“And you,” Jupe responded, “try hitting breaking surf against the breeze, see how far you get.”
“We all do things we don’t like, that we’re not pleased with,” TC said like he was about to say more, perhaps even a confession, but then he stopped and searched for the right words.
“Are we done here?”
“The T’s coming up quick,” TC said tersely. “Then you can go home.”
Jupe was not wanting to hear anything approaching an apology from his father. He did not want to let him have his time of sorrow; it was too late for that. Maybe when he was younger, when he was at that point in his life when he needed a strong father, but not now, not after being forced to go out into deep space without warning. Jupe left the deck as fast as he could, but it was not fast enough to miss the disappointed look in TC’s eyes. Jupe was pleased that he had caused it, and he hoped it had hurt him.
“Get used to it, TC,” Jupe said without his father hearing.
* * * *
Taylor-Marie was born into privileged surroundings, with private schooling and tutors, and was used to being pampered. Although Morgan was her third husband, she really did hope that he would last longer than the others, at least by a few more years yet. She always tried to make a difference with the odd charity work, or volunteer at local fun-runs, and that was how she viewed the daily cleaning requirements. Although it was meant to be a secret, she had taken a class on social work, in an attempt to better understand the more unfortunate element of society. It was for that reason that she decided to be friendly to Sarra. She also hoped that she might then be allowed into the group that the other women had formed. Taylor-Marie had noticed that Rebbi and Chera were hostile to each other, but then made up. She also knew that they were keeping some secrets to themselves.
“How many of these voyages have you made?” Taylor-Marie asked Sarra pleasantly. She had seen her sitting in the viewing room, where they could go and watch anything from a wide variety of entertainment shows. Sarra had been idly switching back and forth between a fashion show and a jewellery show, and Taylor-Marie had made a comment about also being interested in the same, except Sarra had then joked about it just being window-shopping. Taylor-Marie hesitated when she realised that she had most of the same type of product packed away in the hold.
“This is it. Maiden voyage, as they say,” Sarra said, uncomfortable with the subject.
“You’re not a regular space traveller?”
“First time for both me and Jenna.”
“But the rest of the crew are experienced?”
“You can’t get better than TC. As for the Wilson boys, best you don’t pay them attention.”
There was a pause and Taylor-Marie thought it was a good time to ask something she had been wondering about and couldn’t put out of her mind. “Have you heard them talking about aliens?”
“Aliens? Why do you ask that?”
“No real reason. I was just wondering.”
Rebbi entered the room and Taylor-Marie regretted asking about the aliens, since she knew that Rebbi was the most sceptical out of all the passengers.
“I don’t know what you know about what’s outside this ship,” Sarra answered, “but as far as I know, it’s a whole lot of nothing. There is no life out there, and if there is, they have no reason being there. It’s all cold and lifeless. There is only a small window of opportunity for life to exist, where a planet needs to be at the right distance from its sun. And the sun too, needs to be at the exact stage of its life. That’s why places like Earth and Ancia, and Harax Pras are so rare. Khans Star too, although most people forget about that since it’s so far away. What that means, is any aliens would need to come a very long way to find us. And if you ask me, most of us aren’t worth finding.”
“She’s been paying attention to too many stories,” said Rebbi. “Aliens are the bad guys, out to get us. Spooky.”
Taylor-Marie was not sure if she was trying to be mean to her, or if she was just kidding around.
“No need to worry about it, Taylor,” said Sarra.
“Find us a movie about aliens attacking Earth,” Rebbi joked to Sarra, and wished she could reach the remote control. “One of those ones with really creepy grey guys, the big-eyed ones.”
“Seriously,” Sarra continued to Taylor-Marie, “no need to worry. The guys have all sorts of gear to wrap anything up that might get too close for comfort. We’re well protected.”
“Gear?” Rebbi asked, intrigued. “Like what?”
“Weapons, shooters, blast-cannons, I don’t know what, exactly. Plenty of protection, anyway.”
Rebbi looked at Taylor-Marie and her humour had gone.
“I didn’t know they had armoury,” said Rebbi, wondering if Taylor-Marie knew.
“You have to be able to defend yourself out here,” said Sarra. “This is the frontier. All manner of men out to get you. That’s right, aliens aren’t the problem, it’s humans.” She then became amused at Rebbi’s reaction. “I can’t believe you are naive enough to be surprised about that. Do you really know nothing about Cuthbert and Thax?”
“You are a wonderful source of information,” said Rebbi.
“I have something you don’t know,” said Taylor-Marie, not wanting to be left out.
“What would that be?” Sarra asked.
“There’s extra crew, that no one’s told us about.”
“You mean the frozen girl?” asked Rebbi.
“No, a guy,” said Taylor-Marie. “They have him shut away from us, up on the flight deck.”
“Are you kidding?” asked Rebbi.
“Extra crew?” Sarra asked too innocently, and by that Rebbi knew something was up. “I don’t know where you got that from.”
“His name’s Jupe Beggs,” said Taylor-Marie, unable to hide her feeling of superiority. “We know all about him. Johnny’s son.”
