by S. H. Jucha
“Who knew water could taste so good,” Tully commented.
“My team, change out these people’s tanks and pick up the empties,” Nate ordered. “Captain, you ready to leave, or do you have more investigating to do?”
“We’re leaving, Nate. I’m looking forward to getting some sleep in an entirely dark room.”
Jessie’s people climbed back into their vac suits.
“These are going to need a good cleaning,” Aurelia commented, wrinkling her nose. The crew had visited their suits’ facilities to eliminate body waste, and the containment limits had been reached.
When everyone was ready, Jessie and his team paused at the opening of the tunnel for a last look around. Jessie’s eyes roved over the alien bodies, strewn across the deck. He felt a surge of sympathy that the aliens hadn’t received a final dignity, but, then again, he had no idea what the services would be for either species. The one item he was extremely hopeful about was that the aliens, who’d built the site, were as advanced in air filtration as they were in metal working. Forced to remove their helmets and breathe the installation’s air meant Jessie’s people were now exposed to whatever alien microorganisms had managed to survive the intervening centuries.
“I get that the console plate sampled my skin,” Hamoi said. “That’s no big deal, and I can understand that it could project our DNA, seconds later. That seems like elemental alien stuff. But what’s got me flummoxed is how did this place know to give us air we could breathe and how did it know grant us access based on our DNA?”
“We might never know the answer to those questions, Hamoi,” Tully said, laying a comforting hand on his young tech’s shoulder.
“I’m not sure we, as a species, are ready to know the answer,” Jessie commented.
“By the way, Hamoi, that was some great deductive reasoning on the console,” Belinda said.
But before Hamoi could reply, Darrin said, “Good thing too, since he was the same crew member who hooked up the console and powered this place.”
“Enough chatter. Let’s exit this place before it decides we should all stay,” Jessie said, while Nate led the way out.
At the bottom of the steps, Tobias waited until everyone passed by him before he tapped the toe plate. Jessie paused to watch the wedge slide into place and shivers ran up and down his spine. Immediately, he felt a soothing presence in his mind, and he glanced toward Aurelia. She had rarely left his side, since he had passed out from lack of water.
“I’m fine,” Jessie said to Aurelia over a private channel, but the pleasant sensation continued.
“I’m so tired of blue,” Belinda said, watching the glowing icons pass by.
“I like the color,” Aurelia replied.
“Empaths,” Belinda quipped, “there’s no accounting for their tastes.”
“Would you rather have had pulsing red?” Aurelia asked sweetly.
“Rules, can you sense the power down here, and is it any different?” Jessie asked.
‘Oh, it’s stronger down here, Captain, and it increased after Hamoi activated the icons with his DNA. The signal is more pleasant, if anything. I’ll miss it. It’s been very soothing, and I feel as if it gave me more power, if that makes any sense.”
Several of Aurelia’s compatriots confirmed that it had.
“I think we’re all saying that we felt your ministrations to be much stronger in the dome, Rules, especially at the moment we were rescued,” Belinda explained.
“Interesting,” was Jessie’s only comment.
“Helmets on, Captain,” Nate said. “We’re about to enter an airlock.”
When everybody signaled their readiness, Nate tapped the doorplate. The team entered the short tunnel segment before cycling to the outside. Once clear of the tunnel, Jessie’s team watched the final set of doors close and relief flooded through them. They might have been standing in vacuum, but it was an environment that spacers understood. It wasn’t alien.
Jessie tested his relay to the shuttle, found the signal strong, and reached out to his ships. “Cinders calling the Spryte and the Annie.”
Ituau jerked out of her sleep and slapped the comm button. “Captain,” she yelled.
“Captain Cinders, this is the Annie’s navigator. It’s great to hear your voice. Captain Erring dropped into her cabin for a few hours’ sleep. She’s been on duty since she heard you were offline.”
“Let her sleep then. I’ll update her later,” Jessie replied, and the navigator dropped off the call.
“Captain, you’re free,” Ituau exclaimed. “Is everyone okay?”
