Last Voyage of Delilah, Episode 302: On Shaky Ground, Part Two
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Tian is very quiet when she answers.
Tian: I see. … (A beat, then louder) … I think we need to get to the others.
They get hustling down that tunnel. They have light enough g to float down the tunnel, pushing themselves off the walls. They can also see that there really is a chamber at the far end and as they draw closer, they see Vikki and Rachel lying crumpled on the floor.
It's obvious that they must have been in the tunnel or about to enter when the quake hit. Tian goes to her crew mates and starts jiggering the air mix on their suits. The oxygen levels start reviving them and they wake.
Vikki: (groggy) …. Uhhhgh …
Poco: Rise and shine.
Vikki slowly sits up. Rachel is slower to revive.
Tian: Rachel, can you hear me?
Rachel: (groggy) … Uh, huh ….Ohh, my brain just tried to crawl out my ears … ooohhh …
Tian: Vikki? Talk to me.
Vikki: Did you get the license plate of the truck that ran over me?
Poco: (joking) Nah, I fell out and got shot first.
Vikki: (awake now‼‼) Omigosh! Are you okay?!?
Tian can't help but giggle. Poco openly laughs.
Poco: She's back. She's fine.
Vikki: What's so funny?
Vikki's memories of getting caught in the quake and seeking cover comes back in a rush.
Vikki: Ohhh … wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey wait, was that a—Uh oh … (full stop) … Wait! What time is it?
Rachel: Did you miss your date with your AI boyfriend?
Vikki: (waving hands) Nononononono—!
Tian: What?
AI? Boyfriend? Tian's not quite sure if perhaps Rachel isn't delirious or Vikki, either, as the young woman starts going a mile a minute.
Vikki: Dammit, he said something about the earthquakes and I forgot to tell you all because I was really really fixated ongettingtheregulator—
Tian: —Vikki!
Vikki: What?! … (off Tian's look) … Okay, okay, before—(at Rachel)—What do you mean AI boyfriend?
Tian: Shut up. Answer the question.
Vikki: What was the question?
Yeah. She's back.
Tian:Get to Point A to Point B in ten words or less.
Poco:Uhnn, give her at least a hundred.
Tian:Earthquake.
Vikki:(slowly) Gandalf said … (counts off on fingers) … that this place was prone to earthquakes.
Tian:Hurry up.
Vikki:Got it in seven.
Rachel sighs and shakes her head.
Tian: Okay. What about them?
Vikki: That they are … recurring, the last one was just before we landed, which was … fifty-seven? sixty-three hours ago?
Tian: Sixty hours ago? I don't know. But anyway—.
Rachel: It'll happen again soon.
Vikki: Basically, yeah. And I totally forgot to say anything because—
Poco: Of course you did.
Tian: How often do they happen?
Vikki: He wasn't able to say because his memory on low power only goes back 72 hours.
Poco: Screw the robots, screw the deal. How much junk can we pull off this rock and make our own deuterium and get the hell off before it goes again?
Vikki: They've got a deuterium processing plant here, we just need to get the power up so they can run it and I need an actuator to do that and I—
Poco: Then is what we need here?
He points at the space they're currently in and it really looks a little like their military-grade shuttle. Looking closer, the crew can read the labels on the equipment. Sure enough, it's an Alliance military facility.
Vikki: Whoa. Mil Tech. I betcha we could get a really good actuator here.
Tian: Oh my god …Is there anything that actually tells us what it does?
It's like an engine room on a ship. There's the engine/thruster package, and over there's the comms and steering controls. It's limited, more like an auxiliary engine room and bridge, but it's enough to fly a ship.
Or a centaur.
Vikki: Do you think it's a battle bridge? Or a spaceship?
Tian: Why would they want to try to … move … part of the asteroid?
Poco: Because nobody pays attention to it. They build a ship around the asteroid or vice versa for a surveillance ship. Nobody pays attention to it.
Vikki: What are they surveilling?
Poco: Which means that we can possibly have a ship full of Alliance hell coming for us.
Rachel: One … two … three … four … Where's Val?
Poco: Oh, out in space somewhere.
