by Scott Rhine
Ivy drew a circle on the wall. “We need to cut access to the initiation relay by severing this cable. Do we have a high-speed drill in the repair bay?”
“No time to fetch it. How about a reciprocating saw at the same speed?” Max asked.
Ignoring her friend’s disturbing demolition expertise, Roz said, “I’d piss on a spark plug about now.”
Max handed up his amputation saw and his vibro gloves. He launched into great detail in how to use them safely. Two minutes into his speech, Roz turned on the turbo-charged saw and sliced into the porcelain finish. Everyone else covered their ears to mask the screams of hull material, until Max activated the silence field. Roz slipped on goggles to shield from the flying ceramic bits. She resembled a mad miniature dentist, smiling as she carved.
The first blade burned up after one side of the square. She had to switch to the smaller cast blade with makeshift lubrication and proceed more slowly. After two more sides, the second blade burned up. He handed up his scalpel, which only cracked the ceramic plug in half before it shattered. Roz employed her sticky, zero-g anchor strap to pull out the broken part of the plug. She wiggled several fingers into the narrow hole. “We’re almost there!”
“Come on,” Ivy said. “You’ve got to have something more durable in that kit of yours. Any diamond blades?”
“Left jacket pocket,” Max replied.
Ivy pulled out the dazzling tennis bracelet. “You were carrying this the whole time?” She smacked him in the back of the head, causing him to wince due to other bruises there. She passed the jewelry up to the engineer. “Hurry!”
“This is yours. I can’t wreck something this gorgeous,” Roz complained.
Ivy thumbed back at Max. “It belongs to him.”
“What’s he doing with something like this?”
“Ticktock,” Ivy repeated.
Gritting her teeth, Roz used the bracelet like a diamond hacksaw on the little mineral that remained. The chain shredded and stones dropped out, but more of the hull patch broke off. She pulled out fragments with her sticky strap and used the ever shorter chain until her entire hand could fit in the hole. “Crap on a stick. The power cord is encased in glass, and the gloves are out of power.”
Five minutes left.
Ivy handed up a charge already primed with a four-minute timer. “Stuff this and run, honey.”
Roz did so and sent up a Hail Mary as they rushed back down the tunnel, slamming hatches behind them as they went.
After the bottom hatch closed, Max threw himself over the other three. Reuben said, “Boss, you don’t have your force-field vest on.”
Max sat up. “Sorry. Either way, you guys are a great team.”
Chest heaving from the exertion, Roz grasped hands with Max and Ivy. “Fine. I’ll take the job. I’d rather die like this with you guys backing me up than bored and ignored on any station in Human space.”
A soft crump sounded in the distance.
“We’re not dead,” observed Reuben.
“Give it a minute,” Max replied.
“Your ghost astrogator tells me it’s all clear.” On the verge of tears, Ivy looked down at her friend’s hands.
Roz patted her back. “We’ll fix everything we just blew up. That’s nothing to cry about.”
“I just figured out what the bracelet was for, and we totally trashed it.”
Max glared at her and redirected the topic to business. “We’ll cut Roz in for an equal share of the profits, and I can guarantee that the job will never be as stressful as the interview.”
Sniffing, Roz turned to her best friend. “And who are you?”
“I’ll tell you if you make me a partner. I promise it’s worth the price.”
“Sure,” Roz said. The men glanced at one another and nodded.
Ivy said, “Without an ansible, I’m your link to civilization. I’m one of three sisters—triplets. We can communicate to each other mentally over almost any range. If there’s anything I don’t know, they can find it out.”
“Shouldn’t that be, like, Top Secret?” asked Roz.
“I know pretty much all your secrets. It’s only fair. We should trust each other with our lives.”
Chapter 35 – Plans
In the crew lounge, Kesh wasn’t happy about parting with the funds to buy repair equipment from the station. “I already spent half my fortune on your mammal-brained schemes. Are you trying to put me in the poor house? This equipment is taking the rest of our valuable cargo space.”
