Kleppie, Hornbeck and the others were filtering out of their naval history class the next day when they encountered Kavi coming down the hall. Kleppie greeted her warmly.
"I have some work to do this afternoon," Kavi said to Kleppie, "but if you would care to keep me company, that would be most welcome."
Hornbeck gave him a meaningful look and a nudge.
"I would be delighted," Kleppie replied. He felt a little guilty, but he wasn't sure about what. Part of it was Kavi. She seemed nice. He felt like getting close to her for the sake of spying on the Consortium was an abuse of her trust.
He also felt a little guilty about giving in so readily. He was, honestly, less and less sure of Hornbeck and his gang. They obsessed over every little real or imagined slight the Consortium did. They were furious over the trial of the CIA six, of course. Having seen the video Kleppie couldn't help but feel that the men had deserved what they got, and if it got us out of the Middle East, it was maybe worth it.
But mostly he was bored with being a spy. Kleppie wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, as they said back home, but even he could tell they were wasting their time. One quick question to a healer and he'd discovered the mysterious third level was off limits because there were airlocks and you needed certification to be up there. Made sense.
The brightly lit room was exactly opposite the hydroponics station on the far side of the ship, so didn't it kind of make sense that it would be the same? "But why isn't labeled as such?" Hornbeck asked. Kleppie didn't have an answer.
Kleppie gave Hornbeck a nod and followed Kavi into a side room. The room itself peeked his curiosity and spiked his guilt. This was their one true mystery, the room that had no name but was merely designated with a series of chemicals symbols.
One wall was dominated by a variety of tanks and tubes. Kavi indicated a small stool on the far side of the room and Kleppie sat.
"Thank you for coming to talk to me," Kavi said. "I got the unlucky egg. Gah."
"Unlucky egg?" Kleppie asked.
"Mmm," she said. She pulled up a display and inspected it while she talked. "Vrata is coming next, but if you are still around during Asha-tanga, I will show you. It's custom to give these eggs. Each has a necklace inside. There is a symbol on them and that's your fortune for the next year, yes?"
"Okay."
"So that's where the saying comes from, get the unlucky egg."
"I see, it's like we have a saying, draw the short straw," Kleppie explained how they would draw straws to see who got chores no one wanted.
"Yes, that's it."
"So what chore are you doing?" he asked
So far she had looked over the display, hit some buttons and the tubes had filled up with fluid from various tanks.
"Manufacturing," she said with a scowl. "The medical gel don't make itself. Wish it did."
They talked for a long while. Kavi explained that the compounds in the gel were stable but the active liquid had a limited shelf life and had to be produced on site. She made a base gel first. They would then add other compounds for specific types of treatment. Finally, as the liquid was put into the tanks it could be customized further, adding nutrients or medication the individual needed. Some of the stuff she mentioned made sense of Kleppie, electrolytes and what not. Other things went right over his head. They had nano bots, custom RNA strands and other things he couldn't recall.
"Oh, remind me when we are done, I have something for you," Kavi said.
"You do?"
When they were done she took Kleppie back to her quarters. She was temporarily bunked up with a woman who worked in data, whatever that meant. The quarters weren't any bigger than Kleppie's and set up mostly the same, except they had only two bunks and the back didn't have a table, but more shelves.
Kavi pulled down a box full of data cubes. They were jumbled together, most of them square and amber but others in a variety of shapes and colors.
"Do the shapes mean anything?" Kleppie asked.
"Yes and no," Kavi said. She pulled a sunburst cube. "They are all just storage for data and applications. But this shape is usually medical stuff, meditation programs, etc." She pulled out a triangle. "This is a language course. For special occasions," she pulled out a cube and pinched it. It had a holograph, showing a tall older man with a sword in his hands. He moved through an intricate sword dance on top of the cube.
"What is it?"
"Just a show, like theater. It's a retelling of the legend of Asha-tanga and the final days of the Vatari Empire. I saw it live on Vancerta station a couple years ago. They gave everyone a cube with the recording as a memorabilia of the occasion. Ahh, here it is." She held up a blank square cube. She opened her slate and stuck it in.
"How do you know that was the one?" he asked.
"Oh, I was just looking for a blank," she said. She pulled up the main display and scrolled through several icons. "You were asking about the ship and how it worked the other day. I studied physics for a couple years before I decided to go into healing instead. I thought you'd be interested in this." She pulled it up.
"That looks like the map to this ship," Kleppie said. "Only a lot more detailed."
"Yeah, it's the spec sheet on this class. Look." She tapped the engine room and pulled up a detailed sheet on the engines. "Everything's here." She did something and moved the icon to a new location on the screen. Then she reopened the slate and pulled the new cube out. "Here," she said and handed Kleppie the cube.
He gulped. "Thank you," he said. He felt a cold pit settle in his stomach.
######
Runningbear watched Hornbeck cautiously as they circled each other. They were both in shorts and T shirts. Hornbeck lashed out with his fist and Runningbear blocked the punch.
They were in one of the exercise rooms sparing. They didn't want to get rusty. Whitman was watching on, refereeing this match and trading out as they got tired.
He saw an opening and lunged for Hornbeck. Hornbeck sidestepped at the last moment and Runningbear was sent sprawling. His forehead struck the back wall with a blinding pain. He fell to the floor.
"Oh fuck," he said, holding his head.
"Oh fuck is right," Hornbeck replied.
Runningbear blinked, trying to get his eyes to work again. He rose shakily and looked at Hornbeck.
Where he had hit the wall, a sliding door had been jarred loose. When shut, the seal was so tight it had been invisible. Now...Hornback slid it all the way back. The case inside was backlit. "Still think they are friendly?" Hornbeck asked, staring at the case.
It was filled with weapons of all kinds. There were short batons, knives, swords, spears and many other weapons they couldn't name. He stared at the collection in shock. "You think they have secret cabinets like this all over?" he asked.
"Probably," Hornbeck snarled. He pulled a sword down and inspected it. He put it back and choose instead a small knife, one that would be easy to conceal. "Tell you this, Fox can't doubt us now. He'll have to go the captain. These Others, they are hiding shit from us. I'm sure of it." He stuck the knife in his waistband.