“I know you’re upset about not being able to enlist, Vico,” said Imala, “but let’s think rationally here. What you’re suggesting is suicide. We don’t have any of the supplies you’d need. We don’t have a shuttle. We don’t have camouflage for a shuttle. And we certainly don’t have weapons for doing any damage inside the Formic ship even if you were, by some miracle, able to get inside.”
“What is it with you planet people?” said Victor. “All anyone ever does around here is say something can’t be done. We don’t have this. We can’t do that. That’s against the rules. Well guess what? This is how we live, Imala. This is how free miners think. When there’s a problem, we don’t sit around and take note of everything that can’t be done, we do something. We find a way, and we fix it.”
Imala folded her arms. “You and I are on the same team, Vico. I’ve made sacrifices for you, and getting snippy with me doesn’t help. Everything I’ve said is true. You may not like it, but those are the facts. We don’t have those supplies. Just because I question your idea doesn’t mean I’m wrong. Are you telling me that every free-miner idea is a good one?”
“No. Of course not.”
“Then let’s think this through instead of arguing.”
Victor exhaled. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
Imala turned to Yanyu. “Does the observatory have a shuttle we could use?”
“I thought you were dismissing the idea,” said Victor.
“I’m figuring out if it’s feasible,” said Imala. “I’m trying to help.” She turned back to Yanyu.
“No,” said Yanyu. “We sometimes have the scopes serviced, but there’s a repair crew that does that. They have their own shuttles. I’ve never even seen them before. I wouldn’t know how to acquire one.”
“What about the Juke shuttle?” said Victor. “The one we just docked?”
Imala shook her head. “It’s in the system now. We don’t have authorization to reboard it or take it anywhere. Juke Limited wouldn’t let us near the thing. How would you camouflage a shuttle anyway? Maybe we start there.”
“Space junk,” said Victor. “There are thousands of pieces orbiting Earth. Old satellites, retired space stations, discarded shuttle parts. We simply scoop up some of that and then weld it all over the surface of the shuttle to make it look like a big chunk of a destroyed ship.”
“Weld it?” said Imala. “Who’s going to loan us a shuttle and then allow us to essentially destroy it by welding junk all over it?”
Victor shrugged. “I don’t know. I have some money. Maybe we buy a used one.”
“You don’t have enough,” said Imala. “Not even a fraction of what we would need. Operating shuttles are expensive. Even old ones. Especially now. With the war on and people in a panic, you can bet the price of shuttles has skyrocketed. I’d give you everything in my account as well, but we’d still be shy. Plus there’s the cost of fuel to go out and recover the space junk. That’s probably nearly as expensive as the shuttle itself. It’s a good idea, Vico, but we don’t have the money for that.”
“I’d give you everything in my account too,” said Yanyu. “Maybe the others at the observatory would chip in also.”
Victor and Imala exchanged glances.
“It’s worth a shot,” said Imala. “But I still don’t think it will be enough.”
“Let me conference with everyone,” said Yanyu.
She hopped to the holofield and began a chat with her coworkers. Several of them pledged money, but most of them were skeptical and politely refused. They had the same issue that Imala did. Once you reach the Formic ship, then what? What good is it to invest in a shuttle if you can’t do anything once you get there? Imala spent the time looking on the nets at shuttles for sale, becoming increasingly more convinced that they couldn’t afford to buy one.
After the conference, Yanyu and Imala shared notes. They were still far short. They didn’t even have enough to buy the shell of a shuttle someone was selling. No engine. No flight controls. Just the body of the ship.
“We need a benefactor,” said Imala. “Someone with resources. Someone who could give us a shuttle and a weapon.”
“If you’re going to say Ukko Jukes,” said Victor, “I’ll politely remind you that he wants us off the grid. He practically threw us out to the Belt.”
“Not Ukko,” said Imala. “Lem.”
“Absolutely not,” said Victor. “He’s a murderer, Imala. He crippled my family’s ship. He tried to kill me.”
“He helped your family later, Vico.”
“He abandoned them. He left them to die.”
“He has what we need, Vico. And he wants to get rid of the Formics as much as we do.”
“We don’t even know if he’s on Luna. He was still at Last Chance when we left.”
“I already checked while Yanyu was on the holo,” said Imala. “He arrived several days ago. It was all over the news.”
“He can’t be trusted, Imala.”
“He came clean about your family, Vico. He didn’t have to. He told the truth.”
“His version of the truth. And that doesn’t make him an ally.”
“Anyone who wants to destroy the Formics is an ally, Vico. I don’t like it any more than you do. I find the man as repulsive as his father, but he can get us what we need if we can convince him to cooperate.”