Eight
There were three middle-aged men waiting for us and after the briefest of introductions and the usual fussing over Vincent we were taken through to where the capsule was being 'studied'. The shell was still in one piece but the inner liner and a lot of the life support was lying on the bench next to it.
'Got to it, Vinnie,' I thought, and watched as it made its way over to the shell.
One of its arms came out with a circular attachment on the end. It floated up one side, touching at various spots and the whole side opened up.
"Wow," said one of the assembled scientists.
Vinnie did the same on the other side while the scientists crowded this side for a better view of the interior. As they did, Vinnie started removing some of the modules, a couple of rectangular ones and a largish circular one.
"Jeff,"
he said, catching me by surprise.
"Yes," I said out loud.
"The power unit is still in working order. I can restart it if you wish."
'What are the others that you've taken out?'
"One is the life support unit which has failed and the other is the shield generator."
A few of the scientists had wandered around and were beginning to examine the modules that Vinnie had removed.
'Can you open up the life support module?'
"Yes,"
he said, extending the arm again.
I walked around next to him as he flipped the box and touched it with the circular tip. The four sides fell away to reveal two mono-blocks inside.
"That's the life support," I announced. "The bit that failed. You can do your testing and probing on that. The other two are the power and shield components."
They all congregated around the bench, one of them picking up the open module and examining it closely.
"The power module still works?" one at my elbow asked.
"Yes, and the shield, though I'm not sure how you control them."
"Can he open them up as well?"
"It is not advisable to open the power module; the radiation is harmful to organic matter."
"The shield, yes, but the power module is dangerous. Vinnie says it's radioactive."
"It must have bloody good shielding then," said another.
"He can fire it up if you want."
"Yes, go on then," said the first. "What output does it give?"
'Vinnie?' I thought.
"Thirteen point eight volts at fifty amps."
I repeated his answer whilst I watched the three fingered arm emerge. He used two of the fingers to bridge two of the connectors.
"The two large sockets can be used to draw power,"
he informed me.
There were a lot more questions after that. I relayed Vincent's answers and ended up holding onto Rose's hand as the boredom threatened to send her to sleep. The session ended with me telling them everything Vincent knew about how the circuits were fabricated.
I had my pad navigate us to a nearby Korean eatery. Rose had a little moan about what a waste of time it was for her and over the meal persuaded me to let her loose on the shops while I went back for the afternoon session.
Even though I agreed the possibility of something happening was remote I was still worried as she gave me a goodbye kiss at the door as we exited. I tried to put it out of my mind as I wandered back; with another half hour before I was due back myself I did a little sightseeing along the way.
It was more questions and answers when I got back, with me keeping half an eye on Rose's location on my pad. The life support module was taken away for a more 'in depth' examination and Vincent labelled the pin-outs for the shield, warning them to use caution if they intended to experiment with it.
As soon as we were finished I contacted Rose to see how she was getting on. She was a little disappointed at the cost of everything, even though she had twenty thousand credits, the things she really liked were beyond her budget.
We picked a place to meet and I set out. I used the underground beltway that Rose had found and, with curious stares at both me and Vincent, rode it to the stop for the little restaurant Rose had suggested.
We had tea and scones with cream in an old fashioned English setting on offer. It had quaint wooden chairs and a red checkered covered table with a little posy of flowers in the centre. I was first there and ordered a refreshing soft drink while I waited.
She came in carrying a brightly adorned carrier bag.
"You didn't tell me you bought anything."
"Oh, it's just a slip cover for my mother's pad," she said, opening it up. "It's got an animated Tweety and Sylvester on it. Here."
I took it from her and saw a little panel with Tweety flying in circles around his cage while Sylvester tried to grab him. It made me smile thinking of Granny and Hector.
"That's nice," I said, giving it back to her.
"I know I should have expected it but they've nothing that fits off the rack. Anything I liked would cost twice as much to have tailored."
"Oh," I said. "I've got plenty of money if you need."
"No, I was thinking on the way here that I'd never have the chance to wear it back home, I'd be overdressed for anywhere I go."
"You could buy more of this silk underwear; I know I will if I find some off the shelf. If I can get a loose fit I'll have it altered at home."
"Yes, that should work. What size are you? Ninety seven, one oh two? It would probably work for panties, too."
"Good, I can meet up with you here for lunch tomorrow. We can do some shopping then."
"Oh, things here run twenty four hours; it's only the bureaucrats that run nine-seventeen. There's a sexy underwear shop I passed we could look in."
