=::= Day 22 - Sarah's PoV =::=

"This looks really bad," Cam mumbled quietly. Her ears were folded back, and her tail hung down between her legs.

Then the tip of her tail twitched as she sighed, "I'll probably have to completely disassemble it before we can figure out what's wrong."

I couldn't help thinking of how cute she looked, the way she was making faces at the malfunctioning bit of kit in front of her while her ears and tail broadcast all her emotions. I had to make an effort not to smile as I offered, "What can I do to help?"

The catgirl gave me a nervous look as she asked, "Are you sure? I'm supposed to be your apprentice, it doesn't seem right to have you giving me a hand with stuff like this."

"I think we can forget about the apprentice stuff for now Cammie," I replied with a friendly smile. "Maybe that still applies when we're working on the Demeter, but now we're on your turf, not mine. And maybe I could figure out my way around this stuff, but you're the expert. You've got the experience here, not me."

She grimaced but nodded, "Ok then. Um, for now it's just a question of tearing this thing down until I can see what's broken? So I'll need my toolkit I guess."

"I'll also need help lifting some of the heavier parts," she added. "Without my loader it usually takes four of the stronger guys to lift some of the big housing components into place."

I grinned as I headed over to our grav-sled to grab her toolkit, "You figure us two cute delicate girls will be able to do the work of four big strong burly guys? Sounds about right."

Cam blushed but nodded, "I reckon we can handle it. At least I hope so? If not we'll have to head back to my shop to get my loader. Then that's a long noisy bumpy ride back out here."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," I told her. "Honestly I'm confident you can handle the whole thing yourself. You know the real reason Rebecca wanted me to accompany you was to act like a bodyguard, right? That's why she stuck that shotgun in the back seat of the sled."

The catgirl sighed as she set her toolbox down and opened it up, "Yeah I know. It's cause I won't carry or use guns, she doesn't want me going around unprotected or alone. Except this is where I'm from, I know all these people. They're not friends, but they're used to me fixing up their stuff when it gets broke."

I let my usual happy-go-lucky demeanour drop for a bit and gave her a sympathetic look. My voice was quieter and a little more serious too as I responded, "I know that Cam. And I know you're stronger and faster now than you ever were before. I haven't forget about that gift of yours either, about getting a feel for people? But the bottom line is you're different now. You're not the same Cam they used to know, and I don't just mean how you look."

She sighed again, then finally nodded. "I get it. And yeah, some of the folks round here are really awkward around us, especially me. They're not comfortable with how I've changed. Not everyone's like that though? A few don't seem to mind, or they just don't care. Others aren't sure yet."

"Like Mr. Hawkins," she added as she picked up a couple tools from her kit. "He's not sure yet. I think maybe if I can fix this thing for him, that'll convince him I'm all right?"

I smiled, "Ok Cammie. In that case I'll stop distracting you so you can get to work."

She smiled back, then got started loosening the first of about two dozen bolts.

The malfunctioning equipment was actually one of the irrigation pumps we delivered on our first visit with Jace. The locals did the assembly and installation themselves, but since the town's only mechanic was off-world with us things didn't work out quite as well as Jace planned. Three of the six pumps had problems, and nobody knew if it was because the pumps themselves were faulty or if it was a problem with how they were assembled or installed.

We didn't even know they were having those sorts of problems until a couple days ago. After the Persephone's visit Cam and I were busy patching up the Demeter, we spent a good ten days overhauling and repairing the starboard engine. Then before we turned our attention to that collapsed landing gear, Rebecca asked the two of us to get the ship connected to the local power grid. She wanted to save the remaining fuel in Demeter's tanks, so we wouldn't run into any trouble when it came time to leave.

Cam had everything we needed in her workshop, and while the two of us were in there one of the local farmers turned up at her doorstep. He saw the workshop doors were opened and figured maybe the local mechanic was back in town. Mr. Hawkins was surprised to find a couple teenage girls hard at work in there, even more surprised to see one of them had cat ears and a tail. And the last big surprise was finding out that cute catgirl was the same mechanic he'd come looking for.

