Fixing a ship and a meal (Leviathan)

"Fixing a ship and a meal" is the fifth episode of the third season of Leviathan: Distant Stars and the twenty-eighth episode in total.

## Summary

### Breathless in the docking bay

Xe'anna, on the Bat'leth, realizes that Tsarin's docking bay's doors are opening, that it is odd and that it puts Kika and Theea in danger. Xe'anna puts on her vacsuit, goes on and tethers herself, so that she can both grapple Kika and Theea and not be sucked out.

When Xe'anna is ready, Theea wraps her arms around Kika and asks her to *Glide us out of here!* Xe'anna fails her Strength and Exert roll, takes a success with consequence: Xe'anna grapples Kika, but both of them land on Theea and knock her out, or at least make it necessary for her to rest. Xe'anna would put her to bed, but Kika's opinion prevails and Xe'anna ties her upside down, by the ankles, to the Salmon Ladder, with her vacsuit on.

### Immune response

Meanwhile, Conrad and Rachel sweat but resist the now uncomfortable heat in the section of corridor that shut itself behind them. Rachel takes off her jacket. Ary can guide them using metapsionics. In the next corridor, two threatening, faceless creatures looking like large versions of Slurpee catch up with them. On closer look, they are more snail-like, have tentacles. After failing to catch their attention with a meat-o-stik'ko stick, Conrad shoots at what could be one's head. The creature shudders. Conrad then tries petting, and the creature tries to encase him and eat him. While he is keeping the creatures occupied, Rachel opens the closed door in front of them: it takes her time to overpower the muscle. Conrad shoots again. The creature is dead, or at least incapacitated. Conrad says a brief eulogy: *Sorry, buddy!*

Conrad shoots at the second creature, which starts oozing slightly. The creature, after rolling a 1, then runs after a new piece of meat-o-stik'ko Conrad throws at it. At that precise time, Xe'anna thinks she hears some nonsense in the distance.

Rachel shoots at the door and opens it. A rush of cold air enters, the pair leave and the door shuts behind them. Ary is not overly concerned by the damage to the door and the phagocyte Conrad sent on a meat-o-stik'ko chase will eventually dispose of the dead one. Xe'anna, who wanted to stay out of he science-doing, inquires about a need for punching. Rachel and Conrad decline her offer.

### Finishing the job(s)

The docking bay's doors are still open, Kika should don her suit. Her ineffectiveness baffles Xe'anna, who helps her with her sp'ipper and has her climb on her back. Something or someone turns off the gravity in the cargo bay, so that Theea is no longer upside down.

Xe'anna won't fit through the vents Theaa and Kika used. She'll take the long walk through empty, silent corridors instead. The silence of space effectively blinds Kika ... except that she still has beep-beep and meep-meep.

Kika mentions that Xe'anna has been eating alone, in her quarters. Xe'anna just misses Hexie. Kika compares Hexie to her own husband Tarko: *It's part of being a being*, talks about hormones and procreation. If there is one thing Xe'anna wants, it's not having this conversation.

They reach the end of the sealed-off area that leads to the docking bay. Kika seals the door behind them shut, and opens the door in front. The rush of air throws them backward. Xe'anna lands belly first, Kika catches the air in her wings, her tether to Xe'anna yanks, she hits the back door and takes 5 damage. Xe'anna is sorry.

When the atmosphere is back to normal, they resume normal progress.

Rachel and Conrad reach the injured section they were looking for: it smells like burnt flesh and there is a massive scorch mark where circuits were overwhelmed by an electric discharge. Rachel reacts as to a hurt dog: her face softens and she starts mumbling ... *I need to help you right now ... Oh, poor thing ... You're gonna be OK.* Conrad senses her healing field and wonders if it has something to do with psionics. New tissue starts growing. While a slurpee starts cleaning up the area, Conrad and Rachel have a conversation about Rachel's psionics and Conrad's efforts to surmount the distrust that comes from his education. Rachel is not interested in Conrad's growth as a person, which she realizes may be rude. She is even less interested in having meat-o-stik'ko, despite being hungry. Conrad gets her mushrooms and water from her own hydroponic garden nearby.

