Science Fiction: Welcome to my Worlds

manipulate. After all, why would it expect dishonesty from someone with high-level Silverstone authorization, even if he wasn’t quite the top?

“Cancel query. Time is pressing. Prepare Anon One for liftoff in one hour.”

“Present authorization.”

Nate knew that was coming. “Alpha One authorization is not currently possible. A threat has been made to his life so Father has been placed in a keyed stasis capsule as a protective measure. We must remove him to an undisclosed system a quickly as possible for his safety. I came directly to you because he always says you are the fastest and most loyal of the fleet.” A little butter-up never hurt even for disembodied A.I.’s, Nate figured.

There was a pause of several seconds. For an A.I. it must have been practically an eternity of agonizing thought. “I must perform a retinal scan to verify…”

“It is too dangerous to nullify the stasis even for the milliseconds required for a retinal scan. He must be moved off-planet as quickly as possible. My authority is second only to my Father.” True enough, since his Mom had died almost six years ago. “I invoke emergency over-ride of previous commands on my Alpha Three authorization. Make the ship ready to depart immediately. I will return with


The Road Warrior DVD