Download the Book - Islam and Science Fiction

job back, you decide to save my wrinkled ass. How are you going to
do it?"
"Well," Jan hesitated, considering for a minute, "I'm part of a
crack security team with nerves of steel, primarily because we don't
drink coffee. Also don't drink the same water, breathe the same air, or
eat the same food as everyone else. That last one is an old airline
safety regulation to keep the crew from all croaking simultaneously
from eating the same bad in-flight meal."
"Interesting precaution," Erica noted. "Next you ...?"
"If this were one of your old movies, the next step would
probably involve crawling through an improbably large air duct, but
I'd have to lose a lot of weight to get through these, and they're sealed
off anyway." Jan paused, stuck for a moment, then an idea started to
form and a smile spread across her face. She brought up a diagram.
"But I think I do know a couple of old conduits from those old
electronic consoles we upgraded to photonics a couple of years back,
and I could pump a little gas of my own into the bridge and
engineering. Knock everyone out, cut through the hatches, and take
the bad guys."
Erica wasn't impressed. "Raj came up with the same idea. I'm
not so sure I like it. Too slow. They'd probably have time to shoot
me first. Might be the best we can do, though. Keep working on it,
and let me know if you think of something."
Jan turned to leave, but Erica tugged on her sleeve. Jan saw that
the old woman looked suddenly serious and sad.
"Jan, level with me. Are we doing enough? Are we being
paranoid? Hell, I invented this contraption. Maybe I'm too close to it
to see it clearly."
Jan considered her reply for a minute, then spoke slowly and
gently. "This ship is a big responsibility. We all know that. We take
it seriously. We've got plenty of ways to be sure c-prime capability
doesn't fall into the wrong hands, and we're ready to carry them out,
whatever the consequences. Don't worry. Earth is safe. On the other
hand, some bunch of idiots is bound to try to take a starship one day.
It could just be the end of the world for us, if we're not very careful.
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