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Mentor’s Comm Room


Tolly tapped up his mail queue and frowned.

“Is there a problem?” Haz asked, apparently having found nothing half so innerestin’ on her screen.

“Cap’n Theo wants a tour of the core, with an explanation of how it all works,” he said.

“Is there a reason she should not have those things?”

“Not for me to say, is it?” He turned his head toward the wall.

“Station, ask Seignur Veeoni if she’ll speak with me.”

“Connecting,” said the voice that wasn’t quite Tocohl’s. Tolly looked back to his screen.

“Mentor?” Seignur Veeoni said, briskly. “What is it?”

“Cap’n Waitley asks me to give her a tour of the new core and explain the principles and operations. That all right with you?”

“Indeed, Mentor. Daav yos’Phelium’s daughter may surely tour the core, and you are, I know, more than competent to explain the principles and operations. It is, now that I think of it, an excellent idea. If, that is,” she added, “you are able to take on this extra task.”

Tolly blinked. “I can make some time to accommodate the captain,” he said. “Might get Tocohl in, too.”

“Another excellent idea. Thank you, Mentor.”

“Seignur Veeoni has closed her line,” Station said.

“Thank you, Station,” Tolly said. “Would you call Bechimo, please?”

“Calling Bechimo,” Station said.

Bechimo comm officer,” Joyita said crisply. “Service, Mentor?”

“Might be. Cap’n Theo dropped me a note asking if I’d take her on a tour of the new core. I’m wondering if she has a particular time in mind.”

“I’ll connect you with the captain,” Joyita told him. There came a soft click, followed by—

“Tolly Jones?” Theo Waitley said.

“That’s right. When would you like that tour, Cap’n?”

“I’m free now, if that works for you.”

“Couldn’t be better. I’m going to ask Tocohl to join us, for the questions I can’t answer. That all right by you?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’ll meet you at the hallway lift in twelve minutes.”

“Make it fifteen,” she told him. “Waitley out.”

Bechimo has closed the line,” Station said, sounding apologetic.

“That’s all right, they were done. Call Pilot Tocohl for me, will you, Station?”

“Of course, Mentor.”

“Thank you.”

“Mentor?” Tocohl’s voice carried a faint edge of surprise. “Can I help you?”

“You can help me entertain and inform Cap’n Theo, if you got some time right now. She wants to get an understanding of the new core. I’ll be there, but I’d like you as backup.”

There was a small pause.

“Certainly, Mentor. I would be delighted.”

“Good. Meet you in the core in twenty minutes, then. I’ll bring Cap’n Theo in.”

“Yes,” she said.


“This is the faristo,” Tolly said, as the door opened into a small space occupied by a—device, made of some light material that Theo thought might be ceramic. It was just about shoulder-high on her, and as wide as Stost and Chernak, standing together. Lights moved beneath the surface, and there was a catch-bin at the right side, where a dozen or so tiles were stacked.

“Seignur Veeoni invented this—device and process. I don’t know how it works, particularly. The general information is that it machines tiles to spec. The big benefit to being able to mass-produce tiles is that they’re already associated, which saves us a step in assembly. When we run out of tiles in the main workroom, we resupply from here. Questions?”

“No,” Theo said, though she had a couple dozen. It didn’t seem entirely likely to her that Tolly Jones was as ignorant of the process as he claimed. On the other hand, claiming ignorance gave him a reason to not answer questions.

“Right.”

Tolly waved her out of the room ahead of him, and joined her in the hall.

“So, you’ve already seen how the racks and tiles go together,” he continued, as they walked down the hall toward the main workroom and the core.

“The step after assembly is association, and that happens after we get a series of rack-and-tile systems hooked into the main array and calibrated.”

A shadow moved by the door—Tocohl, floating a few inches above the decking and looking every bit the gracious and intelligent lady she was.

Beside him, Theo checked.

He paused, and looked to her.

“It’s Tocohl in the chassis that was designed for her,” he said.

“That’s—not anything like a space station, is it?” she murmured. “I think I understand what Bechimo and Joyita were trying to explain.”

She took a deep breath, sighed it out, and started walking again.

“Good shift, Mentor. Captain Waitley.”

“Tocohl,” Tolly said.

Theo nodded. “Good shift. Since we’re cousins, it’s got to be proper to use my name occasionally.”