Vikki: WHAT?!?!?!?
Vikki nearly jumps out of her vac suit. Rachel sighs.
Rachel:Well, hell.
Vikki:Why are we standing around here talking? Whydon'twegogethim—?!
Poco:Well, he told us to come get you and that's what we done so we're out of orders now. (to Tian) We're out of orders now, right?
Vikki:Walk and talk at the same time.
She starts searching for that actuator. Between the minimalistic engine and thruster controls, Vikki finds various access panels and storage closets. They might hide an actuator behind them. She starts searching for a wrench.
Poco: If this is a ship, wouldn't this thing need deuterium?
Yes, it would. What if they stole its supply instead of making more?
Rachel: I gotta question. You keep callin' this an engine room. If this has an engine, could I fly the asteroid out of the asteroid field?
Poco: It is the asteroid field. Taking the centaur out would lure all the other asteroids out with it.
Rachel: I wouldn't mind if they followed me.
Poco: The problem with this thing is its tail. We can take off, sure, but we gotta stay on the right side of the comet to stay clear of the debris.
Rachel: All righty, then. Somebody needs to go and find the Cap'n.
Poco: Lemme see if I can pull the deuterium outa this first.
Rachel: (via suit comms) Val? … Ya gonna answer?
Poco: We're too deep. He ain't gonna hear it. We lost him a few minutes ago.
Rachel: Damn.
Poco: Either that or he died of the radiation.
Vikki: Don't say that.
Poco: Well there's just the two options.
Rachel:Where is he?
Poco: Outside somewhere. (off their looks) He didn't tell us where. He said he was on his way back to the ship and he was about to go spacewalkin'. For some reason.
Vikki: Okay, look. …(shakes off shock)… You hash it out who's gonna go after Val. I'm gonna see about getting an actuator and fixing the power generator. With power, we have more options. So. I'm off to fix this thing.
As things stand now, their hands are tied but if she can get the power to the robots and Gandalf, it will give everyone more options. They could even mount a rescue if Valentine needs it. Vikki starts combing the chamber for to find that actuator.
Poco: I'm looking for that deuterium so we can just leave.
Rachel: (pained) We need to go find him.
Tian: C'mon. Let's go.
Tian will just have to scrounge for med supplies later. Rachel stays long enough to ask another question.
Rachel: Did he say why we couldn't contact him or if he runnin' outa oxygen?
Poco: He just said he was makin' his way back to the ship.
Rachel: Well, hell …
Poco: Oh and just so you know, the good doctor had a bit of a fugue state aboard—
Tian quells him with a look.
Tian: Using the big words.
Poco: I know big words. Like … two or three.
Rachel: (groks) She didn't eat Eli, did she?
Poco: No. But it was a close thing. (off Tian's look) Yes, it was! She was cuddlin' with him and he coulda died, okay?
Rachel: Poco, look at me. She didn't go off and eat the Captain, did she, and y'all're hidin' that?
Poco: Why would I even—How far did you fall?
Rachel: It was a long way down!
Tian: Oh, God!
While Tian starts moving for the tunnel exit, Poco switches channels on his suit comm and tells Rachel privately what happened with Tian in med bay.
Poco: She didn't do anything to the Captain. She was just .. you know .. she was spoonin' Eli's almost-dead body.
Rachel: It's just SSDD. I just need to know. The Captain goes off and get himself killed bein' brave. She's goin' off an' eatin' random people but hadn't eaten the crew members yet.
Poco: Right.
Rachel: So,we're all good.
Poco: Just don't turn your back to her … or trust her, or anything.
Rachel: Oh, all right … well, I reckon if you hear me scream that's just her eatin' my face but hopefully that'll let Val get away, all right?
Rachel runs to catch up with Tian. Having done his best to warn the pilot, Poco turns to the task of finding the deuterium they need instead of cranking up the facilities to make it. Poco stumbles across something that looks familiar …
Poco: Uhh … Tink? I think I found the—
Vikki: (looks, sees) …. OMIGOD YOU FOUND IT‼‼ Yesss‼ Give it here, thankyou thankyou thankyou! MmmmmmWAH‼!
