The Pirates of Pacta Servanda (Pillars of Reality Book 4) by Jack Campbell Page B

old woman said. “Tell me, daughter, do you know anything of the thinking devices of the Mechanics Guild?”
    Mari felt a surge of interest. “Yes. I know a lot about them. Why?”
    “Julesport has been hampered by the failure of the device we have in this building,” the middle-aged man explained. “We have been trying to get the Mechanics Guild Hall to fix it for the last year, but they insist that the repair will cost more than even Julesport can afford.”
    “That doesn’t seem too likely,” Mari said. “Why aren’t they just offering to replace it, if it’s broken that badly? There aren’t a lot of them, but in a year’s time the Guild could have brought in a spare from Palandur. We’re talking a Calculating and Analysis Device, right?”
    “Yes, Lady Mechanic.”
    “I can fix one of those in my sleep,” Mari said, for once not having to feign total confidence. It felt almost disorienting to be working within her field as a Mechanic again rather than facing the challenges of the daughter. “Let me take a look at it.”
    Once again the small group trooped down a long hall, then down some stairs, Colonel Faron going ahead to ensure that no one had returned to the building early.
    The room Mari finally entered felt very familiar. The Guild insisted on certain design criteria for rooms holding Calculating and Analysis Devices, and there was really only one design of the CADs, with the ability to add on certain options. The large metal cabinets holding the many relays were as well known to her as the face of an old acquaintance.
    Mari checked the room carefully for any far-listener, though she didn’t expect to find one. She powered up the device, waiting impatiently as it warmed up and wondering just how long she and Alain had already been away from the
Gray Lady
.
    Finally she was able to run a test sequence, which went so badly that Mari had a long tape of data printed out so she could analyze the problem. “They’ve been cheating you,” she finally told General Shi and the middle-aged man. “The unit hasn’t been maintained all that well.” She suspected from what she saw that she knew the Mechanic who had done it. Why was he working in the field after washing out of the CAD program at the Mechanics Guild Academy? Maybe because there were so few Mechanics qualified for CAD work and the Guild had decided to try to kill one of them, Mari herself. “But the problems you’re having are because you’ve got a badly patched set of thinking ciphers.”
    “Can you repair it?” General Shi asked.
    Mari nodded. “Fixing the ciphers will be easy for me. The hard part is going to be doing the fixes in such a way that the Mechanic who is supposed to keep this CAD working doesn’t realize that I’ve fixed it. If it’s the Mechanic I think it is, I can do that, but it’ll take a while.” She looked at Alain. “Maybe you should go back to the
Gray Lady
and let them know that everything is all right. I’ll follow when this is done.”
    Colonel Faron stuck his head in the room. “We have already sent word to fully provision your ship, daughter.”
    “Uh, would you mind not calling me that?” Mari asked. “It feels like I’m not me any more when people do that. Just Lady is fine.”
    “Yes, Lady. We could send them a message from you.”
    Alain shook his head. “They would not know if the message was from Lady Mari. I should carry the message, but I am reluctant to leave here without you,” he told Mari.
    Mari looked up from her work, brushing hair from her face. “The army of Julesport is guarding me, Alain. I’ll be fine. And you can still tell where I am, right?”
    He nodded. “The thread.”
    “Right,” Mari repeated. The idea of the invisible, insubstantial thread that connected her to Alain still felt sort of weird to her, but also sort of romantic, and it had saved her a couple of times already.
    Reassured, Alain reached out to her. “Be careful.”
    She got up and kissed him.