Stablemaster’s office
Dragonheart stables
About an hour laterRyukan Hikkaru was sitting across from Henrietta Ngo in his office.
She had forced this meeting after the match.
“You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” Henrietta finally broke the silence between them. “I know you faked the papers to get your kid into the games. Soon the post match medical eval is going to figure that out too. In fact I’m pretty sure the authorities are on their way here now to shut you down.”
“It was necessary. But the deception has served the desired purpose,” Hikkaru countered coldly.
“So we’re going to dance around this? Suit yourself. I’m not the one with a ticking clock and a stack of legal troubles that will make for an interstellar incident.” Visions of places this man never saw flashed in succession and Henrietta couldn't keep it in anymore. "
What the ****** were you thinking?? She's a child!!!" her fist clenched unconsciously, "How many more'? I almost
killed your kid!! Jesus, I thought MY parents were bad!!"
“It is my shame, yes. It was necessary. I needed a mechwarrior I could trust. I have no contacts with ISF or DEST.”
"Lord Ryukan, your child… we all dreamed about doing that as kids, right? She
goddam near died because this business is
dangerous. It's why
it's a fantasy, the feedback from when I cut her control runs
****** came close to killing her. I know this, because
I've killed EI enhanced Clanners in the field-the feedback can be
lethal, didn't the con-man who sold that tech to you mention it?"
“I did not buy it. At least not in the way you think,” Hikkaru paused for a moment. “My daughter, Yurika figured out how to do it using alternative materials.”
"Fuuu… wait, you've got a mad scientist and you let her use her siblings as guinea-pigs?"
“The last words between us before she was abducted were about what she did to Yuko. As terrible as it is, she is still my daughter.”
Henrietta's expression was shifting. Her eyes seemed to…unfocus. "About where would you say your gal Yurika would hit on the Stanislav Kolpin battery?" she asked, "Ballpark it because I bet you had her tested."
“She broke the test for technical and scientific skills.”
"******!! Christ, wrong tree, wrong
house… we have a mutual problem then," she stormed, '****** ****** ******."
“I do not have your sister. And if you tell the truth…” Hikkaru shook his head. “There are only a handful of other options.”
"Yeah, I know, whoever grabbed Lizzie grabbed your girl too…shit, I"m not set up for this…"
“This was my smoke screen to buy time.”
"They're going to expect a rivalry." she said, "We can use that…dammit, I wish it was Lizzie here instead, she
thinks corkscrewy about politics… Okay, you're not surprised, right? ISF probably has a file on my little sister… Do you have suspects?"
Hikkaru looked puzzled, "You believe me?"
Henrietta sighed, "Yes, yes I do. There's no winning 'endgame' for you to kidnap my little sister, nor for the Combine, and she's on a timer, so there's NO endgame where it makes sense when you think about it… But your girl wasn't the only one who broke the Stan Battery in testing. Lizzie got tested after she submitted a science project to convert Luthien to an asteroid field for under five hundred million Kroner, including transportation costs… She was twelve."
“I believe your term is ‘wunderkinder’. There is one entity that suggests itself.”
"The Earthers," Henrietta agreed. "Ministry of Communications, aka ComStar. You know enough to keep your relevant traffic to couriers, right?"
“Hai,” Hikkaru nodded. “But as you mentioned earlier, I have another problem. A medical examination will reveal the true age of my daughter.”
"Yeah, your girl Yuko isn't going to clear medical without giving away her age, and the mad science shit her sister did to her. Do you have
good lawyers?"
“Yes. But even the best lawyers will not allow me to keep operating this stable. Not while under investigation anyway.”
"There are ways to screw with that. 'Due process' requirements, delays, legal harassment and if we have to, bribery and blackmail."
“You would help me?”
"Two fists going in to get our girls out working together? 'Apes together strong', Lord Ryukan, we're both after the same target and if we
don't work together, the sheisty bastards from Earth are likely going to get away with it
again. My company damn near got overrun thanks to their play with Operation Scorpion, and there's plenty public now showing they're behind a lot of the misery we've all suffered for the last three centuries, so I'm not keen to let them get away and help is
always appreciated."
“Then my next step seems to be to figure out how to communicate with you without using the local data nets or easily spotted couriers. If they believe we’re working together…”
"Harassment,” she said. "It's like part of the Kayfabe for rival stables-sending fans to heckle appearances, sending teams to vandalize equipment, sites, buildings, assaults and insults-we just need to use single-use codes while we're doing it. To outside observers it'll look like standard Combine/Commonwealth hate and discontent, which is what our enemies set up with planting the paper dragon. We could even use the lawyers if you're suing me and I'm suing you."
