14. The Aetherfin Undertaking #4
The containment housing for the unit holding the Aetherfin was exactly where Maren's memory said it would be, inside a modular unit bolted to the station's framework, its own backup generator humming weakly beneath the floor.
This was the part the team knew how to do, but extra hands were always welcome, especially to help the team move quickly when there were time constraints.
Charlie reveled in the fact that she could be a part of this mission, a part of the Emberkind crew and their sanctioned vessel that rescues intergalactic species across the universe.
The weight of that finally hit Charlie square in the chest, causing her to rush to her position.
Maren directed her to the power systems where Charlie's job would be the bypass itself, connecting the containment housing to the shuttle's auxiliary power so the zero-G field would hold during transit. A cable and a converter. Five minutes of work, if that. Charlie did it in three.
Maren handled the release sequence. Four metallic thuds echoed through the bay as the docking clamps disengaged.
Torvax and Kess positioned themselves on either side, their combined strength guiding the housing through the station's corridors toward the shuttle dock.
Tavi monitored the zero-G field from his datapad, calling out stability readings with each step.
Charlie walked beside the housing, one hand on its surface, feeling the vibration of the backup generator through the metal. Charlie felt the power draw higher than she liked, as though the generator was working harder than it should.
Then she heard it.
Not through her datapad attached to the console, but through the metal. A frequency shift in the housing's power system. It was subtle but entirely wrong. The backup generator was cycling irregularly, its rhythm stuttering in a pattern that Charlie's body recognized.
"Stop," she said.
The team halted.
"Charlie?" Reyna was the one to respond. "What is it?"
Charlie pressed her palm flat against the housing and listened.
"The backup generator is overheating," she said. "The cycling pattern is irregular. If we keep moving at this pace, the thermal load is going to trip the safety cutoff. The generator shuts down, the zero-G field drops, and—"
She didn't finish the sentence. Everyone in the corridor knew what happened to Aetherfin in gravity.
"How long do we have?" Reyna asked.
"Minutes, if we're unable to reduce the load." Charlie was already thinking. Her hands were moving along the housing, tracing the power conduits. "The generator is trying to maintain the zero-G field AND compensate for the movement vibrations from the transport. It can't do both."
"Can we stop the vibrations?" Maren asked.
"Not without stopping the transport entirely.
But I can reroute the vibration compensation to the shuttle's power supply instead of the housing generator.
" Charlie looked at the shuttle dock, twenty meters ahead.
"I need to get to the shuttle's auxiliary panel and run a secondary bypass.
One cable, one connection. It offloads the vibration compensation and lets the generator focus only on the zero-G field. "
"How long?" Reyna asked.
"Two minutes."
"Go."
Charlie ran. Twenty meters of corridor, her boots hitting the metal floor, her brain already mapping the connection she needed to make.
She reached the shuttle, found the auxiliary panel, pulled the access cover.
The wiring was Coalition standard, different from Earth, but the principles were the same.
Power was power, flow was flow. You just had to know where to put the bridge.
She made the connection and rerouted the vibration compensation. The secondary bypass hummed to life.
"Tavi, check the generator readings," she called through the comms.
A pause. "Cycling pattern is stabilizing. Thermal load is dropping." Another pause. "It's holding, Charlie. Generator is back to normal operation."
"Move them," Charlie said.
The team resumed while Charlie made her way back to the containment housing to help again.
It moved slowly down the corridor before finally sliding into the shuttle's cargo bay.
Charlie pulled away from the housing again, ran to the auxiliary panel, connected the primary power bypass and the shuttle auxiliary to containment housing, and the zero-G field locked to full stability.
"Field at full stability," Tavi reported. "Shuttle power holding."
Charlie exhaled. Inside the housing, the Aetherfin drifted, undisturbed, still shifting through their slow ballet of light and color. Safe.
"Way to go, human," Tavi remarked as he made his way onto the shuttle. "That was some quick thinking."
Charlie shrugged him off. "All in a day's work." Tavi chuckled.
"You keep making that your day's work, we're not going to let you off the Emberkind," Tavi remarked.
Charlie stared at him wide-eyed. "I'm kidding.
We'll get you home, don't worry." At that, Tavi winked at her.
