Nori shook her head. “Strength isn’t one of a Navigator’s attributes. It’s nice to be able to punch things hard, but I’m not planning on getting close and personal when I can shoot from a distance. It makes more sense to make our heavy hitter able to hit harder. And we’ve already seen how important your job is on the ship, anything that can help you patch her up quicker would benefit us all. Once we reach the moon, if we do find an alien base, I’m sure a portable workbench will come in handy. Come on, we’re just wasting oxygen talking about it.”

“Actually, Miss,” the alien merchant said. “I have multiple life support modules catering to a wide range of alien life forms, we’re not in danger of running out of oxygen in the foreseeable future.”

Nori didn’t answer, her gaze never left Bulco’s.

The large man relented. “Oh, alright. How do I put this on?”

With Nori’s help, the exoskeleton unfolded, wrapping the large man’s body with the thin support bracers. Bulco held up one metal-wrapped fist and chuckled. “Feels like I can smash a Warped’s head with this on.”

“I have the MAT stored right here, excuse me for a moment.”

The fearsome-looking alien moved to the side and clicked the console on his forearm. A hatch opened in the wall. He retrieved a small package, then brought it back, placing it on the ground in front of the bulky Engineer. “Here you are.”

Bulco narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he looked at the spiky metal pack. “That looks more like something you’d use to torture a guy than an engineering tool.”

“I assure you this is quite a standard configuration. Simply touch it to the center of your nervous cluster and it will do the rest.”

“He means your spine,” Lana translated.

“Shit. Can’t believe I’m doing this,” Bulco muttered. He took off his shirt, exposing his thick muscles. He picked up the metallic tool and held it to his back.

From where she sat, Nori could see the ball spikes growing and shooting into the large man’s back. Bulco’s expression changed, becoming full of wonder. He didn’t look like he was suffering any pain.

Nori watched, mesmerized, as the last bit of metal was visibly absorbed into her companion’s body and began crawling under his skin.

“This almost tickles,” the Engineer said. “I feel weird.”

“It’ll be finished in a moment,” their host promised.

The bumps on Bulco’s body snaked upward. They writhed around the Engineer’s shoulders and arms until settling in place, allowing his skin to return to its normal smooth shape.

“OK, that’s pretty cool,” Nori admitted.

“Did it work?” Lana asked.

Bulco’s eyes were unfocused. “Wow. I’m getting a lot of new information here, gimme a sec.”