“There’s people and weapons aboard we don’t know about,” said Rebbi, thoroughly annoyed at the information. “What else don’t we know that we should?”
Sarra went to say something, then changed her mind, and no matter how much Rebbi kept at her, she insisted that there were no other secrets that she knew about.
* * * *
Morgan had been spending the last few hours trying to decide whether or not he should answer any more of Lars Best’s messages, and stop sending any of his own in reply. When he sent his last one, he was of the opinion that he would not be seeing anyone from Best’s organisation again. Since then, he learned they were to stop off at T Station, and Morgan knew the place was virtually run by Best’s people. He told himself he would be safe if he didn’t leave the ship, but then he started to worry that Lars’ people might come on board, looking for him. He did not know if he should continue his defiance, or try to patch up the trouble. It made it worse that he wasn’t even sure if Lars had detected his change of tone.
He began to rehearse various apologies, all designed to not sound obvious. If there was one thing he was sure of, was that Lars could detect if he was lying. He told himself to concentrate on different subjects, such as the ongoing unhappiness at the cleaning regime. There was also the option of letting the message machine drop and sadly break. It was made for such accidental impact, but Morgan would make sure it was a very big drop.
Taylor-Marie rushed into their room, upset and frantic, and wanting to tell him something in private. She could be very hard to understand when she was in such a state; not completing sentences, getting her facts mixed up, going off on rambling afterthoughts that had little to do with the original subject. From what Morgan could tell, it was something about the Wilsons having guns on board. His first reaction was to tell her that it wasn’t true, although that was only to cover his own fear that maybe they worked for Lars Best too.
“I am telling you, they are armed,” she said.
“Sarra told you this, you say?” he asked, alarmed.
“She said it was in case of pirates, or something.”
> “Pirates? Did she actually say the word ‘pirates’ or are you elaborating?”
“You know what I think it’s for?” she asked, about to burst into tears. “I think it’s for aliens. Aliens, Morgan! They know there’s aliens and they need guns to keep them away. They never said anything about aliens when we signed up.”
“Don’t go on that. There are no aliens. Can we stop talking about aliens, please? There are other matters more important than imaginary flying saucers and green men.”
“You know there are no aliens? How do you know that? You know that for sure, do you?”
“TC has been out here for, what, how many years? He’s yet to see one. He laughs at the idea. You know he laughs about that. He wouldn’t do that if he wasn’t certain.”
“And you trust him?”
“Honestly, I did trust him initially, when we first boarded ship. Now I know the man a little better. The way he reacted to my protests, I might have changed my mind.”
Morgan was not someone who liked other people telling him what to do, and especially what to think. But now that she had him thinking about TC’s character, he saw that yes, maybe she had a good reason to be worried.
“But now you tell me about the guns,” he relented, “I’m not so sure about him.”
“Meaning, what?”
“I don’t know. We need to wait. Think about it.”
“Think about getting attacked by aliens?”
“Who else know about them?”
“Aliens? How should I know that?”
“No, I mean the guns. Who else knows they have guns?”
“I don’t know. Morgan, I’m scared.”
He took her in his arms and realised that since the voyage started, he had had very little opportunity for such close contact. She began to relax as he held her and reassured her that he would look into the matter. He sounded like he was a businessman about to conduct a typical daily meeting with a client, and that made him sound believable.
He waited until she was sleeping before he made his way back into the hold area to record another message. As innocently as he could, he asked Lars why guns would be needed on their flight, and if was there a danger to the ship that he should know about. He didn’t mention anything about hostile extraterrestrials, but he gave a very strong hint.
* * * *
When Morgan returned from the hold, he came across Rolondo and Real. They were arguing over their problems, and Morgan tried to overhear without it looking obvious. Real was assuring Rolondo that Ancia had available women, and probably even some who weren’t available, if he still needed that too. Rolondo was just as sure he was wrong, that Ancia was full of people trying to find their fortune, not look for new relationships.
“Everything all right?” Morgan asked them.
“Oh, sure,” Rolondo said with sarcasm. “No woman wants to be around us. Other than that, all’s fine.”
“Join the club, Morgan,” said Real.
“Listen, guys, we may have a serious problem,” said Morgan.
“You don’t think my women, and lack thereof, are a serious problem?” asked Rolondo. “How do you get into a spaceship with two, and despite having nowhere for them to go, you wind up with none, even before you hit the halfway mark of your flight?”
“The crew have guns?” asked Morgan. “I mean, the Wilsons.”
“Is that a question?” asked Rolondo.
“If it was, what would you say to it?” asked Morgan. “Have you heard that? Is it true?”
“They don’t have guns,” Real said, dismissive of the thought.
“Hidden from us,” Morgan said like he knew it was true. “And they’re not your come-what-may handguns, either, apparently. These are heavy-duty, hole in the wall type guns. Not what you’d expect from what is really a bus service, for a colony party, which is all we are. And since Ancia has no hazards, or threats, and it’s run by UDE, there’s no reason to need arms.”
