The Cinder was totally dead, floating in the super quiet Dead Zone. All you could hear was the metal of the ship cooling down, with a slow groan, and Lyra's new dampener whining as it tried to hide us from the Directorate's drone. So, yeah, maintenance time.
Underneath the medbay bed, in this tiny space, Garth was fighting the drugs and the mega pain in his right arm. He had 120 minutes, the whole maintenance period, to finish Phase III of the Geometric Blueprint.
I. Getting through Kappa-2
Garth squeezed through this really tight, two-inch gap in the Emergency Ventilation System, using only his left arm and leg. This system, Kappa-2, was this old, forgotten tunnel, just big enough for a person, going from the medbay floor down to the engine core.
The shaft was a nightmare – hot pipes and pointy metal everywhere.
His right arm, still stuck in the gap with those magnetic bandages, was like a terrible anchor. Every move felt like a shot of pain up to his shoulder, nearly knocking him out. The drugs were messing with him, but his engineering skills were stronger.
Okay, so the Main Arc Core Housing Access (MACH-A) was 18 meters away. Given his limited movement and the pain, it'd take 45 minutes to get there. That left him with 115 minutes.
Garth let the panel close with a soft thud. Now he was trapped in Kappa-2, this dark, closed-in space.
He moved by feel and memory, using the picture of the Geometric Blueprint that Elara had put into the Infusion Pump. His left hand, the Tool Hand, reached out for the vent ribs.
First problem: the Primary Steam Vent. The pipe was burning hot, pumping steam right into the shaft. He had to get past it without burning his clothes or, worse, wrecking the spray on his right arm.
He remembered the ship's plans and knew the Steam Vent had a simple Pressure Release Valve outside, like a little wheel, a few feet away, up high.
Garth braced himself and pushed off a strut with his left foot. He stretched as far as he could, the pain in his right arm almost making him pass out. His left hand found the valve.
He used this silver needle he still had between his fingers to turn the valve. Just a small twist. The valve groaned and let out a small hiss of steam.
He didn't need to close the valve, just move the steam.
He pushed on the valve housing, changing where the steam went, so it stuck to the wall of the shaft away from where he was going.
Time gone: 12 minutes. Distance: 3 meters.
Going up was awful, knowing he was right above the Engine Core where it was super hot. He felt oily stuff dripping on his face, which meant the cooling wasn't working well and the ship was stressed.
Finally, the shaft opened up to a small platform: the MACH-A platform. It was a metal grate leading into the big chamber of the Cinder's Main Arc Core Housing.
The door was steel, held shut by a lock and a pin bolt.
The Blueprint said to deal with the pin bolt. He had to take it out, or the door wouldn't open when Elara did her thing.
The pin bolt was set back, needing a special tool – a T-handle hex key – to get it out. Garth only had a needle.
He used his left hand to wrap some wire – ripped from his clothes – around the needle, making a rough tool. He stuck it into the pin bolt.
He pulled, his left arm shaking, and got the bolt out. He had disabled the failsafe.
Time Left: 65 minutes. Garth was ready.
II. Breaking the Doors
In the dark cells, Veridian and Elara heard the maintenance crew working on the steering vanes. Lyra's trick was working: the crew was busy with the hydraulics, not knowing about the fight happening and the sabotage below.
The Containment Field Regulators (CFRs) for their cells were still flashing like crazy because Elara's Phase II messed with the lock sequence.
Veridian knew this was a small window to escape: when the CFRs were going on and off, before the engineers fixed things.
Elara's voice, reached Veridian through the wall. COMMANDER. GARTH IS READY. HE'S A LITTLE STRESSED. HE'S BREATHING HARD, BUT STEADY. HE FINISHED PHASE I AND II.
He's ready, Veridian said quietly, her muscles tight. When's the window?
THE CFRS UNLOCK FOR 0.1 SECOND. YOU NEED TO HIT IT BETWEEN 0.05 AND 0.08 SECONDS. IF YOU DON'T, THE DOORS LOCK AGAIN FOR 30 MINUTES MINIMUM.
Veridian took a breath. 0.03 seconds. She was counting on a hurt person to time a hit that was hard even for a machine.
She heard the lights flashing: Red-Green-Blue-Red.
Veridian slammed her shoulder into the door, not just randomly, but with a quick jerk.
THUD!
The door shook. The CFRs stayed put.
NOPE. HIT IT AT 0.12 SECONDS. Elara didn't judge her.
Veridian pulled back, cursing. She had been too quick. She looked at the flashing lights, letting the rhythm become part of her own pulse.
She thought about the Green-Blue part – when the lock circuit was most messed up.
She waited.
Red... Green... Blue...
Veridian hit. A big kick from her legs, and a pull from her back.
