No. Because I know exactly what he’s going to say.
I look to Lourdes. “Will it be a problem connecting theAurorato the upgraded commweb?” We’d be dealing with old tech. The commweb was much smaller and less sophisticated, in its infancy, when theAuroralaunched.
“I… I don’t think so,” she says. Then she nods, growing more confident. “I can do it.”
I turn to Voller. “Do you know how to fly it?”
“I can fly anything with wings, baby,” he boasts.
I sigh. “Do I really need to remind you that it doesn’t have wings?”
“It’s a saying, boss. I got it. No worries.”
It’s hard not to roll my eyes. Suddenly I’m the “boss” once we’re doing what Voller wants.
“I can work with him,” Nysus pipes in. “The basic controls should be the same. The operating system is an older and slightly more complicated version of our own Shenandoah 15.7. I’m sure I have the specs for it in here somewhere…” He trails off as he, presumably, begins digging for the stored information.
“Great,” I say in a clipped voice. All business, professional. That’s the only thing that’s going to get me through this: focusing on the job. “Also, I don’t think we should eat or drink anything on board, just in case. It’s possible the water may have been—”
“It’s too risky,” Kane interjects, moving around Lourdes to stand in front of me. But what his gaze tells me is that he thinks it’s too risky forme. Maybe he’s right. He’s seen my file.
Claire. Claire. Claire.Those voices calling to me.
Sometimes I still wake up in the night, hearing them, hearing Becca’s laugh, and it always takes me a minute to realize it’s a nightmare. It has to be a nightmare.
But none of that’s going to change my mind.
“Listen up.” I focus my attention on Voller and Lourdes because I can’t quite look at Kane. “I’m not going to order anyone to do this. Did you hear me, Nysus?”
“Affirmative,” he says in a distracted tone.
“If we have to, we split between the LINA and theAurora. Kane and Lourdes, you can take LINA and follow us.”
“But you’re going on theAurora,” Kane says.
“Yes,” I confirm. “I am.”
“You know I’m in,” Voller says, quite unnecessarily.
“Nysus?” I ask.
Voller snorts.
“Are you kidding? This is the chance of a lifetime,” Nysus says. “To be inside theAurora,frozen in time, exactly as they left it when… whatever happened, happened?”
“I’ll go,” Lourdes says in a small voice. “I don’t want to be here by myself.” She shoots Kane an apologetic look. “Sorry, Behrens.”
He shrugs tightly.
I make myself meet Kane’s eyes, asking the silent question.
Kane exhales in a sigh, and I know I’ve won. If boarding and staying on a ship of the damned can be considered winning.
“So, it’s settled,” I say crisply. “Lourdes, work with Nysus on what you’ll need to get connected to the commweb. We may need to borrow parts from LINA,” I say.
She bobs her head in agreement and then squeezes past Voller to the corridor, heading for Nysus.
“Voller, get ready to head back over. If the diagnostics show anything out of the ordinary, we’re done. Kane and I will help with… other prep.” While also making sure that Voller’s enthusiasm doesn’t cause him to “miss” anything.
