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Idova's. S'Hara and Willem approached, but stayed a few paces back.

  Idova smiled at Aya, then moved her lips in an attempt at speech. Her voice was still to faint to be audible. She glanced at S'Hara, then extended her mental communications.

  "'How are you feeling, Aya'" S'Hara replied, now acting as the voice for Idova's thoughts.

  "I'm fine thanks to you." Aya said, then wiped a tear from her eye that threatened to roll down her cheek.

  "'It looks like I'm the one who is going to end up being late for our meeting.'"

  "Oh no." Aya said, shaking her head and grinning through her tears. "You can't get out of it that easily."

  Idova managed a weak grin, but even that small effort seemed to weaken her slightly.

  Aya took Idova's hand in both of hers, clasping it. "You've come through pretty badly, you know."

  "'Yes. I can feel that my body is incomplete. But it will be all right, Aya.'"

  Aya nodded, smiling at her, then leaned over and kissed Idova on the cheek. "I love you." She whispered, then stepped back. Idova winked, then smiled again, knowingly.

  "I'm sorry to interrupt. But, we must know, what happened." S'Hara said after a short pause.

  "'I had Jihon seal the corridor. I knew that there would be a very large release of hydrogen after I hit the emergency release. The liquid flowed over my legs and tail. It was pointless to put my shield up. I would have had to walk in the liquid anyway. So, I switched off my pain centers.'"

  Aya gasped in shock, and squeezed her hand at that point. "'I telekinetically lifted Aya out, carefully. Moving her into the corridor and then levitating myself there, as well. Leaving behind parts of my feet and tail. I removed Aya's helmet, looked to see if her consciousness was still alive, then began to rebuild the damaged cells and organs. I put a shield between us and the rest of the corridor, then had Jihon decompress the corridor while refreshing the air on my side. I thought that it was still decompressed when I finally ran out of energy. That's why I said I was sorry.'" She turned her head to face Aya as S'Hara replayed the message.

  "'I thought I had rescued you just to have you now killed in another manner.'"

  "I'm not dead because of what you did. And you'll be fine. Don't worry about it. We'll fix you right up."

  "'Don't you worry. All I need is to replenish my strength. Then I can fix myself up. You needn't go to any trouble. But, shouldn't you be getting some rest, now?'"

  "Look who's talking, sleepyhead. I'll rest when you rest, and not before."

  "'In that case, for your sake, I had best go back to sleep.'"

  "What a good idea." Aya said as she settled back on the other bed.

  "'As a quick question, S'Hara. Did we get any of the diamonds?'"

  "Not yet, we're still under repairs. But, we're working on it."

  Idova nodded, and S'Hara felt the warm presence in her mind slowly fade away as Idova returned to the depths of healing and rejuvenating sleep.

  Outside the ship, a horde of fist-sized robots were hard at work rebuilding the engine systems for fusion engine #2. They had completely dismounted the 2.4 tonne exhaust nozzle, and thirty of them covered it, layering it's surface with new Lithium Aluminate. Another ten robots were deep within the engine itself, retracing the damaged fuel lines and intermix chambers, ensuring there was no blockage for the fuel when it came time to fire up the engine.

  Idova, fully awake, slowly came out of an intense meditative state she had been in for the past few hours.

  "Jihon, how much body weight have I lost from the amputations?"

  "Examining medical reports now. You have lost approximately 34 kilograms of raw mass due to the loss of your limbs."

  "Jihon, prepare a meal with a total mass of 36 kilograms with a high fat and high protein content, as well as at least two liters of pure water."

  Jihon almost commented, but refrained. Five minutes later, another robotic mechanism glided into the medical bay, laden down with the required food stuffs and the cistern of water.

  After she had finished the meal, she asked Jihon for a scalpel, finding that walking without a leg to stand on is rather difficult. After she had the tool in her hand, a blue glow emanated briefly around her body. She positioned herself to get at the stump of her tail, and what was left of her legs. She then cut off the healed tip of her tail, and scraped the skin off of the leg ends, exposing fresh blood flow to all three parts. She noticed the medical equipment, oddly hovering nearby, but taking no action, yet.