It was a short awkward conversation, but by the end of it we'd learned about the faulty or malfunctioning pumps, and of course Cammie offered to help. Rebecca was wary, but Cam insisted. We couldn't tackle it right away, first we needed to finish getting the Demeter hooked up onto the town's power grid. Then the boss made us wait another day, since she wanted to clear it with Mrs. Wheeler first just in case.

Now with all that finally out of the way the two of us were out on the far edge of the Hawkins farm, about five kilometres away from the ship and the settlement. We had the grav-sled with us, loaded with tools, a few spare parts from Cam's shop, and some ration packs in case we were here all day and got hungry. We had a large industrial-grade pump to disassemble, and I was getting to play apprentice this time because Cam knew this stuff like the back of her hand while I'd never even seen some of it before.

"How are you going to keep all those bolts organized?" I asked after a few minutes. "Want me to move the sled closer so you can use it as a make-shift work bench?"

Cam shook her head, "No thanks Sarah. I usually just use my pockets? Beats risking them getting lost on the ground, or getting dust and grit in the threads. I just keep track in my head which pocket goes with which parts."

"Clever," I smiled.

Sure enough the catgirl started loading up the pockets of her coveralls as she removed the bolts that held down the maintenance cover on the pump. She handed the cover to me once it was off, and I set that down on the front of the sled to keep it off the dusty ground.

The next fifteen minutes I mostly just watched, or held things for Cam as she carefully disassembled the inner workings of the large pump. Eventually the front of the sled was full, with an array of large and small components. Some were tough bulky chunks of metal, others were small or delicate, like circuit boards and power couplings.

Then about forty-five minutes into the project Cam's ears twitched. She turned and looked into the distance, then when I followed her gaze I spotted an approaching grav-sled. It was another flying antique, easily older than me and probably older than Rebecca. It was noisier than our modern mil-spec sled, and probably a lot slower too. On the other hand it was bigger and had more carrying capacity, ideal for working on farms like this.

A half minute later the sled set down a few meters away from ours, and Mr. Hawkins hopped out. He took off his hat as he approached, "G'morning miss Cam, miss Sarah. How's she looking? You girls reckon you'll actually be able to get that damn thing to work?"

The catgirl's tail was down between her legs again but her ears weren't folded back. She was wary but not scared as she replied, "Mornin' Mr. Hawkins. I'm sure between Sarah and me we'll get your pump going. I've just about got the last of its inner workings out, so I can try and figure out what's wrong with it."

"I can see that," the farmer nodded slowly as he looked at the confusing array of parts spread out on the front of our sled. "Are you gonna be able to get all that back together again afterwards? I don't mind saying, it took three of us a couple days working off the instruction booklet just to put that stuff together in the first place."

It took some effort to keep myself from smiling. The poor guy sounded really anxious about his 'couple days' of work being so quickly and easily undone by Cam.

"Speaking of, do you girls want me to go fetch the instructions for you?" he offered. "I think they're probably over at Ridley's place, his was the last pump to go in."

Cammie was already working on the pump again, rather than watching the farmer. She shook her head as her tail twitched, "No thank you Mr. Hawkins. I can take these apart and put 'em back together again in my sleep. And I've just found the problem here."

"Oh? Can you fix it? Or did those folks sell Jace some faulty goods?" Hawkins asked.

"Easy fix," Cam announced as she pulled another tough heavy metal part out of the now-empty housing. "This here impeller was installed upside-down. You were lucky to even get a trickle out of it running at full power."

She turned the piece over and put it back where it came from before adding, "Gimme an hour to get it all back together again, and y'all should have plenty of water after that."

Hawkins looked surprised, "I'll be damed. Well fingers crossed missy. Tell you what, I'll let you girls get back to work, then I'll swing by again in an hour and we'll see how it goes."

"Ok Mr. Hawkins," Cam nodded, although her attention was already back on the pump again.

I waited until after the man had left before letting out the giggles I'd been holding back. "He installed the impeller backwards?! No wonder it wasn't working!"

Cammie smiled but shrugged, "These folks is farmers, not engineers. They know crops, they can tell you how a sheep or pig's doing just by looking at it. But they don't know how to read technical drawings, and they definitely don't get the first thing about how machines work."

"Fair enough," I nodded. "And that's a good point. Thanks Cam."

The catgirl smiled again then asked me to start bringing back all the parts I'd set out ontop of the sled. One at a time of course, in the reverse order that they came out.

