“Same goes for me,” says Baebong without hesitation. He faces the group, not me. “As your lieutenant, I take my position seriously.”
“What about my brother?” Gus asks. “You have his back? What if they find out he’s been shadowed and demand that we float him? Will you do it?”
I shake my head. I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do with him, but I do, at least, know this. “No. No one on my crew or living on my ship gets floated by anyone but me.”
“Wow. That’s comforting.” Gus drops his head and looks at the floor, his shoulders slumping.
“I’m not saying he’s going to float. I’m just saying that there’s a process before that happens. A legal kind of process, and Tam’s entitled to due process like everyone else. Even though he’s not exactly human.”
“Of course he’s human,” says Lucinda, in a tone that reveals she thinks I’m pretty frigging stupid. “If you cut him, doesn’t he bleed? Doesn’t he experience emotion? He loves his brother.” She gestures at Gus. “Machines can’t love. Borgs can’t feel love. He’s as human as you or I am.”
“Except he came from a science experiment, not a mother’s womb,” Baebong says.
Jeffers holds up his arms, his long sleeves hanging down and making him look like a prophet. “Hold on a moment here. Please.”
He looks to me and I nod, giving him permission to speak his piece. I like the idea of being a captain who hears what others have to say and weighs everything before making a decision. The chicken shit in me says it’s a great way to have everyone take the blame with me when things go bad.
Jeffers addresses the group, his voice low but firm. “We are a family. For better or for worse, these are the people you eat with, you work with, you sleep next to, and will depend on to keep you alive for the next few days, weeks, or months, until we stop off at another station or settlement. It’s not always easy to get along with family, but in our case, it’s imperative that we try. Accidents happen in the Dark when people aren’t getting along, when people don’t trust one another. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to die yet. I have a lot more fritters to make before that happens.”
There’s silence and then Macon’s voice. “Or fritters to burn, you mean.”
Slowly everyone in the room starts to smile, me included.
Jeffers puts his hand on his heart. “My humblest apologies, Macon. I promise I will make you the most delicious fritter you’ve ever eaten after this meeting.” He looks around at the group and then at me. “Captain, I’ve flown on a lot of rigs, and I’ve made family of plenty of people I’ve not seen since we last parted, so I understand how the life of a drifter must play out. Be that as it may, I want you to know that I’m here for you, and you can count on me to represent the DS Anarchy in the best light possible while we’re making the acquaintance of these people and after, when we’re drifting together. I, for one, have no desire to leave this boat. Not even at the next station.” He pauses with his hand flat on his chest and smiles slightly. “This group’s dynamic is growing on me.”
“You feel this way, even knowing someone might have it out for me?” I ask. Might as well put all the cards on the table. I don’t want people sticking with me out of ignorance; I want it to be a well-informed choice. Before, I didn’t care what they knew or thought about me, but I’ve changed my mind about that. Being a captain of a DS has changed me somehow. Somewhere in these past couple days I’ve stopped thinking about this as a life lived alone, drifting in the Dark, and started thinking about it more like creating a family and surrounding that family with a community of like-minded people — other drifters.
His answer is for me, but he’s looking at my crew. “Who of us has not been marked at least once in his or her life?” He turns to face me. “We all have pasts we’d like to forget that aren’t as willing to forget us. Together, we have a better chance of weathering the storms that will come, but divided, we might as well go to the float chamber now and get it over with.”
I nod. My chest feels like it’s filling up with happiness. “I’m in complete agreement.” I look at the group with a smile. “Who’s with us?”
“I am,” Baebong says, stepping up to stand beside me. “Have been since the first day I met you.”
I rest my hand on his shoulder. “Thanks, friend.”
His mouth twitches in a smile before going back to being passive again.
“It’s not like I’m going anywhere. My home is with the biogrid.” Lucinda crosses her arms over her chest.
I wait for the others to declare their loyalty, containing my emotions because laughing at Lucinda right now would probably piss her off.
“As I said, I’m in,” Jeffers says calmly.
“Me too,” Macon says, glancing at the fritter maker. “All in. For now.”
Everyone looks over at Gus. His expression is mutinous.
“I’m only in if my brother is allowed to join us at the meeting and on this ship like a regular crew member.”
The happiness that filled my chest cavity disappears in an instant, replaced by dread. I let out a heavy sigh and look up at Baebong to my right.
He shakes his head. “Fucking gingers.” Looking down at me he shrugs. “What do you want me to do? Float ‘em?”
I speak in a hushed tone so only he’ll hear me. “No, we can’t float them.” The mere idea of losing both of our engineers has me in a dead panic. And here I was thinking things were looking up.
“They’ve been engineers on this ship for at least a year,” Lucinda says, “and they’ve done nothing but improve the systems and keep this pile of junk running, even with the extra load the biogrid’s put on their resources.”
Gus bows at Lucinda. “Thank you, oh green goddess of the biogrid.”
Lucinda continues, ignoring his platitudes, “Even though they’re annoying as crap, that still doesn’t erase all the good they do.”
“Errrr …” Gus stops in mid-bow and tilts his head to look over at Macon. “Did she just say I’m annoying?”
