* * *
Chapter Six
Because of Caderi's influence, the landing field around Sunsinger had been kept clear for hundreds of meters in all directions. Star Arrow came down close enough to the damaged ship to rock the people inside. Bain spared a moment to wonder how nervous his crew had been about landing the massive Scout transport. Then he shrugged aside all considerations beyond finding clues, fixing Ganfer, and rescuing Lin.
It took all six of his crew, plus Herin and Rhiann and five Leapers who came down from the Estal'es'cai to run the sample-gathering equipment. The burn marks were analyzed, the air was filtered, even the cold dregs of coffee left in overturned cardboard cups—and the cups—was taken to be analyzed by the science computers for drugs and DNA samples. The damaged bridge of Sunsinger was wiped clean by the time they were done, leaving only the crystal boards Bain had yanked out of Ganfer's access panel.
He sent everyone away to work on their analysis at double speed, and settled down to take apart Ganfer's damaged boards and try to repair and awaken the ship-brain. Bain knew everything else they did would be a waste of precious time if they didn't make fixing Ganfer a priority. Ganfer could identify Lin's kidnappers and provide audio and video recordings of the crime.
Bain just prayed the recordings of those crucial moments hadn't been stored on those damaged boards.
An hour later, Bain stepped back from yanking the last damaged board from their racks. He wiped his gritty, sweaty face with the back of his hand and was startled at the sudden stinging of salt. He looked down at his hands and found the fingers lightly crisscrossed with fine red lines, even on the backs. Yanking the crystal boards had done more damage than he had been conscious.
“How does he look?” Rhiann asked.
Bain let out a yelp and turned sharply. He lost his balance and sprawled facedown on the deck. For a few seconds he just lay there, the breath knocked out of his chest, and stared at her.
Rhiann sat in the undamaged chair at the control panel; Bain's usual chair. Her hands were neatly crossed in her lap. Two jammed duffel bags sat at her feet. She had changed from her dress uniform to a dark blue coverall and her glossy black hair had been pulled back in a simple ponytail.
“How long have you been sitting there?” Bain asked. He levered himself up to his hands and knees and crawled a meter before standing up. He found himself smiling a little as he leaned against the undamaged part of the control panel and looked down at her.
“Maybe half an hour. Gorgi said you asked for your gear to be sent over, so I volunteered to bring it. Everyone else has so much to do.” She smiled and nudged one of the duffels with her boot.
“You probably have a lot to do, too."
“Of course. I'm staying here and helping you with Ganfer."
“Rhi—"
“Herin is keeping us here until Lin is found. I'm very good with repairs. Mother always said I was an intuitive engineer. You need help, and you need company.” She nudged the other duffel with her boot. “Besides, who's going to make sure you eat and wash regularly? You didn't even hear me come in, so you'll need someone to watch your back while you're working."
“I seriously doubt anyone—” Then Bain stopped short with a queasy feeling working through his stomach. It wasn't from hunger, though he realized he hadn't eaten since breakfast, nearly ten hours ago. “If someone wanted to cover their tracks so badly they tried to kill Ganfer, they'd try to stop us from repairing him, wouldn't they?"
“It's bad enough someone took Lin and bombed Ganfer. I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you.” Rhiann jerked herself from the seat and snatched up the duffels in either hand. “Where do these go?"
Bain pointed wordlessly to the sleeping cubicles on the other side of the curve of the bridge. His own cubicle still had some of his gear inside it. Lin had said she would bring the rest of his possessions to move into his ship when he finally received it. The cubicle next to his was empty. Bain knew it probably needed a good scrubbing to make it livable for Rhiann. He remembered how he had enjoyed cleaning his cubicle, the day Lin moved him up to the bridge during that momentous first voyage on Sunsinger. Bain didn't think he could stand going through that with Rhiann. Especially not after what she had just said.
He had daydreamed about her saying how much he meant to her, but in far different circumstances. What should he say in return? Should he say anything?
Then he knew the silence had already dragged on too long.
Rhiann made dinner while Bain dug around in the cargo hold storage bins for spare parts, the diagnostic tools, and the shielded box that held copies of all the system programs to run the entire ship. There was no way he could access the main computers to download that information in the limited time left to them. Bain felt every hour that passed was a step closer to finding Lin dead. The easiest way to awaken Ganfer was to re-load the programs, rather than trying to get the computers running, then fiddle with the protective programs, then beg the computers to find new access points into Ganfer and hope the process might work.
“You see,” he explained over their dinner, “everything that was damaged was just crystal boards. Nothing permanently loaded. Nothing affecting who Ganfer really is.” Bain stared down into the steaming cup Rhiann had just handed him.
“Don't you like it anymore?” she asked in a very small voice.
“I love hot chocolate.” He tried to smile. “Everything is great. You're a good cook."
“You haven't tasted anything you put in your mouth.” Rhiann shook her head. “It's all right, Bain. I haven't tasted much either."
“It's just that hot chocolate is for celebrations."
“Then we're celebrating finding Lin ahead of time. Or celebrating that much work behind us."
“We'll find her. We have to."
“So. You're just going to trash those boards you pulled out."
