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_ Chapter 21- Climbing the Ladder _

<Sygon Industries Labs> [February 18, 2086] (Time:1345)

Time working in Sygon Labs seemed to craw. The pures around him, unaware of his anthro status, were always prattling on about either inane issues, like a lunch special at this place or that person in another department just 'has' to be sleeping with their supervisor, if not their director, or about 'those vile anthros'. Most of the time it flowed naturally from lips long accustomed to the slurs and insults, but every once in a while, Canith ran across an individual whose eyes would flicker here and there.

This shiftiness, when he first discovered it, usually indicated that the individual actually did not dislike anthros. Instead, they were simply paying lip service to the higher-ups, same as Canith was. He had dug a bit deeper when he first saw it, trying to be unobtrusive, and learned many of his previous fears had been justified. If one was suspected of being sympathetic to anthros, you simply disappeared. People had quickly learned that to question these disappearances was to invite a similar fate upon ones self as well.

But on the other paw, most of those who had no qualms with anthros (and had the shifty eyes when bad mouthing them) were ones Canith filed away in the back of his mind for Aura to pull files on and dig deeper. He would probably need help getting the ship out, and networking a group of loyal friends to help would make things easier.

As he reminisced on this, he was anything but idle. In front of him was a fairly standard terminal, on which was various coding structures for AI upgrades. He typed away diligently, but in reality he could have finished this particular task in minutes. Showing that level of expertise would set off alarms, and that attention was not the kind he was after.

The PA system chose that moment to announce a break for his section, so he saved his work, closed the program down, and locked the terminal. Finished, he headed to the break area to grab a bottle of water and eavesdrop on the ambient conversations.

“Man, these new equations they are having us work on are hard, why would they need something so close to self evolving these days? It's not like we are at war or anything." The speaker was a man of average build, if only just on the overweight side. Working at an office was not the best place for exercise after all.

“Maybe not officially, but I heard a rumor from a friend that this one ship out in the local sector that has been ghosting through all the sensor nets lately. They also say that it's full of nothing but anthros, and they are looking for something." This one was the office gossip, a younger woman in her late 20's. Her looks did nothing for him, but the intel was of interest. The only ship that would be doing that would be Tia, and they shouldn't have been able to even get a lock.

He almost called mentally to Aura, but stopped himself. Will had once noted that he seemed to stare off into space if he started talking intently to Aura through his uplink, and that would not be good to do here. So instead, he decided to probe for info- after all, he might be able to spin it just right for the project.

“That sounds interesting. What else can you tell me about it? Or is that all there was to the rumor?" Direct, but he made sure to pitch it in such a way that only she would hear him clearly.

“Not much more. Mainly speculation on the size of the ship. It couldn't be a battleship, as it would be caught too easily. Definitely not a frigate either- sensor nets wouldn't ping it if they were half-way decent."

“Huh. I wonder why they would dare coming this close to Earth." This last he let a touch of a sneer enter his voice, even though it was actually a rhetorical question. They were out there in case he needed a quick getaway.

Break ended, and they all went back to their terminals. When he unlocked his, Canith noticed he had a message from the director.

“_ Please come to my office after break. I have a position I would like to offer you." _

Canith grinned at this, but quickly stifled it, saved it in a private file, and then created another file, named it something work related, then exchanged the names. This way, if someone was to remotely look and delete the message, it would be the dummy file. And just in case, he also had a spare.

He re-locked the terminal, then headed over to the director's office. Knocking, he was called in immediately. “You asked to see me?"

“Please close the door behind you." Canith did so, then stepped forward. “I have a project I would like you on, and I know you are being underutilized where you are now.

Canith worked his face into a confused expression, even though in his thoughts he was torn between a smirk and alarm. Had he slipped up somewhere? Or was the director just that good? “I don't quite follow sir. I have been completing my workload at an acceptable place, right? I hope that I did not give you the impression that I was bored with it. I am greatly enjoying the work here." He hoped he wasn't laying it on too thick, but he actually wanted to snap the offer up. It might be what he needed- a next step.

“You work has been good, I won't lie. Speed wise, you could set your typing to a metronome. The perfect tempo, actually. There are also no errors. That alone tells me that you not only are familiar with this work, but have worked out what needs to be added and removed without interrupting your tempo. That takes skill and ability well beyond what is needed out there." Well shit. He was being too good at being mediocre, and his skill showed through anyways. But maybe, he could use this.

