Part 4 (1/2)
”I didn't mention them on the last list, no,” Mica said. ”I wanted to make sure I got my new tank.”
”I guess a tank is more exciting to cuddle with than a valve.”
”Infinitely more so, yes.” Mica pushed herself to her feet, looked around, and frowned. ”Where did all this fog come from?”
”I opened the cargo hatch a few minutes ago. Beck and Leonidas went out to look around, possibly to shoot people.”
”Well, tell them to shoot the fog out of my engine room when they get back.” Mica swatted at the air. ”What is this stuff? Is it corrosive?”
”I hope not.” Alisa tried to decide if the mist was denser than it had been in the cargo hold, or if she could simply see it better since there was more light in here. ”Is there anything I can help you with?”
”That depends.” Mica grabbed a flashlight and pointed it into an open panel. ”On a quiz, how many things in engineering would you label as thingies?”
”No more than fifty percent, I should think.”
”I don't need your help.”
”You're a charming woman, Mica. We need to find you a soul mate.”
Mica stuck a wrench in the panel and grunted as she pried at something and the tool slid off, clanking on the side. ”I'd settle for a good job.”
”I thought you wanted a challenging job, not a good one. What could be more rewarding than a mystery to troubleshoot?”
Mica sneered and waved at the fog.
”No need to answer that,” Alisa said. ”I'll go check on Alejandro and be back to pat you on your back when you get my lights back on.”
Mica responded, but her head was stuffed into the access panel again, and Alisa could not make out the words. Perhaps that was good. She doubted they were flattering.
Another eerie cracking of ice sounded as Alisa headed back through the cargo hold and toward the walkway. She winced and found herself stepping more lightly.
”Any idea how thick the ice is up here, Yumi?” she asked as she pa.s.sed the chicken pen.
”If memory serves, the ice at Arkadius's north pole averages from three to five meters in thickness, with ridges up to twenty meters thick.”
”Three meters?” Alisa paused with her hand on the stair railing. ”That's, uh, not as thick as I would like for it to be, considering my entire freighter is parked on it.”
She waited, hoping Yumi would tell her that the ice was plenty thick to support them, but another snap sounded outside, and Yumi gave her a bleak look. ”Due to the size of the cargo hold, there's a lot of air inside your s.h.i.+p. It's highly likely that we would float once in the water.”
”Float?” Alisa stared at her. ”While that's slightly more encouraging than news that we would plummet to the bottom of the ocean, how in the h.e.l.ls would we take off if the thrusters are half underwater? And for that matter, what happens if the ice refreezes around us? It's cold enough to kick spit out there.”
Yumi shrugged helplessly. ”I suggest we pray that the ice remains stable.”
”Who are we praying to? The sun G.o.ds or the Sta.r.s.eers who may have arranged that crash as a way of implying we're not welcome here?”
Alisa expected Yumi to defend the Sta.r.s.eers and say the crash didn't have anything to do with them and could only be blamed on the strange weather phenomenon. Instead, she shrugged again, offering another bleak look.
Alisa walked up the stairs very carefully. The mist seemed to follow her, as if whatever had come in during the short time the hatch had been open was being fruitful and multiplying. She reached for her comm unit, thinking to check in on Beck and Leonidas as she headed for Alejandro's cabin, but her hand did not make it to her belt. A creepy sensation came over her, and the hairs on her arms stood up.
”I'm really starting to dislike this place,” she whispered and continued on, turning up the corridor to the pa.s.senger cabins.
The feeling of discomfort increased as she walked closer to Alejandro's cabin. Maybe it wasn't the mist bothering her, after all. Maybe he was playing with his...o...b..
”Odd timing for it, if so.” She knocked on his hatch.
He did not answer. She tried the latch and was glad it was not locked, since the electronic override would not have worked. When she tugged the hatch open, she found bright golden light flaring from the floor in the center of the cabin. She squinted, almost blinded after the dimness of the corridor.
Alejandro sat cross-legged next to the orb, staring down at the rainbow lights swirling within its depths, unaware that his hairy legs were on display above his shoes. He seemed mesmerized by the orb, which lay nestled on its velvet cus.h.i.+on inside the box, its luminescence pouring out, reflecting against all of the metal surfaces in the cabin.
”Doctor, you're supposed to invite the captain in when she knocks at your door,” Alisa said. ”It's polite.”
He did not answer, nor did he tear his gaze from the orb. After that first cursory inspection, Alisa avoided looking at it. That was harder than it should have been. The glowing surface called to her, inviting her to look, even as gooseflesh arose all over her body, and her instincts said to get out of the cabin. She remembered the cyborg pirate Malik's words about weak minds being affected by the artifact.
”Doctor,” Alisa repeated, forcing herself to step into the cabin to nudge his shoulder.
He still did not move. His eyes were open, but they were not blinking.
Alisa kicked the lid shut. Alejandro flinched. The light lessened considerably, but to Alisa's surprise, some continued to leak out through the seam in the wooden box. It hadn't been doing that before. Previously, when the lid had been down, the strange energy it emitted had not been nearly as noticeable, and since she had been in a dark room to steal it before, she knew that light had not escaped the box.
”What?” Alejandro asked, finally looking at her, squinting up with confusion in his eyes.
”We're in a jam right now,” Alisa said. ”This isn't the time for communing with eerie spheres.”
”I just checked on it...” He touched the deck on either side, further confusion wrinkling his brow, as if he was not sure how he had gotten down there.
”It's fine, other than being extra uppity right now. Why don't you leave it under your pillow and come help us in engineering. We need to get the power back on so we can take off before we break through the ice and become a boat.” She doubted Mica wanted to see Alejandro in engineering any more than she wanted Alisa and her thingie-lexicon there, but it might be good to get him away from that box for a while.
”Ice?”
”We're in The h.e.l.ls' Leftovers. You've heard of it?”
”I-yes.” Alejandro blinked around the room, which was still partially illuminated by the box. ”Where did this fog come from?”
”The h.e.l.ls, apparently. Maybe all three of them combined to muck up this corner of the planet.”
Alejandro picked up the box and climbed to his feet. ”Yes, I remember now. The Sta.r.s.eer temple. It must be nearby. Maybe that's why the artifact is responding.”
”Responding?”
”Getting uppity, as you said,” he said dryly, his usual demeanor returning.
”You think just being in the presence of Sta.r.s.eers could cause it to intensify its strangeness?”
”From my research, I believe-” He broke off with a frown for her. ”You'll get no further information out of me, Captain. Please do not pry.”
”I didn't know it was prying to walk into someone's room and keep a creepy artifact from taking over his mind.” Alisa waved and strode back into the corridor. ”Come make yourself useful, Doctor. We need all hands.”