The Army Of Light (Kestrel Saga) Read Online Free PDF Page B

live wire I was touching,” Trent replied wearily.
“I swear, that blasted computer has had it in for me ever since that bad
software flash a few months ago.”
        
Shawn smiled mischievously. “I keep telling you that the ship didn’t take it
personally.”
        
“You say that, but then I see you smiling like you are right now and I feel
that somehow you aren’t being entirely honest with me.” Trent began to scratch
at his head briskly. “Are the lights on?”
        
Shawn nodded. “They probably came on about the same time yours went out. The
whole control panel is lit up like its Christmas. Well done.”
        
“That’s fabulous,” but Trent’s tone was less than thrilled. He looked up at
Shawn as if seeing him for the first time. “Are you going to stand there
smiling down at me all day, or are you going to help me up?”
        
The smile on Shawn’s face morphed into a smirk as he reached down and helped
Trent to his feet. “I guess we should take a look at that engine now. You up for it?”
        
“Yeah, I think so. Besides, it’s in about a dozen pieces, so it’s not like you
can start it up with my hand stuck inside it.”
        
Shawn chuckled. “I couldn’t afford to lose you now.”
        
“Why? Because I’m the only mechanic who knows how to fix this
beast?”
        
“No, because you’re the only person on this whole planet I get along with and
who isn’t trying to kill me or get something out of me.”
        
“I wouldn’t mind getting a paycheck out of you, if it’s all the same.”
        
“Get my ship in the air and you can have whatever you want.”
        
Trent gave him a look of contemplation. “Be careful what you say. I have
lofty dreams.”
        
It took a moment for those words to reverberate in Shawn’s mind. His smile
faded as he took a quick gander at the open access panels and the exposed
wiring. “I did, too. Once, anyway.”
        
“No kidding,” Trent replied with raised eyebrows. “What happened?”
        
“Somebody killed them,” he said still glancing around and then finally leveling
his eyes back at Trent. The look on the mechanic’s face was anything but
jovial. Shawn flashed his friend a warm smile. “Don’t worry about me. Let’s
concentrate on  D .”
        
 
         Minutes later both men were standing near a large metal
table, the remains of the starboard engine strewn across its surface like the
discarded entrails of some techo -beast. More
specifically, they were the dissected remnants of the four magnetic
stabilizers. Each of the stabilizers, in their normal condition, had the size
and shape of a watermelon, but weighed as much as an armful of bricks. Inside
each unit was, amongst many smaller components, turbines used for heat
dissipation. Two of the stabilizers were cracked from top to bottom, exposing
the fragile drive units inside of them. The other two, while externally
undamaged, had seized cooling fans, rendering them all but useless. On the
floor behind the table, the engines cylindrical cowling had a large chunk taken
out of its lower half.
        
“It still looks to me like you ran into something,” Trent was saying, his hands
stuffed into his dirty pockets.
        
Shawn didn’t bother facing his friend. “For the third time, I didn’t hit
anything. Whose side are you on, anyway?”
        
“Hey, I’m not the one who broke the ship.”
        
“If you want to blame someone, blame those bloody pirates. They put me in the
situation in the first place. So just drop it, okay?”
        
“Fine,” Trent quickly agreed, but his tone told Shawn otherwise.
        
With his frustrations quickly mounting, Shawn wanted desperately to avoid any
further arguments. “Do we have any spares?”
        
Trent slowly shook his head and tittered. “Let me check.” He turned his
head to the pair of shelving units that were the sum of their spare parts.