“Ah, yeah. I did a lot of AI work on the side through college. Nothing official, mind you. I guess that might be why it appears I know what I am doing. It's still fascinating, though." Come on, take the bait . . .

“Off the record experience? Perfectly acceptable. This project though, needs tight lips. You will be given a raise according to the extra work and security, of course." And there it was. An oppurtunity.

“It this an official Sygon project, or one that is off the books?"

“Official, but not quite black site level." Well then. That was more info than he should have been given, but at the same time . . .

“And my skills are needed for this project? What is the goal of the project?" In response, the director pulled out a small package of papers and slid them across the desk to Canith. A glance at the top sheet confirmed that it was a NDA- a Non-Disclosure Agreement. He quickly thumbed through it, making sure to skim through the legal wording and initial where needed. Once done, he passed the parcel back, only to be given an electronic drive.

“That has the details of your new workplace, as well as all the details you will need. Make sure you only open that on a secure terminal, and not on any of the ones here at the office. If you don't mind, please make sure you finish your day off here quietly. Tomorrow, if anyone asks, you were simply moved to a different division. It happens fairly often, so no one should look in askance about it." He stood and held out his hand, which Canith took and they traded grips. “It's actually been nice working with you- and I cannot say that often. You were always quiet, punctual, and stayed out of trouble and arguments. I hope to work with you again in the future."

Canith took this moment to do a quick scan of the man while they shook hands. When he did, he realized that this would be one he could count on, as long as he played his cards right in the weeks and months ahead. “It was also a pleasure working for you. I hope we can keep in touch on a professional level as well. And if the opportunity every presents itself, I will make sure to mention that phenomenal director over in the AI Upgrades department that helped me move up in the company." He gave a conspiratorial wink at the man in question, who gave a laugh and a nod.

“Much appreciated." They both let go, and Canith turned and left as the director sat back down, unaware that he had been chosen for future greatness.

<_ A Few Days Later _>

The transfer had went off without a hitch, and Canith now found himself working on a defense contract that the United Earth Defense Force, or UEDF, had commissioned from Sygon Labs. Although it was not a full ship, the retrofitting of older ships in the fleet made for an interesting and enlightening enterprise.

“I still don't see why we have to let some Civvy come on board, even in dry dock, and futz around with our systems. What is command even thinking these days?" Comments like this happened fairly often, but he ignored them. The ship, however, and it's shackled AI, welcomed him and the upgrades he brought with open arms. All the while, he kept his ears out for anything that could be used to upgrade the plans for the new Tiamat- which surprisingly, wasn't much at this point. Aura, and the officers that had fed them specs and intel, had done a spot on job compared to this job.

'Hack-job' is the only term he could use to describe what they were asking for. Newer systems installed on boats that could only barely support them, and some even couldn't handle the additional load. That is where he came in, balancing and re-balancing all the load across the systems, trying to squeeze out every ounce of operational power. He had tried to get Aura to help on the first day.

:I Refuse: Was their answer. When pressed harder, Aura actually made a few valid arguments. :First off, I might be detected. Secondly, you are the one that signed up for that job. And lastly, it wouldn't do for me to help retrofit a ship that might be after us in the future- I might . . . Install a backdoor or a trojan horse in their systems.: After that, he simply shrugged and muddled through on his on merits, and didn't ask the AI for more help on this one. Although he did debate doing the last on his own, he instead contented himself with noting a few security holes he had not been asked to fill for future reference.

On a different note, unlike the office he did not spot anyone that would potentially convert for the sake of the Tiamat. It was understandable, after all, as the psych evaluation to get into the UEDF precluded any anthro sympathies. He made some final adjustments to a nearby console, and saw that he might get the desired power if he rewired a panel near the captain's ready room, so he told his guide his destination, and they took off, one technician and his ever watchful guard.

One he got to the panel in question he got to work. As he did, the guard simply leaned against the wall and waited. Canith decided that since he was close to a sensitive area, he might as well try to pick up any psychic chatter from the other side of the wall. He lowered his eyelids a bit, still working on the simple task in front of him, and reached out.

“Retrofit is nice and fine, but I would rather they built a few new ships. Would probably cost less as well." 'That must be the captain', he thought to himself.

