The robot’s head turned slowly, silently, her iridescent eyes resting on him. He was so used to getting a snippy response issued from a painted-on smile that One’s quiet demeanor surprised him. “Yes?” she asked finally.

“Yeah. Hey. Crayt needs you in the workshop,” Leo said. “We’re finishing up the device.”

The robot stared at him for a moment. “Please inform my master that I am currently indisposed,” she droned. “But I will see to the matter as soon as I am able.” Her head rotated back around to the blank screen. Clearly Leo had zero authority over her.

“Right. Okay. I’ll just tell him you’re busy charging . . . or whatever.” He backed out of the room and headed for the hangar. Maybe Nine would help. That is, if he wasn’t also currently indisposed.

He found the other robot exactly where he expected: standing beside Skits, the two of them using scraps of armor plating to patch holes in the Icarus’s hull. He spotted Kat in the cockpit flipping switches. Boo and Baz were topside, wrapped up in a tangle of wires. The Queleti waved to him with the only hand not holding some kind of tool. Leo could hear music humming softly from Skits’s vocal emitter as she welded the metal in place. A couple of Nine’s legs were tapping along to the beat.

“I believe in miracles. Since you came along . . . you sexy thing.”

The moment she saw him, Skits’s music clicked off. She turned on him, her torch still lit. “What do you want, Leo? Can’t you see my fire’s burning.”

That much was obvious. “Sorry. I need to borrow Nine for just a minute. Crayt needs some help with the don’t-blow-up-the-world device.”

“I thought you were helping him.”

“He needs a robot’s assistance. And One is apparently preoccupied.”

Skits groaned. “Why are all of you organics so helpless? Even the Aykari can’t do anything for themselves, and they’re supposedly the most advanced species in the universe.”

Nine tucked his own torch back into his torso. “My programming dictates that I assist my master when required,” he said. The spiderlike bot reached up with one of his triple-jointed forelegs and caressed Skits’s boxy metal cheek with its titanium tip. The flame spitting from her welder doubled in size for a moment before fading back to normal.

“All right. Fine. But hurry right back,” she demanded. “I miss you already.” She turned her torch back to the Icarus, the music kicking in even louder than before.

“Touch me, kiss me, darling, I love the way you love me, baby.” On top of the Icarus, Baz began to croon along.

As he was leading Nine back to the workshop, Leo couldn’t help but ask, even though he knew it was really none of his business. “So . . . you and Skits . . .”

“What about us?” Nine inquired.

“I mean . . . nothing, really. It just seems like you two really hit it off.”