Kyria gave Ulric a look, "Is there anywhere here you'd want to stay? I mean, it's not just about surviving. It's about living." She looked over to Meri, smiling, "Look, I know it sounds all cloak and dagger, but really it's just complicated. The Lorean is amazing, and well, these people were my heroes growing up. Everyone's heroes, where I'm from. You'll be safe and get a chance at living a real life instead of just trying to make it day to day."

She nods towards Steve, "I'm with him on this too, some rest and a fresh look at the problem is probably a really good idea." She grinned back at Meri, "Besides, you've got people falling all over themselves to show you around and make you comfortable. Think of it as a holiday."

Cody gives Kyria's hand a gentle squeeze and telepathically sends a feeling of warmth through her entire body. She can feel that he is glad to have her near.

*Of course Lo. Be right with you.* He stands from where he had been kneeling and moves to assist. As he does so he pours a bit more of the stolen juice into his armor, enough so that he can shunt it back into it's pocket dimension where it will continue regenerating on it's own. On the way he touches the disengaged arm canon and it too fades away into a ripple in space.

When the bomb is revealed Cody puts in his thoughts.

*Nothing we could do to reinforce them would allow them to survive the blast. If we try and take them away it's going to wipe the data. The good news is, they were designed to be accessed and used by the correct personnel. I think if we can get Amber down here to assist Lorean and I that would be a good thing. Also my intuition should warn us if we are about to make the fatal misstep. The biggest thing to worry about is losing the data. I don't want to repeat this process on another world...*

When the cause of this world's destruction is revealed Cody adds. *Our old nemesis strikes again. Once we deal with our growing taint problems we really should get back to that mystery.* As an afterthought. *I think we should take her with us.*

In all the years they had worked together Cody had never telepathically assisted Lorean as she hacked a computer system. She has simply never requested any assistance before. His own extensive computer talent was useful even to a master like Lorean and she called on his expertise as she sent her consciousness burrowing into the machine. For Cody it was an eye opening experience. Rather than the human-computer interface of a screen and keyboard he was used to, what spread out before his minds eye was a vast wall of three dimensional data. There were small openings all over the surface of the wall. Looking up, down and to the sides he came to realize this wasn't a wall so much as a huge sphere and the opening were holes leading into the interior.

*The ones we find closest to us here are very likely to be trapped. Normally I'd just move a little to the side and attack a smaller opening that would be less likely to be defended but given the paranoia of those who built this system I think we will move further around the sphere and up. Attack from an oblique angle as it were. Keep in mind that most systems at current technology would be wide open with large undefended holes, just by way of comparison.*

There was no sensation of movement but the image of the sphere blurred and then resolved into a different pattern of openings and data. After Lorean surveyed the area she moved toward a tiny hole, one of the smallest seen so far. The two minds moved inside and almost immediately the hole made as if to close on them, but Lorean willed it to remain open and it did. Again there was a blur of movement without sensation. Approaching a large and well connected something Lorean cut a single tiny connection then moved again this time to another bit something and clipped another connection. Cody lost all track of time as this went on and on. As they went the connection being severed became larger and larger until they looked like major data arteries. Finally she stopped at what Cody could only assume was their original point of entry.

*That's it, I believe I have all the security and most of the functions of the system disabled. I've only left the system enough capability for me to upload the data itself. I'm going to check this two more times before I begin the actual upload, you can relax and disconnect now. Thank you, you made this easier.*

Cody came back to himself sitting next to Lorean in the server room and was surprised to find that only a hour had passed.

Meanwhile in the basement Meri had gathered up her meager possessions and everyone else had taken rest break and were just getting around to moving again. In short order the vault was emptied of everything that remained including the large teleporter. Lorean (the ship) requested that it be dissembled and brought aboard, saying that it can't hurt to have a second teleporter in case something were to ever happen to the first.

Lorean (the ship) asked, "If everyone is ready I will teleport you all up?" From the other room Lorean (the woman) called, "The data is uploading, but it will take some time. I will stay behind to ensure it goes smoothly and teleport up when it is done."