Nathan now had an important decision to make: the ship’s first upgrade. He knew what his friends would likely choose, and he wasn’t comfortable with it. He contemplated making the decision on his own but finally shook his head. His Path might allow him to run the ship, but he could never fly it better than the Navigators, fix it faster than the Engineer, or analyze it as efficiently as an Expert. They were in this together, and that meant they all had to make the decision together. With a small mental effort, he made a line of text appear on the main viewscreen.

Alter Mode upgrade completed

“Guys!” Lana exclaimed. “Unity has finished the upgrade.”

“Yeah, we can see that,” Bulco said tartly, also looking at the giant text in front of them. “Now can someone tell me what this Alter Mode is?”

Lana frowned and poured over her console. “Internal sensors come up with nothing. There are a bunch of new subroutines in the system that seems to be connected, but they’re weaved into everything inside the ship. I see no obvious ways to activate it. Nathan?” Everyone turned to look at him.

The young man pondered the issue. He could feel Unity’s new upgrade, affecting her in subtle but deep ways. It was somehow connected to the excavator she’d absorbed, but the exact nature of the change eluded him. The new parts resided deep at the fringes of their tentative connection and going there would mean surrendering himself fully the Tec and to their alluring whisper of anarchy. It was a point Nathan was unwilling to descend to. He shook his head.

“He doesn’t know,” Lana translated.

Nori’s brow creased. “That’s too bad, but it’s not important right now. We need to decide on our next upgrade.” She manipulated her console and the list of options appeared.

“What’s to think about?” Bulco said. “We should get the asteroid cannon.”

“I agree it’s the obvious choice,” the Navigator said. “But with that Inthidlon Scout around, we might want to upgrade our armor.” She manipulated her console and the two options remained alone on display.

Basic plating (level 1): Balatium, 18 Ton

Asteroid Cannon (level 5): Trinium 200Kg, Mithril 80Kg

Nathan stirred in his seat and nodded.

“Nathan thinks we should go with the plating,” Lana said. “He doesn’t like weapons.”

“I still think we should get the cannon,” Bulco said. “The Warped Broodmother is a more pressing threat.”

Nori nodded. “I see your point, but on the other hand, we do have a lot of ammunition now, so there’s a case to be made for bulking up our defenses first. Lana, what do you think?”

The young Expert bit her nails. Like Nathan, she wasn’t a big fan of weapons, but on the other hand … “How long will it take for each upgrade to finish?” she asked, looking at Nathan.