The slip drive purred. Tink frowned. It was supposed to be silent. Unless they were slipping, then it hummed, almost sounding like a melody. But now it was not harmonious. It whirred, then clunked.
"Poseidon's barnacles!" Tink strained to reach her arms further, without losing her grip on either the split pin or her pliers. Her hand cramped and spasmed. A ping sounded as the pin fell somewhere below the grey water distiller.
"Jacks!" She sighed, blowing a strand of hair from her face, and dropped her arm to the grating. She was small but not small enough. To retrieve the pin and insert it, she'd have to shift the feed pump out of its home. Which meant getting help from Alek or Severn. And Severn was helping Kandi double-check the exterior of the ship.
"Fine, I'll give the difference accelerator some love instead." Tink pulled her contorted limbs out and rolled her shoulders, though the small space where she sat constrained her movements. Glaring at the slip drive, she cracked her neck. "I'll see you again later." She tapped it with her pliers, then froze when it whirred once more, higher pitched this time. Holding her breath, she stroked it with her fingertips, and it quieted down. She exhaled.
Staying in her little cubby hole, she picked up the accelerator. At first, she thought some circuits had been shorted during the last attack, but she'd checked them all. They were fine, same as she'd left them the last time she'd done a strip down and rebuild. But still no juice came out the end. She pulled out her rag and wiped her forehead. After folding her knees into a pretzel that she could rest the accelerator on, she set to work.
A half-hour later and with no progress made, the accelerator sat on the floor again. She loomed over it with the wrench in her hand held over her shoulder, preparing for a downward blow.
"You shouldn't do that."
Tink's head jerked back...right into a metal conduit. "Bleeding Hades." Rubbing the back of her head, she turned to see the boy watching her. He was still in his silver pyjamas, the ship having a dearth of child-sized clothes. Tink was the smallest of the crew, and he'd still swim in her gear. He had a candy bar in one hand that he munched on as he stared placidly at her. The image was completely at odds with the wound-up, babbling kid from earlier. His head still had no hair, and his face was ashen, though not quite as blue as when he'd first woken up.
"No, you're probably right." She put the wrench down, frowning at the accelerator. A chirrup to her right drew her attention. "Grim. Have you been back there the whole time?" The cat swished his tail as he sauntered past her, an iridescent wing sticking out the side of his mouth. She saw no sign of the rest of the cat's dinner — a bakweevil, endemic on most cargo ships, especially those like the Lyra that hauled the occasional batch of contraband food stuffs. Tink shivered. Even though she'd grown up around them, she didn't like them dropping in to surprise her when she was working in a tight spot. "Good cat."
Picking up the accelerator, she followed the cat and crawled out of the nook into the engine room. The boy backed up to give her space, the cat twining through his legs.
"So, you're talking now?" She glanced at him as she placed the accelerator on her workbench. The boy followed, coming to stand beside her, though he didn't answer her question. Reaching for the Robertson, she found him examining the accelerator before his gaze travelled over the other bits and bobs of projects on her bench, all while munching on the candy bar. "So that's a no. But it's good to see you're not hungry anymore." She thought back to the meal Alek had made him after he'd woken up in the medbay. Enough to feed the whole crew, and he'd devoured it in minutes. She arched an eyebrow as he looked at her, an innocent expression on his face.
Grim jumped up on the bench, somehow managing to avoid landing on any components. He walked up to the boy and rubbed his face against a hand. The boy laughed. Tink reached over and pet Grim's head, scritching behind his ears. The cat pressed his head into her palm. She drew her hand away and watched the boy mimic her movements, his eyes wide and mouth open.
A scurry sounded over Tink's shoulder, and she sighed as the cat jumped down from the bench and raced off. "The least you could do is kill it." She might not like killing the bugs herself, but she'd be happy if Grim did it for her.
The boy's gaze, having followed the cat, passed over her before returning to the parts scattered on the bench.
"Do you have a name?" Tink picked up a sprocket, and held it up beside the accelerator, then put them both down. Looking sidelong, she saw the boy peering at her. "I'm Tink," she said, a hand to her chest. She reached the hand towards him, palm up. "And your name is...?"
The boy's eyes narrowed as his head tipped to the side and his mouth dropped open. But no sound came out. Tink sighed and reached for another sprocket.
"Ben."
Her gaze returned to the boy, to see him with his hand on his chest.
"Ben," he repeated.
"So, you do talk. Just a man of few words. I like that." She smiled at him, and then went over to the tool chest on the far wall to grab a cog wrench. Turning back, her heart lurched. The boy — Ben — had the accelerator in one hand and was rummaging through the assortment of parts on her workbench with the other. Lunging at him, she grabbed his wrist. He looked at her, his eyes going wide like they had when he'd awoken in the cargo bay.
"Sorry," she said, keeping her voice soothing, or so she hoped, as she let go of his wrist. "It just, well, there's a lot of delicate components on this workbench. And I know where everything is." Tink forced her shoulders to relax, pulling them away from her ears. It appeared that the boy wasn't going to start screaming or babbling again. Instead, he tentatively reached his hands out. One still clutched the accelerator, the other a widget he'd picked up.
"This," he said, bringing his hands together.
Tink's eyebrows pulled together, and she leaned closer to see what he held. A Piezy sensor. "Huh." Reaching out slowly, she took it from his open palm and turned it over in her hand. "Well, I'll be damned." She looked from it to him. "This," she said with a nod, her smile broad, as she took the accelerator from him as well. She put them both on the workbench then sat on her stool. Glancing at him, she nodded towards the chair in the corner. "Pull up a seat."
The boy did as he was told, picking the chair up with a strength she didn't expect him to have in his skinny arms. As she worked, Ben watched over her shoulder, silent except for the occasional grumbling of his tummy. At one point it became so loud, she showed him her secret stash of gummy blue whales and purple octopuses, and they both contentedly munched away.
Finally, Tink hooked up the tester to the accelerator. Lights lit up, and a flutter pulsed through her veins. "Juice in, juice out," she said, reaching over to pat him on the shoulder, before pulling back, unsure of what might set him off. Instead, she gave him a big grin. His eyes were lit up like the tester, and he lifted the widget he held in his small hands.
Tink sat up straight, pondering the widget and the boy's hand for a few long seconds, as she mulled over the thought forming in her head. She glanced back at the nook beside the slip drive then her gaze shifted from his small hands to his small frame to his smiling face. "How would you like to help me with something?"