17 Salas 1117: Jumpspace
Everything seemed to be back to normal this morning. I did a walkthru of the ship, and it was if nothing had happened. Even Director Morn was spending her time in Gains’ cabin again. Or at least that’s what Shelly told me. I didn’t see them.
Chelis and Drakson were out, and I apologized for the excitement two days ago. Both of them were fine with it.
“All the excitement of the lab on our vacation!” Chelis said. “Just like home!”
Drakson was shaking her head. “This is why Sitama has a… questionable reputation. But in this case, it will give us a great source of conference meetup conversation fodder for the next year or so.”
I winced a bit at that. “I understand but… we did what we could to handle the situation.”
“Oh no! Sorry if that gave you the wrong impression, Captain. As far as we could tell you handled that excellently. And don’t worry; we’ll be sure to mention that.”
“Thanks. I’m still sorry about what happened.”
“Don’t be, it was Sitama’s fault for not taking adequate precautions for their specimen.”
“Well, I hope we don’t get too much negative feedback from them.”
She shook her head. “Don’t worry, Captain. Everyone in this subsector knows how Sitama works. The fact that you didn’t toss them out the airlock should show how reliable you are.”
“Thanks,” I said, not quite sure how serious she was. I nodded and headed over to where Doctor Korvusar was sitting, engrossed in something on her comp as usual.
“We’re having a crew meeting this afternoon at 1400,” I said without preamble. “You probably should join us.”
She sighed and snapped shut her comp. “Oh, hello, Captain Kodai. So nice to see you.”
I shook my head. “1400, if you want to be there.”
“But I’m not part of your crew, Captain.”
“Maybe not, but you want to be here. Come or not, the meeting is downstairs at 1400. See you then.” I turned and walked away without waiting for a response.
I stopped by Shelly. “I’m calling a pre-landing meeting this afternoon. 1400. Can you make it?”
She nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’ll just let everyone know and see you then.”
“Great.” I headed back downstairs. Once there, I pinged the rest of the crew on their comms to invite them to the meeting. Everyone seemed fine with it, so I headed back to my cabin.
—
I went back out to the lounge a few minutes early. Shelly was already down and talking to Jami. I was at the dispenser getting a beer when Do’rex and Saahna entered from the Bridge. She joined me at the dispenser as Do’rex took his usual spot beside the door.
“You OK?” she asked, looking at me in concern.
I nodded, handing her the beer I had just retrieved and punching in a request for a second. “Yeah. I’ll just be glad when we’re down on Tlianke and can offload everyone.”
She nodded. “Right there with you. Rough Jump, but at least we didn’t have anyone shooting at us this time.”
I laughed. “Yeah, you have a point.” We returned to the center of the lounge, and I dropped into a seat. She joined Jami on the sofa.
As if on cue, Varan’s door opened, and he exited, saying something over his shoulder as he did. He nodded and headed for the dispenser.
“Sorry,” he said as he grabbed a drink. “Carma is a bit more unhappy than usual today.”
“Invite her out, if you want.”
He shook his head. “I don’t need to keep involving her in the ship’s business.”
I hesitated, then shrugged. There would be time to discuss everything later.
“All right,” I said, flicking the display from my comp to the overhead holo. “Tlianke. Extremely high population and an extremely high law level to go with it. We’ll need to be on our best behavior there. Or better yet, just stay on the Starport. Go out to Startown if you have to but still be careful. You won’t be in any danger of being shot or arrested, they don’t want any more people on the planet than they already have, but they will fine as many credits out of you as they can, and I’m not bailing you out from the ship’s fund. Got it?”
Most everyone reacted with vague amusement or dismissal, but Shelly looked around in concern. “What? What might happen to us there?”
I pointed up at the holo. “Tlianke has a shitton of people. They’re actually doing pretty well despite that; they have the advantage of being a naturally inhabitable planet. But they’ve managed to thrive by having a highly regimented existence. Everything is structured; from what you have for breakfast on Twosday to who you partner with and how many children you have with them. And they’re very good at it. The majority of the population is quite happy with the status quo. Those that aren’t are welcome to leave. If they can afford to, of course. The problem for us is that, since everything is so tightly controlled, it is too easy for outsiders to run afoul of some regulation that we wouldn’t even think about. So… I’d really recommend that everyone stay on the Starport.” I shrugged. “Sorry, but that’s the way it is.”
