A Break in the Sunlight

4. Slaking Time

About 200 parsecs from Sona, Indigo's ion transverter blew. They could smell the ammonium from the cockpit as the ship slowly lost impulse. Jaren unjacked from the comm unit as the power drained. The star charts she'd been looking at were still imprinted in light patterns on the backs of her eyelids.

"Shit" Kaski threw the gear into emergency power, the cockpit darkened and then flickered into dim relief as the floods shifted on. "Damned shit."

"Oh Christ, not again." Jaren tossed her patch cord on the console and pushed back her chair. This was the third time the transverter had given them trouble. On the way from Arden to Attavita it had been bucking a little, and a couple of thumps from Kaski had brought it back in line. Outside Pennel it'd simply shut itself down one evening. It had come back on when they rebooted, but they'd had it calibrated at their next stop, to be sure. But then again four weeks ago, as they were leaving Tl'Aeda Prime, it had sprung an ammonium leak. They'd paid a mechanic 5,000 creds to re-solder the joints, which should have taken care of the problem. Should have.

"Shit. Shit. Shit." Kaski unplugged from the console, grabbed a laser and slammed into the main cabin. Jaren stayed where she was, listening for a few minutes from the cockpit. Well doors rattled open, and then there was a monstrous hissing sound. Kaski yelped in pain.

"What is it!?" Jaren went to the doorway in alarm. "Are you okay?" She peered through the steaming dimness.

"It's bloody hot, that's what it is!" Kaski stood waist deep in the steaming engine well, her face and neck were already damp with steam and sweat, even the thin linen sleeveless and blue coveralls she wore were wet and clinging to her dark skin. She winced as she bent down again, her head disappearing beneath floor level. Somewhere underneath Jaren heard her swear again.

Jaren slid into the eating nook. Kaski didn't lose her temper often. Best to stay clear. Below the floor the thumps and swearing continued. Indigo's main cabin was a wreck. Her eyes flickered around it.

Four months of continual use by the two girls had reduced the once luxurious little vessel to a filthy, cluttered dormitory. Both bunks were down from the walls, and had to be stepped over to get to the kitchenette or the head. The lounge chairs had long since disappeared under a pile of unwashed laundry and food wrappers.

On their last stop they'd invited in a group of kids Kaski had found at the spaceport bar. One of them had spilled a bag of crisps on the carpeting, and no one noticed before they were well ground in. Someone had written a comm address on the wall in waxy purple lipstick. A bowl of pills from the same party, in varying shades of red and yellow, lay half spilled on the table in front of Jaren now. She slid a striped one across its surface and then swallowed it. It made her instantly a little nauseated, but she felt no other effect.

Kaski emerged from the well and wearily stepped over the two bunks. "Shit," she said again, as she slid into the booth across from Jaren. "She's dead. Damned fragged. That cakewalker at Tl'Aeda must have totally screwed her up."

"Can we fix it?"

"Not unless you do magic, Babydoll, eh?" Kaski scooped up the spilled pills and swallowed two before flopping down, her back on the cushions. Jaren could see only the knees of her coveralls over the table's edge, and her voice was muffled. "There's a hole in the back of that banger, she's about six inches wide."

Jaren slid from the booth and pulled down the chart book from above the cooker. According to the star charts for the sector, the nearest system to them was called Firedown. Which according to the book was a mining colony with one inhab planet. Medium grav, low atmosphere. She returned to the cockpit and pulled up the power on the comm unit.