The Streamer's Edge

Chapter 21 - Revelations

Once the doctors gave him a clear bill of health, Finn left the hospital and headed for the Ulasomorf. He briefly considered speaking with Xyn again, but decided against it. His concern, however natural for someone like him, is what caused so much trouble in the first place. Besides, he needed to speak with his crew.

Still, his heart felt lighter as he walked through the streets of New Elysia with Jake close behind him. Kyra's pendant rubbed against his chest with every step, its presence reminding him of what she told him at the hospital. His cheeks still burned when he thought of their kiss. He wasn't entirely sure where that put their relationship, but it seemed promising. If only they could be sure their troubles with the mysterious organization were over.

Finn's jaw tightened with resolve; he was going to get to the bottom of this today. It was high time he spent a little time with Billy.

The cargo bay was empty as he and Jake entered the ship. Finn wasted no time in walking over to Billy. He opened the door and immediately froze; Kyra was inside.

She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Good morning, you."

"Good morning." Finn managed, his hand brushing his cheek. "What's going on?"

She let out a sigh. "I was trying to crack the encryption on this ship. No luck though. I can't even make the cloak work."

Finn frowned. "Really? You couldn't figure it out?"

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead and brag," she said, glowering at Finn.

"I'm not ... I mean, the cloaking function is part of the root command tree. Hardly hidden."

"I can't even access that." Kyra gave Finn a curious look. "Wait, can you?"

"Sure." He activated his omni-tool and held it out towards Billy's console. The ship activated immediately.

"Lemme see," Kyra said, grabbing Finn's omnitool arm. She looked through the code for a moment before nodding. "Ah, that explains it; there's a master key program installed on this."

"A what?"

She glanced at Finn, a little surprised. "You don't know? Basically, a master lock installed over a computer system keeps anyone from accessing systems unless they have a key that allows it. It's kind of like administrator privileges unlocked using a login screen, but this actually works. If I'm looking at this right, you've basically got a master key; complete access to this ship."

"Huh. Must've auto-downloaded to my omni-tool when I first opened the ship for Krieger," he mused.

Kyra waved her omni-tool over Finn's. "And now I've got it too. This should let me crack this ship wide open."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Finn asked.

She glanced up at him. "Other than going away so I can work in peace?"

Hurt, Finn turned away only to receive a sharp pinch on his posterior.

"Ow!" He glared back at Kyra balefully as he rubbed his backside.

She gave him a playful smile. "Don't be so serious. Wanna meet up for lunch later?"

Staring at her made it impossible for him not to smile. "Sure. Just give me a call when you're ready."

"Great! It's a date." She gave him another kiss on the cheek before shooing him away.

Smiling, Finn left Kyra to her tinkering and rode the lift up to deck three only to find Sherle and Darsan in the middle of an argument.

[Annoyed] "Oh? And you think your precious TerraStellar the would handle it better?"

"Of course they'd handle it better!" Sherle said, glaring at Darsan. "If you just put it on the market, all sorts of criminals are going to get their hands on it!"