The captain resisted Alex's recommendation. The system had run well enough, he didn't see a reason to risk doing damage to what he knew to be a delicate system. Alex showed him the existing damage, but the captain didn't know code.

    In desperation Alex played on the goodwill his work controlling the other ship gained him, and the captain agreed, so long as he could get it done before Lea was done with her appraisal.

    That gave Alex no more than two days, connecting the hold had sped things up for Lea, but that had to be enough, half a day to set things up, and then he would have to be done before he took any breaks, He couldn't leave that work half way done, it would kill them all.

    He advised Doc he had to go off her regiment again. She listened to his explanation, agreed. Through her he had the message for everyone to keep a bottle of oxy handy, it was possible life support would fail in some areas while he worked.

    Then he warned Anders personally. The man was being well behaved and Alex didn't want to be the one causing problems by having a repeat of what happened on the ship. Anders offered his help, to Alex and the other people's surprise.

    Alex chuckled and told him that unless he knew anything about programing, the best he could do was to make sure everyone was prepared for a life support failure.

    After that he requested three more computer from Lea, found Asyr and they upgraded the assistant stations in her lab. In the middle of that. Two men showed up, they'd been volunteered by Anders to help.

    Dennis was an amateur programmer, building games and consolidation programs in his spare time. Luigi had studied to become a programmer, but after a disagreement with his professor, which resulted in Luigi burning down the house, with the professor in it, he never did anything with what he'd learned.

    Alex took their help. He needed all of it.

    Because of the complexity of what life support did, it was the most intelligent system, after the core processor, and Alex strongly suspected it had developed survival instincts, it was the only way he could explained that it hadn't done anything deadly yet. It didn't want anyone to noticed what it had become and do exactly what Alex was planning.

    With the new computers installed, he gave them their instructions. Asyr had his back, because she was the most up to date. He gave her a high view of the code so she could look for any offensives the system mounted. Alex would do his best to move about undetected, but he needed all the warnings he could get if he tripped something.

    He gave copies of his programs to Dennis, since he was familiar with programing. His job was to keep an eye on those he installed and replace anything the system disabled. Luigi had to watch for the life system functions through out the ship and warn any section where things went bad.

    Alex warned him the system could deceive him, so he'd gave him a view only access to the interface code. He would have to decipher it to know what was going on.

    Will showed up with food and bottles of energy boosts. They took fifteen minutes to eat, then got to work.

    This wasn't the type of Coercion Alex was proficient with. He had to do it entirely code based. No one had talked with the life support system in a very long time, and Alex couldn't risk it would see any communication attempt as an intrusion. It might shut down oxy through the entire ship. Alex had no idea how long this would take, but he didn't think there was enough bottled oxy to last hours on end.

    His hope was to automate as much of the life support without the system realizing it. Write the code within the existing ones, using them as camouflage. If he could automate the oxy this way, then he could wrangle the system and try to talk some sense into it.

    And he had to do all that without assistance from the central processor. Life support was too major of a system, if he brought down the walls, it could overwhelm the processor and then Alex would be fighting two opponents.

    Alex thought about asking the universe for help, but his mother had warned him that the universe rarely had his best interest in mind. She would have been quick to point out that Tristan had been the universe showing him the error of his ways.

    He forced those thoughts away. Now was not the time to think of Tristan, or his mother, both had turned out to be monsters, in their own way. He couldn't count on anyone but himself and his support team. He didn't need the universe's help to do this.

    He took a breath, and got to work.

    The first three hours were slow going as he moved through the code, looking for anything that looked like it controlled the distribution of gases. This he'd lock in their current position, because until he knew exactly what did what, he couldn't risk adjusting anything manually.

    Asyr informed him the system's had a lot of anti virus program moving about, and he redoubled his care. If any of them registered his presence, all bets were off.

    Once he'd identified as many of the program as he thought were there. He set about locking them, that was easy, freeze the code in its current position. Doing so in a way that wouldn't register to the system, not that easy. When he'd written that code, he sent a copy to Dennis to add to what he needed to look after.

