I woke in a nest of cushions. My mouth tasted like my cat had used it for a litter box. My head wasn’t in much better shape. I tried to move and groaned. Every muscle ached. All of my bruises had stiffened. I lay back and waited for the explosions in my head to stop.
The room was dim, a diffuse drifting of sunlight speckled bits of the floor. It was quiet. I didn’t want to panic, I didn’t want to think I’d been left behind. I panicked anyway. It got me off the cushion and on my knees.
They were bare. I looked down at myself. I was wearing a very short, very frilly miniskirt and a tight shirt that barely covered my navel. I had a studded metal belt wrapped twice around my middle. I remembered where I’d gotten the clothes and why I was wearing them and wished I was back asleep. Dancing purple sand cats were much better than Targon and Sidyama and people who wanted me dead. Or facing Tayvis. I had blurred memories of kissing a bunch of teenage males.
"You finally awake?" Tayvis asked, looming over me.
I didn’t look up at him, I could feel my face turning red just remembering the vague fuzzy bits that I could. I nodded.
"You want something to drink that's not an intoxicant?"
It sounded absolutely marvelous. But it required me to sit. It took me a minute for my body to remember how to do that. I shifted off my knees and managed to tuck my legs around so not too much bare skin hung out.
Tayvis sat next to me and handed me a cup and a painkiller. He didn’t look at me. He just sat and watched sunlight speckles dance on the floor.
It was water, warm and tasting of metal. I drank it slowly after swallowing the pill, waiting to see whether my head would explode before my stomach did or if Tayvis was going to say anything. I finished the cup and he still hadn’t said anything. The furry taste in my mouth was gone and my headache was getting less. The rest of me still hurt.
"Are you waiting for me to apologize?" I said.
"For what?"
"Last night."
"Looking at the collection of bruises you’ve got, I don’t think you need to apologize. I cornered Doggo and asked him what that stuff was. Straight quatzolatl. I’m surprised you could still walk after the second swallow. Doggo is in awe of you."
"No wonder my head keeps trying to explode." Only professional drinkers messed with quatzolatl, or those who had different physiology. Most humanoids left it alone for good reason. "What’s Doggo doing with that?"
"He told me it was what he drank every morning. I suspect he uses it to polish his chains. He didn’t expect you to actually drink any."
"I don’t think I would have made it far without drinking it."
"So tell me what really happened yesterday. I left you asleep in a doorway, out of the way and safe. Jerimon and I came back to find you gone."
"The Sidyama recognized me and chased me. They beat me up wanting to know where my ship is."
"Because of Ginni and Habim," he said. "Jerimon told me about them. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t believe any of it. Not as pure coincidence."
"Are you still jealous?" I shot him a sideways glance. He was looking away, watching the light.
"Of Doggo and Torch and Yobo and others I don’t know about? Of course not." He turned to look at me. "Should I be?"
It was my turn to look away. My face was burning. "Are you still upset with me?"
"Over last night? No."
"What about the night before that?" I rubbed one boot on the floor and picked at a ruffle. "Maybe Lady Rina was right, maybe everyone is right. Maybe we should just say goodbye. This is never going to work out between us." I didn’t want to say it, but I had to. I had to be honest with him and with myself. And maybe it wouldn’t hurt quite so bad. It still did.
"And maybe they’re all wrong. Maybe we both need to learn to trust each other." He reached over and took my hand in his. "We may not have much of a future to worry about. We’re stuck here. We don’t know where to go anyway."
"Maybe not," I said slowly. "The Sidyama ran off and just left me, as if I wasn’t needed anymore. They knew where to go. Some place that sounded like Zeequeetotal."
"Xqtl?" Jerimon said from behind us.
I jumped about a foot and a half. "You sneak!" I said, turning around and swinging ineffectively at Jerimon. "How long have you been listening in?"
He grinned wickedly. The grin mellowed when he saw the look on Tayvis’ face. "Long enough."
"You know of this place?" Tayvis said, skipping over all the things I wanted to know, like how much of our personal conversations Jerimon had been overhearing.
