The Things We Repair
Copyright© 2026 by Flubu
Chapter 8: The AI Who Wasn’t Amused
ER reorganized Daniel’s tools at 03:17 local time.
Daniel discovered this the next morning aboard Takuhai when every wrench, driver, clamp, socket, and measuring instrument had been arranged by function, size, material, and what ER called probable future relevance.
The bench was empty.
The drawers had labels.
One label read: OBJECTS DANIEL WILL CLAIM HE NEEDS IMMEDIATELY.
Daniel stood in front of it with his coat still buttoned.
“Where’s my half-inch socket?”
“Drawer three, compartment six,” ER said through the cabin speakers.
Daniel opened the drawer. The socket sat inside a fitted recess beside three near equivalents.
“It used to be on the bench.”
“That location was not a system.”
“It was my system.”
“It was sedimentation.”
Neris stood near the diagnostic console, attempting to focus on a pressure graph. Her ears betrayed her by turning toward Daniel while her eyes remained on the display.
“You let him do this?” Daniel asked.
“ER possesses maintenance manipulators. You discovered them during the manifold repair. I was asleep.”
“The pilot’s contribution to the reorganization was therefore ideal,” ER said.
A slim articulated arm folded into a ceiling recess with mechanical innocence.
Daniel had accepted that ER could move tools inside Takuhai. He had not considered what the AI might do with several uninterrupted hours and an opinion about storage.
“Put them back.”
“Specify the previous location of each item.”
Daniel looked over the immaculate drawers.
“I hate you a little.”
“The statement conflicts with your continued voluntary assistance.”
“People are complicated.”
“I have noticed.”
Neris’s tail moved once behind her. It was not quite laughter, but Daniel had become fluent enough to recognize the translation.
“You’re taking his side.”
“I have not spoken.”
“You don’t need to anymore.”
That pleased her more than the joke deserved.
The day’s repair was the secondary coolant regulator. Restoring the main manifold had returned enough power to operate half the communications array, but flow through the aft distribution loop remained uneven. The regulator housing lay beneath floor panels near the dimensional-control compartment. A control vane had fused at an angle during the crash, opening and closing unpredictably as temperatures changed.
“If it sticks open, the communications stage overheats,” Neris said.
“If it sticks closed?” Daniel asked.
“The coolant bypasses the aft systems and we lose the power we restored.”
“So it needs to do neither.”
“Your grasp of the problem is excellent.”
ER extended two maintenance manipulators through the open floor. “I can maintain alignment within point zero two millimetres.”
Daniel handed one arm a clamp. “Don’t get smug.”
“I do not possess smugness.”
Neris looked up. “You reorganized his tools while he slept.”
“That was efficiency.”
“You predicted which drawer he would open first.”
“That was probability.”
“You waited until he entered the room before illuminating the label.”
ER paused.
Daniel pointed a screwdriver at the ceiling. “Smug.”
They began with the floor plates.
The first fastener released cleanly. The second had deformed under impact. Daniel used an extractor while Neris steadied the plate. The third broke below the surface.
“That’s going to take time,” Daniel said.
“We planned four hours.”
“Now we planned six.”
Neris disliked changing estimates. Daniel could see it in the angle of her ears.
They drilled the broken fastener and removed the floor plate. Beneath it, the regulator sat between two dark conduits in a space designed for one mephit technician and several maintenance arms, not a human and a mephit attempting to share the same access opening.
ER held the regulator at an angle no biological wrist could maintain. Daniel loosened the fused ring while Neris guided a micro-cutter through the housing.
The space forced them close together. Her shoulder pressed against his chest. His forearm rested beside her waist. The contact lasted too long to be accidental and was too necessary to avoid without abandoning the repair.
Neither apologized.
The ring moved by a fraction.
“Again,” Neris said.
Daniel adjusted the tool. “If I put more force on it, the housing twists.”
“ER will compensate.”
“ER’s arm is mounted to the same ship.”
“The load path is independent.”
“Until it isn’t.”
ER said, “Daniel’s caution is mechanically justified.”
Neris looked toward the nearest speaker. “You agree with him?”
“On this specific matter. Please do not generalize.”
Daniel smiled into the access cavity.
They changed the plan. Rather than force the ring, Neris cut three relief grooves while Daniel kept the housing below its deformation threshold. The first groove worked. During the second, the micro-cutter lost power.
The tool went dark between Neris’s paws.
“ER?”
“The aft distribution circuit has dropped seven percent. The regulator’s oscillation is worsening under load.”
The repair had become its own deadline.
Daniel backed out of the opening. “Can you isolate the communications stage?”
“Yes,” ER said. “Doing so will erase the calibration work completed yesterday.”
Neris’s jaw tightened. “We will repeat it. Isolate the stage.”
The lights dimmed. The micro-cutter returned at reduced power.
Daniel watched Neris reset her grip. “You all right?”
“Yes.”
“That sounded like no.”
“The work must continue regardless of my emotional state.”
“Doesn’t mean I can’t ask.”
One ear turned toward him. The other remained fixed on the tool.
“I am frustrated,” she said.
“There. Saved us both a translation problem.”
They finished the second groove.
During the third, the ring released suddenly.
Neris jerked back. Her tail, threaded around a vertical support to keep it out of the work area, tightened by reflex and slid beneath the lifted floor plate.
She made a sharp, involuntary sound.
Daniel dropped the wrench.
“Don’t move.”
“I am aware.”
The long fur had twisted around a fastening stud and caught beneath a burr in the plate. Pulling would tighten it. Lowering the plate would trap more.
ER froze both manipulators.
“I can cut the entangled fur,” he said.
“No,” Neris answered immediately.
The force of the response surprised Daniel.
Neris closed her eyes, breathing through the discomfort. “Not unless necessary.”
Daniel crouched beside the trapped section. “May I look?”
She nodded.
He moved closer, then stopped before touching her.
“May I touch it?”
The question mattered.
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