Chapter 10

Ysa was washing a cleaning cloth in the galley's sink. After lunch, Colin had gone to the cockpit to do a little systems check. Ysa felt sad for him now, after hearing about his father's death. She admired Colin's will and strength to continue on his own, in his father's footsteps, despite his young age. She realized though, that she hadn't asked him about his mother. He hadn't mentioned her. Did he still have a mother? Was he an orphan now? But she couldn't think of a way to ask him about it, now. And there were a few more questions she secretly wanted to ask him, but wouldn't dare to. She sighed and lowered her head.

"What the..? Oh, ba'kho!"

She stood in a puddle of water! She closed the tap, opened the closet under the sink and saw a thin jet of water leaking from the drain hose.

'Great! I'm aboard for some few hours and things I touch are starting to fall apart, already!', she thought.

She used a towel to dry her feet and threw it on the puddle, looking for a bucket without success. She went to the cockpit to tell Colin about her little accident.

"I'm sorry, but there's a problem with the drain in the galley. And I need a bucket, I'm afraid."

Colin stared at her helmet for a split second.

'Another one?', he was about to say, but bit his tongue. 'That was close, jerk!', he thought.

"An... Ok, I'll have a look."

He went and fetched a bucket for her from the lavatory closet. Back in the galley he checked the drain and nodded, while she mopped the floor.

"Yeah, that old piece of rubber hose has gotten brittle. Don't worry, I'll go find a replacement in the storage. Just go and have a break, I'll fix it."

"Okay... I'm sorry for the mess..."

"Ah, don't agonize yourself over that! Not your fault, the ship's old. And this thing here has probably never been replaced before. You didn't really set up your cabin yet, did you? I can handle the situation here, trust me!", he said, lightheartedly.

"Okay, see you later..."

Ysa went to her cabin. She sat down at the desk and opened her bag to check her few personal belongings. Her medkit, some spare parts for her suit, spray cans of disinfectant, a cartridge of omni-gel, a batch of air filters. She checked the status of the air filters in her mask. 'To be replaced within two weeks' the display read. Damn, that soon. The conditions on Thimaya had made them clog up quite quickly. But she needed to do some maintenance on her suit anyway, sooner or later. She pulled out another item from her bag. A holo of her parents without their visor faceplates. They were waving at her. Her father with a warm, genuine smile and the love for his daughter in his eyes. Her mother... smiling, but it appeared forced. The cold, stern look of her eyes was betraying the smile. They were standing next to each other, but did not touch. That pretty much summed it up. Ysa sighed. She should write to her parents, but she didn't know if she could find the words that were appropriate for both of them. She shook her head. Not now. She switched the holo off and put it on the shelf. Another item from her bag was a small copy of the Scroll of the Ancestors. It was a replica made of thin plastic film instead of real paper, but it still was a real scroll to hold in your hands and read, rather than just viewing a file on a display. The next item she found, filled her with excitement. Neria's gift. She examined the small, plain metal box and found a little button on it's edge. She hesitated for a second, taking a breath. She pressed the button and the cover opened up. She found a stack of photos, copies of some of Nerias pictures from Rannoch. Most of them showing parks, gardens and nature, but in one of them was Neria, leaning to a tree with a relaxed smile on her face. Ysa felt a lump in her throat again, when she put the photo on the desk, using the omni-gel cartridge as a stand. The other item she found in the box made her wonder. It was a small metallic and disc-shaped object, about as thick as her finger. It seemed to be an electronic device of sorts, it had several sockets and connectors on it's edge. She turned it over and was astonished to find khelish letters engraved into it's surface.

'MODULE G-331-528, XEN INDUSTRIES', it read.

That wasn't exactly helpful. She had no idea what it was. Something Neria brought from Rannoch? What could that be and why would she give it to Ysa? Neria must had thought it could be of use to Ysa. She would have to show this to a quarian techie, someday. Or maybe she should show it to Colin? He definitely knew more about electronics than she did. She left the cabin and almost crashed into Colin, who just came out of the storage room.

"Whoa! Hey, Ysa! Look what I just found! I really had to dig a little to find this. Figures, the thing you're looking for is always in the last place you're expecting it. I guess it'll fit, what do you think?"

In his hand, presenting her with it, he held about a meter of rubber hose. Ysa, who had been in thought a moment ago, was totally flabbergasted.

"Oh! Oh... Colin... That's... I really appreciate... But I'm not sure if I'm ready for this, yet... I'm sorry! But that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to... um..", she said in a bashful voice, looking for words.

"No problem, Ysa! I told you I'll fix it, ok? But you could help by holding the drain hose for me while I'm tightening it."

Damn, the drain! Ysa realized that she had completely and utterly misinterpreted his intention.

'Keelah! I'm soo stupid! He doesn't even have a suit!', she thought.

"Ah. oh... Sure!", she blurted out.

"Are you alright, Ysa? Maybe you need a rest? You appear a little distracted..."

"No, it's ok, I was just in thought. Of course I'll help you, let's go!"

She wasn't sure if she could explain to him what it meant to a quarian, to be presented with a hose like that. It meant proposing to link suit environments. She felt like hitting her head to a wall.

"What's that thing?", she heard Colin ask.

