by Alan Black
“And your second question?” he asked.
“How the heck do we get out of here?” she laughed. “Besides, I’d like to see this cannon you found.”
Tasso led them to the front hatch in a direct line. He noticed the captain was in good physical condition, bounding up and down the mounds of goods with incredible speed. They slid down the last pile and walked across the open space toward Sergeant Rodriguez. The sergeant stood waiting for Tasso with his hands on his hips, tapping his foot in frustration, as if urging Tasso to hurry. The tapping stopped, his hands dropped, and the expression on his face froze when he realized who was accompanying Tasso.
“Captain,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t realize it was you talking with Trainee Menzies.”
Captain Rojo said, “I assumed that much from the tone you took with him. However, water under the bridge, show us what you’ve uncrated.”
CHAPTER 30
TASSO KNOCKED on the captain’s hatch. He shifted the box in his hand from one hip to the other. The big box wasn’t heavy, but bulky enough to be uncomfortable. He was more uncomfortable about coming to see the captain without a summons. Yesterday, she said he could come and talk with her anytime he wanted to, but an offer had a different feel than actually doing it. Had she made her invitation out of politeness? Did she mean he should make an appointment? Maybe she was too busy to talk to him now. Maybe she wasn’t even in her office. What if she meant he should come to see her if he only wanted to talk? He did have another errand at hand.
The hatch clicked and popped open. Tasso pushed the hatch open and carried the box inside.
“Trainee Menzies,” Captain Rojo said, “please come in. I need a distraction from all this paperwork.”
Tasso couldn’t see any paper on her desk, just a few dataports and displays. He set the box down on the chair.
The captain looked at the box with open curiosity. “Did you need to talk to me about something or have you got something in the box to show me?”
Tasso opened the box lid and lifted out a wooden chest. “I was checking out the flitter lift capabilities by taking a direct route from the agricultural-processing unit and I came over a stack of goods, starting a small avalanche. When I went back to clean up, I noticed a few crates of what looked like crew-owned goods were under the pile. A couple of boxes had names on them.”
Captain Rojo’s eyebrows shot up in interest. “And you brought this one to me because …?” She slapped her forehead. “Dang it. I hate it when people don’t actually finish a question. Why are you bringing this to my attention?”
“Well, I looked up a couple of names on the shipnet. This chest contains personal items from your great—” He looked up and counted on his fingers. “Great, great, great, great grandmother. I thought you might want it.” He set the chest on the desk, directly in front of her.
She reached out to touch the chest, but drew her hand back as if the little wooden box was too hot to touch. “Oh, my!” She stared at the box with frank amazement and curiosity.
Tasso cleared his throat, “I thought since family plays such a big part in what goes on around here that you might want this. I mean, I know you probably know everything about your family for more generations that I can count without using my fingers. I know so little about my own family that I got curious.”
She looked up in surprise. “I can imagine how family must feel to you, since you’ve had so little of it. I’ve had more family in my life than I know what to do with, but beyond a few older generations, it’s all data and old holos, vids, and images. This is so tangible.”
“Well, I didn’t open it. It might be private, but I wondered if you’d let me see what was inside. If not, I understand. I mean, I get touchy about my family.”
The captain commanded, “Sit.” She touched the chest with a reverent fingertip. She smiled as if not having burned her finger was an immense pleasure and a good sign everything was all right to continue. There wasn’t a lock on the chest, so she flicked open the small latch and flipped open the lid.
Tasso sighed with relief. His worry was that the box held nothing more than used female undergarments or nothing at all. Instead of nothing, the chest was jammed with miscellaneous personal items. They looked like things Grandpa called knick-knacks and dust collectors. He and Grandma covered one wall with images and various certificates, awards, and commendations. His grandfather considered most other items to be clutter. Unless something had a specific useful purpose, Grandpa discarded it quickly.
