The engine compartment was about three feet high. Even taking Luci's woefully short stature into account, the space was far too cramped to stand in. As for elbow room, that wasn't much better. The floor was just big enough for someone to lay down on. The cylindrical engine passed through the far side of the compartment, which was stuffed into the fuselage at the base of the wing the engine was mounted on. A section of engine's cowling had been removed, revealing the machinery inside the tube. The blue glow spilling out of it made the place seem like a tanning bed.

Luci didn't bother entering all the way. She poked her upper body through the access hatch while kneeling on the deck outside, and tried to forget about how the 'stuck in a hedge/wall/vent' situation usually went down in manga.

Unless Philomena comes up behind me …

'Mmm, ay caray! When you put your hand there, you really get my motor going!'

She shook her head.

Focus, Luci, she thought.

She swept her flashlight along the engine. The duracyoptic chain converters seemed fine, the Lovub plug was firmly in place and didn't look cracked, the nerbizulizer coils were lit up and shining. As she inspected everything with a wary eye, heavy footsteps shook the deck and stopped next to her legs.

"What is the problem?" Rsh asked.

"Everything seems … well, calling this thing 'flight-worthy' would stretch the truth more than taffy going into a black hole. But I don't see anything excessively dangerous."

What would make the pressure spike like that, though?

Her beam went to the Rodopo infuser, a small sealed box fixed to the outside of the cowling. Followed the black rubber hose plugged into it. Traced it along the fuselage, where a series of fasteners bolted it to the metal. She twisted her midriff so she could follow the hose across the compartment …

"Aha," she said. "Found it."

"What?"

"You know how this ship is a piece of crap, right?"

Outside the compartment, Rsh grumbled at her.

"Well," she said, "looks like — for whatever reason — when Tarkota-Deering put this ship together, they installed the Pulpsen pump backwards. I don't know if it's a design flaw or if they're compensating for some other design flaw, but …" She licked her lips as she studied the box attached to the bulkhead near the access hatch. "Because they installed the pump backwards, the hose needs to do a tight 180 and go back around the pump on its way to the Rodopo infuser. Normally it's not a problem, but one of the fasteners broke. The hose slips out of place, artificial gravity makes it pinch closed. Pressure builds up behind the blockage until it forces its way through. And then …"

"Pressure spike," Rsh said.

"Yeah."

"Is it dangerous?"

"On its own, not really. The bigger problem is if the hose comes lose and start flopping all over the compartment. If it gets caught in the turbine, it can do some real damage."

She stared at the electromagnetic turbine taking up a large part of the cylindrical engine's tube. The blades with metal wire coiled around them were still, since the engines were powered down. But in flight, they whirred incredibly fast. The turbines were the engine's workhorse, generating the thrust needed to propel the ship.

Luci switched the flashlight off and backed out of the engine compartment. The access hatch was on the starboard bulkhead of the octagonal hub. An identical hatch was over on the port side. She stood up and stretched her back.

"What would you suggest?" Rsh asked. His labored lips opened and closed awkwardly around the human words, and when they lifted up they revealed a mouthful of sharp teeth gleaming in the stark light.

"Scrap this pile of junk and buy a better ship," she said.

"Within our budget."

"Since when do we have a budget?"

The looming, seven-foot-tall Zantauran narrowed his shrewd eyes at her. Scouring the wry smile on her face.

"Can you install the pump … the correct way?" he asked.

"Probably, yeah. But I don't know why they did it that way. So if I do reinstall it, I might find out I need to reinstall ten other things. Then, after I'm done with that, I find some critical design flaw that means I have to take everything apart again and put it back the way it was originally."

"Hmm. That would be our luck."

"If you want to ask about it on some starnet forums, I'll take a look at what they say …"

"Starnet forums are no help … when it comes to this ship."

"What do they say?"

"'Scrap it and buy a better one.'"

Luci chuckled. "I can imagine. Plus, with QualMart out there, it's tough to get replacement parts."

Baring his sharp teeth, Rsh growled, "QualMart."

Apparently, just like Luci, he had his own contentious history with them.

As the biggest big box retailer in the galaxy, QualMart was a political and economic powerhouse. They waged constant war against the aftermarket for starship parts to protect their profit margins. The corporate culture frowned on blatantly meddling in the free market, so whenever a massive multistellar wanted to do dirty stuff without it becoming a huge PR disaster, they used 'consumer rights' as a shield. According to the rumors, QualMart had a massive spy network throughout the galaxy which kept tabs on all the independent dealers. As soon as they'd gathered enough ammunition, they whisked the dissatisfied customers to the galactic court system and organized a class action lawsuit on their behalf. Sometimes the complaints were legit, other times they were just driven by spite, or greed, or the desire to suck up to QualMart. QualMart didn't care, as long as they got the propaganda they needed. If the courts ruled in their favor, QualMart instantly sent mercenaries in to shut the dealer down. All in the name of 'protecting consumers'.

Stolen novel; please report.

The galaxy's merchants were all paranoid and terrified of the day QualMart came for them. Many had already fallen. That was why her family business, Ramirex Interstellar Scrap Traders, died. Big chunks of their support network had been shuttered by QualMart, leaving her family adrift in the stars, unable to sell their scrap and scrape together even a measly living.

Ah, losing the family business hurts, but … I'm with Kestrel Mining now. And one look at Philomena's smiling face brightens the whole galaxy up.

Luci said, "Even if we ignore them — and I'd like to — getting the right parts might be tricky. You'd think putting a starship together with cheap components would make replacing them just as cheap, but some of these parts are old, rare, and off the market. Ironically, making them more valuable than when they were new."

