Hardwired

[Fairchild]

Chapter 06: Farseer

She finally got a chance to sit down. Moving all of their things from her tiny Scimitar to the Palantir was a long and arduous task, especially without help. Scimitar didn't have much, but now it transformed from being her bedroom, transport and storage into a small scouting ship - what it was meant to be from the start. Meanwhile Palantir would become Professor's new lab. They would still have to retrieve their things from their old workshop on Crete but she didn't concern herself with that at the moment.

She paid a pretty penny to buy the Democritus liner from Forlorn but she hoped it would be for the best. It was large, but not spacious enough to feel clumsy. An all-around good flying house, the thing they needed. A mobile lab, home and transport in one. It originally required at least two people to effectively pilot, however with Vergil she reckoned she could work the ship much like she did with the Scimitar.

Palantir had three decks. The top one was originally intended for crew and guest bedrooms, however, she figured it would be best to re-purpose them as Nick's lab. As soon as they'd retrieve his hardware and robotics from Crete, it could be arranged as a good enough workshop. She could sleep anywhere -- the vagrant life already hardened her enough not to need such luxuries -- and Nick didn't have to sleep at all so a bedroom was unnecessary.

The middle deck was originally intended as the living quarters as well as the bridge. It could accommodate at least fifteen visitors. Perhaps originally intended to be arranged in a typical posh aristocrat style, it was now just barren carboncrete walls, dim lights and a few regular pieces of furniture screwed to the floor -- a couple of tables, chairs, couches and a bar.

The largest lower deck was the cargo bay, large enough to transport good shipments of supplies they would need for most of their projects as well as the engine room and other utility rooms. She hoped that since Democritus was a rather high-end class of ships, she wouldn't have to worry much about repairs on the Palantir.

"So what do you think?"

"We'll make do. Not what I got used to working at Wisp but it's better than what we had on Crete."

She sighed. The ship already started to feel like home.