“We’re all fine, Ituau, and it’s good to hear your voice too.”
Jessie asked after the status of his people, and Ituau updated him on the disposition of the shuttles, the shelter, the rovers, and the crew.
“Ituau, we’ll take the Annie’s shuttle, disperse the crew, return the rover, and let the pilot drop us back at the Spryte. I have a job for the shelter team, and then those rovers and the shelter can be collected too.”
“Understood, Captain.”
“Any news from our friends at home, Ituau?”
“Just an update from your girlfriend, Captain.”
“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Jessie ground out.
“Well, I don’t think Captain Harbour would risk the residents of the Belle to come out to Triton to rescue my ample butt, sir.”
“Oh, for the love of Pyre,” Jessie sighed. “What’s the update?”
“She said they’re on target to launch in about seventeen days. Dingles confirmed that the travel time for the Belle would be slightly less than four weeks.”
“Understood, Ituau. Cinders out.”
“Ready for you, Captain,” Nate said, indicating the empty seat next to Tobias. “Captain rides.”
Jessie was too tired to object, residual weakness from the water deprivation still plaguing him, and he climbed into the rover beside Tobias. Immediately, the crew took off in bounding steps headed for the distant shuttle. Tobias adopted a more leisurely speed than the one Nate had exercised on approach to the tunnel. An engineer respected his equipment.
“Tobias, I need you to communicate to the shelter and set up something for me. If they don’t have the gear, get it.”
“Aye, Captain, what do you need?”
“The original cam at the site, is it functioning?”
“It’s not sending, Captain, I think it might have been fried when the dome was formed.”
“I need a long-range cam with a solar power supply and a heavy-duty relay.”
“How far are we transmitting, Captain?”
“Can we reach the Spryte, even if the ship is anywhere between here and Pyre?”
“We don’t have a transmitter with enough strength.”
“Okay, Tobias, have the shelter set up the cam and the power supply. Set the cam to record its visuals to memory.”
“The cam memory would be full in a matter of a month or so, Captain.”
“And set the cam’s sensing mode to monitor motion.”
Tobias swiveled his head to stare at Jessie. “Motion sensor, Captain? Are we expecting visitors?”
“You never know, Tobias, you never know,” Jessie replied, and settled back in his seat.
-31-
Cantina
Harbour boarded the Belle’s shuttle, nodding at the collection of passengers, and took a seat next to Dingles. It took her a moment to recognize what had caught her attention. She’d passed two spacers, who were wearing skins. Aboard the Belle and over time, the spacers who she’d rescued or hired had taken to wearing the typical thermal layers of the residents. Lately, she’d seen spacers, engineers, and techs wearing new skins.
After docking at the JOS, the passengers prepared to exit, collecting personal items, but waited in their seats. Harbour, who was seated forward in the main cabin, waited for Danny to pass and secure the gangway connection before the hatch was released.
“Captain,” Dingles said, gesturin
g down the aisle after Danny thumped by. “Privileges of rank.”
Harbour gritted her teeth, rose, and walked down the aisle. In the gangway, she mumbled to Dingles, “That was embarrassing.”
“Captain, aboard a ship that’s underway, there are hundreds of things that can go wrong. On a ship, as big as the Belle, that’s probably thousands. People will not jump to and do what’s necessary, unless they believe in those who command. Someday, that might be a spacer sacrificing his or her life to prevent a tragedy that could cost the lives of many others. And they’ll willingly do it for those people they trust and respect.”
Harbour considered Dingles’ words. She thought that the demeanor of the ship captains she had met, including Jessie, seemed standoffish, cold. Now, it appeared to her as the isolation of command, and she wondered if she could make the transition. She knew she was partway there, but the remaining distance looked daunting.
It was while traversing the terminal arm that Harbour noticed Danny had caught up to them and was walking next to her on the opposite side from Dingles. Danny had also shucked his resident-style clothing and adopted the spacers’ skins.
At the line for the cap, Dingles and Danny marched to the front, turned, and faced the waiting people. When the next capsule arrived, no one moved. Instead, those at the front turned to look down the line, eyes focused on Harbour.