Information buried on his dataport and in his memory was all Tasso knew of his family beyond his grandparents. What he knew of his mother was in the same database and what faded memories he clung to. Looking at items from such a distant ancestor who actually owned, touched, and revered these things enough to save them, was intriguing. He wanted something of his mother other than a child’s distant and unreliable memories, a few bits of data, and a rock-covered grave on a faraway planet. Tasso looked up at the captain. She was staring back at him. He could see she felt the same way about the items and her family. They were at opposite ends of the family spectrum. She had more family than she could count. He had none. But, they both felt that connection to the past oozing forth from the chest.
Pulling a 3D player from the top of the chest, setting it on the desk, she tapped the on button. A holo of a young woman in a cheerleader’s uniform popped into life. The image shouted and danced in all of her seven-inch glory across the desk. The captain reached into the image and shut off the sound, letting the girl’s holo continue her dance.
Tasso was almost too embarrassed to look. The girl’s uniform covered even less than Anisa and Kendra’s cheerleading outfits did. He couldn’t help but look, and the captain didn’t seem to mind as she stared with unabashed curiosity as the girl stripped off what there was of her tiny top, completely exposing her breasts. The girl whipped her hair around and ground her hips with unabashed enthusiasm.
The captain smiled and said, “Great Grandma was un poco de una tarta. Well, styles change I guess.”
Tasso glanced at his dataport for a quick translation of the captain’s Spanish phrase. He wasn’t going to admit that Great Grandma was acting like a little tart. Instead, he said, “She looks like Anisa.” He stared at the little dancer, squinting to get a good look.
The captain looked at Tasso. “Really? You’ve seen my niece without her top on?”
Tasso blushed and looked away. “No, ma’am … I mean, no, Captain. I meant her face.” He held up a hand to block the girl’s gyrating body so he could peer at her face over his palm. “I don’t mean it like she is an exact duplicate, but I can sure see the resemblance.”
The captain nodded, studying the girl’s face, “Well, we don’t talk with my baby sister about it, but Anisa is a bit of a tart, too.” She glanced at Tasso’s shocked look. “Oh, don’t get your panties in a twist. She’s my family and I love her. I know you’re sweet on her as well, but the girl isn’t exactly studying for the priesthood.” She pushed the player over to the side just as the girl’s dance morphed into the same girl strutting around in a long, white sparkling dress.
Tasso tore his eyes away and watched Rojo pull another 3D player out and turn it on. This one played a picture of some family outing with young children running through the grass at the edge of a pool covered in mist from a high waterfall. The young dancer had grown up and was chasing children, who in turn chased her and a man.
The captain slid this over to the other player, letting it run with the images overlapping. The young dancer was in a red ship’s uniform, giving a speech, while an older her chased her children around at her feet. The captain said, “I’ve actually seen this family in the ship’s archives. The oldest boy in the image is my direct ancestor.”
Soon there were a dozen images moving around on the desktop, silently moving in patterns recorded seven generations before. Most weren’t images of the dancer or any later version of her, but of her family and close friends. The yo
ung dancer amazed Tasso, and he knew he would think of her often. Not just her naked breasts, but also trying to wrap his brain around how the images of the dancing cheerleader’s family were in her future, yet they were in his distance past.
The captain reached into the box and pulled out a clear crystal globe. Inside was a black scorpion, frozen on display. “Oh my! This is a real Texas scorpion.” She stared at the evil-looking little creature. “I guess we’ve stylized this scorpion some, but I’ve only seen one other of these creatures before. The scorpion on display at Rojo Freight headquarters on New Texas. I’m sure going to have to find somewhere prominent to display this.”
She pulled an oversized dataport from the box. Nothing happened when she tapped the on switch. She turned it over and looked on the back. She held it close to try and catch the light. “It says ‘made in’ … I can’t make out the word … ‘C H blank N blank’. That doesn’t match any planet I’m familiar with.”
Tasso pointed at the side of the small device. “Try pushing that.” There was what looked like a small switch or toggle. He shrugged when the captain looked at him. “I don’t know. Unless there’s a manual to read, I don’t know how it works. It looks like a dataport, but it’s bigger than any I’ve ever seen.”
