Chapter 6
Istared at the uncomfortably clean room. I knew Lily and exactly what she was capable of doing. Still, it was weird for the mess to be cleaned up in just a few minutes, all while Lily sat me in a chair and began massaging my shoulders.
This city, or perhaps the whole planet, seemed to be rather devoid of enforcement.
Those men would have done horrible things to Lily and me given the chance.
Most likely without any repercussions. It almost felt like the universe at large was far less held together by social cohesion than I’d experienced in my last life.
Perhaps there was too much of the universe for that to work, or perhaps said cohesion only existed on a smaller scale when people could escape the planet and likely any enforcement of order.
I sighed and rubbed my forehead, not feeling particularly guilty, which was strange in itself. But even stranger to me was my acceptance of Lily's very inhuman methods.
“Is your head bothering you?” she asked and worked up my neck before tackling my temples with firm yet soft strokes.
"A little. Your massage is very nice.” I groaned as she pressed her fingers into a knot.
“Your muscular structure is full of imperfections. I have no idea how you operate,” Lily said flatly. “If you’ll allow it, I’ll help ease these imperfections anytime.”
“Deal.” I felt like putty in her hands. “Run your fingernails along my scalp?” I asked selfishly.
She ran her fingers deep into my hair, her nails a light scratch that somehow made all the tension in my body fade away. “Interesting,” she mused, and I knew she was looking at her captain stress-o-meter. “What will we do now?”
“Well, I suppose if you've secured lodging, we'll invite the others. Though I had thought we'd be doing something more date-like," I told her.
Lily frowned. "Was this not a suitable date?" She sounded particularly crestfallen before murmuring, “I should have gotten him something to eat, too.”
"No, this was wonderful. Just unexpected." I managed a large smile for her. Also, for some reason, her words made me imagine her ripping an arm off one of the men and offering it to me.
"Unexpected." She let out a relieved sigh. "Good. Perhaps next time you can pick the activity for the date. Though I do think this was necessary. After all, you said we needed lodging."
I had trouble with how serious she sounded and let it go with a smile. "Well, you've certainly done that, though I am worried we might catch something sleeping in their beds."
Lily tilted her head. "There are a number of what appear to be unused facilities on the second floor.
Using those would probably be the best option.
" She spoke almost mechanically. "I will also spread my mycelial network out and endeavor to consume any and all organic matter, including any diseases that may have been left by the previous occupants. The bugs in the walls were dense enough that I’ve been able to spread nicely. " She smiled.
I hadn’t thought about her mycelial network being pest control, but at least there were unlikely to be bedbugs after she swept this place. I shook my head. “About the other pests we got rid of…”
“They deserved it. This is clearly not frequented by any form of law enforcement based on the previous owners. In fact, I would say this area seemed more lawless than Wolf Cave Station, which was saying something.” Lily smirked.
“They chose to operate on ‘might makes right’. Unfortunately for them, they were on the wrong side.”
I pulled out my tablet and began messaging the others.
‘We have lodging if we need it during the extensive repairs on the ship.’ I typed the message and then paused, glancing at Lily.
"Are you still connected to the part of you still on the ship?
" I asked, wondering if there were any security measures we should take.
Lily smiled. "I am always connected to the ship. There is and will likely be no way to disconnect my paired minds—unless something cuts me out of every system in the ship—and damage will just grow back."
The thought I'd had before about how terrible a breakup with a helivore could actually be suddenly reverberated in my mind. She was quite literally grown into the ship and apparently forever connected to it.
"Honestly, I can't imagine what that must be like," I said to Lily, making conversation and driving the concerns from my mind. There was nothing to do about them, which made them useless to dwell on.
"Do you ever feel like you have two separate engines of thought in your head?" she asked.
"Yeah, I can multitask," I said, "though it's more like rapid switching rather than true parallel processing."
Lily nodded. "Then it is similar. However, as you phrased it, for me it is true parallel processing. Two very clear thoughts able to occur in sync at two different locations."
"Fascinating," I said with a shake of my head. Even with a description, I could perhaps imagine how it must feel, but it was still impossible for me to truly understand.
