The Key of Astrea

Locked Terminals

The Avian clutched the repaired ignitor in his feathered hands. He backed out of the door as he showered Jack with praise. Once it was clear, Jack locked the door. It's time to prepare for my mission with Hocco, he thought. How long will this mission take? Jack picked up his data tablet. Just to be safe, I should cancel all my appointments. If Hocco is true to his word, I won't need the money anyway. Jack set the tablet down and walked up to a panel by the door. It's been a while since I used this. Jack touched a few buttons on the panel and the pod jolted into movement.

Lan Station generated artificial gravity by rotating around the Terminal once every two minutes. The pods could move independently along spokes extending from the Terminal, to the primary and secondary rings of Lan station. By moving the pod closer to the Terminal, he could decrease the artificial gravity to half a G.

The pod came to a stop after a few minutes. It had reached the closest point to the Terminal. Jack walked to the crate with the NEB. I have less than twenty hours to install something that should take a week. He rifled through the NEB's installation instructions.

Any ships caught inside a Terminal without a NEB got vaporized when it activated. It was a side effect of opening a wormhole. A good chunk of his work came from servicing NEBs, and every month, Jack heard of some fool who got vaporized due to a malfunctioning buffer. Even though he knew better, Jack would have to forego testing to meet his deadline. The buffer had to work perfectly on the first try, or he, and this mission would be dust.

At half of standard gravity, Jack was able to lift the crate as easily as the Snibb had. The hangar holding the Strider was kept in vacuum. This made it easier to launch as he didn't have to maintain atmosphere or heat in a large space. To get the NEB through the hangar, Jack carried the crate through an umbilical that connected his workshop to the airlock on the Strider.

Once he was inside, Jack set the crate down on the metal floor of the cargo bay and breathed in the stale recycled air. It's been too long, he thought as he sighed with pleasure. The interior of the ship was not at all homey. Harbingers were designed for battle. Latticework frames optimized the Strider's strength and weight distribution. Her structure, wiring, and pipes were on full display. Jack preferred this practicality to the smooth interior of luxury vessel as it made repairs easier.

Jack pulled out his old leather military jacket from a locker and put it on. Now he was ready to direct his focus onto the crate. He started by removing the buffer and separating its parts onto the cargo deck. He found a silver envelope. Inside was a chipset that would be needed to integrate the NEB with the ship's computer. Without it, the buffer would be just an expensive hunk of precious metal. Jack folded the envelope and slid it into a pocket inside his jacket.

* * *

After twenty hours of non-stop work, Jack now stood in the kitchenette of his loft and watched coffee drip into his mug. He pulled back the jacket's sleeve to read his wristwatch. It was already 08:17 by the Standard Galactic Spacetime Interval. It had taken him all night to install the buffer. He picked up his sixth cup of coffee and activated the program that would return the pod to the main level of the station.

At 08:30, the door buzzed. The supplies Jack had ordered for the journey had arrived. Jack transferred the vegetables, grains, proteins, and fats to a large cooler.

Hocco arrived at 09:00, and they talked about the mission over a cup of coffee. While he divulged some details, Hocco still refused to tell Jack where they were going.

After finishing their coffee, Jack and Hocco made their way to the Strider. Jack stored the food in the galley, then showed Hocco to his quarters.