I found I liked Sai better than Germaine, as the Neko always spoke of Vashon as a person. A person she admired. Whereas the Doc spoke of her more like a piece of equipment or an experiment, rarely using her and she pronouns.
I nodded and smiled as I agreed, “Yes. Yes, she is.”
Then I prompted, “They still there?”
She knew I was talking about the new gravity signature that was moving in-system from the rift. It had appeared days ago, and it would arrive around the same time the city hit atmo. Best case scenario it was Prime's Dark Fleet answering the distress burst transmission, but they were too late for New Terra, but might still have time to save the other cities even though everyone inside would be dead. Worst case scenario, it was the Galactic Federation's Pacification Fleet coming to watch the completion of their handiwork.
We were still worried that there may be a stealth Galactic Federation ship out there somewhere floating dark on a ballistic course since we had no clue where the transmission that started this all had come from.
If the approaching blip was transmitting, we had no idea since none of us had the ability to listen with all of our transceiver arrays down.
She just nodded. “Doctor Gerrrmaine is tracking it.”
Then she looked back over her shoulder and hit a button, and her office door slid shut, and she whispered at the screen, “Have you told them yet?”
I shook my head and my cheeks heated. She knew the troublesome logistics as well as I did. I had done the calculations a thousand times, and I couldn't find a trajectory that would allow me to chase the cities in orbit and match their speed to rendezvous with what little fuel was left in the tumbril and the time constraint on us. But after seeing the modified communications rig on the ship, I had a plan that would have Vashon forbidding me to attempt.
I exhaled and leaned on Glitchy, who rested his grappler lightly on my hip. “If I can figure out how to be out in vacuum without, you know, dying and junk, I think I know how to get more fuel.”
Her left ear twitched in time with her right eye as she glared at me, knowing the only possible source of fuel for the reaction rockets that would accelerate me to escape velocity since we didn't have days for me to be raised into orbit by the gravity wakes. The plasma drives certainly didn't have that kind of thrust.
She yowled in distress, “Arrre youuu crrrazy, Fixie?”
I shrugged. “I can't let you all die, so I have to. Even if I left right now, you know I wouldn't be able to get there before you are all a fireball in the sky with what little reaction fuel I have.”
She actually hissed at me, her ears pressed tight to her head and her needle-sharp canines gleaming in the artificial light. Then she said reluctantly as she re-opened her office door and shared, “I see morrre and morrre what yourrr girrrl sees in you.”
I was blushing. If I wasn't so scared of her, and she didn't build devices which were made to take life, I could see us becoming good friends.
Sai made a grumpy face that was too cute when I said, “And remember, you promised not to tell her what I'm thinking.”
The voice of a certain ranger of my heart came across the line. I winced and squinted one eye. Busted. “You don't think I don't know, Fixie? You are all routing communications through my subsystems. And I know I can't convince you it is foolish and reckless, because I also know you would do anything for family, and I can't ask you to not be you.”
Ok, my cheeks were heating. I just figured she had better things to be doing than monitoring communications. But then again, her brain could multitask about thirty-three trillion things per second, sooooo...
Like all cowards, I knew when to run away. “I'll talk to you ladies later, I have an EVA suit to somehow create.” Then to Vash, I added almost in question like I was asking forgiveness, “Love you?”
Then I snorted when the two of them answered in unison, “Love you too.” I rolled my eyes at Sai then flipped my visor up and looked between the repair shop and the Boneyard. Right then. I exhaled and made up my mind and headed to the Boneyard, maybe inspiration would hit there.
I snorted. I just told a living city I loved her. But she was a sexy living city. My sexy living city.
A few minutes later I was stepping off Glitch's mobility platform as he relaxed his grip on me with his grappler. He was just as overprotective as Vashon at times.
We stood in the Boneyard that we were still getting reacquainted with, since everything we were used to, had been displaced, and new layers of wondrous tech discards were exposed by the storms and earthquakes of the Pass.
