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Next, you turn to the investigation into Evgeniy. You enter the engine room, which has been cordoned off. If Evgeniy had been tampering with the engine, anyone else might be working with him, so you're forced to investigate the matter on your own.

The engine room is a narrow semi-circular corridor squeezed around the spontanium core drive that takes up the center of the ship. Space is at a premium on the Asterion, and so even here the walls are lined with vertical plant beds. Sunlight-grade lighting beams brightly from the ceiling panels, and the ground is padded with soft rubber, as tripping is common for Earth natives in the low gravity of the ship.

A window looks into the complex machinery of the drive itself. Beside it is a dedicated console, as well as a non-digital set of override toggles. You had some leads already from the sabotages that took place before you left Earth. You send some double-encrypted messages back to Earth to your private agents there who are still looking into the matter. Perhaps they'll turn up some connection with Evgeniy.

Frank interrupts you as you're copying the recent readings from the engine. You turn and look at him as he comes towards you wearing a pair of light gardening gloves.

"You don't mind if I pop in and adjust the watering, do you?" he asks, pointing to the asparagus patch along one wall. Not waiting for a response, he pops in and out, quickly and competently adjusting the auto-feed systems and checking the state of the plants.

After sealing the engine room back up, you retire to your desk to go over the readings. The output of the spontanium core is all normal and there are no obvious signs of tampering. You're left to decide whether to send the results to the interested parties of the G81 bureaucracy. Your finger hovers over the send button.