Interlude: Engine Room (11)

They stood with Lockey between them calling out the crystals needing to be pulled. Sert and Meli remained silent listening to Lockey's command without problems through three-quarters of the slow and tedious process. Meli screeched as she threw herself away from the engine grappling her hand whining in pain.

“Shit! An earthen!” Lockey interjected. She rushed to Meli's section to yank the crystal that shocked Meli to the ground before Sert could pull his assigned crystal. Sert stood stock still with his hand hovering over the crystal. “You should have warned me about your gifts!” she exclaimed. “I would never had you remove that one.” she added irritated.

“It is not her fault since we do not know what we are actually doing here.” Sert commented back. He still waited to pull his crystal from the assembly. Meli waved at him as he nodded and yanked it from its socket. “What kind of crystal did she touch?” he asked. He turned to face them. Lockey vaulted forward to yank the last crystal of that set of three.

“We nick-named it a 'dark earth' crystal that people with earth abilities cannot touch or use without damaging themselves and their gifts.” she answered. She was walking back toward them looking at her tablet as a deep frown of confusion showed on her face. “No more dark earth but one dark water in my section with nine left to go.” she commented absently. She began pacing next to the engine as she reviewed the lists of crystals. Concern and confusion covered her face as she paced faster muttering in Lemurians under her breath.

“What's wrong?” Sert asked her. Meli stood slowly as she messaged feeling back into her hand.

“I think I pulled the wrong crystal ...” Lockey murmured back. She ran her finger down the list shaking her head in annoyance as they turned to face her. “It appears twice in the notations list even if it could only have been placed once.” she explained perplexed.

“Is it a big problem?” Sert asked softly.

“That would be a yes if the crystal is the middle or last crystal in the next sequence that needs to be pulled.” Meli reported. Lockey eyed her suspiciously. “It's the same process when healing.” she informed her. “Removing a crystal before it is set to be removed in the sequence order.” she explained slowly. “It can kill the patient instead of saving them.” she added in a near whisper.

“Sert, prepare to pull the one on your left!” Lockey ordered quickly. “Meli, if you can, the one on the far right.” she said slowly. Both moved to have their hands by the target crystal. “On three, pull them both out.” she added. She lifted a barrel lid as a shield before her as she counted up from one slowly. On three, Sert and Meli yanked their crystal from their socket. Sparks flew madly from the empty socket before Lockey to bounce harmless against her barrel lid shield.

“That would have been a very bad thing if the crystal was still in place.” Meli commented.

“The ship and most of the crew would have been the dead patient as the crystal shot out and shatter in every direction.” Lockey agreed before she started laughing uncontrollably. It took only seconds before Meli and Sert join in with the nerve driven laughter. After an half hour to regain control they slowly removed the last six crystal.

“Should we have warned someone that everything was about to be powered down?” Sert asked. Screams of anger and annoyance echoed through the wall from the ships galley.

“I believe they found out the hard way.” Lockey remarked with a smirk. “Now to put them all back in the original configuration.” she added with a sigh.

“Just keep the dark elemental ones away from me this time.” Meli commented. Lockey glanced at her noticing she had been using her other hand to pull the crystals. Meli slowly raised her right hand to show the red swollen marks in the palm of her hand and finger tips from touching the dark earth crystal. “If I do not fix it once we are done, the Atlantian healers will be very crossed with me over it.” she added with a small chuckle.

“I will take the front while you get the back section.” Lockey replied. “Sert gets to be stuck in the middle unless he has elemental gifts.” she continued. Sert grinned back as he shook his head.

“It is why I am in the martial division and not the healing field.” he remarked quickly. With each three slipped into place, Lockey would pause to check the instruments. A cheer rose from the galley next door as the third set was back in place nearly an hour later.

“Seems that set is working.” Meli commented with a grin. “Shall we continue or double check the panel first?” she added.

“Next set.” Lockey returned quickly. “Cannot have this ship out of commission too long, we do have rift beasts to hunt down after all.” she explained. She had the next crystal in hand ready to move ahead. Sert nodded as he collect his crystal as Meli did the same. “One at a time please.” she added quietly. Another hour passed before Lockey began pacing along the engine looking at the crystals in place.

“What now?” Meli commented.

“Same double notation problem except the three crystal listed are already in place.” Lockey muttered under her breath. “Inserted in the opposite order they were already slipped into their sockets.” she added perplexed.

“Did you make that list as you removed them or did someone else?” Sert asked slowly. He turned to face her as silence reigned in the engine room. Meli glanced over to notice Lockey double checking the crystals and socket numbers from her tablet.

“I believe she wrote it which is why she is confused by it.” Meli remarked.

“Since two of those crystals are unique ... “Lockey muttered to herself. “... it is impossible for them to have been removed or placed twice.” she continued.

“An opposing order might suggest a removal.” Meli replied. She moved to look at the tablet and the engine section with Lockey. Sert stood fidgeting next to the engine as both women seemed engrossed in the tablet. Time stretched forward as the two women made comments that neither seemed to hear.

“Could someone have changed the notes on you?” Sert asked suddenly. Both turned slowly to face him. “If your notes were changed, it could explain the other double notation and why the modifications failed.” he suggested slowly.

“Without help I could not have pulled both crystals simultaneously.” Lockey hazarded back.

“What could have happened if only the one crystal was removed?” Meli returned softly.

“The other crystal would have been hit with the overload instead of the empty socket.” Lockey remarked. “And the ship with it.” she added softly.

“Verify if any of the last crystal could cause a similar event to happen.” Meli stated quickly. Lockey scrolled down the list quickly on her tablet.

“No.” she finally answered. “But they must not have realized I had already removed them when they added this sequence.” Lockey replied. “Taking them out in this order would cause three potential overloads.” she explained. “We skip this line and move to the next one in the notations.” she affirmed to them. They nodded back to her before taking their positions next to the engine once more. Two more hours later Meli was giggling as she felt the energy flowing fully through the engine before her.