"Xqtl is where I picked up the Eggstone," he said.
"Great, now we’ve got the Sessimoniss in this, too." I rubbed at the parts of my head that still hurt.
"I don’t think so," Jerimon said. "The planet is covered in Sshoria ruins. I think the Sessimoniss who stole the Eggstone merely hid it there to keep it out of the way."
"That explains why it was missing for so long," I said. "Whoever put it there, either forgot or never made it back to tell someone else where it was."
"It’s not important, Dace, I really doubt the Sessimoniss are there," Jerimon said. "Xqtl had a lot of visitors, not just scientists. The group I was with just looked the other way. As long as no one interfered with their research, they didn’t care who else was there. I remember one conversation I overheard."
"It’s a bad habit that will get you in trouble," I said.
"Speaking from experience, Dace? Dr. Aruthers was complaining about the other groups. Dr. Smythe, the one leading the whole dig, told him they kept the other pirates away."
"Xqtl as the headquarters of Targon," Tayvis said. "It explains a lot. Not Targon, no, too far away from their operations. Blackthorne?"
"Who are they?" I asked.
"More enemies you’ve managed to make," Tayvis said. "Another crime syndicate. Blackthorne Conglomerate deals mainly in drugs and slaves. Xqtl makes sense as their head base. It’s positioned right, if I remember the map correctly."
"Hey, Scholar," Jerimon called over his shoulder.
Scholar rose from a pile of cushions that I would never have suspected held a person, even if he was almost smaller than me. "You want a star map?" He picked up a thin metal box and brought it to us. Wires trailed from one side.
He set it on the floor in front of me and settled himself on a cushion next to it. He plugged two of the wires into sockets hidden in the floor and twisted knobs on the box. Images blossomed in the air. He tapped his fingers through the floating images. They shifted rapidly and finally settled on a blank blue. A cursor blinked, waiting.
"How did you do that?" Jerimon asked impressed.
"Tapped into the datanet without anyone knowing? Trade secret. You want to see their most encrypted files?" His fingers flashed. Information bloomed and flowed in the air.
Tayvis leaned forward, scanning it as fast as he could. His jaw would have been hanging on the floor if he had let himself show anything. His dark eyes flicked over Scholar’s face. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you could get in doing this?"
"Considering I’m not hacking the Patrol or government, I’m hacking a criminal organization, the worst they’ll do is kill me. If they ever find me." He deliberately glanced at the Patrol emblem on Tayvis’s black uniform. "You going to arrest me, Commander?" It was a veiled challenge.
Tayvis leaned back and grinned. "You want a job?"
"With the Patrol? Not hardly," Scholar said.
"See, I’m not the only one with the smarts to say no," I said, unable to resist.
Scholar looked between the two of us. "I think there’s a lot to your story you haven’t told."
"What information can you get on Xqtl?" Tayvis asked, a shade too blandly.
"You’ll have to pay extra for it," Scholar said, looking deliberately at me.
I felt my face go red again.
Scholar laughed. "You don’t have to kiss me, although it would be an interesting experience. But, judging from the look on the Commander’s face, I don’t want to live that dangerously."
"It’s still worth the risk," Jerimon said. He ducked away from the fist I swung at him.
"I’m still thinking of ways to get even with you," Tayvis said.
"Only if I don’t get to him first," I muttered.
Tayvis patted my bare knee, then bent closer to the display. "Xqtl is about where I remembered." He scanned through the information almost as fast as Scholar could pull it up. "I’d bet that’s where we need to go."
"How are we going to get there?" I said. "We don’t have a ship. And I doubt there are enough here to get away with stealing one."
"There are seventeen registered ships in port," Scholar said. "No Patrol ships. Fifteen ships belong to either Targon or Blackthorne, I haven’t bothered to differentiate since they don’t seem to. The other two are tramp freighters."
"Anyone you know?" Jerimon asked me.
Scholar flicked another glance my way. He pulled up the names of the ships. I shook my head.
