The Way Back (Champions of the Crystal Book 4)

Chapter 3.1

Khediva was silent as they emerged from the capsule on her control deck. The lighting was flickering fitfully, and the main control console was dead. "Khediva?" Sabrina called. "Rudolf?"

The little android appeared from the corridor to the living quarters. "I am here."

"Can you give me a status report?" Sabrina asked.

"Wayship Khediva's main functions are offline. I was unable to restore functionality to the main console. I believe some vital junctions have been damaged."

"All right," Sabrina sighed, "I guess we'll have to go down to the brain core to see what Khediva says. Rudolf, you stay here for now. C'mon, Scotty."

The siblings made their way to the brain core, where Khediva's organic brain, suspended in a transparent globe, stood on a pedestal in the center of a circle of computer banks and consoles. Sabrina went first to the nearest console, touched a few control pads, and said, "Sensors are definitely offline. Autorepair has activated, but it'll take forever. Look at this list of damages."

Scotty glanced over her shoulder and whistled. "Poor old Khediva."

The globe sparked with streaks of electricity as Khediva tried to communicate. Sabrina frowned. "One of the leads must be loose. Hang on."

She jiggled several of the connections leading to the pedestal. One of them sparked, making her jump back with a yelp, but she kept going until they heard Khediva's voice. "Thank you! I was evidently not built to withstand phase shifts. It has been most disturbing."

"Are you going to be all right, Khediva? We need to go find Tirqwin and Mara," Sabrina said.

"Yes. Autorepairs are proceeding, and if you can spare the android, it can perform such manual tasks as I require," Khediva replied. "Do not let me hinder your search for Tirqwin and Maratobia!"

"Can you sense Tirqwin?"

"No. If he is here, I am still cut off from him. You will have to go down yourselves to discover whether he is there."

"Right," Scotty said. "C'mon, Rina, we aren't doing any good here, and Mara probably needs us."

"Go," Khediva urged. "I will be fine. But be careful."

"We will be," Sabrina promised.
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Aboard the Adventure again, they found Aurora and Lndor awake and recovering, though they looked as though they had powerful headaches. Major Ilyanan was peering at a collection of planetary scans from the sensor data while Ford did a focused energy search.

"Well, I can't make out any life form readings at all from the area around the palace," he announced finally. Glancing up, he noticed Sabrina and Scotty for the first time since their return. "How is Khediva?"

"Shaken up. We left Rudolf to help with the repairs," Sabrina replied. "I take it you haven't found Tirqwin or Mara?"

"No. There's some sort of interference around the palace."

"Surprise, surprise," Scotty said. "I think we should divide into teams, one to go down there and one to stay here for backup."

"Ordinarily I'd agree," Sabrina said. "But we won't be able to communicate with each other, so how would the backup team know when to come in? Maybe both teams should go down, just at different locations. We'll have to search probably the whole palace as it is."

"True," Scotty mused.

Ilyanan said, "I think we have to cover as much ground as possible as quickly as we can. I suggest three pairs, each to consist of an officer and a civilian."