“Good news, we are alive. Bad news, the ship is basically dead. Or at least large parts of it are.”
The left hand side of the Thantir Two was mostly fine. The right hand side had been heavily damaged. Most of the living space was now uninhabitable and, thanks to a failure in the heating systems, the majority of the ship was suffering in temperatures below freezing. Retvik had done his best to warm up one of the non-damaged observatories, but the icy depths of space outside were still creeping in.
In this observatory, Retvik had gathered everyone. Their boss, Galyn, was still unconscious, knocked out but still definitely alive. Litvir had been tending to Galyn, while Retvik and Arkay had done their best to salvage what they could, and make sure the ship was properly anchored to a tiny pit stop. Sure, the chances of them being hit by more debris from a rogue planet was likely, but at least here they could get some supplies.
“So we are stuck here and in need of rescue?” Litvir asked.
“Not exactly. All we need to do is repair the ship’s self-replicating repair system, then the ship can start repairing itself. The problem is that the pit stop we are at does not have the parts we need and has to teleport them in. And they are busy repairing their teleporters.”
“So we are stuck here then…” Litvir grunted. “Stuck in the cold.”
Retvik crossed his arms, sighing. “I am doing my best to both keep everything warm and repair the heating systems. It is a huge amount of work…”
Litvir did not seem swayed. “Why is it a lot of work? We are supposed to be literal gods and yet all this stuff is happening. Can no one here just, I do not know, magic it all away and fix everything?”
Arkay blinked and looked up, realising that Litvir was staring at him. He immediately began to trip over his words, trying to explain himself. “H-honestly… I don’t know… being out here is different, my powers don’t just… work like they did back home. Plus this ship is super alien tech and I don’t really know how it all works either.”
“We are doing the best we can,” Retvik interrupted. “Once I have properly fixed the heating systems, Arkay has helped me plug up the holes and we get the repair system online, the temperature will return to normal and we can focus on getting out of here.”
“Yes, but…” Litvir tutted some more. “Arkay is literally a Life Goddess. Correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression they can summon something out of nothing!”
Retvik shrugged, then turned to Arkay. “Can you do that? You are only half Life Goddess though.”
Arkay sighed. “I wish I could. Turns out a lot of it is making everything in advance and then storing it inside a miniature pocket universe so you can summon things out at will. I… can only do one of those things, and it’s not making things in advance.”
“No worries,” Retvik clapped his hands together, then handed Arkay a small, plastic card. “We will get this sorted. The plan is to fix up the holes first, so that everything is not so cold. Litvir will stay here and keep an eye on Galyn, help nurse him back to health, while we make a list of what parts we need and what needs fixing. After that, Arkay, you will go into the pit stop and see what we can buy right now, while I work on fixing things in here. Alright?”
Arkay stared at the card. “You… want me to go shopping?”
“Yes.”
“Using a card you clearly took out of Galyn’s wallet?”
Retvik frowned. “I took it from his office, from a drawer clearly marked ‘for emergency use only’. If this is not an emergency, then I do not know what is.”
“Fair…” Arkay shrugged, taking the card. “We had better get started though. The longer we’re stuck here, the more and more bad vibes I get.”
With a smile, Retvik patted Arkay on the back. “Indeed. Litvir, you make sure Galyn wakes up. Arkay and I will check back with you shortly.”