"Never met them. Are they Family?" I asked Jerimon.
"Beats me," he said. "Jasyn’s the one to ask about that kind of thing."
"Wait one minute," Scholar said. The floating information squeezed into a tiny bubble. "You," he pointed at Tayvis, "are Patrol. That’s understandable, although how you got here without getting caught is still hard to understand. You," he pointed at me. "Independent Traders Guild. They list you as captain of a small ship. Hard to believe, but I’ll accept it for now. You," he pointed at Jerimon. "You don’t fit in. What is this Family? Are you a member of another syndicate trying to break Targon and Blackthorne?" He frowned at Jerimon. "No, if that were true, you wouldn’t be with him." He pointed back at Tayvis. "Just how did the three of you come to work together?"
Tayvis and Jerimon both looked at me.
"I blame Lowell," I said.
"You blame him for everything," Jerimon said.
"With good cause."
"Don’t you dare start fighting again," Tayvis said. "Or I might have to do something to stop it."
"Like what, Tayvis? Breaking both his legs won’t shut his mouth," I said.
"He isn’t the one who needs to shut up," Tayvis said, warning me.
"No, he’s the one who got us into this mess in the first place."
Tayvis didn’t let me finish. He reached over and put his hand over my mouth. I glared at him. I tried to shove his hand away.
"I don’t want to hear it again, Dace," Tayvis said, pulling his hand back.
"Don’t you ever do that again," I said.
"Do you always fight like this?" Scholar said, watching the three of us with interest.
"It’s usually worse," Jerimon said.
"Shut up, Jerimon," I growled.
"You better feed her soon," Jerimon said.
"There’s snaps back by the door," Scholar said.
"Go get some, Jerimon," Tayvis ordered.
"Yes, sir," Jerimon said.
"I’m beginning to think breaking his legs is a good idea," Tayvis said.
"I heard that," Jerimon called over his shoulder as he crossed the room.
"Pull up the information," Tayvis told Scholar.
Scholar shook his head, a smile teasing around his mouth. "You tell me how the three of you came to work together and I’ll think about it. You explain which family you’re talking about, too." I caught the glint of suspicion in his eyes when he mentioned family. I guessed he suspected we really worked for one of the syndicate families. Although if he’d really believed that, none of us would have been brought into his lair.
"Family," I said, emphasizing the capital letter I heard anytime Jasyn referred to them. "Jerimon and his sister are Gypsies."
"He has a sister?" Scholar said. The speculation on his face was plain.
"She’s married to an ex-Patrol pilot. They also happen to be the rest of my crew. Along with Ginni and Habim." The speculation died.
"Who escaped from the Sidyatha and have the Sidyama chasing them," Scholar said. "You have the most interesting crew. How does he fit in?" He pointed at Tayvis.
Scholar hadn’t even raised an eyebrow over the Gypsy part. Either he knew a lot more about Gypsies than I did, or he knew even less and missed the significance of it.
"He’s Patrol," I said. "He works for Lowell."
"I think that’s enough, Dace," Tayvis said.
"Your food," Jerimon said and dropped a package of snaps in my lap. They were a cross between little sandwiches and pretzels. They were food. I ripped the package open.
"That’s the surest way to get her to shut up," Jerimon said to Tayvis. "Give her food."
"Do you want your ears torn off and fed to you?" I turned to glare at Jerimon. "I’m still mad at you for what you did."
"Dace, shut up," Tayvis said.
"Are you going to stick your hand in my face again?" I felt prickly and grumpy. I wanted out of here and off this planet. I wanted my ship back. I was sick with worry over the others, it was eating at me and making me touchy. Well, more than normal.
He didn’t stick his hand over my mouth. He pulled me into his lap and kissed me until I couldn’t have said anything if I wanted to. I forgot everything except what it felt like when he kissed me. I forgot all the doubts Jerimon had planted in my mind. I forgot where I was. I forgot, at least for that moment, that people were chasing me again and were seriously trying to kill me. I even forgot the snaps.
