! INCOMING MESSAGE !

Failsafe's system alert pulled her attention from Nimbus, who was excitedly pacing the H.E.L.M. while delivering a spirited recounting of the last Iron Banner finals. Saladin had been routing the feeds to Neomuna, and the Cloud Strider was thoroughly enraptured by the high drama—judging by Failsafe's internal chronometer, entirely too enraptured.

She shrewdly routed the message alerts to her external display screen. "Nimbus, buddy—" she began.

"Hint taken," Nimbus grinned, spreading their huge hands wide. "I'll let you get back to your whole being-a-ship thing. If you see Osiris, tell him Jisu Calerondo is looking for an interview about his sick bird hat. Or, no, say that the CloudArk is losing integrity and only the biorhythms from, like, a truly old and decrepit dude will save it!"

"I'm on it," Failsafe said, and pushed an ASCII image of a thumbs-up to her display. Nimbus laughed and gave Failsafe two enormous finger guns as they transmatted out.

Failsafe accessed her messages. She batch approved the bounty requests from the Guardians still scouring Nessus for the remnants of the Conductor's Vex.

She puzzled next over a message from House Light Scribe Eido, as it did not appear to contain any discernable requests. She marked it for non-urgent reply and sorted it into one of her new subfolders: SOCIALIZATION (PLATONIC).

Another message was a scheduled reminder to familiarize herself with the H.E.L.M. systems, which were woefully unprepared for the kind of worst-case scenario she had encountered with the Exodus Black. She would have to update the safety systems, bring emergency transmat relays online, calculate possible terrestrial touchdown sites in the unlikely event of a forced landing… unquestionably important work, but, for the first time, she felt it could wait.

Failsafe eagerly processed the next series of critical system messages. One unintended but entirely welcome consequence of the increased Guardian activity on Nessus was that the resident Fallen were being actively discouraged from raiding her wreckage. Without the constant incursions, her power systems were slowly beginning to build a reserve charge. —! LOW POWER ALERT: 6% !— the warnings blared, and Failsafe beeped with satisfaction.

There was a sudden burst of golden flame, a scattering of reflected figures, and Osiris transmatted onto the H.E.L.M. "Failsafe," he said brusquely as he walked toward her console.

"Osiris," she replied, and opened a swirling readout of polynomial splines. Osiris and Saint had been journeying into the Nessus Vex network and searching for the Conductor, one simulated branch at a time.

Osiris highlighted portions of 17 intersecting wavelengths. "Set as cleared," he commanded, and Failsafe changed their color to a bright lime green. Osiris zoomed the display out, and the green became a pixel-wide dot amidst the swaying fractal tangle of the network.

"Seventeen down," Failsafe said, "infinity to go."

Osiris sighed wearily in agreement. "And the odds that these 17 have already been overwritten are?" he asked.

Failsafe gave a low-pitched beep. "Do you need the real math on that? Because it's 99-point-a-whole-lotta-nines."

Osiris shook his head. "She's somewhere in the network, along with the Echo of Command. And even though he knows the chances of finding her are impossibly small, Saint is continuing to search." He absently drummed his hands on Failsafe's control panel.

"What do you think he'll do if he finds her?" she asked.

"I believe he will… how shall I put this?" Osiris said softly. The faintest of smiles played over his face. "Saint doesn't have much patience for anyone who makes those he cares about feel helpless."

Osiris's gaze wandered to the research bays, and Failsafe dispensed a synthesized mealworm into Captain Jacobson's enclosure. The proto-frog blinked slowly, then devoured the grub in one clumsy gulp. Osiris nodded in approval.

"Generate a fresh set of network coordinates, please," he said, and Failsafe whirred in response as numbers filled her screen. She sent them to Osiris's datapad with a reassuring tone, and he turned to leave.

"Osiris?" she said. "Nimbus… misses hanging out with you. You oughta visit 'em sometime."

Osiris tightened his lips. "Very well," he said, then hesitated. "Failsafe, be thankful that—"

! INCOMING MESSAGE !

The alert filled Failsafe's display screen, and Osiris stopped himself with a half-shake of his head and a smirk. "I'll leave you to it," he said, and vanished in another flash of golden fire.

Failsafe sorted through her new messages. —! LOW POWER ALERT: 7% !— read the critical warning, and she dismissed it happily.