resource. Supposedly there are a hundred units stashed somewhere on board. I’m reading the manual, trying to find where it is, because we only have one fast jump left. That’s why we haven’t jumped, I’m waiting out a standard FTL cooldown.”
“You want to be able to jump out of Rockhurst space quickly,” he said.
I nodded and went back to the document. It seemed to be showing the right side of the FTL. I started down the catwalk, looking for anything that resembled the diagram. I found it about a quarter of the way down: a small, round hatch marked alc with an inset handle. To access the hatch, the diagram indicated rotating the handle ninety degrees left and then pulling out a cylindrical container.
I read the rest of the instructions. The drive needed to be put in standby before the hatch would open and allow access to the alcubium. When I returned to the control panel in the workshop, Loch still lounged against the wall of the tunnel leading to the main part of the ship.
He didn’t look threatening exactly, but there was something off about his stance. I still had both blasters and my necklace and cuff, so I pushed away the fear. If he tried to take me, he’d come out sorry.
I put the FTL drive in manual standby then returned to the alcubium hatch. I reread the instructions, then turned the hatch handle ninety degrees and pulled. An illuminated plastech cylinder a little less than a meter long slid from the hole. Nestled inside was a smaller cylinder filled less than a quarter with a glowing, viscous pink fluid.
That seemed . . . bad.
“Polaris, is this stuff radioactive?”
“Minimal levels of radiation detected. Levels remain well below the safety threshold for humans.”
Well, that was a relief. My nanobots could probably handle some radiation damage, as long as it wasn’t extreme, but I didn’t relish the thought of testing their capability.
I slid the alcubium container back into place and locked it in, then returned the FTL drive to active. Now I just had to find a meter-long tube of glowing pink liquid. No problem.
It took another consultation of the manual, but I finally found the locked cabinet where the spare containers were stored, in the wall across the catwalk from the hatch. It had room for ten cylinders, but currently held only one faintly glowing pink tube.
This setup, more than anything else I’d seen so far, indicated that this was a prototype ship. In a fully functional production model, the entire process would be automated. Either this was an early model and they’d moved to automation in newer models, or they were not as far along in production as I feared.
One thing was clear: if alcubium tubes were being manufactured on XAD Six or Seven, I had a duty to my House to try to secure as many as possible. Of course, if I got blown up in the process, that would be counterproductive, so I’d have to weigh the risks once I saw what sort of defense they had.
When I returned to the workshop, Loch still hadn’t moved. I’d have to squeeze by him to return to the passenger section of the ship. “Did you need something else?” I asked from across the room. “Or did Rhys talk to you, tell you what he told me? I wasn’t planning to ask you about it, if that’s what has you worried.”
He straightened and narrowed his eyes. “What did he say?”
“He said a lot of things, actually. He is still speaking to me.” It was a mistake to expose the wound, but I couldn’t help myself. “He was meddling, trying to use my curiosity against me.” I waved a negligent hand. “He knows me too well.”
That barb struck home. I watched Loch’s expression turn furious before being wiped clean. “That fucker needs to keep his mouth shut and stay out of my business,” he growled.
I sighed, abruptly bone-weary with the whole thing. “Look, I’m sorry about the things I said, and I’m sorry Rhys is meddling. If you want to talk about your past, I’m here. If not, that’s fine, too. In a few more days we can each go our own way and that’ll be that. Can we at least try to be civil until then?”
Loch’s expression was inscrutable, but finally he nodded once.
“Thanks,” I said. “Now I need to get back to the flight deck and see if this heap has any offensive ability before I decide to