by S. H. Jucha
“Those are the cantina’s provisions, Jessie. We need a great deal more material for this ship.”
“Again, no problem, Harbour. We’ll have two ships, returning to Emperion, with empty holds. Unless you’re ordering new ship engines, we can probably handle it. Have Dingles send his list to Ituau. We’ll load our ships and be on our way.”
“Wait! What about your crews’ downtime?” Harbour asked.
“Apparently the crews aren’t having as good a time on station as they did on the Belle. They’re anxious to go back to work, earn more coin, and enjoy the hospitalities of your ship and your empaths,” Jessie replied.
Harbour laughed heartily at the thought that the spacers were anxious to visit with her empaths, and Jessie brought the comm unit a little closer to his ear so he could enjoy Harbour’s warm, throaty laughter.
“Well, Jessie, I might as well have Dingles get this ship underway. I’ll see you at Emperion,” Harbour replied and closed her device.
Jessie exited the manager’s office, with quick steps.
Ituau spotted Jessie’s upbeat body language and gave the other two spacers a heads-up.
“Ituau, expect a lengthy list of supplies from Dingles for the Belle. Notify the Spryte’s crew that they have three more days of downtime before we launch.”
“Did you talk to the other captains?” Ituau asked.
“Negative. This is an executive decision. I’ll be ordering the Pearl to head for Emperion. The Belle is setting sail now. The Annie and the Spryte will follow as soon as supplies are loaded.”
“How long this time, Captain?” the engineer asked.
“Minimum six months, maybe longer,” Jessie replied. When the engineer frowned, Jessie asked, “What’s wrong?”
“This is getting hard on the crew, especially those who have family aboard station, Captain,” he replied.
Jessie looked at Ituau, who nodded.
“Wait one,” Jessie replied and hustled back to the manager’s office to make a comm call.
“Yes, Jessie,” Harbour said, answering his call.
“Harbour, any issues with getting more residents for your ship? Some of my crew might like to bring their families along. They could probably pay a nominal fee for the cabin and the food.”
“You tell your people, Jessie, that their families are welcome, and lodging and meals will be supplied for free, courtesy of the Belle.”
Jessie murmured a thank you and closed the comm unit. Back at the table, he said, “Captain Harbour says that the families are welcome. Spread the word. I’ll inform the captains. It might be tight getting them aboard for the trip out to Emperion unless our shuttles can catch the Belle before she gets too far out.”
“Do you have any idea what Captain Harbour will charge for boarding?” the engineer asked with concern.
“The captain said that cabins and meals will be free,” Jessie replied.
Jessie’s spacers stared at him with open mouths.
“Free?” the engineer whispered, and Jessie tipped his head in agreement.
You’re one lucky man, Captain, Ituau thought.
-4-
Honora Belle
Aboard the Belle, Harbour called a meeting in the captain’s quarters. The salon’s central table could barely hold the number of invitees. Seated to her right was Dingles, whose given name was Mitch Bassiter. Next to him was Nadine, who had once been the oldest active empath but no longer.
On Harbour’s left sat Yasmin, her best friend. Next to Yasmin was Aurelia and beside her was Lindsey Jabrook, who had been the empaths’ protector prior to the captain. Danny Thompson, the Belle’s shuttle pilot, and two engineers, Bryan Forshaw and Pete Jennings, occupied the opposite end of the table from Harbour.
Lindsey Jabrook was the miracle attendee, as far as Harbour was concerned. Sasha, Aurelia’s powerful and willful younger sister, had stumbled onto the retired empath, who suffered from a lack of empathetic defensive control. The emotions of others crashed in on her, bombarding her, until she had to be isolated in a quiet, but comfortable, cabin of the colony ship.
Sasha had often played a game with her sister. It was called “protect mother,” who was Helen Garmenti. Mother and daughter were permanent residents of the Belle after being freed from confinement in the ex-governor’s house. Sasha, who formed a quick bond with the elderly empath, chose to play the game with Lindsey. Apparently, while protecting Lindsey from various other empaths, the elder empath slowly regained her complete array of powers. How this was done was still a mystery to every empath.
