“We could take one home to Vicki, she’d love it.” I watched the little green fluff-ball bounce across the dome, eyes fixed on its flowery lunch. “Maybe we should let it eat the blooms down, then spray, then scrape. It’d be efficient.”

During the first hour of the morning shift we’d optimized our routine. Each member of the maintenance crew was assigned a pie-shaped wedge of the dome. Xander and I had combined ours. I sprayed to loosen the algae, then he came behind and scraped while I bounced ahead to the next section. Giving the solution longer to work made the scraping easier. Of course, Xander’s strength didn’t hurt either.

“I’d be like having a third person on our team,” I argued.

“It’s cute. And Boehm did say they would try to kill us, so it would fit in well at Doc’s.” Xander agreed. “But I’m not sure about-”

The tofin, apparently annoyed by the taste of the solution on its snack let out an ear-splitting screech. Wings unfolded from its body to reveal sharp hooked claws. With a whoosh, it launched at my cable, tearing at the carbon fiber braided strands until the vibrations shook me from my feet.

“Enough of that,” Xander grabbed the solution and sprayed the tofin square in the face.

A sputter, another screech and it flew off. “I think we’ll stick with our current method, with one little adjustment,” Xander decided. “While you’re spraying keep a sharp eye out for those things.”

“Definitely not bringing one home for Vicki. More house-training than she’s ready for.” I looked up to where the little menace had been snacking. “I’ll be sliding up to take care of little present it left. Another reason to keep them away.”

As the sun rose higher, the heat crackled across the dome. I straightened, stretching my lower back until I could feel the pop of my sternum.

“Half the day is almost gone,” I muttered. ““When are we going to do something? We can’t trust that the prince is going to stay sick forever.”

“Think of it as a recon mission.” Xander cleared off an area and pointed down. “Look, I’ve watched three patrols of SysSec agents circle that tower,” he continued. “It looks like it’s in the dead middle of the dome. “

I mentally ran through the schematics I’d looked at briefly before tumbling into a deep sleep last night. “I think that’s labeled as a fire suppression tower.”

“Alright. Not sure what we’ll do with it, but file it for later. Now, look at how the rest of the place is laid out.”

As I lay out the next coat of solvent, I looked more closely. Except for a few buildings near the center, the entire station had been landscaped into a verdant garden. Paths ran from one clearing to another, low walls of dark green hedges formed irregularly shaped spaces. Rooms, almost, with workbenches and cabinets set incongruously in the grass.

From above I could see a line of metal winding along the top of each hedge.

“What do you want to bet that every one of those wires acts as a tether for a force shield, ready to be snapped on at a moments notice?”

Xander nodded. “Makes sense. Hi-style, cushy environment for their researchers, and they still have the safety and security of isolated work-spaces if something goes wrong.”

“Or if they think someone has gone wrong,” I added. “It’d make a perfect prison.”

Sweat ran down my spine under the coveralls, itching in places I couldn’t reach, not in polite company, anyway. I was just figuring out how I could wiggle in the harness when the shouting started.

“Don’t tell me it’s not clean enough! I’ve been here for eight crew rotations, I know my job.”

Madden. Of course.

“Your job is half-assed,” Boehm hissed back. “Can’t work without your brother to think for you?”

Madden threw down his tools. They clattered down the side of the dome as he tackled Boehm, the two men kicking and tangling, lines spiraling together.

“Xander-” I started, but he was already on the move.

“Break it up, you idiot.” He shoved between the two men, his hands clenching each harness,holding them apart.

“You’re both gonna get killed. And I’m not sure if anyone would cry for you,” he snarled that Madden. “Try to remember this guy is the one that transfers our credits.”

“Thanks, kid.”

“This is none of your business, you bastard,” Madden growled, finally remembering to keep his voice down.

But it was too late.

A single screech was joined by another, and suddenly a spiral of green slashed through the sky as tofins poured out from the mountains. One landed on Madden, hooked claws digging into his shoulders.

He jerked back from Xander “Get off me you dumb bat!” Madden rolled onto his back, slamming himself into the dome, trying to pin the creature between himself and the hard surface to stun it.

It might have worked if it had been just the one, but dozens more poured out of the sky, attacking the work crew. Diving around their heads, knocking them off balance, pulling and ripping at the cables.

“Everyone,” Boehm shouted to be heard over the ruckus. “Slide to the top and hold on to the tethering ring. Keep your head down, stay silent. They’ll get bored soon enough.”

All around I heard the zip of harnesses sliding upwards to the ring, muffled shouts as people tried not to yell, despite the attack.

I covered my head, hit the button on my harness to feed the cable through. It hiccupped, jerked me up once then paused.

That was it. I was taking these things apart tonight.

I tapped the side, muttering and it started a slow climb again.

“Crap,” Xander muttered and I paused, breaths shallow, heartbeat pounding in my ears.

His cable was fine, the tofins hadn’t cut through it yet, but below him the tofin that Madden had tried to crush had been joined by reinforcements, using their sharp claws to cut away the harness rather than the line.

Now he hung by one hand, scrabbling for purchase.

