Chapter 31: Now Is Not a Good Time

…

Link could not move. His whole body felt like a heavy sack of pain. He would have called out to Nester, but even breathing sent fresh waves of burning force through his chest. Every heartbeat felt like someone was stabbing him with a large fork. And he had had headaches in the past, but the throb he felt against his skull had the power of a sledgehammer behind it. This was not helped when he finally opened his eyes into a dimly-lit sick bay and felt the light stab into dried and screaming eyes.

His ears had been ringing when he first woke up. Just as the sound faded, he could hear someone ranting in a low voice. It took him a moment to recognize Nester as he said, "… care if you're just following orders. If you try to shove that sh—" Link could not see what happened to cause Nester to cut his voice off, so he forced his eyes to his left. Nester's weathered and creased face shifted from a deep scowl to pale surprise. "Leynne! Get in here now!" he suddenly hollered toward the front of the sick bay. He reached forward and ripped the bedsheet off Link, causing Link to flinch in pain.

"What is it!?" Leynne asked as he jogged into the sick bay.

"I don't know; he just woke up, and his breathing is erratic," Nester said as he yanked a stethoscope off his desk. Leynne stopped and leaned backwards just far enough to avoid having the stethoscope's drum swing into his eye. "Captain, can you hear me?" Nester called despite Link lying right in front of him. Link tried to respond, but his jaw was shut tight as he bore every ounce of pain. Even the weak grunt he forced through his lips brought a fresh stab to his chest.

"What's happened?" Leynne asked. Link attempted to force out sound again, but he could only show his grinding teeth. "Doctoh?"

"I can't tell like this," Nester replied as he pressed the stethoscope against Link's chest, inspiring more pain. "Captain, can you sit up?" Link gave a grunt and tried to shake his head. His best was a careful side-to-side rock that would not have qualified had Nester not been looking directly at his face. "Stiffness? Pain?" Link pressed his lips together to respond in the latter. However, what came from his lips was barely a puff of air before Link felt his answer rush through his chest again. "Pain?" Link's nod was rendered a brief shiver. "Okay, Number Two, here's where I need you," Nester said as he shuffled aside to give Leynne room. "Slide your arm under his shoulders and carefully sit him up."

"Ah you cehtain he's well enough to move?" Leynne asked.

"I don't need him in a different room, Number Two," Nester told him. "Just do it slowly."

Link could feel Leynne slide a hand under his shoulders just as Nester had told him. Link was surprised to find that this did not cause any sort of pain. His relief was short-lived, though, as Leynne then lifted his back off the bed. Link thought his guts would rip open and pressed his eyes shut in anticipation. He let his arms remain limp, although the shift in position still aggravated his shoulders. Leynne had to twist and reach around with his opposite arm to force Link's head forward. Link could not help feeling like a ragdoll, although this thought did not last long as Leynne then clamped onto his right shoulder to keep him from falling over.

Nester pressed his stethoscope into Link's back, causing another stab of pain. "Captain, I need a deep breath," he said. "I can barely hear a thing." Link clenched the muscles in his chest and tried his best to draw in a deep breath against the pain. He shivered as he then breathed out. Nester grunted and shifted the stethoscope. "One more." Link repeated the breath and realized that, in spite of the pained shiver he still gave, it was not nearly as difficult as before. "Okay, Number Two," Nester said in an even tone. "Set him down carefully."

"The vehdict, Doctoh?" Leynne asked as he set Link down, much to the relief of Link's stomach muscles.

"His lungs sound fine," Nester said. "A little shaky, but not obstructed. That's the good news. The bad news is… well, I don't know what's wrong."

"Could he have a punctuh that you cannot account foh?" Leynne asked.

"That's what I intend to find," Nester said as he leaned in to tug at the loose opening in the chest of Link's bodysuit. Leynne stepped aside, allowing Nester to move closer to Link's chest. He pulled the slit in front of Link's bodysuit apart and used one hand to probe around Link's bare chest. "If he had a puncture, a lung would collapse to where he could not breathe at all. But it sounds like he's breathing fine now." He glanced down at Link's right hand. "No cyanosis, either. Captain, how are you feeling?"

