Space Odyssey: Spectre

Chapter 595: Worries

"Did you overhaul the Hound’s Tooth?" Shilla asked as she entered the hangar with Victor and Crystal flanking her. She flinched almost immediately in surprise as he was putting some final touches on the fighter craft. But there were a few changes he had made that were noticeable. One of which was an adjustment to the fins and the canopy had been completely altered with an external armor while less noticeable was the screens inside that were like an early version of virtual realities.

The same thing was done by the more advanced mechs. He adopted the concept but made the external armor retractable to be replaced by the traditional canopy in the event of the camera’s failure.

"Yes I am almost done with the wiring as well." Jace answered. "Now that I am no longer tied down by my own nervousness I feel light as a feather and my mind works way better." He explained.

There were a number of other things he had installed or set up in the fighter craft as well that were not visible. Like inertial dampers so the ride would be smooth and several different maneuvering engines hidden throughout the ship. Which did not take that much work since they would fire in short bursts instead of constant use. Then the cockpit could also be converted between a pilot and passenger or just the pilot which would give him more mobility while flying.

"Are those maneuvering thrusters? How did you install them in such a quick time frame? I thought it was not set up to have them?" Shilla pointed out as she moved forward.

"It wasn’t. I came up with an idea for a burst engine that runs off of electricity." Jace began explaining with a smile on his face. "It uses gravity and electricity to function. I based it off my hoverplates which is also how I was able to wire them up so easily."

"Shilla, we came to ask what exactly happened? Focus." Crystal reminded her as he took a look around as well. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the armor installed over the canopy. Probably recognizing what it was.

"Oh yeah. Jace, what happened?" Shilla quickly changed focus.

"Turns out that when you undergo a rapid mutation that way it can go wrong if it is not treated correctly. So for psychics like Catherine Hex the mutation causes a split personality that can have the split turn into a psychic based being." Jace explained. "It does not happen with everyone. I assume it gets’ worse as time goes on if not treated or they were ready for it.."

"What about you? Do you know what would have happened if yours was not treated or if you were not ready for it?" Shilla asked.

"I can only make an assumption but I believe all the energy I have stored up would have been released instantaneously. Which in theory would create a temporary black hole and forever mark this system with a chunk of the asteroid belt disappearing." Jace informed them. "But that is only in theory."

"Well that is terrifying." Crystal pointed out. "So we can’t just instantly involve people? How did it work so well for us?"

"Because we are at the peak of our respective lives. Honestly the only one that is considered the odd one out is Jamal. Which reminds me, have you run a battery of tests that you can run on him yet?" Jace asked.

"Nope, I am still not a doctor." Shilla pointed out.

"Oh yeah, that is right." Jace forgot that for a moment. Why did he forget that? "Okay, have Catherine help you run a battery of tests when she becomes conscious. She has been developing her own path of medicine since she was here alone and wanted to be able to competently treat herself."

"I suppose that makes sense. But would you trust her with your blood?" Shilla asked.

"Nope, and I am not getting a check up." Jace told her. "I want the rest of you to get a check up just in case. But I will wait until we get back to our galaxy." Jace finished what he was doing on the ship and moved over to the others who were standing nearby. "I do not want to risk her realizing that I am her son."

"Okay, then what are Victor and I doing?" Crystal asked with a chuckle. "I doubt you want us hanging around the infirmary and it sounds like Shilla is the best one to keep her in line."

"Yeah, Shilla, I need you to set up the infirmary aboard the cruiser. It is mostly complete but you need to finish a bit more and update some things. Ask Cain for medical equipment designs. He has it stored in his memory banks in the event of an emergency." Jace began giving instructions. "Crystal, I need you to set up the basic wiring for the entire cruiser. It is mostly complete. But there are some areas that need refitting and some that need to be repaired." He then turned to Victor. "Victor, you were sent a list of materials and items that are in the facility along with where to acquire them. Go ahead and get on that list of items."

"What are you going to do?" Victor asked as his eyes looked over the list of items on his communicator.

"I am going to visit our neighbors." Jace answered. "See what we can do for them."

"Neighbors?" Victor asked.

"Yeah, that mining colony." Crystal pointed out.

Victor shook his head. "No he meant multiple neighbors." He pointed out and all of them looked over to see Jace smirk. "So who besides the mining colony are you going to check on?"

"Well if you must know..." Jace tilted his head to the side. "There is a derelict and ancient ship that is sending out an emergency signal. We can’t pick it up on normal communication channels but my armor managed to pick up on it. Then there is also something hanging out just hidden outside of the solar system. It is sending long range signals to somewhere further out, they are clearly attempting to hide their signals."

"Let me guess, you picked up on that one as well with your armor?" Victor asked with a grunt of annoyance.

"No, Cain picked up on it eventually. But he realized they did not know about us either so it was not a priority." Jace explained. "He mentioned it and I figured I might as well check it out."

"When are you leaving?" Crystal asked.

"As soon as you guys leave and move all of this stuff out." Jace informed them as he put away the tools before looking around at the hangar to make sure he did not forget anything else. He really wanted to get out there and test out the alterations to the Hound’s Tooth.

"Don’t you need a co-pilot?" Shilla asked as she climbed up onto the wing of the fighter and moved to the cockpit. Looking around for a moment before putting a hand on a white piece of metal that was inconspicuously hidden near the cockpit. The armor over the canopy opened to reveal the canopy and the fact that the fighter was currently set up for a single occupant. "Nevermind, you found a work around?"

"For me, not for anyone else." Jace answered with a shrug. "For now we are just going to make a drone version and have them controllable via VR pods. All of which will be printed once the cruiser hangar team is done." He explained a part of his plan to them as he started pushing the equipment out of the hangar.

"Let’s get out of his hair." Victor patted Crystal’s shoulder and they moved out of the hangar as well. But Victor set a glance Shilla’s way before they went out of sight. She seemed to flinch when he did it.

Jace finished moving everything out before he came back in to see Shilla trying to avoid looking at him. "So, what did they need to talk about but figured it would be better to be brought up in private?" He asked as he moved over to her.

"Well..." She trailed off. "They are nervous about your new attitude. Then there are the things that you are prioritizing. They are worried you might not be focused on getting us home." Shilla explained as she turned to him. She had a glint of worry in her eyes.

Jace chuckled as he tilted his head. "Yeah, that makes sense." He agreed before deciding he should assure her. "But I would not worry too much. I just realized the path forward is not as difficult and I should enjoy life in the meantime. At the same time I also realized that the Mortella and Daemon are probably about to attack again. Not to mention soon the Abyssal will fully invade when they realize their people have not come back." Jace explained to her as he moved to climb up onto the fighter.

"Stress will only make us make more mistakes." Jace explained to her. "But hopefully I can bring something back to help with that."

"What?" Shilla asked as she moved to the exit door of the hangar. "What are you getting?"

"You will see." Jace answered as the door closed in front of her.