy, why would we deliberately cut the power?"
"I guess I'm just thinking of all the possibilities. If we can't find a way to redirect this spacecraft from inside, and if we have to push it from outside, it will simply push back. It will put itself back on course automatically. The best way to prevent that is to cut the power. Then we're dealing with a rock, instead of an intelligent adversary."
"That makes sense, but it sure is a damn big rock!"
"I know. Now listen, there's one more message, and then I think we should call it a day."
She pressed three more buttons on the cam, and Julie appeared, her optimistic voice ringing out for all to hear. "Well it looks like you're on your way. Nice to see the Arcots are so accommodating - they even provide transportation. You just drove out of range, so we won't hear from you until you get back to your home base. I hope you find the control center, or the engine room, or whatever you are looking for. If you're going to stay there for a while, you might send someone back down with the cam from time to time, so we can communicate with each other. Oh, and one more thing regarding those D29 explosives. You'll want to disrupt all six power stations simultaneously, or it will be pointless. With superconducting wires all around, one station can easily power the entire ship. You can set them all to explode at a certain time, or you can set them to go off by radio command. The second relay station, the one that you're not using, can put out a high power, low frequency, omnidirectional signal. You don't need a lot of modulation - just enough to send a 24 byte message that means, now! But there's a catch. You're not going to push the signal through the core. So if the relay station stays at your home base, the unit on the opposite side won't receive the signal. You need to move the transmitter out along one of the roads, halfway between two points. It then has a clear line of sight to all six power stations. You should be able to blow them all at once. That's all from the engineering side. We will anxiously, and I mean anxiously, await your next communication. Over and out."
Since there was nothing worth recording, Nancy turned off the cam and put it back in the bag. "I'm going to eat one more of those boring nutrabars, have a real shower, and go to bed. And by bed, I mean couch, right here. It's mine! Captain's prerogative."
"Nancy, do you think I should sleep here and keep an ear out for the Arcots?" Dan leaned back in his chair, as if to demonstrate. "It's a full recliner, and it's pretty comfortable."
"If you're willing to do that, I accept. It worries me, having those guys sitting there scheming, and I'd feel better if you were on top of them. In fact, why don't you keep the cam." Nancy handed him the unit. "Point it at the screen and leave it on record. If you wake up and you think you've missed something important, play it back."
The day was exhausting, to say the least, and within an hour they were asleep - Nancy on the long couch, Dan in his recliner, and Garvin in his bedroom down the hall. Fortunately for Dan, the Arcots slept as well, one in the front seat and one in the back. Apparently they too had had enough for one day.