“Might? Do you really think we have a chance?”
“I’ve done more with less.”
He laughed. “So you’re asking us to trust you.”
“Yep.”
“I’ll talk to Hank. He’s been saying we need to start over so I’m sure he’ll agree to give you all the help you’ll need.”
Logan was thrilled to hear the Transmission might be repaired. He gave me one of his new tiny video cameras to plant so he could watch when they start working on the machine. Between my supply runs, he spent his time building gadgets. And I spent my free time with Bubba Boom. Since Hank and his crew had agreed to assist me, Bubba Boom acted as our go between.
Modifying the glass tube detector, Logan returned it to me. Since I didn’t have the time to sweep all the Sectors and Quadrants in Inside to search for the active link to the Controllers, I passed it along to Hank and his crew to check them.
“You want to start doing what?” Lamont asked me.
“Using the vampire boxes,” I said again. It was hour fifteen during week 147,025, and the last fifty hours of traveling back and forth to Logan’s had been physically draining. I perched on the edge of the examination table while Lamont sorted through her supplies.
“Why?”
“The files with all the blood test data are…unavailable, so I want to do tests on everyone.”
Lamont stared at me as if I displayed symptoms of a high fever. “What do you want to test for?”
“Family bloodlines.”
“Why?”
“I think it’ll help us regain a sense of community. Instead of being the uppers and lowers we can be the Ashons and Minekos.Then each family can vote for a representative to be in the Committee of nine. But I think we still need a captain. Someone like Hank.”
“Or you,” she said.
“I don't have any technical knowledge of the ship.”
“You don't need it. You have Logan, who you trust. A captain can't do everything that's why she has a support staff of trusted people.”
“The people of Inside might not be too happy to see me in that position.”
“You have good ideas. When you get us on the right track everyone will be happy.”
She had a lot of confidence in me. I waited for the familiar twist of fear in my stomach, but nothing happened. At least the thought of people relying on me didn't scare me anymore. Instead, it gave me a push of motivation. Much better.
“The only problem with using the vampire boxes is we can't put the results in the computer, and we don't have enough wipe boards,” I said.
“Then we'll do it the old fashioned way.” Lamont gestured to the white metal walls. “They're just giant wipe boards and we'll have plenty of space.”
I laughed.
“Do you want to test everybody? Even those who know their family names already?”
“No. Just test the people in the lower levels. Will the boxes be able to tell which family they belong to from the blood sample?”
“The families have been mixing together for the last 145,027 weeks in the lower levels, it might be hard to find a clear match. We could do hybrid families like the Ashekos?”
“That would give us too many groups. I'd like to keep the numbers small. If possible, pick the dominate family and tell each person his or her family name.”
“And if I can't?”
“Pick a family. Preferably one that is short on members.”
