Bridgebuilder

Beneath the Surface

Alex slept better than he had in some time that night, despite the fact that there was nothing working in his cabin. The computer core he had re-purposed to crunch a waveride had run all the systems in it, from lights to the life support module. Everything could be bypassed to operate, but that was work and all he was doing in there was sleeping. So, he left the door open and slept just fine in the gentle red glow of the corridor. Each individual cabin and the corridor produced enough fresh air for two people even if nothing else was running, so there was no concern there. It was even planned for, fans pointing everywhere to keep the atmosphere stirred up during zero-g operations, which was what they were doing for the time being. Carbon had seemed a little unsure about the safety of this arrangement, but had relented before Alex got the ship's manual out.

Feeling surprisingly well rested, he glided down the hall to the head, towel and clean clothes crammed under his arm. The door controls on the head said that it was unoccupied. He knocked anyway. It was a superstition in the Civil Pilot Program, going back to the first scoutship - the Kon-Tiki - which had lost the door controls on the head three days into a year-long trip. They decided to simply knock instead of return to base, and every crew since had knocked to keep the head working properly since. He got no response and set about his morning routine. Shower and shave, vacuum himself mostly dry, finish with the towel, dress. The standard issue clothing for him included two pairs of navy cargo shorts which he'd never taken out of the drawer before today. He had opted for a pair of those knowing that he was going to be doing manual labor on a cold engine - that is to say, one that was fully powered down and discharged. It would probably be actually cold as well.

He pulled a gray CPP t-shirt on over that and what were effectively running shoes, and crammed his pockets full of the station gear he was supposed to always have on hand while off planet. There was work to be done and he was going to be doing it like he'd been trained. The right pocket got the emergency decompression gear, left was a medkit that was mostly just multishot nanite injector, but there were wound dressings in there too. Electronics might fail, but compression would always stop a bleed.

He'd never seen Carbon wearing anything other than her encounter suit or jumpsuit, but she apparently hadn't been issued the same vacuum-packed brick of clothing designed for humans that he had. That made sense. Their upper body was basically the same, but they had those weird, thin digitigrade legs.

She was already in the mess. She stuck a spoon loaded with pink-orange breakfast mash into her mouth, glanced up at him and choked on it, eyes wide with surprise as her antenna whipped up over the top of her head, ears unfolded to their unexpectedly large full size. It did a good job at making her appear taller, if only for a moment before she got that under control and they returned to their normal, relaxed position.

"Are you alright?" Alex paused there in the doorway, heart racing and actually startled at her reaction. Everyone's instincts were in working order this morning.

"Yes." She coughed, face squeezed tight as she cleared her throat a few times, trying to get food that she'd inhaled out.

"Okay. That's good." He gave her a little extra space as he moved to the dispenser and dialed in his usual morning oatmeal.

"I have determined-" Carbon's voice tightened as she spoke before cutting herself off to cough again and sneeze. Her eyes rolled and she got an exasperated look about her before she continued, "I have determined the task I need you to work on first."

The dispenser dinged, he retrieved his oatmeal and sat, bowl clicking down against the table. "Sounds good, what do I do?"

"Do you know what a plasma lock is?"

Alex paused before starting to eat, "locks up the plasma, right?"

"That is... you do not know, correct?" She gestured at him with her spoon, "it is a joke?"