“Yes. If they are expected…” Hikkaru nodded.
"My sister likes to say people stop looking if they see what they
expect to see… Speaking of which, you'll be well set to have your man there-" she gestured at his silent, older retainer, "-eject me bodily with rancor when we're done today. 'Throw me out', as it were."
“Hai. When the time comes, make it look good, Hideki.”
"As for the medical, you can probably stall if you've got a fight-doc with the right certs on your payroll to screw with testing results," she added. "League rules are rules, but people are, by and large,
lazy when an easier option is presented."
Secure workshop, Champions of Olympus Stables"How did she
miss?" Yurika was more upset during the bout when several of Yuko's shots seemed to just… miss her opponent. "She shouldn't have missed!"
"My sister's that good," Liz suggested. "Maybe?"
“More likely she got rattled. She was always too emotional,” Yurika sighed.
On the holostage, Henrietta cut the arm off Yuko's 'mech, and held it like a flail. "That's going to be expensive," Liz suggested.
“Especially since I had to raid some rather
exotic scrap piles for components for that armor.” Yurika furled her brow.
"Green spectra from the wound says you used iridium in the stranding in the armor plate-like they used to use on warships," Liz suggested. "Am I close?"
“Hai. Lamellar plates.”
"Old stock SLDF Navy plate?" Liz asked. "Star league era? That is one expensive parts bin…"
“Improved protection versus even the latest armor in military use without the speed loss of Hardened.”
"Oops!! You hardened the shell, but your internal structures…" On the holo, Henrietta caught Yuko's arm, spun her to the ground, and drove the spike up under the cockpit. "And match."
“Oh nooooo…” Yurika was aghast.
"Non-lethal, unless you relocated the cockpit three meters lower," Elizabeth speculated. "That was aimed at the nerve trunk, not the pilot."
“The enhanced interface. The feedback from severing the connection like that… Yuko will be in a great deal of pain after that.”
"Crap. No buffer?"
“The best buffer I could manage means she will survive the feedback at least, but that will still cause the kind of migraine that I think you have some familiarity with.”
"Damn…" Liz shook her head. "That bad?"
“I would have needed the help of Doctor Greene or far more surgical training for anything better.”
Lizzie's eyes were unfocused, when she looked at Yurika. "Next time,
you get the help," she said. "I built a
shipyard, but I knew enough to get help because otherwise the job would be half-assed and have unforeseen problems-problems OTHER people would have to pay for. When you're the brain, you GOTS to keep in mind the people you're working for… or on, or who work for YOU."
“I was able to make sure she would not go insane.”
Elizabeth started reciting calcs out loud, as the holovid viewer shifted from the public feed to one pirated from the venue's securicams, showing Henrietta checking on her fallen opponent and getting visibly upset. Yuko managed to sit up mid-silent-rant.
“This is not good,” Yurika said.
"No shit. Henrietta wanted to do Solaris to
stop killing… or almost killing… people she calls 'kids'. Your sister's YOUNG."
"How can YOU tell?"
"Feet," Liz said. "She's not finished growing yet. And hands… and the shape of her face. Head to body proportion…" Liz gestured to herself, "See, I'm a 'petite', right? Stopped growing when I was twelve, but I filled out by the time I was sixteen. Your sis has a good quarter meter to go before she starts filling out based on that body-glove she's wearing-you kinda pick that stuff up when you hang with Penny Doons and Daphne Rowe."
“It is true. She is young and not fully in control of herself yet.” Yurika shook her head.
On the screen, they could see Henrietta Ngo, almost middle aged, lecturing Yuko like a disappointed Parent, complete with emphatic gesturing.
“She’s going to do worse to my father isn’t she?”
"I'd say triggering Henrietta's mom-instincts might mean your old man's in for more than an earful," Liz agreed. "But she'll stop short of killing him since there's no mom in the picture."
“No, there is not.” Yurika shook her head.
"So yeah, your dad can probably expect to have the full weight of my family's legal department land on him with lawsuits and accusations of child abuse."
“Not to mention the gaming commission,” Yurika sighed.
"Oh yeah, that too-assuming he doesn't have a good hook into their offices," Liz said. "When my sis was first talking about doing Solaris, I had some of our corporate people look into the conditions here…if your old man knows who to bribe, THAT part will get swept under the rug. Yuko isn't the first underage competitor to sneak in, and she put on a good show, and for these guys, a good show is worth MORE than their ethics."
