Chiraine would remain on board and continue to work on the Kryrk, while Ana-Zhi, the Sean bot, and I fetched my dad’s unconscious body and a bunch of other things that the Sean bot wanted to take with us.
Then the plan was to leave Bandala and fly the Vostok over to the location of the Fountain—just in case Qualt (who was still unconscious and locked in the brig down the hall) was messing with us. As Sean was fond of saying, “trust but verify.” According to my calculations, the Fountain should be almost open—if it was still there.
Ana-Zhi, the Sean bot, and I headed towards the lower airlock, with Chiraine in tow. As we wound our way through the upper levels of the Vostok she asked about the security bots. “Who’s going to shut down the grid as you go?”
“I will,” the Sean bot said. “And I don’t need some remote slicer box to do it, either.”
“You sure?” I asked.
“Perfectly. Besides, there are hardly any active defenses on these upper levels.”
As we turned to leave, Chiraine touched my shoulder. “Be careful in there.”
“I will.”
“And keep an eye out for something we can use to make a resonator.”
“What?”
“For my biklode.”
In all the excitement I had forgotten that Chiraine had kept her little data storage unit.
“You think that there’s something on that thing that will help us figure out the Kryrk?” I asked.
“I’m sure of it. But we’re back to the needle in the haystack problem. I’ve got so much xenological data on there, it will be practically impossible to—”
“You have a biklode?” the Sean bot asked.
“Yes, I keep all my research on there. Over ten years’ worth.”
“What, did you start when you were five?” Ana-Zhi cracked.
“Let’s get going,” I said.
We exited the Mayir ship and the Sean bot opened up the access doors that led into an immense cargo depot that looked like a twin of the one we traveled through when we first entered Bandala.
The Sean bot knew how to turn on the illumination system in this area and soon we were marveling at the maze of cargo crates, heavy loaders, gantry cranes, conveyer bots, and other freight handling equipment that filled the cavernous space.
“JJ, help me get a hover-cart operational,” the Sean bot said. “Z, keep watch.”
“I thought this area was safe,” she said.
“Generally,” he grunted. “But you know what a careful guy I am.”
We had to swap out the battery on the hover-cart we found with another one that was up on plinths in a repair bay, but eventually the Sean bot got the cart working and we were off.
The shuttle landing deck was on the other side of Bandala and two levels down, so we had a ways to go. Even though the hover-cart’s lighting array did a passable job of cutting through the gloom of the dimly-lit access corridors, it was an eerie journey. I gripped my impulse rifle tightly, half expecting a squad of arthrodes to come clacking around a corner.
But every five hundred meters or so, the Sean bot accessed a wall-mounted control panel and worked his magic to shut down the next section of the security grid.
We kept going, but at various points during our journey, the Sean bot would tell us to wait while he took off down a side corridor to find a gallery that held one of the artifacts on his mental list of things he definitely didn’t want the Mayir to have.
“Not that I am being pessimistic,” he said. “But if your girlfriend doesn’t come through, we—”
“My girlfriend?” I sputtered in surprise. “Where did you get that?”
“Come off it, JJ. I see how the two of you look at each other.”
Ana-Zhi smirked at me. “He’s not wrong.”
“You guys are way off,” I said, even though I knew they weren’t. “Besides, have you forgotten about Lirala?”
“For Dynark’s sake, are you still hanging around with that slattern?” the Sean bot asked.
“Who’s Lirala?” Ana-Zhi asked.
“The daughter of Phelina Windsing,” the Sean bot said.
“Windsing Stables?”
“Yes,” the Sean bot said. “An entitled bitch. Zero class. Zero morals.”
“Hey, that’s no way to talk about your future daughter-in-law,” I said. “Besides, since when did you care who I married?”
“First of all, Jannigan, I actually never thought you were the marrying type.”
“Why’s that? Because of the example you set with Mom?”
I probably shouldn’t have brought that up, but the Sean bot was pissing me off. Big time.
But he ignored my jab.
“No,” he said. “You just never seemed very interested in the concept of commitment.”
Ana-Zhi sensed where this conversation was going and tried to distract me. “So, Windsing Stables, huh? I bet you and your fiancée have been to the Almingham Derby a lot. I’ve always wanted to go.”
But I wasn’t having any of it. I felt my jaw tighten as I turned to the Sean bot. “You want to know about commitment, Sean? When everyone thought you were dead, Uncle Wallace begged me to join the company. And I did.”
“That was a smart move,” the Sean bot said. “I’m glad he was able to talk some sense into you.”
“You don’t get it, do you? I had to be you. For seven years!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your brother made me impersonate you so the company wouldn’t go under.”
“That doesn’t make any—”
“It’s the truth,” Ana-Zhi said. “He’d take meetings with Beck Salvage clients all the time. He was the face of the company. Your face. But this was the first actual mission he’s been on.”
The Sean bot hesitated and took a step back. “Why?”
“Because the Shima demanded it,” I said.
“No, why did you agree? To impersonate me?”
“I told you. The company was going to go under without Sean Beck. Uncle Wallace told me that I didn’t have