Link took in a deep breath, yet again finding the motion easier, and responded, "Pain."

Nester traded a look with Leynne. "Well, that's a little better," he commented. Then he asked, "Where at, Captain?"

Link steeled himself and answered, "All."

"All?" Nester repeated.

"As in 'everwheh'?" Leynne asked.

"Yeah," Link said.

"I'll draw up some painkiller," Nester said before leaving the table to go back further into the sick bay.

"What happened?" Leynne asked Link.

"Crush," Link said.

"Crush? As in… you weh—you weh crushed?"

"Yeah…"

Leynne stood up and called to Nester, "Doctoh, he was crushed."

"What?!" Nester hollered back.

"He was—"

"I heard you, Number Two," Nester interrupted as he returned. "Goddesses above, I just don't believe it. What did it?"

Leynne looked down at Link in expectation. Link answered, "Hand."

"A… a hand?" Leynne asked. "A hand?"

Link grunted when Nester unceremoniously stabbed a syringe through his sleeve and into his upper arm. "Giant," he said.

"A giant hand…" Leynne said.

"He must have pain nerves firing where even I don't know exist," Nester said. "No wonder he couldn't talk. Must have been a fresh level of hell."

"Yeah," Link grunted.

"What did you just give him?" Leynne asked.

"Some of my better stock, same I gave to Geordie," Nester answered. "He probably won't be very coherent after about a minute."

"And what do you recommend foh a pehson who's just been crushed by a giant hand?"

"A manual resuscitator with a bladder the size of Castle Island, for all the good it would do," Nester replied in a flat voice.

"Doctoh," Leynne said, "I should hahdly think this is the time to joke."

"Yeah, yeah," Nester said with a sigh. "Well, the thing is I've never had to deal with full-body pain like this. A few falls, but there's always been a definite source of pain, a torn muscle or broken bones. I'm not sure how to deal with this kind of pain. The best I can do is have him rest and observe how the pain progresses. Though…" He nodded at Link. "… Just judging from his ability to communicate with us now, it may be passing on its own."

Leynne pulled out his pocket watch and glanced at it. "It's hahdly afteh midnight. I'm afraid that, should he fall asleep again, he'll just try going back and get huht once moh." He closed the pocket watch with a heavy click. "You mentioned that a pehson undeh anesthesia doesn't dream. Could you anesthetize Link as you did Geohdie?"

"I could," Nester replied. "It wouldn't be my suggestion, though."

"Why not?"

"The captain," Nester started before turning to Link and saying in a quieter voice, "No offense." Then, returning to Leynne, he continued, "Is still quite young and comparatively small. That shot I gave him has opiates in it. If I wanna put him under the same way I did Geordie, I'd have to use another opiate. For a grown man like Geordie, it can be a little excessive. For the captain, it comes too close to triggering an overdose."

"Do you have anotheh method?" Leynne asked.

Nester heaved a sigh and scratched his head for a moment. "I didn't think to stock any, but I might have some ether around here. It's gonna make him sick to his stomach the moment he comes out of it, though."

"An unfohtunate side effect, but much moh favorable than letting him have anotheh incident," Leynne said. "Do it."

Nester gave his head a conceding nod. "If you say so."

Link tried to reach a hand up to find the pain still hampering his movement. "Don't," he told Leynne.

Leynne looked down at him and gently pressed his arm back on the bed. "It will be safeh this way, Link," he said. "We should try to reduce youh pain."

"Don't," Link repeated, although he had actually forgotten why he was objecting. Instead, he was beginning to wonder what Leynne would look like if he shaved his head.

"Doctoh?" Leynne asked.

"I've got it," Nester replied. "Get that bucket out from under his bed; he's gonna need it when he wakes up."