Sure enough she got the pump back together just as quickly as she'd taken it apart, and I could tell that she really was in her element here. Like me and ships, Cammie seemed to have that combination of experience and instinctive knowledge that made her really comfortable with the machines and gear around here.

Her timing was perfect too, when Hawkins came back an hour later Cam was just tightening up the last few bolts on the maintenance cover. She looked over and greeted him, "Hello Mr. Hawkins. We're just about done here."

"I can see that," he nodded, and he sounded impressed.

Cam put away her tools once the maintenance cover was fully secured. She reconnected the power cable to the base of the pump, then threw the master switch. The sound of the impeller spinning up was unmistakable, and a second later there were some gurgling noises.

"That's about all it's done for the past thirty days," Hawkins grumped.

He obviously didn't expect it to work, but Cam was confident and so was I.

She shrugged, "It needed a few seconds to prime itself, but I can hear the water coming now."

Her feline ears were twitching as she listened, but neither the farmer or I could pick up any sounds other than the impeller.

"Here it comes," Cam added a couple seconds later.

Sure enough there was a louder gurgling sound, then the pitch of the impeller dropped as it slowed right down. It got a lot quieter too, instead of just blowing air it was obviously pushing water. There was an old-fashioned analog gauge on the side of the housing that indicated flow, and after a moment the needle was right in the green zone.

The final proof came when Cammie opened a small check-valve on the output coupling. A strong steady stream of clean fresh water flowed out and quickly formed a puddle on the dry dusty ground at our feet.

"Well I'll be damned!" Hawkins exclaimed. His eyes were wide, so was his smile. He was obviously excited as he added, "That's a hell of job, miss Cammie! I can't thank you girls enough!"

Considering this was maybe the first time in literally years he'd have water on his farm I could understand his reaction. He moved forward and crouched down, then placed his hand on the pipe that led away from the pump and back towards the rest of his farm. It looked like he wanted to feel the water flowing, on its way to fill his reservoir and irrigate his land, or whatever else they were doing with it.

In fact it looked to me like the man was almost having a religious experience. And maybe he was, I had to remind myself once again not to judge. I knew these people lived very different lives from what I experienced growing up on a tech world in the heart of the Imperium. I figured Cam would have a much better understanding of what the man was going through. Even Amanda and Rebecca would know better than me what this stuff was like.

Except Cammie was acting like it was no big deal. She closed the check-valve and replied in a casual voice, "Oh you're welcome Mr. Hawkins. I'm just glad me and Sarah were able to help."

"You said there were two more pumps that weren't working right?" she added. "Maybe I could have a look at those ones as well?"

Hawkins finally stood up and dusted off his hands as he nodded, "Ridley's having troubles with his pump too. He's got some flow, but nothing like what it ought to be. And the other busted one's over at Dougie Cooper's homestead."

A thoughtful frown settled on Cam's face as she rubbed her chin, and I had to bite my tongue when I saw the smudge of grime her she left on her face.

The catgirl seemed oblivious to the mark she just left under her lower lip as she finally responded, "Mr. Cooper never really liked me so I kind of prefer to avoid him, but I'm happy to go have a look at Mr. Ridley's pump. Maybe you could speak to the both of them, Mr. Hawkins? Let them know Sarah and I got things working here, and if they'd like us to see what we can do for them they could either talk to Mayor Wheeler, or come by the ship and ask Captain Piper."

Unlike me, Hawkins was grinning at the mark on Cammie's face. He took off his hat and scratched the back of his head as he said, "I'll be sure and tell the both of them. And I gotta say, I honestly had my doubts about you missy. But talking with you, and watching you just now, there's no doubt in my mind you really are our mechanic. Welcome home, Cam. Some of us really missed you. And I truly appreciate your help here today."

"You're welcome Mr. Hawkins," the catgirl smiled and blushed. "And thank you. But I'm not really back, I'm just visiting. I'll be leaving again with the Demeter, when the time comes."

Hawkins replied as he set his hat back down on his head, "In that case, I'm grateful y'all came back for a visit. Now I reckon you girls wanna be on your way, and now that there's water here I've got my work cut out for me. Have a good day you two, and thanks again!"

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