"But for now, get your ass back on board.
I want to listen to as much Earth music as possible before we get back to the ship and you're back on Earth.
That stuff is like Tartonia Acid on a clear day. "
"Dare I ask, what is Tartonia Acid?"
"Uh," Tavi uttered nervously.
"Do you have anything that causes high-quality hallucinations on Earth, but that increase endorphins?" Maren asked from behind Charlie.
"Yeah," Charlie remarked quizzically. "But it's illegal and most people who do it don't have a great time after a while."
"Yes! That. That is what Tartonia Acid does for Tessarae," Tavi replied. "Hell of a drug." Charlie laughed heartily.
"Have you used it, Tavi?" Maren asked, alarm written across her face.
"I may have partaken it here and there," Tavi confirmed, his voice flighty. "But I know the limits, and I abide by them."
"You're so rock and roll, Tavi," Charlie remarked.
"I don't know what the hell that means, but it sounds awesome, especially if the designation comes from you." Charlie laughed again, following Tavi up the gangway and back onto the shuttle to begin the journey back to the Emberkind.
On the shuttle back, Charlie sat next to Tavi and they immediately plugged in the headphones of the Walkman before the launch had even commenced.
This time, Charlie felt the whole process with the knowledge of having been through it once, so she could listen and feel the sequences more effectively underneath her chair, lining up with the calls from Torvax and the crew.
Reyna hadn't offered to sit by her again, but Charlie chided herself for even noticing that.
Yet, somehow, she thought she had wronged Reyna in some way, but she wasn't even sure how.
Reyna had been gracious with ensuring Charlie was calm during the launch, and, because of that, Charlie felt calm during the landing.
But somehow, she thought she had refused the Captain.
Which, in technicality, she obviously had, but for the right reasons.
So why did it feel worse?
"What's got your gears in a vice?" Tavi asked beside her.
His voice startled her as she had unknowingly cascaded deep into her thoughts, not even hearing the impressive entrance of Pete Townshend's guitar and Keith Moon's drums in The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" pulling her from her speculation about the Captain.
"What do you mean?" Charlie asked innocently.
"Are you okay?" Tavi said simply.
"Yeah? Why?"
"You look like you're trying to solve the universe's toughest math problem," Tavi said with a chuckle. Charlie smirked while sighing.
"Yeah, maybe I am."
"Want to talk about it?"
Charlie looked him right in the eyes, knowing deep down she probably could talk to Tavi. He was quickly becoming a good friend aboard the ship. But it wasn't that she didn't want to talk, she just didn't know what to talk about.
"How about, I'll come find you to talk about it when I know what it is?" Charlie asked. Tavi chuckled again.
"Okay, tiger. I'm here if you ever need, you know, once you get your shit figured out."
This time, Charlie chuckled softly next to him, before they both turned their attention back to the music emanating from the Walkman.
Back at the Emberkind, the gradient was waiting.
Six zones, stepping down from full gravity in the shuttle bay to zero in the sphere. Charlie's architecture, Tavi's software, and Maren's hardware. Everything tested and ready.
Charlie was at the main console, standing in position beside Tavi and Maren, when Cael walked up beside her.
"I'll take it from here," he said.
Charlie looked over at him, startled by his words. "I'm sorry, what?"
"I've got this, you don't need to worry your pretty little head.
" Charlie bristled at the comment. When she didn't move from her spot, he continued.
"I'll be operating the system for the gradient transfer.
" He didn't look at her any longer, he just looked at the console and watched the data readings as they came up.
"Cael, I built this system," Charlie said. "If anything goes wrong during the transfer, I'm the one who knows how to—"
"You've done good work, Wickett," Cael said, and the dismissal in the compliment was so practiced it almost sounded genuine. "But this is a leadership engineering operation on the Emberkind. That's my department."
"Charlie should be running this." Tavi's voice came from the software station. He hadn't raised it, but it carried. "She designed the gradient architecture. She built the calibration model. She understands the real-time variables better than anyone in this room, including you."
Cael turned to Tavi. "I appreciate your input, Tavi. But this is my decision as Chief Engineer." At that, he turned back to the console, and stepped into Charlie's space, effectively moving her away.
"Your decision is wrong," Tavi said. Flat. Simple.