“We’ll take turns keeping watch,” Nori said. “I’ll take the first shift.” She stretched in her seat and her chair reshaped itself, leaning backward and lifting her legs up.

“Don’t fall asleep,” the Engineer cautioned before following the other three to the quarters.

***

Lana entered the bridge several hours later, carrying a steaming cup. “Hey, Nori, I came to replace you.”

The tall woman stretched and yawned. “Good timing, I was starting to get drowsy, it’s almost midnight.”

“How’s the plating upgrade doing?”

Nori punched a key and a line flashed across the monitors.

Basic plating upgrade: 12%

The Expert creased her brow. “So … twelve percent in about six hours. That means the upgrade takes two days in total.”

“Looks like it. I watched the plating spreading over the hull for a while. It covered the entire ship with a thin layer first, then another one started forming on top of that.”

“The Tec is fascinating, isn’t it?” Lana said. “I mean, they pretty much screwed up our entire planet, but we can’t hold it against them. They’re just machines; they must have a code or some sort of directive that guides them. We’ve only started learning what they can do. The possibilities are amazing.”

“I for one would have been fine living my life without ever hearing of those things,” Nori grunted. Her seat retracted into the floor as she stood up. “You’re good staying up for several hours?”

“Yeah, I’m not tired. I napped a little. I’m actually looking forward to going over the data Alzigo gave me. With everything that’s been going on lately, I haven’t had much time for it.”

“Just don’t forget to look down every now and then.”

Lana saluted clumsily. “Aye, aye, Captain.”

Nori grunted something unintelligible and stepped into the quarters.

Lana watched her leave, then she turned her attention back to the bridge. She refrained from calling her chair and concentrated briefly. One by one, consoles and holo monitors appeared out of thin air, surrounding her with a myriad of partially-transparent colors. The young Expert cracked her fingers. “Let’s get to work.”

***

The rest of the night passed uneventfully. Nathan, who took the last shift, spent the hours plugged into his capsule. He quickly realized that with his five points in Control, he was able to fork a small part of his consciousness to keep a vigilant watch while the rest of him concentrated on expanding his senses, attempting to deepen his connection with Unity. He knew there was more to her than what he was able to grasp, but whenever he tried to reach toward those parts, the Tec in his body started agitating, demanding to take control.

When morning came, he disengaged from his seat and went to wake up the rest of his crew.