Starpiercer: Sunlight's Edge

CHAPTER XIII: CARCOSA V

XIII
CARCOSA V

"I Must Say that that was a difficult Encryption," opined Roolu, as if in self-defense as Carcosa pulled himself up the ladder well into the robotics bilges. The Yovian had the innards of a maintenance drone hanging from a pair of magnetic clamps, and was mag-locked to the ceiling, reaching down to work on it. "I am impressed that you managed to discover it before me," it turned three of its beady peepers on him. "Though, you did not abide by what some might consider the traditional rules of competition."

Carcosa sighed. "Don't start. We learned what the broadcast was at any rate," he looked up at the alien. All four of its arms were working at speed, making minor adjustments and tweaks to the drone's interior. "Who do you think our mysterious stowaway is?"

"I am of the Opinion that there is No Stowaway, unless that Stowaway is You." Double-jointed fingers danced over wires, deftly twining them together.

"Hey, I-"

"Despite your Disgusting past, you have not communicated with the Compact as far as I am Aware for long as I have known you," granted Roolu, one of its eyes dark eyes glittering in the light of his worklamp. Nearly everyone was asleep now. The captain had mandated that the majority of the crew was to be on their night cycle and strapped down when they met the Compact's representatives, just in case. Not to mention, a fair few had to rest up after that nasty burn. For now, as they counted down the minutes until meeting time, there was a small gathering in the galley, where some of the crew had already begun to point fingers at each other. Malcontents from different departments had started accusing one another of sending the message, while yet others chimed in saying that they supported the Compact, or that the Tralfarians or the Colony should rush in and sort this mess out. He even heard someone advocate for the Corporate Alliance fleet to protect their interests in the system. The Caroline Rowland was as divided as Carcosa had ever seen it. One mystery after another. He reached up to run his hands along his skull, and tapped out a cadence on it as he thought. "Yeah." He scratched his brow. "You're right that the call was bogus though. There's no Compact operative onboard the Caroline. I'd know if there were."

"Yes, you used to be a Spy for them."

Carcosa sighed. "Spy is such an ugly word."

"Yet it is the Correct word, is it not? You Utter Imbecile."

"Fair enough. Yeah. But you knew that. I left for my own damned reasons."

The Yovian curled its over-long neck to focus its spade-shaped head on him. "Execution of Prisoners, yes?"

Carcosa shook his head. "No, we did that plenty of times. That's just war when you're on the back foot. It was uh..." he trailed off, not eager to revisit that time in his life. "It was this one time..." he scowled. "We took this dignitary hostage. It was a real hit-or-miss situation. Jumped them at the Fayd's Gap LUMAR pretending we were some seed-freighter bound for the frontier. Boarded 'em, shot or spaced all the guards, took the lady and her staff onboard our ship." He shrugged. "Seemed like a regular assignment." He looked further down the long hall that was the robotics bilges. Drones hung from clamps everywhere, and nearly everything had been magnetized to some surface or another, but it still looked cluttered as all hell. Like a bonefield. Didn't turn out like a regular assignment.

He shrugged. "Look, I don't want to talk about it right now, alright?"

"Suit Yourself. Human beings enjoy talking about themselves far too much at any rate."

"It's how our brains work."

The alien returned to its ministrations, peering into the partially disassembled drone and tucking a miniscule uranium core into an empty space. Carcosa took a step back, grimacing at it. "Reward centers based on egoism. Inefficient system. Explains you People overrunning all of Solace. Not to mention your laughably short lifespan and Perverse Birth Rate, of course." It tightened a bolt. "You are Resourceful, but divided. And too focused on your belief systems and notions of societal insurance that you will ever unite." It held out a long, spindly arm. "There should be a small hydrogen fuel rod secured to that table. If you would hand it to me?"