The area around the ship remained free of peddlers and entertainers, but a few townspeople braved a closer approach and some even hesitantly touched a landing strut or stood in the shadow of the ship to gaze in awe at the belly of the flying behemoth. Lisa had told Sims to allow them to indulge their curiosity as long as none of them looked likely to cause any damage.
Gorbo greeted them at the end of the ramp.
"Milton told me to stand guard here," the orc said. "I've never done that before. Am I doing it right?"
You're here and you're standing," Lisa said. "That seems to fulfill the job requirements as far as I can see."
"So I'm doing it right?"
"Yes you are," Doc said, patting him on the shoulder.
A few minutes passed, and Milton and Brax emerged from the ship. Both of them were smiling.
"It worked?" Lisa said, not even attempting to hide the surprise in her voice.
"Like magic," Brax said with no sense of irony. "We put the box next to the BS device and it hummed for a while. Then it went 'ping'. Milton opened it, and the missing part was inside along with a spare. Sims is using a maintenance drone to install it now. It shouldn't take long."
"This I've got to see," Sandra said.
Doc stopped her. "Perhaps we should wait for the magic to settle before we examine it too closely," he said.
"That might be prudent," Lisa agreed. She didn't want to risk causing some kind of instability in what the magic box apparently did because she still could not believe it did it. "But I see no reason why we shouldn't go in. We still have to give Milton the treasure we promised him."
"Thank you," Milton said with a slight sigh of relief. "Ferman was quite explicit that I needed to get that before I left."
"I'm sure he was," Lisa said. "Well, come on. Let's see to it."
"Should I stand guard some more," Gorbo said as they started up the ramp.
"Um, no, Milton said. Try to find Ferman and tell him I'm going to need help carrying the treasure."
"Okay, boss," Gorbo said, immediately turning away, by all appearances pleased to have another duty to perform.
As they entered the galley, it occurred to Lisa that they had not done a comprehensive inventory of the things they had obtained from the mind flayer's cave. When they first got them, she had assumed they would be hauling everything back with them, but that would not happen now.
"We should have a record of this stuff for our mission report," she said.
"Assuming we get back to submit one," Sandra said.
"Let's assume we will," Doc said. "It may help."
Lisa picked up the sword from the treasure pile. "Sims, do an analysis and make a record of the items we put on the table. Notify us of anything that appears anomalous."
"Acknowledged. Note that sensors in this location are limited to superficial examination."
"That will do."
"We don't have to give them the sword, do we?" Brax said with the tone and expression of a boy told it was time to turn off his game and get to his schoolwork. "I had to return the one they loaned me, but I was hoping we could keep this one."
"You don't need a sword," Sandra told him. "I saw you playing with the other one. You're lucky you didn't hurt yourself."
"I was getting the hang of it," he protested.
"It goes," Lisa said. "We can keep a bag of coins or something smaller as souvenirs."
They laid the items on the table, spilling the bags for Sims to record the contents and then refilling them when it signaled it was done.
Lisa didn't know the local value of any of the sparkly items they spread across the table, but she assumed it was considerable because Milton watched with wide, amazed eyes as they emptied each bag.
"Do you think we'll have enough to fund the project?" Lisa asked him.
He gulped and nodded. "Easily."
"Possible anomaly," Sims announced unexpectedly. The table currently held the contents of a bag of small jewelry.
"Which items?"
The display screen in the wall came on showing an image of the table's contents. An orange circle surrounded what appeared to be a roughly triangular brooch made of some kind of gold alloy.
Lisa thought it looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place where she might have seen something like it before.
"Why is this anomalous, Sims?"
"It possesses a close resemblance to an object in a fictional database that does not overlap with the presumed basis for this universe."
"Something from a different story?" Doc said. "Perhaps it is some kind of spillover from a different fictional universe."
Brax located it in the pile of jewelry and held it up. "It looks like a Star Trek communicator badge."
Lisa was not a big fan herself, but she was familiar with Star Trek. New movies based on it still came out every few years, and there were countless books, videos, and games.
"Sims, are you detecting any electromagnetic power readings from this item?
"No."
"Okay. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but we'll hold onto it."
Brax put the brooch aside and they continued their inventory. By the time they were done, they had found several items that appeared based on specific fantasy stories. Although curious, these fit within the ordinary fantasy fiction genre. But three more didn't—a Buck Rogers decoder ring, a pendant that resembled a Time Lord's pocket watch, and, improbably, a small bath towel with the number '42' embroidered on it. Those were definitely more science fiction than fantasy. They put them aside as well.
A musical tone signaled that Sims wished to speak again.
"Go ahead, Sims," Lisa said.
"Ferman and six other people have approached the ship. They are currently waiting at the ramp with Gorbo."
"It looks like it's time to take care of the final details." Lisa motioned to the items on and around the table. "Get all of this stuff to the airlock but don't bring it down until I join you. There's something I want to check first."
She rushed to the bridge, sat at her command station, and called up the interface for the BS device. When the logo for General Spaceworks made way for the main menu, she selected TEST.
Glowing green block letters appeared on the screen.
TEST IN PROGRESS.
The one word result came almost instantly.
PASS.
The success of the BS test relieved and confused her. The magic box had worked. She didn't know how it could have, but it meant they could try to get back to their world. She could entertain all of the various 'how' and 'why' questions buzzing in her mind later. If they succeeded, the physicists and philosophers back home would be debating the physics and metaphysics of it for years.
The main menu reappeared and she selected ABORT.
One of the maintenance drones was dropping a bag on the heap of treasure sitting by the airlock when she got there, and everyone who should be was standing by.
"All ready?" she asked.
"Yes," Brax said,
To her surprise, Milton objected. "No," he said.
"Why not?" Lisa asked him.
"You should keep more of the treasure. It's yours by right."
She didn't really care about the treasure. Here, it undoubtedly represented a fortune. Even with the devalued price of gold, it was probably worth a respectable sum back home. But she was reasonably sure that anything returned from their mission legally belonged to General Spaceworks Corporation, and she knew they already had a substantial profit margin built into the Brane Skip contract. It wasn't worth arguing about, though.
"All right." She grabbed one of the larger bags from the pile and handed it to the drone. "We'll keep this one. Sims, return this bag to the galley."
"Acknowledged," the disembodied voice of the AI said as the drone retreated with the bag.
"Are you sure that's all you want?" Milton asked. "There is more than enough here to get the orcs situated and the sewer project started."
"We don't really need it," she said. A b
etter use for some of the money suddenly occurred to her, but now was not the time.