“Be happy they made them that way,” Kizzy said. “I wouldn’t have been able to figure ’em out otherwise. They should’ve hired better techs.” She glanced up at the Aeluon soldiers. “Or, I mean, um, hrm.” She grabbed a cookie off a nearby plate and shoved it into her mouth.
Pei tapped her fingers on the table. “You’re sure they’re nowhere else on the ship?”
“Positive,” Oxlen said. “I ran a full scan, after I knew what to look for.”
Pei’s cheeks flooded with colors. Ashby knew that look—hesitancy. “Kizzy. I wish I didn’t have to ask this, but—”
“Yeah, I can do it,” Kizzy said. She looked Ashby right in the eye before he’d even said anything. “I can. I poked at the timer, and they’re set to go off in three days. That’s way more than I need.”
“I don’t doubt that you can do it,” Ashby said. “But just because you took care of one doesn’t mean that the others might not go off.”
“If we do nothing, they’re all going to go off.”
Corbin spoke up from his vantage point by the kitchen counter. “Would that be such a bad thing?” he asked. “This… situation puts all of us at risk. No offense, Captain Tem, but this is not our problem.” Sissix opened her mouth, but Corbin continued. “I’m sure we could drop all of you somewhere where you could find transport back to wherever you’re going. Why not call the ship a loss and let us give you passage? We might even have room for some of your cargo, so long as you prioritize.”
Pei looked to the two soldiers. Their faces erupted with color, shifting fast as a kaleidoscope.
A minute passed. “Um, so…” Kizzy said.
Jenks frowned. “They’re talking, Kizzy.”
“Oh.” She covered her mouth with her hands. “Right.”
Pei exhaled. “Sorry. The trouble is that our cargo is… important. The soldiers feel that if there is a chance of saving all of it, we have to take it.” She met Ashby’s eyes. “And I feel terrible for saying it, but I’m inclined to agree. Not because it’s my ship or because I want to get paid. But what we’re carrying… it could really help. I’m sorry, I…” She glanced at the soldiers. “I can’t explain further than that.”
Ashby looked to Kizzy. “I’m not going to make you do this.”
Kizzy nodded with more composure than Ashby had ever seen in her. “I already said. I can do this.” She picked up the blasting cap. “I was freaking out while I took this one apart. I’m one-hundred-percent chill now. If I could disarm them while I was losing my shit, I can totally do it now.” She smiled at Rosemary, who was biting her lip. “I got this.”
“I’m going with you,” Jenks said. “It’ll go faster with two.”
“No,” Kizzy said. She grew quieter. “Something could still go wrong.”
“All the more reason you need some help.”
“All the more reason you should stay.” She fidgeted with the blasting cap. “If something goes wrong, the Wayfarer still needs a tech.”
Jenks looked hard at her. “Don’t you talk like that.” Everyone at the table could hear him, but there was a soft urgency in his tone that was meant for her ears alone.
“We should move our ships as far apart as possible,” Corbin said. “If something does go awry, we need to make sure our ship is protected.”
Pei nodded. “That’s a wise precaution. My people will stay here while Kizzy deals with the mines. I’ll be going with her.”
“Why?” Ashby said, the word out of his mouth before he’d had time to think. But he wasn’t alone in the sentiment. The other Aeluons’ cheeks flashed with urgency.
“I’ll go,” Tak said. “I’m here to defend this cargo.”
“It’s my ship,” Pei said.
“You’re a civilian.”
“It’s my ship.” Pei leaned forward, colors flaring. Whatever she said, it was enough to make Tak back down. She turned to Kizzy. “I won’t ask someone from another crew to risk something that I’m not prepared to risk myself.” Pei looked to Ashby. “Don’t worry. We see anything we can’t handle, we’ll get out of there fast. I’ll take care of her.”
Ashby sighed and put on the bravest smile he could. “I know you will,” he said. But who will take care of you?
Kizzy stood in front of the open service panel, tools in hand, looking at nothing. Little yellow lights flashed in the dark. They were waiting for her. She didn’t move.
Pei placed a hand on her shoulder. “Finding some courage?”
Kizzy shook her head. “No. I’m good.”
Pei blinked her weird eyelids sideways. “This isn’t that Human thing where you pretend not to be scared, is it?”
“No. Really, I’m good.” She climbed into the wall. Pei followed, hanging back by the access panel. Kizzy made her way to the closest mine. It seemed smaller than the first. She turned on her globulbs and got to work, moving with steady hands and quiet breaths. “Is that a Human thing? Isn’t that something everybody does?”
“Oh, no. It’s a Human thing. See?” She pointed at the colored patches on her finely scaled cheeks.
Kizzy let go of the mine and looked up. “I… don’t know what that means.” She made an apologetic face. “Sorry, I don’t really know any Aeluons.”
“Are they red? Mostly? Maybe a bit of yellow mixed in?”
“Yeah. They’re all, like, swirly.”
“Yep. I’m scared.” She cocked her head. “And I’m curious as to why you’re not.”
Kizzy pursed her lips and looked back down at the armed explosive. “I don’t know. I was super scared when I first found them, but now, it’s not so bad. Nervous, maybe, but no more than, like, working on the outer hull or putting out a circuit fire. There’s a problem, and it’s serious, but I’m fine. I don’t really get why, but there you go.”
“You’ve examined the situation and are confident you can fix it. That makes sense.”
“I guess.” They both fell quiet as Kizzy worked her way around the mine, melting the sealant, snipping the cables. As the blasting cap fell into Kizzy’s hand, Pei audibly exhaled. It was strange, hearing a sound come from her mouth, instead of the talkbox.
“Stars,” Pei said. “I feel so useless, not being able to help, but all the same, I don’t know if I could do that.”
“Really?” Kizzy said, moving up the walkway. “You deal with this kind of shit all the time. Like, guns pointed at your face and bad guys on your ship and all sorts of stuff.”
“Guns and… bad guys, yes. But this”—she nodded toward the mines—“is not the shit I deal with all the time. This is not something I can fix. And that’s what scares me. There are few things as unsettling as a lack of control in an unfamiliar situation.”
Kizzy raised her tools, and silence returned. She crouched to examine the sealant. She frowned, and flipped down one of her magnification lenses. “Ah, shit.”
She could practically hear Pei tense up. “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t worry, nothing major.” She squinted, then rolled her eyes. “These hackjob goofballs. They let sealant get into the cable channel.”
“Is that bad?”
“No, it’s just stupid. I’m going to have to melt it on super low heat, so that the kedrium doesn’t get too hot.”
“That’s bad, right?”
“It would be, yeah, but it won’t happen. It’ll take me a long ass time, though. Idiots.” She sighed as she fit the heat awl with a smaller tip, and dialed down the temperature. For a while, they said nothing. Her neck was already feeling cranky from hunching. “Hey, um, listen, I know I don’t know you at all, but can I ask you a question?”