700 Lightyears away, aboard the Bloodbearer.

Admiral José Rodriguez, now out of his wheelchair after a month of recuperation, stands inside an access tunnel deep within his ship's bowels. No longer do his muscles appear gaunt and frail. While he has yet to ascend back to his former strength, he now possesses the body of a lean, mean, killing machine.

The Terran activates a repair tool as he gazes at a row of corroded control panels, all of their lights long-since disabled from countless millennia of inactivity. His eyes flick from left to right, a hint of confusion apparent in their movements.

"I don't know which is which, Umi," José says. "What do you mean 'the third relay, second switch'? The third across, or the third down? Put it in layman's terms. I'm a soldier, not a mechanic."

"Orders acknowledged, Admiral," Umi beeps overhead. "Since this maintenance tunnel does not have any holographic transmitters, I will use your visual implants to highlight the correct switch."

After a moment, José's vision shifts slightly. Among the dozen or so panels before him, one of them along the top row highlights green, making him facepalm.

"That's the FOURTH relay, not the third! How was I supposed to figure that out?"

"My apologies, Admiral. Several schematics for the Bloodbearer's advanced systems have degraded in my memory-banks. I performed an advanced technique, one which you humans would call an "educated guess". Unfortunately, my extrapolation proved to be false."

"Yeah, yeah," the Terran grumbles. "No need to beat yourself up over it. Alright, let me get in there and figure out what's gone wrong with the circuitry."

Jose stands on his tiptoes and barely managed to reach the topmost control panel. He slowly takes it apart to expose its internal wiring, revealing a tangled mess of melted conduits and wires millions of years in the making.

"Bloody hell," José grunts. "What a mess."

The poorly-illuminated chamber doesn't hamper him much, thanks to his augmented vision. The Terran quickly tears out and rebuilds the inner core without complaint.

"Umi, how much processing power have you recovered in the last month?" Admiral Rodriguez asks.

"Thanks to Crewman Nyoor and Baaru's efforts, I have recovered twenty-three percent of my computational power," Umi replies. "The Kessu crew they have brought over now number one thousand, one hundred and seven. They have repaired 100% of my internal holo-projectors, and I can now sustain a maximum of forty-seven holographic personnel."

José's expression brightens. "Well, that's good news. And the engines?"

"I will complete the engine and thruster repairs within one hour, forty-five minutes, Admiral," Umi beeps. "Crewman Megla and Soren are still hard at work reattaching the frayed wiring inside my central processing matrices. I estimate their progress to be somewhere between forty and forty-seven percent complete."

"Nice!" José says, smiling to himself. "Sounds like we're making good prog- oop!"

The Admiral accidentally fumbles with his fingers and drops the hypospanner. It smacks him in the face before clattering to the ground.

"Shit! Fuck, that hurt!"

Admiral Rodriguez closes his eyes and sighs for a moment as he massages his aching temples. "This damned switch network is so high up that I have to hold the spanner with my fingertips."

"I recommend standing on a chair, Admiral."

José scoffs. "Pah! Are you making fun of me?"

"Negative, Admiral. Utilizing a chair would allow you to reach elevated areas more easily."

With a shake of his head, José sighs. "Nobody likes a smartass, Umi."

He lowers his gaze to the ground and starts to reach for the hyperspanner, only to catch sight of an unknown object out of the corner of his eye, one that wasn't there a minute ago.

"Augh! Sweet mother of- god dammit, Lele! You scared the sh- you scared the poop out of me!"

The Admiral swallows several curses as he turns around to look at the small Kessu girl standing behind him, a satisfied grin on her face.

"Haha! I got you good, Big Baldy!"

Little Lele, Ruuki's daughter and Nyoor's grand-daughter, sticks her tongue out at José and chuckles to herself, clearly pleased with her sneaking skills. She calls the Admiral by a nickname she came up with, one that refers to his mostly-hairless body.

José, meanwhile, pats his racing heart and allows it to settle. "D-don't sneak up on me, you little brat. I might have smacked you if you'd startled me any harder."

Lele plops on her butt and grins cheekily. "What are you doing in here, Big Baldy? I saw that little tunnel door was open, so I wanted to see what was inside."

Glancing past the child, José takes notice of the crawlspace access tunnel leading from the Bloodbearer's main hallways into the small, confined chamber. "What have I told you about curiosity killing the cat? Don't go poking around in random places, kiddo. There are all sorts of exposed wires and other dangerous things lying around that could hurt you."

The girl shrugs. "I didn't get hurt, so it's fine."

The Terran scratches the back of his head awkwardly for a moment before sighing. "Where's your father? Shouldn't you be with him or out there playing with the other kittens?"

"I'm not a little girl anymore!" Lele pouts. She plops on her butt and starts licking the fur on her arm. "I don't wanna sit around and play all day. I wanna help!"

After a moment of hesitation, she adds, "Besides. The other kids don't even..."

Lele trails off, leaving an implication hanging in the air. José lowers himself to his knees so he isn't towering over the child. "Hm? What's wrong? Don't you have any friends your age?"

