Chapter 40

Zeke mounted the steps and entered Hercules.

“Hey, Ladies, would you like to put that pod back where it belongs?”

“Can I?” Jada asked.

“Be my guests. Just ask Louisa to open the pod bay doors when you are in position.”

“Won’t you need to depressurise the helm?” Jada asked.

“No, all external doors have air shields. Louisa’s sensors know this. The pod bay will let the pod in. I’d have added an airlock, but the design doesn’t allow for one. Stupid design.”

“Hercules doesn’t have one, either,” Paula pointed out.

“That’s because it is a regulatory requirement that you wear your suit at all times and keep your helmet close to you, in a shuttle. You are also not meant to get out unless docked or in a bay like this one.”

“People buying the Z6A or the Z3A, when they come on the market, will also have to comply even though they will have a single-person airlock. Plus, Hercules is my ship, so he has an air shield. Raul’s runner has one too.”

“Will ours have one too?” Jada asked.

“Yes, if I can get it back from the ESC. I didn’t get time to spell the ship before Tean and Rod took off.”

“That is probably a good thing, Captain,” Freya responded. “You can bet that Harry’s people were all over that runner, the minute Tean and Rod stepped away from it.”

Zeke grinned, “Well, that ship was straight off Wayne’s production line. I hope nothing goes wrong with it, as no one can enter the engine room or remove any panel without a blow torch. Tean was only given the code to drive it, not fix it.”

“Surely someone can hack it,” Paula responded.

“Yeah, if they are a Lord Wizard or better.”

“Hang on, how do you spell the new runners if you are here?” Jada asked.

“Simple; I gave Wayne a box that contains our logo on the disc that goes right there,” Zeke said and pointed to the 6cm round logo on the control panel. “He simply loads the spelled logos into the automated plant. They are added as it makes the control desk.”

“I made twenty-five thousand of them to get him started. Only three people at the plant can set the codes, and from only one interface. I can override any of them.”

“What happens if he changes the logo without telling you?” Jana asked.

Zeke smiled, “Then the runners don’t run.”

Raul slapped his leg and laughed, “Damn, you are sneaky, Boss.”

The woman looked at Raul with confusion.

He replied, “If he can spell the logo, what else did he leave spells on?”

Sofia looked around, “There are hundreds of parts I can see and probably five times as many that I can’t. Zeke could have spelled any of them. I can’t feel any other spells, so they are on something hidden. Oh, that is sneaky. Most people won’t look past the obvious.”

“Oh, we will get competition, just like Henry Ford did, but we will retain our market share,” Zeke informed them.

“Now, time is a wasting, ladies!”

Sofia decided that Raul could supervise the twins as he’d had the most experience. She and Zeke were going to sort out lunch. After they had eaten, she and Raul would take off.

Raul let both girls have a turn, taking the controls. Jada had little trouble returning the pod to Louisa and loved the range and dexterity of the grappling arms. Paula loved flying Hercules and didn’t crash once. He even complimented her.

Lunch was fun, and the cousins were sad to part.

“Well, ladies, let’s go and inspect your ship,” Zeke told the girls.

They followed him around as he poked his nose in all the rooms and holds, including Engineering. Paula noticed that every so often, he tapped something or a wall several times, and then he moved on.

“Zeke, what are you doing with the tapping thing?”

Zeke smiled, “Just getting rid of a few bugs.”

Affronted, Paula replied, “We don’t have any bugs. The ship was fumigated while Burnie did the repairs.”

“Yes, I can smell that it was. But creepy crawlies were not the bugs I was referring to specifically. Someone was spying on this ship. Plus, it had anomalies in several systems, and the hull was weak in several spots. Bugs!”

“Our biggest problem is that you don’t have an R&R unit. Burnie did notify me that he couldn’t get hold of one. I’ve almost finished making the parts for yours. I would have completed it if I hadn’t had so many interruptions.”

“We are going to drop orbit to over the Ares Cloud. You ladies will scoop it, while I get your unit finished. For the most part, the debris is tinny. I’ll take you out and teach you how. Then you’re on your own.”

“Hopefully, Tean and Rod will be back by then, and they can take Louisa off my hands. I used up a lot of my excess resources fixing her, but that is not a bad thing. I’m probably going to have to go dismantle the other ship.”

“Are we going to help with that?” Jada asked.

“We will see. Tean should be able to give me a better idea when they come back.”

“Captain, Detective Taylor wishes to speak to you,” Freya intoned.

“Thanks, Freya. I am on my way. Ladies, why don’t you go and familiarise yourselves with my R&R unit. Get some new space suits while you are at it. You couldn’t pay me enough to wear yours.”

Zeke blinked before the girls could comment.

“Hi, Rod, what’s up?”