Free Trickster by Steven Harper

"Attention! Attention!"
      Markovi had had it. "Billy, shut up and take the hand alarm system off-line for ten minutes. No more."
      "Acknowledged."
      "Now get off your ass and get to work," Markovi ordered. The tech nodded and vanished from the screen.
     
      Ben poked his head into the van. "Go!"
      Lucia dePaolo muttered a quick prayer to Irfan and set to work, her white-scarred hands moving with swift, serene efficiency. The boy watched with both interest and trepidation as Lucia forced open the control panel on his wristband with a tiny pick and started on the electronic lock within. He stood inside the crate while Gretchen kept a lookout through the van window. His bands were newer than the ones she was used to picking, and they were going to take longer to work than she had thought.
      Serene must you ever remain, she thought. Serene like Irfan herself.
      "What if you make a mistake?" the boy whispered.
      "I won't make a mistake," she told him quietly. "Just hold--" She broke off and stared at the band.
      "Hold still?" the boy asked.
      "Seven minutes left," Gretchen said.
      Lucia's face remained expressionless, belying the pang of fear that temporarily overwhelmed her usual calm. The wristband contained a small detonator--another new feature. These shackles would do more than shock. Any slave who left the boundaries of the farm would probably lose a hand and a foot--easily repairable if he were found quickly enough, and a one-footed slave wasn't likely to be running anywhere. The bombs would doubtless also go off if she didn't get the bands removed before the alarm system came back on-line and detected tampering. Lucia spent several precious seconds debating whether she should first remove the shackles or disarm the bombs.
      Remove the shackles , she decided. Once they're off, the bombs won't matter .
      Lucia took a deep breath and murmured a short mantra to restore her peace of mind. This was a simple puzzle, one she could solve with Irfan's help.
      Grandmother Irfan, grant me speed , she thought, and tried to hurry without making any time-wasting errors. The boy was counting on her. Father Kendi was counting on her, too, and Lucia would have been hard-pressed to decide which one put her under more pressure. When Harenn had told her that Father Kendi was looking for a pilot on a new ship, Lucia had jumped at the chance. Father Kendi--touched by Irfan herself and a hero of the Despair. How could she refuse such a chance?
      "Five minutes," Gretchen said, then gasped. "Oh shit--it's that Alex guy. He's coming over to the van."
      Wasting no movements, Lucia pushed the boy down into the crate and slid in after him. She fumbled around in the dark for a moment, pulled a flashlight from her belt, switched it on, and put it in her mouth. The boy huddled, scared and unhappy, on the floor of the crate as Lucia grabbed for his wrist again. Dim light, cramped quarters, time running out. Another deep, calming breath. Irfan was with her, everything would be fine.
      "You guys seen Joe anywhere?" she heard Alex say.
      "Not lately," Ben said. "Why?"
      "I can't raise him." Alex paused. "Aren't you supposed to be working on the computer virus?"
      "Nancy's already gotten started," Ben said. "She'll have the alarm system cleared up pretty quick, so Denise and I came back here for the program disks we'll use to check the rest of the system." His voice got louder. "You did bring them, didn't you, Denise?"
      "There in here somewhere," Gretchen shot back. "Probably won't take more than three minutes to find them."
      Lucia pressed another section of the lock with her electric stylus and the wristband popped open. Lucia caught it just before it thudded to the floor of the crate. Mouth dry as a raisin, she reached for the boy's ankleband. This one should be easier since she now knew the lock mechanism better, but she had little time, so little time. The boy was shaking noticeably. He had to know about the