Stay calm! said the confident watching potency.
Abruptly the queen moved into action with such speed they nearly missed her first movements. Palps reached ceilingward, seeming to slide across the panels.
She had also rocked back on one set of nether legs, freeing the front set to dance across the floor panels.
Instantly orangey lights came up around the room in the tubes that had been designated as Hiver lighting.
Next the panels lit, decorated with odd symbols and different shadings.
We got power all over the fucking place, Rome said, in choked amazement. I’m not sure I can explain this.
Don’t bother.
Oh Lord, engine room’s going crazy. Hey, I think this has gone far enough, Thian! Panic coloured Rome’s tone.
Don’t worry, Commander, Jeff Raven said. This ship’s anchored so tight not even full speed forward could break her loose.
I know the sequence to turn the power on, Rojer said.
I’ve got the pattern of how she activated everything, Flavia said.
Sorry, gal, your parole just got cancelled, Thian said and the Merge replaced the queen in her prison.
what’d you guys do to her? Rhodri complained. She’s going wild!
Can `t say I blame her, Jeff remarked placidly. I’d be a bit pissed off too, fil thought I’d just seen the way home and it disappeared.
Your decontam drill just finished, Rome, Thian told her.
Queen’s back in stir and doing a mad dance.
wheeee! But can you start it all up again when we want you to?
the commander asked, doubt colouring her tone.
Any time we want to.
For all the good that does, Jeff remarked. Well done, Primes, not an ass in jeopardy. I’ll leave you to the fun of explaining it all to the Admiral. But I’ll be listening so don’t say anything I’ll have to apologize for.
Granddad!
`Admiral, it was a concerted effort,’ Rojer repeated, an
edge to his voice now because he was growing weary of the barrage of naval doubts and, particularly, del Falco’s aggressive interrogation. He was sorry that, as the engineer of the three Talents, he had volunteered to answer any technical questions. `Any’ had turned into an incredible `many’. And none of his answers pleased xenophobic Baldwin who was as close to sulking as a grown man should get. All three Talents had been particulary careful in answering his stabbing questions since his suspicions were so clearly `heard’ in his public mind. `Given the height of the queen,’ Rojer explained patiently, `the positions of her manipulative limbs and her optics, the upper panel was the logical main control, while she received status information from the lower one. The three of us merely fiddled with variables until we hit the right combination. I think it was Flavia who actually got the lights turned on.’ `The queen’s upper limbs have triangular-shaped palps,’ Flavia said, her voice falling into a `rote’ pattern as she repeated her part of the explanation, `so that was the form of pressure I used.’ `Why did you call a decontam drill at that time, Commander Kloo?’ Baldwin demanded, abruptly switching to the other `culprit’, the duty officer.
`Sir, if you will remember, you yourself suggested that we start emergency drills on the Refugee, due to the fact that the lifesupport system was only just on line,’ Semirame said in an earnest tone, leaning slightly towards him, not quite apologetically but with an air of gentle reminder. Actually, he gives so many orders, he’ll never remember he didn’t. A drill is s.o.p especially with a new installation. If he hadn’t ordered it, he should have.
I don’t know about you and Rojer, Thian, Flavia said with considerable vexation in her voice, but I find their attitudes suspicious, disagreeable, ungrateful and positively spiteful. what difference does it really make who found out how to turn on the power in that wretched old ship? It’s never going anywhere. But it IS now powered up and I do not like being accused of `going behind their backs for personal glory’, or `overstepping’ the parameters of `our assigned functions We kept their personnel safe and we made the ship just that bit more safe when we turned on its heating system. We’ve explained and explained and diagrammed as much as we know, so I think it’s time to leave this merry-go-round.