  She then closed her eyes, and a blue glow flowed over her body. A look of deepest concentration came over her. The blood ceased flowing, bone began to form, slowly growing down from the ends of each leg, rebuilding the thigh and knee bones, muscle and cartilage quickly followed, then a new layer of skin formed. The same event occurred to her other leg, and to her tail. Within two hours, any evidence that she had ever lost a limb or had been surgically mutilated was not in evidence.

  "S'Hara? Something odd has occurred in medical." Jihon announced to the bridge.

  "Is Idova all right?" She asked as she got up to head towards medical.

  "It will be easier if you see for yourself."

  S'Hara arrived, stepped through the open door, and stopped, jaw agape, as Idova was performing calisthenics, fully rebuilt.

  "Idova? What? How?" She fell silent, unable to form words to describe what had occurred.

  Without breaking her routine, Idova replied "If you're asking about my legs; I told you all, there's nothing to worry about. I can take care of myself."

  "Jihon? report Idova's current status."

  "Scanning. All biological systems functioning at described normal for K'Traan species. No abnormalities or anomalies present. Sensors indicate she had gained 1.1 kilograms of mass, mostly as fatty acids."

  "That's why I'm starting my calisthenics now." Idova said as she continued to exercise.

  "Does Aya know of your recovery?" S'Hara asked Idova, and Jihon.

  "Not yet. I'll go to see her later, after she's had a good rest." Idova replied as she began doing a rapid series of gymnastic maneuvers.

  "It's a good thing to have you back, Idova. Call me if there's a problem." S'Hara said, still unbelieving what her eyes told her, and stepped back out of medical.

  "I will. Thank you." Idova replied as she continued her routine.

  The little robots had finished their interior work. The gimbal mounts for engine two had been repaired, and now sixty of them covered the heavy nozzle. Tiny bursts of flame appeared from the backs of all the robots, and the nozzle slowly began to drift towards the prepared connector. Another six robots were waiting, little torches aglow, as the junction point slowly approached.

  "Jihon? What is Aya's health like?" Idova said as she relaxed from her exhaustive routine.

  "Aya is currently in deep rem sleep, and should remain so for another thirty to forty minutes at maximum." "But is she all right?"

  "You would be the second to know if she was not all right."

  "Thank you, Jihon." She said with a smile. "If she wakes, and asks about me, tell her I'm in my quarters. I'm just going to take a shower and then have a nap."

  "Instruction received and noted." was the computer's reply.

  "Thank you again, Jihon." She said as she stepped out of the medical doorway. Touching her hand to her lips, she then laid it across one of the ubiquitous computer panels that ran along the walls of the ship in silent thanks, then continued onwards.

  With a gentle shudder, the 2.4 tonne nozzle slid into it's insulated junction sleeve. Immediately, the six welder robots went to work, using their high energy particle welding torches, they fused the metal and ceramic components together, relinking the engine nozzle to the overall system. The other robots had begun to scurry through the nozzle outlets and ensure they had been cleaned and repaired properly. A final inspection then commenced. With the leader robot scurrying over the entire workplace, pausing for a few micros
econds at each repair point, then scurrying onwards. After ten seconds of inspection, he announced the work was complete, and the robots vanished back into the bowels of the ship.

  "Engine systems one and two are now functional and prepped for ignition. Engine three is still inoperative but has been secured so that thrust will not damage it further." Jihon announced.

  "Then initiate laid-in course. Best speed to the rock." Williams acknowledged S'Hara's order, signaled a ship wide acceleration warning, then engaged the two operational engines. A soft surge of thrust signified successful ignition, and the gap between the rock and the Rebel's Cause began to narrow.

  Hours later, the ship's engines shut down and it maneuvered into position an even hundred kims from the rock's surface. The bridge was now fully manned. Even though S'Hara had advised Aya to return to her cabin because she still looked weak. Aya had refused, and had taken her seat.

  "Sensors indicate the rock has burnt off 90% of it's overall gas mantle, and the other 10% is non-volatile. It's now a floating cinder block." Willem announced.

  "What do sensors indicate about the crystallized carbon content?" S'Hara asked.

  "Scanning. Indications are that approximately 84% of the overall mass of the planetoid is comprised of carbon, and of that percentage, over 70% has become crystallized." Jihon advised.

  "What about the high-grade diamonds?" Idova asked.

  "Sensors are unable to properly determine grades due to the inherent similarity between the