by Jason Kent
"How'd she do it?" Merrick asked. He stood next to Kate on a catwalk overlooking the cavernous engine room. Two hulking boilers took up much of the space. Steam turbines, gearing, and thick drive trains occupied what was left. Sparrow flitted between them all. Satisfied her latest adjustments provided optimal pressure, gear ratio, and drive speed, the sprite leapt up the steps to the elevated control station three at a time. Sparrow tapped a finger on a glass-covered gauge and nodded, obviously happy with what she saw. She looked up at Merrick and Kate and gave a thumbs up. Kate returned the gesture with a smile.
"I'm not sure," Kate said and chewed her lip. "But, right before the rake attacked, she woke up screaming. Her circuits were all lit up. She told me she had 'rebooted'."
Merrick nodded. "System reboots I can understand." He pointed down at Sparrow. "This I do not get. She's a link sprite and can interface with computer networks. But, look."
Below, Sparrow put her hand near a small valve. It turned despite the fact she was not in physical contact with the handle.
"Weird," Kate agreed. "Maybe she's got magnetics in her hands."
"Are interface controls with mechanical devices normal sprite fit-out?" Merrick asked.
"Maybe we should ask her," Kate suggested.
Kate left Merrick at the catwalk railing and took a narrow ladder down to the engine's control platform. Sparrow made another of her touch-less adjustments and turned to face Kate with her dull metallic eyes. Kate matched the other woman's gaze with her glowing blue stare.
"So," Kate began, "new superpowers?"
Sparrow tilted her head and looked at Kate for a long moment before her face broke into a toothy smile.
Kate smiled back. She was disturbed to notice Sparrow's smile did not spread to her eyes. Those looked back at her but masked Sparrow's inscrutable thoughts behind the brushed aluminum-like finish. What was going on in the sprite's mind?
"Nothing so dramatic," Sparrow replied and lifted her hands, palms out, for Kate's inspection.
Gleaming circuitry glowed emerald and gold under Sparrow's skin.
"Were those there before your..." Kate paused but could think of no better word to use, "reboot?"
Sparrow looked down at her hands and studied them intensely as if they were brand new to her. Perhaps they were, Kate thought.
"Electro-mechanical and magnetic augmentation is not part of standard link sprite uploads," Sparrow explained. She turned her head to look at a gauge. The needle edged into the read-out's red zone while the two women talked.
Sparrow reached out her hand. It hovered over a red-painted valve below the troublesome gauge for a moment. The valve made a quarter turn and stopped. The needle Sparrow still studied slipped back out of the red zone. She tapped the glass cover to be sure the needle's readings were stable and faced Kate again.
"Are you worried?" Kate asked.
"About the engines?" Sparrow replied, "No, they are operating at peak efficiency and, with Garrett's assistance, we were able to adjust the angle of the remaining propeller so as to reduce stress on the steering vanes. Fuel supplies are adequate for the journey although there is a slight blockage—"
"No," Kate interrupted, "you. Aren't you concerned at all about what has happened to you?"
Sparrow thought about the question before she answered. "Worried, no. Surprised, yes."
"Well," Kate said. "I was concerned and surprised. We were all worried about you when your circuits seemed fried after we landed on Aesti. I have heard a sprite's body developed very symbiotic relationships with their implants. I was not really sure how long, or even if, you could live without them functioning. When you woke up screaming, I feared the worst."
"You thought I was dying," Sparrow said slowly.
"Yes. But then I saw your circuits glowing and your eyes and knew something...right had happened."
Sparrow touched the glowing circuits on her forehead and brushed lose strands of hair back over her ear. When she pulled her hand away, the sprite stared again at the spiraling, glowing circuits now embedded in her hands.
"After we arrived on this world," Sparrow explained, "it became apparent my body augmentation could not function in Aesti's unique EM field. My body scavenged materials, rebuilt critical paths with shielded circuits, and updated my capabilities."