“You know the Admiralty board is always weighing pros and cons on new ships. They don't want the current ones to get to stale, and thus most of the budget goes to them." 'First mate, maybe? Could be another officer.' He couldn't quite pick up the man's rank without diving deeper, so he just kept listening, but already he had more intel than before.

“What we really need, truth be told, is a flagship for the fleet. If we had that, operations would be much smoother. Only problem is that the board cannot decide if they want to retrofit one of the larger Battleships for it, or build one from scratch with that intent in mind." 'Bullseye' He thought to himself. That was his in.

He would propose to his current director the possibility of having Sygon hold a 'competition' to propose the most advanced, yet practical, command ship for the fleet, and have the winner suggested to the board. With this in mind, he quickly closed the circuit he was working on, then used a mobile terminal to check the power levels. All was green, so he caught the guard's attention and let him know that the job was done for the day.

The man grinned, trying to be friendly, and motioned for Canith to follow him back towards the ship's airlock for the day.

<_ A Few More Days Later> _

The older gentleman listened intently as Canith laid out his proposal. It had taken almost that entire night to get the presentation sorted out, and then several days of waiting for the director to be available for it.

The director was amiable to suggestions, so long as they stayed within the rules and guidelines. He was popular, and the military and civilians alike were comfortable with him. He also had a keen mind for plans, and after Canith finished the presentation, he went over it all again with a fine tooth comb. About an hour later, he sat back and tossed the file on his desk.

“It looks solid, good research, proof of both desire and need, and steps to keep everyone happy about it." He looked closely at Canith, who just smiled. “I would almost say TOO well put together." This red flag put Canith on high alert, and he readied himself to telepathically overpower the human.

“However, I have actually been pressured a bit by the higher ups for something similar to this, so maybe I'm just getting old and staring at shadows now." Canith relaxed a bit. 'Maybe just a nudge, not a full blown lock at this point.' he thought to himself as the director picked the file back up and thumbed through it. “I assume since you put forth this proposal, you already have something in mind?"

Now Canith sat back, and weighed his options carefully. “I do, but as a caveat to the submission, I would also like to be on the crew that works on it." He leaned, feather light, against the human's mind, a sort of nebulous suggestion that it was fine, it was a good idea, it was a reasonable request.

The man gave no indication that he noticed the telepathic nudge. “That's reasonable, assuming that your submission is the one that wins. Honestly though, if your presentation is this good, I bet your design would be stellar." A slow smile crossed Canith's face. “Give me a couple days to draft out the design. I have a rough draft already, but I would need to clean it up a bit. I can have it on your desk by Friday morning. Will that work?"

“It should. Will you need time off to work on it?" This was an odd offer, but Canith was a bit weary of it.

“No thank you. I can finish it in my off time."

“In that case, If you win I will throw in a bonus equivilant to the time you spent at home working on it as overtime. That work for you?" Canith realised that it wasn't bait, but instead the director simply looking out for him. It touched him a bit, but he had already taken the measure of the man and knew that, while kind, he had a deep seated grudge against anthros. He didn't want to pry deeper at the time, so he just left it at that.

“That would be appreciated, but completely unneeded. The pleasure of working on a new ship as opposed to the old retrofits would be all the reward I could ask for."

“I can understand that all too well. Would be nice not having a guard over your shoulder the whole time as well, right?"

“Agreed. Half the time they imitate statuary, the other half they get in the way." The both laughed at this, and traded small talk for a bit, before the secretary paged him for another meeting. With this, Canith rose and left after saying farewell.

<_ Later, Canith's Quarters> _

“And that is how I managed to get the idea rolling." Canith stated to Kai after he finished describing the last several weeks. Kai had a pensive expression over this.

“Be careful. I am worried about those rumors of us, but it could just as well be that damned pirate ship. We have been hounded by them better than they should have been able to. We might have to pull further out and go for a long warp. If we set the relays to a delay, we might be able to lose them. This will, however, limit what we can do to support you." The image of Kai looked concerned.

“It's not a problem. Today was the closest I came to a full block, but it was just me being jumpy. If I have to bail, I am confident in getting out. Aura is constantly tracking an escape route for emergencies, and if it comes to a fight they quite literally will not know what hit them."