Vikki air-kisses him through her faceplate and snatches the part right out of his hands.
Vikki: Oh, god, how do I get out of here? Uhm, could you give me a boost? Cuz that's really high up there.
She points at the tunnel access overhead.
Poco: (shrugging) Fastball special?
Vikki: Okay. Thank you!
He laces his fingers into a stirrup, she plants her foot in it, and he heaves her up the tunnel. Wheeee! She gets to work installing the missing part on the power generator. Tian, meanwhile, is worried about Valentine. She suggests using the suit pingers to find him. Suits generally have locator beacons on them for just this situation. Rachel's highly motivated: she considers Valentine the son she never got to have and though she might never admit it to him to his face, she cares for him like the son she would have loved to have.
And just where is Valentine? He's still outside and pondering how to get on the roof of the station. He spies a landslide of rocks and debris making a ramp up one of the station walls. It's sandy and icy but it's better than trying to climb the sheer walls of the station. There are handholds up that slope and Valentine takes to it, pulling himself up to the roof with less risk than his original climb. The dust and debris that he kicks up in his passage floats all around him. Some of it sticks to his visor making it hard to see and he has to pause periodically to wipe it off.
Once he's on the roof, the station's grav plate field quits and he oversteps into zero gee. He tumbles and bounces uncontrollably. He manages to use his directional suit jets, small though they are, to control his spin. Luck is with him and he regains control. He's still more or less on the station. He hasn't shot out into space. He spies Delilah in the distance. He gives his jets another squirt to push him toward her.
Vikki works fast to get that generator running and—yes!—power's on! A voice comes over the station speakers. It's Gandalf.
Gandalf: Repair Sequence: Finished. Failed in Sectors 18, 25, 65, 75 …
And continues to list all the sections of the station with failures registering. There are a damned awful lot of them. Vikki ignores the long list in favor of dogging down her repairs nice and tight. She doesn't want another quake shaking anything loose again.
Gandalf: I see you've connected my service and sensors. Thank you.
Vikki: (pleased) You're welcome. Now can we get our Captain inside, please?
Gandalf: I'm afraid I do not understand that. Could you rephrase the question?
Vikki: Our Captain is outside in a suit and we think he might need help getting back in because of all those failed things that you mentioned. 18, 25, and all that.
Gandalf: Extrastructure activity is not advised in the coma of the comet.
Vikki: Well, you know, he's a take-charge, do-your-own-thing kinda guy.
Gandalf: I'm afraid I believe with some minor repairs I can get some of the robots to retrieve his body once it lands on the surface. However, if he is still alive I'm not sure what assistance I could render.
Not exactly what Vikki wants to hear but she's something of a take-charge kinda gal herself. If Valentine can't come to the crew, the crew will go to Valentine. Mohammad did it with a mountain. Why not do the same here?
Vikki: Do you have any jet packs?
Gandalf: Do I have any jet packs?
Vikki: Or pusher-thingies?
Gandalf: I … I-I-I-I-I-
Gandalf starts to stutter, caught in a loop.
Vikki: Hey, are you okay?
Gandalf: Sorry. We have a malfunction. Correcting …
Vikki: How broken?
Gandalf: I cannot access areas regarding base thrusters. I wish I could help. I think there might be thrusters.
Vikki: Gandalf, would this happen to be the ship buried under the chamber I'm in?
If so, it strongly hints at human interference with Gandalf, that the ship underfoot wasn't part of the original plan but something installed covertly later on. Why else would they lock out his access to thrusters?
Gandalf: I have no record of any ship buried.
Vikki: Okay, don't worry about that now. I need to get deuterium now that the power's up.
Gandalf: So you have a standard input device on your vac suit.
Vikki: Yes.
There's a small data port for plugging in updates to the suit systems software. It should work.
Gandalf: Sending you coordinates of Container 17AB139175NS603 at this location.
Ping! On Vikki's arm panel, the small screen lights up with the information and a small map of the station. A dot marks the location of the deuterium.
Vikki: Shiny!
Gandalf: It has stores of deuterium. Transferable by any standard valve.
