“Rig, it’s different.”
“Is Cobb a coward? He ejected, you know. He got shot down and ejected. Would you call him a coward, to his face?”
“I . . .”
Rig finished covering the last metallic section with black sealant, then stepped back. He shook his head and looked at me. “Spin, maybe you’re right. Maybe there’s some big conspiracy that has pinned a great betrayal on your father. Or maybe, you know, he just got scared. Maybe he was human, and acted like humans sometimes do. Maybe the problem is that everyone has made such a big deal of it.”
“I don’t have to listen to this,” I said, setting down the sealing light. I stomped off—though the only place I could stomp to was the other side of the cavern.
“Spin, you can’t walk off and ignore me,” Rig said from behind. “This cavern is, like, twenty meters across.”
I sat down. Doomslug trilled beside me, imitating my huff of annoyance. Like usual, I hadn’t caught sight of her moving over. The way she snuck about only when nobody was watching her was uncanny.
From the sounds of it, Rig picked up the light and sealed the last section himself. I sat with my back to him as he worked.
“Fume if you want,” he noted. “Snap at me if you want. But at least think about it. You seem like you really want to defy the admiral and the DDF. Maybe you should consider not allowing them to define victory or failure for you.”
I snorted. “You sound like FM.”
“So she’s smart and cute.”
I twisted to look back. “FM? Cute?”
“She has nice eyes.”
I gaped at him.
“What?” he said, blushing as he worked.
“You didn’t stutter, or fumble, or anything.” I said. “What did you do with Rodge, you Krell monster?”
“What?” M-Bot said, lights on his wings flashing on. “Rodge is a Krell!”
“Sarcasm,” the two of us said in unison. Rig finished the sealing, then set the device down. He looked over at me. “You will not tell her I said those things. She probably doesn’t even remember who I am.” He hesitated. “Does she?”
“Of course she does,” I lied.
Rig smiled again. He looked so different now. So confident. What had happened to him these last two months?
He found something he loves. I realized as he put his hands on his hips and smiled at M-Bot’s new finish. And really, the ship did look incredible.
All our lives, Rig and I had dreamed of the DDF. But what had he said when he dropped out? That’s your dream. I was just along for the ride.
Deciding not to be a pilot had been the right choice for him. I’d known that, but had I known it? Really?
I stood up, then walked over and put an arm around him. “You’re no coward,” I said. “I’m an idiot if I made you feel like you were. And this? What you’ve done here? This is better than ‘pretty good.’ Rig, this is scudding incredible.”
His smile widened. “Well, we won’t know for certain on that count until you take the ship into the air.” He checked his watch. “I should have time enough to watch you take off.”
“Take off?” I gaped. “You mean he’s ready to fly? He’s fixed?”
“M-Bot!” Rig called. “Basic status update!”
“Acclivity ring: functional. Life support and pilot care facilities: functional. Maneuvering and flight controls: functional. Shield: functional. Light-lance: functional.”
“Incredible!” I said. With the acclivity ring and the maneuvering thrusters, I could move up into the air and get around a little—though not at any reasonable speed.
“We still need a booster,” Rig said. “And new guns; I’m not going to risk trying to fabricate either of those, even with my newfound status in the engineering department.”
“Boosters: nonfunctional,” M-Bot added. “Destructors: nonfunctional. Cytonic hyperdrive: nonfunctional.”
“I also have no idea how you’ll get out of here,” Rig said, looking up at the ceiling. “How did you even get in. M-Bot?”
“Likely I used a cytonic hyperjump to teleport,” M-Bot said. “I . . . can’t tell you how it worked. Only that this device allowed faster-than-light travel through the galaxy.”
I perked up. “Can we fix that?”
“Best I can tell,” Rig said, “it’s not broken—it’s missing. M-Bot’s diagnostics indicate where this ‘cytonic hyperdrive’ should be, and it’s an empty box with a display panel on one end. Someone must have taken the mechanism—whatever it was.”
Huh. Maybe the old pilot had taken it?
Rig flipped through his notebook, then waved for me to look over his shoulder. “I’m pretty certain I fixed the maneuvering thrusters on that broken wing,” he said, pointing at a schematic. “But be sure he leaves diagnostics on to record it all, so I can check to make sure everything is in order.” He flipped to the next page. “And once we know he’s flying right, I want to disassemble his shield igniter and see if I can figure out why it can apparently—by his specs—take three times the punishment of a standard DDF shield.”
I grinned. “That ought to make you popular with the engineering and design teams.”
“Yeah, unless they start to get suspicious.” Rig hesitated, then spoke more softly. “I did eventually try and look at his AI mechanism, but he wouldn’t let me open the housing. He even threatened to electrify it. He says that device—along with some other systems—is classified. Stealth systems, communications systems . . . some very important stuff. Spin, to really help the DDF, we would need to let an expert in here to disassemble and analyze the ship. I can only do so much.”
I felt something wrench inside me, like gears locking up from lack of grease. I glanced back at M-Bot.
“He has warned,” Rig said, “that if we reveal him, he will attempt to destroy his own systems to keep from disobeying his old pilot’s orders.”
“Maybe . . . I can talk sense into him?”
“M-Bot doesn’t seem capable of sense,” Rig said, gazing at the ship and—yet again—seeming to take a moment to bask in just how great it looked. Clean, freshly painted, sleek and dangerous. The four destructor cavities, two on each wing, gaped open, and the rear booster was missing. But otherwise it was perfect.
“Rig,” I said softly, in awe, “I seriously can’t believe you let me rope you into this.”
“If you want to pay me back,” he said, “ask FM to meet me for lunch in the park someday.” Then he immediately blushed and looked down. “I mean, maybe, if the topic comes up or something. Or not.”
I grinned, punching him in the arm. “So you are still Rig. I was starting to worry there.”
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s ignore what I said and focus on the important things. The insane AI says its stealth systems are good enough to keep the DDF from noticing it, and I guess we just have to trust it on that one. So what do you say? Want to take it up for a quick test flight?”
“Scud, yes!”
Rig looked up. “Any ideas on how to get out though? That gap is barely large enough for a person.”