It was both a curse and a blessing. We had been so used to where in general we could find scrap to help us in most scavenging runs for parts, but pickings had been slim the past couple years. So though it was more like random discoveries now, there were plenty of new parts uncovered in the mountains of trash.
I looked at what was the crushed orb of an old Mark 3 pinger sticking up between a thresher actuator and what looked like an old airlock door. Glitchy squeed out in question as he looked at the mountains and valleys of scrap.
I shrugged as I picked my way over to the pinger remains. “Not really sure, buddy. Just grab anything you think may be useful for some sort of EVA rig, or even any power crystals that aren't trollite? Maybe if I can get enough power, we could do some sort of pressurized projected force envelope that can keep the atmosphere, and I can move around in?” Hell, I didn't know, and that scared me.
I only had two launch windows left to be able to intercept New Terra in its orbit before I wouldn't have time to effect our makeshift workaround. One in eleven hours and one in twenty-two. And I was supposed to somehow come up with a way I could go EV in that time?
I glanced at Glitch as he trundled over the scrap mountains, picking at things and tossing them aside as he diligently looked for something to help. We had entertained just sending in my pingers to effect the repairs, but as amazingly superhuman as they were, they weren't rated for space. The extreme environment was almost as hazardous to them as to me. There was the very real possibility that the temperature extremes in the vacuum of space could shatter their power crystals. It wasn't like they were sealed units like the sewage blockage removal pingers, or the on-orbit repair pingers were.
My entire family of pingers had volunteered, but there was no flanterskelling way I'd send any of them to their probable deaths on the outside chance they could actually make it and set up the relay rig we had built to Anna's specifications.
I reconfigured my multi-tool into a spanner to open the Mark 3 to grab the grappler control crystal so I could do a better temporary fix for Flower's grappler when I froze. I looked down at the spanner in my hand, eyes wide, then yelled out to Glitch. “Change of plans, Glitchy! I know what we need!”
Chapter 4 – Betweeners
Eight hours later I was arguing with Sai and Doctor Germaine on my visor. Anna was saying, “It was never meant to do that. You won't have the power to...”
I growled out, “I've all the half burned out crystals in a bandolier. I'll have thirty-seven minutes before molecular instability between the nano panels as cohesion degrades. If I can't do it by then, it really doesn't matter now does it?”
I stood there with the crystals looped over my shoulder and down to my waist on the other side, a rebreather oxygen mask on with the form-fitting back tank I used when cleaning out the silos. If this worked, it would be protected too, and I'd have plenty of air to watch as I burn up in the atmosphere if I failed.
Sai was pointing out, “There aren't enough nano panels to cover the required...”
I held up a hand to stop her. “We found containers of nano panels from Sky Guard armor discards,” I added in my head that sure, we had to sift through the sandlike microscopic panels to separate the functional ones from the defective ones. And sure, I'm only like eighty percent sure we got them all.
Anna was pointing out, “We're wasting precious time with this. The better option is to try to insulate one
of your pingers to...”
I snapped at her, “No! We aren't sending my family to die when there are other possibilities.”
Germaine kept coming at me. “The unit was never programmed for that sort of application and would take days to...”
Sighing I growled out, “I've already reprogrammed it, I still have the bulk of the programming on an iso-pad from when I had to hijack the coding on Vashon's armor when it was damaged. I just added a few tweaks.”
This got a snort from her. “Not even you can hack the military grade encryption on the...”
I huffed and said, “Just stop! If you aren't going to help then just step aside. I didn't need to hack it, I just bypassed it.”
She blinked. That shut her up. Then she asked hesitantly, doubt on her face. “You... bypassed...?”
I nodded. “I was hotwiring hover sleds from the Agri-Grids to ride when I was six. This is no different. A little monofilament fiber bonding and trace cutting, then encryption is disabled.”
She blinked again but then Sai started giggling, and she said, “That would have to be done at the molecularrr level. I bet you had a tin accomplice?”
I nodded with a grin as I looked toward Glitch who was doting on Flower at the moment. He had been my right-hand man, my partner in crime my whole life. He had virtually raised me with mom. And he was a wizard with molecular bonding, having the precision of a machine.
