Golden Light, Silver Light

Scene 041

Scene 041

As they exited the lift in the Hall, Kronk approached the party. "You'll never believe what was discovered."

"Hum, let me take a wild guess. There was nothing wrong with the engine, someone programed in a computer virus," Dam said. "Engineering the engine to shut down, so we'd have no choice but to come to this station."

Kronk looked dumbfounded.

"You're just guessing, right?" asked Jac. "He's not correct. Is he, Kronk?"

Nodding his head, Kronk looked at Dam.

"You see I restricted personnel to the ship or to the repair bay. Guess whom Amy saw at the market?" Dam questioned.

"Who?" Asked Kronk regaining speech.

"Turk."

The Dolefur in Amy's arms stretched, breaking the tension filling the hall. "Tell me; that isn't what I think it is?" Kronk said, eyeing the animal.

"This is my pet," Amy said with a smile.

"Hump." Snorted Kronk.

"Back at you." Snapped Amy. "I wish you all would tell my why you don't like him? I find him rather soothing." She stroked the Dolefur and a rumbling purr came from him.

"You see, Amy, when I said a Dolefur was easy to please, what I really meant was they can and do eat anything," explained Dam.

"Anything." Kronk repeated, as the rest of the group nodded.

Amy looked at the Dolefur and then at the group. "You wouldn't do that, would you my friend?"

The Dolefur gave a big stretch, crawled to Amy's shoulders, and sat there purring.

"There you see. You're all making too much out of this. My new friend and I are going to my quarters." Amy took her purchases from Karr, leaving the group.

"Dam, you're not going to let her keep it? Are you?" Inquired Jac.

"Let her! Jac, are you going to tell her new friend to leave?" Dam inquired with a raised eyebrow. "Besides we've a snake to kill."

"Turk," said Jac and Kronk together.

"How to fix that little problem is our main concern," Jac said, taking a seat on one of the couches.

"Hum. I've a plan that should work," said Dam. He joined Jac on the couch. "Cat, could you join us?"

"Certainly," said Cat.

"Here's what I suggest we do. If anyone has anything else to add please do," Dam said as the group closed around.

"Cat, I want you to have all of Turk's commands and transmissions relayed through you. Follow all of his commands unless it puts the ship in danger. This means that you now will be the Weapon's Specialist as well as the Third Engineer for the rest of the trip. Think you can handle it?" asked Dam

"Not a problem," came Cat. "You know, Amy says Turk has always given her a strange feeling."

"Maybe, we should listen to those feelings more often," Karr quipped.

"I want him to have enough rope to hang himself," Dam said with the smile of a large hunting cat.

"Jac, I want you to call Beauf. Tell him to check on who was around my shuttle on the day it exploded. I've a feeling we might have the cause of my accident on board," stated Dam. "I'm going to use this time to do what I originally came here to do."

"You don't really think Turk was the cause of your accident and our other current problems, do you?" Questioned Jac.

"I think you'll find it's been very peaceful on Valdiar since we left," Dam said. "Now does anyone have anything to add to our snake hunt?"

"Yes. I want the engine on a closed circuit only accessible by the engineers. I don't want another engine shutdown," said Kronk. "After we fixed the engine, Abney and I had to load all of those parts into a cargo bay."

"I will take care of it. So, we are building a false weapon's station, a false communications relay, and the engine is to be put on a closed computer circuit?" At the groups nods, Cat continued. "Am I to let all of Turk's communications out?"

"Yes, I want all transmissions recorded and all weapons' commands logged," said Dam.

"That'll work, we'll know what he is doing without him knowing and changing his operation," Karr said. "Brilliant."

"Don't dish out too much of that or we won't be able to live with him," Jac said with a smile.

"So, it's agreed," Dam asked, everyone nodded. "Do your stuff. While I figure out how to explain about the Dolefur to Amy."