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“What can I say?” he said. “Sometimes perfection takes a while.”
“We don’t need perfection!” Stari said. “Operational is good enough!”
“Is that what you tell yourself every day when you do your makeup?” the mechanic said.
“You…”
Stari snatched up a wrench and hurled it at the mechanic’s head. He barely ducked in time.
“Hey!” the mechanic said. “That almost hit me! Be careful next time!”
Another mechanic approached the toolbox and searched for a wrench. He was finding it difficult to locate the size he was looking for.
“Go check over there on the floor,” I said to him.
The mechanic rolled his eyes.
“Stari again?” he said.
I grinned at him. I had no idea it was a common occurrence around here.
“As I was saying,” I said, turning back to Stari.
She wasn’t there.
I spun around to try and locate her but it wasn’t until I heard another wrench bounce along the floor somewhere that I realized where she was.
“So as I was saying,” I said, catching up to her again. “Chax told me about a funny feeling he has that the Changeling siblings are up to something.”
“They’re locked up in one of our cells,” Stari said, checking a report. “I would say their ‘up to something’ days are well and truly numbered.”
“I know,” I said, “but I really think he’s onto something. I mean, he’s had to deal with Changelings a lot more often than the rest of us. He knows them. He knows what their tells are.”
“What’s a tell?”
“It’s something in a game called poker back home. That doesn’t matter. Look, I think he’s telling the truth.”
“And what’s his evidence that they’re up to something?”
“He has a feeling.”
“He has a feeling?” Stari repeated back to me, pouring a whole load of doubt on top for good measure. “That’s not exactly the most powerful evidence I’ve ever heard.”
“I can’t tell you how I know he’s right, I just do.”
Stari studied my expression.
“First, a feeling from him, and now a feeling from you,” she said.
“Trust me,” I said. “If he says they’re up to something, then you can bet your bottom credit he’s right. And you don’t want a surprise to suddenly spring up when you’re so close to getting your homeworld back, do you?”
Stari finished checking the paperwork and handed it to an assistant. She kept her eyes on me but spoke to the mechanic.
“Increase the dampeners,” she said.
She sighed and shook her head.
“I suppose not,” she said. “But they’re locked up. What could they do that might cause such a big problem?”
