He'd been working in English for so long his mind just naturally translated from Europan, even in his sleep. "...Another cold, wet day here along the Sparti Linea plain... Our production of mensomite continues to meet projections... In world news, Prime Minister Hantok Oh reports that we are well prepared for war with Earth..."

Pelorus Il woke to the sounds of national Europan radio blaring in his ear. He felt a surge of power return to his arms. He slowly raised his right hand, hovered it over the radio alarm device, and it turned off.

His legs still quivered as they became newly energized. He stepped into the waterless shower tube which took up most of the space in his living quarters. As his body tingled from the effects of the invisible cleaning waves, he stared out the window at Jupiter's great spot. The sight of the swirling storm reminded him that Europa was a small moon - about the size of Earth's moon - orbiting a gigantic planet.

He grabbed his clothes off the rack and put them on. He smiled as he saw the reflection of his one allowed rebellion against the system, his t-shirt. It had English words printed on it that read, "Your computer is MY computer."

The bottom of the tube opened up, and Pelorus became a human bullet projected through a cylinder. Moments later he found himself sitting in a small room inside a drab, unremarkable government office building.

He looked around to see at least a dozen other children, all around his age, talking to their computers. It reminded him of how hard he had worked recently, and he grew excited to receive the rewards of his efforts.

At 11 years of age, already he'd achieved some notoriety among his contemporaries for having tapped into several classified Earth computer grids. He was made near-famous for his part in a fifteen minute shutdown of the servers on Earth's Moon, but now 12 years old, his celebrity was fading.

He heard footsteps come from behind him. It was Echion Gee, a manager. "Pelorus, we've got a war with Earth to stop."

Pelorus replied, "I'm the best. You'll see." He remembered the celebration after his last successful break-in. Even Echion participated in their icy ride through one of the hundreds of natural bobsled corridors on Europa.

Pelorus recalled the countless hours he'd spent programming his latest hack into Earth's network. His computer contained the code. It was ready to assist with his silent attack. He spoke to his computer. "Show me potential back doors into Earth's White House."

***

"Are you sure you're going to be OK here, Doria?" President Berry asked his niece.

Doria Henry knew that her uncle had no children of his own, and she was quite used to having the President of the Earth shower his fatherly affection on her. After running her fingers through her long blond hair, she twirled some strands around one finger and attempted a pout. "I'm not a kid
anymore you know. I'm nineteen."

"Maybe, but let me hold my illusion a little longer. You've always been my darling niece. I guess I should be more worried about the boys now."

"That's right!" She smiled. "Now, get on back to the White House." "I do have other matters to attend to, like averting a war."

From the quiver in her uncle's voice, Doria could sense his anxiety, and imagined the lines on his face tightened. She felt a little frightened by his remark. Often he had joked with her about his job, but he never had to do anything so difficult except perhaps to take care of her after her parents died in the car crash.

In her mind, she could still see the bus as it swerved head-on into their lane. She'd never forget it.

She decided her uncle was just testing her new independence. "Oh, is that all? That should keep you too busy to worry about me. I guess I won't see you for a while."

She heard footsteps to her side, probably from down the hallway leading to her bathroom. A man's voice spoke. "Everything's working. Looks fine to me."

"Next week it is," the President said. "Enjoy your new place." She heard him step forward, and he kissed her on the cheek. She imagined the lines in his face relaxed.

Two sets of footsteps made distinctly different noises on her hardwood floor as they faded away towards the entryway. It must have been those secret servicemen. The president's recognizably slower and lighter gate followed soon after. The door creaked open, and then before it slammed shut she shouted, "Don't worry, I will."

She heard the camera above the front door swivel with a slight whine and imagined that it now pointed directly at her. Doria turned her head to point her ears in that direction and said, "ICALS, is that you?"

ICALS responded. "Yes, it's me. You can't see, but you have excellent hearing. Your security system is now armed. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Doria stood up and took a step forward using a mensomite-powered leg brace to aid her movement. Then she took another step with her other leg. She shoved the wheelchair behind her. "Yes. Take this damn wheelchair and power it up in the closet. I'm going to walk around a while now that my worried uncle is gone."

"He won't be happy about it."

"That's his problem, not mine."

***

Pelorus crossed his legs and jiggled his ankle nervously as he waited for the computer's search results.

Distracted, he glanced out the window. Even the tremendous tidal waves of semi-frozen water driven by Jupiter's pull could not take his mind off the search.

"There is only one low priority system," the computer responded.

Pelorus turned his head to face the computer again. "What kind of system is it?"

"Unknown."

"What are my chances?"

"Your odds of breaking into the low priority system are over 70 percent. Beyond that, it is difficult to predict."

Pelorus looked straight up, all the way to the top of the atrium's clear dome and beyond. He could see only a tiny portion of Jupiter, but the thought of its immense size weighed on him, as if the gas giant represented an impediment to his success.

He changed his gaze back to the computer and asked, "What is the name of the low priority system?"

