Umat dipped her ears gravely. “Have they given us anything on cures or vaccines?”
Flick, blink. “Quite a bit. Again, they have been basing it heavily on the life cycle of the viruses as they behave in the environment and incubate in the body.” Her ears waved and her eyes blinked excitedly. “What are their weak points? What are the, to use a military phrase, choke points in the viruses’ development?” Her voice filled with a reverent awe. “Their research methods will be even more use to us than the current results.”
“Excellent,” said Umat. “Concentrate on retrieving the vital information. We don't know—”
A pair of runners trotted through the open door.
“Excuse me, Dayisen Rual, you are needed in the command center.”
The skin on Lareet's back bunched up. “We are on our way.”
The command center looked more like a repair shop than a ship's bridge. Consoles had been laid open. Wires and components lay on clean, white sheets. Technicians stood around, talking in anxious whispers like doctors over patients. The encryption team sat around the central table, poring over fat scrolls of paper covered in symbols that Lareet couldn't begin to decipher. The Trindt Brirdth, Wron, Pfath, and Nant, leaned over the shoulders of the encryption team, pointed at various lines of code, and spoke to one another in terms almost as convoluted as the symbols on the paper. As Lareet and Umat entered, Trindt Wron straightened up and came over to greet them.
“We have bad news, Dayisen,” she said flatly.
“Then let's have it out.” Umat folded her hands across her pouch. Lareet saw her ears quiver faintly with the effort of holding them straight and still.
Trindt Wron glanced briefly back at her sisters before speaking. “We miscalculated the nature of the ship,” she said. “Even once we have restored the command functions, there is no way to hold the ship on the course we require by precoding the onboard computers. We might have been able to do it if the artificial intelligence had remained undamaged, but as it is, there will have to be a command crew aboard to handle the changes in trajectory and thrust that will be required.”
Umat smoothed a thoughtful hand across Lareet's shoulder. “Well, then, a crew will be found. You and your sisters continue your work.”
“Yes, Dayisen.” She dipped her ears.
“Come sister, let us leave them to it.” Umat linked her arm through Lareet's and steered her to the steel tunnel that led to the city.
Lareet's skin shivered all across her body as she climbed “down” the ladder after her sister. When she could stand up again, there was green grass under her shoes and green smells in the air from the trees and plants. It was evening, and the dome was just beginning to clear to let in the night. She could even hear the river lapping in the distance, under the sound of voices from the command center drifting through the tunnel.
She faced her sister. “Umat, I do not like what I feel from you.”
“I didn't think you would.” Umat took her hand. “But you have to agree, our choices are limited.”
Still holding Lareet's hand, Umat led her down to the riverbank. She knows how much I enjoy this place, Lareet thought, but nothing in her relaxed at the sound and scent of running water.
“If the ship will not fly itself,” Umat said, looking across the river, “I must be here to fly it. I will not condemn our duty-sisters to do it for us.”
Lareet stood there for a moment, breathing in the fresh water and green scents. “And where will I be?”
“In a shuttle with most of our sisters, waiting until the worst is over and returning home,” Umat spoke almost dismissively.
Sister, Sister, I know you are trying to spare me, but for once, just once, will you try to feel what I am feeling? “You promised to be with me when my daughters are born.” She laid a hand on her belly.
Umat's face went instantly tight. “Lareet, that is unworthy of you.”
“I know.” Her ears drooped. “I am sorry.”
Umat took hold of Lareet's shoulders. “I am worried about you, Sister. You are losing track of what we are here to do. It is for ad our sisters and all our daughters that we are here, not just our blood family.”
“I am worried about me, too, Sister.” She laid her hands over her sister's. Her eyes and ears focused on the river. “I am worried about how I look around this city that is as beautiful as a vision and think, ‘What would be so bad about letting the Humans’ plan go forward?’ I am worried about how I think about the t'Therians over in their city-ship and wonder if Scholar Arron was right in some ways. That perhaps if we can talk and reason, they might be able to as well?” She shook her head until she felt her ears flop. “Maybe we should just get this over with quickly, before I lose all mind and will for this task.”