I stared into the unblinking light of the stars, glorious in the vacuum still sticking pins into my eyes, my ears, my nose. Ragged edges of metal framed the view, decorated with the fragmented pieces of at least five Hullborers. They'd attacked with single minded ferocity, drawn to this office specifically. I couldn't be sure, but it looked like they'd avoided the easier, booby-trapped route through the corridors, instead boring a long, thin cone directly to the Captain's office.
Imperial ships weren't that uniform; if the bugs could find a Captain within her ship, they could play havoc with our command structure. Of course, Imperial Marines typically responded to removal of their commander by attacking, but that in itself could be to our disadvantage. I had to inform someone. The Empress needed to know the 'Sects new abilities and behaviors, or they'd be impregnating our civilians in job lots within a year.
Of course, to do any of that I needed to figure out our current location. I turned to face Guy, who stared at me over my forearm, which still held him to the wall. His eyes bulged, not from vacuum, but from the surprise radiating from him through our mutual telepathy. Without air, I couldn't keep talking. I didn't want to speak to him this way, but I had to get back to Echidna.
Clean those up, I jerked my thumb at the broken remains of the Hullborers, get that to the labs, I waved my hand at the unharmed, yet totally dead Hellborer in the middle of the office, and take them down to the chapel. I nodded to the bodies of the captain and the doctor without taking my eyes off Guy. When you're done, clean up the rest of the mess.
He nodded, the motion jerky. I'll have to get Tiamat's auto-repair functions online to seal the hull breach.
Echidna. The heat in my response surprised me. Guy's mouth dropped open a touch, a cloud of air leaking out, snow and steam brushing across my cheeks from the moisture in his breath.
How... He caught himself before he could finish the stupid question, before he gave me another reason to toss him out the gaping hole above us. Why hasn't she started repairs up there?
That reminded me. You'll need to manually control the repairs; any attempt to access this, I nodded toward the dead Hullborer, then again toward the bodies, causes her extreme distress.
His brow furrowed, then he nodded. I'll need to cover these two up, then. Seeing them might set her off. His frown deepened. Can you get her to activate everything that isn't painful?
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Why?
To his credit, his expression didn't gain the slightest hint of mockery. I'll need to determine where Tiamat stored the event memories causing the problem. I'll also need you to have her open up some space to condense those memories once I've sectioned things off.
I thought for a moment about the two of us trying to get Echidna back to something approaching full function. We needed more hands, or we'd still be sitting here when the 'Sects found us again. I hated leaving Echidna's mental well-being in his hands, but I couldn't do everything myself. Every fiber of my being needed to help her myself, but every minute of my training screamed at me to delegate as much as I could.
She's out of touch with this room at the moment. I'll ask her to keep everything she can touch without pain active, and then I'll authorize you to complete the rest. You're our official Ship Doctor.
He paled; an impressive feat given how little blood flowed through his skin sitting in vacuum. Where will you be?
Waking up some help. Get to work.
With that I turned and walked away.
***
I tried to march away, head held high. My legs had other ideas; each one seemed to weigh a ton.
One hundred twenty kilos.
I managed to keep trudging despite the sirens' news in my ears. I had a few issues with the way I looked, but I'd never worried about my weight. I weighed around ninety kilos.
Six hundred kilos, give or take ten kilos depending on your current fuel to water ratio.
I really needed to get used to my augmentation. I also had to get used to the siren chorus of my essie interrupting my thought process.
Or give us fewer reasons to. May we supply your full schematics?
As I pondered whether or not I wanted more foreign memories stuffed in my head, I reached out through my augmentation and opened the door. When I'd closed it behind me, I addressed the ship.
"Echidna, close all connections between the uppermost Middie deck and any outer decks immediately."
"Yes, Captain." The deck shivered faintly as heavy blast doors around the ship slammed shut. I kept dragging myself toward the stasis pods.
"Repressurize all sealed decks."
"Yes, Captain."
"How is it you're hearing and responding to me?"
Impatience flooded through my link to my essie at the same time Echidna said, "through the soles of your feet, Captain."
I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall as air hissed into the room. The pins stabbing at my eyes, ears, and nose gradually dulled, then finally disappeared. The air tasted almost unbearably sweet when I finally opened my mouth to inhale. That flavor, the unique aroma of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide on my tongue decided me.
"Give me the specs."
Information crystallized in a large corner of my mind. I started down the hall again, my feet guiding themselves, my attention focused on the new data. It felt foreign, alien almost. Whatever else happened, I would never confuse this data with me, the way I did with my parents’ memories. My mental gears ground to a halt at that. I kept walking on automatic as I gawked in disbelief at the idea that I found knowledge of my own body more foreign than memories from another person.