24 Erbe 1117: Gashuumi – Tlianke/Hinterworlds (1206 B527769-7 O:1104 923 Na M4 V M9 D)
We stayed in the bunk late this morning. We had just gotten contracted, after all. Then Saanha’s comm started pinging. I tried to get her to ignore it, but it continued, and she finally rolled over to answer.
She quickly turned back to me. “They’re releasing Shelly from the medical center in about an hour.”
“Yeah?”
She frowned at me. “Yes. And remember, she was unconscious the entire time. She’ll have no idea where she is or how she got there. And she probably wasn’t carrying her comm when she was hit, so she’ll have no way to contact anyone. We need to be there.”
I grunted. “Yeah, you’re right.” I rolled out of bed and stood up, then turned back to her. “You know TliSec is probably going to visit her too.”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “Well, she doesn’t know anything about the Stetons beyond what we knew before the attack. As for anything else we’ve done… We’ll just have to hope that she manages to be a little discrete.”
“Let’s hope. So… how much time do we have?”
She had stood up herself. “Not much. We need to go. Now.”
I was already digging through a drawer. “Yeah. No fresher this morning, I suppose.”
“I guess we’ll just have to deal with it.”
—-
It was just over an hour later when we dropped onto the parking deck for the medical center. We hadn’t hit the fresher beyond relieving basic biological needs, and I had probably broken a few traffic regulations getting there, but we quickly exited and entered the lobby.
Shelly was already there, looking around anxiously. She saw us and ran over, throwing her arms around me. “Derek!”
I patted her as reassuringly as I could. “It’s OK. You’re OK, you’re OK. We’re all OK. How are you feeling?”
Saahna was giving me a disapproving look as Shelly pulled away while keeping her hands on my arms. “Well… I’m… fine? I guess? I remember that I was going to show Reina my equipment and… Oh gods, what happened? Those people! Someone said that we had been attacked? What… I don’t know!” She was on the verge of tears.
Saahna stepped it. “We were sabotaged. A device on board released a nanophage that we didn’t detect. And you got hit by it. We’re on Gashuumi, and you’re OK. Now, come on. We need to get out of here before we talk further.”
Shelly was looking between us. “Nanophage? Us? Why! What… what about Reina?”
“She’s fine,” I said, taking her arm. “She and Ms. Dradon have already left. And they left something for you! But come on, let’s go somewhere else before we continue.”
She was confused but apparently still far enough under the influence of whatever drugs she had been on that she followed without question. Thinking about it, I had done the same thing when I got out. Thank the gods for more minor favors, I suppose. I didn’t want to go into too many details in the middle of a public facility.
As we left, I searched for restaurants in the area while Saahna kept reassuring Shelly. I found a place called Vandiver’s. It seemed popular while also being out-of-the-way, so I thought it would be sufficient for a somewhat clandestine conversation. I pinged the rest of the crew to let them know where we were going.
—-
Vandiver’s was in what looked like an abandoned area of the colony. Most of the surrounding buildings were empty, and a few collapsed. But the place was in good repair, and there were a dozen air-rafts and ground vehicles parked around. There was also a security guard at the entrance, but he waved us in without a scan.
The interior was dark, especially after the daylight outside. I pulled my combo free and asked the receptionist for a private booth. The room we had entered was a large, rectangular space holding a dozen or so tables and another half-dozen booths, most unoccupied, but she led us into a second area with a half-dozen booths off of an empty hallway. A few had curtains drawn, but we found ourselves in one with a surprisingly large table. I quickly asked her to send anyone else from the crew before pulling the curtain across the entrance shut.
“What is going on!” Shelly wailed as we sat down. This is… I don’t know what is happening!”
“OK,” I said as I activated the scrambler and tossed my remote onto the table.”Things were bad for a bit, but we’re OK now.” I quickly filled her in on everything that had happened since the attack.
She shook her head. “Someone wanted to kill us?”
“Not us,” I said. “They seem to have been after the Stetons. We just… got caught in the middle.”
“Oh, my gods!” She broke down crying.
Saahna looked from her to me. “Maybe… we shouldn’t go into many details right now.”
She was still crying. “What about Swoopy?” she suddenly asked.
It took me a few seconds to remember who ‘Swoopy’ was. “We… we had to jettison the air-raft. Swoopy… didn’t make it.”
“Swoopy? No!” She broke down further. Our waitress picked that moment to arrive. I quickly ordered a basket of tama leaves and a Gashisplit for all of us before sending her away. Saahna glanced at me but moved to the seat next to Shelly, putting a hand on her shoulder.
It was a few minutes before she spoke again. The waitress had returned with our drinks and asked what else we wanted, but I sent her away without ordering anything, saying that we were still waiting on some people. Saahna tasted her beer then shoved it toward me, but Shelly drank most of hers in a single gulp before making a face and putting it aside. I turned the scrambler back on.