Leynne bent out of sight for a moment, and then he reappeared with a metal pail which reminded Link of a time when Line had made a bicycle using buckets as wheels. "How long will he be unconscious?" Leynne asked.

"Well, that all depends how much it takes to put him under," Nester said as he returned to the table. He held up a glass bottle to show Leynne. "He still has the painkiller in him, though, so this should be relatively easy. I can give you about three hours."

"That isn't enough time," Leynne said. "The Night won't go back to sleep foh anotheh six houhs."

"It'll have to do," Nester said. "I have to keep giving this to him once he's out. And ether is a relatively dangerous anesthetic; the longer I keep him under, the longer I have to accidentally overdose him. Besides…" He shook the bottle. "… I don't have much left."

Leynne sighed. "All right. But the moment you cannot keep him undeh anesthesia, make suh he stays awake."

"I know, I know," Nester said as he hooked a foot around his desk chair to pull it next to Link's bed. As he sat down, he asked, "How are you feeling, Captain?" Link's best response was a chuckle that only caused a dull throb in his belly. Nester raised his other hand, revealing an egg-shaped wire device with a few layers of gauze covering its exterior. He carefully pressed this device over Link's nose and mouth. "Captain, I'm gonna give you the ether now. I need you to start counting backwards for me, starting from thirty."

"Ye-okay," Link replied, his mind giddy. "Thirty… twenty-nine… twenty-eight… twenty-seven… twenty-five… twenty… four… twen…" The last of Link's thoughts faded into darkness.

"Captain?" But then Link could still hear Nester nearby, so he tried to force his eyes open. The sick bay light stung, and he had to blink to get them to moisten. His bleary vision turned to find Nester (or, rather, half of Nester with the bucket in the way) seated at his desk. "It's time to wake up."

Link breathed out a heavy sigh and tasted a hint of sugar on his breath. He rolled onto his side and pushed his elbow into the mattress to prop himself up.

That was when the room spun. Nester caught the bucket just as Link knocked it off trying to reach over the bed. "In the bucket, in the bucket!" Nester hollered.

Link vomited just as Nester thrust the bucket forward, the last of his dinner sandwich a disgusting, rancid taste on his teeth. He coughed twice before another wave of nausea left his stomach empty. He let his head hang over the side of the bed while drool and vomitus dribbled out of his mouth. His guts felt like they had been tied into knots. His face burned like it had been exposed to a flame. Then, after a few minutes (and some spitting), Link rolled onto his back and looked at the deckhead.

"Sit up and drink a bit." Link glanced to his left as Nester held out a cup toward him. With one hand braced in the nearby bulkhead, he picked himself up and took the cup. He sipped on cool water, sloshing some around in his mouth to fight the vomit taste caught in his teeth. "Is that better?"

"Yeah…" Link croaked.

"Good. How do you feel?"

"I, uh…" Link glanced down at himself. Other than the front of his bodysuit being tugged out of place (which he straightened so the material was lying flat against his chest again), he replied, "I feel all right."

"You sure? Three hours ago, you could barely talk to us."

"Three hours?" Link asked. "But… that was…"

Nester nodded. "Anesthesia. That's what made you throw up, too."

Link looked down at his shoulder and rolled it around. There was still a dull ache in the joint, but he could move it once again. The same could be said for most of his body (except his abdomen), and even the headache he had felt earlier had lost its bite. "Looks like it was only pain this time."

"I couldn't find any bruises or anything," Nester told him. "When you first woke up, I thought you had lost a lung or something."

Link tried to remember what it had first been like when he had awoken, but any memory of the event before Nester knocked him out completely escaped him. So he asked, "Was it that bad?"

"All I know is you were in pain and not breathing right," Nester replied. "You couldn't take a good breath, but there weren't any signs that your lungs were impeded. We got lucky I didn't have to actually open you up. This is not the ideal place for surgery."

"Good work anyway, Doctor," Link said as he turned to lean his back against the bulkhead.