"That’s a good method to get her to shut up," Jerimon said.
"I don’t think you have anything to worry about from Doggo or Yobo," Scholar said when Tayvis finally let go of me.
Tayvis shifted me to one side, sliding me off his lap onto the cushion. Scholar grinned at the dazed look on my face. I blushed.
"Where were we?" Tayvis said, leaning forward.
Data bloomed in the air.
"Xqtl," Scholar said.
"And no ship," Jerimon put in.
"I think I can fix that," Scholar said. "I got a friend who owns a ship. It’s wrecked, which is why it doesn’t show up on the registry. He’s got the parts. He and his brother keep saying they’re going to fix it and fly away, but they haven’t yet."
"What are you not telling us?" Tayvis asked.
"Deke has a nerve disease," Scholar said. "He can’t walk anymore, can’t hold tools either. His brother came back here a couple months back. Computer specialist of some sort. Rumor has it that he’s got a bad case of spacer shakes. Can’t face flying again. But there’s a ship, if you can fix it and fly it."
"What about it, Dace?" Tayvis asked.
"Depends on how much needs fixed." I tried to keep my mind on our current problem. It wanted to think about kissing Tayvis back, somewhere without an audience. "You find us a ship and we’ll fix it and fly it."
"Then I’ll take you tonight. Just Spacer Chick," he added. "She’s the only one dressed for it."
He laughed as I tried to pull the ruffles on my skirt lower.
Tayvis only agreed to the plan after Scholar explained the second half. As the afternoon waned, the others began to drift into the shelter. By the time we had eaten, real food this time, and had our plans set, the room was full.
Scholar and Doggo would take me to Deke’s place. The streets were swarming with Targon and Blackthorne muscle squads. Looking for the three of us, I was sure. Tayvis and Jerimon were hard to miss. Scholar assured me he had ways to get me past the goon squads without them even noticing. I suspected what he was planning by the looks he and Doggo gave me. As long as it didn’t involve Doggo’s bottle of quatzolatl, I decided I could live with it. The second half of his plan was for Torch and some others to take Tayvis and Jerimon on the high road, over the rooftops and through back ways. If things were safe at Deke’s, Doggo would signal them and bring in the others.
Scholar waved over Tifa and another girl he introduced as Gloss. "They’ll make you look so much like one of us your own mother wouldn’t recognize you," he said.
That hurt, unexpectedly. My mother died when I was three. I hid it, I was used to hiding that pain.
Tifa and Gloss dragged me into a back room.
"Here," Tifa said and handed me a black knit shirt. "Put it under that one."
I unfastened the other one and pulled the black one on. It was sleeveless and very tight. I pulled the pale pink one back over the top. Tifa insisted I only fasten it partway. She handed me a pair of the tight knee length pants she and Gloss wore. I pulled them on under the short skirt. They added a shiny vest and lots of metal jewelry. Then they started on my face.
They slimed sparkly creams over my eyelids. Gloss drew neon spirals down one side of my face. Tifa rubbed something in my hair that made it stiff. It also turned it purple.
I looked like one of them, face painted and eyes outlined in heavy black. Glitter sparkled on my face and in my hair. I didn’t recognize myself.
They dragged me back into the main room.
"All done, Scholar," Tifa announced.
Tayvis rolled his eyes and shook his head. Jerimon grinned.
Doggo came up behind me and patted my spiky hair. "You sure you don’t want to stay?" he asked, leering.
"Positive," I answered.
"Let’s go," Scholar said. "The goons have cleared out, for now."
The room erupted in motion. Kids scrambled everywhere. Scholar and Doggo took my arms and led me out through another twisty crawl space. We came out in another alley. Doggo sauntered to the end of it. He put his hands in his pockets and strolled away.
"It’s clear." Scholar draped his arm over my shoulder and led me out of the alley. "Relax," he breathed in my ear. "We’re just out for a walk."
I was petrified that at any moment one of the people walking by was going to recognize me and start shouting. None of them gave me more than a quick glance. Scholar nodded at a couple of the younger looking ones. No one recognized me. Scholar kept one possessive arm around me as we walked.