“We can repay you with our share of the profits,” Ivy soothed.
“Now we’re dividing the take six ways?” the Saurian said, outraged.
Max sat on a meal pillow. “They’ve given up everything to help us. It was only fair. We agreed by majority vote.”
“The Goat’s penis votes now?” Kesh said.
Ivy smiled. “At least it consistently stands up for what it believes in.”
Taking a seat at the table, Reuben supported the women. “Our draft contract says that outside of port, in matters of action, Max gets the deciding vote to break ties. In port financial matters, you have the extra weight.”
“We’re all irreplaceable,” Max argued. “We’re also going to have a lot of time on our hands on the voyage. We have to learn to get along with one another and show respect.”
Eventually Kesh conceded. “With one proviso. One of the females should prepare evening meal.”
“That’s sexist,” said Ivy.
“That’s survival,” Max clarified. “I only make toast. Reuben likes garbage and the last time he tried to cook, he was banned from the kitchen.”
“It’s true. Even I wouldn’t eat my food,” Reuben agreed. “I can pick fresh vegetables, though. Don’t trust the boss with anything fragile or sterile. He drops stuff during practice all the time.”
Max struggled not to react. He hadn’t realized how noticeable his disability was. “Kesh here can order five-star cuisine in three languages, but his version of fast food has four paws.”
Ivy jerked a thumb at her friend. “If you have any wine, this one can make a killer sauce for anything.”
“That I can oblige,” said Kesh, wandering into the kitchen.
“Thanks for throwing me under the bus,” Roz said. “You’re cleaning up afterward, then. What are the men going to do?”
Max said, “I’m willing to cut things. I’m not bad with a knife.”
Ivy snickered. “Slice the heart of the head of lettuce?”
His face fell. “I don’t kill unless I have to, and I always give the victim a choice.”
“You were serious about what you do for a living?” asked Roz.
“Did,” Max stressed. “This venture is about making a new start for all of us. Second thoughts?”
“No. Just wondering what I should tell my mom when I write. Lost my job. Kidnapped by pirates. Wish you were here.” When Kesh handed her a sample bottle, Roz said, “I think I’ll have a glass or three of this.”
“Tall, dark, and brooding pirates,” Ivy said, eyeing Max. “She’ll understand. Everyone likes to be unbuckled and swashed from time to time. I know I appreciated a jolly good rogering.”
Kesh popped the cork with practiced ease using only a tap on the bottom of the bottle and his claws.
Reuben changed the topic. “I’ll be crafting travel papers for each of us. Your new name will be Max Ellison, somebody without a past. Roz may be effectively banned from returning to Eden unless I can hack the server to get the charges dropped.”
The glass clinked and the wine glugged as Roz poured.
Ivy shook her head. “Nah. Keep them. They won’t transfer jurisdictions, and she’ll have some street cred. People won’t pick on her if they know what she’s capable of.”
Roz swirled the wine and sipped. “Why don’t you just wait till I finish this bottle and get me a tattoo?”
Probably due to the fact she wasn’t guzzling the fine vintage, Kesh made an effort to support her. �
��I suppose I could clean up around here, set the table, and serve your creations.”
Max could envision Kesh as the head waiter of a very exclusive restaurant … or wearing a maid’s outfit. He struggled to hide the grin.
“What about our shy astrogator?” asked Ivy.
“She might be willing to meet people one-on-one, but she’s likely to spend most of her time in stasis,” Max advised.
“I wanted to get a copy of the prototype’s original plans so I can rebuild them as accurately as possible. I’d love to chat with her about the subbasement drive. It could revolutionize everything,” Roz said. “Also, drive design has come a long way in the last couple hundred years. I’ll let her read over some of my textbooks and trade journals. Maybe her drift problem has been solved by a modern theorist.”
“You still have all your books from college?” asked Kesh.
“Yeah.”
Kesh shook his head. “No wonder you’re not mated.”