The little girl stops licking herself. She turns her head to the side and doesn't meet José's gaze. "...No. Not really."

"Why not?"

"I dunno..." Lele replies, scratching her arm absentmindedly. "I just don't. The other kids are all babies. They don't understand anything."

"So you came here to bug me, then?" José asks, forcing a smile. "I'm pretty busy, you know. I have a lot of repairs to perform."

"I can help!" The kitten says, raising her paw. "I'm super smart!"

José reaches over and rubs her head, making her smile. "Yes, I'm sure you are. If you want, you can sit there and watch. Don't touch anything, though."

Without giving the child much more thought, José grabs the hyperspanner from where it fell and rises to his feet. He turns around to resume his work, while Lele meows from behind him, "Okay!"

The Admiral resumes his work, occasionally glancing behind himself to make sure the child isn't touching anything she shouldn't. To her credit, Lele sits still for the most part, her tail wagging back and forth behind her back as she watches the Terran work.

"Whatcha doing?" Lele asks, after a few minutes.

Admiral Rodriguez grunts. "It's a bit complicated. I don't know if I could explain it in a way you'd understand."

"Psh. Try me!" Lele laughs. "Like I said, I'm pretty smart."

José adjusts a routing component and clicks it back into place. "Mmm. Well, you know how Umi talks to us, right?"

"The synthmind? Yeah!"

"Hm? I thought the Kessu called her a Machine God?" José says, glancing back at Lele in confusion.

"Well, the others do. I'm not as dumb as them!" Lele brags. "I know all sorts of things."

"Like what?" Scoffs the Admiral.

"Well, that gadget in your hand, for example. It's a hyper-slapper."

"Hyper-spanner," José corrects. "But you're pretty close."

The Admiral lowers his arms and cracks his neck. "What does a hyperspanner do, smarty-pants?"

"Fixes stuff," Lele says, with a tone that indicates it's the most obvious answer in the world. José turns around and nearly has a heart attack when he sees the child grab one of his spare hypo-spanners. "See? These buttons here turn on the blowtorch function for welding!"

"Careful!" José says. He drops down and snatches the tool from her hands. "You'll hurt yourself! Kids shouldn't mess with dangerous equipment."

As José takes the tool from Lele, a strange expression passes over Lele's face. She flattens her ears and lowers her head. "Oh... sorry."

A sensation of guilt washes down José's back. Feeling awkward, he stands up and rubs his chin. "Err, no, I'm sorry. Ah, I overreacted a little. I just... I don't think kids should be touching stuff like this."

Lele doesn't raise her head. "Why not? Do... do you think I'm stupid?"

Before José can answer, she lowers her head even further. "Everyone else does."

Taken aback, José stares at the child with a distant look. Memories of countless other children he's rescued over the years play in his mind, making him re-evaluate Lele with a different thought process.

"No. You're not stupid. Don't... don't say things like that, kiddo."

With a quiet sigh, José sets down both hyperspanners, moves toward Lele, and plunks down beside her.

He wraps his arm around the little girl and gently squeezes her shoulder. "What's the matter? You seem really down today."

Lele sniffles.

"I want to help, but nobody lets me. Everyone tells me I'm always in the way. I feel useless."

The kitten leans to the side and rests her head against José's ribs.

Feeling even guiltier than before, José glances up at the control panels.

I never take the time time to pay attention to the crew. Admiral Baruchen would always sit down and listen to any officer if they had a problem, yet I haven't even done the bare minimum. This poor kid's so depressed and starving for attention, but I never noticed. Not to mention her father might be dead, on Tarus II...

After a few moments of silence, José clears his throat. "Erm. Well, uh, actually, I've been thinking about all this work I have to do. It's pretty hard and it always eats up my time. If you're not busy..."

He trails off, deliberately leaving the second half of the sentence vague and mysterious.

Lele perks her ears up. "Yeah?"

"Well," José continues, "I could have you take the Basic Officer Exam. If you pass, you could become a full member of the crew. Then you could even become my assistant!"

"Your assistant?!" Lele yelps. She pulls away and jumps to her feet. "Can I really?"

"Oh, sure," José says, forcing a stiff expression. He assumes what can only be described as a 'military officer's face' and addresses the child with a solemn tone. "However, becoming an officer is not something a mere child can do. You have to be mature and resourceful. You'll have to work hard to prove your worth."

The Admiral raises his eyes to the ceiling. "Eh, I don't know. It might be too hard for you. Maybe I should find someone else..."

"No, no!" Lele yells, panicked. "I can do it! I'm super smart!"

"Well, you'll have to answer some questions, and then I'll take you over to a computer terminal for a little homework. After that, I'll do a little on-the-job training. How does that sound?"

"Homework?" Lele asks, cocking her head. "Like... sweeping the porch?"

"No, that's housework, child. Here, follow me outside for a bit. I'll show you how the Official Crewmember Test works."

Lele practically jumps for joy. "Okay! Let's go! Let's go!"

Unlike her somewhat despondent attitude from before, the little girl seems all too eager to get to work, making José chuckle internally.

I wonder if raising human kids would have been about the same?