"A conundrum," Rsh said.

"If you want a quick fix, we can just buy more fasteners when we head to Croshaw. They're pretty cheap. In the meantime …"

"… duct tape?"

Luci nodded. "Duct tape. I think probably half the ship is made of it by this point."

"Hopefully we shall avoid the fate of … Rashton Thrush."

Although Rsh violently barked the man's name out, that was probably just from his vocal cords running out of energy.

Her toolbelt rested on the floor at her feet. She fetched a roll of duct tape and held it up.

"'Duct tape is my one true love, and the bonds of true love are as strong as duct tape!'"

She glanced at him, hoping to see a spark of recognition in his gold eyes, but his cold, discerning frown gave her chills.

"'Cuckoo' Bakuko? From Galaxy Cross Unlimited? C'mon, she was only the best waifu in the whole anime."

"I am aware of it," he spat heavily, like he was being forced to admit something shameful at gunpoint.

As Luci gasped, her inner brow shot upward and lifted half her forehead. Her mouth flapped uselessly as it tried and failed to find words weighty enough to handle the grave injustice taking place.

"Don't … you … DARE saying bad about Rin Bakuko!" she warned.

"An awful character."

"Ah!" she wailed. "What—?!"

"She was reckless. Endangered the ship. Refused to accept blame."

"And …?! She had g-g-good qualities too!"

Wry, predatory amusement made his eyes twinkle. "Name them," he said coldly.

Although Luci's task was crucial, it was also daunting. So daunting that her mouth failed her at first. There was so much to say, so many wonderful things she had to list, so why weren't the words coming out of her mouth? It wasn't because Rsh was right, not at all. It was just … she didn't know where to start. Yes, that was the one and only reason why she was floundering.

Luci said, "She … was … feisty!"

"'Feisty.' Hmm."

"She didn't take guff from anybody! And she could blast a 'Baka!' like nobody's business!"

"So she is 'feisty'. Is that all? Just the one trait?"

"No! There was, um …"

The sparkle of amusement in his eyes brightened.

"Ah! She had red pigtails!"

"Not a character trait."

"Ay, caray," she muttered under her breath. "She, um, she … had a tattoo!"

"Still … not a character trait."

Cracking from the stress, Luci declared, "That means she's feisty! And-And her oppai bounced majestically at the slightest turbulence! And she wore that tight crop top! And those short shorts with the top button undone—!"

She broke off. Sucked air in through her clenched teeth to cool her overheating body. Her lips stretched out in a painful grimace like she was being blasted with air inside a wind tunnel.

Rsh replied, "Sexual appeal … is not a character trait."

"It is when you're thirteen!" Luci wailed, sweating and shivering as much as she had the first time she laid eyes on Rin Bakuko.

"She did nothing but … rudely bark at others."

Luci tossed her arms up and threw them around in a scattershot, flailing shrug.

"So what?! Isn't that why people watch anime?! To fantasize about being scolded b-b-by … beautiful redheads?!"

The twinkle in Rsh's eye shone like a supernova. He pressed his lips together firmly. Like he was giving her the chance to dig herself in deeper. Reeling from his smug expression, she rattled like a starship coming apart at the seams.

"Ah!" she said. "What about episode 16, when she and Hiro crashed the shuttle on that planet, and she admitted her mistakes and changed for the better?!"

"A hack writer gave her a sob story … that threw continuity out the airlock."

"That … was … character development!"

"Bargain-bin, cliched, tsundere trash waifu."

Even though he was speaking the way he normally did, every syllable that came out of his big mouth was like a slap to the face. How could he say such horrible lies? Was he trying to hurt Luci?

"You have no taste," she snapped.

"Says the human who consumes garbage waifus."

Huffing, Luci tore away from him and headed for the common room to cool her head. She threw her hand up and blocked his face as she walked past. However, when the door to the locker room snapped open, a glimpse of bouncing red hair caught her eye. She came to a stop and turned towards it. There, in the doorway, she saw a sight that immediately cradled her battered heart and nursed it back to health.

"Ramirex," Philomena said. "There you are. I have something I need you to do."

"Hai?!"

Her cheeks were still a little red, and she still looked a little shaky. But as she strode across the hub like a woman on a mission, her worries seemed to slip off and fall away from her, unburdening her determined strut. The closer she came to Luci, the more Luci shrank back till she hit the bulkhead. The boss stopped right in front of her, standing tall with her feet together. One hand was behind her back. When it started to move, fireworks exploded in Luci's mind as she got ready for her long-awaited kabedon …

"Here."

It was her space suit helmet. She held it upside down. A stale yet pungent whiff of old puke wafted up from inside it, turning Luci's stomach.

"Clean this out for me."

Wrinkling her nose, Luci asked, "What happ—?"

"Can you just do your job without asking a million questions?" the redhead scolded.

Luci straightened her spine so quickly the back of her head thudded into the wall. "Yes, ma'am!"

"That's what I like to hear," Philomena said, still looking pretty dour.

She thrust the helmet into Luci's chest. Once her startled arms sprang shut around it, Philomena walked over to the common room. Luci's head turned to watch the pretty chief executive pass by like a shooting star. Then Luci's head turned a little more and came to Rsh and his cold yet twinkling stare. Still saying nothing, waiting for her to dig herself deeper. The common room door slid closed and blocked Philomena from view. It was just her and Rsh in the octagonal hub now, and there was no reason for Luci to hang around that … that … Rin Bakuko-hater anymore. Hugging the helmet tightly despite the smell, Luci stormed away from him to clean it out inside the starship's small bathroom.