Deep

Chapter 77 Lunch time.

I stepped off the pod with my stomach tying itself in knots. The trip to my office was a blur, and my hands shook. I have never felt this hungry, and my last meal was a mere four hours ago. Cassandra said I'd burn plenty of calories, but this was insane. 

I rummaged through my desk to see if I had any food hidden there. I found none, as I was never a snacker. In desperation I ordered the first sandwich from the mess selection.

The office door chimed. 'Enter,' I said. The door opened, a bot ambled into the office, deposited a cabinet, secured it and departed. 

Huh. I got up and investigated the cabinet. It contained protein bars, mixed simu-nuts, and mineralized water.

I thanked the Goddesses of Cassandra and Terri for the gift of snacks. I tore into a protein bar and grabbed a bottle of mineral water. Before I returned to my desk, the protein bar and most of the water was finished. It did not satisfy me, but at least my stomach wasn't gouging me from the inside out. 

With my starvation in check, I loaded and analysed Bob's simulation. Watching the locations stack up in real time was terrifying. I looked at the date when the packet loss frequency increased. It started after all intra-solar system communications went dark. 

Could it be possible that they boarded the ship in secret? I checked the time.

I still had another thirty minutes before Seki and Su arrived. So I decided now was a great time to test Bob Chat. I clicked on the icon. A pop-up appeared. It had text, voice, and video communications options.

I selected text and typed. -Hi Bob- 

Moments later I received -What sup?-.

 It works. 

-Did you find any more latent code in the EMP waveform?-

-Nope.-

-Alright, I want you to do something else for me.- 

-What do you need?-

-Check intra-ship communications to see if there is any abnormal code embedded in transmissions.-

-Understood.-

-Thanks, Bob- 

-You're welcome.- Bob has become a significant source of new ideas and discoveries.

I ended the chat leaving the app open but minimised. There was something missing here. I knew it, but I was clueless where to start. Maybe Seki and Su will offer some ideas when they arrive. I spent the remaining time playing with the data, hoping to discover something. I drew a blank. 

Seki, Su, and a service bot arrived together. Hurray, lunch is here. I was hungry again. 

'Hi folks, grab a seat anywhere.'