The Admiral gets down on his knees and shimmies through the crawlspace with Lele right behind him.

...

Twenty minutes later, José plops Lele down in a comfortable curved metal chair. He turns a large computer display to face her and gestures toward its screen.

"We'll conduct the test here. "Umi, pull up an appropriate beginner technician module for Lele. Let's see how she handles it."

Umi beeps in reply. "Error. Due to data corruption, I no longer possess any crew training manuals in my memory files. Would you like me to synthesize a new one from scratch?"

José frowns. "Hm, yes. Don't make it too complicated. We'll start with the basics and work our way up."

Lele holds her head up haughtily. "Hmph! I can take it! Try me!"

"Scanning interim crew-member Lele's brain. Creating new training module. Processing. Processing."

"New training module created: Advanced Technical Engineering 205b. I will now display the relevant files onscreen."

"Huh?" José mutters. "That doesn't sound like a beginner module at all."

Indeed, as José looks at the computer screen, a massive array of technical charts, schematic layouts, and circuitry graphics appear, making José's eyes pop out of his head.

"Mother of- Umi! These aren't for newbies!"

"Affirmative, Admiral. Based on my initial cerebral scans of interim crew-member Lele, I have judged her memory score to be around 125, while her comprehension score would be somewhere around 150. For comparison, your last noted scores were 185.5 and 212.7, respectively."

José balks. "Well, those numbers are... beyond impressive, especially for an unaugmented child, but still! How can she possibly understand these complicated diagrams?"

The Admiral leans in even closer to the screen. With a frown, he adds, "I barely even know what I'm looking at. What are all of these diagrams for, anyway?"

"Admiral. The data being displayed on your screen is all I have left of the files for constructing biomechanical automated war constructs, such as the Legion-Class Bipedal Exodroid, an Automated MK.III Excavation Construct, and a Harrier-Class Stealth Mechanoid. While these machines are somewhat complex, I believe the interim crew-member may be able to comprehend their inner workings, and thus reach a deeper understanding of electronics in general."

The Admiral glances at Lele. "Well? What do you think? Is this stuff too complicated for you?"

Lele crosses her arms. "I dunno. Hmm..."

The little girl stares at the screen with a look of intense concentration. She scrunches up her face and makes a series of odd expressions, all of them resembling different stages of confusion.

Internally, José sighs. Oh, Umi. Why must you torture the poor girl. Not even I had an eye for engineering when I was her age. How could a kid from a primitive world understand this crap?

Indeed, Lele shakes her head. "Geez. These pictures don't make any sense."

José nods. "That's fine. If you can't understand the pictures, I'll have Umi make something easier for you. There's no shame in starting from the basics. Why, when I was your age-"

"No, Baldy! That's not what I mean!" Lele says, her irritation evident. "These circuits are all wrong! Look! Why does connector CL21 plug into CL12? Someone got the numbers jumbled up! What a dummy! And look at this one, someone set the temperature thingy too high! It'll melt the coupling!"

Lele fires off another half-dozen points, indicating the shoddy worksmanship of the diagrams, but all José can do is scratch his head.

"Oh? Is that true? I don't have a clue, kid. This stuff's way out of my area of expertise."

"Admiral," Umi says, "Interim crew-member Lele is correct. It appears the blueprints I displayed are using faulty data, due to my memory core's degradation. I unexpectedly synthesized incorrect versions of the various fabrication charts. If I apply the corrections the interim crew-member suggested, the robots will function properly when built."

Several seconds of silence pass.

José stares, his mouth agape, at the child. "Huh? How could you possibly understand all of this? Have you tinkered with robots before? Are you a genius?"

"Well. Only a little," Lele says while shrugging. "My Aunt Lorrie used to show me all kinds of old Precursor stuff when I visited her. It's not that complicated. You just make sure everything lines up, and then it all will work. What's so hard about that?"

"What's so hard about that?" José repeats while rubbing his eyes. "Never mind. I can't believe you actually understand this stuff. I wish I'd known sooner."

With a long, drawn-out groan, José rises up and pats the child's head. "Not bad. Alright, I'll make you an official member of the crew! However, you have to do as I say, understand? Don't go licking engine grease off the floor or other weird things like that."

Lele scrunches up her face in disgust. "Eww, what do you think I am, a nasty scale-fart? I'd never do that!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," José chuckles. He lifts Lele up and thumps her on his shoulders. "Alright, piggyback time. You're gonna help me get to those high-up and down-low spots I've been having trouble with, alright?"

"Yay!" Lele yells, her depression a distant memory. "I get to help Big Baldy!"

The Admiral rolls his eyes. "We'll have to do something about your penchant for nicknames, little lady."

As José makes his way back to the crawlspace, Umi beeps overhead. "I will have the engine and thrusters repaired and operational in one hour, Admiral. Additionally, Kessu Crew-member Nyoor will arrive aboard the Bloodbearer in thirty-five minutes with the final batch of Kessu refugees."

"Great," José says, smiling. "Seems like everything's working out just fine."

The Terran and his little companion continue their work, all while the deadline to enter Inverted Space approached.