Not a deliberate one, the Teloran replied, although my people have been known to seed nMU near transition points in times of war.
Stephanie had the impression the ancient witch had considered the possibility that not removing the nMU had been a deliberate omission and had decided in the negative.
I think between our arrival and the governmental disorganization of the time, such seedings were forgotten. Those responsible may not even have been alive at our arrival, and those who were may not have survived when we departed.
And they would have hardly mentioned it beforehand, the girl commented sourly.
No, the Morgana replied with dark satisfaction. Their last hours would have contained more pressing matters.
She nodded and pulled away from her inner dialogue to address the Knight. “How many would we have lost if they hadn’t been in their pods?”
“In the engine room?” the ship clarified. “We would have lost almost all.”
“The surge was that bad?”
“There may be some engine damage.”
“Magical?”
“I would need my engineers to be sure.”
“And you didn’t think to wake us?”
“The engines were functional—and I did not know how long it would take to find known space again.”
Or even if she could, she thought and the unspoken words hung grimly in the air between them. She ignored them and turned to more practical matters instead.
“Wake the chief. If it’s magical, I’ll see what I can do and Cameron can deal with the rest.”
“Do you wish to be nearby when they emerge?” the AI asked. “Lieutenant Hargreaves is not a young man.”
“What are you trying to say, Knight?”
“That my chief engineer is human and therefore unpredictable. He may not react well to the passage of time—or to me not requesting his assistance with the engines earlier.”
Given what she knew of Commander Hargreaves, she knew that was a distinct possibility. “I’ll speak to him.”
She carried her coffee to the table, sat slowly, and frowned as she considered the options.
“I don’t want to pull everyone out,” she repeated and the Knight gave a credible human sigh.
“You have already established that,” she pointed out, “but you will need someone.”
She has a point, the Morgana added.
“Who else?” Ebony asked.
“We’d better pull Rawlins out, and Wattlebird,” she decided.
“Not Todd?” The Knight’s voice had a sly edge to it.
Stephanie blushed. “Not yet—and none of the team either.” She paused. “We’re not in danger, are we?”
“There are no known settlements on the charts,” the Ebon Knight replied. “Nor do my scanners detect any indication of civilized life in-system.”
“Not even on a planet?”
“That would require a different kind of scan, but if there were life on-world capable of harming us, there would be detectable signs of its presence in space and there are no such signs in this system.”
“So, we are alone,” Stephanie concluded and almost wished it were otherwise.
“And some weeks from the Dreth system,” the ship confirmed and added, “at least, as far as I can tell.”
“You can’t be sure?”
“The system is charted but not mapped, and I have marked the point of my emergence for future transitions,” Ebony told her. “I will need Wattlebird’s assistance to ensure my calculations are correct. He may notice something my logical analysis has dismissed.”
She responded with a short laugh. The ship was right. Her primary pilot might see a possibility the ship’s algorithms had dismissed as unlikely. After all, no ship’s computer would have said the cruiser could be corkscrewed through a battlefield either.
No sane ship’s computer, at least.
“Pull them out,” she ordered.
“How long?” Cameron Hargreaves demanded as he slid out of his pod and glowered at the rime of frost in the surrounding room.
“Twenty-seven years,” Stephanie stated and kept her voice as firm and calm as she could.
His face paled and he leaned against the pod. His voice was faint when he responded.
“Twenty-seven?”
Now that he said it in a slightly strangled tone, it seemed like a big number. She was glad she hadn’t woken the crew en-mass if this was the way he reacted.
She watched a slew of emotions cross his face—everything from disbelief to sadness to anger to… He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and cleared his throat.
“What happened?”
“There was a pool of nMU at the transition point,” she told him.
“And we got lost,” he concluded.
She nodded and Cameron looked at the ceiling.
“So, Knight, how are my engines?”
“There may be some things that require your attention…”
Even to Stephanie’s ears that sounded evasive.
Fortunately, he didn’t bother with recriminations and simply moved toward the door. “Run me a diagnostic. I want a full report waiting when I get there.”
The chief paused when he caught the look on her face.
“What? Grumbling won’t get us home any faster and I need to work while I come to grips with the idea.” He squeezed her shoulders. “Give me time.”
He didn’t quite thank her for being there when he woke but it was in his eyes.
The girl smiled and he released her. He paused when he reached the door.
“I’ll let you know how many of my team I’ll need,” he told her, then added, “Is Marianne awake yet?”
“She’s next,” she told him and his eyebrows rose.
“Engines are the priority.” She glared at him. “I’ll be there as soon as I can so I can assess the magical damage. I have to be here when the others wake up.”
“Todd?” he asked and she blushed.
She shook her head.
“His skills aren’t needed yet,” she told him. “I’d simply be selfish.”
His mouth tightened and he nodded and ducked out the door without further comment.
What was that all about? she wondered.
He probably thinks you’d be better off with the company, the Morgana told her.
Don’t you dare say anything else, she snapped and cut her off before she could add to that. It would be blatant favoritism and I won’t be a part of it.
Not even if it—
Not even anything! Stephanie interrupted fiercely.
Her face blazed and she scowled to emphasize her point, even though her internal companion wouldn’t see the expression.
The Knight chuckled.
“Don’t you think he has a place?” the ship asked, and Stephanie groaned.
“Not you, too—”
“I’m only—”
“Well, don’t,” Stephanie all but snarled. “I have enough to worry about without him getting underfoot.”
“I’ll tell him you said that.”
“Don’t make me come in there…”
She didn’t know what the ship heard in her voice, but she changed the subject.