"Then is this one a third?" I asked, gesturing at the building around us.
"No. I am endeavoring to connect it to the same mind that is on our ship.
Both the half of me on the ship and this one are working towards the same goal.
Currently, it is connected to mine." Lily picked up her foot, and there was a black mycelial network stretching between her sole and the floorboards beneath.
"Wait. I paused. Connected as in all the way to the ship?"
Lily nodded. "The mycelial network is very structurally powerful. It is able to spread underground easily enough."
I blinked, staring at her. Even though I understood her words, the concept of her being able to dig from here all the way to the ship was still mind-boggling. "Won't that"—I hesitated—"consume a fair number of calories?"
"Yes," Lily said gravely. "But thankfully, I have had some recent nourishment that will be able to compensate, at least partially."
I stared at how clean the building was again and smiled at Lily. "We should be careful about how much nourishment you're extracting from the local populace," I said, giving her a pointed look.
"Of course. I will have to ensure that I don't overfeed." Lily's expression grew dire.
"Right, because if you kill too many people, you'll be noticed." I turned to meet her eyes.
Lily nodded again, but somehow, I felt like we were thinking about two entirely different conversations.
“If I consume too many bugs and bacteria, it could offset the balance of the local ecosystem. I might consume other things if they are present and dead.” She stared off into the distance as if eyeing a morsel and debating if it was acceptable.
I didn’t want to know what she was considering and decided not to think about the number of birds and rodents that were likely about to go missing in the area.
***
"This place is a lot cleaner than I expected from the outside," Tiri said, wiping a finger across the rough wooden table and finding it acceptable before sitting down.
The green-haired kikai was picky about things, so if it was clean enough for her, that meant that Lily had likely had her network working overtime to collect all the dust from the place in an effort to fuel her working towards the ship.
Violet and Melgara had brought with them a decent number of snacks. Apparently, they had gotten hungry during their search for supplies and had the good sense to bring enough for everyone.
Violet was quickly spreading the newly acquired munchies out on the table while Melgara swiped at a datapad. Brick loomed nearby as if ready to pounce but held off in some sort of respect.
"Well, you said—" Tiri started as she watched me pull open one of the bags as a rather sour smell hit my nose. "Those are an acquired taste," Tiri warned me.
I reached in, grabbed one, and popped it in my mouth. It was like someone had tried to culture a Granny Smith apple, the flavor somewhere strangely between cheese and tart fruit. I chewed once and quickly put the bag down.
Lily was adventurous enough to pop one into her mouth, screwing up her face in distaste before daring to go back for a second. I slid the bag closer to her.
"That good?" I asked.
She frowned. "Very nutritious," she said, as if that was an answer in itself. Then she went back to munching on them without much concern for the conversation beginning to expand elsewhere.
Both Tiri and Brick were clearly squaring up to share their news.
"So, give me the worst with the ship. If it's good that we have lodging, I assume there's a problem." I waited.
"Less problem, more precaution," Brick said carefully. Though the way he said it made it sound like we were in for it.
I rolled my hand for him to continue as I explored some of the other snacks, trying to find something less jarring.
"Right." Brick cleared his throat. "With all the damage we took, there were a couple of warning signs on the neutron core.
I checked it over myself after the engineer pointed them out, and I have to agree.
So he's going to dial it down, which means no power for at least two weeks on the ship.
One week to dial it down, a day or two to check it over, and then a couple more days to wind it back up. "
I nodded along, pretending I understood all that he had said.
Then again, my understanding was that while not nuclear, it wasn't entirely dissimilar. The thing had massive power generation capabilities, but it wasn't something that could be simply turned on and off. “That’s if there’s no issue. What if there is an issue?”
“Uh…” Brick hesitated. “Worst-case scenario is a complete replacement of the shielding. That would take another week or two, depending on parts… The problem would be the cost. We’d be completely broke.”
Violet winced and looked guiltily at the spread on the table.
"Okay, well, we have these lovely lodgings, and I don't think the owners are going to be back anytime soon," I said, earning a couple of squints from the group.