“Where did you get this from?” asked Rolondo. “Have you seen the Wilsons with these guns?”
“Sarra told Taylor-Marie,” said Morgan. “She was with Thax, so you’d think she’d know.”
“If that’s true,” said Real, “which I doubt, and they are keeping it from us, why would she go telling Taylor-Marie, of all people?”
“Sarra had an argument with Thax,” said Morgan. “From the sound of it, Sarra is having nothing more to do with him. She’s joined with Rebbi and Chera. She was looking to pin something on him. By the sounds of it, she’s revealed quite a lot. None of it anything we were meant to know.”
“You don’t say?” Rolondo said, more to himself. “She’s left him?”
“How about that,” Real said to Morgan, “you’ve found a cure for Ro’s women problem, and lack thereof.”
“Come on guys,” said Morgan, wanting them to be as worried as him. “Why have they got guns on board? Ancia is peaceful, isn’t it? Are they fearing we may be stopped by criminals? Is that what it is? Are these pirating territories, near T Station? Have you heard anything about that? Are we in danger? Could the ship be boarded? I think we need to know.”
“Perhaps it’s in case we’re stopped by government agencies,” suggested Real. “I’ve heard they have regular patrols. And we are not exactly legal, and all that. Or did you think this would all be plain sailing? We’re going against UDE, and they own space. The more you think about it, the more sense that makes. UDE are out looking to find Ancia illegals, and that is exactly what we are.”
“What will TC and the Wilsons do, shoot their way out?” Morgan asked him, seeing his lack of logic. “They can’t stand up against UDE ships. Seriously? They’ll use hand weapons against them?”
“So they have a couple of guns,” said Rolondo, “and we don’t know why. Best we leave that alone and worry about something else, that’s what I think.”
“And you, Re-al?” Morgan asked, making a mistake and getting his name wrong.
“It’s pronounced Real,” said Real.
“Sorry, I didn’t know.”
“Common mistake. Forget it.” Real knew that it only showed that Morgan was not really interested in him as a friend, or even travelling companion.
“I’m going to ask TC to his face,” said Morgan. “If we are in danger, I want to know. If we’re not in danger, I want to hear that from him too. Whatever he tells me, I want it to be the truth.”
Real and Rolondo looked at him for more, and Morgan was waiting for their reaction.
“Let us know how it goes,” Rolondo offered.
Real’s response was to give him a slight shrug.
* * * *
Jupe sat back from the monitor and looked at Dorrington. The boy was seated on the bunk behind him, looking at Jupe with a worried expression. He was not the type of lad who could stay worried for very long, but this time he was upset. Jupe turned down the volume to diminish the conversation between Real and Rolondo, knowing that it would probably sound like all of their others.
“Have you got a gun?” asked Dorrington.
“A gun might have saved me from being here,” said Jupe, amused at the thought.
“Then why would they?”
“We have no reason for guns out here in the deep. What do you want a gun for? You heard them saying that, didn’t you? Anyone who can control your ship enough to come on board, the fight is well and truly over by then. The ship is armed, of course, but no one’s going to go shooting at each other with handguns, not inside a ship. Holes in the side of the ship tend to not do so well.”
“What about the pirates? We could get boarded, and then we’d need guns to fight them off, right?”
“Pirates? If there are any rogue ships, they are not pirates, and if they engaged the ship, we have ways to get away from them. This is a powerful ship, and TC knows how to fly, believe me. I may hate his guts, but he does know how to fly. No, you need to believe me: If we did get boarded, no one’s shooting any guns, not inside the ship. Put a hole in the hull, i
t’s all over for everyone, including whoever’s doing the attacking. The ship has shields to ward off anything coming at us from outside, not from the inside. And besides that, they could kill us all without even setting foot inside.” Jupe then wished he had not been so harsh with the kid.
“Then, aliens?”
“Same with aliens, or anything hostile. We can keep them away, should that happen. TC can fight them off, keep them from getting on board. But there are no aliens that anyone has ever seen, and if there were, what makes you think they would want to fight us? They’d probably try to sell us something. If they’ve been studying the human race all these years, wouldn’t they know we’re all suckers for buying junk? Here, human, alien treasure, real cheap, you like to buy?”
Dorrington laughed.
“Anyway,” said Jupe, “any aliens finding us, we’d be famous, since it’d be the great First Contact. Not a good time to start shooting off weapons.”
“Dad said he’s going to tell TC about the guns. You heard him say that, didn’t you?”
“I’ll tell you what, just so you know there’s no need to worry, I’ll go ask the Wilson brothers myself. Find out what the problem is. I’m sure, if they have guns, it’s just their own. Maybe they want to do some target shooting on Ancia, who knows? It may just all be something harmless. But whatever it is, you don’t need to worry about it, okay?”
Dorrington was happy with that and set about the work of going back into the walls and returning to his living quarters.
* * * *
Jupe saw that the Wilsons’ quarters were empty, and he decided that it would be safe to have a quick look inside. Aside from Thax grabbing him and taking him into that locked room, they had always treated him well, out of respect for TC, so he had no reason to feel any fear.