“Stars,” Jorgen said. “That’s better.”
“Better,” Gill and Boomslug both agreed, their voices forming a strange harmony.
I reached out, finding the minds of the slugs farther away on the platform, and I offered the impression to them. I could feel each of their relief.
“That should give us some cover,” Rig said. “I can work on getting the shield up and spend some time fixing Alanik’s ship so she’s battle ready. Then we can try out the weapons systems and the hyperdrive.”
“All right,” Jorgen said. “That seems like a good plan.”
“We think we can use the slugs to move the platform,” Arturo said. “But what will we do with it if we can?”
“It’s a large and powerful tool,” I said. “But not the stealthiest, to be sure. If we start moving the platform around, Unity will take notice. We need to figure out a way to use the distraction to save Rinakin.”
“We’re assuming he wants to be saved,” FM said. She turned to Rig. “We want to rescue her friend, but we heard him over the radio saying he was defecting to the other side.”
“Wonder what that would feel like,” Rig said.
I imagined they felt very similarly, having their commander try to capture them after sending them away. I hoped there was a reasonable explanation.
FM looked nervously at Jorgen. “There’s more,” she said. “Cobb sent people after us when we went to get Alanik’s ship. They knew we were there somehow, and Cobb saw us himself. I thought maybe he’d cover for us, but he didn’t. He called the people who were with him right to us.”
“Maybe he did that because he knew we’d escape anyway,” Rig said. “He knew Alanik could get us out.”
“Still,” FM said, “he could have given us a few more seconds.”
“He might have noticed you were ‘rescuing’ taynix,” Jorgen said.
“Yeah,” Rig said. “That probably didn’t help.” He looked down at the instrumentation and sighed. “As for how we could use the platform, I want to take a look at these other systems and get a better idea of what we’re dealing with. Then we can talk about ways we might use it.”
“That will all take some time,” Jorgen said, stepping away to peer out the window into the miasma. “It’s getting late. At least, it is on Detritus. What time does night fall here?”
I wasn’t exactly sure. I looked out the window at the angle of the sun through the miasma. “In about three sleep cycles, I think.”
“Interesting,” Rig said. “You sleep multiple times in a day?”
“Yes,” I said. “One day is equal to nine sleep cycles at this time of year on the tree where I live. Sometimes it will be less or more, depending on the location of a given tree in the miasma. I’m not sure what it’ll be here, but judging by the angle of the sun that’s my estimation.”
“So a day here is about a week,” Jorgen said. “We grew up underground, so our days are manufactured as well. Even if it isn’t going to get dark we still need to sleep, and eat something that won’t kill us.” He looked grudgingly at FM. “Thanks for bringing the algae strips.”
“It was Alanik’s idea,” FM said.
“It’s a good thing Nedd gorged himself on those nut bars,” Arturo said. “Might be some algae strips left for the rest of us.”
“Though I hope he doesn’t keel over,” Kimmalyn added.
“I’ll get to work,” Rig said. “We can rest and then return to the plan.”
“Sounds good,” Jorgen said, and he stalked out, leaving the rest of us behind.
Sixteen
As Jorgen left the room, FM appeared to deflate.
“You okay?” Kimmalyn asked her.
“Yeah,” FM said. “I really shouldn’t have said that to Jorgen.”
“Definitely not,” Rig said. “But I understand why you did.”
“I need to walk,” FM said. “I’ll show you that other control room. There might be systems for the shield in there.” She and Rig left, heading in the opposite direction from Jorgen. Kimmalyn followed them, telling the rest of the flight that they needed to check in with the Independence pilots and see if they’d found somewhere we could all be comfortable for the night.
They wandered off, taking most of the slugs and the food with them. Arturo remained behind.
“Are they always like this?” I asked.