Among Stars

Plans

"Perez," Naina said gently to the man, who was now sitting in the corner of the room with the sleeping pods, weeping quietly. "I'm sure there's something we can do. I mean, if you said you've personally managed this pod, there's a chance it hasn't entered the low-power mode Quera mentioned," Naina whispered, squatting next to Perez.

Perez nodded and wiped a tear from his face. "Why did it have to be her?" he said. "Look at me," he chuckled sadly. "If you'd told me ten years ago, that I would be sitting in a room of an abandoned space station, crying after a young girl who I think of as my daughter. Having lost all dignity and allowing other to see me like... like this," he said and smiled. "I would have sent you to the brig and called you mad."

"I can't say I really understand," Naina said. "I've never had family in that sense. I've never had anyone I cared about that much. It's always been space and science for me," she said and smiled weakly.

"You sound like her, even more now," Perez said. "She was so in love with her science too, she never had time for anyone else. That's why she and Krii parted ways. She had a friend in the Academy, and for a while I thought they'd become a pair. It didn't lead to anything. Both of them were too concentrated on science," he sniffled.

"You wait here, Perez," Naina said. "I'll go see about the pod." She rose up, and walked to Dr. Mizuni's pod, which had a dark amber light that was now steadily blinking, with the text "Integrity compromised," on a small display next to it.

"Quera," Naina said quietly. "Interface with the station, find medical records, look for Dr. Mizuni and this ID number. Find me anything you can tell me about her pod. And let me know instantly if you can interface with the pod itself."

"I cannot interface with the pod directly from here, Captain Melcey," Quera said. "Now looking for data for Dr. Mizuni."

Naina leaned against Mizuni's pod and muttered, "I've come a long way, little scientist. I'm not leaving without you. One way or another, I'm getting you out of here."

"Captain Melcey," Quera said in a strange tone. Naina raised her eyebrow.

"I am reading through the ship logs, and there are shipping manifests and cargo receipts for a NAIND-type computer, complete with all the blades," Quera said.

"A NAIND? Here? Why in the world would there..." Naina said. Her eyes flashed open. "Quera, that's it!" she said and spun around. "Perez, I know what to do. They were going to build a very advanced AI to run the station, and they had brought the machines with them. The station must have the proper receptacles and frameworks here! And the necessary power equipment." She walked back and forth in the room, with her hand scratching the tip of her left ear.

"If I can find those, and bring them here. Assemble the system and connect it to this ship, Infinity. We should be able to transport Quera's core here and install her to this ship. She can help me fly this thing out of here," she explained.

"Exactly, Captain Melcey," Quera said. My core is very similar to advanced NAIND technology. You should have no problems making the transfer, considering how much work you've done with my hardware already."

"That's what I was thinking," Naina said and stopped pacing. "I'm going to go look for the equipment. Quera, try to find if they have any location data. I don't fancy looking everywhere in this extensive place," she said.

"And start prepping for transfer. Backup everything we have. Override the ship's control data if you have to, Travelstar is not leaving here without external aid anyway," Naina said. "This might yet turn out fine. In a way. Maybe," she grinned at Perez. "See you later. Try to keep an eye on the pod and let me know instantly if there are changes. It seems to be stable now, but I have no idea how long it'll last."

Naina speed-walked out of the room and headed for the hallways and the information plaque she remembered seeing somewhere. Her legs carried her swiftly to the entrance where she had come on the first day. She quickly followed the hallways and found the plaque.

"Okay. Let's see," she mused. "Systems, systems... now where are you?" After a few seconds, she spotted something, took a note of it, and walked to the elevators. A few floors down, and she was in a big, circular, room that had a gigantic transparent cylinder in the middle of the room, with all kinds of computers, equipment, cables, and assorted crap lying everywhere. It was still clearly under construction.

"What in the wild world is THAT thing?" she said, looking at the enormous cylinder. She walked around it, looking here and there for any clues and trying to look for the things she came here for. She picked up a dropped datapad and tapped it. It was dead as a doorknob. She shrugged and dropped it back to the floor.

She found a console on the wall and prodded it with a finger until it woke up from its years-long torpor. "Okay, now spill your secrets," Naina said and started tapping it. She read page after page of cargo manifests, plans, and blueprints. Suddenly, she stopped. Her eyes flashed wide open, and she glanced at the cylinder, and then back to the screen, then back to the cylinder.

"There's no way..." she said. "Mizuni, you crazy son of a b...!" she said and laughed. "Now I REALLY wanna talk with you. You marvelous little scientist, you found a way to capture, or... or... or create! A sub-space bubble, didn't you? You planned on creating one INSIDE the station and use it to power it for all eternity," she said with her voice thick with admiration.

"You crazy lady. You absolutely beautiful mad crazy scientist, you somehow figured that out," she almost laughed. "You didn't tell anyone, right? The plans just say 'containment device' but I recognize the frequencies and values you requested. You absolutely gorgeous soul. That's genius. That's pure real genius there." She said with her lips smiling so widely it must have hurt.

"I'm getting you out of here, Mizuni. I'm getting you out of here if it is the last thing I do. I want to talk to you so much I'm going to explode," she said and giggled. "Okay, now. The stuff. The receptacles are there. I can see them... now, where are the power conduits?"