Vikki: Thank you very much.
She keys the suit comms of her crewmates.
Vikki: I found the deuterium. I—
Gandalf: Vikki?
Vikki: Gandalf?
Gandalf: Are you planning on leaving?
Gandalf's voice is the same quiet calm tone as always but Vikki's soft heart is stabbed with guilt nonetheless.
Vikki: Um … yes.
Gandalf: I think that is wise given the danger. However—
Vikki: Danger?
Gandalf: Of the quakes.
Vikki: Okay, but … Oh no … (stricken) … What about you and other robots?
Gandalf: I would be more serviceable if at least one of the robots could be brought back to a more functional state.
Vikki: Okay. Um … look, I, um, …. gee.
Gandalf: Your safety is paramount, of course, but if you believe it's within your safety parameters—
Vikki: Look, I have far too much on my plate right now. I've got too many things pushing me in too many directions but I will do what I can. I need to start cleaning my To Do list. (to self) Power on? Yes. Deuterium? Wor—
Gandalf: Just a moment. Sealing off Sections 16, 25, and 14 for air leaks. Air pressure restablized in 325 seconds.
Vikki: Oh, that's about 6 minutes. Okay, you do your thing. I'll do my thing. (keys suit comms) Hey, Poco!
No answer.
Vikki: Dammit.
Gandalf: Vikki.
She starts moving for the door but stops in her tracks when Gandalf calls. She's trying hard not to get sucked in by her sympathy for the AI personality, trying hard to stay on task, but … well, it's … hard.
Vikki: Yes?
Gandalf: I know I told you where to get the deuterium but it appears that area has been cut off from the rest of the station. I believe due to one of the quakes. It possibly happened during my repair mode. Did you experience a quake?
Vikki: Yeah. I fell on my head.
Gandalf: I'm sorry I was unable to subsequently render assistance.
Vikki: Oh, no, no. It's not your fault. I got—(sighs, keys comms)—Poco?
Poco drawls via comms. From his tone, one gets the strong impression that he'd eavesdropped on Vikki's entire conversation with Gandalf.
Poco: … Yes?
Vikki: Where you following in on the coversation? Are you lost yet?
Poco: No. I had the volume turned down.
He could be telling the truth. He could be lying. Vikki has no time to decide either way.
Vikki: Smart man. Look, we found some deuterium. It's ready to go. It's in Container 17AB139175NS603 at—(gives location)—The only problem is it's sealed off from the rest of the station relative to our position because of the quakes. Do you want to go after it or do you want to start up the deuterium plant here and just make some?
Poco: I'm coming up.
In two shakes he's in the generator room and Vikki realizes he must have been travelling up the tunnel as they talked. He goes to the nearest display panel.
Poco: Have your boyfriend show us on the map where this thing is.
Vikki: Gandalf, can you bring up the map, please?
Gandalf: Yes.
Ping! The map comes right up and sure enough, the corridor connecting the cargo area to the rest of the station looks to be snapped in two. Vikki and Poco pore over the map and quickly get their bearings.
Vikki: What we want is here … Delilah's here … and we are …?
Poco: It might actually be safer to just take the shuttle to here, instead of trying to walk through the station with the quakes.
Vikki: Can you fly the shuttle?
Poco: Better yet … (thinks) … We got enough deuterium aboard to lift off. All we need to do is to make it so we don't die when there's another earthquake, which means just not being on the surface. Then we can send the shuttle back down for the deuterium.
Vikki: Okay … (switches comms) … Rachel? Can you just hover Delilah over the pad so she doesn't get shaken up when the next quake hits? While another one of us takes the military shuttle and grabs the deuterium and comes back? And oh, pick up Val on the way, maybe?
Meanwhile Tian and Rachel have made it back to Delilah's bridge, where Rachel is in the chair checking to see if everything still works. Tian shoots Rachel a confused look.
Tian: What is she saying?
Rachel: I dunno! (to Vikki) I don't know where Val is. How the hell'm I supposed to pick him up?
Poco breaks in and talks to Vikki.