“Captain, your capsule is waiting,” Harbour heard in her ear. She glanced behind her. The two skin-wearing spacers, whom she had noticed aboard the shuttle, were standing behind her. One of them was indicating the front of the line. Harbour squared her shoulders and took what seemed to be a long journey, the twenty steps from the back of the line to the capsule. She expected to feel resentment and suspicion from those she passed. Amazingly, she sensed little emotion, except for some of the usual jealousy her looks engendered.
Once Harbour and the four spacers were aboard the capsule and locked in with shoulder restraints and harnesses, she expected another person to join them. Harbour glanced at the first person in line, a woman, who wore a bored expression. Apparently, she was content to wait for the next cap.
“What’s going on?” Harbour asked, after the doors of the terminal arm and the capsule closed.
“It’s a captain’s introduction, ma’am,” Dingles said.
When Harbour frowned, Danny added, “It’s done to demonstrate to the stationers that the crew has the captain’s back.”
“Then this is meant to be some form of intimidation,” Harbour replied, not happy with the concept.
“It’s a reminder, ma’am, that when stationers see our captain, they should envision the crew standing behind her,” one of the spacers said.
When the five of them completed the transit to the JOS, they exited into a short corridor and turned right at its end onto the main promenade. Dingles and Danny walked beside her and the two tall spacers walked behind and slightly off her shoulders. Stationers, who might have brushed past Harbour before, were forced to make way for the group. At no time did Dingles and Danny attempt to evade individuals. They walked with purpose, proudly, and Harbour sought to adopt their pose.
Winding their way inward and to another level, they arrived at the Miners’ Pit, and Dingles tapped the door actuator. This time, the hatch stayed closed. Harbour glanced up at the door cam, about the time the hatch finally slid open.
“Captain Harbour,” Maggie said, with relish, tipping two fingers to her brow.
“Word travels fast,” Harbour remarked.
Maggie laughed and said, “Captain, if one spacer knows it, rest assured every spacer knows it well before you think it’s humanly or technically feasible.”
“Captain or not, where’s my hug?” Harbour replied.
“Ah, I see rank hasn’t gone to your head, yet,” Maggie said, hugging Harbour, who basked in the sensation, physically and emotionally. “And the station has been introduced to a new captain, has it?” Maggie said, stepping back and eyeing the four spacers.
“You mean my self-appointed escort,” Harbour said, with a small grimace.
“It’s a captain’s duty to command respect for herself, the ship, and the crew,” Maggie replied sternly.
“That’s what I’ve been hearing,” Harbour said, glancing at Dingles.
“Guiding a new captain in her duties is all,” Dingles replied modestly.
“I bet you are,” Maggie said, laughing. She hooked an arm into Harbour’s and guided her to a table. “You boys can belly up to the bar. I laid out some food for you.”
Danny and the two spacers made for the bar.
“You’re not hungry, Dingles?” Maggie asked.
“I require my first mate to attend our meeting,” Harbour replied, smiling.
“First mate! Why you old space dog,” Maggie said, slapping Dingles on the shoulder. “When you have downtime, the first drink is on the house.”
“Only the first drink?”
“Yes, only one. Okay, let’s sit and hear why you came, Captain.”
“I need a cantina, for lack of a better word,” Harbour said.
“You thinking of going into business, Captain? Maybe becoming my competition?” Maggie asked, and Harbour detected a cooling of the woman’s usually pleasant aura.
“Hook on, spacer,” Dingles growled. “The captain doesn’t have time to be your competitor. She has somewhere to be,” Maggie was taken aback by her friend’s tone, but she had always considered herself a fairly bright person. She quickly parsed Dingles words, and her eyes popped open wide in realization. “Apologies, Captain. I’ve been too long aboard the JOS. I’m latched on now.”
Harbour felt a flood of excitement and endearing warmth from Maggie.
“Let me think. You have what, thirty, or so, spacers now?” Maggie asked.
“Make it fifty,” Dingles replied.
“And another sixty tech staff,” Harbour added.
