I twine the cord between my fingers and marvel. I kid you not: he’s rigged these headphones so they’re linked by a true and actual wire. Putting them on, I feel like I’m acharacter in a vintage reel. Like I really am inThe Mummy.
Kodiak adjusts a dial that he’s rigged from vintage parts. A real, retro, manual dial! The static changes tone as he goes. He nudges it gently, like he’s testing the wing of a tumbled bird.
The static jumps and glitches. I listen to the high-color noise, so unlike the womb-throb of the ship, and startle when I hear a word, or part of a word. “—ax—”
I slap Kodiak hard on the shoulder. He rubs it, scowl soon slackening into concentration. His movements on the dial get even more delicate. “—in—dal—tion—”
“Do you know what it’s saying?” I whisper.
Kodiak shakes his head, continuing to tune the dial. But we can’t get the transmission any clearer. Anytime he touches the knob we lose the signal completely, and it takes a while to get back even the unintelligible shreds we were hearing before.
Finally Kodiak removes his headphones. I do the same. “Kodiak, that was—” I say. He places his hand over my mouth and points to the open portal. Technically I’ve programmed OS not to have any consciousness of this room, but just in case I get up and close it. “Kodiak, that was amazing,” I say once we’re in privacy. Or what might be privacy. Probably isn’t privacy. I can still feel his fingers on my lips. “You made us our own radio.”
“Just the receiver. I don’t think there’s any way I can rigup the ability to transmit. But yes!” He jabs his thumb at his chest, exaggerates his accent. “This Kodiak Celius is pretty useful guy.”
“Is there a way we can strengthen the receiver?”
Kodiak shakes his head, rapping his knuckles against the wall. “Because there is no atmosphere in space, radio signals can reach this far without much distortion, but this hull is heavily shielded. I have to get this device to the exterior, or at least rig an antenna out there.”
I look through the tiny window in the workshop, into the stars wheeling before the dark. “That means a spacewalk,” I say.
“An unauthorized spacewalk,” Kodiak adds. “I’ll have to set up the antenna, affix it to the ship, and run independent wiring along the hull. Not easy, but not especially complicated, either.”
“Not for Kodiak Celius, ‘Pretty Useful Guy,’” I say. My voice trails off. “Except, Kodiak—these are all things OS won’t want you to be doing.”
“OS’s list of tasks is shrinking, but I still have a few exterior damages left to repair,” Kodiak says. “I can attach the antenna next time I’m out. We have little hope of tricking OS, but at least the spacewalk itself won’t be suspicious.”
“We’re still at the mercy of a shifty computer. I don’t like the idea of your going out there.”
“Well, yeah. I’m not exactly thrilled about it, either.”
_-* Tasks Remaining: 71 *-_
“Tell me what you were discussing in what you call the blind room,” OS says as I head to my own quarters to suit up.
“We like to have privacy for some conversations,” I say, taking time to choose my words. “I know you’re fully aware of the human need for privacy, OS.”
“Yes, of course I am aware of this human need. I would like to know if there’s anything you discuss that I might be able to help with. When I can’t hear you, I can’t assist you.”
“It’s just human stuff, OS.” My mouth screws up at the odd words.
“Rover cannot get into Kodiak’s workshop to clean with the polycarb barrier you have erected. I could easily melt it, of course, but that would appear to you to go against your will and would be upsetting to your sense of control. Am I correct?”
“Yes. It would harm our fragile human morale. Leave the workshop blocked.” OS and I are dancing a familiar two-step. We’ve had this conversation before.
“Once I am able to communicate with Cusk mission control, I will have to tell them what you have done.”
“Of course you will,” I say.Come on, pulse, stay even.“We understand.”
I take my spacesuit off its hook, getting an inadvertent whiff of the lining while I remove the helmet. Since I’m a bundle of nerves whenever I’m inside the suit, it’s pretty rank in there, and only going to get worse.
“Kodiak has informed me that he plans to finish his current list of maintenance tasks on an unscheduled spacewalk today. This will take many hours,” OS says.
“Yes, he told me about it, too,” I say.
“I’m glad that you two are in such good communication now,” OS says. I’ve heard all of OS’s various intonations a hundred times each, but this one sounds like something new. Chipper, I guess I’d call it.
“Thanks, OS,” I say, pulling the first leg of the suit up over my knee.
