Page 26 of Adrift!
Griiek emerged from the tank, arms dripping with green slime. “There’s so much, so deep in the lines. We need special equipment and cleansers, nothing available on a short cruise.”
And their unexpectedly longer cruise might be coming to an ugly end.
Ikaryo scanned the atmo system schema on his datpad, mentally reviewing his synthequer stock, the supplies he and Chef had just inventoried, anything at all. Filtration and fermentation, purification and pressure systems—
He peered over the little Monbrakkan into the tank. “If we can’t get to the lines manually, can we flush it through?”
“Flush it how?” Delphine asked. “We don’t have the tools and chemicals we need.”
“We’ll use carbonation to create the force.” He turned to Griiek. “We already have water here. Can you tap into the CO2 removal bank, route it here?”
She blinked her large eyes rapidly. “Morecarbon dioxide? But that’s what will cause a problem if we can’t clear this block.”
What the little deck tech meant was it would kill them.
The captain laid a calming paw on her upper shoulder. “And now it can be part of the solution.” He turned to Ikaryo. “I see where you are going with this. But will the reaction generate enough power to blow the lines?”
Felicity, who’d been standing to one side, shook her head. “Club soda is going to save us?”
“With a few cinder fruit seeds, I hope so.” Ikaryo sent some rough math through his datpad. “Chief, can you check these numbers?”
After a tense moment, Suvan’s grumble emerged as the calculation along with a brief simulation flashed back on theirdevices. “You want to dump a carbonated cleanser cocktail into our air.”
“Cinder fruit is only acid enough to sting when you already have a cut on your finger,” Ikaryo said. “Even as a concentrate, it won’t eat through the lines. Probably.”
Remy sucked in a breath as she watched the simulation, then puffed it out hard. “Like a monster-size Mentos and Coke experiment.”
Felicity laughed, although everyone else looked baffled. “Yes! We did that in science class too. I was the only one who wore my goggles.” She nudged the captain. “Never mind. It’s an Earther thing.”
All eyes slanted to Nehivar whose gold gaze rested on Ikaryo. “It’s a solid idea. Or a bubbly one, I suppose.” He glanced around once. “Unless anyone has something else?”
In the silence, theblorpof ooze sliding off Griiek’s fingers into the slimed tank water seemed too loud.
“Do it,” Nehivar growled.
“Recommend increasing the initial pressure,” Suvan said. “Or we’ll be doing this again in a few days.”
“I’ll need to use all the cinder fruit this time,” Ikaryo warned. “We’ll have to find or synthesize something else after that.”
“Then we should go even harder now,” Suvan countered. “Sending new computations. Should be quite the show.”
Ikaryo swallowed. Easy for the chief engineer to say, hiding down in the guts of the ship. “Griiek, be prepared to sequester the output. It won’t hurt the garden, but we should filter the water and reflush the lines anyway.” He had to believe it would work. “Let’s get the CO2 patched in.”
“I’ll go for the cinder fruit,” Remy said. “I know where it is.”
He grabbed her hand as she turned away. Thiswouldwork. “Can you bring my lucky bar rag too?”
Her jaw shifted, and he wasn’t quite sure if she was holding back her anger at him…or a reluctant grin. “If I find it, yeah.”
“It’ll be right there,” he assured her.
Without another word, just a glint of her green eyes, she squeezed his hand once and ran.
He swiveled back to the others. “Let’s reroute those lines.”
Chapter 9
Lucky bar rag? Remy grumbled to herself as she raced for the salon. Really?
