When she kissed him, his mind exploded and he became lost within his own pounding heart.
Ship Training
When Cain awoke, he was alone, wondering if it had all been a dream. He usually folded his clothes, but found them thrown on the floor, crumpled. His recruit uniform. He shook it out until the fabric straightened, but it still looked like he slept in it. He hoped the steam from the showers would smooth things out further. He wanted to make a good impression on the crewmembers they would be meeting and training with.
He was in a great mood, humming to himself as he headed for the shower. Ellie was walking through the common area on her way to the head, too. Cain walked straight up to her with a big smile on his face, leaning in casually to kiss her. She made a fist and punched him in the mouth. He covered his face with both hands, once again confused as only a young man could be.
“That was a once in a lifetime deal. I knew you couldn’t control your thoughts, and I still made a fool of myself!” she exclaimed in a breathy whisper.
“But, didn’t you enjoy yourself?” Cain stammered.
“Yes! But that’s beside the point.” She stormed off. Cain decided to eat breakfast and catch a shower later. He heard the snuffling of a Wolfoid laughing. Black Leaper’s muzzle stuck out around the corner. The area was clear, and he walked up to his friend.
‘So, how did it feel?’ Stinky asked.
“What!?” Cain asked, surprised at the straight forward question. Of course it felt incredible, but he knew he wasn’t supposed to discuss that right here, in the open.
‘Her butt, of course,’ Stinky answered, cocking his head one way, then the other as he tried to understand the human’s instant dismay.
“Oh that, yes, of course, that’s what you meant,” said through a forced laugh. “Wonderful. As expected, firm, round, and all that. What do you say we get some breakfast?” Cain asked as he sucked the blood from his lip.
‘Everyone knows,’ Stinky said abruptly. Cain froze in his tracks, understanding why Ellie was so angry.
“Projecting?” Cain asked tentatively.
‘Oh, yeah,’ Stinky said as Cain hung his head. ‘You can fight an Android with your bare hands and you walk away, but here you stand, bleeding and flustered because of a woman. Bah! Just sniff and when you know, you know. You humans… So, what’s for breakfast?’
Cain watched his friend order a hearty salad, then a second one. Cain went with an omelet, something he savored when he could get it. After devouring it, he ordered a brownie and a fruit smoothie. He studiously found something interesting on the other side of the kitchen as Ellie stalked past on her way back to her room. When she was gone, he raced for the shower, hoping to straighten out his uniform and his brain before the first training session–introduction to the main decks of the Traveler starting with the Livestock Level.
The two teams gathered in the entry area of their berthing and waited for Lieutenant Simonds. No one talked. Ellie kept Tandry between her and Cain so they could avoid looking at each other. Briz kept to himself, but it seemed like he had reconciled his mind with their loss from the day prior. The ‘cat had worked its magic on him and cleared his angst. Finally, Stinky couldn’t take it anymore. He pulled the other four members of his team into a side hallway, looking at each of them while Mixial remained elsewhere.
“Please, I’m asking that we find a way to get back to being the tight team we were yesterday. How did we feel when Briz was in such pain? We cared about him, nothing about ourselves.” Leaper hesitated, trying to shape what he’d say next. “Please. I ask that you two make peace and join us as our teammates, as our friends. We are close, some closer than others, and it’s all okay. In the end, the only thing that matters is that we save the ship.” Leaper ran out of things to say and walked slowly from the group back to where the other team waited.
Ellie was ashamed of herself, accusing Cain of things that she felt about herself. Cain cursed himself for not talking with Ellie about what their way ahead looked like. Tandry slapped them both on the arm and excused herself from standing between the two of them. Briz understood the ways of love. He was a Rabbit, after all. He casually strolled away.
Cain’s mouth worked, but nothing came out. Ellie reached out to put her hand on his chest. Their eyes met. Tears formed in his as she put a finger to his lips. “That was fun last night. But we can’t, not again. If we do, it has to be serious, and right now? I want a career in the SES. I want to explore deep space. I think you want the same thing.” She pulled his face to hers for a long and passionate kiss. Cain disappeared into the moment until someone cleared their throat.
Lieutenant Simonds stood at the end of the hallway, watching them. “If you two are ready, we can go now,” he said without rolling his eyes. He turned, shaking his head at the youth of the day, enjoying their field trip a little more than the rest of the group.
He walked straight through the door and into the corridor, turning right for the short walk to the hatch that accessed Deck 10.
The others followed, Cain a little sheepishly, but Leaper helped him by talking with him over the mindlink, keeping his thought voice from carrying to the rest of them. It was the little things that made a big difference. Stinky had been the leader that DI Katlind wanted him to be. The team put their personal concerns aside and stepped forward as one.
The lieutenant had already reported to Space School that Black Leaper’s team should be assigned together. He wouldn’t bother with an update to his report about Cain and Ellie. Recruits were young and if they were really close, who was he to get in their way. He envied them because he knew, this team would be going to space and he’d be stuck on the Traveler. He admitted to himself that he would have run from the Android, too. He didn’t have what it took to deal with a real emergency. The assignments group must have seen that, and he tipped his hat to them. Leave the excitement to those who lived for it. He had his eye on an ensign in engineering and she had her eye on him, he thought. It wouldn’t be bad to settle down on the Traveler, he thought to himself. It wouldn’t be bad at all.