"Who are you really?" I asked him when we came to a more deserted stretch of street. "You aren’t really a street gang."
"You have a lot of experience with street gangs?" Scholar kept the same bland amused look on his face.
"I grew up on Tivor, in an orphanage. You’re just playing at being a gang."
Scholar stopped and gave me an appraising look. "Most of them have homes, true," he said and started walking again. "They go to school, most don’t fit in. They come to me because they feel safe there. They can express themselves."
"And dress weird." I tugged my ruffles a little lower over my butt.
"Any weirder than a shipsuit? You wear what makes you fit in."
"You aren’t like them."
"No." He shook his head. "My family moved out to a farm when I was small. They were tired of the problems of living in a big city." He gave me a wry grin. Ophir’s main port was not even close to a large city. "Targon killed them several years later for settling in the wrong valley. I came back and tried to find ways to cause Targon grief."
"What will you do when Targon’s gone?"
"You’re certainly confident in yourself. You really think you have a chance of destroying them? All by yourself?"
I shrugged. I suspected Lowell was bringing an entire battle group in, if he knew where to send them. Jerimon had as much as admitted that Lowell had sent him to frame me so he could destroy Targon. It was going to happen or I was going to die doing it.
"I got my gang," Scholar said. "I can hack any data network ever written. The main reason my parents moved here. They didn’t think there would be one to hack. I got my life here. What about you?"
"I’ve got a life, too," I said. "If I could stay out of trouble long enough."
He laughed.
"You two through flirting?" Doggo asked as he drifted back to us. "Five goons ahead. They’re looking closer."
Scholar shifted his arm to my waist and pulled me next to him. "Just play it easy and follow along."
We turned a corner into a well lit street. We were getting close to the spaceport facilities. Five men in dark outfits questioned everyone, stopping the few people out walking in the dark night. Scholar flicked a finger signal at Doggo.
Doggo grinned and walked up to one of the goons.
"Aren’t you going to ask my business?" Doggo demanded when the goon ignored him. "You think I don’t got business here?"
The goons closed ranks around Doggo.
"Go home," one of them growled.
"Make me." Doggo slapped one goon in the face then took off running.
Scholar pushed me into a faster walk. We slipped into a dark alleyway. They were too focused on chasing Doggo to notice us.
"Doggo’ll meet us later," Scholar said.
We worked our way around the small landing field through a network of alleys and empty streets. Scholar kept his arm around me. We must have looked like two street punks searching for a quiet, secluded spot. The few people we saw gave no sign we were more than that.
We came to the section of the space port that always exists. No matter how well planned the city or port is there has to be somewhere for the junked ships to collect along with all the other detritus of broken parts and equipment.
Once we passed into the junk yards, the lights were few and far between. Those that still burned were dim and orange. Scholar slid his hand down my arm to catch my hand in his. We threaded our way through a pile of junk. A single window burned yellow ahead. Scholar led me up to it then knocked.
A camera over the door buzzed and hummed. A light next to the door blinked green. Scholar pushed the door open.
Inside it was surprisingly clean and cozy. Someone had taken several ship cabins apart and linked them together into an apartment.
"Scholar," a man sitting at the table greeted us. "What are you doing out here? In trouble again? Something’s got them stirred up tonight."
"Hey, Deke. Not me or my gang this time." Scholar pulled me forward. "Spacer Chick here did it."
"New girlfriend?" Deke asked, eyeing me up and down.
"Not quite," Scholar replied. "She wants your ship."
"You can’t have it," Deke said. "What you want it for?"
His brother, the one Scholar had mentioned before, came into the room. "You didn’t tell me we had company."
I stared at him in disbelief. I knew him. "Wade?" The last place I’d seen him was on Parrus.
"Dace?" He stared at me in shock.
"Spacer Chick, you know him?" Scholar asked me.
"Spacer Chick?" Wade echoed. He shook his head. "I’d ask, but I don’t think I want to know."
