by S. H. Jucha
Harbour could hear Jessie’s laughter, as he closed the connection.
“Ituau, ready a shuttle,” Jessie called over his comm unit. “I’ll be there in five.”
“I’ve a shuttle standing by for transport to the Belle, Captain,” Ituau replied. “And, Captain, there’s time to clean up before you go.”
Ituau heard Jessie’s growl before he ended the call, and she smiled to herself.
There was a knock on Harbour’s door. She was tempted to ignore it, but called out, “Enter.”
Yasmin came through the door first, carrying a green. She was followed closely by Dingles, the colony ship’s first mate and a true spacer.
“Thought you could use this,” Yasmin said, handing the glass to Harbour. “Are we preparing dinner for two?” she asked, concerned for the paleness of Harbour’s face.
“Absolutely,” Harbour replied, gulping down half the glass.
“Birdie updated me, Captain,” Dingles said. “How can I help?” He too was disturbed by the impact the offer was having on Harbour.
Harbour turned away, took a few steps, and swallowed the other half of the green. She employed one of the techniques of ordering her emotions, as if she was soon to meet with a client. When she was ready, she returned the empty glass to Yasmin, saying, “Thank you. Captain Cinders will soon be on approach.”
Yasmin slipped out of the door, and Harbour focused on Dingles.
“I can’t think about the broader view, right now, Dingles. The only thing I can focus on is the offer to rehabilitate twenty Pyreans. How would you go about choosing them?”
“Easy one, Captain,” Dingles replied, “we call medical and ask how many they have in serious condition. If it’s more than twenty, they choose them. If it’s fewer, we call Maggie and she selects the rest of them.”
“Make the call to JOS medical, Dingles, but ask the director to keep it quiet until we resolve this,” Harbour ordered.
By the time Harbour had an opportunity to prepare for dinner, she’d received word from Dingles that Jessie’s shuttle was landing. She pinned up her hair, zipped her skins, and stepped out of the facilities. Nadine and Yasmin were setting the table for two. There was none of the usual banter. The royal heir’s request was weighing heavily on everyone’s mind.
A firm rap at the door had Harbour responding, “Come in, Jessie,” before she caught herself. She’d just made a personal error. Her empathetic gates were open, and she’d identified Jessie by reading his emotions.
Nadine and Yasmin ducked their heads in commiseration with the chagrin on Harbour’s face.
Jessie entered the salon. His narrowed eyes expressed his displeasure at Harbour breaking the rules that governed their meetings. But the empaths’ apologetic expressions gave him pause. It struck him that he was holding on to an image of what had been, instead of accepting that the situation was in flux. And rules would be bent if not broken to accommodate the future. He eased his frown and said, “No harm done. I imagine Tacticnok has created quite a stir over here. She certainly has among my spacers.”
Jessie was rewarded with brief smiles from Nadine and Yasmin, who returned to completing preparations for dinner. However, he was observing Harbour and her expression hadn’t changed. Something Ituau said to him a while back came to mind. She’d said, “There’s nothing wrong with choosing to live alone, Captain. But, if you do find someone you like and you’ve not practiced sharing your life, you’re going to find it tough to build a relationship. Personally, I never was good at the give-and-take thing, and I don’t think you’ll be any good at it either.”
Fortunately for everyone, Dingles rapped on the open doorframe to get Harbour’s attention.
“I’ve the response you requested from JOS medical,” Dingles said.
Jessie swiveled from Harbour to Dingles. You’re lagging behind, Jessie. Time to burn some reaction mass and catch up, he thought.
As Dingles stepped into the salon, Nadine and Yasmin slipped out, closing the door behind them.
“What did medical have to say?” Harbour asked.
“They have twenty-three critical, Captain. Five are too serious to make the trip to Triton,” Dingles reported.
“Do you know the status of the eighteen?” Jessie asked.
“According to the medical director, they are stable enough to make the trip out, but it has to be taken soon,” Dingles replied.
“And all our ships are here at Emperion,” Harbour replied, referring to the moon where Jessie and she had been earning serious coin by slinging slush and filling the Belle’s enormous array of tanks.