With a flourish, he opened the hatch and let the winds waft the unique and harsh smell of the Livestock Level over the recruits. Some of the recruits choked, others, like Black Leaper and Cain, breathed in with reverence, becoming quickly accustomed. Leaper led the others as he followed the catwalk to the stairs and down to the grassland that fed the remaining livestock. Without the Wolfoids, the pig population had grown extensively, requiring a significant culling by the Androids to restore balance. With the reintroduction of humans to the RV Traveler, Deck 10 was back in full use. Human shepherds and Aurochs shared the responsibility to maintain the herds that fed the crew, at least those who ate meat.
Lieutenant Simonds walked down the stairs to greet their waiting escorts. A massive Aurochs bull stood casually next to two hover cars. His horns curved from the side of his head, outward and then back forward, menacing anyone who would look the bull in the eye as long as that person didn’t know that the Aurochs were peaceful and friendly. The horns were a holdover from past days when they needed such hardware on their heads to hold predators at bay.
“Good morning, my friends!” the lieutenant called as he approached. Cain didn’t catch the names of their escorts. He would have forgotten them anyway. They’d already been introduced to a seemingly endless parade of people. Of all the people he’d met since arriving on the spaceship, he wouldn’t forget Daksha. The Tortoid had made an impact on him and he couldn’t wait to talk with him more. Daksha left him with many questions and the desire to find the answers. He clearly saw why his great-great-grandfather considered Master Aadi to be his mentor.
They put one team into each hover car, and departed on a rapid circumnavigation of Deck 10. The Aurochs pounded across the plain as he ran free, keeping pace with the cars. Aurochs were legendary for their speed, a reputation that was well-earned. The wind whipped past the open windows as they zipped along. It was a tight squeeze since the Wolfoid to
ok up a great deal of space. Tandry, Ellie, and Mixial squeezed into the front while the boys were stuffed into the back. Between Stinky and Cain, Briz stood with his front legs braced against the front seat. With that much fur in the back, Cain started to sweat. He hung his head out the window on one side and the Wolfoid had his muzzle out the other, ears flapping in the breeze.
The grassland flew by as they passed herds of some kind of hornless cow, pigs, and chickens that had been added recently. Aurochs could be seen around the plains, grazing and keeping the animals together. They saw a couple Wolfoids running through the grasses, too. Maybe they came from the planet for a visit or they were crewmembers on a ship temporarily at the space station. The Traveler was open to everyone. Cain was sure there’d be someone fishing on Deck 5, although he’d been told the conditions were harsh, like fishing during a hurricane, but some found that exciting.
He liked an adrenaline rush as much as the next person, but in his mind, vacations were meant for relaxation. Maybe deep space exploration wasn’t as exciting as he thought it would be. He’d heard that it was minutes of sheer terror followed by months of extreme boredom. He’d have to talk with more spacers and see what they had to say.
They passed herd after herd, along with bots, Androids, and Aurochs. The overall feeling was serene. It was like traveling across the Plains of Propiscius. Leaper watched the sky, knowing that it was artificial, but the light seemed pure, like that on a bright, sunny day. They asked the driver about the source of the light. He explained about the bioluminescence system that made up the lowest panels of the ceiling. The ceiling was the next cylinder of concentric cylinders that made up the five spinning decks of each core section. One hundred meters of structure created the ring stability, in-between were decks where people lived and worked, and the system that provided light to the main levels.
The hover cars circumnavigated the entire deck, then turned toward the ramp spiraling upward. The rollup door opened as they approached and they sped up the wide ramp. The Aurochs stayed on the Livestock Level, tipping his horns to them as they drove away and the door closed behind them.
They stopped most of the way up the ramp as a wall panel slid aside, revealing an entry into the between decks. Most people took the radial elevators beyond the core’s fore and aft bulkheads to get to the decks between levels. Besides engineering, this was where the majority of the work aboard Space Station Traveler happened. With numerous labs, berthing, dining halls, manufacturing facilities, and more, one would never have to leave the area between levels in order to live a fulfilling life.
Cain looked at the others. They shook their heads. Live your entire life indoors? Live in space on a spaceship, but never go anywhere?
No way. They all agreed on that. “Deep space,” Briz ‘shouted’ out of the blue. His vocalization device raised the volume, but nothing like what he really meant. It was up to the others to pick up the torch and carry it.
“Deep space!” the rest of the team yelled, thrusting their fists into the air.
Lieutenant Simonds watched with mild amusement, not knowing what caused the sudden celebration, but he approved. If someone else wanted to go, then that made it easy for people like him to stay. He’d go if they made him, but he didn’t want it. He expected the Traveler to be his home for the rest of his life. Maybe he’d even work his way up to captain. Captain Simonds. He liked the ring of that.
The two teams checked out one of the labs that specifically dealt with the air on the Livestock Level. The recruits had first-hand knowledge of the smell, and this was the area that managed the toxicity, keeping it within a range that wasn’t harmful to people. That meant filtering and air handling. Next stop, the machinery room, then ventilation.
