Finally, after the repairs, I turned to the task I’d been dreading most: calling Quatra on the Q-com to explain what had happened.
When she finally answered, it was audio only, and I was surprised to hear a subtle note of relief in her voice. Apparently, she hadn’t held the utmost belief in my success. Well, I suppose I can’t blame her for that.
“Did you get the tap operational?” she asked, not voicing whatever concern she might have felt. “We saw it come online for a few moments, but then we lost the signal again.”
“Yeah,” I replied slowly, “I got it working. But I ran into some trouble.”
There was the briefest of pauses, and I could almost see the pointed expression on her face. “What kind of trouble?”
“The kind you fix with a warlock,” I answered, and I figure she knew from that ex
