The place was filling up. Shoulders stooped with fatigue, Nadir looked around the tea rooms. Four hours! Four hours it had taken him to rewire power up to his ship's airlock. He'd only gone back for his ID card. He knew something was horribly wrong when the hatch closed behind him and the lights went out for a second time. Usually the lighting circuit didn't operate the doors and visa versa. He wasn't an engineer but knew that much about starship design and now knew a lot more having read through the 'airlock' section of the enormously unhelpful technical manual.
An old man staggered past him reeking of tea and wine. In a darkened corner something was going on that demanded more privacy than it was getting. Svaldi was there. It came as palpable surprise to Nadir that the captain of the Kusari Pride was to be found outside his ship. Nadir noted several KNF pilots and a few people from Liberty space. He straightened his shoulders, smoothed out his now crumpled uniform and went to the bar, giving curt salutes where appropriate as he went.
"Tea," he ordered from a robot. "Know anything about wiring?"
![[Image: kusari4-small.jpg]](http://home.pacific.net.au/~nadir/KNF/kusari4-small.jpg)