"Then you rebooted," Kate said. She rubbed her temples. This made no sense. She looked at Sparrow. "How did you tell your body to upgrade when your circuitry was knocked out?"
"I didn't," Sparrow answered. She stared at Kate but offered no further explanation.
Kate opened her mouth then closed it, not sure how to respond. Finally, she thought she knew.
"Knowl."
"This was also my assumption," Sparrow agreed. She held up her hands again. "I have never met or heard of another sprite with this sort of augmentation. The designs are unique, as far as I am aware."
"And this doesn't bother you?" Kate asked, suddenly horrified at the thought of her friend being altered without her consent. "You were..." Kate wanted to say raped, but the term did not capture the scope or intensity of what Sparrow experienced.
"As I have indicated," Sparrow said, "I am justifiably surprised, but as I have the majority of my major systems back on-line and have acquired several new capabilities, I am not sure I'm in a position to complain."
"But all this was done without your permission!" Kate exclaimed.
"The alternative may have been my death."
Kate could not argue Sparrow's statement. Still, she could not let the matter drop.
"The ends do not justify the means," Kate exclaimed.
"In this case, I believe they do," Sparrow said after she considered Kate with her metal eyes. She gestured around the steamy engine room. "We needed to be able to control this machine."
"And Knowl provided a way," Kate sighed.
"Exactly," Sparrow said. She leaned in close to Kate and whispered, "Plus, our quest is far from over. Who knows how else my new skills may be put to use." Sparrow turned back to her brass gauges, levers and valves. In the time she shifted her attention to Kate, many of the engine's subsystems drifted from their optimal settings. With all the damage the airship sustained, everything here required near-constant attention. The minute adjustments Sparrow made could only have been computed and carried out with her rebooted brain. The other interface augmentation allowed Sparrow to employ some level of remote control of the engine and also seemed to give her sensory input related to the inner workings of the complex machinery. Kate was given an illustration as Sparrow used one hand to adjust a valve while the sprite held out another in the direction of the port steam turbines, as if she was taking a reading.
Kate turned to go, leaving Sparrow to her work. At the base of the ladder, she looked over to the rebooted woman.
"Sparrow..."
The sprite looked at Kate with her gray eyes while she continued to make adjustments and take readings. Sparrow raised her eyebrows expectantly.
"Sparrow, if you need to talk about what happened, I'm here for you."
Sparrow nodded and went back to work.
Kate climbed the ladder and walked the narrow metal catwalks until she was back at Merrick's side.
"Knowl," Kate stated, "has a lot of explaining to do."
Merrick looked at her but did not say anything. He turned his attention back to Sparrow. After he observed the sprite take remote readings of the boiler pressure, he finally agreed, "That he does."
"Kate, Merrick, get your boots up here on the bridge," a tinny voice called out over the ship's crew intercom. Kate looked up at the mechanical speaker hanging from the engine room's ceiling. She imagined the tube which led from the speaker as it snaked through the superstructure and popped out of the wall at the back of the bridge. Kate also imagined an agitated Dagger as she shouted into the tube marked 'engine room'. It was the agitated sound of the pilot's voice which spurred Kate into action. Together she and Merrick scrambled up another ladder. They came out of
the engine room amid the white ventilation shafts at the rear of the open observation deck. Kate took a long look back at Sparrow down below at the airship's engine controls. The link sprite gave Kate a thumbs up then went back to her work.
Kate did not like the thought of someone who felt it was okay to 'reboot' one of her friends. She hurried across the deck, now awash with the first rays of Aesti's brilliant orange sunrise and wondered about Knowl. Had he done the same thing to her? What if her encounter with Javin was more than a chance meeting? Did Knowl 'reboot' her with the insight of a Watcher just to do his bidding? Her step faltered and she stopped.
Merrick sensed Kate was no longer at his side and stopped. He turned to face her and unslung his rifle with one fluid motion, ready for action.
Kate looked from the horizon and the rising sun and faced the sniper.
