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“We don’t know,” Mollie said. “They’re being auctioned in a Tula Syndicate nightclub—the lizard mob—so whoever pays the most will get them.”
“But it’s going to be us,” Sul said. “Gravin and the others will make sure of it.”
Raxnor gave his affirmative grunt, which I translated as him fully trusting in the abilities of the team doing the rescue. My worry faded.
Captain Wrin leaned forward. “Now, about you claiming you can make zurilium. Explain.”
I summarized how zurilium had to be an alloy of known metals instead of a truly unique compound and finished by saying, “If mother nature can make it, then we can, too, with the right equipment.”
“Mother nature?” Tark asked.
“It’s a saying,” Hazel said. Then she turned to me. “Sorry, I’mARK 1’s linguist. Half of what I do these days is try to explain the human idioms we all take for granted.”
“She’s being modest,” Mollie said. “She’s the one who created the dictionary that lets us read the computers.”
The blonde blushed. “Well, Mollie here isARK 1’s pilot!”
“Damn straight I am!” The black woman smiled, delight glittering in her brown eyes.
The captain made a strangled sound, snapping us all back on topic. “You were saying something about equipment.” He glanced past me to Tark. “Do we have what she needs?”
“No, and I’m not sure how to make it without more to go on.”
They all looked at me.
I spread my hands. “Look, I’ve got a degree in mining engineering and metallurgy. I know how tousethe equipment, not make it.”
“What aboutARK 1?” Raxnor asked. “You said it had mining drones. It must also have processing equipment.”
“It does.” I nodded. “But not anything this specialized. Our colony was designed to start simply, needing only basic metals and alloys. The experts on Earth didn’t know what kind of planet we’d find, so they kept things general. We were supposed to build specialized equipment if and when it became necessary.”
“So you have the schematics.” Tark’s voice vibrated with excitement.
“We should.”
Kirel pulled out his phone. “Tell me what to look for, and I can check. I’ve tapped into all ofARK 1’s databases.”
“Okay, first I’ll need to assess the alloy’s special structure, so we need an x-ray diffractometer.”
Puzzled looks all around. “I don’t think the translator chip can handle that word,” Kirel said.
“Hell, I’m a linguist, and I can’t handle that word.” Hazel pulled a face, making Sul laugh.
I laughed, too. “I guess this is going to take a while.”
“You said that was the first thing you needed,” Raxnor said. “Will you need anything else?”
I gave him a grateful smile. He’d really been paying attention to what I said. “Yes, once I’ve assessed the alloy’s structure, we’ll need an atomic 3D printer to make it.” X-ray crystallography had been old technology by the time we left Earth, but atomic 3D printers had been brand new. They didn’t just lay down layers of a single metal to make shapes like a regular 3D printer. Instead, you could use them to build metal alloys on an atomic scale, dispersing the different types of metal atoms as needed to create unique crystal lattices.
I explained all of that, and we all huddled together, with me directing Kirel’s search. He finally found the specs for the equipment and sent them to Tark’s phone.
But instead of his usual easy grin, Tark frowned. “I’m sorry. I could make this, but it wouldn’t be anytime soon. We don’t have most of the parts, and I’m not even sure where we could get them. The Grug don’t let anyone else have this level of tech.”
Captain Wrin leaned forward. “But the Grug have it?”
Instead of answering, Tark turned to Kirel. “Look these up for me.” Then he rattled off a list of parts.
Kirel tapped at his phone for a few moments. “Frek me, you havegotto be kidding.”