“This is my fault. If I hadn’t done what I did…”
"Learn from it," Liz asserted, cutting off Yurika's self-accusation. "Learn and you can make it up, restitution. Wallowing just screws you up and leads to screwing up
worse-screw up bad enough and you end up like my Mom, eating a bullet in a bathroom, so don't do that, I had to attend Penny's funeral, I don't want to see yours." She gripped Yurika's arm, "You're supposed to outlive me, 'kay?"
“Death is as light as a feather. Duty is heavier than a mountain,” Yurika recited.
"That's only for the person dying. Trust me, everyone else suffers once the pain is gone," Liz told her. "I know it, I live with it."
“There is another meaning, one my father embraced. The more difficult thing to do is to live. Dying is easy.”
"Bingo," Liz agreed. "Dying is easy, living is hard… speaking of which…" She got up, "I need to do something you shouldn't emulate, our guards will be watching."
"Drug time?"
Liz nodded, "Drug time."
“I will make sure they are distracted as best I can.”
***
BathroomElizabeth didn't tell her how easy it would be. A single mistake and she'd be gone before her conscious mind caught up.
So easy, one overdose and their captors lose a hostage and leverage.
She metered out the correct amount and pressed the autoinjector.
Leaving that way would leave Yurika alone with them. It was enough, for now, to keep her from making that mistake.
Ice flowed through her burning nerves, and for a while, she wouldn't be entirely without pain but she would be clear headed. "I just have to last long enough for her to be rescued…" she muttered.
Meeting Room 108
Solaris Gaming Commission
18 March 3066Lucy McMinnamin looked across the table at the stuffy, overweight, middle aged bureaucrat and hid her real feelings about how she felt about the way he was looking at her with a pleasant smile.
Well that is why I dressed this way. It will at least distract the lecherous fat slob.“Miss McMinnamin, this is a serious matter. Not only is your client’s daughter not of legal age for the games, she’s barely old enough to even be an apprentice.”
“Ah but she is that old. It was an unfortunate misunderstanding and catastrophic error in the paperwork. Here is the correct paperwork. Along with a copy of the case of Adolphus Hernandez versus the Solaris Gaming Commission 12 April 3013.” Lucy handed over a stack of papers from her case.
“I’m not familiar with that case.”
“The short of it is that the stable that Mister Hernandez was an apprentice for had a series of unfortunate events to their more seasoned mechwarriors. Despite being only thirteen years old the choice for the stable was give up their earned spot by forfeit or put the boy in the games. The commission allowed the boy to substitute for his mentor. For six matches. Before they decided that he could no longer participate. Thus the lawsuit. I have seven more legal actions to support that there is precedent for underage gladiators. And a dozen accounts where no legal action resulted but underage Gladiators were involved.”
“We need to have standards.”
“So we’ll hire another mechwarrior to be the mentor for Yuko. That way she will be in compliance with at least half a dozen prior incidents.”
“This is still highly irregular.”
“I know. And we do recognize we made an error.”
“You’ll have to not only hire a mechwarrior to help teach the girl but I’ll have to hit you with a fine.”
“We understand. And we also understand that the fee for correcting our paperwork in an expedited manner is also quite high.”
“We seem to understand each other then. Good. But watch yourselves. Another serious incident like this and we will have no choice but to close your stable for good.”
“Pleasure doing business with you,” Lucy said sweetly.
“Indeed it was.” The man extended his hand.
Lucy stood and shook it.
The official stamped some papers and handed them to Lucy, keeping copies for himself.
Lucy studied the papers. Once the mechwarrior was hired, the fees and fines paid, Yuko would be allowed to continue. She put them away in her briefcase.
As soon as she was outside of his office and the door closed she found a restroom and washed her hands.
Ugh… his hands were clammy as all hell. Still not the worst I’ve had to deal with.Once she was outside she pulled her personal comm out of her briefcase.
“It is done,” Lucy said simply.
Outside the offices of Fursnake Stables…"No Comment," Henrietta said bluntly. "Officially, no comment. Unofficially, I'm against the idea of putting kids in the arena against adults, I was horrified to find out the age of that other pilot, the relevant complaint was filed, the Gaming Commission reviewer came to a decision, and per standard rules, I'm to leave it where it's at and not offer comment on that decision."
"Is there a reason you refuse to comment on the Gaming Commission's decision?"
"I told you, there are contractual issues here including recognizing the authority of the Gaming Commission on this matter."
"What will you do if you face her again?"
