A World for the Taking Ch. 06

Tammy frowned at the carry pack and let the younger teens bicker while she thought. F`reet `du Hom interrupted her, saying a few soft words in her own language and touching the girl's wounded ear.

"It hurts, but not bad," Tammy said, interpreting the question.

F`reet `du Hom fished the jZav`Etch medical kit from her belt and ran the stubby scanner over Tammy's ear while reading from the screen. She frowned and nodded before producing an ampule and what had to be an injector.

"No. It's alright," Tammy protested, but F`reet `du Hom insisted. The injection stung for an instant but all of a sudden the area around Tammy's ear felt much cooler. She touched it and there was no ache, though she frowned at the feel of matted blood in her fur. "Wow. That's a lot better. Thanks."

F`reet `du Hom smiled and patted the girl lightly on the cheek.

"Dusig?" she asked.

"Over there," Tammy told her, gesturing northward, though she did not know for certain where they were.

"T` Emmi eat?"

"I'm okay," said Tammy, nodding. "You really are picking up some words."

"What do you think, Tammy?" asked Yoshi, drawing her back into the debate.

"I think you are still making too much noise!" Tammy snapped, short tempered from lack of rest. She stopped herself before she got carried away. Yoshi and Jean had not had much more rest than she had and they were younger and less able to deal with stress. "Sorry. You need to be more quiet, though. I don't know for sure that we aren't still being followed. I don't think we are, but there were at least two groups of Dusig out there and maybe they could hear you the way I heard them yesterday. And there's a flyer up and cruising."

"Sorry, Tammy," Yoshi said. He shrank into himself a little and gestured lamely at the carry pack. "Just frustrated with this thing, I guess."

"What's wrong with it? Can you fix it?" she asked.

"Like I was telling Jean, the power cell is fine," he said. "The panels are dirty but not enough to matter. We can wipe them off, anyway. I think it has to be the linkage or the converter. Either of those would cause the cell to fail to charge."

"So the outflow is okay?" she asked, meaning the energy flow from the cell to the gravitic motors.

"Nothing wrong with it," he said. "Not even old enough to need servicing."

"What can you do?" she asked.

"Not much," he admitted. "Don't have a diagnostic kit, so I can't tell which part is bad. If I had replacements I could swap them both out and we wouldn't have any more trouble."

"But we don't have the parts!" Jean said waspishly. "Let's forget the carry pack and build a damned travois! We're wasting time!"

"Jean!" snapped Tammy. "Knock it off. You aren't helping."

Jean scowled at her. She stopped haranguing Yoshi, though.

"Have you got anything you could swap parts out of?" Tammy asked the off-world boy.

"Nothing," he said, throwing up his hands. "I'd have this thing floating already if I did."

"Fine," she said. "Aside from the transceiver, what do we actually need this thing to carry?"

"The tools," Yoshi said instantly.

"Aren't there tools at the tower?" she asked.

"A few, but those are mostly big things like the fabricator."

"What tools do you actually need?" she asked, waving at the boxes in the carry pack.

"That blue toolbox, I guess," he said thoughtfully.

"The transceiver weighs about two kilos, doesn't it?" she asked.

"Closer to three," he said.

"The toolbox?"

"Twenty-five or so."

Tammy went to Tinkerbelle, patted the mare on the neck and undid a pair of straps at the back of Jean's saddle, releasing the bundled stretcher.

"This can carry two hundred kilos for eight hours without recharging." She unfolded the stretcher and activated it. The frame instantly rose to hip height and remained there. "Load the transceiver, the explosives and the tools and let's get going."

"But it won't follow us," argued Jean.

"Really, Jean?" Tammy asked dryly, holding up the follower beacon.

Jean clapped her mouth shut and blushed deeply, not meeting Tammy's glare.

More gently the older girl said, "Clip this to Yoshi's saddle. We'll be done soon. The tower is close. In a couple of days we'll be back home."

"I'm sorry, Tammy," Jean sniffled.

"It's alright," her older sister said and kissed her forehead. "I didn't mean to snap at you. We're all tired. Come on now."

*****

*duroplast - A lightweight polymer used in a wide range of construction applications. Favored in the manufacture of aircraft.