“We have an option, Captain,” Dingles said, addressing Harbour. “One of the injured in medical is the first mate of the Splendid Metal. The captain just brought him in, and the ship is still docked on a JOS terminal arm. I took the liberty of talking to Captain Tanner Flannigan under the cover of a spacer’s word that the information wouldn’t be shared. He’s waiting on the comm to talk to you, Captain.”
“Birdie, transfer Captain Flannigan to me,” Harbour ordered. She switched her comm unit to speaker.
“Captain Flannigan, you have Captain Harbour, Captain Cinders, and First Mate Dingles,” Harbour announced, when the link was completed.
“I’ve heard some amazing things from Dingles, Captain Harbour, and no disrespect to him, but I find them hard to believe,” Tanner said.
“The Jatouche completely rehabilitated three of our people … facial reconstruction, a new eye, new limbs, and enormous amounts of skin grafts. I’m not privy to the methods, but we’ve witnessed the results. The rehabilitated engineers are at the Triton dome,” Harbour explained.
“So, this is for real,” Tanner said, still a little incredulous.
“Captain Flannigan, I know your first mate,” Jessie said. “Nelson Barber’s a good man. I’m sorry to hear about his injury. Is he stable enough to travel?”
“Just barely, if I were to launch soon,” Tanner replied.
“I’ll cover your flight out and back, all costs,” Harbour said.
“That’s unnecessary, Captain,” Tanner replied. “As soon as you make this public, which I’m assuming you will shortly, the commandant will receive my bill. After all, this is an emergency medical flight.”
“Contact the medical director, Captain, get the eighteen transferred now,” Harbour said. “I’ll be adding two more passengers for your flight. Send me your ship’s location, and I’ll relay it to Maggie at the Miner’s Pit. The engineers at the dome will contact your ship when you’re close and give you instructions. No Pyrean medical personnel will be allowed to accompany the injured on the final leg of the trip through the Triton gate.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Tanner replied. Harbour’s rapid-fire instructions and authoritative manner had made him feel like a first mate again being directed by the captain to hook on.
Jessie was as surprised as Captain Flannigan at the terse and commanding instructions. A glance toward Dingles caught the first mate’s smirk.
“Well done, Dingles, thank you,” Harbour said, dismissing the first mate, who touched two fingers to his brow. When the door closed behind Dingles, Harbour tapped on her comm unit again. “Birdie, connect me to Maggie at the Miner’s Pit.”
There was a momentary lapse, before Maggie answered. The sound of diners and drinkers could be heard. The Miner’s Pit was busy.
“Captain Harbour, don’t tell me you’ve run out of alcohol. You know I can’t make deliveries this late at night,” Maggie quipped, followed by a throaty chuckle.
“And here I was told by Jessie that you could do anything,” Harbour replied, acting severely disappointed.
“Before you answer the Captain, Maggie, know that you have another listener,” Jessie announced.
“You’re a bad woman, Captain Harbour, trying to get me in trouble like that,” Maggie chastised.
“All kidding aside, Maggie, you have a task to perform. It has to be done quietly and quickly,” Harbour said.
“The place is jam-packed, Captain. Can it wait until tomorrow morning?” Maggie asked.
“Hook on, Maggie May,” Jessie said sternly.
“Aye, Captain, latched on,” Maggie replied reflexively.
“Maggie, I’m sending you the terminal and dock location of Captain Flannigan’s ship, the Splendid Metal. You must choose two spacers who you believe are most worthy of complete rehabilitation.”
“Captain Harbour, I’m latched on, but I don’t understand where this is going,” Maggie complained.
“The Jatouche have completely repaired three of our engineers and have offered to do the same for twenty more Pyreans,” Jessie interjected. “This is to be kept quiet until we make our broadcast. Captain Flannigan’s ship will get underway in a few hours with a group of seriously injured patients from medical. There are two slots left. We can use them or lose them.”
“There are so many who are deserving,” Maggie lamented. “This seems unfair to choose only two.”
