Ty watched him go, and then turned back to Vivi. They were quiet for a few moments before she spoke, muting her headset so Hal wouldn’t hear.
“I know you must be thinking I’m going to run out on you guys when we get back to spacedock,” she said, “because of what happened the other night. But I won’t.”
Ty glanced up from the scanner’s readings and muted his own headset. “I wasn’t sure,” he said carefully.
“Don’t get me wrong. It scared the shit out of me, but I think you were right. He didn’t remember what happened,” Vivi said.
“Probably not. He’s going to need a little more time to get used to you being on ship, that’s all. If you hear him again, have Runa wake me.”
“Will do.”
He nodded once. His headset beeped but he ignored it. “You should know that if he gets to the point where he trusts you, he’ll trust you completely. I don’t think you’d abuse that, but… you should be aware of it.”
“I think I understand,” Vivi replied.
He seemed like he was going to say more, but this time both their headsets beeped, so they answered.
“Go ahead,” Ty said.
It was Beryl. “Just doing a status check on you two.”
“We’ve made a large find,” Ty replied. “I’m sending you the statistics. See if they match the schematics of any known Mudar ships.”
“A ship? Wow, that is a big find. I’ll let you know if I locate anything.”
Tyce turned back to Vivi to continue their conversation, but Hal was coming back up the path, bearing the REU.
They unpacked the exploration unit outside the cave and Vivi had it operational in about ten minutes. They entered the cavern on their knees, pushing their equipment in front of them, and coming onto a ledge that seemed to jut out into the nothingness. It took a few more minutes to set up, then the drone sailed out into the darkness. All three watched the small screen in front of them as the brilliant lights attached to the flying drone moved further away into a large chamber.
Crystals and minerals reflected the light from the drone in billions of sparkles. They could see patches of an eerie green glowing on the walls as well.
“What’s that?” Vivi asked.
“Some sort of bioluminescence. Mold on the cave walls, maybe?” Ty said.
“Weird,” she whispered. She rotated the drone so that they could see the size of the cave area below them.
“This chamber’s huge,” Vivi said, intent on the controller’s screen. She misjudged a distance and the REU brushed the edge of a stalactite with a scraping sound. “Oops!”
Ty laid a hand on her arm, steadying her. “It’s OK. Keep going.”
Vivi guided the drone to descend about twenty meters. There were columns of stone reaching up from the floor, and she carefully eased the REU around them, getting better with her maneuvering as she went.
“Drop down another five meters?” Tyce asked.
Vivi nodded. As the REU dropped, Ty watched her swing it in a graceful arc so they could see the rest of the cave. There was the sound of falling water from some underground river or pool, but they couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
“Wait. Go back,” Ty said at a flash he saw below them.
She dropped down and rotated the drone slowly until the feed showed them the side of a massive metal object; it had a graceful curve to it before it was abruptly sheared off.
“It is a ship,” Tyce whispered. “It must have crashed and broken through into the cave somehow.”
“That’s slick as hell,” Hal said. “Do you think there could be Mudar inside?”
“No one’s ever found a Mudar,” Tyce murmured, looking at the smooth surface of the ship. “Go closer, Vivi.”
Vivi piloted the drone closer to the ship and they began to see the scraping and denting that had occurred to the vessel. As she flew to the other side, they saw an opening in the ship’s hull. She tried to ease the REU through the opening, then sighed in frustration. “I’m not going to be able to fit it through there.”
“Shine the light around the floor of the cavern,” Ty suggested.
Vivi moved the drone in a grid-like pattern as she searched the bottom of the cave. There were a few warped pieces of metal on the floor, but nothing else.
“I think it’s time to go down,” Hal said.
“This is going to be a big score,” Tyce said. “Salvagers just don’t find things like this. Allenium, parts of starship drives, occasional weapons, yeah, but no one’s ever found an AI ship to my knowledge.”
“Our permit doesn’t cover this… but what they know won’t hurt them,” Hal said.
“OK. The two of you go down. I’ll stay here and monitor.”
Hal nodded. “You bet, Cap. I’m not about to leave our baby tecker down there alone. Not when I’m just getting her trained right,” he teased, poking Vivi in the ribs.
She swatted at him and laughed, but Ty’s serious expression stopped them. “Stay focused. If there’s any trouble, both of you get out of there.”
Hal had no trouble putting on his climbing harness while Vivi wrestled angrily with hers. She was trying to slip her arm into one side of her harness, but it was hopelessly twisted. The more she struggled the worse it got. When she let out a frustrated sigh, he turned to help her.
“Hang on, I’ll get it.” Hal snapped his last strap over his chest and moved closer to her.
“Sorry. Never used one of these before.”
Hal began to work at the straps. She could feel his hands brush her back as he grappled with the harness and was surprised at the lack of discomfort she felt. Here he was watching out for her just like he’d promised he would.
“Probably don’t really need all this, but better to be safe. Slip your arm through here,” he said, and she obeyed. “Now, this one.” He held out the other side for her, then buckled it over her sternum, being careful where his hands touched. She watched his face tense in concentration as he checked the fit. Finally, he was satisfied. “There you go.”
“Thanks,” she replied, “I’m a little nervous.”
“You’re gonna be just fine. I’ll rappel down first, and Tyce’ll lower you.” His hands rested on her shoulders lightly for a moment as he smiled at her, then, seeming to notice what he’d done, withdrew his hands quickly. He stepped back, something in his features that she couldn’t read.
“What is it?” she asked gently.
“Nothing. Let’s do this.” He reached to a back pocket and pulled out a couple pairs of gloves. “You’ll need to wear these.” He handed a pair to her and fitted his own.
“Ready, Cap?” Hal said as he made his way to the side of the cave’s ledge where Ty waited. Ty had been busy fixing a safety line for them near one of the collapsible lights they’d set up. Below the ledge, faintly illuminated, Vivi could see the ship.
“Yeah. You go down first. Then I’ll send Vivi down.”
“Sounds good.” Hal turned away and attached himself to the dropline. He rappelled rapidly to the bottom of the cave and unhooked himself, waiting for her to follow.