The computer replied, "ICALS, which stands for Individual Complete Assisted Living System."

Pelorus contemplated his move. He knew that his next failure might net him a mining job and a short lifespan.

He aimed his words directly at the computer. "Use a Pelorus program four level 32H attack on ICALS. Let me know when you've attached."

***

She had just celebrated a birthday and this was her first apartment. The independence from her parents and siblings was nice, but it was really the ability to walk around without getting the family's pity that made her truly happy.

Doria stuffed her dirty clothes into the washer-dryer and walked outside. After spending most of the rest of the day in the mall down the street, she returned home feeling a little tired. As she folded and put away her laundry, her stomach began to gurgle.

"ICALS, I want to make a salad," she said as she walked into the kitchen. She heard a robot-like device roll out from a cupboard, followed by drawers opening and closing in the refrigerator to her side.

"Doria, the salad makings are now directly in front of you."

"Thank you, ICALS." She grabbed a knife and proceeded to chop the lettuce, carefully feeling for grit or wilting on each leaf before tossing the results into a bowl that had been conveniently placed on the counter. She added tomato, carrots and croutons before finishing with Italian dressing to top off the first salad she ever made by herself.

As she finished her salad, she heard her wheelchair roll onto the tile floor behind her.

"Doria, it's time to recharge your leg braces."

"ICALS, do I have to? I'm having so much fun."

"If you don't, you know you'll fall. Please get in."

Doria felt the wheelchair press gently against the back of her legs, and she sat down. Back in the secure confines of the robotic chair, her body slumped backwards and downward as her leg braces recharged.

But as she sat helpless, it wasn't just the braces getting energized. If it were just that, she could use a backup system to get around. Over the next hour, she imagined that she felt each of the individual thousands of nano-motors power up inside the rest of her paralyzed body.

***

Using Pelorus' wisdom, the code distilled from his thousands of hours of programming, the computer sought out every tunnel into the ICALS system portal. At a record level 32H - no other computer on Europa had ever reached that level - its program was able to break through most security levels and
many firewalls. It didn't take long for the computer to find a weakness. "CONNECTED," the computer showed on the screen.

Pelorus stared at the message and grinned. The grin faded, and he frowned as he noticed that he had slept several hours while the computer quietly waited with its connection to ICALS. What if Echion had walked by while he slept? He felt compelled to work faster.

"Computer, show me the available commands."

The computer screen changed to show what looked like a home overlaid with the names of several commands displayed for each room.

"Computer, is this Earth's White House?"

"No. It's the home of President Berry's niece, Doria."

"What exactly does ICALS do?"

"ICALS protects her home and assists Doria with many of her daily living activities."

Pelorus scratched his head, feeling the tiny bristles of his very short, almost bald haircut. Computer, why does she need that?"

"Doria is a paraplegic. She's unable to walk or even move without assistance from either her wheelchair or mensomite-powered devices."

Pelorus sat up straight. The thought of cheating someone so fragile didn't seem fair, especially to him. But he had a job to do for his country. "Computer, can you connect me to the White House systems through ICALS?"

"No. There is one connection I may be able to use, but it's password protected."

Pelorus knew what he had to do. He hadn't worked so long and hard on this project to be stopped now. Besides, the girl needed mensomite. What right did she and her uncle have to abuse his planet's precious resource, he thought.

"Computer, can you connect me with ICALS so I can talk to Doria?"

"Yes."

Pelorus hesitated. He'd never threatened to hurt anyone before. He gave the command. "Go ahead and make the connection. When you're ready, get back to me."

***

Doria slept in her chair waiting to feel the power surge back into her leg braces and her strength sustaining nano-motors. The chair lurched backwards. She jerked awake.

"What's going on?" she shouted. "ICALS, are you there?"

"My name is Pelorus. I'm contacting you from Europa, and I need your help."

"Where's ICALS? What kind of help?"

"Your uncle is planning a war with Europa. I need you to connect me to the White House and convince your uncle that war with Europa is a bad idea."

"I can't do that. He makes up his own mind."

"So you think it's right to take mensomite by force?"

"Well, no, not really. But he won't listen to me."

"He might if he thought you were hurt."

"What?"

"Sorry, I meant if you helped me fake it. I just want him to think you're in trouble. We can get him to stop the war and save a lot of lives."

Doria continued the discussion. "You're right, I don't want a war. But why should I trust a hacker? You may just be trying to break into the White House."

"You're right. But if you don't trust me now, there's going to be a war for sure. Do you want to spend the rest of your life thinking about the lives you could have saved?"

Doria knew her uncle was President, but she had never considered that someday she might have to make a difficult political decision. She didn't like the idea of war. Even more, the idea that someone might die because of the mensomite she needed for her chair made her angry. She thought about
Pelorus. He seemed too young for this, but he sounded sincere. She wondered why he would be sitting in a mensomite chair. Perhaps all people on Europa used them to enhance their abilities, or... She made her decision. "OK, I'll do it."