However, Nester shook his head. "I'm afraid you don't get it, Captain. I was in the dark. Without you talking to me, I had to gamble my way through your health." Link felt the smile and color fall from his face. "My only shot was more information, more observation. I would've preferred you staying awake. Putting you to sleep was much riskier if you had an injury I couldn't see. With the blood loss you've had in the past few nights, an untreated injury might've killed you."

The sick bay fell silent for a moment. The best Link could respond with was, "… oh."

"But!" Nester then said with a finger raised. He turned to his desk. "I have a solution which we might be able to try." He retrieved a clipboard from his desk and offered it to Link.

Link found that Nester had made a list on a blank sheet of paper, his words large.

—Burn

—Sharp

—Dull

—Needles

—Tingling

—No Pain

—Cut

—Crush

—Broken

—Bite

—Amputation

—Choke

—Suffocated

—Drowned

Those words took up the left side of the page, arranged in a column. The right side of the page was a vertical scale of numbers 0 through 10 and a vaguely human-shaped outline using a pair of crosses for eyes. Link blinked in confusion and asked Nester, "What's this?"

"The next time you can't tell me what happened, we can use this. Granted, it's only useful if you can point, but short of blinking once for yes and twice for no, this is the only way to get some reliable information. The only other alternative I can think of is asking you not to get hurt. This week hasn't really been your week, though."

"It's a good idea, doc," Link replied. "I just hope I'm not that hurt again."

…

~~9/25, Expedtion Day 43.

~~I woke up this morning after being crushed by The Night. The best that I can remember was that my whole body was in so much pain that I couldn't move. Leynne told me that I didn't want to be put to sleep, but he also commented that the painkiller Nester gave me was strong enough that I was giggling. He said that I told him I had been crushed by a giant hand. I guess it sounds right.

~~I think it's safe to say that The Night wasn't pulling any punches last night. Janni might be right; this time around, The Night might be trying to do some damage.

…

Bum bum.

Taking a nap in the early afternoon proved to be difficult due to something striking the ship somewhere. Link had not noticed it while on-deck, and he had dismissed it while filling out the ship's log as maybe someone walking around outside. After lying in his bed for about an hour to try regaining the sleep The Night had denied him by killing him again, Link finally deigned to sit up on the edge of the bed and look around the cabin for the source.

Don don don. He heard a knock on his door instead. "Link, ah you awake?" Leynne called from the other side.

"Yeah…" Link moaned. Then, figuring that Leynne might not have heard, he said in a louder voice, "C'mon in."

Leynne opened the door. "I hope I'm not distuhbing you," he said.

"No, it's okay," Link replied with a sigh as Leynne shut the door. "I wasn't sleeping anyway."

"I just thought I'd ask foh pehmission befoh I sent out a shoh pahty."

Link looked up as Leynne stepped in front of Link's desk. "Shore party? What for?"

Leynne crossed his arms. "Well, I'd noticed that, up until now, we've had the fohtune of knowing wheh the technowohks ah befoh we've even had to seahch. It occuhs to me that, once you finish with the mines, you'll need to know wheh the last technowohks is in shoht ohdeh."

"So you… wanna send a shore party to find the last one," Link reasoned.

"Of couhse."

Link thought the idea over for a moment. He had no doubt that his crew all understood their situation and were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. Knowing where the technoworks was in advance would probably save them a day or two searching, should Link clear out the mines in the next couple of days. But then, Link thought back to his experiences this morning. The Night may well be on a rampage of its own. Link could scarcely imagine what it would be like outside of a dream. Janni may have been vague about what would happen if The Night decided to attack someone in the real world, but he still remembered that she had said something like "if a person who goes into The Night doesn't kill himself, his companions would have to kill him". Link could not have been close to those mines, and The Night had not hesitated to increase his suffering. And it had seemed lately that The Night was revealing new ways of torturing his crew just when it might look like they had gained an advantage.

So Link's answer was, "Not yet."

"Captain?" Leynne asked, his tone confused because not only was he not expecting Link's response, but he had been distracted by the striking sound coming from the room's timbers.