Henrietta scowled, "Mister Rothfuss, that question is loaded. If I claim to pull my punches and don't, then I end up being a liar, if I say I'll treat her like any other opponent, I end up a bully, I refuse to answer that."
"Why? It's a simple question!"
She glared at the other reporter, this one from
Sportz-Extreem!! vid magazine, an outfit out of the Free Worlds. "Oh-kay then… Let me explain something to you, Mister Canavan. I fought in the Coventry relief. The Jade Falcons were using sibko kids on an abbreviated training program and were using Coventry as a live fire exercise with real casualties. I killed a lot of those kids, most were a couple years older than…than my recent opponent from Dragonheart Stables. In
that situation, I had no choice in the matter-it was kill them, or they were going to kill other people, which is warfare. Solaris is not warfare. It IS, however, dangerous, and not for
Children." She held up her hands, "It doesn't wash off, not really, no matter how hot the water is, or harsh the soap. I'll still see the blood there. I'll answer your question this way-I will do my level damnedest not to add more blood to these hands, but life is imperfect, and even here, people
die."
"You have several public challenges since your arrival here on Solaris, I have a question!!" the voice piped over the rest of the throng.
Henrietta gestured, "Go ahead?"
"When will you answer the challenge from Zellbrigen stables?"
The man who spoke, was dressed in dark green and jade green almost-military dress.
"I wasn't told about that one in particular. I expected to face one of your warriors in the later tiers of eliminations during the open," Henrietta responded. "We're still new to the scene here, and not much
Solaris rep, not a high profile outfit. You guys usually stick to proven winners. Fursnake Stables isn't established enough to get that kind of attention normally."
"You are not…
normal. You cut off several potential ristars on Coventry, and a number of other places."
"That was the War," Henrietta stated, almost spitting it. "In war, we kill a
lot of people... Jesus, what's your name anyway? I don't know the scene here, and Cathay's a ways out from here."
"Stephen, of the Malthus bloodline."
She looked puzzled, as if…
"We fought before, on Melissia," he contributed.
"Jesus, that was a lifetime ago. Also, that's a lot of territory. The 77th fought for a week getting the remains of the other units out, and we were on another planet when Melissia was retaken."
"I
know," he said sourly.
"Where are you in the standings here?" she asked. "My stable's signed onto the Open, so standings actually matter, Stephen."
He scowled, "Low enough the match could be held officially." he answered.
"So, recent?"
The man nodded.
"Did your stable's manager file the challenge yet?" she pressed.
"Aff."
"Then wait your turn," she said harshly. "We're here, this isn't a war, we play by the rules. You of all people should understand sticking to the rules."
"You killed thirty of my throthkin," he stated. "In ONE battle, using dishonorable means!"
"That, was war," she said coldly. "Wait your turn. You'll get it, and you'll get the glory to go with the honor if you win, jump the queue and you'll pull a bad reputation for your entire stable, and that will reflect on your
Clan."
"See that you make it to the round," he asserted, and walked away.
"Well, that was… not fun. Ladies and gentlemen, I need to get back to work. Besides, there are better people to interview on a lovely day like today."
***
Fursnake Stables, operations..Over a decade being a professional soldier had left a mark. Henrietta's 'stable offices' included a layout that would be familiar to any field grade commander.
"Give me good news, Moshe," she said, dropping into a chair at the table.
"We've identified several stables with ties to Comstar or their breakaways with Word of Blake, and suspects on four that are tied covertly, either by funding, or materiel, or personnel backgrounds."
"That is… unsurprising, how many are we going to have to pare off?"
"About a dozen, which, given how many Stables are
on Solaris, not to mention everyone… and I do mean
everyone having at least one but probably more covert operations going here? Is a hell of a narrowing. The only people who don't fit the profile for possibles are the Clanner affiliate stables-who are the people most interested in arranging an in-person meeting with live fire weapons."
"One of the Zellbrigen guys was outside when I was answering the press."
"Yeah, they're on that list, so are the wolf-affiliates over at Canid."
"Famous people get hate mail," she shrugged. "How thoroughly hateful is it?"
"One of the Canid guys wants a personal duel with Natalie, claims it's over something she did in the Homeworlds. Before they launched
Revival. They're willing to get a sponsorship for the match."
"What's the Catch?" Henrietta asked. "Because if there wasn't one, I'd be hearing that Natalie's out on a personal grudge mission, and I'd be swearing up a blue storm."
"They want it by
Clan rules, including abtakha."
"****** that!!"