“Okay and you’ve got another fifty to sixty out, you know where,” Maggie said, dropping her voice to a conspiratorially level, and Harbour found it difficult to keep a smile off her face. “Let’s call it two hundred crew even. How long, Captain? Six months?”
“I want provisions for a year,” Harbour replied.
“Smart, Captain, who knows what else they’ve uncovered out there or what that piece of effluent, called a governor, might try next. So, are we talking drink, food, or both?”
“Both, Maggie. In addition, I’ll be ordering supplies for my three thousand residents.”
“Aye, Captain. When, where, and how?”
“I need the processes of purchase and installation to go through you, and that includes any secondary vendors whose services you need to secure, Maggie.”
“Right, you don’t want to signal your intentions. And how long do I have?”
“Three weeks. Sooner, if you can manage it. Dingles tells me the trip will take four weeks. So, that’s all the time I can afford.”
“Understood, we’ll get it done, one way or the other, Captain. Do you know where you want the cantina installed, and what services are available there now?”
“Work through Dingles, Maggie. He’ll connect you with the engineers aboard the Belle, who will define the space for you and answer any questions. Message me the amount of coin you’ll need in advance or as you pay out, either way.”
“Which reminds me, Captain, what’s my budget?”
Harbour realized that she had no idea of what the cantina and the provisions might cost. She did know that her general fund was more robust than it’d ever been, and, if the spacers had to spend six months or more at Triton, they’d need a friendly place to unwind. “Tell you what, Maggie. Give me a second Miners’ Pit with maybe a new face. What do you say?”
“I say can do, Captain,” Maggie said, extending her hand to seal the deal.
“Spacers,” Dingles called out, “swallow those mouthfuls. We’re making for the exit.”
Maggie gave Harbour a long, sincere hug at the door, whispering
, “Go take care of our people, Captain.”
* * *
“You heard?” Liana Belosov asked Lise Panoy.
“Are you speaking about Harbour, Liana?” Lise asked. The two women were sitting in Lise’s front parlor, enjoying cool fruit drinks.
“Captain Harbour! Can you believe the woman’s presumption?” Liana said hotly.
“Stranger things have happened, Liana. How can I help you?”
“I see. Not much chatting, anymore. Is that it, Lise? Or should I start calling you governor?” When Liana didn’t receive a reply, she colored with resentment and embarrassment. The Andropov family has been displaced; long rule the Panoys, she thought with disgust. “Regardless of what has befallen my brother, who I believe the Review Board has been overly harsh in condemning, the murderer of my son is still free. I want to know what you’re going to do about it.”
“Nothing,” Lise replied.
“Nothing?” Liana echoed, in a screeching voice.
“Calm down, Liana, and I’ll explain,” Lise replied. She’d been waiting decades for this moment and was intent on drawing out the pleasure. She’d hated Liana since they were children, and those feelings only deepened when the two women reached adulthood. “We know who killed your son. Everyone knows who did it, and yet no one can find her. She might be a powerful empath, but someone should have noticed the odd habits of those protecting her. Certainly, the reward would have drawn people out to report what they’ve seen, but it hasn’t.”
“What’s that mean, Governor?” Liana asked, near choking on Lise’s title, but, if she was to have justice, she had to accept that she no longer possessed the cachet she once had as the governor’s sister.
A thrill raced up Lise’s spine. Liana’s bow to her position was a validation of the patience and cunning she had exercised to depose the Andropov family, and revenge tasted wonderfully sweet.
“We have an idea where the girl is hiding, Liana,” Lise replied, choosing to draw out the conversation. She intended to give Liana enough information to whet her appetite, but not enough to satisfy it. It would force the woman to return to her, time and again, to hear the latest news, deferring to Lise’s position of power each time. Secretly, Lise hoped Aurelia Garmenti would never be brought to justice. She couldn’t care less about the murder of Dimitri Belosov. As far as she was concerned, the little piece of effluent was better dead. “We don’t know exactly, Liana, but all evidence points to Aurelia secreted aboard a mining ship.”