Link looked up at Leynne again. "Not yet," he repeated. "Right now, The Night is mad, and it's gonna defend itself."

"What betteh time to seahch?" Leynne suggested.

Link shook his head. "Leynne… did you look at the island today?"

Leynne gave a soft scoffing sound. "I'd much ratheh believe that I just happen to have a bluh in my eye wheneveh I happen to look stahboahd."

"Leynne, some of the buildings fell over yesterday morning." Link's words caused Leynne's right eyebrow to raise. "The Night caused the island to shake so bad that they fell over. And last night, it didn't let me anywhere near the mines; it crushed me on the forest path. It acted the same way when I got it out of the library's technoworks, except I think it might be worse. I don't think we should try sending out people to actually look for it."

"I assuh you that I've been keeping the crew infohmed of ouh findings," Leynne said.

But Link shook his head again. "It's not enough. At night, The Night releases a kind of miasma that it uses to grab people. If anyone had been in that library that night we found it, The Night would've grabbed them. And I've already told you what Janni told me about anyone who gets caught."

"I know you've mentioned Janni indulges in the truth because she takes some pehvehse pleasuh out of it. Should we—"

"She told me about the buildings."

"—really be so… I'm sohry, what?"

"She pointed out the buildings to me," Link repeated. "She warned me both times after I removed The Night from the technoworks. This whole thing with me dying in the technoworks didn't start until after that single time I went into the library's technoworks. Janni's warnings are… what's the word I'm looking for? Exact? Right on? She's been living in the shield for years, and she's seen what The Night does. I know it seems a little crazy to rely on her word when I'm the only one who talks to her, but I really think we should listen."

Leynne, with his arms still crossed, twisted side to side as he thought to himself. In the brief silence, Link took note that he could still hear something striking the deck. If it had not been so weak, he might have recognized what was making the sound.

"Pehhaps you'h right, Link," Leynne told him. "But one question remains: when?"

"Probably when Janni starts finding my… deaths interesting again," Link said, daring to crack a smile. "She and The Night seem to have the same sense of humor. Unless I can get into the technoworks tonight and clear them out without getting killed, it might be a few days."

"Should you cleah them out tonight, we would still have to find the last technowohks," Leynne pointed out.

Link nodded. "We have the controls in the library technoworks we might be able to use. Then again, The Night just might lead me to them to torture me some more."

"Yet it wouldn't let you neah the mines," Leynne reminded him.

Link gave a shrug. "The Night could come onto the Symphony each night and bash my head in, but it doesn't seem to think it's worth it yet."

Leynne nodded his understanding. "Yes, it is just as Nesteh said; The Night has a sadistic streak. Eitheh way, we know you can't avoid going into the dreams once again."

Both of them fell silent. Bum bum. Bum bum. Bum. Bum bum. And in their silence, their attention turned to the striking sound. Link asked himself, "What is causing that?"

"It sounds as if it's coming from the boat deck," Leynne told him, his eyes on the deckhead. "Did something happen to the Conductoh last night?"

"Well, whatever crushed me turned the Conductor into a pancake first," Link said. Leynne gave him an intrigued look, so he explained, "I found out that whatever I grab and use in the dream isn't affected otherwise. I've taken a pocket full of nuts and a rigging knife from the spare parts stores down below, and they're still there when I wake up. So I tried it with the Conductor. There shouldn't be anything wrong with it."

"A moment," Leynne spoke up, holding up a finger to silence Link. "Back when you cleahed out the library technowohks, we also found out that you can distuhb Obeetans from theih sleep by hitting them. As I recall."

"Yeah?" Link said, confused by the change in subject.

"And judging from youh experiences in youh dreams, The Night can be quite violent," Leynne said.

"Yeah, it gets pretty bad down there," Link confirmed.

"Ah the technowohks affected by The Night?" Leynne asked. "I know it can control them, but can it hahm them?"