Kai chuckled at this. “Indeed they would not. Well, you have work to do, and I have a route to plot. Stay safe, friend." With this, he cut the feed and Aura came padding over beside him.

“The Captain did not ask it, but I assume you want the plans sanitized as much as possible?" Trust Aura to be looking at the next task already.

“Yes, then save them to a drive I can take on Friday. I said that was when I would turn it in, and I have no plans on being early." He stood from the desk, leaning back into a stretch. All the time in human form made him nostalgic for walking around as an anthro. “At least the ground work is almost done. Once the project is underway, it will be easy to track the progress."

“True." Aura replied from their spot by the terminal. “Although, with a ship this size, we might still be looking at several years before completion."

Canith sighed at this. “I know. That is the price we pay for this new ship. But on the bright side, we will know every inch of it by the time we are through."

“That we will. And as we will be overseeing the whole thing, we can ensure that every bolt is in the right place, and no bugs or tracking devices are overlooked. That, at least, will be disabled right before the launch to avoid arousing suspicions."

“Anyways, didn't Snow leave instructions to avoid complications on long shifts? I might as well start practicing now." For the rest of the evening, Canith and Aura went over various exercises and routines to substitute the pod's influence, since like a fur dryer the pod would stand out too much.

<_ On Board the Pirate Cruiser 'Andromeda's Fortune'> _

“I don't care that you are tripping over half the sensor nets in the sector- we need to keep up with that damned ship. If it gives us the slip, that's it." The vixen that was the captain of the ship was pacing the bridge, furious that they had not been able to pin the other ship down yet. She prided her ship in being one of the fastest out there, but somehow, someway, that ship was staying tantalizingly out of reach, but only just.

“Boss, we got's us a problem here." One of the officers on board, judging from the station they were sitting at they were acting astrogation officer at this moment.

“What is it this time?" She fumed, turning to face the hapless human.

“According to the sensors, the mark just jumped. Relays are tracking them, but the data we are receiving appears to be an hour old."

Instead of immediately snapping at him again, she thought furiously. There were dozen's of tricks a competent captain could use to slip a tail, all she had to do was figure out which they had used. “Backtrack their position from an hour ago, then triangulate any subspace tears and locate their trajectory. Chances are they just set the relays to a delay to hide the jump." Yes, thinking on that made her sure that was what they had done. If the roles were reversed, she would do the same. The question was why now. They had been tailed for weeks, never stopping, but not getting further away either. So why stay in this sector?

“Boss, I think I have it, but I gotta say, if I'm wrong it might not be because of the calculations. All it would take is for them to drop early and change directions."

“You aren't wrong. But if that happens, we have lost them regardless. And that means no pay for turning it in." That got everyone working at a feverish pace, while she silently fumed at the fact that, likely, they had gotten away. Quietly, she muttered to herself. “So this is what it feels like to have prey worth chasing again. Heh, fun times."

<_ Friday morning, Sygon Drydock offices> _

Canith was admitted to the director's office almost immediately, and sat the large stack of blueprints down, along with various system specs and requirements, and finally a digital copy on a mobile drive on top. The Director looked over the large amount of paperwork and the drive and raised an eyebrow.

“Punctual, and complete from what I can see so far." he said as he thumbed through the top couple of sheets. “I have to ask though- these, from what I can tell so far, look rather complete. Your background doesn't bring to mind a mastermind of ship design. How did you put these together so well?" He raised his eyes to Canith, who decided at that moment that a little bit of telepathy would go a long way.

Instead of answering verbally, he reached out with his mind and took hold of the human's thoughts. He didn't block anything, but instead forced the thoughts along the paths he needed the man to think. He hadn't had much experience using his abilities in human form, and it drained him far more than he thought it would. To cover for this slight lapse of weakness, he sat down across from the dazed human to catch his breath.

“I assume everything is to your liking?" He asked the man, causing him to start as if he had dosed off. He looked down at the mountain of papers and back up to Canith.

“Y-Yes, I believe so. Excellent work with these plans. I say give me till Tuesday to look them over, and if everything is in order you should be looking at a green light by this time next month. Personally though, I think it will go through quicker than that. They are chomping at the proverbial bit for something like this."

Canith smiled kindly as the director spent a few more minutes asking various questions, details like engine capacity and the like. When he got to the generator, he stopped, went back several pages, and started reading much closer.