With SI Hendricks’ death, the powers that be decided to send the recruits on three separate tours of the ship. The teams wouldn’t wait on each other. Cain figured it was to expose fewer students to hazards by keeping the others away from him. He remained certain that the Android had targeted him and that it wouldn’t be the last attack. He asked the lieutenant if he could have a blaster, but Simonds only laughed. Cain wanted to remind him that their last escort died a hideous death that a blaster may have been able to prevent, but bit his tongue and kept the comment to himself.
The entire team was wary. Tandry asked Mixial to stay out in front of them, make sure the way was clear, but the ‘cat reminded her that she couldn’t read the Androids. They were a blank to her. If that was where the threat would come from, then Mixial would be no help.
Cain knew that from his great-great-grandparents. The indomitable Golden Warrior was little help on board the Traveler except for his prescience, something that few ‘cats had. Mixial did not, but as with G-War, if the threat wasn’t to her human, then she may not sense it. Mixial remained aware and settled for alerting the team to the presence of the old style Androids.
It would have to do. Cain hated being afraid to turn a corner, wondering what was there. He couldn’t live his life in fear, and they wouldn’t give him a blaster. Mixial agreed to share her vision with him, show him what was around the corner. In a fight, the greatest advantage one could have was more time. Cain appreciated the team’s concern and contribution to his health and well-being. What mattered most was that they believed him. Black Leaper probably had something to do with that, because he had fought with the Android and seen that it didn’t care about him, only what it took to get to Cain. The Wolfoid was convinced the Android was after his friend.
Why wouldn’t the others believe him? Because they’d never experienced hatred and evil before. His great-grandparents told stories of the Bat-Ravens, the horror those creatures projected directly into their minds that they’d never forgotten. The stories of the Android attack on the Wolfoids, on Braden and Micah. Those tales dominated his thoughts ever since he saw the look in the Android’s mechanical eyes. That was the only Android he’d ever seen up close and he’d never forget that look.
Malevolence.
As they toured the facilities and learned how the systems worked for power, air, and fluid control, Cain noted that there weren’t any Androids working, when there should have been.
Maybe someone had taken his claim seriously. And that freed him to learn what he needed about the spaceship’s systems. The ship was life and he couldn’t afford to be the distraction. He’d never been the weak link on a team before and didn’t want to start. Cain stayed next to Briz. A running dialogue between the two held the entire team’s interest. Leaper was both pleased and proud.
Fluid and air flow were similar in regards to the forces applied. The pipelines running through the decks between the levels had a slight slant that followed the direction of spin. Otherwise, the fluids would have to maintain additional pressure to drive them perpendicular to the centrifugal force. The little downhill twist significantly reduced the amount of standing pressure within the system, which increased the longevity between replacement. Most pipes were glass-lined, eliminating any chemical interaction with the pipes themselves. In most cases, the piping was four millennia old. The valves were replaced at regular intervals, but the pipes themselves were original.
Four thousand years. It was mind-boggling. The ancients had the technology to build the ship. In the last one hundred and thirty-seven years, Cygnus had relearned much of what the ancients destroyed during their civil war, but even with the recovered knowledge, the people of Vii could not have built the RV Traveler. They didn’t have the infrastructure or equipment or legions of intelligent shipbuilders. They had yet to catch up on thousands of years of advancements.
But they moved forward in a different area. The survivors from Cygnus VI had made advancements of their own that enabled deep space travel without taking thousands of years to make the trips.
The ISE jumped Cygnus past its ancestors, literally and figuratively, and created the need for the Space Exploration Service. The first explorers had paved the way, experimented, created procedures to handle the unknowns of th
e interstellar universe, established Space School, and instilled the desire in children to touch the stars. Leaper, Cain, Tandry, Ellie, and Briz represented a new generation.
The schools were maturing on Vii, but many were still not connected technologically. Cain and his peers were from those schools that enjoyed the advantage of power and interconnectivity. Until Cain’s school burned down, that is.
That thought brought Cain back to the moment where the instructors had selected two valves for replacement. The recruits were to do the work under the watchful eye of an Android that was responsible for the system. Cain was happy to see a newer generation Android show up. He relaxed and could focus on the task at hand, which was breaking one valve free without losing containment within the piping system.
Stinky and Cain followed their checklist from top to bottom as they worked through the isolation of the valve, its removal, and finally installation of the replacement. They hit it with a hand torch at the end to ensure the gaskets filled the spaces. They attached the air hose and did an air check on their valve and the attached piping, confirming a closed system where the fluids would remain contained. Once the Android checked their work and declared it sound, it opened the isolation valves and returned the system to service. It went from one to the next, through the different groups.
Briz had the pleasure of working with the Android on his system. The Rabbit fumbled when it came to detail work, but when he and the Android talked restricted flow, turbulence, and pressure micro-variations, even the Android had to stop and think. The Android did the hands-on work with the valve while he and Briz ran through numerous calculations, assessing the value of system optimization.
Cygnus Rising: Humanity Returns to Space (Cygnus Space Opera Book 1) Page 7