Xander cast a quick look at me. “Go on up. I’ve got him.”

I froze, unable to abandon him.

“Quit worrying. That’s my job.”

I swallowed, throat tight. “All right.” I started the slow process upward. But Madden wasn’t the only one in trouble.

Boehm hung below me, softly swearing at the cable mechanism.

I glanced at Xander. He had his rescue to handle. It looked like I had mine.

“What you doing here kid, get up there,” Boehm snapped.

“Told you, I’m good with the toolbox. Let’s see what we’ve got.”

I didn’t want to take the mechanism all the way apart, not while we were still on the outside of the dome. But I could loosen enough of the housing to see where the gears had slipped, become jammed.

“Pull yourself up on my cable,” I instructed. “We need to take some of the pressure off.”

“This is a bad idea, kid.”

“There aren’t any other ones. Do it.”

He pulled up, and it was just enough slack for me to quickly unjam the gears.

“All right.” I slapped the mechanism in the upward position. ’Race you up there.”

We broke early for lunch. Boehm must have radioed ahead, because guards helped us unharness, one by one.

When Xander and Madden came down, the guards pulled them both to the side.

Boehm landed lightly. “Halfway right, guys.”

He tapped Madden on the chest with his stylus which suddenly flared to life crackling with the blue energy.

Madden’s knees buckled, and only the guards gripping his shoulders kept him upright. “This one needs some quiet time.”

“What about this guy?” one of the guards next to Xander asked. “He looks like he could be trouble.”

“He’s on my side. I think I’ll keep him around.”

The guards boxed Madden in, batons like larger versions of the stylus forming a cage around Madden as they led him away.

“That doesn’t look very pleasant,” I commented, wrapping an arm around Xander’s waist. Honestly, Xander was safe and that was all I cared about.

“It’s not meant to be,” Boehm answered. “Eggheads don’t want us using any projectile, any distance energy weapons. Normally it’s not a problem. And I’ve got to admit, seeing the SysSec guys without their plasma rifles and blasters kinda makes my day.”

A shudder ran through me, suddenly horribly aware how wrong the interaction with the guards could have gone.

“How much time do we have before we go back up?” I asked. “I’d like to check to see if I’ve got a response to my message.”

“Half an hour, so make it snappy. But you’re not going back up. We’ll call what just happened your interview for mechanical.” He cocked an eyebrow at Xander. “Think you can do the job on your own?”

“I’ll manage, but won’t be happy.”

“Nobody’s happy. Deal with it.”

We grabbed meal bricks and gnawed on them as we threaded the corridors to the commstation.

I started to say something, but Xander cut me off. “Message first. Conversation might change.”

We made it to the comm station in plenty of time. I punched in the coordinates, bounced while waiting, stomach in knots. Would there be an answer yet? And then what would we do?

But nothing came back.

“I guess we’re back to work now,” I said, forcing brightness in my voice I didn’t feel.

“I’m not thrilled about being separated,” Xander growled.

“I’ll make it up to you later,” I balanced on my toes to kiss him. “Think of it as recon, right?” I whispered.

He grabbed me, swung us around so I was braced against the wall, his arms hard bands around my waist, his mouth plundering mine. My fingers locked in his hair until he pulled away, eyes drilling into mine. “I’ve got lots of plans for later. Be careful, alright?”

My lips still bruised from our kiss, at the end of lunch Xander pulled his harness on and followed the rest of the crew out. By the door he looked back and winked. “Don’t worry. That’s my job. You do yours.”

I’d try. But I didn’t like this any more than he did.

“Hi, are you Loree?”

I turned, hand at my throat.

The stranger was handsome in a way that suggested money spent on mods, but with a streak of oil down the side of his face and a set of micro goggles pushed up through his dark blonde hair.

“Sorry to startle you. I’m Burr.” He jerked his head off to the side. “Coordinator Boehm said I should take you over to mechanicals, get you started.”

Well, that solved one problem, but brought up another. “I don’t think my cuff’s been adjusted yet” I argued.

“Only one way to find out.”

Not reassuring.

Instead of turning right from of the gathering room, towards the ledge, we went left, deeper into the lab. I tried tracing our path on the schematics, failed. But this was definitely an area that had been blocked off before.

“Any problems?” Burr asked, ambling next to me.

“What kind of problem should I be expecting?”

“Usually it’ll just tug your wrist back. It’s really just a magnetic repulsion force to guide you away from areas.” We turned another corner. Still nothing.

“If it’s a high level restricted access area, you’ll get a jolt.”

Oh.

“They could’ve mentioned the shock collar aspect before handing these out, you know,” I grumbled.

“Yeah, somehow I don’t think an orientation manual has been high on anyone’s list for a while.” He stopped by a door and waved his cuff at the access panel.

“Come on, we’ve got a helluva workload backed up. It’ll be good to have another set of hands.”

Inside the long brightly lit room the whir and whine of tools filled the air. Bots in all stages of repair and reassembly were scattered across workbenches.

A woman, gray hair spiked short, ran a unit through pieces in an enclosed area.

