Lost Convoy, Part V: The Plan

Clive didn't waste a lot of time telling Ray Patch what he thought of the situation, once he found out exactly what they were facing. It simply wasn't his style, and no matter the circumstances, he wasn't likely to change, even if he had just lost his planet, or if his one stroke of salvation appeared to have been lost.

"You have some probes?" I'd use them as satellites," he said, and that was all Ray needed. Except there was one problem. Aside from the uncanny ability to drive or pilot just about any manmade vehicle, he still didn't possess the technical know-how necessary in their predicament. Clive had another suggestion for that. "Jim Brewer. He can do that for you. I was sitting next to him. We didn't talk much, much I have him figured for just this kind of problem."

Ray thanked him profusely, and put out a call for Mr. Brewer, who took his time getting to the cockpit. He was stopped along the way by the flight attendant, Kim Jones, who was very slowly losing her mind. When Jim made it clear that he was needed with some urgency (as all the passengers had heard, but few cared to dwell on), Kim finally let him go.

In this situation, Ray was a match for Clive, and got Jim up to speed pretty quickly. Asked for an inventory of all the ship's systems and equipment, Ray was able to do that much, too. After a few moments, Jim nodded. "Yeah, it's doable."

Ray let out a sigh of relief. Clive seemed suddenly uncomfortable, as if all he wanted to do was go and sit back down, now that his input had been taken. Ray said it was okay, and turned to Jim. "You're absolutely sure about this?"

"As much as we're going to need," Jim replied. "I can't say for the rest of us, but we're in a pretty interesting place as it is. Things are going to go wrong. We may have survived just to die in a freak accident anyway."

Ray wished he was feeling as sanguine.