Russell’s face brightened. “How about something that honors the Commonwealth?”
“No!” Aaron and Susan said in unison.
“We do not want to draw attention to our past,” Susan said in clarification. “I’m sure that Unionists operatives will be looking for all the Commonwealth ex-military, and we don’t want to help them out.”
Russell nodded, looking sheepish. “Sorry, wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“How about something that relates to this being our new home?” Aaron said, waving his hands at the ship around them.
“And it should have something to do with liberty or freedom,” Adam put in.
“How about Soaring Freedom?” Jessica asked.
There were a few hems and haws from the others and Soaring Freedom was quickly voted down. It wasn’t a bad name; it just didn’t seem to fit.
Russell suggested The Free Roamer, but they didn’t even bother voting on that name.
A silence settled in upon them and they each looked lost in thought, but then an idea occurred to Susan.
“How about the Long Shot?” she asked. The others looked up. Susan smiled around at them. “Aaron said it was a long shot that we would ever get our own ship, but we did, and it was a hell of a way to do it, too.
The Long Shot was chosen unanimously.
Epilogue
They were still two hours from the Hasan point and Aaron took a moment to visit his bedroom. He was satisfied that the ship was functioning as expected and didn’t think there would be any issues, at least not until they created the wormhole.
As Captain, Aaron’s room was a bit bigger than the rest, but not by much. The room was roughly ten feet wide by twelve feet long. The double bed folded up into the wall to save space and a small table sat opposite the bed in the corner; both the table and the two small chairs were locked down to the floor. Two floor-to-ceiling lockers and a doublewide closet were in the corner. At the far end of the room was a small lavatory.
The Solarflare had been built in a time when there was less automation, and therefore a much larger crew. Originally, there had been nearly forty crewmen aboard this ship and instead of individual rooms, there had been a common berthing area with bunks. Due to the increased automation and smaller crew, Morgan had overhauled the crew area, making it much more accommodating.
He slumped down into one of the two chairs and he felt the exhaustion roll over him. He had been going non-stop for over a month and his body was starting to rebel.
A soft buzzing emanated from the door. Aaron raised his head and wearily called out, “Come.”
The door slid open and Susan stepped in. She didn’t say anything but looked around the room. It was almost identical to the one she had. Her room was also bigger than average because she was second-in-command.
Still without speaking, Susan moved over and slipped into the second chair. “Are you alright?” she asked. Her tone didn’t sound worried, but then again, she rarely showed emotion.
Was he alright? It was a tough question. “I don’t know,” he said after a moment’s consideration. “Everything I ever knew is gone and here I am playing starship captain.”
“It is tough,” Susan agreed, “but I get the feeling that’s not what’s really bothering you.”
After a moment Aaron nodded. “It’s the experiments,” he said simply. Susan said nothing, only waited. After a few moments, Aaron continued, “They made me into a cyborg.”
Susan really didn’t react; she just sat there watching him.
“You knew?” he asked.
Susan shook her head. “Not exactly, but I suspected.”
“They didn’t do it in the old way,” Aaron said quickly, feeling the need to explain. “They reprogrammed a living virus, basically making it into a living computer program, then they injected it into me.”
“Genius,” Susan said after a moment.
“Not if it was in your head,” Aaron snapped back at her, then he swallowed hard. “Sorry.”
Susan shrugged. “It’s alright,” she said and then a silence settled down between them. After a minute or two, Susan said, “You have no idea what this will do to you.”
Aaron swallowed hard again. He knew where she was going with this. Cybernetic experiments had been forbidden since before the collapse of the old empire for a reason. The cyborgs always went insane and they tended to do some horrible things that took a lot of people out with them.
“From what I understand,” Susan said quietly, “this is a brand new procedure. It is not cybernetics as we understand them. You’re worrying yourself to death. You’ll be dead from the worry long before any bad side affects of the experiments. You need to relax and get some of this stress off of your shoulders.”
Aaron nodded, and then an idea occurred to him. He lifted his head and regarded Susan. “Will you be willing to help me?”
Looking confused, Susan nodded. “What can I do?”
“I want you in my head,” Aaron said quickly. “Keep an eye on me and make sure I don’t do anything crazy.”
Susan snorted. “You do crazy things all the time.”
“I don’t just mean dangerous or poorly thought out,” Aaron replied. “I mean crazy or psychotic.”
After a moment, Susan nodded slowly. “Alright, but what do I do if I think you’re losing it?”
“Kill me,” Aaron said quietly, ignoring the look of shock on Susan’s face. “If I start to go insane, please kill me.”
“And if I’m wrong? Have you thought about that? Telepathy is not full-proof.”
Aaron smiled. “If you’re wrong, I forgive you in advance.”
Long Shot Page 29