The others watched him as he concentrated, reading text that only he could see. After several minutes, he took an alien component from his pocket and held it over his palm. Lana gasped as two slender robotic arms, hardly wider than pens, emerged out of his arms and delicately poked the item. Two more arms grew from his shoulders to hold it in place and the engineer let go of the device. There were some faint sparks then the item started pulsing faintly. Bulco held up his hand and the robotic arms deposited the item in his palm, then disappeared, retracting back into his body.

“What just happened?” Lana asked.

Bulco smiled in satisfaction. “I found this geometric stabilizer on the freighter, but it was damaged. I couldn’t fix it since my Engineer score was too low. But with the extra strength and the MAT, it was a piece of cake.”

“Cool,” Lana said. “What does it do?”

“Once I install it in the Hummer, it’ll let us drive over even rougher terrain.”

Nori nodded. “Awesome. Did it hurt?”

“What the arms thing? Nah. It felt weird at first, but now it feels like a part of me.”

“That’s how it usually works,” Alzigo said. “Your body and the Tec from the MAT are in symbiosis--” An orange light flashed on the alien’s forearm. “Repairs on your freighter have completed. You may depart at your leisure, though if you wish, you’re welcome to stay as my guests. I have plenty more Auja fruits in storage.”

Nori got to her feet. “Thanks, maybe next time. We should get going; the situation down there isn’t about to handle itself.”

They bid their host goodbye and returned to their ship.

They arrived at the bridge and settled into the chairs that sprouted from the floor. Bulco pored over his console. “Well, internal sensors say we’re spaceworthy again. I guess they’re good for that much at least. We should consider upgrading them soon or risk the ship’s exploding on us without our realizing it.”

“We’ll add it to our shopping list,” Nori said distractedly as she operated the ship’s controls.

A gentle tremor ran through the freighter as the docking seal released. The ship rotated, putting the station and the Earth behind her.

“Next stop, the moon!”

13 - Companionship

Nori’s chair melted away into the floor, leaving her standing in front of the main monitors. The three giant screens reflected the space around them, a never-ending vastness filled with specks of light. Earth’s moon loomed large on the center screen.

Bulco looked at the Navigator. “Shouldn’t you be flying the ship?”

Nori shrugged. “There’s no need. I plotted a course to the moon and at maximum thrusters, we’ll make it there in about six hours. There’s no sense staring at the passing stars.”