Chapter Fifty-Two - The Mechanic

Oft underappreciated, always underpaid. Ship mechanics are the backbone of human civilization, and according to themselves, if it wasn't for their tireless work, all of humanity would find itself sucking vacuum.

A few rare mechanics had a more humble approach to the craft, treating it as art rather than glorified maintenance work.

A more common bunch knew that they had the power to turn off the scrubbers, redirect the air, and turn a ship into a mobile sarcophagus. These mechanics were unappreciated by their corporate owners, but they earned a solid pay before being replaced.

Ivil knew that the options for that kind of work ranged from awful to only barely tolerable, with a few sparkling exceptions.

Today, she was going to question one of those exceptions.

Not for herself, of course. She did not care for such things. Rather, she was questioning things on Twenty-Six's behalf.

The truth was that Ivil was concerned that the young woman wasn't reaching her full potential. Twenty-Six had a brilliant mind and an incredible amount of talent. She was passionate about ships and genuinely seemed to love what she did.

Ivil had listened to her rant about the Sappho's air filtration system for an hour the previous night and had been amused the entire time. The only sour note was the knowledge that Twenty-Six might very well never amount to anything but a simple ship's mechanic on some old rust bucket.

That was, in Ivil's opinion, unforgivable.

If she and Twenty-Six ended up together... well, then that would be one thing. Twenty-Six could pursue her passion with the entire Martian fleet if she so chose. But if they didn't work out, then Ivil still wanted Twenty-Six to come out on top. She had stumbled across Ivil's attention, and now she'd reap the rewards.

Ivil had pondered what to do for Twenty-Six overnight and decided that the best course of action would be to seek advice, and that meant questioning the only person nearby whom she would trust with such matters.

Leaving the Sappho, Ivil made her way over to the next berth over where the Held Together was moored. A few automated repair drones were very slowly fitting some new plating in place over some of the scars left on the ship's hull. That level of repair work could easily be automated, though the cost was likely not so easy to swallow for the captain.

On entering the ship, she found herself assaulted by the Held Together's familiar odour. It wasn't exactly pleasant. Stale oil and sweat. The smell of a space that had held a number of people for too long without proper ventilation.

Maybe Twenty-Six was onto something when she exposed the glories of an above-par filtration system. It would certainly work to keep the stink at a lower level.

"Evelyn?" Ivil turned to find Sonic Spectre standing in the ship's hold. The Tech-Maid straightened her back, hands clasping together over her stomach in a dignified, submissive pose. "I was not expecting you here. Forgive me, I didn't prepare any hospitalities."

Ivil waved it off. "It's fine," she said dismissively. "I was actually here looking for you."

"Oh?" Sonic asked. "How may I be of assistance?"

Ivil glanced around, even though she was well aware that they were alone. "Are we private?" she asked anyway out of courtesy.

"We are," Sonic replied easily. "Is something the matter? Is it urgent?"

"No, it's nothing urgent, I merely don't feel like playing to any charades at the moment," Ivil said. "It's about Twenty-Six."

"Oh! Have you decided that she's the one? I'm surprised but not disappointed, she's a kind young woman and I think her unique perspective on life could improve your own point of view. It may even have a positive impact on the greater Martian society."

Ivil wasn't here for this, but she gestured for the Tech-Maid to go on. "Continue."

Sonic blinked behind her one-expression mask. "I feel like I may have miscomprehended something."

"Go on anyway," Ivil said. "You have my permission to be honest."

She paused for a long moment before she nodded. "Very well. Twenty-Six is young, attractive enough, if in an unconventional way, and kind hearted. I suspect that her mechanical inclinations would make her a favourite amongst the Tech-Maids of Mars, and while her origins as a Saturnian might frustrate some of the more... pure-minded Martians, that same origin might also draw in others who view diversity and immigration favourably. She has no family to speak of, no close political or corporate ties. She'd make for a very neutral spouse in the eyes of the politically inclined, in short."

