Arky had no idea this would be one of the most extraordinary days of her life. Everything seemed to be going to plan when she put the shuttle into a banking turn and hit the IFF switch as she came in low over the purple ocean and through a mass of yellow clouds.
"Almost there," she called over her shoulder. There was a scramble and Petal Smith's head appeared through the cabin door, her eyes wide with excitement.
"Can you see the tower yet? They tell me it's the highest structure on Menos." She peered through the clouds, trying to spot the company's headquarters on the planet. "Not that there are that many skyscrapers on Menos, I guess!" She gave one of her little giggles, which Arky ignored out of long experience.
The two women were good friends, though they seemed to have little in common. Arky was slender and almost boyish in her company pilot's uniform, her fair hair cut short (it made getting her space helmet on a lot easier). Petal, who was a couple of years younger, was full of girlish giggles, bubbled with overt enthusiasm and had an extravagant figure that was barely contained by her uniform.
"The Tower!" said Arky sharply. Out of the sulphurous cloudbank, a tall spire cut the horizon, a navigation light blinking redly at its peak. Arky cut the power and the shuttle began to sink towards a landing field outlined in bright flares. Petal slipped into the co-pilot's seat and began to throttle back the reactor.
A bump, a slight rocking, and the green lights came on. "We're down," said Petal. "Are you sure we can't go out?" Petal was always wanting to sightsee, but Arky shook her head. Instructions were plain: stay in the shuttle. She waited.
After a moment, another light lit up. The IFF system confirmed the identity of the light truck that loomed up out of the mist. She opened the hatchway and a burly man in company uniform clambered into the shuttle.
"Harker", he said calmly. "This is James." A second man nodded to them. "We'll get the cargo and we can leave straightaway." Arky and Petal remained in their seats. There was a hum of power lifting equipment, a scrape of metal on metal and then the sound of the truck driving off. Harker reappeared in the door. "All right, let's get out of here."
Petal had stepped into the cabin during the loading and she made a strangled noise in the back of her throat. "Arky! You'd better take a look at this…." There was no humor in her voice this time. Arky rose to her feet and padded into the cabin.
"What the….?" For once Arky was nonplussed. She had seen many strange things on several worlds, but this took her by surprise. The cargo, as Harker had called it, was a stretcher bearing the naked body of a sleeping woman. Her skin was a light green and she wore what looked like a metal crown around her forehead.
"She must be eight feet tall," said Arky at last. Their cargo (or passenger perhaps) was a veritable giantess. She turned to Harker. "Who is she? And why is she in restraints?" The company did some odd things at times, but Arky wasn't going to blindly follow orders in a case like this.
Harker sighed. "Don't get upset. This is secret stuff. Her name is Eve – well, that's we call her anyway. The company is trying out an experimental android scout on Menos. She can get through the most inhospitable conditions where people couldn't."
"And?" Arky was waiting for the other shoe to drop. There had to be a catch.
"There's a – glitch. We're taking her back to the main laboratory for some fine tuning before we take her out for final trials." He looked at his watch. "Can we get going?"
Arky raised her eyebrows but it sounded plausible. She motioned to Petal and they resumed their seats. Take off went smoothly and soon Petal had laid in the course for their destination. Arky went back and looked at the recumbent figure. Harker was making some small adjustments to the metal object on her head.
"James, isn't it?" she said to the second man and he nodded. "What's the gadget? Why is she naked? And why are you both wearing sidearms?"
James looked uncomfortable. He ran a hand through his dark curly hair before answering. "Company policy mandates weapons on a job like this," he said finally. "The gadget as you call it is designed to keep her off in dreamland until we get her to our destination. And she doesn't need clothes; she was designed for this world." He broke off suddenly.
Arky at first didn't understand why he looked distracted, then she heard Harker swear. There was a subtle difference to the background noise in the cabin. Something was emitting a high-pitched sound that made her ears ring. James leaned over Harker with a worried look on his face.
They conversed in low voices for a moment. Arky could hear a little of what they said but it didn't help her. It was full of technical jargon but their faces looked worried. Harker made some calculations on his pad and then turned to Arky. "How long till we get to our destination?"
"About an hour."
"If you push it, can we make it any faster? I'm not telling you your job, but we need to get there as quickly as we can."
"I might be able to make it 45 minutes," she said "but this atmosphere isn't safe for stunt flying. Is she in trouble?"
"No, but we might be." He straightened up. "The device that keeps Eve asleep has malfunctioned and we don't have the tools to repair it. If she wakes up in this confined space, the situation could be awkward."
Arky recognised a euphemism when she heard one. "How awkward?"
"Shut in with her like this? She might kill us."
Arky took a deep breath. "What? Is she dangerous? Why didn't they tell us….?"
Harker shook his head. "The glitch I mentioned has to do with her adrenal gland. It's made her hyperactive and unpredictable. Her whole body is now devoted to the three F's."
"Pardon me?"
"Flight, fight or … well, you know. When Eve wakes up, she's likely to burst free of those restraints and go berserk."
Arky turned on her heel without speaking and stepped into the cockpit. "Petal, crank it up. Take the speed up to the maximum you can get. Tell them we've got an emergency on board." Without waiting for an answer, she moved back to Harker.
"Is that why you've got those guns? In case she broke free? This is a hell of a situation." She could feel her face redden. There had to be some way out of this. "You can't just kill her. That's murder, android or no android."
Harker looked grim. "If you wakes up, there are only two ways I can protect us from her. One is to shoot her through the head before she gets loose. The other is this." He took a small case from his pocket and opened it to reveal two tiny syringes.
"Poison?" Arky was appalled. This just got worse and worse.
"No, they're for us," said Harker glumly. "James and I would have to inject ourselves with a new stimulant the company has just developed. It….um…" His voice trailed off.
Arky looked at him impatiently. "I'm not a mind reader. Exactly how does this help us?"
"You remember what I said about the three F's? James and I would have to try to sexually satisfy her." He looked grim. "It's not a job for any ordinary man."
Arky stared at him. "The two of you are going to --- oh come on, now! There's got to be some other way." She didn't know whether she should be laughing or crying, but Harker didn't look as though he found the situation funny. "This is absurd."
"Maybe it is, but there's no other way. Her android body is resistant to most forms of sedation. I suppose I could try knocking her out with my gun butt but if I miss she'll tear me limb from limb. This is the only thing my bosses could suggest." He gestured at his partner. "James and I are the two youngest and fittest men on the base. Most of the others are desk jockeys or crabby old researchers." Neither man looked happy at being in such an elite group.
"Could I de-pressurize the cabin and try and knock her out that way?"
"Nope, she's bred to survive on Menos. She can breathe the local air a lot better than we ever could."
Arky went back to her seat and thought hard. No easy solution came to her.