“Tev, Jesi,” Yan continued, “these controls are useless. I have a hunch that all peripherals will be in similar shape. Our best bet is to try and get more central. Those are probably heavily armoured, so we won’t have any more crab issues.”
“How are we going to get inside then?” Tev asked. “Half the rooms and corridors here are locked, and we can’t get them to open. Any central control would have probably locked up when the ship’s operations died.”
“We could cut through the metal,” Jesi said thoughtfully. “It’ll take days, though, and all our torches are back on the station.” She sighed and looked up at Yan. “You’re going to say we should get the torches, aren’t you?”
“We should get the torches.”
Jesi and Tev moaned in unison.
Briefly, Iris considered that it was odd that the ship’s lights were still operational given that most of the electronics, as Yan had put it, werecrabsand nothing more. But he didn’t know nearly enough about ship wiring systems, nor crabs, nor any possible interactions between the two, and so Iris kept this peculiarity to himself, and instead, silently watched the scene unfold before him.
“Tomorrow,” Tev suggested. “We’ve been scraping lichen from the console for hours. My hands are shaking as it is.”
“We should pack it up too,” Riyu said to Ishtan. “I still have to write up the preliminary reports before I can start sample collection.” She turned to Iris. “Will you be going back on your own shuttle, or would you like to ride with us? We’ve got room for one more. It’s a bit more of a hike, but I bet the seating is more comfortable.”
Iris shook his head. “I’m afraid I won’t be going back to the station, not until my work here is finished.”
“Everyone goes back to the station at the end of the day.”
Iris bit back a startled yelp. The station security guard had snuck up on him, and when their voice came from right behind his left shoulder, he had nearly jumped. “Protocol,” the security officer added, almost apologetically.
“The trip there and back wastes nearly two hours,” Iris protested.
“Yeah,” Yan said, “that’s nearly as much time as you’ve wasted having tea and sandwiches.” Riyu elbowed him and mutteredshut upunder her breath.
Iris turned towards the security personnel and put on what he believed to be the best innocent face he could muster. “I would simply prefer it if I could stay behind on theNicaea. You see, Primary Temple sent me here for an important job, and I can’t be seen as slacking off, going to and from the station. I’m not on your contracts. Even if something were to happen to me, you wouldn’t be held responsible.Iwouldn’t hold you responsible.” Iris gave them a practiced, timid smile. The smaller he made himself, the bigger others felt. The bigger they felt, the more inclined they were to be permissive. Stroke an ego, get your way. “And anyway, I’ll mostly keep to the cargo bay. I promise I won’t disturb anything while you’re gone.”
If that’s not a lie, I don’t know what is,VIFAI laughed. With a micromotion of his eyes, Iris firmly sent the AI to the back of his mind. Still, the security guards didn’t budge.
“Protocol,” the other one said and motioned for the door.
Iris was losing ground, and he hated losing. Very well. He could play dirty, get his way by any means necessary. Taking a deep breath, Iris pressed his palms together and dropped to the floor. He kneeled down and leaned forwards. With his forehead pressed against the metal of the floor, he muttered, “My friend, rejoice, for there is no you, and there is no me. The Light is your flesh as it is starlight. The Light is these words as it isthe blood in your veins. Rejoice that in the touch of a lover you know the touch of the Divine. Rejoice that in your last breath you learn what it is to be the cosmos.”
One of the security personnel took a step towards him and reached for his shoulder when Ishtan stopped him. “You can’t touch him,” he said, biting back a laugh. “Those are the rules.”
The security guard froze, hand outstretched. He looked over to his partner, who gave him an indifferent shrug. Everyone watched in silence as Iris prayed, faces contorted in various degrees of discomfort. Tev was fighting back a nervous chuckle until Jesi pinched his arm, hard.
“My friend, rejoice, for there is no you, and there is no me. The Light is your flesh as it is starlight. The Light is these words as it is the blood in your veins,” Iris kept muttering, now adding the passing of the mala between his fingers to his performance. More laden silence passed through the group, each person growing increasingly uncomfortable in the presence of a prostrated monk.
“All right, fine.” The security guard finally lowered his hand. “Everyone except for the praying nutjob, head to the airlock.” He gave Iris one last disapproving look and walked away. More footsteps shuffled out of hearing range as the academics filtered out, following their guards. Iris remained on the ground, forehead pressed to the floor, now muttering a recipe for dinner stew that no one in his company could distinguish from prayer. To the untrained ear, in the right cadence, anything in the Starlit tongue sounded like prayer.
On her way out, Riyu knelt beside Iris and whispered, “I’m leaving the cooler behind; there are three more sandwiches in there. Oh, and the kettle too, so you can have some tea.Bye.” Her light footsteps pattered towards the door and melted intothe newfound silence. When the muffled voices had faded from earshot, Iris rose with a self-satisfied grin.
You sure showed them.
Iris couldn’t help but allow himself an audible chuckle. Then he pulled the sandwich from his robes and devoured it in five bites. It was the best lab-grown ham he had ever tasted, and in his time, he had tasted a not insignificant amount.
Back to work then?VIFAI asked when the chewing had subsided. Ignoring his electronic companion, Iris hopped to his feet and brushed the crumbs from the folds of his robes. He threw the cooler open, grabbed the remaining three sandwiches, and shoved them into the various hidden pockets in his robes. Someone had left behind their full mug of tea, and Iris gulped a few sips down to push the remains of the inhaled sandwich to their rightful place. Finally, with a satisfied sigh, he finished the lukewarm tea and set the mug back down.
With a defiant tilt of the head, he declared, “Throw up the map, my incorporeal friend. We’re going exploring.”
What about the bones?
“They’ll be there tomorrow,” Iris said. “They do have a lovely tendency of remaining stationary.”
Here was a rare opportunity to venture out into the unknown without loud engineers or overly enthusiastic academics distracting him, to explore the winding corridors and sprawling halls the way he had intended—alone. Come morning, Iris would dutifully return to assembling the skeletons and delivering the rites, he promised himself. But tonight, he would no longer ignore the allure of the unexpected, potential snakes and crabs be damned.
Sensing his iron-clad determination, immune to any sort of reason, VIFAI summonedNicaea’s map directly into Iris’s mind. Its faintly glowing outlines pushed past the physical walls ofthe room and into unseen corridors. It was the largest ship Iris had ever beheld. A city more so than a ship. Before him, it lay lifeless and empty. Yet, some ghost of the ship had guided it through the gate and safely placed it into orbit around Doshua Station. As Iris took it all in, all of its nineteen stacked decks unfurling before him, he sensed a gently rising pulse through the balls of his feet.