“Spacers never trash anything.” Bain grinned suddenly. “You're going to be sorry you decided to stay to help, you know."
“What are you going to make me do?"
“You are going to test every single board, find each chip that can still hold information and conduct energy, wipe it clean of whatever is stored on it, and put together boards with whole chips. That's part of the Spacer creed—never waste anything, re-use everything."
“Spacers sound like more fun than Leapers sometimes,” she sighed.
“Huh?"
“Nothing.” She picked up her sandwich and took a big bite.
They worked until long past planetary midnight. Bain worked on the remaining panels in Ganfer's system, running the diagnostic wand over each one, checking power flows, running a scanner over each crystal chip looking for flaws and breaks and microscopic melt points that could interfere with the ship-brain's functioning. Rhiann worked fast, visually clearing each chip before subjecting it to the scanner. She had five rebuilt crystal boards ready by the time Bain was done with his part of the work.
“Ganfer is still in there,” Bain said when he had sat back and put down the diagnostic wand.
His hands trembled a little from weariness and his eyes were starting to blur. He grinned at Rhiann. She had gained a few streaks of black across one cheek, the bridge of her nose and her forehead. It made her look like a little girl again.
“How soon can he talk to us?"
“Tomorrow some time. Maybe. There's still a chance that a major power surge, combined with an electro-magnetic pulse could have wiped everything, despite the redundancies in the shielding."
“How much would that take?"
“I don't know.” He paused to try to calculate, and found his mind had a tendency to spin in clouded circles. “Maybe one tenth the strength of a nova."
“Bain,” she sighed again, “that would wipe out two-thirds of the spaceport, at best."
“Probably."
“Then I think we can safely say that didn't happen."
“Yeah.” He nodded, then regretted it when the entire deck seemed t
o wobble under him. “Rhi, how come you don't have a ship of your own yet?"
“Where did that question come from?” Rhiann struggled to her feet and scooped up a handful of discarded crystal chips in her gloved hands. She nudged the disposal chute open with her knee and dropped in the refuse.
“Don't know."
“You're dead tired. I think you should go to bed right now."
“Probably.” He frowned and tried to follow the line of thought. “How come you haven't finished your training?"
“Who says I haven't?"
“Then why—"
“Bain, you're not going to remember any of this conversation in the morning.” Rhiann stepped through the piles of discarded boards and refuse and the few rebuilt boards, and held out a hand to him. He grunted and struggled a little as she helped him to his feet. When Rhiann tried to let go and guide him to his cubicle, he held on.
“I'm glad you're here, anyway."
“Oh, thanks very much.” She wrinkled up her nose at him and stuck out her tongue.
Bain wanted to laugh, but he suddenly found he could only do one thing at a time. Navigating across the bridge to his cubicle was almost more than he could handle.
“Never been so tired in my whole life."
“Then you really should get some sleep before you do something wrong to Ganfer."
Bain grunted a reply and settled down on the edge of his bed. It felt like years since he had slept there. On second thought, it felt like years since he had slept anywhere.
“You're totally helpless, you know that?” Rhiann said with a sigh. She pushed aside his fumbling hands and unfastened the top of his coverall. “There. That's all I'm going to do for you. Don't even think of asking me to take your boots off."
“Wouldn't think of it.” Bain flopped back into the mattress. “Wish you could be here all the time, Rhi."
“Babysitting you?” She stuck her tongue out at him and started to drag closed the curtain.
“Nah. The good times, too.” His eyes closed on him. “It'd be great, y'know?” A yawn muffled his next few words and he tried again. “Jus’ you ‘n me ‘n traveling..."
His words turned into a snore. Rhiann stood in the half-closed doorway of his cubicle, watching him sleep.
* * * *
In the morning, Bain had a vague memory of the conversation. The only clear point was that Rhiann wasn't a Leaper captain, and she was certainly old enough to be one. Something was wrong, and she hadn't admitted why.
Bain meant to ask her about it over breakfast, but they were interrupted by Gorgi and Lissy hurrying over to report on what they had found in the top-of-the-line science equipment.
Residue in the scorched areas of the deck had been analyzed to identify the exact explosives used in the bomb. Dan and Don were already going through the various merchants and tradesmen on Fengrath to find the customers for those specific explosives.
Lin and Bain's genetic codes had been identified in the air and fiber samples taken from the bridge. Trinia and Arin were on their way to the government center of Fengrath to match the five other unidentified codes to whatever records were available.
“We,” Gorgi said, “are now on our way to the portmaster's office to see if there are any records of who visited the spaceport field and the other ships while Lin was here. That should narrow down the list of suspects."
“If we have to, we could demand a genetics test to compare visitors with the samples we recovered,” Bain mused. He rubbed at his eyes, then flashed them a grin. “You six do good work."
“Give a dog a scent and he's on it."
“A what?” Rhiann said.
“A dog.” Lissy gave her a puzzled smile. “Don't you know what a dog is? A canine? A mammal on four—"
“Oh, you mean, like a wolf? I know what a wolf is. Mother Elin had three companions, bear, wolf and hawk."
“Who is—"
“Later,” Bain interrupted, forestalling one of those odd, interesting conversations that always came up when their two different cultures clashed. The conversations were fun, but they always took hours. Time none of them had to spare.
