She’s obviously not hurt.”
That gave Yuki another twenty
minutes of freedom, maybe more if Zeiss didn’t snap out of it. She climbed to
the top of the saucer, near the five-meter-wide umbilical where the tiles
stopped. She couldn’t decipher how the ship was coupled, but the tube was piping
something to the saucer—air? Water? Certainly the pods were transferred from
the lens area through this conduit. If the showers occupied the center, there
was still a great deal of dead space on this level unaccounted for.
When she stretched her hand out to
touch the umbilical, static crackled and stung her fingers. More miniature
lightning cascaded lensward, glowing through the fog. No further probes in that
direction.
She needed to crab-walk over to the
region of the shower area they couldn’t access, which was coincidentally the
same spot as the dining commons. Unfortunately, the desired region was just beyond
the reach of her tether. Yuki could descend, move the safety line, and reascend
. . . or she could risk it for a few minutes. Time was short, so she peeled off
her leash and scrambled over to the target. This was no riskier than running a
roofline during a burglary.
She was expert enough that she
could peek under the tiles without difficulty. The fifth tile she checked, near
the pergola, concealed a gold circle, half a meter across. Placing the
deactivated plank on her back, Yuki rolled her fingers like a safecracker. This
was going to make her rich, a hero in the extended family. When she
triple-tapped the seal, water shot out like a fire hydrant, first soaking her
and then knocking her off the roof. Evidently, sticky fabric didn’t work in
water. Hoorah, I was the first genius to figure that out.
If she hadn’t remembered the plank
strapped to her back, she might have died the way Mercy warned. Instinctively,
she grabbed the activation dot on her board and squeezed. The vibration through
her spine soothed her like a flannel blanket did her niece. She froze in the
ship’s orbit three meters from the nearest railing. Water was still gushing
out, soaking the front entrance and dribbling through the cracks.
She had to fix this before anyone
came to investigate. Unwinding every scrap of fabric from her elbows and knees,
she managed to cobble together about four meters of new tether. Since her
headset was the only available weight, she tied it onto the end of the lasso. Then
she played cowgirl for several minutes before she established a sufficient
anchor. Praying to her ancestors, she turned off her plank and fell. Even with
low gravity, the impact hurt, but she splayed herself wide to stick. Her left
side rebounded because the clear windows wouldn’t adhere to the fabric.
However, her right side absorbed the strain with only a little twisting.
As she climbed, Yuki could hear
Mercy’s voice through the headset strapped to the rail. Moving as fast as
possible, she regained the main deck. A shift in the wind sprayed her with more
water. Cursing, she crawled up Mercy’s stairs and tapped the spigot shut. On
the way down, she slipped in a puddle, only to be saved by the ‘unnecessary’ railing.
As Yuki staggered into the control
room, blowing hair out of her face, Mercy was launching herself out of the
shower area in a panic. Yuki untied the end of her dragging tether and put the
headset back on. “Sorry,” she said. “I was on my way back to dry off.”
“Are you okay?” Mercy demanded,
taking Yuki’s arm to help support and prevent float-off.
“Yes. But be careful: keep the
fabric out of the shower area. If it gets wet, it’s useless. That’s why the
aliens kept them at the entrance.”
“What happened?”
“I found the garden hose. Or maybe
it’s for emergency refills.”
“Tell Rachael; she’s the expert on
that.”
Her breathing still ragged from the
adventure, Yuki said to her newest friend, “If I ever complain about your being
too overprotective again, tell me I’m all wet. Use those
That gave Yuki another twenty
minutes of freedom, maybe more if Zeiss didn’t snap out of it. She climbed to
the top of the saucer, near the five-meter-wide umbilical where the tiles
stopped. She couldn’t decipher how the ship was coupled, but the tube was piping
something to the saucer—air? Water? Certainly the pods were transferred from
the lens area through this conduit. If the showers occupied the center, there
was still a great deal of dead space on this level unaccounted for.
When she stretched her hand out to
touch the umbilical, static crackled and stung her fingers. More miniature
lightning cascaded lensward, glowing through the fog. No further probes in that
direction.
She needed to crab-walk over to the
region of the shower area they couldn’t access, which was coincidentally the
same spot as the dining commons. Unfortunately, the desired region was just beyond
the reach of her tether. Yuki could descend, move the safety line, and reascend
. . . or she could risk it for a few minutes. Time was short, so she peeled off
her leash and scrambled over to the target. This was no riskier than running a
roofline during a burglary.
She was expert enough that she
could peek under the tiles without difficulty. The fifth tile she checked, near
the pergola, concealed a gold circle, half a meter across. Placing the
deactivated plank on her back, Yuki rolled her fingers like a safecracker. This
was going to make her rich, a hero in the extended family. When she
triple-tapped the seal, water shot out like a fire hydrant, first soaking her
and then knocking her off the roof. Evidently, sticky fabric didn’t work in
water. Hoorah, I was the first genius to figure that out.
If she hadn’t remembered the plank
strapped to her back, she might have died the way Mercy warned. Instinctively,
she grabbed the activation dot on her board and squeezed. The vibration through
her spine soothed her like a flannel blanket did her niece. She froze in the
ship’s orbit three meters from the nearest railing. Water was still gushing
out, soaking the front entrance and dribbling through the cracks.
She had to fix this before anyone
came to investigate. Unwinding every scrap of fabric from her elbows and knees,
she managed to cobble together about four meters of new tether. Since her
headset was the only available weight, she tied it onto the end of the lasso. Then
she played cowgirl for several minutes before she established a sufficient
anchor. Praying to her ancestors, she turned off her plank and fell. Even with
low gravity, the impact hurt, but she splayed herself wide to stick. Her left
side rebounded because the clear windows wouldn’t adhere to the fabric.
However, her right side absorbed the strain with only a little twisting.
As she climbed, Yuki could hear
Mercy’s voice through the headset strapped to the rail. Moving as fast as
possible, she regained the main deck. A shift in the wind sprayed her with more
water. Cursing, she crawled up Mercy’s stairs and tapped the spigot shut. On
the way down, she slipped in a puddle, only to be saved by the ‘unnecessary’ railing.
As Yuki staggered into the control
room, blowing hair out of her face, Mercy was launching herself out of the
shower area in a panic. Yuki untied the end of her dragging tether and put the
headset back on. “Sorry,” she said. “I was on my way back to dry off.”
“Are you okay?” Mercy demanded,
taking Yuki’s arm to help support and prevent float-off.
“Yes. But be careful: keep the
fabric out of the shower area. If it gets wet, it’s useless. That’s why the
aliens kept them at the entrance.”
“What happened?”
“I found the garden hose. Or maybe
it’s for emergency refills.”
“Tell Rachael; she’s the expert on
that.”
Her breathing still ragged from the
adventure, Yuki said to her newest friend, “If I ever complain about your being
too overprotective again, tell me I’m all wet. Use those
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