I said with more confidence than I felt, “We don't have time for anything else, so I'm testing it now.”
Germaine started to protest, “But...”
I ignored her and looked at the multi-tool on my hip and took a deep breath as all my Pingers turned toward me, looking concerned. I tapped in a code on the tool and cringed. It looked like black liquid flowed out of the tool to cover me as the nano panels reconfigured. I held a hand up in front of me in fascination as they flowed over my hand, and to my relief I was still able to wiggle my fingers around.
So far so good, they were allowing elasticity and dexterous manipulation just like Sky Guard armor. I inhaled deeply, holding my breath again as I felt the tickle of the panels going up over my head. This was pushing the multi-tool beyond its specifications, but I had faith that the overpowered processor could keep up with me. Especially since Anna couldn't duplicate my systems from my old multi-tool, so she had used a Mark-32 processor in it to handle the number crunching for reconfiguration. Mark-32s were used in dreadnought class attack tumbril carriers.
I exhaled as lights came on in the helmet and a rudimentary heads-up display came to life as I looked around. Temperature control check, oxygen check, all environmental systems were in the yellow... good enough. I had done it! I giggled out as I saluted the air, “Self contained spaceship Fixit, ready for duty!”
Vash was chuckling at the Doc's surprise and amazement. Germaine's hands were flying over an iso-pad as I fed all the telemetry through the com system. She was whispering, “Amazing.” Sai was all smiles.
Then Anna looked up and prompted me, “What I wouldn't give to get a synaptic mapping of your...”
I cut her off, “Never going to happen, Doc.”
Vashon ignored the argument and said to Anna and Sai, “You both owe me a hundred credits, I told you not to underestimate my girl.” Then she almost purred over coms like Sai, “Lookin' good there Fixie.”
I felt my cheeks burning as I deactivated the impromptu extravehicular activity suit before I burned any more power.
I found it ironic that I wouldn't worry so much about it if topside wasn't so stingy with power storage crystals to begin with. If they kept me supplied the way they should, I'd have a boatload of full crystals, and I could power the suit for days.
I smiled over at the relieved-looking peanut gallery, Flower somehow looking like a mother ready to chastise me. I waved at them and bit the tip of my tongue. Glitch warbled out his laugh.
I said to them as I noted the time, I was about to lose them to the shadow of the planet. “Ok ladies, that leaves one thing. I need to get more reaction fuel in order to catch you.”
Germaine sat up straight, and Lady Peregrine came in view looking almost horrified. Ahh... I had hoped Sai or Vash had told them, so I didn't have to. Anna sounded incredulous, “You don't have enough reactionary fuel, and you haven't told us? All of this was for nothing...” She trailed off, looking at some point in space beyond us all as she contemplated the ramifications.
I shook my head and gave a smile that was more confident than I felt. I said, “Nonsense. I'll just head over to the neighbors and borrow a cup of sugar. It's all good.”
This got confused looks from the Doc and Lady Peregrine. But then Vash's mother's eyes widened when she understood. There was only one place on Prime that would have the fuel I needed. “Vega, you can't. They...”
I cut her off, “See you on orbit ladies. Love you Vash.”
I flipped up the visor as soon as my girl said, “Love you too Fixie. Godspeed.”
My visor was pinging as they tried to reconnect. I looked at the chrono. Three, two, one. The pinging stopped as the mass of the planet moved between us. Ok, I had three hours to get fuel and launch, or I'd have to wait for the final launch window.
I inhaled deeply as I started walking to the Albatross, my open air tumbril. “Let's do this Glitchy.” He saluted and squeed out what sounded suspiciously like, “Aye Aye Fixit.”
I looked at the makeshift communications rig the boys had copied from the Betweener tumbril as Blip and Wrongway pushed us out the bay doors that Flower opened for us. I looked out over my Agri-Grid, to my harvesters and tenders who were hard at work prepping the fields for re-seeding. I was so very proud of them all.