"Have you been holding out on me, Wade?" Deke asked, looking between us.
"I told you about her, Deke," Wade said.
"Her? Kumadai Run?" Deke sounded like he didn’t believe any of it. I was almost flattered. I was still famous. I didn’t want to be.
"She’s the one they’re searching for," Scholar said. "Her and her friends."
"What happened to your ship, Dace?" Wade asked.
"If you already have a ship, why do you want mine?" Deke asked.
"I don’t know where it is," I said.
"You lost a space ship." Wade laughed.
"No, someone took it from me, along with the crew. I want to go get it back. Which is why I need your ship."
"Ours won’t fly," Deke said. "Hasn’t flown for ten years. I can’t do it by myself, but now that Wade is here, we’ll get it flying again."
"I’ll help, if you give us a lift out of here," I said.
"How many?" Deke asked.
"Three," I said.
"Four." Scholar smiled lazily at me. "You need a navigator."
"You’re a navigator?" I asked.
He shook his head. "But I know one who would do it for you."
"You get me off this world," Deke said, "and you can fly my ship anywhere you want."
"Where are you going?" Wade asked.
"Xqtl," I said, mangling the pronunciation.
"Why?" he asked. "There isn’t much there unless you’re an antiquarian."
"Because that’s where they took my ship."
Scholar moved over to the door and flashed the outside light. We heard footsteps over the roof and then a quick knock at the door. Scholar opened it immediately. Doggo swaggered in. Tayvis and Jerimon came in after him. Scholar spoke quietly to someone outside then shut the door.
"No sweat," Doggo said. "No one saw or heard us."
"I assume you’re Deke," Tayvis said extending his hand out to Deke. "Malcolm Tayvis."
Deke lifted one hand and waved it apologetically. It was twisted into a claw. "I’d shake but my fingers don’t work any more."
"This is Jerimon Pai," Tayvis continued, moving his hand back smoothly to wave it at Jerimon. "I hear you have a ship."
"We were just talking about that," Deke said. "My brother Wade and me are planning on flying out of here someday."
Tayvis glanced over at Wade and nodded. "I saw your picture in the vids a while back." He glanced over at me, an unreadable look. The picture in the papers had shown Wade kissing me on the cheek. Considering what we’d been through together, it was perfectly innocent.
"Tell me what trouble you’re in," Deke said to Tayvis.
Tayvis started with the short version. Deke kept asking questions.
Wade tugged at my sleeve once they were involved. "Can I talk to you?"
I let him pull me into his kitchen. It was small and neat, what I expected after seeing the main room. He leaned against a counter. He looked tired. "Nice outfit."
"Thanks," I said drily. "What did you want, Wade?"
"Do you know what you’re doing to my brother? He thinks he’s well enough to fix that ship. He’s dying."
"Isn’t there help somewhere for him?"
"Maybe, if we could get to Tebros. If we had any money."
"What about all the back pay and bonuses the Patrol offered you?" I knew the deal the Patrol had given those trapped on Vallius. Wade had been Patrol.
"Gone," he said. "I had to take a medical discharge. I can’t fly. Every time I do, all I can think about is being trapped on that planet. Six years of my life are gone."
"So you’re going to let yourself get trapped here? On Ophir? Your brother needs help, Wade. Let us help."
"By dragging us into your problems?"
"Do you know who owns this planet? It isn’t the Empire."
"We stay out of their way and they stay out of ours."
"Until you have something they want."
"I heard Scholar’s stories. They aren’t true. I don’t know who he is, but he isn’t what you seem to think."
"Do you really want to live like this? Do you really want to watch your brother die?"
"Even if we let you have our ship, it won’t do us any good."
"I can get you money, if you need it."
"From the Patrol? I don’t want it."
"I don’t work for the Patrol. Tayvis does."
"And what about the other one? Jerimon?"
"I don’t know what to think about him. He’s Jasyn’s brother."
"You make it sound easy."