Poco: I think the first thing to do is to get back to the ship. The first problem is going to be as soon as we put that bird in the air, we ain't gonna be able to see shit. So we're gonna have to figure out—
Rachel: Why're y'all talkin' like we're in the room?
Poco: Rachel, if you can hear me, listen in. Tryin' to walk through the station while the quakes are happenin' is a terrible idea.
Rachel: Yeah.
Poco: But if we were in the air and could land a shuttle …?
Rachel: A shuttle would definitely raise less dust.
Poco: (to Vikki) Let's pack it in and get back to Delilah.
Rachel comms back to say that she'll sit Delilah's bridge, fire up the engines and keep her hand ready on the throttle in case she needs to move the ship during a quake. The possibility of chunks of the quake jarring loose and rolling off the surrounding mountains rules out sitting on the landing pad dead cold and still. The dust thrown up by firing our ship up will throw up a cloud of dust that would make it difficult to see but the danger posed by falling debris is greater than anything we might suck in.
Poco: Let's get back to the ship.
Vikki: Sounds like a good plan. Better than anything I could come up with anyway.
Poco: Mama Bear, we're comin' in. (to Vikki) Say your goodbyes.
On the bridge, Tian thinks back to what she saw of the buried ship before she left. It seems like it was completely automated and unstaffed. It was locked into a set of instructions and it required an access code to get into them. Rachel comms Poco back.
Rachel: So where do you think Valentine's gone off to? You know the direction of where I might see him?
Poco: Ask Tian. I think he was calling in each new area he got to when he was out exploring.
Tian: I can take us to his last known position.
Rachel: And if he can see the ship from there …
They just might get a handle on Valentine's location. Poco and Vikki send Gandalf's map to the bridge via comms and Tian figures out the last chamber Valentine reported from. It's on the far side of the break.
Rachel: Someone could go out and see if they could see him. Because Val could see the ship.
Tian: Let's hope he's headed for the ship because I'm not exactly sure what he was doing.
Poco: (comms) We're comin' back.
Tian: Come on back. We'll keep trying to hail him on the comm.
Tian tries but there's no answer. She turns away from the comms to ask Rachel a question.
Tian: Can you power us up enough to get a sensor read?
Rachel: No. Too much crap flyin' in the sky here.
Tian tries to look out the bridge windows toward the section of the station where Valentine's last location was on the map. She can't get a good visual.
Rachel: Y'all were gonna take the shuttle to get the deuterium. Is that what y'all said? Since y'all're gonna be in the shuttle, see if you can see him from the shuttle and lemme get Delilah off the ground.
Tian: I don't think it's a good plan to take Delilah off the ground in this mess and try to find him and/or dock.
Rachel: That's true … (rethinks) … Well, hell. I'll stay with her and if I need to can you power her up at least?
Rachel turns around on that last as Vikki and Poco step onto the bridge.
Poco: Yeah.
Rachel: If I have to, I'll take her off and y'all—
Tian: I don't think it's a good idea to take her off if we can't see from all the dust.
Rachel: But you have to go out and see if you can find him.
As the rest of the crew sets to finding Valentine, Rachel elects to sit on Delilah's bridge and coordinate their efforts there. She sits in her chair and murmuring softly she wills Valentine home. If love has any force at all, if God does in fact exist, surely neither would be deaf to her call.
Meanwhile, Valentine's on the roof of the station and coming up on the last of his power and air reserves. It's now or never. Valentine positions himself carefully and aims for the ship. He sends up a silent prayer, knowing just how tricky nailing his trajectory will be.
Valentine: (to self) Six months ago, my biggest problem was worrying whether my Mother would spend her food money on an extra nice slot machine. And now my life depends on whether how well I remember to hit the right button.
A degree or even a fraction of a degree off target will send him shooting past Delilah into space, where he will die a nasty death by asphyxiation when he runs out of air. Assuming a meteorite doesn't wipe him out first.
