“Yes.” Dev ruffled her hair dry. “I really liked that.” She said. “But I think I have to work out that whole swimming thing since my head kept going under and it was all a bit difficult.
Jess put her hands on her hips.
Dev stopped her motion, seeing the look on Jess’s face. “Is there something incorrect?”
“Ever occur to you that jumping in water and not knowing how to swim is a bad idea?” Jess asked.
Dev considered the question, as she put the towel in the container and ran her fingers through her hair to order it. “No.” She finally concluded. “How would I know how if I didn’t try it?”
Jess nodded. “Okay.” She looked around. “Glad you liked the gym.” She exhaled a little. “I have to start getting back in here regularily now that med cleared me.” Her voice sounded regretful. “But listen, it looks like we’ve got a few days break due to met. “
Dev closed her locker. “Okay.” She said. “Is there something else we need to do?”
“C’mon” Jess started walking towards the door, and Dev followed her unquestioningly. They exited the gym and walked through the central corridor. “Tomorrow night we’ll have to go to the induction of the new class.”
“Okay.”
“And the party afterwards.” Jess said.
Dev walked along at her side in silence for a few strides. “What’s a party?”
Jess rubbed the bridge of her nose. “It’s when everyone gets together in one room and drinks themselves stupid while eating bad seaweed crackers and mushroom dip.”
Dev digested this thoughtfully. “Is this a good thing or a bad thing?” She finally asked, as they headed down the long corridor towards the carrier hanger. “You sound like it’s a bad thing.”
Jess chuckled dryly. “I’m just not a party animal.” She admitted. “You saw the crowd in the bar when we got back from the rescue. More of the same of that.” She palmed open the door to the hangar and motioned Dev to go in.
They walked inside, finding the hangar relatively quiet. “Want to check out the body job.” Jess said. “Always pays to put an eyeball on it.”
Dev decided just to follow along, since neither remark made any sense to her. She stuck by Jess’s side as they walked between the parked vehicles, moving towards the rear where the tech station was. The tall ceiling was shrouded in darkness, the roof overhead firmly shut.
There were a lot of techs moving around. They gave her and Jess brief glances, then went back to their tasks, which made Dev feel pretty good. She liked being treated casually. ‘Do you have to go to the party?”
Jess sighed. “Yes and no.” She responded. “Its expected. So we go, but … “ She paused, and fell silent. “Maybe it was Josh dragging me to all of them I don’t know.” She led the way around a tool bay and ducked under the fuel piping. “Doesn’t matter.”
Here, close to where they were rebuilding what was apparently their carrier, the smells were sharp and the mist in the air made Dev’s eyes water. She forgot all about the party when she saw the framework of the big craft under the lights, scoured clean of all the battle damage. “Wow.”
“Stripped her down to bare.” Jess agreed. “Ugly thing, isn’t it?”
“I don’t’ think so, no.” Dev edged around to get a better look. Without it’s skin on, you could see all the systems and gyros that made the carrier function and she stared in rapt fascination, feeling a strong surge of programming tickling her. “This is very interesting.”
A man in a scuffed and stained orange jumpsuit came around the side of the carrier. “What was that?” He sidled over to Dev. “Were you saying you were interested?”
“Very.” Dev agreed.
Jess rolled her eyes. “Oh no.” She sighed. “Now you’re in for it.”
“Shut up, Drake.” The tech motioned Dev closer. “Finally, one of you appreciates my work.” He focused his attention on the tech. “My name’s Clint.” He said. “We almost met the other day when you brought this baby back here.”
“Dev.” Dev smiled at him, a genuine and appreciative grin. “Are you building it all up from scratch? It looks much better already.”
Clint returned the smile. “Let me give you a tour.” He steered her towards the stripped down rig. “Beat it, Drake. I know you just think of this as your damned bus.”
Jess felt a sudden rush of anger that really surprised her. She surged after them and only just kept herself from slamming Clint in the back, pulling back at such a last minute that Clint sensed it, and half turned, his eyes going a little wider in alarm.
He looked at her face, and then he stepped away from Dev and put both his hands up, palms outward. “Sorry. Over the top. Didn’t mean to piss you off.”
Dev had turned too, and she instinctively did the opposite. She moved a little closer and looked up at Jess with a slightly concerned expression, one hand lifting up and touching Jess on the arm. “Is there something wrong?”
Jess felt a flush rising to her face, and she was glad of the glaring lights that obscured it. “No.” She said. “I just don’t appreciate being told off.”
Clint let his hands slowly lower. “Sorry, Jess.’ He said. “I really was just razzing you.”
Jess felt her body relax, aware that her muscles had tightened into a pre fight posture, her fingers twitching a bit at her sides. “It’s okay.” She said, briefly. “But you know, maybe I want to see the damn old thing too.”
“Hey, no problem!” Clint smiled again. “C”mon.” He turned and led them under the carrier, it’s stark structure now so very evident. “You really porched it this time. We had to rebuild half the front end…”
Jess ducked under one of the steel ribs and followed him and after a brief pause, Dev joined her. ‘Sorry about that.” Jess muttered. “He just bites my shorts sometimes.”
Dev reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose, giving Jess a sideways glance.
“Just a saying.” Jess felt herself relax a little more, appreciating the humor. “He’s never been near my shorts.”
“So anyway.” Clint said, oblivious of the whispers. “Since we had to rebuild this old sucker from the frame I decided to put in a whole new scan package, and that newfangled targeting system they just released down in the lab.”
“Oh yeah?” Jess investigated the item. “I saw a squirt on that.”
Dev poked her head inside the frame and took in the details avidly, setting aside her concern over Jess’s reaction a moment ago. Her companion now seemed to be over the anger, and Dev was glad because she could see that it had frightened Clint.
Just like the security men had been frightened. Dev peeked over and watched Jess as she listened to Clint’s explanation of the new targeting system. She was relaxed and interested now, her hands running over the device.
Doctor Dan had told her she could trust Jess. Dev thought about that. She trusted Doctor Dan. So it must be all right. She put a hand on the curved nose, obviously new, and could see through the lines and gears the now empty spot her chair would rest in.
At least for her, it must be all right.
“Dev?”
Dev removed her head from the wiring and moved around the forward struts. “Yes?”
“Here’s the mod chamber.” Jess pointed to a door behind the dock. “You said you wanted to get some time in there sometime.”
“You mod?” Clint kept a wary eye on Jess, but circled back around to where Dev was standing. “You wouldn’t be interested in being a part of the assembly would you?”
“Yes.” Dev said, instantly. She could feel the programming bubbling up, as she ran her eyes over the internal systems and their internal schematics flashed behind her eyes. “I would really like that.”
“You would?” Jess was watching her in some bemusement.
Dev nodded. “It’s in my programming.” She explained. “How to run all the things inside, and fix them when they break. It would be great to touch and work with them firsthand.”