"Yeah," Link nodded. "We even saw full necrosis in the library."

Leynne let Link's words hang in the air. When Link still looked to have been struggling with the conversation, Leynne finally pointed out, "Link, the Conductoh doesn't use the same ballast as the Island Symphony."

Link knew very well that the Island Symphony used Loft Steam, the same gas-based substance used by every airship in Hyrule. And he knew this so well because he, along with Leynne, Lidago (one of their Goron crew), and Luggard (a train engineer on the surface) had nearly been taken away by a tank full of Loft Steam that had decided to go for freedom. The Conductor's ballast system was constructed while the Island Symphony was on the run. Leynne built the system concurrent to Sello constructing the engine that everyone now feared. Because they could not put into port to build one with a Loft Steam ballast…

They used technoworks blocks from a rock field south of West Iron Island.

"Oh, no…" Link groaned. He pushed up from his bed and rushed past Leynne, grabbing his tunic off his footlocker on his way to the door. "I didn't even think about that!"

"Link!" Leynne called, hustling out the door after him.

"Is Irleen still on-board?!" Link asked as he rounded and climbed the stairs outside his cabin, his tunic already pulled on.

"No, she went to the library with Line and Cale again," Leynne answered.

"Layna!" Link shouted.

"What?" Leynne asked. "What is it?"

"If the technoworks are hurt, we need Irleen," Link replied, stopping in the middle of the quarterdeck to spin toward Leynne. "She's the only one who knows how to fix them."

Link then spun again just to collide with someone. He bounced off whomever was standing in front of him, but, instead of falling backwards like he felt himself starting to do, that same person quickly latched onto his shoulders to stop him. "'Inu mibathifak, My Kyabtin."

Link looked up to see Layna holding onto him. "Oh, right," Link said. "Thanks, Layna." Layna just stared, her expression a blank, innocent look as opposed to the concentrating stare she had in Kill Mode. Leynne stepped up behind Link, causing Layna to look up. Then, as if she realized what she was doing, she released Link. It caused Link to snap out of his own scrutiny of his subordinate. "I want you to take Twali and go to the library. We need Irleen back here as soon as possible."

"Ay'a, My Kyabtin," Layna said with a strong tone.

However, instead of running for the stairs, she ran at the port staircase, jumped onto the outside, and then simply sprang over the railing at the front of the poop deck. From behind, Link heard Leynne sigh. "I truly wish she would us—" Leynne started to lament.

"GYAH!" came a feminine holler from above. "LAYNA!"

After being surprised into silence, Leynne finished, "… use the staihs."

Link was just turning toward the door to the boat deck when Leynne suddenly shoved him from behind. It was less a safety measure and more just a reaction to seeing two bodies falling from the poop deck nearly over their heads. Link turned just in time to see both Layna and Twali land on the quarterdeck and tuck themselves into a roll. They sprang up just as fast and leapt the railing at the front of the quarterdeck onto the main deck.

This prompted Link to holler at them while they were running toward the gangplank, "Use the stairs, you two!" Then he turned and told Leynne as Leynne opened one door to the boat deck, "I hate when they do that."

Kkkkk. Kkkkkk. Both Link and Leynne paused when they heard the sound of wood grinding wood. Then Link immediately strode forward to check the supports holding the Conductor up from the deck. His first thought was that one of them might have come detached from the deck. But the moment he put his hand against the boat's hull to lean over and check—Kk—Bang. Kk—Bang.—he knew Leynne's fear was correct. It was hard to feel the sway of the Island Symphony in the wind, but it was easy to tell when the Conductor was swaying with it because there was always that little bit of give in the rope that let someone nudge the secured launch. The banging sound was being caused by the Conductor's hull, the front of its keel pressed to the ship's deck, pivoting its stern and striking hard against the rear supports. He gave a sigh and stood up. "It's the boat," he told Leynne. "It's not sitting right on the supports."

Leynne stepped forward and grabbed the foremost rope holding the boat down. He gave the rope a strange look as he tugged on it. "This rope is too loose," he reported.

