I was over in less than a blink, whipping out my pocket extinguisher and spraying the blaze until it was no more. After that, it was my coolant cleaner that quickly dissolved the thick white foam that the extinguisher produced. Once I was sure everything was copasetic and not combusting, I returned to my post.
“This isn’t working,” the taller of the coin twins said, pulling at his long ponytail. “We shouldn’t be getting this many overloads just doing simple re-specs. We haven’t even gotten to a propulsion test yet. Or the dampeners!”
“Do you have a suggestion?” Gonzales asked, for once not snarky as she stood as well, wiping engineering lubricant from her hands. “Because my specialty is so far away from this, it might as well be on the other side of that wormhole. The only thing I’m good for right now is following directions.”
“By all means, this should be working,” Ciangi said, setting down her tools as well. “I just can’t figure out why we’re getting so many sparks. I feel like once we build the dampening system, it will fix this issue, but we can’t build a dampening system if we can’t even get the adaptors to work.”
The three of them stood there, contemplating, while I looked between the three of them, uncertain if they were serious. After a few stressful seconds, I cleared my throat tentatively.
“What’s up, Higgens?” Gonzales asked, eyes looking to me curiously.
“Uh, if I’m understanding you all correctly, the only issue is that the current power level is too much for the repairs to handle until the whole system is in place?”
“That’s the current theory, yeah.” I looked around one more time, sure they were playing some kind of trick on me. “What is it? You’ve got a funny expression on your face. Well, funnier than usual.”
“Gonzales, be nice.”
“What? He knows I’m just playing around. We got that repartee, ya know.”
“It’s just, I, uh... If that’s the issue, why don’t we just, uh…shut off the power?”
“Shut off the power? But without that, there won’t be any life support, or gravity field, or anything really.”
“So?” I shrugged. “I know I’ve read about engineers working in space before. This would essentially be the same thing, wouldn’t it? An artificial vacuum is still a vacuum.”
The three were silent for a long moment, exchanging glances that I couldn’t interpret.
“I believe I have also read about such things,” Mimic added softly. Soft was about the only volume level she could generate anymore. “It is how space stations tend to outer damage of ships, if I am not mistaken.”
“Yeah, and it also happens to be incredibly dangerous and require two years of schooling and internship in addition to what we went through as mechanical engineers.”
“Then again,” Gonzales said, eyeing me with a smirk. “It’s definitely a valid option. And perhaps the best one we’ve had about the problem.”
“We’ve only been discussing the problem for three minutes. Perhaps we should spend a bit more time researching before jumping to the most dangerous conclusion?”
“Discussing it out loud,” she corrected. “But you know it’s been in the back of your mind ever since we started synthesizing the crystals we need.”
“That isn’t necessarily true.” Gonzales raised an eyebrow and crossed to my side. After just a few beats, Ciangi sighed. “Alright. So maybe it was a couple of hours after the first time my hair caught fire. But still, I’m not sure that this is the best course of action.”
“That’s alright,” I said, holding my hands up in a sign of peace. “We’re civilized people here. How about we compromise? Take a few hours, maybe even sleep on it. If you can think of a better idea, let’s do that first. But if you can’t…”
“Then it’s time to make an artificial vacuum!” Gonzales said, probably a bit too cheerfully.
Bahn nodded, coming up beside his shorter counterpart. “That sounds like a fair compromise to me.”
“Good. Then let’s all take a break for now.” I held out my hand to Mimic, who slowly shuffled over with me. “Of course, if any of you decide on something before tonight, feel free to speed along the process. We don’t have much time.”
“Of course. Stay by the comms, everyone. Hopefully, this will be our last night floating in this nowhere land.”
“Be safe, everyone.”
And with that, we all parted our separate ways, busy with our own thoughts. Mimic and I headed back to our room, where she laid down with a rasping gasp.
“I’m worried about you,” I murmured, sitting in the chair across from her bunk.
“I am fine.”
“I know that you’re not.”
“I know as well, but I have read that a specific response is not what is expected upon such an inquiry, but rather a general assurance of positivity.”
“I guess usually, yeah, but I mean it. I’m worried about you. I see the pain you’re in.”
“Unfortunate. I was trying not to telegraph it.”
“You don’t have to hide it, though. That probably takes even more energy. You don’t have to pretend to be fine.”
“I… I will try to keep that in mind.”
“Good. You should get some rest while you can.”
“And what of you?”
I smiled and pulled out my data-log. “I have some research to do.”
Creating a Void
“Higgens!”
I groaned, unwilling to open my eyes or lift my head.
“Higgens! I don’t know what you’re doing in there, but I’m about to break the door down myself if you don’t get up and let me in!”
That sounded serious.
Groggily, I lifted my head and tried to take inventory of my surrounding. I was still in the bunk that Mimic and I had claimed for ourselves, where apparently, I had fallen asleep sitting up and slumped forward against the wall. My shapeshifting companion had once again reverted to her black and spikey self, taking up one of the bunks in its entirely.
She needed all the rest she could get, so I knew I needed to get to the door before whoever was banging on the other side woke her. Since when had I locked it anyway? I didn’t remember doing so.
“I’m coming!” I hissed, fighting my way to my feet. My head spun for a moment, but I managed to recover and make it to the door before anyone could do any kicking in. I blinked in confusion as I saw the engineering trio on the other side, looking bright-eyed and in agreement.
“What’s going on?” I asked quietly.
“We’ve made up our minds a little early, and there’s no time to waste.” Gonzales grabbed my wrist and pulled me out into the hall. “So, rise and shine, sleepyhead, it’s time for your very first try at engineering in a vacuum!”
I tried to verbalize objections, but my brain wasn’t quite keeping up with the situation. I had never been much of a morning person, and I was even less of a four-in-the-morning type of person.
“But if we’re killing the power and life support to the whole ship, don’t we need to wake up Mimic?”
“There’s plenty of preparation and suiting up that has to take place beforehand, so we thought it best if she rested while she could. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of her once it’s time.”
“Okay, that’s good. But can we stop for some coffee along the way?”
‘Really? I never thought of you as much of a java drinker.”
“I’m not. Sleep is always superior, but when it’s in short supply, I’ll take caffeine as a substitute.”
“Gotcha. Well, I think we can arrange that.”
They changed our course toward the cafeteria, and a few minutes later, I had a steaming cappuccino right in front of me.
The hot drink did indeed help, soothing over my frayed nerves and overworked synapses. I felt myself start to feel less dead and ready to do the impossible.