Macon nods. “Yup. Annoying as crap, as a matter of fact.”
“Fine.” I hold up my hands to call for silence and demand a truce. I don’t see any way out of this mess other than to give in to Gus’s demands. If Tam messes up, I’ll have all the excuse in the world I need to offload him as soon as possible. “I’m going to let Tam out of his cage. But if he does even one thing I don’t like, he’s going back in and he’s staying. For good.”
Gus puts his hand on his heart. “I swear on my honor that he will be a perfect gentleman.”
“Swear he’ll act like a normal human, and I’ll feel better,” Baebong says under his breath.
“I heard that!” Gus yells, his already red face going darker with color.
“Baebong, go get Tam, please.” I point so he doesn’t mistake my order for a request. Then I point to Gus. “You help Lucinda ensure that the baskets are all good and have everything they need in them.”
She opens her mouth to complain, but I silence her with a glare. I just need to keep these ginger twerps busy until our ride arrives. I have confidence that when faced with a second chance and the eyes of fifteen or more strangers, they’ll work doubly hard to impress me.
Everyone turns away to either walk with Baebong or help Lucinda. I remain in place, attempting to brush off the bits of dust that have collected on my suit, trying not to freak out about meeting all these strangers who will no doubt be judging my motley crew harshly. I have one chance to make a good first impression, and I have no idea how I’m going to pull it off.
Chapter Fifteen
OUR RIDE ARRIVES IN THE form of a PC, big enough to fit all of us in one very cramped load since all the amenities like the ones on Captain Bob’s PC have been removed, leaving just a cargo space with straps hanging down for passengers to hold on to. The pilot is the second in command of the DS Osiris. She walks into the airlock and takes her black cowboy hat off, letting her long, glossy black hair tumble down
her back, instantly making me feel like an old shoe. She fixes us all with a bedroom stare, made especially sexy with smokey gray makeup with purple highlights on her lids. “Hi. I’m Beltine. You guys ready to party?”
Gus trips and falls into me with his first step, and I have to grit my teeth to keep from punching him in the jaw for it. You’d think he’d never seen girl before, the way he’s acting.
He walks right up to her, oblivious to the fact that she’s staring at his new skin condition with a weird expression on her face. “Hey, there. Beltine was it? Gus is the name, engineering is my game.” He winks at her with his hand extended, glancing over his shoulder at us for encouragement.
No one says a word. Tam remains at the back of the group, very subdued.
She takes his hand, earning points as a good sport in my book, and shakes it firmly. He tries not to wince from the pain, but he’s only partially successful.
“Hello, Gus. Nice to meet all of you.” She’s looking over his head, specifically at Baebong if I’m not mistaken.
I walk up next and take her hand, partially to be polite and partially to rescue her from Gus’s penetrating stare. At this point I think we’re all lucky he’s not drooling on the poor girl. Or is she a woman? It’s hard to peg her age. With the makeup, she looks to be in her thirties. Without any, she could probably pass for someone my age.
“I’m Captain Cass. Good to meet you. Thanks for the ride.” I gesture for my crew to get into the PS with a flick of my head.
Her hand goes soft in mine. “Nice to meet you too, Captain.”
I jerk my gaze back to her, surprised to hear that weird tone in her voice and wondering if it’s really for me or if I missed something. Normally, that kind of girlish-talk is reserved for Baebong when we go into bars together. I’ve been known to attempt using it on a guy or two when trying to get my way, but I’m nowhere near as good at it as she is. Damn. My heart is beating faster like I’ve just exercised, but I haven’t moved a centimeter.
I let her hand go and nod awkwardly, mostly because she’s looking me over like she plans to eat me later. I wave for Baebong to join me and he does with a smile.
I point at him. “Did you meet my lieutenant yet? This is Baebong.” I want to follow that up by commanding him to show her his muscles, but that would clue her in to the fact that she makes me nervous, so I don’t. I just smile crookedly and hope the sparks fly between them and leave me out of it.
“Nice to meet you, Beltine,” he says, turning on the charm with a great, big smile — something I’ve seen him do maybe five times since I met him. “Are all the ladies on the Osiris as beautiful as you are?”
She winks. “You let me know after you’ve met them.” She steps aside and makes room for the rest of the crew to go past. “Don’t be shy. Pack yourselves in there. I was able to fit twenty people inside once.” She laughs and then lowers her voice so only I will hear her next words. “A couple of them were missing limbs, but hey, those are just details, right?” She walks away trilling laughter that I’m sure has the guys popping boners all over the place. Me? It just sends goosebumps out all over my body. Mayhem? What in the hell have I gotten myself into this time? I pray she’s kidding about the missing limbs part.
She takes off once the door is shut and the ship is released from the airlock. Say what you want about whores, but this one sure as hell knows how to fly. She whips her craft off the airlock and slides her around like she’s got thirty thrusters covering her hull instead of the three I know are there. In less than a minute, we’re pulling up to the DS Osiris and being herded off her PC and into the airlock there. She has one more pickup at the DS Huna to complete before the party can officially launch, and she’s anxious to get going. I walk into the cargo hold with my arms loaded down by a food basket. A leaf of some kind is sticking out of the top of it, tickling my nose.