Then we were blasting skyward as I started squawking out on the Betweener coms “Leader of the Betweeners, this is Vega Thrasher of Agri-Grid A1 on the Albatross. Please respond. This is a matter of life and death for not just the citizens of Prime, but for Betweeners as well. Please respond.”
I started again, “Leader of the...”
The improvised radio hissed then a static-y voice growled out through the hissing of the residual ionization of the atmosphere. “Albatross, this is McGreery, what the fuck has been going on out there?”
I swallowed. That was good, they knew something was not right as well. At least I wouldn't have to convince them of that. Now the tricky part, dealing with pirates and murderers.
That's how I found myself in a giant cave system in the nearby mountains just minutes later, with what appeared to be a couple thousand men, women, and children surrounding the Albatross in a cavern with weapons pointing at us.
I had to nod in appreciation when he revealed where their base has been hidden these past couple decades. The mountains were laced with ionized crystal eriodite, the same stuff used to make power and control crystals. The best Prime scanners would never be able to get past the interference of the ICE. And they had picked a light vein of it so the automated mining pingers would not see it as a viable location until the plentiful high concentration veins were mined around the planet.
But right now, I held my hands up, and Glitch looked at me, then did the same with his grappler.
When a rugged looking man, with a deep scar slashing diagonally across his neck, stepped in front of the rest of the group, his sharp and intense dark eyes took in everything at once, from the clothes I was wearing to my poor battered Albatross and my trusty companion.
The way his eyes bore through me like he saw everything about me was eerily familiar, and I couldn't place why. I waved one hand I was still holding above my head at him and said, “Umm, hi?” As two men jumped aboard the Albatross and started roughly patting me down as three with stun sticks surrounded Glitch who stopped shaking and started growling as his iris spun down to an angry pinhole.
I glance over at him quickly before returning my gaze at the man who still had his gaze locked on me, “It's ok, Glitchy.”
When one of the men announced, “She's unarmed,” the man I assu
med was their leader nodded once and nudged his chin. One of the pirates shoved my shoulder roughly, making me stumble in his exuberance to indicate I was to disembark. The world exploded into motion around me as I stumbled.
Glitch was squealing in a warbling rage as he backhanded two of the men guarding him, sending them tumbling out of the Albatross and onto the ground. Almost faster than I could follow he was between the man who shoved me and me, the man dangling off the deck as Glitch grasped him by the neck.
Then Glitch was screaming as the third man hit him with a stun stick. My eyes swept around the cavern as I spun to stop this, it looked as though everyone was just a moment from firing on us. I moved between the man with the stun stick and Glitch, an arm extended toward the man with the crackling weapon, yelling, “Stop!” As I looked at the man and my mechanical friend. “Put him down Glitchy.”
My eyes met the tall man who had a hand out, calming all the people in the cavern, I didn't break eye contact with him as I continued, “It's ok, Glitch, he didn't hurt me. Remember why we are here.”
The man wasn't even watching Glitch, he just kept studying me, and as Glitch lowered the terrified pirate back onto his feet, then straightened the man's shirt, their leader lowered his arm and everyone to the man woman and child lowered their weapons. Yup, I was right, this had to be McGreery. I tried again with a classic standby, “Umm... we come in peace?”
The man's lips quirked up in a smile that again, seemed familiar to me. Then he asked in a deep baritone, with an almost amused smirk while the two men left in the Albatross eyed my Glitchy hero warily. “In seven seconds or less, tell us why we shouldn't just shoot you here and now little dirter girl. We don't like what we hear, then it was nice knowing you.”
Now that was sort of ironic. Betweeners lived on the planet surface too, yet he was throwing around the dirter slur? I looked at the man who was moving around me, his stun stick still raised as he was angling for my friend. I slapped the stun stick down and ignored the incredulous look the man shot my way as I stood taller, refusing to look toward him. I wasn't going to be the first one to blink as my eyes were locked on McGreery. “I don't need seven seconds. Only seven syllables. Galactic Federation.”
Fixit Adventures Anthology Page 18