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“I don’t give a frek how it works,” I growled. “Just that it does.”
Nods all around.
“So you can make this?” I asked.
“Yep!” She spun around to catch Kirel’s eye. “Did you make sure we’re hooked up to the atomic 3D printer?”
“No,” he said, completely deadpan. Then he broke into a smile and waved his arm in a wide arc that encompassed the other half of the room. “I made sure it’s hooked up toallof them.”
“Oh, that’s brilliant! That’ll be so much faster.”
“I know.” He flexed his shoulders, his chest puffing with pride.
A growl filled my chest, making it into my voice as I said, “So get the printers going already!”
“Yes, boss.” Kirel’s lips twitched as he shooed Zo-Fee out of the way and started tapping at the controls.
“How thick is the foil you’re using in the helmets, Tark?” Zo-Fee asked.
“It had to be fairly thick to work, so 0.1 millimeters.”
“Program that in here.” Zo-Fee pointed to something on the screen, and Kirel nodded.
The huge machines on the other side of the room whirled into motion, their multiple legs dancing across the flat surface that made up the bottom of each device. They all moved in perfect sync, too, making it even eerier.
Kirel turned from the controls. “They can each make a six-foot-square sheet of foil in only twenty minutes.”
“Good,” I said. “Tark, will that be adequate?”
“It’ll be enough to hold us for a while. Maybe by then we can work out a way to make one of the printers for ourselves.” He looked at Zo-Fee and hooked a thumb over his shoulder, pointing at the machine she’d just used. “Will we need an x-ray diffractometer?”
“Nope! We’ve got the structure now.” She waved her comp. “All we’ll need is a printer.”
“In fact…” Kirel pulled out his comp and got to work, and all of our comps chimed. “Now we each have a copy of zurilium’s structure. If anything happens to one comp, we’ll still have it.”
“All the comps are making it back to theDaredevil,” I growled, “becausewe’reall making it back.”
The machines continued their complex and eerie dance, the numerous arms skittering across the glass surface of their platforms. The sound of a million little scratches created an irritating swell of white noise.
Zo-Fee walked over to get a better look, and I followed her.
The faintest sheen of silver had started to form underneath all the busy activity. Those needles were depositing tiny amounts of material, but doing it very quickly.
A flash of light as Sul stunned the downed Tula again, making the clock tick louder in my head.
I toggled a private comms channel to Kirel. “Can you check the cameras outside to see if anyone’s coming?”
“No,” he said. “Not with the way the security system is set up. I’d have to stop the loop I’ve got the cameras running, which means the Tula could spot us.”
I grunted and switched back over to the team’s comms channel.
Zo-Fee walked among the machines, checking on their progress. A thin layer of silver foil covered each of their glass platforms now. “It’s working. I can’t believe it’s all working!” Joy filled her voice.
The door behind her slid open on a Tula with a gun pointed straight at her.
The icy depths of space chilled my blood as time slowed. My hands crawled toward my blasters.
I’d never make it in time.
