Xenos

ii. Underestimation: July 18, 2126

Day Forty-eight

The only way that Galen had been able to quiet the protesting was by promising that they would have a transparent meeting as soon as they knew what they were up against, which satisfied a few of the crew but not all. They'd been in and out of the bridge all day, finding some excuse to linger and try to overhear what Drake and Cin were talking about as they tried to decipher the instructions to set up a voice link they'd pieced together through guesswork and research. The bridge was the best area for them to do their work, and they'd commandeered over half of the large table in order to do just that. Unfortunately, the bridge was also one of the most public areas on the ship due to its role as command center and eating area.

"We'll let you know when we've figured that out," Cin ground out, her teeth clenched so tightly into a terse smile that she thought they'd crack after Gigi had tried rather unsubtly to get them to reveal information. "Now if you don't mind..." Cin returned to her work, turning her back on Gigi. She sensed how Gigi lingered, how she wanted to prod for more information, but finally she slunk away.

"At least the gossip will help spread the fact that we've revealed nothing new," Drake said lightly, tapping a pen at his ear and using it to circle another piece of information in the book. Colored tabs sprouted from the books on the table in front of them, spots they'd deemed useful and color coded accordingly.

"They should spread the fact that I'm going to snap if someone asks another question I'm not allowed—or know how—to answer."

Drake glanced at her, his expression measuring her own. "Need a break?"

She shook her head, even though there was nothing more than she wanted. Two days of back-to-back, highly technical and sometimes boring work wasn't exactly relaxing. Several times already she'd stopped herself from hurling one of the books across the room like a petulant child. She itched to update the systems log, but since the video links were the problem, she wasn't confident that they'd be saved. She'd started to write part of it down in her personal notes but had been interrupted, and now with Miles' arrest and her responsibility to find a way to establish a link, she doubted that she'd be able to finish it. "I just need to get this done. Then I can rest," she answered, hoping it was true.

"What time are you and Galen going down to the brig to talk with Miles?" he asked her, marking another spot in the book with a blue tab for materials needed.

Cin glanced up at the clock, her finger poised over her reading spot to hold her place. "Soon." She returned to the book, her eyes quickly scanning the illustrations showing different wire connections. She used her pen to mark a couple that were said to be used for voice links, but her confidence that they'd work was low when they were marked with a date of use that had ended about eighty years ago.

They worked together in silence, the only sound the soft shushing of the pages as they turned them and the uncapping of pens to mark spots where they were hopeful. Galen and Zo were in the pilot's cockpit, their voices a murmuring babble that receded into the background like white noise. She was so focused that she was startled when Drake's voice broke the silence between them.

"Do you think that we'll be able to do this?" he asked in a low voice, casting his eyes toward the pilot's cockpit to double check that Galen and Zo were still inside.

"Didn't I say that I would snap the next time that someone asked me that question?" Cin responded, trying to keep her tone light.

"I figured I was exempt from that."

"Do you?" Cin turned the question back on him.

Drake stopped pretending that he was working while having this conversation. He released a long exhausted sigh, steepling his hands in front of his face as he leaned over the papers in front of him. His voice was slightly muffled when he spoke. "I'm not sure of anything anymore," he admitted. "But we have to try. If we don't, we'll fail anyway."