The Juggernaut (Juggernaut #1)

Twenty One

Malachi stopped short of the door to his father's tiny office and took a moment to work up the courage to enter.

Act natural. We've run short of parts before. The voice in his head reassured him. It's nothing unusual.

Then, as ready as he could be, he stepped into the room as if it was any other day.

Theo sat behind his desk. It was a simple metal sheet propped up by the landing struts they had removed from the Rhino.

Malachi felt like his father already knew the lie he was about to hear.

I've interrupted him. This is a bad time.

The room was dimmer than the last time Malachi had been here. Colder too. His father must have passed on the light panel they had salvaged last week. Most likely his father had added it to the lottery pool rather than keeping it for himself.

Despite his skills and position, Theo considered himself last in the queue for essential items such as lights. Far better, he would explain, that the rest of New Haven is well lit. The light makes people feel safer, and danger more easily hides in the shadows than in the sun.

Theo placed his data pad on his desk and gave his son, as he did everyone he spoke with, his full attention. "What is it, Malachi?"

"I know you're busy..." Malachi began.

Theo smiled. In here, working alone, he could devote himself to one problem after another until he was satisfied he could resolve each one in turn. Away from his desk he had to juggle a hundred demands at once. Here, without the stress that came from dealing with people, he could almost relax.

"I'm always busy, so now is as good a time as any. What's the problem, son?" There had to be a problem. Malachi did not interrupt his work without good reason.

Keep it simple.

"I was checking our inventory. I think I found a problem."

"I thought we weren't due to audit our inventory for another two weeks."

Uh oh.

"Uh, I wanted to make sure we had enough essentials in stock, you know, because of the work you've been doing on the Orion."

Theo considered his son thoughtfully as he leaned forward over his desk.

He's not buying it!

"You know," said Theo, "the last audit was only three weeks ago. Based on that I have everything I need to repair the Orion's engine core, but with everything else happening around here I didn't think to check again. I should have. Good thinking. So, what's the problem?"

We have plenty of gear to fix an engine, even one that badly designed. Why didn't I think of that?

"I was, uh, checking the lower priority stock. You know how quickly something you don't think is important can get really important fast."

You're rambling.

"Are we low on something?"

"Well, I can't find any regulators for the CO2 scrubbers in the stores."

"We have scrubbers but no regulators? How did that happen?"

Malachi shrugged so he wouldn't have to lie.

"Scrubbers without regulators are no good," said Theo. "I know that they're supposed to be independent systems but it hardly ever happens that one fails without the other."

Malachi nodded encouragingly. "I don't think any of our contacts are due to deliver in the next few weeks. So, I was wondering, can we last that long? What if something breaks?"