    The inevitable happened. The system became aware of his presence. Alex didn't have the time to wonder if it was something he did, or one of the others, he was busy fighting to stay connected. Somehow the system had gained some control over the connection he was using, and it was trying to barricade him out.

    He heard Luigi talk to people, letting them know their sections were losing oxy. Asyr was telling him about code forming around other connection points. Dennis screamed about his inability to look after all the programs.

    Alex felt like telling them to shut up, he needed his concentration, but that wouldn't help. He'd train to work while a system was screaming in his ear, so he could work through this.

    He could beat this. As fast as systems were, Alex had one advantage over all of them, he was human, he could adapt, do the unexpected. As smart as systems were, they were bound by their code. He wasn't.

    With a malicious grins Alex unleashed every program he'd ever designed at the system. He used the moment of confusion to attack the system itself. He couldn't cut it up like he'd done the central processor. He had to forcefully calm it down. Alter its personality while under attack. Alex found he was having the time of his life.

    And then the door closed.

    Luigi yelled something. Something about the oxy being cut off.

    The system had found out what room they were in. It didn't have access to the power, so it was going to force them out by killing them. This was when Alex realized that while he'd made sure the order to carry bottled oxy went out, he'd never thought to grab one for himself.

    Asyr, Dennis and Luigi had theirs.

    How long did he have? If he was the only one breathing the room's air, could he last long enough? No, he couldn't. He still had hours of work. He abandoned trying to change the system and focused on opening the door. The code for that was easy to find, the system had wrapped it in layers after layers of code, making it clear what it wanted to protect.

    Alex dived in. Dissecting code with abandon. He heard someone bang on the door. Outside, letting him know they were trying to get in?

     With a shout of victory Alex made it through the code, to find nothing. Not even a command node. The system had tricked him. How long had he used to get through all that code? He had no idea.

    He searched, but he couldn't see any indication where the code controlling the door was. He cursed. He thought about putting his ear piece in, just so he could curse the system directly.

    What happened when you ran out of oxy? Was it like drowning? Would he convulse? It was probably a good thing he didn't know. It was easier to ignore what was coming when he didn't know what it was.

    Only years of training kept him coding when a mask was put over his nose and mouth. He looked at Luigi, adjusting the strap and then clipping the bottle to Alex's belt.

    The man shrugged. "Things have already gone to shit. It isn't like you need me to monitor anything anymore. I'll see if i can get the door open."

    Alex didn't have to worry about suffocating anymore. No, all he had to do was worry about someone else dying because of him. He gritted his teeth. He wasn't going to kill a third person, especially not when that person hadn't done anything to him.

    He needed to unlock the door. He had to do-

    Unlock. Lock codes.

    He wrote a quick search program, with parameters to look for any code locking something. He copied it a thousand times and set them loose. He wrote a second program and set that aside. To give his search time, he distracted the system with another direct attack. He still targeted his attack, he couldn't afford to make things worse, but he needed the system's attention on him. He couldn't let it hide what he needed.

    As he fought to change code faster than the system could undo them, he saw something change color among the distant code. One of his search program had found something. Then another change of color, in another section. More of them, all over the place.

    He waited ten seconds after the last change, and send out a thousand copies of the second program, a simple command to unlock anything highlighted.

    He continued his attack as people burst into the room. He saw Will and Jennifer. He heard grumbling, but he ignored them. He was on the clock more than ever. Hopefully he'd unlocked the oxy with his command, but what else had he unlocked? Was there poisonous gases the system kept under lock?

    There was a reason ship this size usually had specialized programmers, Alex had no idea the kind of damage he might be doing. Hopefully nothing that would get the captain to space him once he was done.

    Alex knew time passed, because someone replaced the bottle at his belt. He thought he made progress by the system's responses slowing ever so slightly. It missed some of the recoding he did, and there was enough to make it hesitate. Some time later, Alex saw the system look at the code he'd changed, and it didn't change it back.

    He didn't shout this time, but he grinned. He'd won. From now on, it was just a question of making the right changes. It was now only a question of time.