Shifting Loyalties

“And she’s been MIA since I’ve woken up.”

“Right, likely dead the way that Karen is acting.”

“Completely on our own then.” She nodded to him slouching back, but finding it uncomfortable and adjusted to lay out straight. Even relaxing as Yuki wanted her to do, she could still picture the formulas and perimeters stirring around in her head. If only her notes were complete it wouldn’t be nearly as much of a problem, but she had to figure out the final steps that Sumiko didn’t document.

Yumi let out a heavy sigh, unable to escape it. It became part of her obsession, a puzzle that already had been solved. Which meant that she should be able to do it too. “I just need a breakthrough. Everything will fall into place then…”

“You’ll be able to do it!”

“I’d better or who knows what happens. Not really interested in looping anymore, but I also get the strange feeling that I no longer have a second chance.” It was an ominous note that she left Yuki off on before returning to her work.

Chapter 492 – Shifting Loyalties

A breakthrough was certainly what Yumi needed at the moment, but it wasn’t timely. Once it did arrive, it was far later than she wanted. Already locked up deep within the protection of the Ark’s remains, she worked on solving the last problems. “I’d be better off just making a new reactor at this point if I had the time…whatever I do won’t hold for long.”

Groans and sighs echoed out of Yumi’s corner. When she reached a point she sent off the machines to collect materials for her. Progress was finally happening, but her deadline crept up hour by hour. “I can make it…just the last pieces to put into place…”

Long hours without sleep and little food, Yumi finished final adjustments personally with the aid of the machines monitoring. Outside in the closest safe room, Karen, Yuki and Bravado watched in silence. It was truly down to the minute, but Yumi had managed to pull it out in the end. Her impossible task could be considered complete.

She waved to the camera back to the crew watching, giving the all clear. “It’s done. For now…”

“We’re saved!” jumped Karen grabbing onto Yuki in her excitement completely ignoring who it was that she held.

“I’ll be damned, she did it…” Bravado Boy admitted relieved, but also shocked. He could only place his hope on her, but feared what that meant. It was never something that he could admit to her.

Once Yumi entered the room, she got an immediate hug from Karen. “You did it, Yumi! You saved everyone!”

“Yes, but it’s only a stopgap. It’s going to fail again. All I did was buy us more time.”

“And in time you’ll be able to find a permanent solution!”

Bravado stepped forward keeping behind Karen. “We will find a solution.”

“R-right! All of us!”

‘Already relying on me, a stranger…’ Being treated as a replacement for Sumiko left her still wanting to know what happened. They had never been any clearer about her fate. Though with how much her focus had been on the reactor, she never had a chance to ask. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the right time to bring it up.

The immediate danger had passed at least and things started to calm down significantly in their new home. While the Sword of Damocles hung over them as a looming threat, they could prioritize finding a way of life for them.

About a week after, Yumi walked into the HQ where Karen and Bravado seemed to have made their home. She suspected that they slept somewhere on the Ark, but she had never seen it. They had made no efforts to try to salvage a home like many of the survivors focused. “Hey Karen, I need a 32 nm and 46 nm cat D cable, know any safe locations you can point me to harvest?”

“I thought you picked up enough the other day.”

“Already ran out.”

She paused from her monitor to give Yumi her full attention, a little shocked to hear that she had already gone through it all. “But you got enough for a week you said.”

“I got a lot of requests yesterday and it cleaned out my stock. I won’t be able to fulfill today’s work orders at this pace.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to send Yuki for that? He’s capable.”

“He’s manning the desk.”

A heavy sigh came from Karen as she imagined seeing a crowded atelier with Yuki frantically taking down orders. The thought made her smile and giggle a little to see him panic. He had an unusually level head that she hardly saw him unable to react. “Makes it easier to keep tabs on him, I guess.”

“He certainly can’t run away,” she joked.

“Let’s see what I can find for you.” Acting Commander of the Ark, she took the monitor terminal out from passive scanning. She quickly tapped around on it letting the light catch from the polished plates that covered the finger machinery. “You know that we’re going to run out of viable materials to salvage at the rate you’re going.”

“It’ll be years before that happens.”

