Young Writers Society

The Conics had just docked at the Aether pit stop, a mismatched hunk of metal repaired with miscellaneous scrap metal and the most god-awful cuts of concrete Ellipse had ever seen. She had half a mind to strangle whichever architect had decided to run with puzzle pieces as a motif for the station, even if the place actually looked decent with Aether’s vast, blue-white atmosphere as a backdrop.

Wrecktrix and Captain Maj were gone, stocking up on fertilizer packages and snacks and placing orders for a water tank refill and atmosphere reset, and Min was holed up in the cockpit running a simulation of the planetary orbits, leaving Ellipse and Focci to check up on the engines and solar particle shielding. The pair wandered around the ship’s exterior, half-working half straight up chatting, while Focci prodded and banged on the Conics with a metal stick.

“This seems pretty imprecise,” Ellipse remarked. She winced as the siren hit the ship again, tensing at the fizzle of electricity that danced across the metal.

“This sort of shielding is a new thing,” Focci replied. He wrinkled his snout and peered at the rounded metal sheet in front of him before smacking the ship another few times. “It is not an exact science yet.”

Considering that people could die of radiation exposure without particle shielding, Ellipse figured it probably should have been an exact science by now. “I thought this was like a physics thing. Have physicists not figured out all the mathematics of shielding?”

“The physicists have all been sucked into the black hole of studying black holes. Engineers design ships.” Focci held out his free hand, and Ellipse plopped a phone-sized black magnet into his palm.

“Well, I am fairly sure engineering is supposed to be precise too,” Ellipse said. She flipped over the magnet on the top of her stack and watched it hover above the rest, careful to make sure the cardstock between each magnet stayed in place.

Focci hit the ship again, and this time there was no spark. He hummed a note of minor triumph and handed Ellipse his stick before flopping towards the ship’s stern. “It is like Veisann’s Method. It works when the math does not exist yet.” He stopped and reached up to prod at a magnet already stuck to the bottom of one engine. “Now come here and give me back my stick.”

It probably was best not to ask who Veisann was, or what their method did. As Focci pulled the magnet off the engine, Ellipse joined him, stick in hand and ready for pass-off.

“So fine. It is not exact. Tell me how this all works.” She bopped Focci on the head with the stick and smirked as he spluttered at her.

Letting out a long, warbly groan, Focci tapped at the engine a few times. “Ahh.. so all the living planets have a molten metal core, yes? It does this funny convection thing that creates a big magnetic field around the whole planet.”

So that was like compass stuff. Ellipse could sort of get that, even if she had never actually used a compass before.

“That field keeps solar wind from blowing away atmospheres and drowning everyone in radiation. On the ships we use electric fields to generate magnetic shielding, and then sandwich lead between the inner and outer shells.” Focci waved at the stack of magnets in Ellipse’s arms and tucked the stick under one arm. “The magnets are for fine-tuning. They do not fall off in space because there is no atmosphere to drag them off.”

Ellipse was definitely lost, but she smiled and nodded like she knew what Focci had just explained. Maybe she should have taken time to learn more physical science words. Universal Biology could not teach her everything.

After much tapping and banging, Focci decided that he did not need to replace the magnet on the engine. “Ellipse,” he began, “I need you to fetch the lift-thingy over there.” He flung his arm towards the far corner of the docking bay, which had a welding torch, a number of drills, and a wide, low box with a hand crank attached. If Ellipse remembered correctly, the Fold Station in the earthling system supplied a collection like that in every dock as well, but the planetary pit stops lacked the funding for anything more than an atmosphere recalibrator. That was a perk of having explored space for longer, she supposed; the Triune System had better infrastructure and pilot assistance.

Ellipse crouched and slid her pile of magnets onto the floor, careful to avoid letting her fingers get pinched. She shifted to stand, but a flash of light bounced off the shiny, metal floor.

“Earthling.” That was Min. They repeated earthling a few times until Ellipse finally looked up at the floor hatch, where Min hung by the roots, swinging back and forth and twirling their vines in discomfort. “Captain is coming back. You are to go and help Wrecktrix with your weird mouth food.”

Thank the universe. Grinning, Ellipse shot Min a thumbs-up and turned back to Focci to gloat. “Guess what,” she sang.

“You are dumping the work on me so you can go shopping?” Focci prodded at the pile of magnets on the floor, trying to nudge one off the top. When Ellipse dropped her jaw in shock, he shrugged and curled his tail in. “I can understand a little bit of specifus language.”

“Why did you not tell me this earlier! I have been relating every single word to you for three days.”

“Go find Wrecktrix,” Min reminded her.

Ellipse pushed a hand into her pocket and growled at Focci. “Are you just lazy? Did you enjoy making me do all that for nothing? Mouthbot cannot see everything the specifus say to us.”

“I am just lazy,” Focci replied, feigning a yawn. Little jerk. He gave up on the magnets and flapped his hands at her, perhaps trying to copy the earthling shooing motion. “Now go. I want sub-ice crustaceans from Mao.”

Little greedy jerk. Sticking her tongue out, Ellipse pivoted and flashed Min a quick ‘yessir’ before picking up her feet and jogging out of the dock.