Valentine: You've got the ship right in front of you. You need to land on it. How hard can it be? You've dealt with the mob. Multiple times. You got shot. Multiple times. You got a Doctor who might be a Reaver. Or not be a Reaver. You, in fact, crashed an entire ship of Reavers. This … (stares at the jump ahead of him) … is golden compared to that. You're gonna land and you're gonna look at least partially impressive. Just … Don't trip and fall. I know Poco's somewhere saying "Quit fuckin' around, Val. We got things to do."
He hits his jets and the thrust sends him shooting wild. Whoa, whoa, whoa! Keeping a tight hold on his panic, Valentine gives his jets another burst. It overcorrects his course and the ground rushes for him. Valentine hits his jets again, getting the hang of it now, and the ship appears on the horizon again. He does one last hard hit on the jets and they crap out—no more fuel. Valentine speeds through the airless void of space right for Delilah … and slams into the bridge windows. As Rachel jumps, stunned by his sudden arrival, he taps on the glass and grins at her.
Valentine: Avon calling!
Tian's intensely relieved—her secret fear (aside from going mad) is that if Valentine doesn't come back, the crew will look to her as Captain. She doesn't want that. When Valentine hits the glass, she scrambles through the nearest hatch and hauls him in. Rachel's already at the airlock to meet him.
Rachel: Ya dumbass jerk!
Valentine: I also seem to have broken the suit.
Rachel: I don't care. C'mere boy!
She grabs him in a fierce bear hug, suit and all. Good Lord but that boy gave her such a fright. Then she lets go and hits the nearest comm to announce the news.
Rachel: He's home.
Valentine: Ahh, sweet, sweet air.
Valentine sags against the bulkhead, sucking down Delilah's atmo like champagne. From somewhere on the ship, without needing the comms, Tian, Rachel, and Valentine hear Vikki's shriek of joy. Rachel rounds on Valentine.
Rachel: You nearly took a hundred years off my life, smackin' off the windshield like that. (swats Valentine) Oh my God, I thought I'd about died, buggin' on my windshield. Did you break my windshield? I bet you broke my windshield. I can't believe you—
Valentine: (grins) It doesn't look like I broke it.
Rachel: Now don't you be sassin' me! I can't believe you bugged on my windshield, crackin' everything to hell and gone and—‼!
She goes on like this all the way to the bridge. She flops into her pilot's chair with a great whoosh of air … and starts to gasp and tremble at the nearness of it all.
Dear God, she nearly lost Laz's boy. How the hell will she be able to face Laz in the afterlife with Val's life on her head? Lord, Lord, Lord, but what the father started, the boy'll finish. He'll be the death of her.
Valentine steps onto the bridge, followed by the rest of the crew. He eyes Rachel but refrains from comment and leans against the console, as if he's just come in from a pleasant Sunday stroll. He turns to Poco.
Valentine: Cigarette? How is everyone?
Poco: Been better.
Rachel: Y'all need to go get fuel and we'll get em on outa here.
Poco: (lights up cigarette) I'll smoke some of my troubles away.
Vikki: We found the deuterium. We got the power running.
Poco: (drags, blows) … Just gotta get the damn deuterium.
Rachel: Yeah, she's cheatin' on ya with an AI.
Vikki: I am not.
Rachel: You are.
Vikki: I am not. I'm—!
Vikki gives up. There's no way she'll be able to make them all understand. Tian steps up to the console next to Valentine and perches her hip on it. Valentine gives his XO a little smile.
Valentine: I'm awfully glad you didn't take Delilah up before I arrived. That could have been awkward.
Tian: You all right?
Valentine: Actually, yes. I'm okay. I'm good. How are you doing?
Uh oh. Time to go. Poco swats Vikki on the arm.
Poco: Hey. Tink. Let's go get this.
Vikki: Okay.
Poco: You know how to fly the shuttle, right?
Vikki: Hell no. Wait. Hey, Rachel? Do I know how to fly the shuttle?
Rachel: Yeah, baby girl. You took flyin' lessons.
Poco: Great. Let's go.
Poco pulls Vikki off the bridge. Valentine raises a brow at this but turns back to Tian.
Valentine: How are you and Poco? Because it sounded like the two of you were having some trouble.
Tian: Well, he wouldn't follow me without weapon in his hand.
Valentine: It's Poco.
