Robots vs. Fairies(48)
“Excellent.” She steepled her fingers together, as if she were about to begin a sermon. “This is a bold new era for sentient rapport in the cosmos. I hope that . . .”
Jela smiled and nodded, completely tuning out Foenicul’s speech. It would have been nice to have been wrong about that one, but Foenicul was sadly predictable. Didn’t matter. What mattered was that the Consortium of Worlds needed to establish a base on this planet, ostensibly for “mining rights,” but really because they needed a foothold in the system. And as much as Foenicul got on Jela’s nerves, she had an impressive track record for successful negotiations. Even if this one did involve a giant robot, because “the natives have an unconscious bias related to stature.”
As soon as the robot was off her ship, Jela could go collapse and Sadie would sit on her back and make biscuits into the sore muscles under her shoulder blades, and then she would do her damnedest never to go near a diplomatic mission again. Please god, let the launch go smoothly.
*
Jela walked down the corridor to her cabin with one hand trailing along the wall. Not because she was so tired that she might fall over, but because she was almost that tired. Her comm unit pinged.
The aggressively cheery tone sent an ice pick in through her ear to land just behind her eyes. She stopped in the middle of the hall and squeezed her eyes shut. The stupid giant robot was off her ship, and she just wanted to go to sleep.
On her wrist comm, the captain’s name showed clearly. No ignoring this one. She tapped the comm. “Dedearian here.”
“Might I ask you to come to the bridge?” Captain Afaeaki sounded preternaturally calm. The only time she got that formal was when the shit had hit the fan, blown through it, and spattered on the wall.
Jela reversed course, stalking back down the corridor to the lift. “On my way. Can you update me for what I’ll find?”
“The controls for the Diplomatic Personal Surrogate are not connecting properly. Diplomat Foenicul thought that you might have some thoughts.”
“Can you specify what ‘not connecting properly’ means?”
“I am not an engineer, but I will endeavor to do so.”
Jela winced. The captain was good and pissed now but probably had Diplomat Foenicul standing over her shoulder. “Thanks. I appreciate any information.”
“The planet is demonstrating some unusual atmospheric disturbance. The current speculation is that it is interfering with the signal.”
That was so not her department. Jela slapped the control on the elevator panel. “What did Conteh say about it?”
“He made several attempts to rectify the situation before Diplomat Foenicul requested you.”
“I’ll look at giving a signal boost and . . .” The captain would care less about that shit. “It’ll be fine. I’m on the lift. Be on the bridge in three. Dedearian out.”
As the doors closed, she pressed the control for the bridge and then leaned against the wall. The hum and movement of the elevator made her light-headed. She closed her eyes, just for a moment.
The hiss of the doors opening made her straighten. Jela tugged her uniform shirt down as she walked onto the bridge. Conteh, the communications officer, caught her gaze and rolled his eyes. He knew his stuff and had probably tried every frequency adjustment possible. Jela wouldn’t insult him by going through any of the things that would be in his arsenal.
Captain Afaeaki’s posture might have been carved out of granite. Her jaw was set in an unforgiving line, and when she turned from Diplomat Foenicul, Jela paused to give a crisp salute. She was rewarded by a very slight lift of the captain’s eyebrow. Good. At least she knew how much horseshit this was.
“Chief Engineer Dedearian. Thank you for your prompt appearance.”
Full titles, was it? All right, then. Freaking diplomats. “Captain Afaeaki, I await your orders.”
“If you could please assist the diplomat?” She gestured to Diplomat Foenicul, who had a console set up on the bridge. Jela had made the argument that the shuttle bay would be better for the console since it was closer to engineering and wouldn’t be in the captain’s way, but it was apparently not right for . . . reasons.
“Certainly. Let’s see what we can do to boost the signal.”
*
After her third trip down to the engine room, which was exactly why she had suggested the shuttle bay as being a better location for the console, Jela had exhausted her repertoire of tricks. Except one. And she didn’t want to offer that, because she damn well knew who was going to get assigned to the duty. Besides, if the mission just happened to fail due to “unsual atmospheric disturbance,” that wouldn’t be on her. She straightened from beneath the console and wiped her hands off on a rag. “No luck. Any chance we can wait for the storm to pass?”
Diplomat Foenicul sliced her hand through space to negate the possibility. “The Krowrehto leaders are expecting us, and they will have seen the shuttle land.”
Letting out a sigh, Jela tucked the rag back into her tool kit. The Krowrehto leaders had been fed a pack of horseshit about how the Consortium would make their world better, when it would just strip their resources for the capital. Just like it had done to her own homeworld. “The only thing we haven’t tried is putting up a satellite antenna on the surface to boost the signal.”
“Perfect!”