Star Dust (A Paladin Adventure)

Fish and houseguests

The next morning, I got a special dispensation from running the obstacle course, since half of it had been taken out by the space craft, so we used the time wisely, then took a load of Steve's things over to my house. I still had to work out in the gym, but I didn't fuss, recalling how physical exercise balances out using my ability too much. I had a feeling I was going to be working hard.

I met Scott and Tony back at the ship and this time things geared up. Scott tested an intact circuit so he could tell me what qualities were needed for the wiring and we decided that the first order of business was to repair the electrical systems, which meant that I was going to have to create an allow and draw lots of wire. Depending on the metal type, I would probably have to make a new drawplate, as most of the alloys would destroy a normal steel one well before I completed my work. I took a sample back to the workplace to examine and found to my relief that I could recreate this wire pretty easily. It didn't even need my special touch, so after getting estimates of the amount that Scott and Tony thought they'd need, I placed an expedited order for the quantities and arranged for pickup. Natasha and Bucky volunteered to fly to the warehouse and collect it for me; I think they regretted it because Tony immediately phoned in an order of his own to rebuild the damaged parts of the ship. Still, they were getting off campus and away for a bit.

When I went to visit Odin and his birds, I found that he'd woken up and that the doctor was pleased. "He's confused," Dr Staley said, "but that's not unexpected. The brain is a delicate organ that doesn't react well to insult of any kind. I still don't know what happened to it or how to treat...magic" he stumbled over the word "but the test results are consistent with trauma like concussions, so that's how we're treating the patient. When he improves some more, we can fine-tune our care to his needs."

When I went in, Odin was asleep but his birds were already there. They seemed to have a conversation with Sigurd and Torburn, which the dogs seemed to understand perfectly well. I wished I spoke raven too. All the chatter woke up Odin, who initially was irritable but after a few moments recognized me. His expression eased when I held up Mjolnir, then passed it to him for his inspection.

He ran his fingers over it, then nodded. "It feels different," he said slowly, "but it was created differently from its first incarnation." He nodded again.

"Well, as soon as we can find Thor, he can summon it to him," I said, and Odin's eye sharpened.

"What do you know of its abilities?" he asked.

"Not much beyond what I knew before, from watching Thor use it. But he could summon it to him and I never saw it fail to respond. And given the dimensions of its power, I have no doubt that he could summon it from any point in the Nine Realms." Odin thought this over.

"And what do you know of my son's whereabouts?"

"Volstagg and Fandrel showed up yesterday in a ship apparently left over from a Dark elf incursion into Asgard. They said that Thor had been given to the Grand Master."

"Tell me all," Odin commanded, and I brought him up to date, giving him the condensed version.

He was fighting sleep at the end of the recitation. "I will need to think," he murmured. "I remember hearing you speak of events. Fix the ship." He closed his eyes, and I got up.  The dogs seemed inclined to stay, so I gave ear skritches and went back to work.

When the quinjet returned, Tony and I met with the engineers who would be creating the replacement parts for the ship. I had added a little of this and that to the metal for the wire, but we decided not to include any additional elements since it didn't look like we had the time for extensive testing, and we didn't want to create a metal that would shatter in the cold of space, for example. I gave them the ratios I'd worked out for the alloy, and we all went to work. I made a small amount of alloy and set to drawing it through ever-decreasing diameter on the drawplate until the dimensions matched the original. Then I hooked a small motor up to a dowel and carefully spun the wire. Steve came by to pick me up for dinner, and I wrapped the spindle of wire in a heat-shrink tube and  put Mjolnir and the spindle in a bag. We hunted up Scott in the rec room, where he was having a beer, having had a difficult time with his work on the ship. He was relieved to get the wire and we sat together awhile and talked. He's an interesting guy. He groaned when Volstagg came into the room. "I've had it with this guy," he muttered, finishing off his drink. "He treats me like a peon, not like a skilled electrical engineer who is working hard to get his big ass out of here." He tossed the can into recycling and left. Volstagg noticed us and came over. Yay.