She took a swipe at him and missed. Roz winced at a twinge and rubbed a sore spot on her shoulder. “Blast. I had my hands over my head in that cramped crawlspace, and only a masochist would use those vibro gloves. My joints must have aged a decade today.”
Max touched her shoulder. “Too much stress. Of course, the pain makes you tenser. You have to interrupt the cycle of pain.”
“What are you suggesting?” Roz asked.
“A good deep-tissue massage.” The thought of her wrapped in those towels led him places he shouldn’t go. “I—I’m sure a few aspirin with that wine would do the trick. I’m hungry. Isn’t anybody else hungry?”
A hologram of the actress Gina Millhouse Graham appeared in the shared room. “I shall meet with you, Pilot Candidate Mendez. I’m a very good masseuse. I could ease your pain, and we could get to know each other a little better.” The decree struck everyone speechless momentarily, and then she faded.
Roz stared at where the sensuous hologram had been. “You outdid yourself on that interface, Reuben.”
Reuben stammered as Ivy stroked his hair. “Oh, n—no. That’s all the boss. Sh—she picked that form for him. Won’t let anyone change it. Stop it, woman, I need sustenance.”
“And I want the truth,” Ivy said.
Max folded his arms and turned away. “People in hell want ice water.”
“She’s a Magi neutral, who my brother cruelly abused,” Kesh said. “You have my word that Max has been nothing but a gentleman and a healer with her best intentions at heart. He freed her from her slavery contract.”
Roz echoed Max’s earlier statement. “She has a history of abuse, but she’ll see us through. Echo is the spirit of the ship. She’s like a living ghost, holding on until she can get home.”
A chance at redemption, to make something constructive from this life of death and misery. “She doesn’t trust easily. Will you help?”
“Yes.” Roz didn’t hesitate, but she swallowed the rest of the wine in her glass in a single gulp.
“Okay. Take the elevator to her floor, below cargo. Take off your shirt and lay on the cot facedown.” Max tried to find the right words to prepare her for facing the memory of the person she wronged the most in her life. “Meeting her can be frightening, but remember why you’re there. You’re one of the bravest people I know.” Max offered the dolphin pin to her. “For courage above and beyond the call of duty.”
“Right.” Confused and wary, Roz wandered toward the elevator. “Can’t be scarier than our first date.”
****
Max paced until Roz reappeared over an hour later. “Are you okay? Any head or neck pains?” he asked.
She raised an eyebrow. “Why would there be?”
“What did she look like?”
“Just like the hologram. She was a little formal, but it went like any other job interview.”
He breathed a sigh of relief.
Roz gathered all the partners to address them in the crew lounge. “Echo and I have reached an understanding, but before we leave, we have three major hurdles. First, I want to repair the ship so the subbasement drive never escapes our control again.” Everyone nodded. “Actual restoration of Echo’s control circuits and functionality will take months or years.”
Max held up a hand. His right eye was swollen shut from a recent beating and his voice was fuzzy with painkillers. “Um … is that safe?”
“Trust me,” Roz said. “We won’t initiate the prototype drive until Echo fixes the drift problem. We’ll arrange some fancy test before we send ourselves on any one-way trips.” Her tone and confidence won the others over.
Reuben seemed excited by the challenge. “I’ll get started cracking the codes that the last captain left in place to lock others out of the normal star drive controls. I’ll call the old copilot first and see if he can narrow the search parameters.”
Roz continued. “The second obvious goal is to return to Eden Station to refuel and finish provisioning.”
“I’m not made of money,” Kesh complained.
“Sure. So as step three, we need to find a way to harness all the energy we’ve already converted.”
“The quantum capacitors are still charged?” asked Ivy, blanching. The device had been a few minutes away from blowing all of them to atoms.
“Like a big battery. I can tap the reserves for powering the grav generators, lights, heating, and cooling. Some of the energy could even be sold to the space station while we’re connected. We should be able to reclaim most of the fuel we wasted. I just need your permission.”
“Why wouldn’t we?” asked Kesh.
“If there’s a single spark during refuel, we could blow up.”
