Umat shook her gently. “We are moving as quickly as we can, Sister. Continue to do your part, and we will be there that much sooner.”
Lareet sighed and looked up at the dome. It was a translucent purple, and the brightest stars shone through. It was nothing less than beautiful.
A shadow crossed the dome. Lareet's ears twitched and she looked harder.
“Sister?” asked Umat.
Lareet pointed. It was a small, complex shadow. It scuttled on the dome, heading toward the farside.
Umat's ears fell back. “What is that?”
A second shadow fell onto the dome and hurried in the opposite direction of the first.
“I think it's from Commander Keale.” Lareet raced for the tunnel.
Back in the command center, the duty-sisters scrambled around madly, trying not to disturb the terminal parts on their white sheets.
“What is it?” barked Umat.
“Machines, Dayisen Umat,” said one of the Trindt Imn. “Most of the cameras still aren't working, so we have no count of how many, but you can see here …” She gestured to one of the table screens. Lareet bent over it with her sister.
A silver box with crab-claws and insect legs landed on the hull near the shuttle run. It began to pick a dainty path between the ship's pipes and other protrusions. A sister landed next to it and fell into step right behind.
“Where are they coming from?” Lareet felt her ears quiver.
“We don't know.” The Trindt Imn threw up her hands. “The cameras—”
“I know, I know.” Lareet waved her to silence. She flicked an ear toward Umat, who already had the speaker box in her hands. She flicked the switches to override all ongoing communications.
“This is the Dayisen Rual Umat to all sisters. Strange machines are landing on our hull. If anyone sees them where you are, report immediately.”
The speaker box crackled. “This is Trindt Prusht Kvet. There are strange jobbers in the hangar bay, and they're opening the hangar doors.”
“You, you, you, you.” Lareet pointed at whoever did not look like they had been coding. “With me.”
They trotted in a quick-time march down to the hangar's overlook. Trindt Kvet was there with four soldiers. The hangar doors had come open just far enough for the insectlike jobbers to scurry inside. They scampered between the waiting shuttles. One of them all but tripped over one of the ship's maintenance jobbers that had its arms in an open panel. The new jobber extended a limb to the busy machine and touched it. They stood motionless for a moment. Then, the newcomer pulled its limb back and hurried on. The old jobber swung into motion, its diligent hands now ripping the wires out of their sockets and letting them dangle free.
“Mother Night,” breathed Lareet. She scanned the keyboard in front of her and found the intercom button. “Jobber!” she called down into the hangar bay. “Stop!”
The jobber continued its methodical destruction. She tried again in English, in French, and in Cantonese. The machine did not even flinch.
“Speaker!” One of the duty-sisters handed her the boxy unit. “Somebody get those doors shut and stop that thing!” Two sisters vanished down the corridor.
Lareet flipped the switches for the bridge. “Dayisen Umat,” she said into the speaker. “The new jobbers are corrupting the old ones into reversing their purpose from maintenance to destruction. We need to get the squads out into the ship. Any jobber that does not respond to orders must be destroyed.”
“Understood, Dayisen Lareet. Take whoever you have with you and start a patrol of your quarter. We'll coordinate from here.”
“Understood, Dayisen Umat.” Lareet shut the power down and looked at the cluster of soldiers around her. “We have a new enemy, Sisters.”
It was the strangest battle Lareet ever fought. She patrolled the corridors with her soldiers, alert to every sound. Whenever they found a jobber, they shouted at it harshly. If it didn't answer, they fed on it, breaking it to bits.
The little enemies were fast, though, and got into everything, including the water recyclers, the air vents, and the main foodstore. But finally, after ten hours, Umat sent a runner from the command center. The ship appeared to be clear of the strangers.
Lareet congratulated her sisters. They embraced and laughed and started composing rude poetry about the metal monsters as they trooped back to their city.
But Lareet couldn't help turning an ear back in the direction they'd come from. That was a good move, Commander Keale. Make us destroy our own best allies. How many maintenance machines do we have left after this? A very good move.
What will you do next?
Lynn climbed down the shuttle's ladder into the echoing white hangar deck of Dedelphi Base 1. Cabal and Arron followed close behind her.