“That is correct.” There was a smile in Tocohl’s voice. “Shall I call you Theo when it is proper to do so?”

“I’d appreciate it.”

“It will be my pleasure.”

“The door’s under Tocohl’s direct control,” Tolly said, and bowed to her.

There came a sharp snap, and the three red lights on the door readout changed to three greens.

“After you, Mentor,” Tocohl said.


“Here’s the functioning system,” Tolly said, as they crossed the room toward the orderly rows of racks. Blue light coruscated over the array, and the air hummed slightly.

“This isn’t everything, mind. We’re still building. But this’ll give you an idea of what the core’s gonna look like when it’s completely built.”

“That field—is it dangerous?”

“Well, yes and no. It’s the field does the heavy lifting, once the hardware’s aligned. It’ll protect itself, but at the same time, it’s gotta be accessible for repair and expansion. There’s protocols, and safety links. Working cooperatively with Station—or the station administrator—all necessary repairs and upgrades can be done without anybody getting hurt.”

Theo nodded, cautiously.

“If somebody with mischief on their mind gets inside here,” Tolly continued, “that’s when the field turns dangerous. You need the work codes to neutralize it.”

“What if somebody just wanted to disable everything? Got in and started smashing racks, and dumping tiles?”

Tolly looked at her.

“That’s pretty specific. Something you’ve seen?”

“Not me. Kara—one of my crew—was describing the state of the old core.” Theo gave him a grin. “She’s impressed by your powers of destruction, by the way.”

“So would I be, if I’d been taking down a fully functional system. Turns out, I wasn’t. The Old Light was old, and he was sick. You couldn’t really say there was a system any more. Even down in the deep core, there were gaps in associations you could put Ren Stryker through.”

“So, you got lucky?”

“More or less. I’m thinking the event that pushed Tinsori Light all the way into the universe with the rest of us did more damage than I did.” He paused, considering her out of slightly narrowed eyes.

“You heard about that?”

“I did,” Theo assured him.

“Only thing I did was disassociate some racks and dump the tiles. It would’ve been enough to kill him—the Old Light, I mean—he was that weak. But the event made sure of it.”

He sighed.

“If you was gonna BFMI this array—say, start swinging a bar or kicking out tiles, then the field would react and what you’d get would be dead, real quick, and real permanent.”

Theo frowned. “BFMI?”

“Brute force and massive ignorance. Pays to fight smart, Cap’n Theo.”

“Better not to fight at all,” Theo said, her eyes still on the gently glowing core.

“Other questions?” Tolly asked her.

“Just wondering about the—ghost, Joyita calls it. The one that was picking at the edge of station security. If she tries to break anything, it’ll be through a breach in systems. How’s security?”

“That,” Tocohl said, “is an excellent question. At my invitation, Joyita himself made three attempts to breach security in the new core.”

“What?” Tolly turned to stare at her.

“Joyita is excellent at what he does,” Tocohl said. “He found two potential problems. Both have been repaired.”

“Did you clear that with Seignur Veeoni?” Tolly asked.

“Joyita explained what he proposed to do, and Seignur Veeoni raised no objections. Indeed, she asked to be informed of his results.”

Tolly closed his eyes.

“Joyita really is very trustworthy,” Theo said, helpfully.

“Jeeves gives a good report of him,” Tocohl agreed.

Tolly opened his eyes.

“Jeeves?”

“Yes—our mutual contact. Jeeves is my parent.”

“Sure he is,” Tolly said softly.

“Is something wrong, Mentor?”

“Nothing wrong at all. Jeeves does good work.” He took a breath and turned back to Theo.

“So, eventually, we’ll have everything backed up—in a secondary core. I can take you there, if you’re innerested, Cap’n Theo, but all it is right now is empty space.”

“I’ll pass,” Theo said, absent-sounding. She was considering the working array again, a frown between her brows.

“Question?” Tolly asked.

She glanced at him and gave a sharp shrug.

“I’ve got an itch, but I don’t know what it is,” she said. He nodded.

“It comes clear, you know how to get me.”

He turned toward the door.

“If there are no other questions for me at the moment,” Tocohl said. “I will leave you.”

“Thank you,” Theo said. “I appreciate you taking the time to explain the system to me.”

“Certainly. If you have other questions, later, please don’t hesitate to call me.”


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