"Oh, that. I wanted to ask you. Neria gave it to me, but I have no idea what it is. She didn't tell me before... the assault."

She handed the device to him. He took a close look, turning it in his hands.

"Hm. Hard to tell... My best guess would be that it's some kind of data storage. That inscription here, it's quarian? What does it say?"

"It's just a serial number and the manufacturer's name."

"I see. Sorry, can't tell you anything right now, but back home on Horizon I have some equipment I could use to test this thing. Maybe I can figure out it's purpose. Hmm... I have a feeling like I saw something like this before, but I can't remember where... Well, let's see back home. Here.", he handed it back to Ysa.

"No, you can keep it for now. I don't know what to do with it, anyway. Just tell me when you find something out."

"Sure thing, Ysa.", he slid it into his pocket, "So, let's go and show that drain who's boss, ok?"

Together, they went fixing the drain. Ysa lay close to him on the ground under the sink, helping him with the tubes. She silently laughed at herself for her stupidity. But as she felt the heat of his body through her suit, she wondered if she would eventually have agreed on linking suit environments with him, if it were possible.

When the repair was finished, Colin checked the clock.

"Still two and a half hours to go to the mass relay. You have any plans?", he asked her.

"No... not really. Any suggestions?"

"Yes!"

He pressed a button on the mess room's wall and a video screen became visible in the wall. He dimmed the light and started a vid that left Ysa quite confused at first. The picture was of horrible quality, only two-dimensional and it even lacked colour! And there was just a weird but upbeat music but no voices to be heard. Instead it featured text panels to display the dialogue. It was very strange. Even stranger was the action she witnessed.

"Sorry for the bad quality, but those are among the oldest video recordings of mankind. More than two hundred and fifty years old. That guy is Buster Keaton. Pure genius!", Colin laughed.

"You humans have a weird sense of humour... Oh! The poor guy! You find that funny?"

"Well... It's that he goes through all that mayhem, but never really gets hurt. And he appears completely impassive about all of it, that's what's funny about it, I think..."

"Hmm.. ok, I think I see what you mean."

She watched the vid and minutes later she started giggling. Half an hour later she couldn't stop laughing any more. She hadn't enjoyed herself like that since meeting Ted Bosch.

'She has such a cute silvery laugh!', Colin thought and caught himself ogling her once again.


The Koriolan was approaching the mass relay, about twenty minutes to go until the jump. Colin had called Ysa to the cockpit.

"So. Now I'll set course to Bakaris, a trading world on the border of asari space. Perfect place to restock, I think."

"And what about your load? Don't you have to deliver it to Horizon in time?"

"Nah, I already contacted the retailer. He's a decent guy. After hearing what happened at Nova Macedonia, he guaranteed to desist from a delay penalty, he's glad to get the stuff at all. It's booze anyway, that stuff doesn't addle that quickly. A day more won't make that much of a difference. And you sure will need some dextro supplies. There's not that much of it available on Horizon."

"Ok. And what's that world we're heading to, Bakaris?"

"It's in the Crescent Nebula. Originally belongs to the asari, but it has some dextro-based plant life there, so a lot of turians were attracted to it, effectively leasing the whole place. It's also close to the Terminus, so it has become a major trade world in that sector. Good place to trade with turians when you're from the Terminus."

Colin's hands were in rapid motion on the hologrphic controls when the Koriolan passed the mass relay. The little freighter shook a fair bit when it leaped through the void, to appear at the Tasale mass relay, seconds later.

"Damn! Doesn't this thing have motion dampeners?", Ysa complained.

"If it didn't have those, we'd be specks on the wall by now.", Colin laughed, "Sorry, I should have warned you. This ship isn't exactly built to be comfortable. I thought that's true for most quarian ships, too? At least that's what the loaded Gann once told me."

"Yeah, well. I'm from the Shellen, a big liveship. You don't feel the relay jump that roughly in those, I think. But I don't know about the other ships, though. I visited other ships from time to time, but never experienced a relay jump in them..."

"Ah, seems you've been privileged in a way, compared to many of your fellow people."

"Yes, you could say that. I was lucky to be born on the Shellen. Most of my people never come to see a plant or a tree...", she mused.

Colin's fingers got busy on the controls again.

"All righty then... Gotta plot a course to Bakaris, but first off, we have to pay that fuel depot a visit. Our tank's almost empty."

They approached and docked to the fuel depot, a long and massive structure in space, the size of which rivaled a mass relay.

"That stuff gets more expensive every time! Damn cutthroats!", Colin grumbled after the refueling was done and he had to transfer the fee.

"Ah, Ysa? We'll reach Bakaris in about 5 hours. Maybe, if you feel like it, you can start to learn a little about this business? Have a look at the trade routes and the journal. I know you're not an accountant, but it's not that difficult. I mean, my little enterprise here isn't exactly a big concern."

"Sure, I'd like that. I had to keep a journal, too. It just wasn't about money, we don't even have that on the flotilla, but about the agricultural figures, you know. How much of the resources go in, water, energy, fertilizer, and how much crops goes out, such things. I guess this is not that much unlike it."

"Yeah, it's basically the same. Balance is everything, everywhere."

They sat down at the terminal and started going through the journal files. Ysa was grateful to have something to work on, to get a little distraction from the attraction to the weird but cute human next to her.