K-CRACK!
The sound was super loud. The steel door didn't bend; it just flew open, ripping the seals from the frame.
Veridian was out. She saw two guards at the end of the hall turn and raise their guns.
MACHINE! NOW! Veridian yelled.
Elara, who was ready, slammed her shoulder against her door when her CFR was unlocked.
K-CRACK-THUD!
Elara's cell door flew open and hit the wall. Elara stepped out, the cyan light of the Anti-Abacus shining.
The guards fired. Plasma flew down the hall.
Veridian grabbed the cell door and pushed it sideways, deflecting the plasma into the floor. No time to fight.
ELARA! MESS IT UP!
Elara didn't waste time on the guards. She focused on the field that Lyra had put up to block the Directorate drone. She found the dampener, high on the mast, and sent a burst of energy into the floor.
The floor vibrated. The field reversed. Now, instead of blocking noise, the dampener was making it louder, sending it down the ship.
A crazy loud EEEEEEEEEEEEE filled the cell block – a feedback loop that stunned the guards, making them drop their guns and grab their heads.
Veridian grabbed the rifles and pointed them at the guards. The engine room! Go!
III. The Exact Hit
Garth heard the doors breaking and the EEEEEEEEEEEEE of the dampener. Then it was quiet again, but with a purpose.
Elara and Veridian were free. He was on borrowed time.
He pulled himself onto the MACH-A platform. The Main Arc Core Housing (MACH) stretched out below. In the middle was the reactor core, not running right now, inside its shell.
Veridian and Elara burst into the engine room. Lyra's engineers scattered, realizing the trouble was inside.
GARTH! Veridian yelled. WHERE ARE YOU?
MACH-A PLATFORM! THE PIN IS OUT! HIT IT NOW! Garth yelled back.
Elara looked up and saw him. She saw where he was compared to the Core Housing Casing.
VERIDIAN. NEED TO SPREAD OUT. I'M STARTING PHASE III. THE HIT IS GOING TO BE REALLY STRONG. IT'LL BE FAST: 0.005 SECONDS.
Elara jumped onto a walkway, focusing on the casing below. The Blueprint said to hit a certain spot on the casing.
The casing was made to take a lot of energy, but everything has a weak spot. Lyra's ship had a small problem in the alloy where the struts met the casing.
Elara fired.
FZZZ-CHUNK!
Not an explosion, but a focused implosion. A beam of energy hit the weak spot.
The hit didn't break the casing, but it heated the spot to a critical temp. The weakness broke – not physically, but in a way that mattered.
Elara had made a big flaw in the Core Housing's integrity.
GARTH! DO THE THING! Elara yelled.
Garth stuck his wire tool into the gap where the pin bolt had been. The platform's lock was tied to the Core's Emergency Power Bypass.
By putting the wire in, Garth sent all the extra power – running the CFRs, life support, and Lyra's dampener – right through the new flaw in the Core Housing Casing.
KKK-VVVVVVRRRROOOOOOMMMM!
The Core Housing Casing didn't explode. The flaw acted like a fuse. The power surged into the flaw, wrecking the Struts that held the Core to the ship.
The Cinder didn't blow up, but it was shattered. The Main Arc Core, still in one piece, was now cut off from the ship's power. The Cinder was crippled – drifting and powerless.
IV. They're Here
Quiet. The scary quiet of no power.
The engine room lights went out. Backup lights flickered on – dim, yellow, and not enough. The Cinder was shut down.
Veridian grabbed Elara. We're out! Find a way off!
Garth, weak, pulled himself off the platform and onto the engine room floor. He had done his part.
The speaker on the engine console came to life. It was Captain Lyra, her voice cold.
Engineer Garth. Well done. I see now your injury was a trick, and your mind was the real weapon.
We're leaving, Lyra! Veridian shouted.
No, Lyra said. You messed up my engine. You broke my ship. But you didn't stop them.
Lyra's voice dropped. Your escape was what they wanted. The Harrier Drone isn't watching us anymore. It has landed. Not on the hull. It has landed on the Vent shaft above the medbay. And it's not a drone.
A loud CLANG echoed from above – the sound of armor hitting steel.
It's a Breaching Pod, Veridian, Lyra said. They used my dampener to guide them in. They're here for the Manifest and the Anti-Abacus. And they just broke into the medbay.
Lyra's last words: I trusted the idea of a revolt. I lost. I have to do this. The self-destruct is on. Five minutes to Core collapse. Find a way out, Veridian. You have your war. The Cinder is yours.
The comms went dead. A red light blinked in the dark engine room – the Core Collapse Alarm.
They were free, but now they were trapped on a crippled ship with a five-minute countdown, and the Directorate's best were already coming through the vents towards them.