The captain nodded and pushed the toggle. A small door popped open revealing a tiny empty gap. “This looks like a battery slot.”
“A what?” Tasso asked.
“Battery slot.” At Tasso’s confused look, she said, “Batteries were old power storage devices we used before power node chargers were made small enough for hand-held devices.” She leaned back and pulled a small toolkit from a bottom drawer in the credenza. She pulled out a powerwand and twisted the end until the contacts were barely wide enough to slide into the battery slot.
There was a pop and a sizzle with a little static and a picture of a young man leaped into life. Tasso was amazed. The picture was a real 2D image, small and square, hovering over the dataport. The man’s voice said, “That was our last view of Austin. Next stop is Houston and the spaceport. I’m so excited and my bride,” he reached off screen and pulled a young woman into view, “my bride, the ever so beautiful, Sandy Ortiz Rojo is so nervous about our impending space trip that she can’t keep her breakfast down. Or is that just morning sickness, love?”
The young woman poked the man in the side, “Shut up, Johnny.” She grinned and patted the small bump on her belly.
Tasso could see the resemblance between the woman and Captain Rojo. Even down through the multitude of generations, they were obviously family. He glanced up at the captain and was surprised to see the woman staring aghast at the picture. Her mouth was open and a quick laugh escaped.
The man waved his arms around him as the scenery flew by. Whatever transport they were using was now moving at a quick pace across wide plains. “We are saying goodbye to Earth and Texas. New Texas here we come.”
The captain hit the dataport off switch and gently pulled the powerwand from the battery slot. “Well …” She obviously didn’t know what to say. “That needs to go to information support services for data retrieval and download.” She put it carefully over to the side. “Images of Earth! Imagine that!” She looked at Tasso and shrugged. “And a Rojo married to an Ortiz. It is a common name, but I wonder …” Her voice faded away as she tried to mentally peer into the past and draw a connecting line to the future.
Tasso shrugged. Earth may have been man’s birthplace and his jumping off point into space, but Saronno was his birthplace. That was his home. He didn’t need to see the images stored on his dataport to remember his home. He clearly remembered the sun glinting its morning light off the canyon walls of his valley.
The captain sighed and pulled a small cloth pouch from the box. She dumped a handful of jewelry onto the desk. There was a shiny stylized scorpion label broach, a few necklaces, a bracelet full of colorful stones, and a small gold ring. She picked up the ring and held it to the light to read the inscription. “All my love, John to Sandra.”
Tasso left the office quietly as Captain Rojo stared at the ring with tears trailing slowly down her cheeks, obviously overcome by how personal and tangible her family’s history had become.
CHAPTER 31
TASSO FINISHED clearing a space next to the agriculture-processing unit. His plan was to hover the old flitter frame into the spot, then build and bolt a platform on it. He should be able to lever the unit onto the platform. He might be able to float the unit into the clear space by the main hatch, near where the security team was working on the cannon. That would give him enough area to make sure the ag-unit was working properly.
He hadn’t heard from Captain Rojo since yesterday when he took the small chest to her office. He hoped she wasn’t mad at him for leaving without being dismissed. Grandpa always yelled at him when he left the room before Grandpa finished talking. Still, it seemed like she needed to be alone. He was curious about the other things in the chest, but the stuff in it was more personal than if it had been women’s undergarments.
“Trainee Menzies to the attic’s main hatch,” Sergeant Rodriguez’ voice boomed from his dataport.
“Yes sir,” he replied. He was surprised at the summons. Rodriguez assigned men from his crew to specifically study the manuals of everything they were uncrating. Tasso knew he wasn’t really a weapons expert, so he wondered why he was being called, again. Still, he was a trainee and deciding where to go or what to do wasn’t up to him.
He wasn’t in a hurry to get to the hatch, so he wandered around the piles instead of going over the tops. It took a little longer, but he was used to the maze and found his way there quickly enough to not hear another call chiding him for not hurrying. He popped around a corner and was surprised to see Sergeant Rodriguez’s team steadfastly working on uncrating and reading various onboard manuals. There were about three times the number of people from security today than there had been yesterday.