"Then there might be something wrong with the forward ballast," Link said as he indicated the rear of the deck to Leynne. "Let's go check it out."

"I don't know that I can get undeh the deck anymoh," Leynne said as Link rounded the aft of the Conductor.

"Why?" Link asked.

"Well, if Dubbl is to be believed, I've been a typical Hylian and gotten fat."

Link, stopping at the first rung of the boarding ladder, turned to see Leynne pat his stomach. He took a moment to scrutinize Leynne before saying, "Really? It doesn't show."

"Dholit says it's a fohm of jesting that Gelto women do," Leynne said. Link started up the ladder as he added, "Ostensibly, it is a fohm of projection when a Gelto thinks she's become pregnant."

Link was almost to the top of the ladder when he froze. "P-pregnant?!" he hollered. "Are you serious!?"

"Yes," Leynne replied, giving him a grin. "Dubbl's confihmed, but she tells me she's also not joking about my gaining weight."

Link clambered over the transom and stepped to one side to allow Leynne to board. His stomach twisted. As much as he knew Leynne and Dubbl had been trying for a year, the thought of them having a baby now caused the color to drain from his face. He thought back to "Logan" and immediately began fearing for them. How long did it take for a baby to be born?

"Link?" Link jumped and spun around to find Leynne standing behind him. "Ah you all right?"

"No…" Link uttered. Then he quickly shook his head. "I, uh, I mean yes. Yes, yes, that-that's great to hear. I just…"

Leynne nodded. "I know. As much as I would enjoy announcing to the whole crew, this is quite possibly the wohst time to conceive."

"Have you told Nester?"

"I'd ratheh we waited foh the next time we retuhned to the Poht," Leynne admitted.

"How long ago did this happen?"

Leynne crossed his arms. "Well, if we'h to assume by the time she stahted grousing about my weight, neahly three weeks ago."

Link pressed his eyes closed with a hand. "When she was too sick to work her shiiiiiift…" he moaned.

"I'm sohry I couldn't have infohmed you befoh. This didn't come to light until just a few houhs ago."

"No, I jus—…" Link paused and sighed. "You're right, this was possibly the worst time for this to happen."

"I'll ask Nesteh to confihm the pregnancy foh us," Leynne told him. "In the meantime, we should see what kind of damage we have."

"Huh?"

Leynne pointed at the deck. "The Conductoh."

"Oh," Link uttered just as Leynne got his words out. "Right, uh… where are the technoworks blocks?"

"Theh ah access panels inside the deckhouse," Leynne said, brushing past Link to lead him in that direction. "Since we gutted the deckhouse, they should be relatively easy to reach. Uh…" He paused as they took the five steps down into the empty deckhouse. "The panel foh the fohwahd block covehs a nahrow gap; you might squeeze through it better."

Link nodded. "Okay. Can you check the aft blocks?"

"Dubbl hasn't told me I'm that fat," Leynne replied as he stepped to one side of the stairs and started pulling on a wood panel only barely nailed to the aft bulkhead.

Link strode forward and found that one panel on the front was askew from the bulkhead's timbers. He fit his fingertips in a small opening and found that the panel had been barely nailed to a supporting frame. So Link pulled off the panel and crawled into the opening. He was only halfway in when he found the narrow gap Leynne was talking about. He twisted and pulled himself through, having had plenty of experience climbing through the Grand Sails' interior structures looking for things his shipmates had lost. His hands found a thin cable hooked to the timber almost directly in his face, forcing him to turn and climb the other way around a support beam in his way. When he saw the orange glow above his head, he turned so that he could crawl on the now-visible deck structure closing off the boat's original ballast tank. He had to squeeze through more support structures, including the hull's interior vertical members. The block he was looking for was cradled in a metal frame secured directly under the weather deck.

And, upon seeing a section of the side face visible to him flashing bright pink over its orange and yellow natural color, Link sighed and let his head thud against the deck.