“Uh, I get the power routing, but this generator seems a bit odd. Why are you proposing an antimatter reactor for this ship? That seems both overkill and extremely dangerous."

Canith grinned. “Easy. It requires no external fuel, and supplies enough power for the whole ship in ample excess. With plenty of shielding, it should pose no problems to accidental or even purposeful field breaching. And no radiation or other harmful emissions as well. It's truly the best solution for a ship this size."

The director continued to flip back and forth, muttering under his breath about various figures and techs on board, personnel and technicians, and material costs for several more minutes. Finally, he put the paper down and leaned back in his chair. “Well, outside of that generator, everything looks great. The military will he jumping over themselves to get on board this beauty. I guess I will forward this, as I said, sometime Tuesday and keep you up to date with it's progress as I hear word back."

Canith stood, and shook the man's hand, making sure to (very lightly) reinforce the idea that this was the best blueprints available for a flagship, and that he needed to prove it if necessary. Canith felt bad for doing it, but this was a critical turning point. Until the project was off and away, there could be no security holes.

<_ Two weeks later> _

In the end, it took far less time to get the plans authorized than the initial estimate. Canith could have had Aura look in on the various meetings (when in actuality Aura did anyways, just didn't inform Canith of the viewings), but contented himself with keeping busy on the drydock's numerous tasks and projects. When the call finally came down, it was no surprise that it came with a set of orders to another facility. The location, though, surprised him. “Heh, so they decided to build it at the Io spaceyard. Interesting choice. I would have guessed the Mars spaceyard would have been the better choice for a project this big, but the easier access to off planet ores and the asteroids nearby do make a certain amount of sense."

Together, him and Aura made sure to scrub any sign of their changes to his domicile, before packing up what little he would need and having Aura once more shift into a seemingly pedestrian bag. Together they headed over to Sygon Industries private launch facility, where they caught a ride up to the Luna Relay.

Upon arrival, Aura was the first to note the lessening of the security as compared to their last trip through. The answer to it was practically handed to them as they stood in line to go through processing.

“I heard that a pirate band was chasing another ship, but the military is pretty tight-lipped about it. Of course, it's more likely that they were just joy-riding through the sector as well." This was from a young man, who was trying to comfort his female companion. While pretty in a traditional sense, Canith realized that he felt no attraction to either of them. It seemed, as he had not had time to stop and admire anyone on Earth, that he just wasn't turned on by humans anymore. He quickly dampened down that train of thought though, as he did not feel like sporting an erection going through customs.

The couple continued chatting, but of nothing to hold Canith's attention, so he moved on. As he was officially heading to the Io Shipyard, he did not need do anything dramatic this time around. Stepping up to the booth, he scanned his ID and passport, and submitted a blood sample when asked. He made sure as the last took place to think very human thoughts, and kept his shifting fully human. The scanner beeped once, then the man waved him past into the relay proper.

Once there, he looked at his itinerary, and noted that he had about an hour before the next shuttle was heading out the way he was traveling. Taking this opportunity, he found himself a small cafe and sat down, ordering a type of tea that he preferred. The waitress jotted it down, and was away without a second glance. He leaned back a bit and tried to relax a bit, as subconsciously the noise of the area was setting his nerves on edge. The waitress came back a moment later, and sat the tea down, asking “Sir, here is your tea. Are you alright?"

The question caught him off guard, and he turned to her, opening his eyes and looking at her. The waitress gave a gasp, and acting reflexively he triggered her fear center in her brain and caused a faint. It was a simple trick, and one that allowed him a moment to figure out why she was startled. As she went to fall, he quickly slid around to catch her and sit her down in the seat opposite of him. There was no one else in the cafe at the time, so the whole situation passed by unnoticed.

A quick dive into her thoughts revealed to him the reason for her to become startled. He had slipped up. When he was relaxing, her voice caused him to turn reflexively faster than a human should have, if only slightly. When he had opened his eyes, they had been emerald green, and slightly slitted. As he has set his eyes to blue under normal circumstances, it was natural she would be startled by the change. As much as he hated to do it, he tampered with her memories a bit, causing her to forget the luminous slitted eyes, and remember simply feeling faint. He quickly got up and paid for the tea, still untouched on the table, and left.