"Problem?" Merrick asked. His eyes jumped from side to side as he sought a target. "Did you see something?"
Kate smiled despite herself. Of all the quest members, Merrick accepted her newfound gifts the easiest. No matter whether Kate's meeting with Javin had been accidental or part of some larger plan on the part of the Tallinn's or Knowl, it was nice to know Merrick was on her side. She shook her head.
"Not exactly," Kate's smile faded.
Merrick took a step forward, his attention for the moment focused solely on Kate. He wore a quizzical expression but said nothing. Merrick knew she had come to some realization, but did not press her.
Kate realized something more than the fact Knowl might very well be using each and every one of them for its own, unknown purposes. She knew at this very moment she was in love with Kelly Merrick, the man who gave up everything to follow and protect her. She wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye and closed the distance between them with a single step. Kate threw her arms around Merrick and planted a kiss firmly on his lips.
Merrick was caught completely by surprise. Kate could feel his body stiffen before the comprehension of what was happening got through to his male brain. She felt a stab of worry Merrick would pull away. Reject her. She wondered for a moment if her impulsive move would once and forever throw up a barrier between them.
To Kate's great relief, the tension in Merrick's body melted away. She knew he still held his heavy rifle with one hand, but with his free hand he grasped Kate's neck and pulled her to him. Merrick returned the kiss with passionate forcefulness which made Kate's eyes pop open. She found Merrick's speckled gray eyes staring back at her.
They parted just enough to catch their breath after a moment but still held each other with their foreheads touching.
"Sorry," Kate said softly and looked down
"I hope not," Merrick said. "I've been wanting to do that since we got out of the hopper back on Transom."
"You have great self-control, Sergeant Merrick."
"Well," Merrick replied and kissed her again, this time softer, "I am highly skilled in all sorts of stealthy field craft. Takes patience."
"Field craft?" Kate asked. "Does that mean you'll be doing the cooking?" Kate mentally kicked herself. How did she go from a passionate kiss to a discussion about household chores? She need not have worried.
Merrick shrugged. "I can hold my own."
"Good," Kate said and bit her lip, "because the stove catches fire whenever I try to boil water."
"That's," Merrick began and cleared his throat, "unfortunate." His face turned serious. "Care to tell me what was bothering you a minute ago?"
"Knowl."
"Understandable."
"He did the same thing to Sparrow he did to me," Kate said and tapped her forehead.
Merrick furrowed his brows then asked, "Is she receiving information from him?"
"No, I don't mean Sparrow is a Watcher or anything," Kate clarified. "Knowl needed a tool so he 'fixed' her."
"But she's better off," Merrick remarked.
"Am I better off?" Kate replied.
Merrick knew better than to answer Kate' rhetorical question. Kate regretted her statement as soon as she saw the change in Merrick's face. His face became impassive. The emotions he revealed during their kiss was now hidden by his normal, professional mask. The marine sniper was back.
"Knowl's doing things to us," Kate hurried to explain what was on her mind. "He's using all of us and I'm not sure I'm going to like what we are going to find at the end of this little adventure of ours."
Merrick nodded and his face softened a bit.
"I understand. But, remember, I'm a soldier. Maybe I'm a little more used to following orders I may not fully understand. Knowl has just taken the place of the usual chain of command."
"You're not uncomfortable?"
"Oh yeah," Merrick snorted. "I am way out of my comfort zone." Kate was glad to see his mask fall away again. His gaze drifted to the horizon and the sunrise. "But..."
"But what?" Kate prompted when Merrick stopped.
"But this time I've got something which feels," Merrick paused and looked into Kate's glowing eyes, "right."
Kate smiled and sighed, "Thanks. I'm a sucker for a conspiracy theory and Knowl seems to be the perfect fall guy."
"With good reason," Merrick agreed. "He has provided the Tallinns with the means to defeat us. What else can he do with his knowledge?"
