This post was inspired by a writing prompt in the Worldbuilding Community -
Enjoy !
This post was inspired by a writing prompt in the Worldbuilding Community - Frustration - I had to go back quite a way to find an appropriate prompt for this part of the story. It's mostly dialogue (I hate writing dialogue...), but it's actually quite a pivotal moment.
It is also the next part of a series which is developing into a full-length story. The working title I'm going with for now is "The Rim Awaken". Previous posts are PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7, PART 8, PART 9, PART 10, Part 11, PART 12, PART 13, PART 14, PART 15,PART 16, PART 17.
Enjoy !
The Slowliner 74 was moving through space in a slow, lazy circle. The diameter was huge, but Zrami was just happy he'd been able to stabilise the engines on the broken-down old ship. She was no longer in imminent danger of the kind of detonation which would spread the ship, all her passengers and (most importantly from his perspective) Zrami himself as a fine dust across a volume of space the size of a solar system.
After that, fixing the life support had been a breeze. It had been down to a single cracked circuit board that no-one on board had the knowledge to diagnose or fix. Nobody he asked seemed to know if there were any spares aboard, so Zrami had repaired it with his programmable laser-soldering micro-bot.
The faulty communications had been even easier. A simple software update that hadn't been done. Zrami had it on his dataslate, and it took less than five minutes to install it and reboot the system.
Then he was able to call the Deckmouse and talk to their battle cruiser direct rather than relaying messages via a warrior hanging out of the airlock who had line of sight between the two ships.
The first person to come on screen was Archivist Naldre. The relief on her face was clear to see. "Zrami ! You're okay ! That was some stunt you pulled with their drives. But it looks like you've got it under control now, and you've obviously got comms working again. Nice job ! So tell me what their story is, who have we got there ?"
To hide his blush at the compliment, Zrami half turned and waved the Rim captain of the Slowliner over. The young man stood and with some trepidation approached the comm screen. He really did look too young to be wearing the silver stripe of a captain on his shoulder, and his coverall was the royal blue of the administrator caste, not a group normally found in charge of spacecraft in Rim society.
"Umm... I'm administrator-Verri, captain of the Slowliner 74, ma'am."
"Well, administrator-Verri, it's nice to meet you. But tell me; what is an administrator doing commanding a space craft, especially one so old and far from it's normal duties ?"
"We heard you had found Mandrey-Home and were bringing the city-ship back to life, ma'am. We wanted to be part of the adventure, so we bought the Slowliner from the mothball-yard and came out here to join you."
Naldre's face clearly showed her confusion at the situation, as well as her incredulity that someone would buy a mothballed ship and fly it out into deep space without a full teardown refit. No wonder the ship had been in trouble !
But she swiftly regained her usual calm demeanour. "So tell me, administrator-Varri, who is this we you speak of ? And did Habrath-Home give you permission to leave your posts and come here ?"
Clearly taken aback by the direct line of questioning, Varri stumbled over his words before coming up with a clear reply. "We've all sorts of castes, ma'am. We've got some administrators, hydroponic farmers, scientists, historians, machinists, even a couple of artists. Four hundred of us in all, mostly young so we won't leave key roles untended."
Raising a furred forehead, Naldre was skeptical. "Are you seriously telling me that you've taken four hundred people from Habrath-Home and it hasn't left a gap in the workforce ? There are a couple of hundred thousand of us back home, but we need twice that. And you still haven't told me who gave you permission."
Varri's face was worried now, his ochre fur not hiding the flush of shame beneath. "I'm... I'm sorry, ma'am. We came without permission, but we didn't strip Habrath-Home of too many vital workers, we're from half a dozen different city-ships."
He spoke with reluctance, and his admission stunned Naldre into silence. She was obviously thinking furiously, and Zrami could see that she was struggling to suppress the justified outburst she ought to be making.
After a minute, she spoke. Clear and concise, with ice in her words.
"administrator-Varri, I am sure you know how many of our laws you have broken. Laws held in common by all Rim city-ships. But for the avoidance of doubt, let me enumerate them for you. I'll do it in reverse order of severity."
She drew a breath.
"Taking a ship into deep space in an unfit condition. Taking a ship into deep space with an inadequately trained or unqualified crew. Interfering with a lawfully sanctioned scientific expedition. Encouraging Rim citizens to abandon their posts. Facilitating the permanent emigration of Rim citizens to a city-ship not their home without permission. Taking Rim citizens from more than one city-ship on a common venture without permission of all city-ships involved."
"I think that covers most of it. You put me in an impossible position, all because you lot wanted an adventure. If I keep you here I risk creating problems at home and diplomatic issues with other city-ships. If I send you back to face the music, your beaten up old ship probably won't make it and I'll be charged with your deaths. In fact, I'm likely to be charged and punished whatever happens. What am I supposed to do ?"
Now it was Varri's turn to hesitate. "Ma'am, forgive me for saying this, but what you are doing here is an inspiration. Not just on Habrath-Home, but on all the Rim city-ships in the region. You are the first to bring a dead city back to life in thousands of years. I'm sure many others will want to join you; they are probably on their way already."
Putting her head in her hands, Naldre groaned. "And this is supposed to make things better how, exactly ?"
Zrami felt it was his time to speak up. "Naldre, let's not panic. Let's take some time to think about this. The whole Quorum. I think I might have an idea, but it's not one I can talk about over comms on the spur of the moment. Let me come back and you can help me research if the idea I've got is even halfway legal."