Poco peels off to the engine room to start the engines and Vikki continues to the lower deck to the shuttle bay. It takes some doing. There's dust and crap and what all kicked up by our take off. Poco and Rachel have a tough and tricky task keeping everything running smoothly as a result.
Vikki manages to get the shuttle running and just as she's ready to detach from Delilah, Gandalf pages her over her comms.
Gandalf: Vikki, this is Gandalf. I'm just letting you know I'm sensing a power surge in a sector I don't have control over.
Vikki: (groks) Oh no ….
Sure enough, as the crew watches through the bridge windows and viewports, they see the station start to shudder as the ground beneath it starts to shake. On the bridge, Rachel's sensors detect a burn not unlike a ship's thrusters. She also sees the entire centaur change its course on her nav screens. Her eyes widen and she marvels.
Rachel: I could'a flown that comet. Damn…
Watching some more, she confirms that yes, indeedy, that's exactly what's happening. Something is flying that comet along a new course. She has to do some tricky flying to maintain Delilah's position relative to the centaur. After all, they still need to get the deuterium.
Rachel: 'the hell is that thing doin'?
Back in the shuttle, Vikki gets more clues as to what that thing is doin'.
Gandalf: I'm also sensing telemetry being sent from that section Coreward. It's a coded message. Military code.
Vikki: Can you record it?
Gandalf: Yes.
Vikki: Please.
Gandalf: Vikki, I don't know what they're doing to us. It scares me.
Vikki: It scares me too, but record it and we'll—give it to me when it's done. Oh my gosh …. Hang in there, just hang in there.
Rachel breaks in through the comms, talking to all the crew at once. A mishmash of conversation ensues.
Rachel: Y'all, the comet's changing its course.
Vikki: I know.
Poco: (over comms) Oh yeah? Great.
Rachel: This is very strange. Does your AI boyfriend say it'll fly itself?
Vikki: He says it's happening now.
Rachel checks to see how the comet's movement interferes with their flight. Still doable. Vikki and Rachel keep a running dialogue going as the young inventor flies the shuttle back to the station. With Rachel's guidance, she's able to dock at the damaged station and get that deuterium transferred aboard the shuttle.
As Vikki and Rachel are busy doing that, Tian and Valentine step to the side to talk a little more privately.
Tian: Poco commented that it might be a surveillance vessel.
Valentine: What do you think? Can the Alliance do that?
Tian: I didn't work that kind of stuff, so I don't have any idea.
Valentine: I'm only going to worry about things that I can control right now and right now, I can't control that. They're going to report Coreward to people or whatever's behind this.
Tian: It can't record anything except we stopped for help, so it's not like it really involves us at all.
Valentine: (dryly) I'm sure there's a way it could go bad but I'll wait until it happens, honestly.
Tian: (breathes a laugh) You know what?
Valentine: That's me just prioritizing, okay?
It's part of Valentine's job to think of the possibilities, good and bad. Not saying any of it's going to happen. However, that reminds him of something.
Valentine: This thing between you and Poco. I trust you. (off her look) Set boundaries.
Tian: I can't promise him I won't hurt him.
Valentine: Hence the boundaries. Right?
Once Vikki's docked the shuttle, Poco pops the 64,000 credit question:
Poco: Is there some reason we can't just bugger out off this rock?
Valentine: Unless someone can tell me some reason why we should not be buggering out.
Poco: Let's bugger!
Vikki: (from the shuttle) But … It—It ….
Valentine: What Vikki? Speak up or forever hold your piece.
Vikki: I asked Gandalf to record that outgoing message. It's encrypted. It's military. Because dammit, I'm curious. I want to know what they're doing. And well, what about the robots we'd said we'd fix for him? And … and—and …!
Tian: We? Who is this we you're talking about? You got a frog in your pocket?
Poco: (sotto voce) Lemme tell ya a story 'bout Tink and a well…
Valentine: I've heard that story.
Tian: I think I might have lived that story.
Rachel: I think I saw it.
Poco: It's a parable about stayin' behind too long.
Tian: And we're already in the air.