“Swoopy has done all of my broadcasts with me,” Shelly said, trying to stifle her tears. “How can I keep going without him?”
“We can get you a new flybot. That’s easy. Did you… when did you last do a core backup on him?”
She was still upset but frowned in thought. “Tlianke? Or maybe after Gimisapun? One of the other.”
I nodded reassuringly. “So you’ll have all of his programming and almost all of his experience, minus the last few Jumps. Which, frankly, I’d be glad to be able to forget myself. So… maybe that’s good?”
She shook her head. “But… Swoopy!”
“Listen!” I leaned forward and took her hand. “I know you’re upset. But… we have his core backup! He’ll be back to what you remember! And then… we have the records that Gray was keeping, and we have our input. You can let all of your viewers know what happened to him, you, and us; that will be his legacy! Can you do that?”
She thought for a moment, then nodded. She was about to say something when the curtain pulled back, revealing Varan and a woman I didn’t recognize.
“Hey, how’s it going, crewies!” he exulted, then he saw the expression on Shelly’s face and paused. “Oh, sorry. I’m… are you OK?”
She shook her head but stood up and took a step or two away from him. She then glanced around, stepped forward, and gave him an awkward hug before quickly pulling away and sitting back down. I noticed that Varan’s companion looked curiously at him, but he waved her to the chair next to me and then sat himself down.
I glared at him. “This is a crew meeting.”
He shrugged. “You didn’t say that. And you said we weren’t keeping secrets anymore.”
“We aren’t. With each other. But I’m getting nervous about outside contacts.” I turned to the woman sitting next to me. “Nothing personal. I’m Derek Kodai, Captain and Owner of the Free Trader Grayswandir. A pleasure to meet you.”
She frowned a bit and glanced at Varan but nodded. “Evel Kane. I’m… a friend of Varan’s.” Her eyes narrowed. “Are you keeping secrets, Captain?”
I forced a smile. “A good Free Trader always has secrets, but nothing tonight. Our crewmate Shelly here just got out of the medical center after some… difficulties on our last Jump, and we’re happy she’s back!”
I glanced around. Shelly was obviously uncertain about what was going on. Saahna had closed her eyes and shook her head, and Varan had a vaguely worried look.
He leaned over towards Evel. “Hey, it’s fine! I had forgotten Shelly was being released today! But, everything is fine, right?” He glared at me as he said that.
I nodded. It hadn’t even occurred to me that he might bring someone with him, and now I had to figure out a way around it. “This is just a ‘welcome back’ for Shelly. No ship’s business tonight.” I glanced at Saahna and Shelly as I said that.
Saahna still had her eyes closed, but Shelly looked around, took a deep breath, and nodded. “Yeah. I’m… just glad to be out of that place.”
I nodded in return. “We’re all glad to have you back.”
“Yeah, that was… bad.”
“it was.”
Evel was now staring at me. “You… had some kind of trouble?”
I put on my best professional smile. “We had a cargo that hadn’t been sealed properly and had a chemical leak. Shelly was knocked out by it. Me too, actually. But the med-center here was able to take care of it. So all of us are fine. We’re just glad Shelly is out.”
Shelly had caught on to what I was doing and nodded. “Yeah. I opened a hatch, and… the chemicals knocked me out. But I’m fine now. We’ll just… be more careful next time!”
Evel looked between her and me, then turned back to Varan. “You didn’t say you had a problem with your last Jump!”
He shrugged awkwardly. “Well… I… didn’t get affected by it, so…”
She looked at him for a moment. She seemed to be about to say something when the curtain pulled back again, and Do’rex entered.
“I trust I am not late?” he asked.
Shelly jumped up and ran to embrace him. He clicked in embarrassment, then awkwardly wrapped his tentacles around her. After a long moment, she pulled away.
“I’m glad you’re OK.”
“As am I.” He awkwardly made his way past her to a seat in the back of the booth. “I assume we are here to celebrate Ms. Tharis’ release from the medical center?”
I nodded. “Yep. It’s not an official crew meeting, but we’re all together again. So that’s worth a night out.”
He clicked. “Where is Engineer Wistina?”
I frowned. It wasn’t like Jami to miss a crew get-together. I pulled out my comm. She hadn’t responded to my original ping, so I sent it again then put my comm away.
“She knows where we are. If she wants to show up, she will. As I said, it isn’t an official crew meeting. Now… let’s have a party!”
—-
The next few hours were spent eating and drinking. Mostly the latter. Shelly seemed to finally relax, and even Evel eventually joined in. Then, Varan spoke up.
“OK, OK, fine… we’re all fine now. But… I gotta ask. Where did that come from?” He was pointing at the cuff on Saahna’s arm.
