V

Two Signals

It was early the next morning and Toad was the first to rise. He was oddly chipper given the events of the previous day. The coin was so close he could practically feel it between his fingertips. He roused Mario easily enough. He went to Daisy who had fallen asleep on Luigi's shoulder and gave her a soft nudge. Luigi's eyes were open and unblinking, staring at the ground. He hadn't slept at all.

Toad snapped his fingers in front of Luigi's face. "Luigi, I need you to triangulate that signal beacon. Last I heard, it was still active."

Luigi rose to his feet slowly and blinked for the first time in hours. It felt like tiny rocks rolling across his eyes. "I can't work the equipment with one hand, Captain."

"Gah!" cried Toad in annoyance. "Daisy help him out, will ya? With one arm apiece, the two of you together make one person. Well, almost." He laughed and walked out of the cave.

"Don't worry about him, Luigi," said Daisy, though her face was red. "He's a tired fool short on his luck."

Luigi and Daisy reached into his knapsack and pulled out the satcom and followed Toad out of the cave. They reached the top of a nearby hill and set up the tripod and waited for a signal. The progress bar on the computer display was slow to fill. It was an old model but Luigi hadn't the coin to upgrade. He had hoped the coin from this mission would have bought him a new one. Instead, it earned him a trip to the medbay if, that is, he lived long enough to see it. So much for trusting a scoundrel like Toad.

"Hurry before that thing wakes back up and you lose another arm," shouted Toad from the bottom of the hill.

The progress bar was nearing completion. "Almost got it," said Luigi. Then, the screen glowed green, reading "Signal Established" in bright digital letters. "There! You were right, Captain. Just over those hills, there's a signal. Strong too! Wait there's another one, practically on top of the first."

"Good work," said Toad, rubbing his hands together. "Now, shut that system off so we don't attract any more attention."

Daisy and Luigi loaded the tripod back into his knapsack. Mario and Toad joined them at the top. The hills were steep and they moved slowly through peaks and valleys. Toad, ever eager, led the charge. Mario's footing was unsure, his boots slipping slightly on the grass, wet from the morning dew.

"Mario," said Daisy. "Thank you for bringing him back to me."

Mario nodded and gave her a squeeze on the good shoulder.

"You did a brave thing for me," said Luigi, his eyes becoming moist. "I don't know how you do it."

Mario smiled at his brother. "I did it because I had to. I couldn't let my brother get eaten on 1-1. It's too big and too lonely out here. And besides, you two still need to make it to your wedding day."

Luigi's tears flowed in big heaving sobs. Daisy's heart broke for him. "What is it, Luigi?" she asked.

"It's just, I couldn't have done what you did," he said through sucking breaths. "I'm such a coward."

"That's okay, you're the smart one," said Mario with a wink and patted Luigi gingerly on the back.

Luigi wiped his eyes and smiled. "On that, we agree."

Toad heard them behind him and it felt like a stone dropped in his gut. Sure he was a scoundrel but these were his only friends. He stopped at the bottom of a small valley and let out a deep, cleansing breath.

"Guys," he said, keeping his eyes on the ground. "Let me just say, I was way out of line with how I've treated you." The three of them stopped in their tracks in shock. Not a one of them could believe that Captain Toad, renowned scoundrel of the galaxy, would ever admit he was wrong. "I'm your captain," he continued. "And I should act like it. You're a damn fine crew and I'm lucky to have you. And Luigi, I meant what I said. As soon as we get to the Citadel and collect the coin, I will buy you a cyberarm. It's the least I could do."

"Thanks, Captain," Luigi said through sniffles and he could feel his eyes getting teary again.

They crested the next hill and sitting at the very bottom of the valley below was a perfect cube of shining black metal. It was smooth on all sides and as big as a small gift box and except for the reflected sunlight, was completely dark. They approached with caution.

Daisy stood far back from the rest. "What the heck is that doing out here?"

Luigi picked up the cube and rolled it over in his hand. "It's the signal beacon."

"Well, where the hell's the ship?" asked Toad, his hands planted on his sides. "Alright Luigi, start making sense of this for me."

"This is the flight recorder that's embedded in all Class A Federation shuttles. Shouldn't be out here though."

"Where should it be?" asked Toad.

"In a compartment next to the landing gear at the nose of the fuselage. It's made of a reinforced titanium alloy and has a momentum circuit for its power source, a self-regenerating system based on an accelerating precipitate from the cold fusion of neblunium molecules."

"Meaning what exactly?" said Toad, his head spinning.

"If a ship crashes, the recorder maintains power, which means the signal beacon stays live so the Federation can locate and recover assets."

"Does that mean the Odyssey has one too?" said Daisy, suddenly feeling hopeful.

"No such luck, I'm afraid," said Luigi. "The Odyssey is a Class D freighter. They don't come equipped with this kind of gear."

"Transport freighters get taken out all the time by marauders and pirates," added Mario. "Just the price of doing business in the galaxy."

Daisy's hope left as fast as it had arrived. Toad scratched his chin. "How and why would someone remove this thing?"

"How?," said Luigi. "A standard omnitool will suffice. Why? Well, your answer is as good as mine, Captain."

They fell into silence. Each of them was baffled. Then, it struck him like a lightning bolt and Mario said, "Someone doesn't want to be found."

"So then what happened to Lady Bow?" asked Toad. "I don't see a body. There are no tracks leading out of the valley." He began to pace, cradling his chin in his hand. Then, he came to a sliding stop on the grass. "Wait a minute. Luigi, you said earlier that there was another ping, right?"

"That's right, Captain. Two pings stacked on top of one another. In fact, it should be right under our feet."

"That's the one Lady Bow was looking for," said Toad, now giddy with excitement. "Take a look around. There's got to be a clue around here somewhere."

They began to search but the valley was small and barren. Daisy walked over to an overhang from the flanking hill and saw something glimmering in the daylight. "Uh, guys," she called. "I think I found something."

The overhang obscured a tiny nook carved into the hill. In that nook, poking out of the dirt was a green drain pipe leading straight down.