At one point, Harbour had asked Lindsey, “Do you want the position of Harbour back?” It had been the habit of each empath, who assumed the group’s leadership, that they adopt the name of the original leader. It was considered a beacon to all young women, who discovered their abilities, to seek Harbour for sanctuary. And it was only women who had the empathetic ability, which manifested in the recessive genes of the XX-chromosome pairs.
“I might have once been head of the empaths, but I was never captain of this ship,” Lindsey had replied. “I wouldn’t have a clue what to do, in that regard.”
Harbour had smiled and said, “Sometimes, I don’t think I do.”
To which, Lindsey replied, “I heard something from Dingles that I truly believe. You have the spacers’ trust. If you tell them what you want, they’ll make it happen. That, to me, is what defines a good captain.”
Harbour opened her meeting by announcing, “The Belle’s general fund has received the YIPS payment for the slush delivery.”
“How did we do, Captain?” Dingles asked. He was Harbour’s first mate and a highly trained navigator, whose last position was aboard the Spryte. Space dementia had claimed Dingles, and Harbour had rescued him from security incarceration and his mental torture.
Harbour sent the amount to the table’s comm units and everyone snatched their devices.
“That’s some serious coin,” Danny said, whistling softly. “Even after we cut it in half to share with Captain Cinders, it’s going to be an impressive amount.”
“Captain Cinders has his share,” Harbour said simply. She enjoyed watching heads snap up and her people eye her.
“There’s still the distribution to the residents’ accounts,” Yasmin reminded Harbour. Every resident of the colony ship received a stipend from the general fund. This had been instituted only after the empaths became the primary means by which the ship earned coin.
“Already done,” Harbour replied, smiling. She was prepared to bask in the congratulatory emotions of the spacers and her fellow empaths, but she sensed a disturbance. Turning her head, she located the source. It was Aurelia.
“Aurelia, what’s wrong?” Harbour asked.
“I’d like to be happy, thrilled, or something,” Aurelia complained. “But I’ve never handled coin in my life, and I’ve no idea what this amount means. What can it buy?”
“Nutrients and new plantings for the hydroponic gardens,” Nadine said.
“Down payment on a new shuttle,” Danny replied.
“More crew,” Dingles added.
“Engine parts,” Bryan volunteered.
“Cabin supplies and outfitting,” Yasmin said.
“More heat throughout the ship,” Pete said, when it was his turn, and everyone murmured their approval of that suggestion.
“So, we have to choose which one of these we want to spend our coin on?” Aurelia asked, gazing around the table.
“We can do all of these, Aurelia,” Harbour said quietly.
“Then this is a whole lot of coin,” Aurelia said, hoisting her comm unit.
“A whole lot of coin, spacer,” Dingles agreed, “and we’re going back for seconds.” He received a soft flush of pleasure from Nadine, and he slipped his hand into hers under the table.
“I imagine most of you have already devised ways to spend these funds, but here’s how it’s going to work,” Harbour said. “You can have sixty percent of the amount that you’re
seeing. But, you’re going to thrash out among yourselves how it’s to be spent.”
Yasmin signaled to be heard, but Harbour waved her off.
“Before everyone starts asking questions, I’ll tell you my issues,” Harbour continued. “We might be at Emperion for longer than six months, and I’m expecting some of the families of crew aboard Captain Cinder’s ships. Food, cabin outfittings, and heat are high priorities. Hand in hand with those are the needs of the ship to operate independently. We can’t land our shuttle aboard Captain Cinder’s ship bays. In addition, our shuttle has no collar lock, and it’s aging.”
Harbour turned to Yasmin, who asked, “How long do we have to put this together?”
“A day or two,” Harbour replied. “Focus on what we need for this next trip. Also, presume that our next haul will generate the same amount of coin or more, and you can have eighty percent of those funds.”