“Miller,” she shouted. “Come get this thing and fix the left back track properly this time. Damn thing limps more than I do.”

She turned and looked me over. “Good. Fresh meat. Boehm says you’re decent. Not sure how he’d know. Spends too much time dancing up on the dome than in here with the tools.”

“Put me to work and I guess we’ll find out,” I offered, half-wishing to be back on the dome.

“There’s plenty of work to go around. You. New boy. Set her up next to you until she gets the swing of things.”

She turned away. “Miller! Where’s that bot!”

“Come on,” Burr said. “She’s really not that bad.”

His station was further to the back and to the side. “I’ve sort of taken over the empty tables. Right now, I need all the room.” He waved at the half sorted pile of bots. “I’m on preliminary breakdown. Anything that gets pulled off the floor, we strip it down, run diagnostics and send it on up. The experiments here fry the code on bots a bit faster than usual. There were some other guys before I came but well, I don’t know what they did. Just that they’re not here anymore.”

I looked at the stack of bots waiting to be torn down and rolled up my sleeves. “Hand me a diagnostic tablet, and I’ll get started.”

“My box is over there.”

Opening the lid triggered a holo pop up.

“Void, sorry about that.” He waved it off quickly. “I seem to keep startling you.” He pulled open the chassis of the bot in front of us and I hooked up the diagnostic leads, started searching for any wonky codes.

“Not startled, just surprised. Betcha my high score beats yours.”

“You play Zoombies? Really?”

“No. I own the board on Zoombies.” I tagged the bot, reset it and started the run on the next bot down the line.

“I could take you,” he joked. “I’m pretty good myself.”

“I doubt it. But it’s not like we’re going to have a chance to settle it here.”

“You never know,” he said as we stripped down the next one, looking for the flaw. “I hear the senior researchers rec room has a console.”

I watched his hands as he worked. Competent enough with the tools, but unlike any other mech I’d met, his fingers were unstained, not a single protective callous. Pity. He was funny, and handsome enough that I’d thought of sending his info to Cintha when we got back, but she’d never put up with anyone that vain or high maintenance.

“You let me know when you figure how to get around the zap.” I tapped my cuff. “Not really high on my list of things to do.”

“I’m sure there are ways,” he said. “There are always ways.”

“And you wonder why the last guys didn’t survive their security check?”

“Whatever, smartie. Do you want to bring this up to Miller? He’s the expert in the tread assemblies.”

I shrugged and hoisted up the part. “Start tearing down the next one. I’ll be right back.”

Miller’s station seemed isolated from the others, and it didn’t take long to figure out why.

He was a jerk.

“You’re too pretty to work a wrench, sweetheart,” Miller said as I handed the hunk of non-functioning parts to him. “Why don’t you leave the new boy alone, and come keep me company.”

“Miller,” the woman who’s name I still hadn’t caught shouted from her testing area. “Mind your own business and get working.”

“Tired of people telling me what to do,” he muttered, bending over the gears. “Everybody’s been crazy since the Royal Brat arrived. Less hands on tools. Double up the bunking.” He straightened up, anger requiring only that he had an audience, even if it was one he didn’t respect. “You know what it says here?” he tapped a battered grey tablet and waited.

“No?”

“It says that today the fire suppression system needs to be visually examined. You know what I’ve done every three days for the last seven years?”

“Inspected it?” I guessed?

“Damn right. Inspected it, adjusted it, as that’s my job and whether or not anybody else appreciates it, I’m damn good at it.” He bent back over the machinery part.

“And now everything’s back-assword. Can’t even get in there.”

“That doesn’t sound safe.” Surely there was a way out of this conversation. I edged away, just half a step.

“Safe? Nothing here is safe. But they’re screwing with my routine.” He looked up again and glared. “What are you doing standing around here? Go do something useful.”

By the end of the shift we’d cleared about half the backlog. More accurately, we’d transferred it to the other mechs as needed.

Worse, I felt guilty.

This was easy, it was almost fun. But we were here on a job and other than random gossip, I hadn’t learned much.

“You’re pretty good at running code.” Burr commented as we worked around another bot.

“Should be, been doing it my whole life.” I flicked down the screen. “Gotcha, little bastard.”

“What?”

“Not you, the bug.” I punched the reset. “Clear.”

A bell rang, and I stretched from where I’d slumped, hunched over the bench. “Are we coming back after dinner?”

“Nope.” Burr tossed his goggles on the bench, careful to make sure they landed on something soft. “Boss’s philosophy is work tired, make mistakes, have to work twice as hard later.”

“Reasonable.” I wiped the grease from my hands with the rag he handed me. “I’m not arguing with that.”

We headed out of the mech room, clocking out with our cuffs. “I still think you’re wrong about level 38. Best way to tackle it is with a frontal attack.”

I shook my head. “Madness. I’ll tell you all the reasons you’re wrong in the morning.”

His face fell. “I thought we could keep talking over dinner.”

“Sorry.” I caught a glimpse of Xander waiting in the hall. “I’ve got a date.”

And something useful to report, I hoped.