“Oh. Yeah.” Lissy looked appropriately sheepish. “Let's get going, Gorgi. How are you coming on Ganfer?"
“We'll know in a few hours. We stopped last night because we couldn't see straight any longer."
“Speak for yourself,” Rhiann muttered. That earned laughter from the other two. Bain hated the warmth in his face. Then despite the tired ache in his head, he grinned.
Ten minutes later, Bain was down in the cargo hold, putting away the equipment he wouldn't need any longer and digging for the portable computer link he would need to re-load the programs into Ganfer's central core. Bain heard a thud and a creak of metal that sounded like an airlock opening. That made no sense. He had closed everything after Lissy and Gorgi left.
Just to be careful, he crept down the narrow aisles between the crates toward the airlock into the cargo hold. It was still closed and locked. The sound had been muffled and far off.
Like it came from the top of the ship.
Bain reached the bridge before he was conscious of turning and running. He slid to a stop in the hatch and peered around the side.
Rhiann lay on her side against the wall near the open airlock. She pressed her hand to her face, only partially covering a dark red mark across her cheek. Someone had hit her across her face. Bain felt sick, envisioning the horrid bruise she would have soon.
The intruder was a small man, bald, with thousands of red freckles all over his head and face, like the blotches of some disfiguring disease. He wore a port worker's grimy brown coverall, three sizes too big for him and held up with a glossy plastic packing strap for a belt. His hands wavered wildly as he focused a beam burner on the open panel showing all Ganfer's inner boards. His finger closed on the trigger.
Bain leaped, crossing half the bridge in only two running steps. He let out a roar as he leaped at the little man. The beam burner went flying. Bain and the intruder rolled until they fetched up against the wall just under the airlock, with the little man on the bottom.
“There's another one outside!” Rhiann blurted. She half-crawled across the deck and snatched up the beam burner.
Bain jumped to his feet and slammed his hand down on the controls for the hatch. The mechanisms groaned as the warped door began to swing closed. A man shouted from close by. Bain imagined the little man's partner was on the ladder, either climbing up or climbing down.
If Ganfer were in control of the ship, he could have retracted the chain link ladder, stranding the intruder high above the ground, or even sent a jolt of energy running through the metal links to knock him unconscious.
Bain decided he didn't like being in the position of protecting Ganfer. The ship-brain had always been the one doing the protecting before.
“Rhi, call the port authorities,” Bain said, without waiting for the hatch to finish cycling closed.
He bent down and grabbed the trembling, breathless intruder by his collar and yanked him to his feet. He waited until she put the call through and ended with describing the man locked outside. Portmaster Iglio promised his security people would be right there.
“I hate to do this to you, Rhiann, but you're going to have to watch our little guest while I get to work."
“What makes you think I don't want to guard him?” She yanked aside the curtain on one of the empty cubicles and stepped aside. Her eyes burned and she gingerly brushed the back of her hand over her bruised cheek. “Right now I'd love an excuse to take a shot at him."
Their prisoner whimpered, but he made no sound and didn't even try to resist when Bain shoved him into the empty cubicle. Rhiann shoved the door closed partway, leaving two handspans open where she could watch the prisoner. She settled down in Bain's chair at the control panel and propped up her arm so the beam burner pointed at the opening. The prisoner didn't make a move.
“I'm going to take a few shortcuts,” Bain said. “Gan
fer can talk to us and call up the security files and even access the computer, but that's all. We can work on the rest of his connections to the ship later, once he's alert."
“Do it."
His hands trembled as he shoved spare boards and the re-built boards into the slots. Bain only consulted the schematics twice. Every second that went by meant the second intruder had a better chance of escaping port security. If he escaped, he could get back to the other kidnappers and tell them what Bain was trying to do. What that would mean for Lin's safety, he didn't want to imagine.
“All right,” he muttered, as he ran his hands down the outside of the boards, pushing to test their set in their slots. Every connection looked and felt tight.
Bain worked in silence, hooking the portable computer into the input channels. His fingers flew, but they kept trying to tie themselves into knots as he pounded in the commands for selected computer functions. Bain couldn't tell it to simply download all the files for shipboard functions under Ganfer's control. The system would overload, with twice as much data as the re-installed boards could handle. Maybe he hadn't been as smart as he thought, only putting back half the boards now. Was he wasting time, giving exclusive commands instead of general ones?
Then the commands were entered. Bain went over them twice, looking for mistakes. If there were any, he hadn't found them.
“Please, Fi'in, help us all,” he whispered, and pushed the last button.
The screen of the portable unit flashed on and off five times, then blanked. The green ‘working’ light glowed brightly. Bain held his breath, listening to the drives processing as they searched for and transmitted the proper codes and files.
A tiny point of light flickered to life in the topmost crystal board. Bain watched it, hardly daring to breathe, as if he might blow out the light like a candle in a storm.
Another light joined it. Then more. Bain waited until the entire board glowed softly from the energy running through each crystal chip. Then he turned to Rhiann and they shared a grin.
Scouts [Sunsinger Chronicles Book 10] Page 6