“Is there something brewing, Captain, that we need to know about?” Dingles asked.
“Captain Cinders is cancelling the crews’ downtime. The Pearl will launch soon for Emperion, and the Spryte and Annie are waiting to load our supplies request.”
“Problems aboard the JOS?” Danny asked.
“Some,” Harbour replied. “But it seems the captain’s spacers are missing the comforts of the Belle. I suppose the JOS pales in comparison to our hospitality.”
Those around the table chuckled or laughed at the thought that spacers preferred to spend their downtime on an aging colony ship rather than the modern space station.
“Dingles, get us underway to Emperion, while this group starts making lists and arguing,” Harbour ordered. “After that, you can join them.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Dingles replied, jumping up from the table and making for the bridge.
The group followed Dingles out the door, but Aurelia lagged behind.
“Permission to speak, Captain?” Aurelia asked, when they were alone.
“Of course, Rules,” Harbour replied. She’d discovered that when only spacers, officers or crew, were present, Aurelia preferred the name she was first known by them, Rules. She’d adopted her sister’s lament against her to protect her identity, as a means of hiding aboard the JOS, while running from the authorities for the murder of her sexual tormentor, Dimitri Belosov.
“Captain, while I appreciate being included in this group, I’ve nothing to contribute. I don’t handle any function on this ship, and I don’t know the price of services or things.”
“I can’t disagree with that analysis, Rules,” Harbour replied, which caused Aurelia to frown and consider what she was missing.
Finally, Aurelia held out her hands and said, “I give up.”
“At this moment, you’re enjoying the role of spacer, Rules, but you’d be the first to admit that your education is sadly lacking, through no fault of your own. What do you see yourself doing in five years, ten years, or further out?”
“I haven’t given it much thought —” Aurelia said, before she stopped. “But, it appears that you might have, Captain,” she added.
“We haven’t spent a great deal of time together, Rules, but it’s obvious to me that you’ve earned the admiration of Captain Cinders,” Harbour replied.
“The captain has been gracious —” Aurelia began.
“Stop,” Harbour ordered. “You’re speaking to me as if I were a normal. Never do that to another empath. You know what you’ve sensed from Jessie Cinders. Are you going to stand there and invent some explanation to me about luck or generosity concerning the captain’s reactions to you?”
“Sorry, Captain,” Aurelia replied, transmitting her feeling of embarrassment to Harbour. “It felt wrong to admit to you what I knew about the captain’s protective emotions concerning me.”
“They would sound that way if you were talking to a normal,” Harbour explained. “What you sense from another person is meant to be kept private. Typically, a client-empath session is conducted privately, and the secrecy of their interaction was always jealously guarded. However, you’ve thrown all that out the hatch.”
Aurelia thought to object that it wasn’t her fault, but, when she didn’t sense any recrimination from Harbour, she held her tongue. Then again, Aurelia thought, you often don’t sense Harbour’s emotions unless she intentionally leaks them to you.
“When I first heard from Captain Cinders that you, an empath from downside, were aboard the Spryte, I feared for the safety of the sensitives under my care and the status of this ship,” Harbour said, placing an arm around Aurelia’s shoulder and walking her toward the suite’s door. “I couldn’t have imagined the wonderful things that would develop from your actions. I’ve made you a part of this committee, because I see great things for you, Rules, and it’s time we broadened your education. I don’t mean just about the price of things, although those are good things to learn. You’ll be working with a wonderful group of people. Watch and learn how they communicate, resolve their conflicts, and negotiate a final list for submission.”
“I hope you’ll pardon me for saying, Captain, but this has been a scary conversation.”
“The world is a scary place, Rules. It needs good people in the right places to prevent the scary from overtaking us,” Harbour said, as she opened the cabin door and waved Aurelia out.
* * * *
Henry Stamerson, the head of the JOS Review Board and a retired mining captain, drained the last of his caf. He closed his comm unit, shutting off its signal to the monitor. He’d finished reading Harbour’s explosive documents for the third time. She’d discovered that hundreds of original files had been removed from the Belle’s vast library, in the years immediately following the colony ship making orbit over Pyre. According to the ship’s charter, this was an illegal procedure.
