Team Ferra has met with team Lizandra. Not much progress on finding the other two parts of the ship. Worm circles around vicinity occasionally.

Ferra pinged me.

"Huh?" I mutter. The word echoes in the room around me. I'd chosen t work on the issue myself, seeing how useful the two were. I sent them off to scout the ship and catalog everything.

I frown.

Engine completely wrecked. Need resources we do not have to fix it. I am pondering on the issue, will report back when I have reached a decision. Continue searching for the ship pieces, and return when team needs a break.

Affirmative.

I sigh and look at the engine.

"How the fuck am I supposed to fix this? I need manufactured parts, and I don't have a—oh. Oh." My eyes light up.

I sprint out of the room past students who look at me confusedly, and skid to a stop in front of a large hatch. The hatch is big, bigger than I am.

I turn to a nearby student and point at him. He startles and looks around.

"You. Head to engineering, and get me a toolkit. Quick."

"Uh... I don't know where engineering is." He says.

"Lower section of the ship. Quick, go!" I yell.

He jumps, turns around and runs.

"The other way!" I yell.

He turns around and runs again.

I turn to the hatch again, tracing my fingers over the sides of it. They catch onto a tiny gap in the side. I grin. I highlight that section in my mind.

"Hey," Grace says, making me jump.

I turn and glare at her.

"Where have you been?" I ask.

She shrugs.

"Around. So hows the expedition going?"

I frown slightly as I notice students are staring at me.

Fine, I think at her.

"Okay. Why are you standing in front of that hatch?"

The guy runs back in, panting. He's holding a large grey cube, with a silver top. He drops it. I nod at him, then pull the box to me. I use my fingernails to leverage out the lid, and I see a variety of old tools. I pick up a small cylindrical tool and pull out a panel on the side. There is a glowing blue crystal inside. I nod and place the panel back on.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

You'll see, I think at Grace.

Most students lose their interest and go back to lazing around. The guy is still standing there, but as for what reason, I don't know.

I slam the top of the cylindrical tool near the edge of the gap. I watch as the metal strains and finally buckles towards the tool. I twist a ring on the tool, and a warped panel pops off the wall. I throw the tool and panel off to the side.

Inside is a series of crystal mechanisms. The glows of various crystal fill up my vision, and I have to tinker with a couple settings with my optical implant to see properly.

The worm is following us. Ferra sends.

I frown.

Retreat. And make sure to cover your back as you do. Mask the retreat as a break.

It takes a few long minutes before I receive a reply.

We're returning.

I let out a breath I hadn't even known I was holding.

"What was that about?" Grace asks.

"Nothing," I say.

I stare at the circuitry and create a map in my head, puzzling it out. It takes me a couple of minutes to understand what components are what. At that point, all it takes is the removal of a little wire to make the hatch swing open.

"Oh," Grace says. "So you're planning on using the pseudo-fabricators to repair the ship?"

I shake my head.

"You know the issues with that. I'm just making a couple of components for the engine."

"Err, who are you talking to?" The guy asks.

I internally curse.

"My A.I. I have a habit of speaking my thoughts out loud when I talk to her."

"You have an A.I?" He asks, puzzled.

I nod.

"She's a gift," I say.

"Oh. Nice. Ranking?" He asks.

I stare at him, my lips pressed together. He raises his hands in surrender. I turn back to the open hatch.

Beyond the hatch is a room with a lot of machinery. The cargo room. In the corner, I see a small fabricator, with a few chutes and panels nearby. There's also a primitive glass panel system, that has a small layer of dust covering it. Of course, holograms were available back then too, but glass panel systems were used as more of a trend than anything.

Wait a minute, how do I know that? Did I read it somewhere? I don't recall doing so, but on the other hand, I have read a lot. Wait, my neural implant can figure it out and...

Nothing. A quick search gives me no results. Strange. I note the thought down in my head.

"All of you," I raise my voice. Only a few heads turn, annoying me. "All of you!" I yell, and most heads turn now. "Get down to engineering, and disassemble all drones that you can find. I want every goddamn battery you can find from them, you hear me?" I yell.

A few hesitantly move towards the end of the corridor.

"Move!" I yell.

That gets them going. I take a deep breath.

We've spotted two more worms. So far they haven't been doing much, but we've been getting unnerved.

"Shit," I curse.

"What happened?" Grace asks me.

"Monitor my pings," I say.

"Hmm... oh. I see." She says.

Get your combat specialists together and form a plan. And a backup one. They might be running on programmed sequences, or they might be controlled by someone. I'm not sure. You're on your own till you reach here. Be cautious.

Lizandra's already on it.

Good.

I walk into the room and go to the mini-fab. I stand in front of it, my hands on my hips, and I study it. It's in a bad condition, cracks have spread through the metal, and some parts have warped. It should be enough for what I want to do, however.

I turn to Grace.

"Can you do your disappearing act, and give me recon on the worms?" I ask her.

She frowns and nods.

"I can..." She says, hesitantly.

"Then good. Go now. Their position is displayed on the hologram projected by the drone. Hurry up."

She disappears.

"Looks like I'm not the only person hiding things," I mutter.