Memoirs of Kitty Siam -- Twenty Three Men and a Priestess.
The village had no need for a police force or constabulary since violence like this was unheard of in this village. When things out of the ordinary like this did happen it fell to the Chief, the Alpha, and the Monk to sort everything out. It did not take long for this trio to be assembled around me on the shrine's plateau. I was ready to face a flurry of questions as to what had happened when Jobu tapped me with his cane to arouse me from my meditation. Instead of being bombarded with questions about the dead sailors, I was simply asked if I was ok.
Once out of my trance I was quickly able to get caught up on the conversation between the Chief and the Alpha, Their theory was that the three drunken men had fought over something of importance, most likely who was going to have me first as I sat before the alter in prayer. Since there was no blood or marks on me and the position of the bodies indicated that there was a fierce battle, the logical conclusion was that they fought and killed each other. The Chief insisted that this was how the deaths had occurred as none of the Pa'u villagers would sully the shrine with such violence. Rakku the Alpha added that a slender and demure Priestess such as myself could ever take on three armed ruffians and survive the encounter. Of course these were theories that I did nothing to cast doubt upon. I maintained that I was deep in meditation and did not hear or see anything throughout the night. The three village leaders were more than happy to accept their theories. In all the excitement I had failed to retrieve my steel spike from the throat of one of the victims and from that day forward as long as I stayed in the village I used wooden pins instead of the ones made of steel.
I made an effort to assist with the removal of the bodies but the Alpha and his men would have none of that and I was quickly escorted away and into the company of Jobu who offered to escort me to breakfast. This was an offer I did not refuse because it got me away from the scene of the crime, and I was famished. Jobu and I enjoyed our typical breakfast with the villagers and of course the major topic of conversation was the dead sailors at the shrine. I had said earlier that there were about three to four hundred people living in the village... well, I think about three quarters of them stopped by our table to check on my health and try to find out more about what had happened. I was so happy to get away from the breakfast table and return to the shrine to continue my work on repairing the healing beam.
Jobu, and I made our way back to the shrine followed by the six men from the village that had been tasked with helping us. It was after midday when the statues and the benches had been cleared away from the back wall of the shrine. Using a crude ladder I made my way to the top of the wall then used a sonic spanner to uncouple the stone panel covering the electronics. The stone cover was heavy and in modern times would have required a crane to move but seeing as how no such device was available, thirty men were summoned from the village, and using an A frame along with many ropes the stone cover was removed and laid carefully to rest on the floor of the shrine. With the electronics fully exposed I was able to get my first actual look at the technology behind the functions of the alter. I had gone over the schematics many times before the cover was removed and it was easy to pick out the systems that ran the medical scanners and healing beam, but to my surprise there were several other systems there that I had not expected to see. I made a note to explore those at another time.
I thanked the men that had come to help us then dismissed them for the day. I needed some privacy and some time to myself to trace out the electronics and find the problem. Jobu also thanked the men then took a seat behind me out of the way to watch as I worked. My eyes and fingers darted from circuit to circuit and after several hours of troubleshooting I found twenty seven areas in the circuitry that had scorch marks on them as if from a power overload or short circuit. It only took me a few seconds to send digital images to Maintenance Command and arrange for replacement modules to be fabricated. The only problem was going to be getting the modules to the shrine without the villagers seeing them be delivered by a maintenance bot or hover drone.
I checked the maintenance logs and found that the tunnel repair project was moving right along and was about 90% complete. I estimated that it would be a day or so before the bots would reach the complex under the shrine. Checking once again with Maintenance Control I found that the parts I needed would be finished about the same time as the tunnel repair so with that in mind I ordered that the parts be delivered by tunnel. I also directed that once the tunnel was serviceable that a few bots be tasked with cleaning the facility below the shrine and giving the electronics and other systems installed there a good once over to make sure that everything was in working order.
When evening came I stayed at the shrine going over the other systems I had found in the wall. Noticing that I did not show up for dinner Diya was kind enough to prepare a plate of food and brought it to the shrine. She kept me company while I ate and questioned me on what I was doing. I did my best to explain it to her, and though she had never seen electronics before, she was able to understand my explanations. Seeing her desire to learn I went into teaching mode and did my best to help her to understand.
After I had finished my dinner Diya excused herself and returned to her aunt. I was hesitant to leave the exposed circuitry unguarded during the night so after Diya was out of sight I undressed myself and switched back into feline form where I spent the night guarding the shrine and going through schematics in an attempt to identify the other systems installed in the wall behind the alter. I also pulled up the "owner's manual" for the alter's medical system and read through it. Since I was going to be the Priestess of this shrine I thought that it would be a good idea to know how to use the installed systems.
When morning came I quickly changed back into human form before any of the villagers arrived to snuff out the torches and such that lit the shrine at night. I was closer to understanding the other systems in the wall and was able to identify nine damaged modules to these systems as well. When I contacted Maintenance Control for replacement parts I requested the full schematics to go along with the replacement modules and in a few seconds I had the diagrams transmitted through my internal wireless system. I had received three separate diagrams labeled, Deflector Array Node Six, Village Weather Control, and Defense Grid Node Six.