“You know that for a fact.”

“I made a few calculations.”

“A few…might actually surpass—“

“How’s the search coming?”

Karen swallowed quickly and finished her tapping on the panel. She met eye to eye with Yumi once more. “I gave you the coords. Also I saved several more salvage sites for you in the future. Try to make it last at least a month.”

Rotating her machine arm, a display came up connected with her personal account. A map along with directions and queued messages displayed for her. “Thanks! But no promises! The people are hungry!” She hurried off out of the HQ leaving the two alone once more.

A rough hiss of the door sliding open announced Yumi's return. She squeezed through the failing door that she would have to repair. “Damnit, I already fixed that today…” It was a patchwork job to begin with on systems that she didn’t fully understand. The need for a door that gave some sense of privacy was all it needed to be and it was doing that part well enough, just not being welcoming when it needed.

“And you’ll probably have to do that again tomorrow as well.”

Yumi glanced up from trying to pull her leg free from the door, that seemed interested in a hug, to see Yuki clearly across the room. “I’d rather not think about tomorrow right now…” Once she managed to free herself, she leveraged her body against the door to force it open, despite its protests to the contrary. She quickly dragged in a flat bed hover cart piled up with what she gathered.

He hurried out from around the desk to help Yumi haul things into the back room. “I’ve got dinner ready.” The container dropped with a heavy thud before he pushed it back against the wall.

“I’ve all of this morning’s requests to still finish.”

“And you still have to eat. Besides, you’ve made no agreement to when you would complete the work to the clients.

“Even still, they’re expecting me to get it to them tomorrow.”

Grabbing her hand before she reached for the cable, he directed her over to the table. A pair of plates waited alone in the room for them filled with the selection of the day picked by Yuki. “I’m your conscience here to remind you to stay healthy, physically and mentally. Besides, I expertly cooked three day old space rations. They’re at their peak flavor today.”

She caught his stare for a few seconds before it transitioned into a smirking grin that she couldn’t stop from infecting her. “You know how I love rations.”

“I only cook your favorites!” Her friend guided her over to the table, something that she put together for them out of a wall plating and a few supports from the same wall. It gave them a little more homeliness in a workshop that was nothing more than a portioned part of the storage room next to the new medical ward.

With the help from an initiative that Bravado Boy spearheaded, he organized the Engineer’s Guild and assigned members from the team to different parts of the partitioned storage room to utilize their talents towards services for the survivors. They all had a very needy clientele, though a lot of the business started to find its way to her door.

A short night of sleep and long one of work was her routine now. The morning, which felt more like the night part two, saw her continuing to work through the work orders she got in the back while Yuki ran the front. She could see the line through the thin crack of the curtain that separated the shop from the front. Listening to Yuki explain the time frame and complexity to the client distracted her from the work for a few minutes. His voice was able to keep her spirits calm while things were in utter chaos. ‘It’s amazing he’s able to keep up with all of that and even remember each one of them. My head’s so crammed with tech stuff I don’t know if I could hold another face or name of a stranger…’

Yumi started to get back to her work realizing that she was getting behind again, when she heard a name that made her drop everything.

“Did you hear the rumors that someone saw that woman, Sumiko Kawatake?”

“Probably just her ghost.”

Leaning up against the temporary wall, Yumi eavesdropped on the idle chatter as the clients waited their turn. ‘Did someone actually see her? Karen’s still claiming that she’s unavailable.’

“A few people up in Sector 41 were talking about it.”

“Not like it really matters anymore. She can’t do anything anyway.”

“No, that’s not it. They were saying they’re putting together a group to hunt her down.”

“What to prove that they found a ghost?”

“It is her fault that my wife and daughter…”

“What you going to do join them?”

“I might…she needs to pay…don’t you feel the same way…”

They hesitated in a reply, but could see several stares from others that were listening, while pretending to ignore them. Even Yumi could see the judgment in their eyes. “I do…”

She slid the curtain open only to suddenly see Yuki looking back at her not saying a word, but speaking loudly to her. Yumi paused with her hand tightening up on the thin synthetic fabric straining the damaged cloth at the fastened point. ‘One mistake and her whole life…damn them…’