Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [52]
Rlinda lifted her eyes toward the fractured roof. "The Curiosity is just waiting for us up there--if the Roamers haven't wrecked my ship."
"They were trying to fix it! I saw them bring spare parts up to the surface."
"Right, but if the Tamblyn brothers didn't know what they were doing, then fixing the Curiosity and wrecking it could amount to the same thing." She put a hand on her left hip and leaned on the shovel with the other. "Still, I'd rather be up there and trying. If the whole world's going to fall apart, then I prefer to die aboard my own ship, if you know what I mean."
"Dying wouldn't be my first preference at all, Rlinda . . . but at least I'll be with you."
"You're either a sweetheart or an idiot." When their eyes met, the decision was clear in the frigid holocaust around them. She grabbed his hand and pulled him along. "Right now, I'll take you either way."
28
KOTTO OKIAH
After finding no explanations in the deserted Osquivel shipyards, Kotto and his Analytical compies went looking elsewhere. "Quite a mystery," Kotto said.
"An enigma," said GU.
"A conundrum," KR added.
Though the scattered Roamer clans were in turmoil, Kotto had never paid much attention to general emergency plans, assuming someone would tell him where to go and what to do. Now, though, he had to take care of himself.
Using the small ship's navigational database, Kotto plotted a course for Jonah 12, where he had established an icy hydrogen-processing facility. "We don't have the fuel or the time to wander around on a wild-goose chase. I'll just go back to my old stomping grounds and see how everyone's doing." It was so long since he'd had any news.
After he projected his path, he let the Analytical compies input the coordinates as the ship accelerated away from Osquivel. Kotto scratched his curly hair and sniffed under his arms, realizing that he'd been too busy of late to clean himself up. Facing off against the hydrogues at Theroc had certainly made him sweat.
Kotto stripped off his jumpsuit and cast the wrinkled garments into a spinning fabric refresher. Walking naked through the chilly ship, he gathered rags and waterless cleansing gels so he could scrub himself down. He finished before the clothes were done cycling, and so he decided to give the Analytical compies a thorough cleaning as well.
Kotto hummed while he worked, thinking about the miners on Jonah 12, mulling over the process of cooking down ices and storing hydrogen gas for later conversion to ekti. Now that the derelict had been taken from him, he looked forward to returning to his real work. He chatted with KR and GU about mechanical systems and chemical-extraction routines. "I'll bet Purcell Wan will be glad to have me back. I can't wait to see the expression on his face. I never expected to be gone so long when I went to help the Therons."
"You have accomplished much in the meantime, Kotto Okiah," GU said. "You rebuilt the tree cities on Theroc, you studied the derelict at Osquivel, and you developed the doorbell membranes against the warglobes."
"I don't need a cheering section," he said, though he grinned anyway.
Kotto called up blueprints of the Jonah 12 base, then designs of the crawler vehicles. Before long, his imager table was covered with active screens, and he asked the compies to run models and simulations, adjusting parameters to improve production. By the time the ship reached the system, he had drawn up new designs that would increase productivity by at least a hundred and fifty percent. It would be an exciting day when he marched into the main dome with his refit announcement.
Kotto realized he was still naked, never having gotten dressed after the clothes refresher was finished. He tugged on his jumpsuit, ready for a new start.
But when the ship approached the frozen planetoid,