Kingdom Come (Backyard Starship Book 7) by J.N. Chaney & Terry Maggert

Author:J.N. Chaney & Terry Maggert [Chaney, J.N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2022-05-28T16:00:00+00:00

“Okay, Icky, try hooking that cable to the backup bus and see if you can get that flow controller to light up,” Zeno said. We could hear her and Icky working away, trying anything they could think of to coax signs of life from the Fafnir. I just sat, holding Torina’s hand, waiting. Me urging them to work harder or faster wasn’t just pointless, it was counterproductive. I reminded myself that I assembled good people, and that my role now was to step back and let them do their jobs.

“Nothing,” Icky called back.

“Shit.” A pause, then Zeno called out again. “Okay, try it now—”

The emergency lights popped on, relieving the deep gloom. I sat up, and Torina and I released our mutual grip. It wasn’t much, but it was progress.

“Okay, now run that second cable into the flow controller’s external power port—”

“Done, fire it up!” Icky called.

More of the Fafnir came back to life. The air circulators began to whisper, and the status board lit up. It was entirely red, but at least it was now able to tell us nothing was working.

Zeno appeared. “We’ve managed to cobble the power cells into the main bus. It’s not much, but it’s enough to let us access more systems.”

“Can you give us scanners?”

“Uh… passive, yes. Active, no way.”

“Do it, please.”

She looked like she was going to balk but finally nodded. “Give us a minute.”

That minute seemed to last at least an hour. It ended up being about five—time during which we could only sit in the crippled, drifting Fafnir and await whatever fate was delivered to us. We had no control. None. We were as defenseless as a floating rock, and it made me want to weep, to hit things, to scream at the top of my lungs.

Because it was all my fault. Netty had tried to warn me—

What had I said so airily to Groshenko? …this is why I surround myself with good people. They come up with good ideas and have good answers…

Yeah. Sure. But that only means anything if you actually listen to them.

I could feel Torina beside me, wanting to talk, if only to let me know she was there—and on my side. She knew better than to try, though. So did Perry. The moment stretched, gravid and tense.

The passive scanners finally came back online. After that, Icky and Zeno were able to quickly restore more systems. Finally, nearly thirty minutes after she’d gone abruptly dark, they’d coaxed the Fafnir back to life. That included Netty, who announced herself.

“Dragon-class ship control AI serial number 44503895-A-T678-B online, all functions at baseline values or better.”

“Netty? Shit—she hasn’t been completely wiped, has she?” I asked Perry. I envisioned a blank, fresh-out-of-the-box version of Netty who had no idea who we were. Maybe we could restore her from the second instance of her running the Iowa—

“Hey, give a girl a few seconds to wake up. What’d I miss?” she asked.

“The aftermath of me being a smug, overconfident asshole. I should have listened to you, Netty, I’m sorry.

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