Reuben’s eyes widened. “Like a Deathstar?” The Star Wars movies had been extremely popular with the Goats, but they had recast the epic with a Black Ram kid as the hero. The evil emperor had translated to the Bankers that held the note on their planet’s long-term, high-interest loan. The finale had a lot of feasting.
“Surely we can insulate and buffer so that won’t happen,” Max asked.
Roz raised an eyebrow. “We being the plural of me? Because I don’t see anyone else here swinging a wrench.”
“Reuben is good with his hands, and I can work under him,” Ivy volunteered.
“Too much information,” said Kesh.
Ivy snickered. “Seriously. The kid knows computers and electronics. I’ve helped her run cable before. At the very least, I can read a diagram and mark where changes need to go.”
Max didn’t like that idea. She just wants access to the plans.
“I’ll handle the work orders. We’ll put you on silicone gel duty.” Before the smirking Goat could comment about breast implants, Roz clarified, “For static buffering and atmospheric integrity. This ship hasn’t fully recovered from its collision with a minefield a century ago. Once we head for the nexus in a few weeks, I’ll be on the bridge full time, and you all can continue fixing the code violations.”
Kesh shook his head. “Some of the cargo is perishable. We can’t wait that long.”
“We take almost two weeks of normal flight on each side, and 15.7 days in subspace to reach Prairie. Will nineteen more days to make sure we arrive at the other side really break us?”
“With everyone pulling together, could we reduce the time?”
Roz considered. “Each of you newbies is worth maybe half a technician. If I ignore overtime rules and keep one assistant per shift, I might be able to cut the time in half. I’ll have to rent tools from Eden Station. Ten days minimum.”
“Better,” Max said. “The former captain had food stasis units that he used for meal mammals he wanted to hunt. Maybe we can shift the stuff with a shelf life into those bins to delay decay.”
The Saurian growled. “I will see what we can do. If I have to trade any of this back, the station merchants won’t give me 20 percent of what it’s worth.”
“What if we shoved those crates into hard vacuum?” Max suggested. “We could change the shuttle
bay into a giant deep freeze. It’s not like we have a shuttle to go in there anymore.”
Roz nodded. “As long as we maintain pressure, that might work. Any other questions?”
“Yeah. Who gets what room?” asked Reuben. “I’m tired of sleeping in a tent.”
Max answered, “Kesh needs the captain’s room to keep his cover. Roz should take the copilot’s to stay close to her duties on the bridge. That leaves one room on this level and three available on the cargo floor below. I propose that I keep my current room.” Jeeves was shy about change.
Ivy said, “I suppose I could take the room on this floor, and it could be the women’s dorm. Reuben could take a stateroom next to Max. That would solve the bathroom gender problem.”
Reuben said, “That’s not fair. The beds up here are twice the size.”
“Maybe if you’re good, you’ll get to share mine from time to time,” Ivy promised, tracing a finger up his chest.
“D-Define good,” Reuben said.
“Have some of your Goat buddies haul some of my clothes and personal items up here from my condo. Roz can pack things from her quarters on the station, but I only brought a hairbrush, toothbrush, and lipstick in my purse.”
Eyes heavy from medication, Max asked, “So where did the handcuffs come from that you used on Reuben?”
The Goat blushed. “She lifted them from spaceport security when I bragged I could pick locks.”
Roz smiled at first, but with the next thought her amusement evaporated. “Did you cuff him so you could scout the ship in freedom?”
Ivy glared at her. “We’ve established that I’m a spy, but I always came back to continue our date. I could’ve left him hanging there alone all night, and no one would have heard him.”
“Did you broadcast details about my ship to your sisters?” Roz was already protective of the vessel, and she had been aboard less than a day.
Max interceded, trying to reduce the friction between the women. “When your arrest warrant came out, Ivy rushed to your side immediately. She blew her cover to accompany you here. From the day I met her, she’s been more concerned about protecting you than her job.”
Roz grudgingly accepted her as part of the repair crew.