Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles 2: Redemption by Andrew Beery

military and enjoyed the casual freedom it represented.
    "Go ahead , Captain."
    "On Uranus we would typically fly from site to site."
    Doctor Riley stood up and moved to check the bandaged pilot. His head injury might be worse than he anticipated. "Ve are not mit a verking ship Herr Captain... Yes? Das makes de flying difficult."
    "True ," Ricky said while batting the docto r’ s hands away from his bandaged head. "But floating in a dense atmosphere is surprisingly easy. If we can find or make a suitably rigid balloon and control ballast we can make this trip as easy as sitting in a bath tub."
    Cat shook her head. Ricky had a habit of using nonsensical metaphors. She supposed it was a part of his charm.  "I'm not sure I fully understand the reference but I'm game to try," she said. "My nanite systems should be able to fabricate what we need. I'll start them making a geodesic framework sized to displace a six ton load. That should allow us to transport the medical and engineering supplies as well as crew," Cat said.
    Lt . Scott, the other security officer, spoke up. “ How do we control the direction we travel while floating?"
    Ricky grunted what might have been a laugh. "Sand bags and ropes son, sand bags and ropes."
    "How..." the Lieutenant began.
    The shuttle's captain interrupted before he could finish the question. " Ya tie a rope to each of two weights. Then you toss one in the direction you want to travel. As long as the rope is long enough to reach the ground..."
    " … you can use the two ropes to walk along the surface!" Cat finished.
    The prospector stood and walked the three short steps to the side of his shuttle. The servo-motors in his suit made a deep whirling noise that carried surprisingly well in the thick atmosphere. "I hate to leave my girl. She's treated me well over the years." Ricky said, while placing a heavily gloved but loving hand on the shuttles' exterior hatch.
    "I have a plan for that ," Cat said with a smile, "but it will take some time." The form-fitting metallic shell that covered her entire body was expressive enough that even this simple gesture was clearly visible to the others locked away inside their far more bulky high pressure encounter suits. 
    She began to pull at some of the scattered wreckage , much of it from the nearby disabled drones. She formed the metal scraps into a small pile and placed her hand on the pile.  Cat sent a mental command to her Heshe nanites. The pile was shortly enveloped in a shimmering silver mass. This mass split and moved like quicksilver. One amorphous blob moved towards the shuttle while the other started to form geodesic shapes.
    Embedded within Cat's abdomen was a small, spherical, Heshe-designed encounter unit. It was little more than a handheld calculator to the Heshe but for humanityit represented the pinnacle of supercomputer development. Ca t’ s encounter unit controlled her Heshe nanite systems. She instructed the device to clone itself. The new unit would be left on the Honey Dipper and, along with a small number of self-replicating nanites, would begin the repair process. Ironically the destroyed drones would be salvaged for raw materials to start the work. It would take several days to complete, but once done the Honey Dipper would be better than new with a self-repair mechanism that could be rivaled by few ships in the fleet.
    ***
    Mike Jeffries reached his hand into the holographic display and rotated the field of view. Manipulator arms pinned the creature to an examination table. It looked to be some type of wingless wasp with a hard beetle-like shell.
    "Cindy, prepare a medical probe. I want to see how hard this shellis . ”
    “ Unable to comply, ethical overrides in place. This being is conscious . ”
    “ Cindy, on my authority as Captain, I authorize you to bypass ethical protocols . ”
    " Protocol override acknowledged. Ethical safeguards disabled ."
    "Proceed with previous instructions." Captain Jeffries indicated a location