The black craft sped low over the swell. Ahead, the low shadow of a coastline was just coming into view. Inside the sleek vehicle's cockpit, an insistent alarm roused the sole occupant. Brought immediately to a state of full alertness, Nick glanced briefly out the windscreen before he began flipping various control switches. From outside the ship, the effects of at least one of those switches were immediately apparent. Sections of the smooth undercarriage and panelling slid back, revealing rounded protrusions, which lowered until they formed four half-circles hanging below the craft's main body. As they locked into place with an audible click, Nick smiled in satisfaction. It had taken him, Yarg and Josh a while to get the specifications right for this little beauty, but in the months since they had taken delivery she had more than proved her worth.
Checking the scanner one more time, Nick disengaged the vessel's autopilot. The scanner indicated the beach and the dunes behind it were clear of vehicles and lifeforms, so it was a simple matter for him to come in to land on the hardpacked sand below the tide line. A couple more switches disabled the repulsorlifts and engaged the four wheel drive drive train. The car now purred like an idling sports car, and to all outward appearances, was nothing more than an extraordinarily expensive, futuristic, luxury sedan. Not entirely unobtrusive to be sure, but much easier to disguise an airspeeder than a power hungry cloaking device like those on board Red Home and Gaia.
Checking once more for traffic on the beach, Nick headed south. A few minutes drive at the 80kph limit and he'd be at the Tewantin exit back onto the Bruce Highway. A quick stop off in Brisbane to check the sensor arrays, and then he'd easily be away in time for the scheduled rendezvous.
With the Operation Arrakis mission group still in transit, there wasn't a lot for Kristy to be doing. The visuals from the sensors on the Earth side of the moon were still awe-inspiring, and the panoramic starscape was even more spectacular, but there was only so much impressive scenery she could take in. So the alert found her with her feet up on the communications console and her nose buried in a book.
When the warning buzzer suddenly came on, she started, having been entirely absorbed in what she was reading. Sitting up and placing her book to one side, she studied the console, noting the status indicators which marked the alarm as originating from the Australian sensor array. Then, suddenly, the buzzer stopped. Apparently, whatever had been causing the alert had disappeared.
Curious as to the alert's cause, Kristy brought up the most recent sensor logs for the Australian array. There were no alarms recorded. That didn't make any sense. Anything significant enough to cause an alert at the Lunar duty station should have been logged automatically. Now puzzled, she brought up the main logs for the her communications console. Again, there was no sign that the alarm had ever occurred. She was certain she'd seen and heard that alert, but the computers were trying to tell her it had never existed.
As she let her brain continue to work on the problem, Kristy trailed her eyes over the status board which indicated which of the Terra Group communications stations were active. Luna, naturally, since that was where she was. Mendellia and the UK were currently silent, with all team members out on active duty. The station in Brisbane was live, however. Maybe that was where Nick had run off to. She reached out and keyed up a transmitter for a secure call to the Australian base.
"Wizard, this is Moonchild. Are you receiving, over?"
There was a long pause. For a moment, she wondered if Nick was actually there at all. Then she heard his voice coming back, "I'm guessing I'd be the Wizard. Feeling whimsical this evening, are we?"
Kristy smiled. "You could say that. Say, did you just get an alert from your sensor array? I'd swear I saw one, but then it just disappeared."
"Disappeared? How long have you been on station?"
"A few hours. I spent the first couple just goggling at the view."
She heard laughter coming back through the link. "Yeah, it's pretty impressive, isn't it? Anyway, a few hours of waiting for something to happen while hoping for nothing to happen is sure to make anyone a little twitchy. I'd prescribe a decent sanity break and a hearty meal."
"Are you trying to tell me I'm imagining things?"
"Would I say that to a lovely lady like yourself?"
"Hah. First you insult me, then you turn around and try to flatter me."
"Is speaking the truth really flattery?"
"It usually is when you're talking."
"Ooh, you wound me, you really wound me." A brief pause. "Anyway lovely lady, I hate to break up this party, but I have an appointment, and our dear boss would be most upset if I broke it. So catch ya later, and keep safe."
Kristy responded automatically, "You too," then the uplink from Brisbane died. A quick glance across at the console confirmed that the Australian duty station was no longer active. As she sat gazing at the light, she realised that her fellow teammate hadn't actually answered her question. If he hadn't seen the alarm, why didn't he just say so?
After quickly shutting down his comms console, Nick stalked back to the masquerading speeder, swearing quietly to himself. Why hadn't he remembered Kristy would be on duty at the Luna base? Why hadn't he been a bit more careful? Telling the computers to ignore a particular aberration in the sensor data was easy, as was making them forget that aberration had ever existed in the first place. Humans had never been quite so tractable. He was still berating himself for his carelessness as he swung the black sedan out onto the road, heading for the Centenary Highway and the long road west to his meeting.