There was another large cluster of crew standing by the main hatch. Anisa waved at him from the middle of the group, and Flacco flashed him one of those strange middle-finger salutes. He made a note to ask Gordo what the upraised finger meant. He knew the hand sign wasn’t a compliment, yet he’d seen people both laugh and get angry when they were saluted in that manner.
A heavyset middle-aged crewwoman stood in front of the group. She nodded at Tasso. “I’m Maria Macias.” She tapped her dataport against his, transferring information. “Tio Gabe is still officially in charge of the attic. However, I’m now the foreman and I’m in charge of this mess. This gaggle of crew and trainees is now my staff. Tasso Menzies, you now report to me.”
Tasso wanted to sigh. He wanted to frown. He wanted to grimace, scowl, and even grunt his displeasure. He kept his face passive and nodded his acceptance, even though it felt like he was having his private treasure hunt taken away.
Macias stepped away from the group and faced them. “Captain Rojo personally asked me to take over this mess and try to make some sense of it. I’ve never been in here before, but from what I can see, it’ll take us a while to get this cleaned up.”
Rodriguez overheard and laughed.
Macias frowned at him. “Do you have something to add to this, Sergeant?” She managed to make an insult of the word sergeant.
Rodriguez nodded. “Yes ma’am. No disrespect, but I suggest before you say anything else, you climb up the first big stack over there and take a gander at this place from some high ground.”
Macias didn’t look happy at the prospect of climbing up the hill of discarded goods. “I suggest you plow your own fields, Sergeant.” Nevertheless, she warned her group to stay put, walked across the hundred yards of clear space, and climbed the first pile she came to.
Tasso slid between two huge crewmembers and eased up to Anisa. “Hi.” He wanted to say more, but he wasn’t sure what else he was supposed to say, and what he wanted to say, he would certainly not say in front of these people.
“Hi, yourself
,” Anisa said. She reached out and grabbed his hand.
A finger tapped him on the shoulder. He ignored the touch and stared at Anisa. He was having trouble separating the vision of the half-naked dancing girl on the captain’s desk, the girl he had kissed last weekend, and this young trainee standing hand-in-hand with him. He would have ignored Ol’ Ben at his back as long as Anisa was standing here.
Kendra leaned over Anisa’s shoulder and grinned. “Don’t I get a hello?”
Tasso grinned back. “Hello, Kendra.” He ignored another tap at his shoulder.
Kendra raised her wrist and flashed the wooden bracelet. “I still love your gift.”
“Thank you. It was my pleasure.” Tasso looked down at Anisa’s bare wrist.
Anisa said, “I didn’t want to get it messed up while working up here, so I left it in my cabin for safe keeping.”
The tapping at his shoulder grew more insistent. Tasso turned slightly and looked into Flacco’s glaring eyes. The other boy was obviously angry. He glanced down at Tasso and Anisa’s hands. “Keep your hands to yourself, gringo.”
Kendra started to say something, but Anisa slipped her hand free and wiggled her fingers at Flacco. “Satisfied?”
Flacco nodded, “No PDA for trainees during duty hours.”
Tasso remembered the trainee orientation that explained they were to avoid public displays of affection at inappropriate times. He hadn’t intended to break the rules, but seeing Anisa pushed all of the rules out of his head. “I’m sorry. I forgot.” He decided if Flacco wasn’t going to mention their fight on Saturday morning, he wouldn’t either.
Kendra said, “A little hand holding isn’t as bad as that racist word you used, Flacco.”
Flacco laughed, “What word? Gringo? Yeah, okay. So, I should have called him a pendejo?”
Kendra nodded, “Better, at least it isn’t a banned word.”
Tasso had learned enough Spanish to know what pendejo meant. Still, he hadn’t been offended by being called a gringo as much as he would an asshole. After all, he was of Scottish descent. It clearly made him a gringo. He wondered why it offended Kendra when he wasn’t as upset by the name-calling as he was for having to let go of Anisa’s hand.