alis marks
Imbrium was the first to desire a return to the ship.
Leisure had never held much interest for her, and her notes and
experiments were still on the Ship. She told Schopenhauer this, and
he agreed that the way of the Will was to return, but he himself
thought perhaps he might make a tour of Iceland before making any
decisions about the future.
Anakata wandered about sleepily for a while, confused and irritated. At a lost for what to do, she discovered the hypercube nestled in a cocoon of fluff in her jacket pocket, which started her thinking about what Bryher had said about traveling. Perhaps this was the time to go explore the other planes she could reach with it. No one would miss her in the confusion.
"Hey, Kata, I was wondering where you had gotten to," Arden sloped up to her. "You leaving without me?"
"No..." she began, as Imbrium, seeing Kata, moved into the conversation.
"Ah, Anakata. You have a means of returning to the Starbucket without Neil locking co-ordinates. Perhaps you could help me; I would like to return now."
'Kata looked at Arden, and at Imbrium. "Well, I would kind of like to know what the heck was going on. I hadn't made up my mind to go yet. But if we can manage to get the 'Bucket back in shape to admit a transporter transfer if would make it easier for everyone else to return. D'you want to, Arden?"
He caught her gaze as it raised with the intonation of the last question. "Yes," he said, "I rather think I do."
"Good," said Imbrium decisively. "Anakata does not have the same technical training as you. We will get more done with three people working."
"Sure," he said, smiling.
. . . . . . . . .
Arden kept his eyes closed during the trip through the hypercube. He and 'Kata had tried using it for travel before his metamorphosis from Nick to Arden, and he knew exactly how much it hurt the eyes and confused him. Imbrium had the sort of analytical mind which went into 5-d space and only wished for a calculator. Anakata found it a restful place. It did not give her that uneasy sensation of being stuck in a stage-set. What's more, the design reminded her of a Mondrian painting -- straight black lines deliniating clean white and primary colours. It felt right to her.
She led them easily to the room which contained the proper portal to the living room on the 'Bucket, and through the proper lines so that it was before them and right side up. "Okay, Arden, you can look now. Climb on through."
The ship was dark, only emergency strip-lighting. The air was stale but still breathable.
"Neil?" inquired Imbrium. Silence.
"Neil?" called Arden. There was no response. Strange, he thought. The lava lamp is still lit. "It's okay, guy, it's just us."
"Oh, oh oh. Uh oh," the computerized personality responded. "Oh no. I'm so embarassed."
"What's wrong?" said 'Kata, sharply.
"I rebooted, y'know? 'Cause I thought it was the Armageddon or something, I guess. But ..."
"But what?" the humanoids chorused.
"I dunno. Just indigestion. Sorry. I just really hate to tell everybody how dumb I was..."
Imbrium sighed. "It seems our task will be a programming one," she said. "We may have to replace the whole unit."
"Which unit?" Kata was confused, which suited her pretty well, as usual.
Arden nodded gravely. "Too bad Justin isn't here. He's pretty good with hardware."
"What are you guys talking about?"
"I think they mean they're gonna fire me," said Neil.