The captains waited while Maggie absorbed their request. Suddenly, she said, “I know just the two. What can I tell them?”
Jessie held up a finger to Harbour, requesting he supply the answer, but Harbour waved him off.
“Tell them that if they want complete rehabilitation, they will follow Captain Cinders’ orders exactly as I’m relaying them to you. They speak to no one. They grab small packs and board the Splendid Metal within the hour. In a couple of months, they’ll return from the Jatouche home world with new parts for whatever they’re missing.”
“I don’t mind telling you, Captains, this seems unreal, but I’ll get it done,” Maggie said and closed the comm.
Harbour dropped into a chair, appearing exhausted by the emotions of the last hour. Jessie sat quietly next to her. As the owner-captain of a mining company, he was used to daily upheavals. Space mining was an unpredictable profession.
Maggie approached a brother and sister, who were eating at a small table.
“You two, drop your drinks and utensils and get your butts outside,” Maggie ordered.
The siblings glanced at each other before they quickly struggled up from the table on their prosthetics. Gone was the affable tone of their hostess. In its place was a space officer’s commanding voice, and they hustled to follow Maggie out into the corridor.
While in their early twenties, the brother and sister had been together on a work gang, chasing a vein of heavy metal. They were in a deep shaft on a massive asteroid when the mine’s ceiling collapsed. The brother’s legs were pinned. Rather than abandon him, the sister tried to free him, when there was a second cave-in. By the time the youths were rescued, four limbs between them were too badly shattered to restore without the use of BRCs. Unfortunately, they were two individuals whose bodies rejected the implants.
“I’m supposed to tell you that I’ve orders from Captain Cinders, and while he knows about them, they really come from Captain Harbour,” Maggie said. Urgently, she whispered the details that she was to share, including the ship’s location.
The brother, Dillon Shaver, was unconvinced, but the sister, Tracy, was ready to sprint as fast as she could to the Splendid Metal.
“This sounds awfully flimsy,” the brother commented. “How much time do we have to think about this?”
“You don’t have any,” Maggie replied. “You go now or I walk in there,” she said, pointing to the door of the Pit, “and I select others.”
“If you walk in there, Maggie, you’re selecting one more,” Tracy said, with determination. “I’m packing my duffel and catching that ship. You coming?” she added, poking a finger in her brother’s chest.
“I’m not letting you go alone. That’s for sure,” Dillon replied.
Tracy kissed Maggie on the cheek, whispered a thank you, and set off down the corridor on her prosthetic leg. Dillon hesitated for a moment, and Maggie shooed him off with a wave of her fingers. “Thank me when you return,” she added.
Aboard the Belle, Nadine rapped softly on the door and entered to ask if dinner should be served. The captains sat in chairs, alone with their thoughts, and she quietly closed the door.
Harbour ceased her musings and stared across the table at Jessie. “Do you think Tacticnok was serious?” she asked.
“Deadly,” Jessie replied perfunctorily.
“We have to present Her Highness’ offer to Pyre, but not before we define a means of selecting an alternate envoy,” Harbour said.
Jessie was trying to reconcile the two versions of Harbour he was witnessing. There was the one, who when presented with the opportunity to help twenty Pyreans, had fired off orders like some ancient general commanding her army. Then there was this one, who appeared to be in denial about accepting a strange and confounding responsibility that was being thrust upon her.
“Well, as your advisor,” Jessie started, his lips twisting in an ironic smile, “I need to straighten out your thinking here. There will be no alternative envoy. In Tacticnok’s mind, it’s you or no one else.”
“The Pyrean leaders aren’t going to like that,” Harbour pointed out.
“No, they won’t,” Jessie admitted, “which is why we’ve got to broadcast the entire conversation. They have to hear it from the royal heir herself. And it’s going to stir up a huge commotion.”
-7-
The Twenty
Events were moving swiftly, and Harbour and Jessie decided that they should broadcast Tacticnok’s announcement immediately. When the pair gained the bridge, Dingles was standing by and said, “We’re ready when you are, Captain.”
“The entire broadcast?” Harbour asked.