Lise Panoy had created a furor, when she used information from those files to justify the quarantine after the Annie’s crew discovered the alien site on Triton. According to Lise, she’d recently discovered the missing original files in the Andropov library after taking over the governorship. However, Henry and certain security officers doubted that.
During a tense discussion, Lise had agreed to send the files to Emerson. Henry never knew if she had delivered them to Emerson, and the commandant never mentioned them again. The copies Henry read came from Harbour, and she’d never disclosed to him how she discovered there were missing library files nor how she determined which files were missing. Nonetheless, Harbour had uncovered copies of the files and sent them to select individuals.
Despite the evening’s late hour, Henry decided to call Harbour. The Belle was underway again and had filed a course for Emperion. To an ex-mining captain, it meant the ship would be a hive of activity for many days.
“This is the Honora Belle. Beatrice Andrews on comm. Please state your name and your business,” Birdie replied to Henry’s call.
“Birdie?” Henry queried in surprise.
“Yes. Who’s this?”
“Captain Stamerson, Birdie. What are you doing aboard the Belle?” Henry asked,
“Earning coin again, Captain, and being useful. It beats sitting in my cabin aboard the JOS and feeling sorry for myself.”
“You know, Birdie, after all the time you served on my ship, if you had coin problems you could have come to me for help.”
“That was never my way, Captain.”
Henry knew that to be true. Birdie Andrews was one independent, tough-minded woman, who made her own way in life. It hurt him to think she was silently struggling, and he had never looked her up to see how she was doing. He wondered how many other retired crew members from his ship were in the same condition.
“How is it, Birdie, working for Dingles and Captain Harbour?” Henry asked.
“Like I struck heavy metal, Captain. The Belle’s no mining ship, but this girl can carry anything you need. With Captain Cinders’ partnership, we made a good haul of slush to the YIPS.”
“So I heard, Birdie. What I wanted to know ab
out are the working conditions.”
“Well, I can tell you, Captain, that I have a cabin to myself. No double bunking. The fresh food at every meal is okay, and the cantina is adequate. And then, there are the empaths who we have to contend with. The sensitives know they are dependent on the spacers now that the ship is sailing, which means they never leave us alone. They’re always sending us happy thoughts. It’s a tough life, I can tell you, Captain.”
Birdie worked hard to keep from laughing, while she let the captain absorb her words. It took him a while.
“Single-bunk cabins, fresh food, a cantina, and your personal therapists,” Henry repeated slowly. “Is Captain Harbour hiring? I might want to apply for a position.” A thought occurred to Henry and he quickly added, “Seriously, Birdie, is she hiring?”
“Recently, Dingles added a few more spacers, and he plans to increase that number after the next haul. And, before you ask, Captain, I gave him recommendations for some of our old crew members.”
“Thank you, Birdie. That’s more than I’ve done lately for them, and I’m sorry for that.”
“Apology accepted, Captain, and the reason for your call?”
“I’d like to speak to your captain, if she’s available?” Henry replied.
“One moment, Captain,” Birdie replied, switching the call to Harbour’s comm unit.
“Captain Stamerson, nice to hear from you,” Harbour said, when she heard from Birdie who was calling.
“I’d like to forgo formalities with you, Captain Harbour, if that’s okay with you,” Henry said.
“Certainly, Henry, I’m not sure if I’ll ever be comfortable being called captain.”
“It grows on you, Harbour. Give it time.”
“What can I do for you, Henry?” Harbour asked.
“I’ve reviewed the key documents that you sent me, Harbour,” Henry replied. “I never did receive a set from Emerson.”
“I didn’t expect you would, Henry.”
“Why is that? Is this something personal between Emerson and you because of his position on quarantine?”
“That accusation is beneath you, Captain,” Harbour replied with a touch of heat.