Shelly nodded. “Yeah… I guess I get it. We had a bunch of really restrictive rules back home, but when someone doing the wrong thing could potentially collapse a floater, we didn’t have a choice. But we were pretty open about what you could do outside of that.”
“Different planet, different culture. Remember what I said?”
She nodded.
“OK, other than that it’s the same as usual. Have fun, and I’ll see what deals I can make for us. They have several starports, but I’m wanting to put down on the one on the smaller of the southern continents. ‘Hafaway’ they call it. It’s one of their smaller cities since it sits in a somewhat inhospitable region, but they have a large computer and robotics industry there. That’s probably where we’ll make our best profit.”
“Plus it is where our Takashina Pharmaceuticals passengers are going and not where Sitama wants to go, and I’m happy to give them a bit of pain after we had to deal with their problems.” There was laughter at that.
“Got it,” Saahna said, nodding. “I can’t plot the route in until we arrive, but I’ll get us down.”
“Great. Anything else?”
Saahna frowned. “Anything about our… passenger status change going forward?”
“Not right now. I wanted Doctor Korvusar to be here when we talked about that since I think we may have a bit of a problem getting rid of her. If she doesn’t make the next one though…” I shrugged.
“What passenger change?” Varan was looking at me.
“I’m not dropping Carma off if that’s what you’re worried about. But we’re going to get a lot more picky about what passengers we carry. If we carry then at all.”
“Oh?”
“Again, none of us need to worry. We’re all still on board. Assuming you want to be. But I’m not sure that our carrying passengers are worth the problems they cause.”
Do’rex clicked. “Is that correct? Captain Martin seemed to believe that they were necessary for us to maintain our credit flow.”
“She was wrong. Or deliberately wanting to carry passengers for some reason. We could have made far more credits by converting our passenger space to cargo. But… she didn’t seem interested in making the best deals she could. Why I don’t know. But we carry passengers because that’s what she wanted. I’m not sure it’s what we want anymore.”
Varan was frowning. “Is this just a way to get rid of Carma?”
I shook my head. “As I said, I’m not kicking anyone off. If she wants to stay, then she can. I won’t be paying her shares of course, but she can stay.'” I paused. “Same with Doctor Korvusar. I’m actually not sure that she would let me kick her off. Anyway, as long as she is on our side, it’s probably better to keep her around.”
He continued to frown but nodded. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Anything else?” I looked around. “That’s it then. We hit the atmosphere tomorrow, unload everyone and everything, and then all of you get your week off. We’ll come up with a place for the crew meeting once we’re down.”
“That’s mine! Remember?” Jami interjected, smiling smugly as she did.
“Yeah, sure. Just remember what I just said. And… it will have to be someplace where we can actually talk; it is a crew meeting after all.”
“You’re no fun… You know that, don’t you?”
“Yeah, and I’m responsible for all of you; I have to play Captain some of the time, at least.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
“Fine. So, anything else before tomorrow?”
Everyone looked around, but no one said anything. Do’rex was already returning to the Bridge.
“OK then,” I said. “Just be ready to hit atmo tomorrow.”
—
After everyone had left or started their own conversations, I went back upstairs. Shelly had gone up before me and was talking to Director Morn. Doctor Korvusar was still sitting in her place, and I walked over.
“We missed you at the crew meeting,” I said, sitting down opposite her. “There are some things that you really might want to have input on.”
She sighed and snapped shut her comp. “But why, Captain? I’m just a passenger on your ship. Why would you want me to be part of a crew meeting?”
“Because the decisions that we are making might affect you?”
“But I’m just a passenger,” she repeated, a bit more emphatically. “Why should I be involved in the operations of your ship? Unless you think I’m something more than just that, and I’m sure you don’t. Unless that is what you want your other passengers to believe?”
What? I was confused, then realized what she was saying. We knew who–and what–she was, but none of our passengers did. Why reveal that information?
I nodded. “You’re right, of course. I was just trying to extend some hospitality, given that you have been a long-term passenger of ours for some time.”
“I appreciate your concern, Captain,” she said with a nod. “But I am sure that the internal operations of your ship do not affect me in any way. Other than your atrocious wine selection, of course. But I’m sure you should be able to pick up some new templates on Tlianke.”
I nodded as I stood up. “I’ll see what I can do.”
She opened her comp and looked back down at it. “Thank you, Captain.”