Nothing happened.
When he got close enough, he saw that there was indeed a palm reader by the main hatch. He used the logorian’s hand first, pressing the meaty, three-fingered appendage to the screen.
The door opened, and he went inside, ready to fight if someone challenged him.
The ship was empty. He couldn’t believe it. Finally, his clan had the means to leave the planet!
He tucked the severed hand back in the bag before leaning out and beckoning Maddison to join him.
She hurried on board and went straight to the cockpit, dropping her pack on the deck near the door. “Judging by the size of the pilot’s chair and the language on the console, this is a logarian design, but I think the layout is similar to what I’ve seen before.”
He followed after her. If she could start the engines, maybe they’d be able to figure out a way to get it airborne.
“Wait. I want to try something.”
She raised her voice and added a note of command he’d never heard before. “Ship, are you able to respond?”
“I am the ship’s AI. Please identify yourself.”
He nearly spoke up but stopped himself. She’dknown enough to call for the AI, so she knew better than he what to say to it.
“There are two of us. Maddison and Havoc. We’re both new hires and might not be on the roster yet. Can you add us?”
He stared at her. Could that actually work?
There was a soft chime and then the AI spoke again. “Task complete. Welcome aboard.”
“Thank you.” She grinned at Havoc. “Our mission here is done, but our pilot died in the fighting. Can you fly yourself?”
“I can. Please provide coordinates.”
Fuck. He had no idea what the base camp’s coordinates were. They had no way to map the surface. He raised his hands and shook his head at Maddison.
She bit her lip and frowned as she considered the situation. After a few seconds, she brightened, and the line vanished from between her brows. “Can you take us into orbit and then scan the surface? We need to locate our next objective before we can give you the coordinates.”
“I can do that. Do you wish to return to the designated rendezvous point?”
“No!” she answered sharply. “I mean, we’d rather not return until we complete all of our objectives. We’ll leave you to calculate the best orbit given our need to complete everything before our set rendezvous time. Just so we’re clear, when was that?”
“The mother-ship was expected to rendezvous withus in approximately thirty-nine hours. However, that vessel departed orbit and left no updated information.”
“The mother-ship left orbit? Is that standard procedure?”
“No. Their departure was unexpected, and no explanation was given.”
She glanced at him with a worried look.
It did not sound good to him either, but without more information, they couldn’t begin to guess why the larger ship had left their teams behind.
“Thank you. Please begin start-up procedures. Your passengers are going to do an equipment check and clean up in preparation for our next objective.”
“Confirmed. Departure will occur in nineteen minutes. Optimal orbit calculated. Transit time, twenty-nine minutes. Please be in your seats and secure all cargo before lift-off.”
“We’ll do that. Oh, one more thing. Can you turn the air-scrubbers to maximum?” She wrinkled her nose. “The air in here is a little… pungent.”
Once they were out of the cockpit, Havoc asked the first of many questions. “How did you know to do that?”
“The shuttle that brought us down from theHarvesthad an AI, too. That one wouldn’t let any of us fly the ship, because none of us were certified pilots. I figured we might have better luck if we let the AI feel like it was in charge this time.”