"I can win-"
"I can't trust they aren't putting a plant in our ranks." Henrietta said coldly, "Clan Wolf is one of the few that bothered to
do any recon. They at least know what an Intel section
is."
Natalie's argument died on her lips and she looked
pleased. "You believe I would win."
"I believe I could stuff you in a
securitymech and you'd beat any other Clanner in a Dire Wolf. I just can't afford to pay for the probable security breach when you won and had a guy with bondcords following you to every meeting-assuming you left enough of him intact to walk, which is not a given." She laid a hand on the table, "Hard rule-we don't do it Clan style no-matter-what. No bondcords, no bondsmen, no having to explain to my brother that I haven't picked up a slaving habit-Patrick
doesn't get your culture Nat… and that's despite you knowing him for almost a decade."
"I understand,
Ich Bin Lyraner now."
"Precisely, complete with the flaws," Henrietta asserted. "Besides, I need you to be 'Ms Whyte' for a few days."
"OH??"
"Yeah. Under your own name, but
that persona. We're building a brand because that's what Stables
do. So there's a
look. Fursnake is corporate, everyone's going to have to dress up in public. We are, after all, supposed to be fronting Ngo Industries here, and that means?"
"Sales calls," Natalie said with a frown.
"Sales calls. Use it to build your hate and anger for the arena."
“You are lucky I don’t mind dying my hair,” Nat chuckled.
"You've got another angle on that," Moshe observed.
Henrietta nodded, "Yeah, sales calls give us physical access to businesses, including businesses associated with our potential targets."
"That's spreading us pretty thin," Moshe said uneasily.
"Pat's loaning us some staff," Henrietta said. "From the Corporate office… at least, officially."
"Unofficially?"
"Coast Guard," she said. "OCB people. They're taxed under corporate as 'loss prevention specialists' and they have a desperate need to make up for dropping the ball with Lizzie."
"Hence wanting me to use the Ms. Whyte persona," Nat recognized.
"Yeah, I'm worried you might have to be the adult. The team's not from Lizzie's detail, but the whole SERVICE took a black eye with that kidnapping."
“Now I know this is serious,” Nat shook her head.
"Everyone gets a three-man team to oversee on our 'sales calls'," Henrietta told them. "So Moshe? You need to be on best behavior too."
“Rule 11. Don’t date co-workers. Goes double for subordinates,” Moshe deflected.
“And?” Henrietta pressed.
“Fine. I can’t promise zero HR complaints, but I’ll do my best.”
"Just keep your team from leaving a trail of bodies, Moshe. This isn't bandit hunting and my concern is some of the guys we're getting from VDL are…
motivated. You need to make sure they're
focused."
“I will,” Moshe said more seriously.
Tommy Deen cleared his throat, "You don't really think-"
"I think we need to be making damned sure any 'sanctions' as your cousins would call it, are cleared ahead of time," Henrietta told the Hatter-born Rockjack. "This isn't the war zone, we need to
not be making work for local homicide investigators."
Lenny, next to her sister, cleared her throat, and Sophie signed.
"That's right, investigations funded by cash go further than investigations funded with blood, Sophie, very true," Henrietta nodded.
“And if we start dropping bodies, well they’ll start doing the same. And that will draw all sorts of unwanted attention. Not to mention the distinct possibility they will cut their losses and stage it as if Liz went on an unscheduled trip, partially influenced by the narcotics she’s on. Then we’d find her in some alleyway, just another statistic,” Moshe said flatly. “Sorry boss.”
“You’re just saying a nightmare I already contend with.”
Secure workshop, Champions of Olympus stables…"Somehow you expected different?" she chuckled weakly, as Yurika came out of the safety of a closet.
Elizabeth was on the floor. Her 'minder' was standing there looking
shocked.
"How…many…minutes?" Liz asked.
"Ten." Yurika's neurodivergence let her slip straight to the semblance of rationality after Elizabeth's latest 'episode' had driven her to hide in distress.
"Shit, I'm getting worse…" she focused on the white-garbed guard. "God, quit gawking. It's not like YOU had the seizure!!"
The guard composed himself.
“I don’t know how to help you,” Yurika confessed quietly.
"Alcohol, THC, clean underwear and a shower, but the shower first… and a hand to it. Not sure, but I think I ****** up my left knee pitching over… at least this time I didn't break a toothbrush, or bite through a drinking cup."
“Hai.” Yurika helped Liz up.
She helped Liz into a chair for a moment and examined Liz’s knee.