After walking for a few minutes, Aura finally spoke up after being silent throughout the whole situation. :Regrettable that something like that had to happen at a time like this. It seems that the long shifts require more attention than we initially assumed. We will need to take measures to ensure that an episode like this does not repeat. We are only a couple months in, and have many more to go.:

Canith sighed and leaned against a nearby railing. :True, but I think it was more that I relaxed a bit too much there. I think I need to work in a vacation every couple months from now on to go somewhere remote. I think there are still a few colonies where camping and hunting are popular. Somewhere like that, far away from society, where I can shift back would be nice.:

Aura was silent for a moment, before responding with what could only be described as humor in their voice. :The local legends will talk of a red furred dragon for years after the first time you get too close there. Should make for some interesting stories to tell the captain.:

It took only a second for Canith to catch on to what Aura was implying. :No, there will not be any virgin sacrifices to a local dragon because I need to relax. I will probably find myself a secluded mountain and sit on it.: This thought brought back a memory, almost forgotten, from what felt a lifetime ago. :Maybe I will leave my mark in the mountains somewhere. A chamber, like that seal that Snow showed me in my mind. I might like to work on something like that in my free time.:

He continued his stroll, until it was near time to board the shuttle, then made his way over to it. Making sure to have himself completely under control, he submitted himself to another blood test through this checkpoint, but then something was flagged in the system and they held him up for a moment. “Sorry sir, if you will step this way for a moment. Our system randomly flags individuals for additional screening for security reasons, and it looks like you are the lucky winner of the hour."

He let out a held breath, and followed the security officer. He had plenty of time, and there was no reason to raise any red flags here. They sat him down, asked him his name, where he was from, and his destination. When he stated where he was headed, they had another individual bring in a security roster for that flight, as well as for admittance to the shipyard itself. Verifying that he was on both, they started to let him leave, before a younger officer brought in a device strapped to his arm with a wand attached by a wire.

“Sorry, one final security check. I don't know why they have us do this, but we have to check for any internal hardware or mods. This should only take a moment." (This could be bad) Canith thought to himself, and decided it was time to cause a 'glitch'. Nodding an affirmative, he queued Aura in on his intentions, then slowly took a deep breath. Within his mind he created a circle, gold in color, with jagged runes of azure within it. Slowly, but with increasing speed he set the circle to spinning, until he felt the pressure building within himself. Then, he built it a touch higher as the wand got close, and dropped the shield he had put in place between his energy crafting abilities and the outside area.

The effect was every bit as dramatic as he could have hoped.

As the shield dropped, the lightning circle pulsed, and let loose a pulse of energy that knocked out any unshielded electronics in an area of about a 15 foot radius. As Aura was shielded, as was his uplink, neither was affected.

The sensor was not shielded.

With a shower of sparks, the lights all shattered, and the wand lit up in a brief corona of electricity before completely fusing it's circuits. Several communication devices shorted out as well, and alarms all over the station started going off. The second the pulse passed, Aura went to work manufacturing a sensor reading of a solar flare that caused the EMP.

Besides the alarms, which were quickly silenced, there was silence in the room for a few moments. Then, one of the three officers in the room spoke. “Uh, what happened?" There was some shuffling, before someone managed to find the emergency lights.

“I would guess, gentlemen, that a solar flare happened." Canith said calmly, pressing on their minds, light as a feather.

“Huh," The senior officer said, pulling out a shielded comms device from a nearby drawer. A few moments passed, then Aura's work paid off, and he was given the same story. “Well, don't that just beat all. I heard shit like this could happen occasionally, but it's my first time. Sorry for the inconvenience. Lets get you to that shuttle." Canith thanked him, and they headed back to the main area, and then he was able to bypass the rest of the passengers to get on board. “For the inconvenience" is the excuse they gave.

Once the shuttle was away, Canith breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't have much practice doing that, and it tired him out. Building up that charge without triggering any alarms was tricky at best.

Back on the relay, however, the young officer with the melted sensor on his arm was simply looking at the readout that had since become a blank screen. It was still fairly experimental tech, but it could detect the mentioned implants by the effect it had on the EM field of the individual being scanned. When that pulse went off, the scanner had worked for a fraction of a second, revealing a human figure cloaked in the strongest EM field that the young officer had ever seen when using the device, and the shape of that field was like a dragon, not a human.

He doubted anyone would believe him, especially since with the device being completely melted by the EMP there was no way to check.