‘Yes,’ Jane said. She shut her eyes and gave her head a short shake, trying to clear it. She was just tired.
‘W-what—’ Laurian licked his lips, pushing the words through. ‘What – what c-can—’ He tapped his chest with his fingertips, then gestured around the room.
‘Nothing really,’ Jane said.
Laurian’s face fell ever so slightly.
Owl switched to Klip. ‘Jane, let him help. He wants to help.’
Jane glanced up to one of the cameras. ‘There’s nothing for him to do. I’m fine.’
‘How well did you do in a new place without anything to do?’
‘He’s an adult.’
‘He’s afraid.’
Jane sighed, and looked at Laurian. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Do you know what an indicator light is?’
He shook his head, but looked a little happier.
Jane walked to the kitchen, leaning lightly on the couch as she passed it. She pointed to the small green light on the underside of the stasie. ‘See this?’
Laurian nodded.
‘There’s a bunch like it on the—’ She paused, trying to remember the word in Sko-Ensk. ‘—engine casing. I need you to go below and tell me if you see any red or yellow lights.’ She didn’t need that, actually. She’d checked them a dozen times over, and Owl would know if something was up. ‘You gotta check real careful. Double-check, just to be sure. Got it?’
Laurian smiled, nodded, and beelined for the engine chamber.
Jane gave Owl a look of there, I did the thing. Her eyes trailed over the stasie, full of food she couldn’t eat. It was ridiculous, but in that moment, the idea of ditching the whole plan, tucking into dog and mushrooms until she physically couldn’t eat any more, and just staying in the scrapyard for ever didn’t sound like a terrible alternative.
‘Is the heater on?’ Jane asked, doing her best to ignore her angry belly. The lower end of her torso was weirdly big these days, especially compared to the rest of her. She didn’t know how that could be, since there wasn’t much food in it.
‘Yes,’ Owl said. ‘Are you cold?’
‘Nah,’ Jane said, pulling the blanket tighter as she made her way to the control room. She settled into the pilot’s seat. ‘How are you feeling?’
Owl appeared in the centre console. ‘I don’t know how to answer that. I’m having a hard time finding a good phrase that covers everything.’
Jane began flipping switches. The console started to hum. ‘What’s the first thing that comes to mind?’
Owl considered. ‘Holy shit, we’re doing this.’
Jane threw back her head, cackling. ‘Yeah, that about sums it up.’
SIDRA
The three of them sat in the quick-travel pod, Pepper and Sidra up front, Tak leaning quiet in the back. Pepper had been staring out the window the entire time, but from her expression, she didn’t appear to be seeing much.
‘If he’s not at the shop,’ Pepper said, ‘we’ll ask Esther.’ Sidra knew who Pepper meant – the glassblower in the shop beside Blue’s. ‘He usually tells her when he’s stepping out so she can keep an eye on things for him.’ Pepper nodded to herself, calculating. ‘And if she doesn’t know, we can split up. I’ll go to the noodle bar, you two can go to the art supply—’
Sidra put the kit’s hand on Pepper’s knee. Pepper was agitated, naturally, but figuring out every variable concerning what to do if Blue wasn’t there wouldn’t help. ‘He’s probably at the shop,’ Sidra said calmly.
Pepper chewed her thumbnail. ‘This doesn’t feel real.’
‘Understandably.’
‘What if that message was wrong? Like a prank or something. It didn’t say much. Just said to write back for details.’
‘Which you did.’
Pepper frowned at her scrib, which hadn’t left her hand since Sidra had found her. ‘Yeah, but he hasn’t replied yet.’ She sighed impatiently, then handed Sidra the scrib. ‘If that message came from a dummy node, we’re all wasting our time here. Can you dig through the comms path, make sure it’s legit?’
Sidra took the scrib. ‘What are you going to do if it’s not?’ she said. She gestured at the scrib, pulling up comms path details.
‘I don’t know. I haven’t got that far y—’ Pepper stopped. She looked straight at Sidra. ‘You didn’t answer the question.’
Shit. Sidra inwardly flailed. ‘I just meant—’
‘You didn’t answer the question. Sidra, you didn’t answer the question.’
The kit sighed. ‘This is . . . not the best time to talk about that.’
‘Ah, fuck.’ Pepper put her face in her palms. ‘Fuck, Sidra, what – who did you go to?’
‘No one, I – Pepper, this isn’t the time.’
‘Bullshit this isn’t the time. Are you okay? Holy fuck. I can’t – who helped you?’
‘No one! It was just me and Tak.’
‘You and Tak?’ She glanced toward the Aeluon in the backseat. ‘You did this? You fucked with her code?’
‘I—’ Tak began.
Pepper snapped back to Sidra. ‘Have you run a diagnostic?’
‘I’ve run three. I’m fine, I promise. I’m stable. I came to the shop to tell you—’