Rachel: Honey, he's an AI. He'll live forever. We ain't gonna.
Vikki: (very small) But I said I'd do something and I didn't get to do it.
Tian: Then wave him and apologize.
Rachel: We'll come back when we can.
Poco: Just tell the AI that it's not him, it's you.
Excuse me?
Vikki: Oh my gosh, Poco, you've got a filthy mind! Either that or it's not filthy enough!
Valentine: Do I want to know—No, I don't want to know. (sighs) I appreciate it, Vikki. I really do. But we're already in a deep hole as it is.
Vikki: Okay, okay, I know, I know. It's just that I … yeah. I know.
Valentine: Apologize to Gandalf for me. Tell him it's my fault, not yours.
Rachel: And we'll come back when the ship's not half-broken, darlin'. He's not gonna take it personally.
Valentine: Maybe it is.
Tian mutes the comm so Vikki can't hear and tosses an exasperated look at Rachel and Valentine.
Tian: Really? No,really? She's afraid the machine is going to take it personally?
Valentine: It's one of Vikki's quirks. If it doesn't do any harm to play along with her, then we play along with her.
As an underscore to Valentine's decision, Vikki's apology to Gandalf clearly sounds across the bridge comms.
Vikki: Gandalf? Are you there?
Gandalf: Yes, Viki.
Vikki: Um … I'm so sorry but we're taking off. Now I' know I said I'd fix those two robots for you and apologize to everybody for me but I—
Gandalf: Your safety is more important.
Vikki: Oh, that's awfully sweet and I'm—Normally I don't like to leave things undone. When I say I'm going to do something and when I say will, I generally do—you can ask my Captain about that—but I—he—I'm on the ship and it's moving and it's moving in the opposite direction and I'm—I mean—Are you going to be okay?
Gandalf: We all have our duties. Vikki?
Vikki: Yes?
Gandalf: Could you do me one thing?
Vikki: (very small) I can try.
Gandalf: If you can monitor my vector? I will send a message as long as I can.
Vikki: All right.
Gandalf: You ought to be able to monitor it. And if it … I trust you to do with it what you may, what you should.
Vikki: Triangulate it. Okay. Um … so …
Gandalf: Thank you for reconnecting me to the power supply.
Vikki: You're welcome. I bolted it down real tight too, so it should be all right. You know, the earthquakes and stuff. So … (this is hard!) … Take care of yourself. ... Bye …
Gandalf: Sending signals now.
And sure enough, we get a ping from the station. Vikki records it and notes its location and telemetry. It's definitely moving and already dopplering a bit. Tian shoots a look at the others on the bridge.
Tian: I'm a little uneasy that she asked to record military transmissions—encrypted military transmissions—and that now we're in possession of them.
Poco: That's like the second time. It's not like it's unprecedented.
Because it's not the first time we carried anything that was rightfully the military's.
Tian: But this already gets us in deeper.
Valentine: Here's the thing. We're already at the level where we're beyond where we ought to be. I don't mind having them. What I don't want to do is start selling them, if we found something on them. That's when we start to draw attention.
Tian: No, we're not going down that rabbit hole.
Rachel sighs and flies while Poco goes down to get that deuterium transferred to Delilah. Come hell or high water, they're inbound for the Core. There's still a little time. Thanks to Rachel's shortcut, they will arrive a day or so ahead of schedule. If they don't run into any more trouble—comet-borne or otherwise—they can still make the sale at Albion.
There's no telling what will happen from here. They can only keep flying and hope for the best. Of course that's not to say that there won't be some friction along the way. Vikki has to endure some ribbing from the crew on her feelings for Gandalf.
Poco: So, we're going to have a discussion about your choice in boyfriends, right?
Vikki:' So you're going to start impugning my choice in boyfriends when one of those choices is this guy? (points to Valentine)
Tian: Yes.
Vikki: You're impugning the Captain when you do that.
Tian: Yes.
Poco: You really think that's going to stop me?
Valentine: They impugn the Captain daily, Vikki.
Vikki: But that's not right.
Valentine: While I might not add that to my resume, walking on a comet is definitely going on it.
And so it goes …
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