Page 38 of Tattle Tail
They took a step ladder down into the cargo hold. The air was colder here, but that was the environment support setting. It wasn’t a sign of catastrophic life support failure. Yet.
Peaceable shivered, still wearing his old shirt, and not much else. It was wrong to appreciate how she looked in his shirt, considering the cascade failure and the rising CO2levels, but he liked the way the collar hung open a little too wide and slipped down her shoulder.
Not the time, Moonquest. Stop being a creep.
He retrieved a tool kit from the storage rack and removed a panel, all the while keeping up inane anecdotes. “The first ship I served on had trouble with condensation buildup on the sonic showers. I had to remove the panel on the sensors and clean every one of them.”
“That makes no sense,” she said.
“I know! The showers didn’t use water. It took me ages to figure out.” The panel came free with a tug.
“Moisture from respiration and the ventilation systems?”
“Wow, exactly. I guess you would have calibrated the system and replaced the gaskets.”
Peaceable crouched down next to him. “You already said the solution eluded you, and you are not unintelligent. You would have eliminated the obvious early. Therefore, the solution required flexible thinking.”
He glanced at her, struck by her profile. She studied the inner workings of the atmospheric filtration and converter system with seriousness. Her face was…well, he wasn’t good with words. He had always found Peaceable attractive, but at the moment, with all her considerable focus working on a problem, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“What?” She pulled back; her nose scrunched.
“I was just thinking that you don’t need me explaining the atmospheric converter. You probably designed it,” he said.
And that’s so damn hot.
She sighed. “I have little practical experience. My work has been theoretical. Designing and cobbling together a repair are different.”
“I’m flattered you think I’m skilled enough to be a cobbler. That’s a proper old Earth trade.”
“Walk me through how the system is meant to function.”
With his multi-tool, he removed the casing to expose the gold plating responsible for CO2management. “CO2goes in. An electronic pulse separates carbon from oxygen. Carbon is trapped in the filter. Oxygen is sucked into the ventilation.”
He unhooked the connectors and removed the metal plate coated with a thin layer of gold.
The surface was not shiny and reflective, but green.Green.
“That’s not possible. Gold is nonreactive. It does not corrode,” Peaceable said.
“It’s not corrosion.” Spotting an empty capsule lodged into the inner workings, he pulled it free and handed it to Peaceable. The casing was flexible, exactly the sort that would melt gradually with heat.
She sniffed. “Paint.”
“Sabotage.”
Peaceable
Don’t panic.
She kneeled to look closer, the hard floor cold against her knees. Her tail swept across the floor, showing her nerves.
There’d be time to panic later. Right now, she needed to think. She clutched the end of her tail to hold it in place, her fingers digging into the tuft of hair at the tip.
Joseph’s gaze darted down to her hands. Her shoulders tensed, mentally preparing for a teasing comment about her nervous gesture, but the remark never came.
“There is a backup system,” she said. The ship was not CayneTech, but certain features were standard. No company wanted to be known as the one that suffocated its customers. While she might not know the specs for this specific vessel, she knew enough of spacefaring vessels in general.
Her head felt foggy, like her thoughts had to trudge through glue.
