“Well?” The soldier looked around.
“In the dispensary. There’s a box.” Velda pointed, and one of the guards went in, and then wheeled the box out.
“What does it do?” the soldier asked.
Velda lifted her shoulders. “They didn’t tell us.”
The guard opened the box, and they all looked inside it, he and Velda for the first time, given the blindfolds.
There were four silver balls nestled in little holders, six empty holders, and a small box set in its own holder. That was probably the gyra-na Linao and Ritter had discussed. The machine to remove the silver balls.
“What’s that?” The soldier pointed to the box.
“We were blindfolded each time, we’ve never seen inside the box.” Velda leaned in a little, to get a better look.
“Blindfolded?” The soldier repeated the word carefully, and Velda pointed to the two blindfolds on the counter, then covered her eyes with her hands.
“Why?” he asked. He looked at Ethan, this time, as if suspicious that Velda had done all the talking.
“He said he didn’t want us to have any information about the experiment,” Ethan said. “He did the same with the crew he experimented on.”
“He used crew?” The soldier looked toward the door, suddenly interested.
Both he and Velda nodded.
“Why did he need you, then?” the soldier asked.
“They refused to participate anymore.” Velda spoke up.
“Refused?” The soldier was clearly stumped.
“They wouldn’t do it.” Ethan clarified. Then he gave a faint grin. “They can’t make the crew do anything they don’t want to, or there will be trouble onboard. Prisoners, however, don’t have a say.”
No doubt the Caruson couldn’t conceive of crew refusing to do anything. They either did it or they got ejected into space, probably.
“But they were also in the experiment?” The soldier stared at the box.
“Before we were taken prisoner,” Ethan agreed. “Then the crew said they wouldn’t do it anymore, so they brought us up from the mine with the ore.”
“And what does it do?”
Both he and Velda lifted their shoulders, almost in unison.
“Ritter suspects nothing, because it’s very old,” Velda said, maybe a little too earnestly.
The soldier swung his head to look at Ethan.
“That’s what he said,” Ethan agreed. “Ritter was frustrated and disappointed.”
The soldier took another screen out of his bag, and Ethan recognized it as the one Ritter had carried around. He tapped through it, and then spoke in a low voice over his comms.
When he was done, he pointed to Velda. “How old is very old?”
Again, she shrugged. “He didn’t tell us.”
“How does it work?” The soldier took the slim, silver tongs that were set in the box beside the balls, but couldn’t work them because his hands were too big.
They both shook their heads.