Xe'anna and Kika are still progressing toward their own objective, through a section with random patterns of bioluminescent energy. They pass close to a node Cha Cha installed for the thread drive. In a new room, the problem they have come to fix smacks Kika on the face, in the form of a sparking cable. Cables that connect biological and mechanical sections have overloaded. The situation evokes a cartoon for Kika. It turns out that, while Kika was listening to cartoons on the radio (that is, TV without images) during her youth, Xe'anna was just training at combat. Kika's repairs involve cauterization, and growling that's necessary before the purr.

### Talks

Kika and Xe'anna have another talk about Hexie: once they save the galaxy, they'll pick her up. Right now, what Hexie is doing is very important, Xe'anna is the one who told her to do that and Xe'anna *IS TOTALLY FINE WITH IT!* Kika just wants Xe'anna to be happy, and she misses her. In the end, Xe'anna accepts to come to dinner.

They make their way back. Tsarin can take over from there and Rachel can finally just fall asleep on the floor. When Conrad sees her collapse, he goes into first-aide mode and carries her back to the Bat'leth. Oxana says she is the one who turned off gravity earlier for Theea's sake rather than have fun looking at Theea's reddening face due to the abnormal amount of blood getting to her brain. Xe'anna is not proud, and pulls Theea down.

### R & R

Later, Conrad, sitting in a corner, tries to figure out what his pirate arm does, until his fingers turn into hands with their own fingers: that's we he stops fiddling with it.

They can rest and have dinner. Tsarin will refuel and they will jump to the next section.

In her sleep, Rachel has a very vivid dream in which she is Tsarin. But is it just a dream?

Conrad snores, or in Oxana's perception, makes an obnoxious human sound.

Kika still has the not-red backpack where Kika put the train pieces. It contains Conrad equipment, Conrad needs it for Theea. Conrad gets a red backpack back from Kika instead.

Tsarin refuels.

Kika talks about her project with Oxana, not with Xe'anna. Kika has bolted in the rig, which is held by metal arms, in such a way as to sustain a large amount of torque.

### The crew dinner

Kika gathers everyone from their room to the Bat'leth's galley kitchen. She tempts Xe'anna with the promise of *space umbrellas* (mushrooms). Xe'anna, in turn, persuades Ary to come, too. Oxana is invited to watch them eat food, she *will take great delight in not eating what Kika made*.

In preparation for the meal, Rachel picks the ripest mushroom-like objects from her garden. Ary helps her, collects a flower herself, and congratulates Rachel: *You're very good at this*. Rachel finds that *it's nice to interact with Tsarin in this way*. Ary is *glad you're here*, says *Thank you for staying*.

Conrad gets to pilot after three days. Flashback: Ary had ignored him on the first day, then watched him on the second, and finally confronted him about his earlier hive mind comment on the third day. In the end, Conrad is sorry, he is loyal to making sure that they get to the lab, and he will get to take the shift after the dinner.

Conrad removes his eye-patch: he got it after a procedure for astigmatism he had because *you need good eyes at ICA*. He was supposed to keep if for 48 hours, it has been two weeks now.

The dinner starts in the galley kitchen.

Rachel won't have Kika touch her plate, the food, or climb on the counter. Kika manages to add nutrition when Rachel is not looking or using telekinesis to prevent her moves. She adds pineapple flavor, but makes the food neither worse nor better overall. Kika also brings mango cider from her wedding.

Xe'anna cooks real meat and vegetables on a makeshift grill Kika put together. This reminds Conrad of his Uncle Mac.

This is real food, a meal. It doesn't matter that Xe'anna's meat is always slightly undercooked or slightly overcooked.

Theea is there too. Her eyes are still wrong. She and Kika put things in each other's plates. Nobody touches Xe'anna's plate. Nobody misses the usual meat-o-stik'kos.

## Notes

1. ↑ This was, incidentally, a way to minimize Theea's role in an episode Sarah was not on.
2. ↑ Who has a plot-number of them.
3. ↑ Vitamin Kelp?
4. ↑ *NftE:* this last sentence is a bit of an interpretation. I wanted to finish the recap on that note.