“Didn’t see any way to shorten it, Captain,” Birdie replied. “It’s one of those all-or-nothing things.”
“Did I miss something?” Jessie asked Harbour. “When did you order the broadcast set up?”
“Captain Harbour didn’t, Captain Cinders,” Dingles replied authoritatively. “She doesn’t have to. It’s our jobs to anticipate her needs.”
“I stand corrected,” Jessie said.
“Any announcement of the broadcast?” Harbour asked.
Dingles grinned and ducked his head momentarily. “Couldn’t figure out the timing on that one, Captain. Guess we haven’t perfected our anticipation skills yet.”
Jessie laughed and said, “Maybe not, but you’re getting close.”
“Let’s start it, Birdie. I want Captain Cinders and me in the view,” Harbour requested.
“Keep it simple, Harbour,” Jessie whispered. “Let Tacticnok do the talking.”
Harbour didn’t agree with her new advisor, but Birdie cued her that the Belle was transmitting Pyre-wide.
“Captain Cinders and I have important information for Pyrean citizens,” Harbour started. “Following our words, you’ll witness a recording made after Her Highness Tacticnok’s arrival at the Triton dome. She has made an announcement, and there are several elements to her statements. I urge you to carefully consider each of them. First and foremost, our three engineers have returned and look wonderful. Jatouche medical skills are astounding.”
Jessie picked up the thread that Harbour focused on, recognizing that the rehabilitation was a neutral subject that every Pyrean could appreciate. “Her Highness Tacticnok has offered medical services to twenty more Pyreans. You’ll hear why she’s being generous when you listen to the broadcast. In response to the offer, Captain Harbour has requested that JOS medical services select the twenty Pyreans. They could only send eighteen, who could survive the trip to Triton, and two spacers have been selected to fulfill the count. The twenty will be sailing for Triton in a matter of hours.”
Jessie deliberately didn’t mention the ship’s name. He wanted the Splendid Metal to undock and gain headway before the general public was aware of its mission.
“We’ll be at Emperion for two more weeks,” Harbour said, “and then we’ll have a long trip to the YIPS. I would suggest that everyone watch the broadcast and think about what’s being off
ered by Her Highness. The commandant’s meeting this month would be a perfect time for leaders to share their views. The Belle out.”
Harbour thanked Dingles and the bridge crew for their support, sending them a wave of appreciation. Jessie was a collateral recipient, and it clarified for him why Dingles and the others worked so hard to anticipate Harbour’s and the other empaths’ needs. There was a thank you, and then again, there was an empath thank you.
Jessie and Harbour retired to the captain’s quarters, and they were served dinner.
* * * *
It was late evening aboard the JOS. Medical personnel were wheeling eighteen stretchers with attached support equipment and supplies. They were using a lower level corridor to reach the terminal arm before they surfaced and accessed the cargo level.
Behind the row of stretchers, spacers from the Splendid Metal shoved cargo sleds that carried the personal items of the medical personnel, who would accompany the injured Pyreans, and airtight transport tubes to safely move the injured from the shuttle to the dome. Only six medical techs would accompany the injured and make the trip to Triton and back.
At the appropriate point around the orbital station’s circumference, Theo Formass, the JOS medical director, accessed a lift and directed the first load of stretchers into the car. “You’re loading through the cargo level,” Theo reminded the medical personnel. “It’s gate six. More crew from the Splendid Metal will be standing by to assist you.”
Theo sent the next to last group of stretchers up the cargo lift, when he caught sight of two young people coming around a corner, with duffels over their shoulders. His experienced eye immediately identified the various prosthetics they wore. At this time of night, he could think of only one reason that two young people, carrying kits and sporting prosthetics, were hurrying toward this particular terminal arm. He waved them over.
“Sir?” the brother, Dillon, asked.
“Are you nineteen and twenty?” Theo asked.
Dillon hesitated, but his sister, Tracy, piped up. “Yes, sir, boarding the Splendid Metal and bound for Triton.”
“We’re accessing the ship via the cargo level,” Theo replied. “I suggest you join the crew members over there. You can add your duffels to the sled.”