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Ivil hummed. "I think she's cute and greatly desire to pinch her freckled cheeks."

"They do seem very pinchable, ma'am."

"In any case, I'm not certain that she's the one. In fact, I'm having some difficulty deciding how to approach her. Nonetheless, I suspect that you're correct about her demeanour. She's kind and positive. I want her to come out of this situation ahead of where we found her, regardless of the outcome."

"I see. And what would that entail?" Sonic asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"I was thinking that we could either find work for her in a more prestigious position, or perhaps fund her further education?"

Sonic nodded. "That would be acceptable. Have you considered giving her a scholarship to one of the primary Martian universities? Some of them have links with the Tech Maids, as technical professionals and peers. They would accept her with open arms, especially with her new core giving her a slight edge, and your endorsement giving her... an incomparably valuable edge."

"Do you think she'd like that?" Ivil asked.

The Tech-Maid considered it. "I think she'd like the results of the education. I don't know if the school environment is one she'd necessarily enjoy, but the subject matter itself is one we know she likes."

Ivil was about to acquiesce when she noticed that someone was approaching. The very same someone they were talking about.

Twenty-Six was now in the ship's airlock, waiting as the Held Together's ancient pressurisation system did its work.

"She's coming," Ivil said. "Do you have any idea what she'd been doing over here?"

"Twenty-Six has been coming and going for the last day or so. She's been completing minor repairs. I believe she's making full use of the part-assembler and printer on the Sappho," Sonic said.

"Ah, that makes sense," Ivil replied as the interior airlock opened and Twenty-Six slipped into the room.

The young woman walked right past Ivil and Sonic, humming a happy little tune as she went.

She froze by the door, her humming stopping mid-note. Then she turned and blinked at the two. "Uh, oh, hi?"

"Hello," Ivil said.

"Greetings," Sonic replied.

"Oh, shoot, uh, what are you two doing here? I mean, no, you're allowed, so... anyway! Hi!" Twenty-Six's face turned as red as her hair and her eyes flicked to everywhere but the two across from her.

Ivil resisted the urge to squeeze Twenty-Six. It was becoming increasingly difficult to do so. "Are you here to fix the ship up?" Ivil asked.

"As well as I can," Twenty-Six replied. "I've been printing things non-stop over on the Sappho... wait, that's okay, right? Using the Sappho's printer like that?"

"It's perfectly alright," Ivil replied.

"Cool! So I've been making replacements for... well, nearly everything. There's a lot of stuff you just can't print, but there are so many parts that you can remake whole and then it's just plug and go. So much easier than patching things with foam and duct tape and chewing gum."

"Are you here looking for more things to repair, then?" Ivil asked.

Twenty-Six snorted an indelicate laugh. "I could spin around and point to something random and it would need some fixing in here. Nah, I'm getting my dolly."

"Pardon?" Ivil asked.

In lieu of explaining, Twenty-Six went to the far end of the hold and undid a pair of latches holding a small wheeled platform against the wall. She bent down and unfolded a handle on it and tugged the platform after her. "This is my dolly," she said. "It's for carrying parts around in low-G. I was gonna go to a local scrapper and pick up a few things. They have a catalogue of parts on the station-net, and half of them are mislabelled. They don't know what they have!" There was a gleam in her eyes. "And that's a mistake I'm going to capitalise on. I want, like, a million different replacement parts that we can get for cheap."

"Things you cannot print, I imagine?" Sonic asked.

"Exactly! Well, some you can but you need the files for them, and I can't find some. The Held Together has some parts that pre-date ship-board printers, no one's made the parts in any sort of CAD, or if they did, I can't find or afford them. So I'll have to fix things the old fashioned way. Some bits are just not printable. Filters and some electronics."

"Hmm, well, I can hardly let you go on your own," Ivil replied. "It would be unbecoming of me to let you get hurt out there. Did you want to come as well, Pendergast?" Ivil asked while projecting that the answer would be no.

"I'll leave you two to it," Sonic replied sagely. "Enjoy yourselves!"

***