Tech Scavengers [Humorous, Action-Packed Space Opera]

Jeridan's heart sank as he saw their astronavigator, their only hope of getting to the Imperium station alive, freeze up again.

Mason cried out his name again and again, increasingly frantic.

Jeridan punched Negasi in the arm. "You didn't give him the shot right."

Negasi punched him back. "Yes, I did! You're the one who measured out the dose."

Jeridan punched him again. "And you're the one who made up that dumbass message."

A guttural sound from the screen made them both turn.

The S'ouzz had turned in its seat and said something to Mason. MIRI had probably translated, but Negasi had been shouting too loud for Jeridan to hear. Idiot.

Mason said something back. MIRI translated.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," the astronavigator replied.

Mason quickly left the room. The S'ouzz shuddered, its cilia moving quickly. It turned back to the console and closed its eyes.

"Oh, crap. It's going unconscious again," Jeridan said.

"No, dumbass, look. Its cilia are still moving."

They were indeed moving, in a rhythmic motion like win through a field of wheat. Jeridan and Negasi stared.

The door to astronavigation opened. Mason came out. It closed behind him and they heard the lock click.

"You all right?" Jeridan asked.

Mason nodded, looking glum. "That was scary."

Negasi put a hand on his shoulder. "I think our friend is going to be all right."

Jeridan wasn't so sure, but he wasn't about to say that in front of Mason.

Mason?

"When you were talking S'ouzz, was that you or your father?" Jeridan asked.

"Me. Dad hasn't come out in a while."

Good.

"So you've learned how to speak S'ouzz?"

The boy shrugged. "Some stuff."

"You guys talk a lot."

"Not much. But when we do talk, he teaches me words."

"Oh."

Negasi had told him that S'ouzz was the hardest alien language to learn, at least among those languages the human throat was capable of reproducing.

Jeridan glanced that the screen again. The S'ouzz sat staring at the controls, unmoving except for its cilia.

Not, not entirely. Those liquid black eyes moved too, looking from one part of the console to another.

A chime went off. The signal to strap in before the transition to light speed.

Jeridan pumped his fist in the air. "I did it! I'm a genius!"

Negasi slapped him upside the head. "What are you talking about? I did everything."

"I'm the one who came up with the plan."

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did."

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"Now I know why my sister calls you what she does," Mason said.

They both turned to him.

"What does Aurora call us?" Jeridan asked.

He gave them a sly grin. "Um, nothing. We better go strap in now."

Mason walked away.

Jeridan and Negasi looked at each other, shrugged, and hurried to their seats, Jeridan on the bridge and Negasi in his turret. Just in case.

* * *

Despite getting back to light speed, Jeridan was worried. It had been several hours and the S'ouzz had not sent any sort of message, not even a status report. Jeridan had switched off the console camera. It had felt wrong spying on the alien in the first place. Now that things were sort of going all right, he couldn't justify it.

On the surface, everything seemed to be going normally. Helen was still locked in her cabin, the kids were doing their home schooling, and Nova was on the bridge studying some data about the anomalies around the station.

But nothing was normal. Their astronavigator had suffered a nervous breakdown. It had gone back to work, but that stimulant had worn off by now and if its body wanted to shut down again, there was nothing they could do about it except give it another stimulant.

Negasi had told him that would be bad for its hearts.

Jeridan really, really wanted to message the S'ouzz and ask how it was doing, but Negasi had warned him off.

Not that he needed to. It was obvious the thing needed space and silence. Even Mason hadn't been up there since it had woken up.

"I'm worried about our astronavigator," Jeridan said.

"It'll be fine," Nova replied, not taking her eyes off the screen.

Caring and sensitive as usual.

"I don't want it to have another breakdown."

"It believed the fake comm probe. It's on our side now."

Jeridan frowned. "It was always on our side."

Nova waved a dismissive hand, still looking at the screen. "You know what I mean."

What you mean is that if someone doesn't follow your wishes to the letter, then they're an enemy. Yes, Nova. I've noticed.

Biting back that response, he leaned over and looked at the screen.

"So tell me more about these anomalies."

Nova sighed and waved a hand in front of the screen. "I wish I could. They're like nothing I've ever seen, or ever even heard about. They're obviously some sort of sophisticated Imperium mine. Something the historians and tech scavengers have never recorded. As you can see, they move in a pattern."

The screen showed an image of space. The Imperium station hung in the distance, a tiny shape that gave Jeridan a shiver of excitement. All around it were red dots surrounded by wider red, transparent spheres, both obviously markers placed on the invisible anomalies by the computer.

"These dots are the anomalies. The spheres are their areas of effect. They seem to be able to affect an area beyond the space they actually take up. That's what killed our second ship. The crew thought they could bypass one as long as they didn't touch it, but they flew too close."

Nova's face clouded.

Nice to see you have at least a bit of feeling for your dead colleagues. I wonder if you'll feel bad if I get killed on this joyride.

"This pattern doesn't look too complex," Jeridan said. "If I study this a while, I could get through."

"Watch."

He watched. After a minute, he noticed a subtle change in the pattern. He watched some more, figuring out this new movement, and then saw it was more complex than he had supposed. After another couple of minutes of more concentration than he put into anything other than flying or chessboxing, he realized that everything he thought he understood about the movement of these deadly things was all wrong.

And he couldn't even guess as to what was right.

"Damn."

"Yeah. We need the S'ouzz."

"We do," Jeridan agreed, letting out a gust of air.

While he was the best pilot in the Orion Arm, piloting was different than navigation. He was great at zigzagging through a battle or skimming the atmosphere of a planet. The complex mathematical formulae for figuring out interstellar travel at faster than the speed of light took another skill set, one more akin to what someone would have to master in order to navigate through those anomalies. He was great at that too, but the S'ouzz was at a whole other level.

They needed to keep their astronavigator healthy and happy. The problem was, they had no idea how it was doing.

"We need to send this to the S'ouzz," Nova said, indicating the constantly shifting anomalies she had recorded.

"We do. But you only recorded for a couple of hours as you were trying to get out of there. What if the pattern is more complex than what you can see in only two hours?"

Nova bit her lip and stared at the screen. "I've been staring at this for months and put it through an AI and I'm still not sure."

"The S'ouzz might be able to figure it out with MIRI, but they'd need to get cracking on that now."

"I'll send it over," Nova said, reaching for the keyboard.

Jeridan held out a hand. "Wait. What if that stresses it out?"

"It stresses me out."

"Well, yeah. That's my point. It's on the edge. Anything might tip it over."

Nova gave him an impatient look. "We need to give our astronavigator and MIRI as long as possible to figure this thing out."

"Our astronavigator needs rest."

"So do I. So do you. None of us have that luxury."

Jeridan slammed his fist against the console. "Damn it, why do you have to be such a pain in the ass! We're not robots. You run us ragged, you haunt your own son's mind, you—"

Nova treated him to a level gaze. "I do what's necessary to save the galaxy."

Jeridan looked her in the eye. "Is that the reason or is that just an excuse? You're evil. I think you are literally evil."

Nova looked down at the console. "Maybe I am," she murmured. Then she looked back at him. "But my family and I are going to survive."

She sent the data to the S'ouzz.

Jeridan gritted his teeth, hoping that extra burden wouldn't send the alien back into a catatonic state.