902 902 Spectators for the Test
Nico took control of the shuttle and got them situated for the trials, while the rest of the team was in charge of getting all the data reception equipment set up.
Since it was expected to be a very short first few test flights until the bugs were worked out, they needed every possible source of data that they could get, and that meant multiple redundant sensors, all operating individually, as well as the combined main sensor suite.
“Lead Researcher, there is a vessel approaching our position,” Nergal informed Nico just before they were going to launch the probe.
Nico checked the sensors and smiled back at the Innu. “Oh, you are all in for the most amazing treat. One of my old friends is here to visit. He was late for the birthday party, due to a breakthrough in his own design work, but it should be worth the wait.”
Then she sent a message to the approaching vessel.
[Uncle Lu, it is good to see you again. Stop at our position and we will move the shuttle’s data collection suite over to your yacht so that everyone can watch.] Nico greeted the wayward researcher.
[You know, it is traditional that I give you a present today, not the other way around, but I won’t object. My hangar bay door is open, and I’ve got the lab prepared for your arrival.]
Nico gently shifted the shuttle into the small yacht and the Innu followed her unspoken orders to get everything packed up and moved to the larger vessel’s research bay.
The moment that they stepped out of the shuttle, a small body grabbed and nearly tackled Nico, so overcome with excitement that she couldn’t wait for the introductions.
“Young Lady Chen, or should I call you Imperial Princess Chen now?” Nico greeted the small girl who was hugging her legs.
“I’m going by Mai Chen now. It’s not common knowledge yet, but my husband has been named heir to the Trade Ministry, which moved our standing way up the Cygnus Noble rankings, so when we travel it has to be incognito now.” The little girl explained in a very serious voice.
“Yet you still managed to sneak out with Uncle Lu. It’s good to see you again. Is your young husband with you today?” Nico asked.
The little girl shook her head. “No, he’s already aboard Absolution, hiding in his room most likely. We were supposed to have a meeting with a number of other Cygnus officials in two hours, but I’m running behind, and he didn’t want to go in the first place.
You might recognize them, they should have all been at your birthday party yesterday.” The young lady Chen giggled.
Nico searched her memory and found the men she was talking about among the hundreds of others she had greeted.
“Yes, they were there. I didn’t see Wushu though, so I’m not sure if he arrived after the party, or if he was hiding from work.” Nico laughed.
“He should have arrived in the middle of the night, so after the party. I will make sure that he comes to see you both tomorrow if he can get away from the meetings long enough. He’s been so busy lately that we hardly even see each other, even though we share a gaming room in the house.” Lady Chen complained.
“Well, he might be too busy to hang out and play, but I have time to let you hang out and watch some experiments. Would you like that?” Nico asked.
“Oh, that would be great. I should introduce myself to your team as well. Hello everyone, I am Lady Chen of Cygnus, and it is an honor to meet you all today. I haven’t had a chance to meet many Innu before, are you a more formal sort of culture, or not?” She asked.
The Innu all smirked at each other before Nergal answered. “We’re very informal. Much like Lead Researcher Nico, we prefer to focus on our experiments instead of formal rules. It’s a much better way to get through our days, but we can be formal if you prefer. We’ve become quite good at adapting to keep the people around us happy.” Nergal explained.
“Oh, so you’ve got a good grasp of human society and culture then?” Uncle Lu cut in.
“Oh, very much so. In fact, compared to our kin at home, those of us who have spent so much time on Absolution are barely culturally recognizable anymore. When we first met, we didn’t understand most of their basic cultural norms. The humans are so different from everyone else that they didn’t make sense. But now that we’ve been here and seen it, we’ve begun to adopt it as our own.” The head of the Absolution team agreed.
“Marvellous. Then you will understand why I’m going to skip all the other formalities and ask Lead Researcher Nico to get that probe sent out so that we can see the results.” Uncle Lu told her with a smile.
“Oh, I like him, I can see why you became friends.” Nergal laughed while reaching down to pat Lady Chen’s head.
The young noble reached up to gently stroke the Innu’s head tentacles, and then the both broke into giggles at the sensation.
“Alright, everyone at the ready. Double-check your sensor pods to ensure that they are feeding data properly, and we will begin the first test.” Nico announced.
Nergal sat down on the couch with Lady Chen beside her and brought up a hologram depicting the portion of the Warp Field data that she was in charge of. It was only a gravitational fluctuation monitor, which was normally one of the least important aspects. But in this case, when an implosion or miscalculation might crush the prototype, there was a good chance that there would be residual gravitational fluctuations that would need to be measured and calculated.
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“Launching now.”