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The first FTL jump disturbed his slumber, but it wasn’t until the third that Vlasa came fully awake. The stark view of Seraph’s small sickbay greeted him. That view he expected. The medical drone came as a surprise.
“Your frail biological components appear to have reset themselves. But I cannot be certain they have not suffered residual effects. I must conduct diagnostic tests manually. You may call me Mesu.”
Mesu rolled over to him and deployed several scanners and probes. A faint hum came from the drone as he worked. At first, Vlasa dismissed it as just noise, but he slowly started to recognize the hum as a melody.
“Are you humming the Nerpal Death Chant?”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“The captain gave me your personnel file in case it contained needed biological data. It stated you were born in the Nerpal region. I strive to respect all of my patient’s outdated cultural traditions. As the Death Chant should begin before a person succumbs to the inevitable flaw of biology, I started it in case you expire while I examine you.
“I regret that I did not do so during the actual surgery, as the odds of you expiring were four hundred and forty-two percent higher then.”
Vlasa blinked up at the drone with his one real eye. Unsure how to respond, he opted, instead, to change the subject. “Have you informed the captain that I am awake?”
“Of course not. She removed my wireless receiver card when I freed her from the slavers. Without it, I am unable to connect to the ship’s communication network.”
“Slavers? How long have I been out?”
“It has been twelve hours since I saved your life. No one told me when you first went unconscious. You’d think that would be an important detail to give to medical professionals.”
With difficulty, Vlasa pulled himself up to a sitting position. “Where did you come from?”
“A factory.”
“I apologize for the vagueness of my question. How did you come to be on this ship?”
“I was brought aboard by the slavers to see if you were worth saving.”
“And then you helped the captain liberate the ship?”
“Correct.”
Gingerly, Vlasa slipped his feet down to the deck. His cybernetic leg held his weight without difficulty and his real leg held as well. But the incision in his abdomen hurt with every movement. He let the pain subside, and then started for the door.
“It is my understanding that you are the ship’s engineer. You have configured a wireless data network to share information and allow communications, but one that is physically isolated from any control systems?”
“Correct,” Vlasa said, curious.
“Can you build me a new wireless receiver that would do the same thing? Should one of your fragile biological components fail, you will need to contact me quickly. And I do not want to be taken over by another master AI.”
Vlasa stopped and looked at the impassive metallic expression on Mesu’s face. He considered the request for a moment before saying, “I will make your request to the captain.”
He turned back and continued through the door before the unusual drone could say any more. It did not take him long to find the rest of the crew. The sounds of machinery echoed down the corridor from the environmental control room. Voices intermingled with the sounds.
Vlasa stepped through the open door and found Ariana, Olivia, and Javi pulling apart the CO2 scrubber. Pieces of charred insulation and filters littered the floor. Scattered among the ruined debris were perfectly functional components. The view made Vlasa want to scream.
Instead, Olivia was the one to scream, “Vlasa! You’re awake!”
The young human girl dropped the tool she was using and raced over to embrace him. The sudden impact against his sore abdomen made him flinch. Reluctantly, Vlasa lifted an arm and patted Olivia’s back. As soon as he gauged he had met his social obligation, he pulled her off him.
More respectful of his personal space, Ariana nevertheless bore an expression he judged indicated that she wished she could follow Olivia’s lead. Instead, she gave him a solemn nod, which he returned. Javi likewise nodded to him.
“It’s good to see you up and about. I’m surprised Mesu released you, though. He seemed convinced you were going to die.” Javi said.
“I’m pretty sure Mesu thinks all biological life forms are about to drop dead at any moment,” Ariana said with a smirk.
“Perhaps. But regardless, I am functional enough to resume my duties. Something I very much think you are in need of.” Vlasa said.
Ariana had the good sense to give a sheepish expression at his statement before saying, “You have no idea. We’re still trying to repair the damage from the fire in here. That’s the worst of it. I managed to rewire the FTL system back into place after your little jury rig. It’s worked fine for several jumps, but I’m sure you’ll want to look it over. We did seal up the hull breach in weapons control and a few other minor things. But I’m also interested in any ideas you have for turning one of the crew quarters into a brig.”
“A brig? What did Noah do?” Vlasa asked.
“Nothing short of showing some compassion.”
“For a despicable slaver,” Olivia added with a sour expression.
“We ran into some trouble with some slavers at M-21 station.” Ariana explained, “We ended up with a new guest.”
“Because Noah wouldn’t port the bitch off the ship.”
“It is equally likely that we engaged the FTL at the same time and the teleporter failed to engage,” Javi said diplomatically.
“A likely story,” Olivia said, but quietly.
“What’s a likely story?” Noah asked as he came into the room, “Squee took care of those bodies, Cap.”
“Good. It will feel better having them off the ship.” Ariana said, and then cast a pointed look at Olivia before saying to Vlasa, “We have an individual onboard that I don’t want having free access to the ship. Squee is standing guard over her now. But we can’t keep that up indefinitely.”
Vlasa nodded, “It should be a simple matter to disable the internal door controls from one room. Though anyone competent with electronics would be able to rewire it.”
“She is an Echanic,” Javi said.
Vlasa turned to the Slu, “That’s a surprisingly prejudiced statement coming from you.”
“I meant only that you could never be certain what cybernetic upgrades she might have.”
“Just one for her eyes,” Noah interjected. He gestured to Vlasa, “Unlike metal boy, she doesn’t go for all those artificial parts.”
Vlasa turned a curious eye to Noah, “She is a Messite?”
Noah shrugged, “That sounds familiar, I guess.”
“What’s a Messite?” Olivia asked.
“A sect among my people who believe it is a desecration to improve our bodies with cybernetics. They are a small group, and you rarely find them off the home world.”
“But she has an eye implant,” Olivia said.
“She’s blind.” Noah replied, “Needs that to see. But I can assure you that’s all she has.”
“Yes, I’m sure you are intimately familiar with her body.”
Noah gave a small shrug, “Been a few years. But I did do a strip search to make sure she didn’t have any weapons on her. Only two knives and a backup pistol. I’m a little disappointed in her.”
“Does she know her way around electronics, Noah?” Ariana said redirecting the conversation, “Could she repair anything Vlasa did to disable the lock?”
“Probably. She’s exceptionally good with locks and triggers. Best to just weld over the door controls if you want to lock her up. She isn’t much of a threat right now, though. No profit in attacking us when we’re in the middle of nowhere. I doubt she could calculate an FTL jump. Math isn’t her thing.”
“We won’t be here forever, so I’d rather not have to worry about her causing trouble the next time we run into that LFD fleet.” Ariana said, and then aside to Vlasa added, “Those are the people who want Javi. He apparently stole some plans of theirs to attack PUG headquarters with a new AI fleet.”
“I really have missed a lot,” Vlasa said.
A sudden beeping sound interrupted the conversation, and Ariana pulled out her handheld. She read the screen and said, “Well, you’re not going to miss this. We’ve just picked up an approaching ship.”