“Jannigan…”
“I did it for seven years. I gave up my own life, my own identity for seven years. And you know what? It was all bullshit!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Uncle Wallace told me about Dessidia. The investments. All the money you lost.”
He shook his said. “You have to remember, I’ve been out of it for seven years…”
“Your investment tanked. Wallace lost everything. Worse than that, Dessidia was going to take Beck Salvage down. That’s why this job was so important. The Shima would pay enough so that Wallace could get out of Dessidia. I couldn’t say no.”
“Oh, Jannigan. I don’t know what to say.”
“Yeah, whatever. You’re welcome.”
We continued towards the shuttle in silence. Even Ana-Zhi was quiet. I don’t know what I was feeling. Relief maybe. Something.
The next time the Sean bot disappeared to fetch an artifact, Ana-Zhi asked if I was okay.
“I’m fine. It’s no big deal.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “What you did—what you’ve been doing—it took a lot of guts. And coming here now? Finding him. Rescuing him…” She trailed off.
“I didn’t find him. Chiraine did.”
“You saved him, Jannigan.”
“Whatever. It doesn’t really matter if the Mayir get here and kill us all, does it?”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
“Really? What makes you so sure?”
“The Beck Boys are on the job.” She laughed.
And I smiled too. Despite the gnawing feeling in my gut that things were about to get a lot worse.
One stroke of good luck was the fact that the shuttle was exactly where we had hoped it would be—and so was my dad’s unconscious body. We checked the power supply on his exosuit and loaded him on the sled from the Freya, which was still where we left it—in the shuttle bay—and still loaded with our gear.
“Is it weird seeing your body from the outside?” I asked the Sean bot.
“Of course it’s weird. Why would you even ask that? It’s very weird.”
Ana-Zhi laughed, and then so did I. It felt like some of the tension had been broken.
I drove the sled, while Ana-Zhi drove the hover-cart, which was laden with artifacts. The Sean bot navigated back to where the Vostok was parked. It took even longer to return than it did to get to the shuttle because the Sean bot took frequent detours to gather more treasures from the various galleries.
“What about Chiraine’s biklode resonator?” I asked.
“I haven’t forgotten about it,” the Sean bot said. “It should be fairly simple to hack one together using the parts in the repair bay near the ship.”
Once we got back, that was exactly what he did. By the time Ana-Zhi, Chiraine, and I had finished unloading the hover-cart and the sled, the Sean bot had built something that looked remarkably similar to the resonator Chiraine used on board the Freya.
“Try it out,” I said.
“But not using the ship’s computer,” Ana-Zhi warned.
“Z’s right,” the Sean bot said. “We don’t have time to make sure it’s secure. I’m sure there’s some sort of comprehensive data collection and logging module running.”
“What do you guys take me for? I was planning on working off the LVX. Really!”
“Well, keep it isolated,” Ana-Zhi said.
We helped her set up the LVX in the hold of the Vostok. The Sean bot had to tweak some of the data cables, but we got the resonator working.
Chiraine peered at her display. “Yeah, it looks intact. Thank you, Mr. Beck.”
“Don’t you mean Mr. Bot?” I quipped.
“Ha ha, JJ. Very funny. I’m going out for one more salvage run and then we’ll take off. You and Z need to do a proper preflight check—and especially check the inertial dampeners. Even if the calibration is off by a little bit it could be trouble. And then walk the ship from bow to stern. I want you both extremely familiar with it.”
“Aye aye, Captain,” Ana-Zhi said. She had found a leptic stick somewhere and was contentedly sucking on it.
The Sean bot took the hover-cart and set off, while Ana-Zhi and I returned to the bridge. She ran through the standard pre-flight diagnostics and showed me how to check the calibration of the inertial dampeners, as well as the thrusters, repulsors, z-field generator, and interval power plant.
“A little different than the Freya, huh?”
She nodded. “Faster, more maneuverable, better armed, but…”
“But what?”
“I don’t trust her.”
What was not to trust? It was a ship. A collection of parts and circuits. But I didn’t question Ana-Zhi. I was too busy trying to get the lay of the land on board.
Walking around with Ana-Zhi, I really got a chance to take in the Vostok. Everything looked new and shiny and nice. It was obviously well-maintained as well. The Mayir didn’t scrimp at all. Too bad they were such fucked-up fascist assholes.
The ship had four levels, which was actually pretty rare for a vessel this size. The bottom held the infirmary and the crew cabins and the main hold (which actually spanned two stories). The upper story of the hold and the landing bay and hangar made up level 2. Above it was a common area with a galley and a life support machine room. On the top level was the bridge, a science station, a security station (with a weapons locker and brig), and a ready room. Everything was connected by a network of corridors and lifts.
There was actually a lot of room on board. It got me thinking.
“What’s the normal crew size for a Lamprey?” I asked Ana-Zhi.
“Damned if I know. Ten maybe? Why don’t you go back downstairs and count the bunks?”
“I’m just thinking about the stores of food and water,” I said.
“What about them?”
“I just wonder if the ship was supplied for seven.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“If the normal crew count is ten, they might have supplied for ten.”
Ana-Zhi shook her head. “Nice try, but everyone working on this expedition would know that the Rhya limited the crew to seven.”
I was about to ask how she knew that for sure, when we were interrupted by Chiraine, who was wandering around near the bridge.
“There
