Lana’s chair lowered as well. “Technically, the distance to the moon is too short to see any significant star movement, but I agree, there’s no sense just sitting idly in here, and I sort of burnt out from having pored over the ship’s systems for so long.”

Nathan’s force field disengaged around him.

“So what do we do to pass the time?” Bulco asked, getting out of his chair.

“We can sort through all the equipment we bought?” Lana suggested, flashing Nathan a smile as he emerged from his seat.

“Good idea, girl.”

They walked to the cargo hold and found the small pile of items the alien trader had left them. Lana picked up a plastic case about the size of a shoebox and opened it. Seven strips of metal lay on a soft layer, but the last one looked different than the others. The young Expert narrowed her eyes.

Implant, Communicator

Implant, Sensor Enhancement

“These are the implants we ordered,” she said. She picked up one of the communicators and hesitantly pressed it to her temple. The rigid looking piece of metal instantly liquefied and seeped through her skin. Lana winced. “Ouch. Feels like the morning after a dorm party.” An instant later, some of the silvery stuff seeped back through her skin, forming into a thin metal strip behind her right ear.

Bulco snickered. “You kinda look like a cyberpunk wannabe.”

Nori and Nathan each picked up an implant and held it up to their temples. The alien tech responded, creating the same shape on their right ears.

“Ah, whatever, just give me one,” Bulco grunted and repeated their action.

“Testing, one two three,” Lana said with a smirk. “You copy?”

Nori nodded. “Loud and clear.”

Nathan and Bulco nodded.

“Cool. You just need to think on who you want to talk to and the implant does the rest. They’re good for about ten kilometers on their own, but with the ship acting as a communication beacon, it should extend up to five hundred kilometers.”

“That’s good,” Nori said. “It means we can communicate with people on the planet from low orbit.” She paused, frowned, and shook her head. “Don’t ask me how I know that.”

“I guess it’s just Navigator’s stuff,” Lana said. “Anyway, Alzigo mentioned that in most alien cultures, the implants connect to the general communication system, so the range could extend to cover an entire planet.”

She retrieved the sensor enhancement implant and gingerly pressed it to her temple.

Prerequisites unmet: Intelligence 6

“Bummer,” she muttered ruefully and placed the implant in her pocket.

“What else do we have here?” Bulco picked up another small pack with a wide strap connected to it.

Modular Spacesuit. Power cells: 100%. Air supply: 100%

He gingerly touched the box to his chest and the strap instantly locked around his waist. The small box unfolded, rapidly spreading a thin film around his body.