not in a maintenance hangar, she probably should have asked him in the first place.
When Stven arrived, he couldn’t fit into the room and had to remain in the corridor. “George tells me you might blow us up?”
“Probably not, Captain. There’s a very small but measurable chance this thing is booby trapped. I need to learn what the computer holds, and I’m going about it in a systematic way. I’ll first give it a visual inspection, then I’ll turn it on and wait to see what happens. This is the safest place to do that.”
“Hmm. We’ll be under attack again in a couple of days. I can’t afford internal damage at the moment.”
“I understand, sir. I think the probability is low, very low, since I’ve personally seen this computer in operation, and if there’s an explosion, this is the least needed area of the ship.”
“And you’ll be here with it when it happens.”
“Do you have a better suggestion?”
“No. I concur with your decision. We’ll send out an all-ship announcement when we expect to feel the scree, but we can’t always time it precisely. Be careful what you do with that thing in the next few days. We don’t want you erasing it by mistake. On another matter, how much do you know about restoration tanks?”
“I’ve installed a number of them, and we sometimes make repairs. What do you want to know?”
“Lady Krys is extremely susceptible to the scree. It actually causes her physical damage. We’ve put her in the tank with Flan.”
“Why?”
“We’re trying to surround her with a fluid medium, hoping it might reduce the strength of the scree effect. She doesn’t need the healing qualities, she carries a Rider, but she needs all the protection we can give her.”
“Hmm. First off, it’s a bad idea, Captain. Among all the other things floating around in that tank are stem cells, lots of them. When Flan went into the tank, it adjusted its mixture to suit the Great Cat. Now, I would imagine you’ve confused it. I hope Lady Krys doesn’t sprout a tail.”
A puff escaped from each of Stven’s nostrils, and both of them were forced to leave the room and move down the corridor. “Sorry, Commander.”
“Not to worry, sir. Please call me Akurea.”
“Thank you. I’m Stven.”
“As for Lady Krys, let me give it some thought. The scree is just as likely to pass through everything, but if it’s not, I think the ship itself might provide more protection for her than a small amount of fluid in a tank. If we place her dead center in the ship, right next to the power bottle, she’ll have all these decks, some of which are hydroponics bays and full of soil and liquids, to filter out the scree. I might be able to build a container of lead or something that would further shield her. Get her down to engineering, Captain, and I’ll see what I can do. Whatever you do, get either her or Flan out of that tank.”
“George, get on it.” he said into the air.
“I’ll alert Sergeant Jacobs, Captain.”
Akurea gave him a hard look. “An interesting AI, Captain.”
“It is. Explanations will have to come later.” He turned away, headed back to the bridge.
Akurea issued instructions to George to lock the room and not let anyone else in, then she headed back to the Engineering spaces. She found Gortlan hard at work on a shield power supply. When a shield failed, another was brought into play, but his job was just getting started. He had to rebuild the damaged power supply and reinstall it as the new backup. His work, considering what this ship had historically been through, was critical.
“We’re taking Lady Krys from the tank and bringing her down here,” she advised him. “Do you have a supply of really dense material, maybe lead, that we can encase her in?”
“I’ll have to check the inventory, Ma’am.”
Akurea went to a workstation to search the inventory herself. “It’s an interesting ship you have here, Senior Chief, and an interesting crew.”
He grinned. “We’re all of that, and then some. I’m not at liberty to explain, but the Captain might be.”
She perused the inventory and found some lead sheeting. “You have a little lead, but it’s pretty thin, and there’s not much of it.”
Gortlan’s hands kept working as he replied, “I wonder if it’s such a good idea anyway. We have no idea how the scree works. What if some of it gets inside with her, then can’t get back out again? It might just keep ricocheting around in there and make matters worse.”
“Have you felt it here in engineering?”
His hands stopped for a moment, then resumed their work. “All too much, Ma’am.”
“Can you tell if it’s stronger or weaker in here? This is the most shielded area of the ship.”
His hands paused in their work. “I don’t know!” Then he frowned. “You felt it for a little while. You know what it’s like. It’s so bad that it’s impossible to evaluate while you’re under its influence. I guess I’d have to say it seems to depend more on how far away the Chessori are.”
“So no amount of shielding will likely help?”
He grimaced and went back to work. “I don’t think so.”
In the end, Sergeant Jacobs set up a small infirmary in Gortlan’s shop, and Krys was belted onto a bed.
Akurea went back to the storage room in hydroponics carrying a portable analyzer. She plugged it in and called George. “Should we try this again?”
“I’ll give you twenty minutes, then I’ll need to refresh your oxygen.”
“Okay, but not before checking with me.”
“I’ll keep a constant watch on the analyzer and let you know if I see anything out of the ordinary.”
“I could get used to having you around, George. I like you.”
“Mike taught me how to like.”
She went to work on the computer, beginning with removing a side panel. “Who is he?”
“I have to defer that question to Captain Stven, Ma’am. I can tell you that he’s First Knight. Without his timely assistance, we would not have a Queen.”
“What happened?”
“Chessori are what happened. This is her ship, you know.”
She looked up from her work. “The Queen’s ship? No, I didn’t know.”
“You selected a room in crew quarters when you came aboard, but we have quite a few vacancies on the executive level if you’d like to move up.”
“I just want somewhere to work on this computer. I’ll need another computer, one of ours, to which I’ll transfer schematics.”
“Then you’ll want quarters with an office. I have several available. I suggest you move to compartment 1F. The rest of the crew is quartered on that level, and that’s where most meals are taken.”
“I’ll check with the Captain.”
“Not necessary, Akurea. He’s too busy for housekeeping chores. Just do it.”
“Okay. Not that I have anything to move. I didn’t bring a thing with me. Do you have the capacity to provide fresh clothing?”
“I do. What would you like?”
“Anything that’s clean,” she replied instantly, then reconsidered. “I’m not part of the crew, so I’ll stick to my current uniform.”
Akurea banged her hand on the table in frustration. She’d spent hours trying to get the computer to boot up. The computer itself appeared to be running normally, but she needed a password, and she had not stumbled onto one that worked.
Tom O’Brien just happened to be passing the open door of her quarters when he heard the slap and the ensuing expletive. He poked his head through the door. “Anything I can help with, Commander?”
“Who are you?”
“Tom O’Brien, one of the pilots.”
“Are you good with finding passwords?”
“No, I’m not your guy. Permission to enter?” She waved him in, frustration still pouring from her in waves. “So