"Like breaking into an alien ship and disabling the computer systems and then taking out the force generators while being hunted and chased by idiots. Simplicity itself. This time I’m only fighting a couple of crime syndicates."
"Is that all?" He smiled, but it had rough edges.
"I need your help. You know computer systems. You can help me figure out a way to get my ship back from them. They still have Jasyn and Clark."
"I can’t, even if I wanted to."
"You think I don’t have nightmares?"
"So I’m not as tough as you are."
"Wade, I need your help. I want your help."
He leaned back and closed his eyes. "I can’t."
"Try."
"Dace?" Jerimon sauntered into the kitchen. "I hate to interrupt, but we’re going to go look at the ship. We need you there."
"I’ll try," Wade said. "I don’t promise anything."
"Good enough, Wade," I said.
We went back into the main room. Deke talked animatedly to Scholar and Tayvis. They had papers on the table.
"Easy," Deke said. "I got all the parts. They just need put in and she’ll fly."
Wade looked at his brother then over at me.
"Let’s go look," I said.
We trooped across the lot. The ship was in a shed at the back, a tall grain silo that had been converted over to house the ship. It was an old design, landing on its tail instead of using a maglev field to lower it to the ground. There were two access hatches, the lower one led to the engines, the upper one led directly into the control room. Between them was a single deck with three small cabins and a tiny galley. A ladder connected the three decks on the inside.
I climbed up the side of the ship to the lower hatch and popped it open. The lights flickered on. I went in.
The engine was a mess. Parts were strewn everywhere. I poked at it, looking for a place to start. I wanted Habim there. He could have put it together in an hour and have it working better than new. But I was the closest thing they had to an engineer, except for Deke.
They rigged a pulley and brought him up to the hatch. Wade climbed up and swung him in, settling him in a chair to one side. Now that I could see him, I understood Scholar’s warning. Deke’s legs were withered and twisted, beyond useless. His arms and hands were suffering the same fate. But his eyes were bright and he was grinning hugely.
"The engine core looks good," I said. "Everything else is disconnected."
"But the parts are there," Deke said. "You have to start with the pressure valves and hoses."
"Not by myself," I said, "or we’re going to be here a month."
We got Tayvis and Jerimon and Wade busy connecting tubes and moving parts. I conned Doggo into sitting in a corner and testing valves. We moved Deke’s chair over to the hyperdrive unit. He supervised Jerimon and Scholar while I worked on the sublight system with Tayvis and Wade.
We worked all night. I was tired, my headache was still raging, all of my bruises were still complaining. I ignored them. I had a chance of getting my ship and friends back. Nothing and no one was going to stop me.
I wormed in under the engine and worked a wrench around the bolt I wanted. I was wearing only the tight sleeveless shirt and the pants by then. The rest kept getting in the way. I got the wrench settled on the bolt and twisted. The wrench slipped. I bashed my knuckles on a connector. I swore, loud and long.
"She really is an engineer," Wade said, peering through a nest of hoses at me.
"You ought to wash your mouth out," Tayvis added, grinning next to Wade.
"You want to scrub filters?" I threatened.
"You want some help?" Tayvis offered.
"You couldn’t fit down here if you wanted to," I said. I got the wrench settled and tugged it. It slipped again. I caught my knuckles. They were bleeding this time.
"Take a break, Dace," Tayvis said. He nudged my leg with his foot.
I sighed and realized how tired I was. I squirmed out from under the engine. I sat on the floor near Deke. Jerimon tested connections around the hyperdrive. Deke watched him like a sand cat with a rodent. Scholar was gone. Deke had Doggo rebuilding the stabilizer assemblages. I was surprised at the amount of work we’d accomplished. Another six hours and we just might have a ship to fly. I got up. Tayvis pushed me back down.
"We still need to look at the cockpit," I said as I sat back down.
"Wade’s taking care of that," Tayvis said. "You want something to drink?"
Doggo looked up and grinned.
"Not if it comes from Doggo," I said. I leaned back and closed my eyes, just for a moment. That moment lasted six hours.