Traveler in the Dark

42

Rebecca finished hardening the sheet. She'd always loved the way it stiffened the flimsy metal into an unbendable plank. It fascinated her long after her father had expected her to become bored and run off when she was small and he was on deck repair.

"Captain Al Jahi, I'm back. How is the hull looking?" Liu's voice startled her. It had been so silent for the past several minutes.

"Fair," came Al Jahi's voice. Rebecca looked up, the Captain floated several feet from her. "I've checked the rest of the Wolfinger now, we have two more small patches to make. The explosion wasn't—" she broke off suddenly.

"Captain?" asked Rebecca.

"Do you— can you hear that Liu?"

"I only hear you," he said.

"What about you, Emery?" asked Al Jahi. "It's a— a high-pitched beep or something."

Rebecca listened hard for a moment but her own breath was the only sound. "Nothing here," she said.

"It's erratic— I keep thinking it's going to stop but then it starts again."

"Maybe it's a suit alarm," said Liu. "You got suit six, didn't you? That one's always shorting. It's usually a glitch in the waste management system."

"But I haven't used it. We've only been out an hour."

"Yeah, it's usually an oversensitive reader. The beeps are in sequence. If you listen, it should give you the error code. But— you could always come back, just in case."

Al Jahi fell silent. Rebecca stowed her tool and made her way closer to the captain. Al Jahi's eyes were moving under the lids as if she were dreaming. It was unsettling. After a few moments of silence, Rebecca tapped the glass of Al Jahi's helmet.

"Captain? Are you okay? Maybe we should just go back. Or— or you can and I'll finish. I'm tethered, it's just a few welds—"

Al Jahi grabbed Rebecca's arm. She couldn't feel it through the suit, but Al Jahi's face had drained of color.

"Yes, we're going back. Both of us. We can— we can sort it out later." She started to pull Rebecca back toward the door.

"But we could be leaking oxygen. It will only take me a moment to finish the sheets—"

"No, I—"

Everything went silent again. Rebecca could see Al Jahi's mouth moving, but there was no sound. She shook her head. "Your suit, it's not broadcasting anymore. That must have been the error code," she said. She tapped her own helmet. "I can't hear you," she said calmly, "Don't worry, we'll get you back." Al Jahi tapped her own helmet and shook her head. She couldn't hear either. She yanked on Rebecca's arm. "Liu, Captain Al Jahi's suit is malfunctioning. She can't hear or broadcast. Something's up with her feed."

They slid down the metal skin of the ship, the tethers guiding them around its stern. "Liu?" she asked after a moment. Still no response. She caught herself on the back edge of one wing. Al Jahi was ahead, already up and over. Rebecca fumbled with the suit's feed access, changing channels on the feed. She tried Al Jahi first. "Captain, can you hear me? My feed is dead. I thought it was your suit but maybe it's mine. Captain?" She waited a long moment but Al Jahi wasn't even looking back, just frantically pulling herself along the ship. Rebecca switched to Liu's private channel next. "Liu? Liu, come in. Something's wrong with our suits. I don't know if you can hear me, but we can't hear you. Or each other. We're headed back. You need to open the door." She pulled herself up the wing, guiding the tether gently over the edge. There was no answer from Liu. She stopped again to hitch the tether to the second rail. She felt it click into place and let go to switch back to the general channel. Still silence. She shook her head and pushed herself down the hull. Al Jahi pounded on the door ahead. Rebecca grew concerned. It was not a gentle knock. Something more serious must have gone wrong with her suit. The door opened and a gloved hand shot out, grabbing Al Jahi's collar. The captain tumbled through the door. Rebecca was only twenty feet from the door now, but something glittered gold in the Wolfinger's exterior lights as it extended from the doorway. She squinted, pulling herself closer. Metallic and moving, it swung out and Rebecca gasped as Issk'ath's pincer closed around a nearby guide rung and it emerged from the Wolfinger.