"Then let's get going."

The next moment, Doria listened to the slight humming sound of the chair extending its feeling sensors along the floor. She could hear it sweep the feelers side to side as it made its way down what she figured was the hallway. In her mind she jumped out of the chair, but in reality she
remained trapped.

She asked, "ICALS, are you there?"

ICALS did not answer. She was just inside the entry to the bathroom now, and she heard the bathtub being filled. Just as she heard the water start to spill out onto the floor, the door slammed shut behind her.

She heard Pelorus' voice emanate from the monitor above the door. He said, "We're going to convince your uncle that I'm drowning you. Connect to the White House now."

She panicked, wondering if Pelorus was really playacting like he said he was. "ICALS, this is an emergency. Connect me to the White House."

"What's the password?"

She was thrilled to hear ICALS' voice. "Mensomite," she replied.

***

President Berry sat back in his large leather office chair and spoke to Hantok Oh of Europa.

"We need that mensomite, and we'll take it if we have to," the president said.

"Our forefathers fought over rights to the mensomite on this planet. Those of us left swore we'd never fight again, but we'll do anything to protect our life here. As we've always done, we'll sell you enough to fill your basic needs, but not an ounce more. We are fortunate that Europa makes more mensomite, but we won't abuse this planet's gift."

"Then war is our only alternative." The president ended the communication.

***

Through his tap into the White House, Pelorus Il heard every word of President Berry's conversation with Hantok Oh. He wondered if either leader even realized that faster-than-light communications wouldn't even be possible without mensomite.

"Mr. President, I have your niece."

"Who is this?" the president responded.

"My name is Pelorus Il. I'm from Europa, and I have control of the ICALS in your niece's home."

"That's impossible!"

Pelorus commanded his computer to display the ICALS camera's point of view inside Doria's bathroom at the White House.

"We don't have time to argue. Take a look at your television screen."

"OK, what do you want?"

"I want you to promise me that you'll stop your war with Europa."

"Or else?"

"Look at her."

"But we need that mensonite."

"Enough to let her get hurt?"

The President did not respond.

Pelorus watched as the bathwater filled her room. It was almost up to Doria's chest now. In a minute or two it would be at her neck. But then he'd have to stop.

He felt worried. Still, the President did not speak. He thought, maybe if the President didn't see Doria he'd be even more concerned about her. He asked the computer to show President Berry and ICALS a view of his office.

Only a moment went by, and the picture of Doria with water up to her neck was too much for Pelorus. He didn't think she would allow the charade to go that far. Her blind eyes were shut, but something about her seemed to say to him, "We are alike, you and I."

Pelorus yelled, "Computer, turn off the bath water. Open Doria's door, now!"

***

About an hour later as Pelorus prepared to be sucked up in the tube and back to his quarters, he heard Echion's footsteps.

"Congratulations!"

"What are you talking about? I wasn't able to stop the war with Earth."

"Hantok Oh just received a communications from President Berry. He said that he would no longer order an attack from Earth."

"Did he give a reason?"

"No. He just changed his mind. You're tired now. Get some rest. We'll give you a hero's welcome tomorrow."

"You're right. I am tired." Pelorus turned to his computer and said, "Computer, I'm ready to rest now."

Pelorus suddenly slumped into his chair, his body racked with pain, devoid of energy. The shower tube lowered over his body, then sucked him up into his private chamber. A robot emerged from the closet and carried his limp body to his bed. Pelorus did not feel a thing when his head hit the soft
pillow.

***

"Pelorus, wake up," a female voice said.

He opened his eyes. He tried to lift his arm up over the alarm, but he was unable to move.

"It's me, Doria."

He tried to turn his head to look at the monitor in his room, but he still could not move.

"I got my uncle to change his mind about the war."

"What? What are you talking about? I could have hurt you."

"But you didn't. I heard your order to stop it. And when ICALS told me about your mensomite chair, I realized that we are very much alike."

"So how did you convince the President not to attack us?"

"I told him that we didn't have the right to take your mensomite. It's your resource to manage, just as we manage Earth's resources. Besides, I want to be sure there's always enough mensomite for people like you and me. I volunteered to be Earth's first ambassador to Europa."

"It will be dangerous here for you."

"I know, but I thought maybe we can help each other."

Pelorus felt the nano-motors in his body finally surge with power from the tiny mensomite reactor implanted in his chest. He was able to move his head and lift his arms too. He sat up and looked to see Doria in the monitor. He smiled, waved and then replied, "You're right. Maybe we can."

The End

Richard S. Levine began his working life as a video game designer and developer. About a dozen games later, and after many years as a software engineer, he now enjoys writing science fiction. Several of his short stories have appeared in The Martian Wave and other magazines. He lives happily on a Florida beach with his wife Carrie. Now, if only the hurricanes would go somewhere else. To learn more about Mr. Levine's writings and his classic video game, "Microsurgeon", please go to http://web.tampabay.rr.com/rlevine6.

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