"You broke your kneecap," Yurika finally said. "It's a simple fix with what I’ve got here-"
"Later, I want drugs, hot water, and soap. I
know I soiled myself with that one."
Yurika was fortunately large for her age and able to help Liz to the shower.
"You really bit through a drinking cup once?"
"Second time I seized was at breakfast," Liz said. "Two minutes, but I hadn't gotten the habit of crumpling into a safe position, and didn't know the precursors, so chomp-broke three teeth and the corpsmen had to pick ceramic shards out of my lips and gums," Liz confided. “Doc Huyn did a good job covering the damage and sewing my face back together. Pat hardly noticed the damage."
“I think I know how to let our families learn of where we are but I am fairly certain the method will be caught by our captors…” Yurika said quietly.
"We need to know how close they are to finding us before you trip that trigger," Liz told her. "If discovery risk is high, then best odds for success is to do it in a situation where these Earther goons don't have time to get clever."
“Which is the hang up with my idea. I don’t know how to confirm how close our families are.”
"Do you know how to write machine code?" Liz asked. "Not MacOS, or Serpent, but ones and zeroes? Straight binary?"
“Hai. I had to do so to make the enhanced interface actually connect to Yuko’s mech’s systems.”
"Everything here is on networks-like the holovid they let us watch for the opener. Most security systems are rigged to trip to
programming languages, not straight machine code, because ninety nine point nine percent of programmers, and that includes hackers, write it in something you can use a standard compiler to translate…usually in whatever spoken language the operator's using."
“Hmmm… Then I may have an idea for how to get short messages out. One, maybe two phrases at a time.”
"Heh…I was thinking more of hijacking their internal mail and security system," Liz said. "This stuff is mostly Omnisoft or Mac Terra gear, except for that server stack idled in the corner, that's Nashan, and they program in SL-Unity."
"How do you know so much?"
"Customers," Liz said. "Gotta know a customer's needs and habits when you're going to sell them equipment, or you get rooked by Krupp, or Tatsubishi Industries. Pat lost a contract to
Sanyo Morningham once, because the outfit wanted their stacks in Nirasaki version eighteen point oh."
Yurika suddenly seemed disconnected from the world for a moment.
“Reality to Yurika…” Liz poked Yurika.
“I did it again, didn’t I?”
"Spaced out? Yeah…hey, at least yours don't leave you injured, sore, tired, and drained. It must be these enormous brains we got, they come with manufacturer's defects 'cause we're still beta phase testing. Your manufacturer clearly had higher standards than mine.“
“The candles that burn brightest burn shortest,” Yurika nodded.
"Just gotta get rid of this basket we're in," Liz suggested. They reached the emergency showerhead and Liz dropped her soiled clothing on the floor, revealing a forest of bruises along her sides. One more sign of the violence of her latest episode. "Hot water, hot water please let the water be hot…" she muttered. Yuika could see the puckered scars of through-and-through gunshots that had been treated, just to the left of center on elizabeth's back and chest, and the zipper of surgery, faded but still visible.
Yurika turned on the water and tested it. She frowned.
“It is cold. But I have an idea. You will bathe Japanese style.” Yurika set Liz down carefully then dashed out to the workshop.
She gathered up a couple pieces of machinery and a cart. She then tossed a welding rig and several bits of metal on the cart.
Liz was astonished when she saw the cart come into the shower area.
Yurika set to work.
“I’ll be done shortly. Just need to make this water tight.” Yurika set the metal up in an easy to grab but organized fashion.
"Up… down… on… off… but why?" Liz mused. "Every computer ever made by man needs to convert AC to DC, and only uses on, and off. What if we changed things…"
“Electricity has only three states. A positive charge, a negative charge, and not present. But if we perhaps use that, combined with either voltage or amperage…”
"Positive, negative, neutral, with a ground like it all has, but yeah. Why not? I mean, besides nobody does it, why don't they do it?" Liz was toying with an idea to keep herself distracted from the aches. "Somebody
had to have at least
considered it before…"
Yurika was working feverishly as Liz washed herself with the cold water.
Yurika looked at Liz, then her contraption, then dashed out to the workshop one more time.
When she returned she made an adjustment to one side, then added the two machines.
Liz was about ready to complete her cold shower when Yurika turned off the water then helped her into what was obviously now a tub.
She hooked a hose to one of the machines and turned it on.
Yurika quickly showered then joined liz.
“I’ll add the storage tanks later and make it more comfortable as time permits but for now this will suffice.”
“This is nice…” Liz had to admit the cold shower did dull her pain but now the heat of the water was easing it away.
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