“Welcome!” says a melodic voice from above. A woman dressed in deep burgundy robes is standing up on one of the stair landings, holding up a cup made of some kind of artfully-dented metal. There’s a slit in the material that reveals a very long and very naked leg. “Friends of the Alliance! Keepers of the Green! Welcome to our home, the DS Osiris. Please … make yourselves comfortable.”
The basket of food is lifted from my arms by a girl wearing a sparkling, studded bra. Her midriff is bare and her hips are covered in a wide belt holding up some sort of gauzy, see-through material that drops to her ankles. Her feet are bare and covered in flower tattoos.
As a result of being surrounded by these scantily clad women, I’ve now moved from old-shoe status to crud-on-the-bottom-of-a-goatherder’s-boot status. Nice. I should have washed my hair or put it in a braid or something.
Gus is the first to attempt conversation. Too bad his mouth doesn’t seem to want to work. “Huuuu … uhhh … duuuhhh …”
Tam steps up silently and places his basket on a table set with more fancy material and burning candles.
Candles! I move closer to see if they’re made of actual wax.
“Hi,” he says to the nearest person, a short girl wearing a dress that looks like something I might wear to bed on a night when the climate control isn’t working to keep my bunk cool.
“Hi.” She smiles shyly back.
“I’m Tam.” He holds out his hand.
“I’m Damra.” She puts her hands on his shoulders, goes up onto tiptoes, and kisses him right on the mouth. She pulls away after a half a second, so I can’t imagine it was anything special, but the look on Tam’s face tells me he feels otherwise.
“Daaaamn,” Macon says from behind me. He leans in and whispers in my ear. “You think that’s their normal greeting?”
“Go away.”
As he walks past me and approaches another woman, this one wearing a shiny blue robe, he mumbles under his breath, “Methinks I stowed away on the right ship after all.”
A movement and noise from the corner of the room catches my attention. Beltz is headed my way, his cousin Jens trailing behind him.
“Captain Cass!” he booms out, leaping forward the last meter and sweeping me up in a giant body hug, swinging me around in a full circle. My legs fly out and catch Jens in the chest, sending him backward. Jeffers catches him in his arms before he falls into the table full of food.
“You made it to the party!” His warm breath puffs over my face, and his smile is practically glowing it’s so full of white teeth.
I should probably be mad about the fact that he’s making a spectacle of both of us, but I’m not. I have never walked into a party anywhere and been greeted with this much enthusiasm. What the hell? You only live once, right? I reach up and scrub the top of his head with my knuckled fist. “Hey there, Beltz! How’s it hangin?”
“Ha!” he yells with glee, just before putting me down, grabbing me under the armpits, and throwing me up into the air.
I scream in surprise and maybe a touch of fear. One second I’m being hugged like a long-lost relative, and the next I’m floating above everyone, looking down at the tops of their heads. Then I’m back on the floor, and he’s grabbing me for another round of toss-the-captain.
“Beltz, nooo!”
Does he listen? No. Of course he doesn’t. I’m once again launched up into the air, my arms and legs flailing around trying to control the world that’s suddenly being yanked out from around me.
I can see the look in his eye on my way down; he means to throw me again. When I land this time, though, I’m ready for him. I catch him in the gut, giving him a jab to the solar plexus with my fist that would put a lesser man in a medical suite for a day or two.
He leans over and wheezes. “Oh, the crazy bitch got me.” He holds out a hand, trying to grab me or maybe hold on to me to keep from falling. I take that hand before he can gain purchase anywhere on my body, and bend it under, using one of my fingers in front and one behind to maintain leverage. I step back to make sure there’s an arm’s length of space between us.
“Keep your hands to yo
urself, big boy,” I say, slightly out of breath. “I didn’t come here to wrestle.”
“Okay, okay. I will behave myself.” He sounds like whatever excitement he had earlier is starting to work its way out of his system, so I wait a few more seconds and then let him go. My hand rests on my knife, though, just in case he decides to get stupid again.
He stands to his full height, putting almost a half meter of distance between the top of my head and his. His cheeks and forehead are bright pink from the exertion, and his grin stretches from one ear to the other. “I find that I have missed seeing your face.”
I shrug. “All righty, then. Thanks. I think.” I catch Baebong’s bemused expression and then twist around to see what everyone else is doing.
All eyes are on me for a few seconds, and then the rest of the partygoers suddenly move off at the same time, going back to whatever mingling they were doing before Beltz started acting crazy.
“Hello, Captain,” says a voice from my right.
I turn to find Jens there. “Hello, Jens.” I hold out my hand for him to shake. When he grips it, I grab hold and don’t let go.
His expression goes from happy to worried in an instant. He tries to pull back, but he takes me with him.
Once I’m really close, I drop my voice and talk just to him. “You left me a gift the last time you were at my table.”
His eyes widen and he looks for his cousin.
I jerk his hand to get his attention back on me. “Not going to deny it, are you?”
He shakes his head. “It wasn’t my idea.”
I shrug. “I figured. But it was your technology, and I don’t appreciate being spied on. So in the future, remember this: I will remove a testicle for every device you plant on my ship.”