I smiled and pulled up my own sleeve, showing the matching cuff. “I finally wore her down. Any problem?”
He leaned back, wide-eyed. “You two finally did it! And that isn’t what this party is about! Hells, that alone should be a party or two!” He pulled the curtain back and yelled, “Hey, we need the good stuff in here!” I grimaced and shook my head.
Do’rex clicked. “I am glad that the two of you have finally recognized your connection to one another. My best wishes for your future.”
Shelly was shaking her head. “Wait… what? You two got Contacted?”
Saahna smiled while darkening in slight embarrassment. “Yeah. I guess I finally convinced him that he couldn’t do better than me, so… here we are!”
Shelly smiled. “That’s great! I’m glad you two are together.” She leaned toward Saahna and gave an awkward hug. “I’m happy. Really. For both of you.”
Saahna shifted uncomfortably. “Thanks.”
In the meantime, Varan was grabbing things from the waitress’ tray. “Here! Everyone! Derek and Saahna! For their contract!”
Everyone took the glass Varan handed them, and we all made a toast. It felt weird to be toasting myself, but I went along. Saahna locked eyes with me and gave a smile. I returned it and downed my drink. It was unexpectedly bitter and apparently 90% alcohol. I managed to not choke.
Varan was still smiling when I finished. “Great! So… everything is good now?”
I nodded. “I think we’re good.” I paused, thinking. “We’ll have a crew meeting in about a week. Here, I guess. Is everyone OK with that?”
There were general nods.
“OK, see all of you in seven then.”
Varan nodded, then took Evel’s arm. She seemed slightly surprised but quickly stood up and followed him out of the booth.
I turned to Shelly. “We need to find you a place to stay.”
She was about to say something when Do’rex spoke up. “I have a second bunk in my accommodations. She can stay there.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want…”
Shelly interrupted. “No, that’s fine.” She turned to Do’rex. “Thank you.”
He clicked. “I am only helping a fellow member of our crew. I would not expect any less from any of you.”
I hesitated, then nodded. “Sure, that’s fine. You can make your own arrangements later.”
Do’rex made a random click, but Shelly nodded. “I think… I think I’d feel better staying with one of us for the next few days. Thank you, Do’rex.” He clicked again.
She looked at me. “Can I… go to the ship?”
I nodded. “Yeah. They’re still doing repairs, but your ident should have you as part of the crew and let you in.”
“OK, good.” She looked at Do’rex. “Can we stop long enough for me to get some things?”
He clicked. “Certainly. I will accompany you.”
—-
The two of them left, and Saahna and I were alone again.
“What do you think?”
I shrugged. “Shelly is her own sophont. I can’t tell her what to do.”
“No! I’m not talking about Shelly; she knows how to take care of herself! And I know you didn’t take advantage of her, so don’t worry about that! I’m asking about Evel.”
“She was a bit more interested in ‘us’ than just Varan. So, yeah. We need to be careful what we say around her.”
“Yeah, I got the same idea. Do you think she’s with Tlianke Security? Or the Sols?”
“I have no idea who is with who at this point. I’m just assuming that she is with someone. We’ve apparently made ourselves more high-profile at this point than I would have liked. I checked after yesterday; we really have been featured in more-than-a-few X-Boat dispatches.”
“We never had these problems with Captain Martin.”
“And we’ve never made the profits we have over the past few months either. At least, with our next Jump, we’re leaving Tlianke space. And I don’t plan to come back here anytime soon. If ever.”
“Probably a good idea.” She smiled and leaned forward, taking my hand. “And I wouldn’t have you any other way.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
I took a deep breath, enjoying the moment. It felt good.
“I think we need to encourage Shelly to keep doing her broadcasts,” she said.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. As long as she keeps showing us doing normal things, then what we do seems ‘normal.’ If what Doctor Korvusar thinks about us is right, and we’re somehow a ‘beacon,’ or ’ember,’ or ‘torchbearer,’ or whatever she wants to call us, then it can only help us. Look at it this way. If Shelly shows us trading and people attacking us for trading, maybe people will think twice before attacking us. The more publicity we have, the safer we are. Because if her broadcasts are popular enough, then no one will want that kind of negative attention.”
“And if someone tries to destroy us in Jump? Again?”
“Then that would cause even more feedback. We were a normal Free Trader that suddenly got attacked. And everyone on Boilingbrook, or whatever part of the sector has one of her followers now, will start asking questions. As soon as she posts her latest update, they will start asking. Her popularity is our safety.”
I nodded. “Yeah. That makes sense.” I smiled. “I knew there was a reason I contracted with you.”
“Just one?” She looked around. “Let’s pay and get out of here.”
“For what?”
“We need to go back to our room and fuck.”