She managed to plant the routine and penetrate deep into the security system, but once again didn’t find any names. The people appeared to be identified by number. She needed a way to translate numbers into names.
On the other side of the hospital was the old data centre and the place Jens had identified as the likely headquarters for Artan and his cronies. Sadly, the maintenance passage didn’t go directly over that area, but passed instead over a commercial area.
What a pity. How awesome would it be if she could break into the central command module?
She studied the map again to see if she could get access to that room in some other way. It was an area of the station where a spoke attached to the ring structures that formed the habitat.
The spokes contained goods lifts in and out of zero-g storage, structures necessary for the integrity of the station and often industrial plants that didn’t require a large workforce—or even any workforce—to operate.
Tina walked around the area where the spoke structure met the ring and she found an access panel that led to a narrow emergency passage to the level below. While she was climbing, a lift rumbled past on the other side of the spoke wall, close enough to make her jump.
The emergency access tube came out in a small, cramped space with another access panel. She carefully pushed it out so that she could see through the crack between the panel and the wall. It was quite dark in the room beyond, and she had to press her nose against the panel in order to see through the narrow strip.
In the semidarkness stood banks of computers with workstations, unoccupied. Evidence for the fact that the pirates attempted to run the station with too few people?
She pushed the door further open, holding the stunner with one hand. But there was no one in the dark room. She spotted two security cameras, but if she made straight for the bank of control stations, she could duck between the benches.
Tina took the wall panel out and set it next to the entrance, in case she needed to get back out in a hurry. Then she ventured into the room. She ducked between the workstations to stay out of view of the cameras.
Using the screen from the diagnostics tool, she uploaded lists of numbers to try to match them with names.
The database spat out a long list of data that, on the little screen, scrolled by too quickly for her to read. But it looked like it might be useful. Great.
Now she just needed to—
Someone grabbed her from behind.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Tina managed to stifle a squeak. Her right arm was pinned since the attacker had grabbed her by the wrist. But Tina knew a trick for that. With her free hand, she grabbed the attacker by the wrist and twisted her arm. He had to let go.
She yanked the stunner from her belt and lashed out at him. The metal rod connected, sending a shower of sparks into the air. He yelled and fell backwards, clutching his arm.
The man was taller than her and had mottled skin.
Tina had to stop him coming after her or warning others. She grabbed the back of the nearest chair intending to knock him unconscious with it—only to find it was bolted onto the ground.
She ran back to the emergency access and grabbed the cover of the panel. By now, an alarm was ringing. Also, the man had recovered from her strike with the stunner, and he now had help from two mates.
Tina had nowhere to run. She tried to back into the emergency access, but two men came from the sides and cut off her exit. She tried to keep them at bay by swinging the panel cover, but one of them simply yanked it out of her hands. She stunned one with the rod, but the other two had her pinned against the wall pretty soon.
With their weight pressing against her, she couldn’t move. Their bodies were warm and heavy, the infected and mottled skin far too close for her liking. They said she was supposed to be immune, but who knew?
The men spoke a heavy Sinolese dialect, and Tina’s questions went ignored.
They dragged her in between the banks of workstations, all of them empty. If this was a control centre, they weren’t controlling much here.
They reached the far end of the room and went out the security door.
The passage on the other side looked normal. The lights worked, the floor was clean and people went about their business normally.
There were not quite as many people as in the unrestricted part of the station. Many of the people had mottled skin. None of them looked twice at three burly guys frogmarching a middle-aged woman between them.
Where were they taking her?
In the scuffle in the control room, she had lost her tool bag and was left only with what she carried on her belt. At some point, they would remove that, too, and then she’d lose her easiest way of communicating with Rex, Jens and Thor. They didn’t even know what was going on yet and she couldn’t warn them until these thugs let her go. And if they took her belt, she would have to find another device to communicate. From some kind of prison, that wouldn’t be easy.
The men took her along passageways with rooms to the side. Whenever doors were open, Tina could see people in those rooms at work or in meetings. Most of them were of the warted and grey skin type.
They came to a large open area, dimly lit, with a floor of smooth, rubbery material. A couple of seats were in the middle, surrounded by a bank of screens.
One of the seats was occupied by a man with grey warty skin. Another seat was also occupied, but Tina could only see a pair of legs, since the chair faced away from her.
The screens