"I know," Kate said. "Still, I feel what you do. This whole quest seems to be calling us to do something good. I don't know if I will ever be able to explain why I feel this way. I'm just not sure I like Knowl's methods, is all."
"As you said earlier," Merrick stated, "he has a lot to answer for."
"Then let's get there and ask the big tree some questions," Garrett said. He was leaning against part of the ruined bridge housing. He pushed off and strode towards Merrick and Kate. "Or are you guys not done out here yet?"
Kate stepped back from Merrick and ran a hand through her hair. She was not sure how much Garrett saw or heard. Then again, she realized she did not really care who knew about her feelings for Merrick. If theirs was anything like the relationships Kate witnessed over the years, most of the others probably knew what was going to happen before Kate and Merrick acted on their feelings for one another.
"Just clearing up a personal matter, Lieutenant," Merrick said. He slung his rifle over his shoulder. To make his point, he reached down and took Kate's hand in his.
Kate smiled at his touch. The display was more than she would have expected from the extremely reserved marine.
Garrett's face broke into an understanding grin. He nodded and looked past them both to the rear of the open deck. "How's Sparrow doing?"
"She's got the steam engines purring and the turbines humming," Kate said. She waved at their single propeller thumping hard off the port side of the airship. "You should have all the speed this thing can handle."
"Good," Garrett replied. "Our new airship Captain should be pleased. Speaking of which, Dagger thinks we should land soon. Georges wanted to hear what you have to say on the subject." The assault shuttle pilot tilted his head at Kate and raised his eyebrows.
"Me?" Kate asked, mildly surprised. She was not used to being in the command structure of any organization. She was reminded of what Merrick said about being outside his personal comfort zone. Kate was so far away from what she had been comfortable with just a few days ago she could not even see the zone any longer. The insight Javin gave her changed everything she knew. Kate stood straight and nodded. She reluctantly pulled her hand out of Merrick's grip and adjusted her leather jacket with a tug. In their haste to acquire the outfits, she had not been able to find a perfect fit and her coat tended to slip down her shoulders a little. Kate wondered if she would be able to find time to remedy the fit with some tailoring anytime soon. Before she could address her outfit though, she needed to address more immediate concerns.
"Let's do it," she said and blew out her breath. She stepped past Garrett before her courage could fail her. If Georges and even Dagger were looking to her for a decision, she was not going to l
et them down. Kate's face set into a grim smile. Knowl had indeed changed her. She wondered if the tree would regret its interference in her life once she got there.
Inside the bridge, Kate found Dagger and Georges standing near the precipitous drop-off created by the missing front of the room. Dagger's grip was glued to the giant airship wheel. She seemed unfazed by the wind blowing through the broken walls and windows. She turned to Kate.
Kate could see her glowing eyes reflected in Dagger's mirrored aviators glasses.
"We are about home, Princess," Dagger said. She nodded out the front of the shattered bridge. The rolling hills they passed over the day before and most of the night transitioned to higher ridges covered in extremely tall trees. In the distance, a line of craggy peaks glowed pink in the early morning sun.
"Kaali?" Kate asked. She eyed the line of sharp mountains. It was difficult to gauge at this distance, but Kate did not think they had enough altitude to allow them to get over the snow-covered peaks. "Can we get over those?"
"Nope," Dagger stated.
Everyone looked at Kate. She stared back. Her heart began to pound and her chest constricted. They all wanted her to decide what to do. She locked eyes with Georges. He was the nominal leader of their quest. The Colonel looked back at her.
Kate swallowed hard and asked, "What are our options?"
"We crash into the mountains up there or we try and put this pig down," Dagger offered.
Her gaze locked on the looming peaks, Kate thought hard. If they landed now, she was not sure they could get over the mountains and to Knowl before the Fleet ships Georges had called arrived. There must be a way.
Kate started and stood up straight.
A questioning look crossed Georges face. Kate wondered if she was so easy to read. Probably.
