Captain on Deck

No Space for Family [Chapter 12]

“We’re being overrun!” Grandma yelled, flashing all the interior lights about us. “Jeff! Amelia! Why was nobody paying attention?”

I was the only one in the common room at that time, studying. Mom was taking a well-deserved nap, Dad was in the cargo bay probably getting things ready, and Terren was in the bathroom. Dad marched out to the front of the ship, past me, and to the cockpit to glance out the windows. I joined him.

“That’s the repair crew, Aida,” he said. A group of five locals was approaching, dressed in dingy coverings, pushing a hover pallet of barrels, presumably with the refrigerant we needed.

Me and dad had promised each other not to tell the others about our encounter with Plip, especially about us cornering each other and him drawing a weapon on us. We of course forgot about Grandma listening in through the communicator.

“You put our daughter in harm’s way!” My mom had said to my dad, cornering him in a very familiar way by the gate upon our return.

“Whoa, I don’t know what you think you heard, but we are back in one piece!”

“And that’s because you’re lucky!”

“Luck is a myth, Amelia. I’m too keen on my surroundings to ever end up in proper danger. We were in harm’s way no more than being out in space for multiple weeks at a time.”

“You’re too trusting of people, Jeff!” Mom pleaded. “This Plip guy… I don’t think he actually works for Cycle Go ‘Round.”

I tapped at my mom’s arm. “I was going to say the same thing.”

My mom patted my head and smiled. “We should report him after we get back to proper civilization.”

“Well I think that sounds like a bit too much,” said my dad, crossing his arms. “He’s going to help us, so let’s not bite the hand that feeds.”

“Let’s make sure first he’s not feeding us poison.”

Back in the current moment, everyone had come up to the cockpit, heeding Grandma’s warning.

“Gran,” Terren begged. “Please never strobe the lights like that when someone’s in the toilet. I’ve never fallen off the pot mid-discharge, but I was afraid I was about to.”

“Gross,” I said, jabbing a finger into his side.

Dad pushed back out of the cockpit from between us. “Well, at least we won’t leave them waiting. I’ve got to get to the back hatch and let them in.”

“Don’t you let an eye off them,” Mom warned.

“I fully agree,” Grandma added. “Tell me again why we need these strangers on board? Don’t we have that magical ‘make something out of nothing’ machine at the back?”

Mom sighed. “The synthesizer could make more Difluoroethylene, the refrigerant, yes. But Jeff and Sola determined it would take about three weeks to produce enough to refill the systems to the proper pressure. And the synth runs off the same power generation that keeps you and us alive.”

“Both your body that’s frozen in my room, and the core that your consciousness is being held in,” I added.

“Sola’s right,” Mom nodded. “So let’s not scare off the nice local folks that are helping us get back home.”

“If they touch my core… I’m sure I can find a way to discharge an electrical bolt to knock them on their asses.”

Terren sighed and began his march to the cargo bay. “Better head back and help out dad before it comes to that.”

My mom looked at me as if she assumed I was going to follow after my dad and brother and take part in the action as well. I wasn’t, but only because I didn’t want to dress up in the heavy winter outfit again. “I’ll… leave it to them,” I said, lowering my head.

“Good idea. You needn’t shoulder every little thing while you’re still young.”

My mom hopped into the pilot’s seat and pulled the systems screen up within reach. She patted her thigh as an invitation to slide into the seat with her. I did so, the glowing meters on the screen drawing my eyes. “We were pretty low on the refrigerant.”

“I’m pretty low on my Sola,” she said wistfully, wrapping her arm across my shoulders. “I’m sorry that all this has been going on. That we haven’t been able to just… hang out as a family. That you’ve had to worry extra about everything that’s been going on. Especially about…” she trailed off, allowing her eyes to look up at the ceiling of the ship.

I smirked and nodded. “I think it’s… kind of cool. That… a person could become part of a computer. It sucks that it isn’t by choice but…”

“But?”

“The other AIs didn’t… belong to us… I mean, they were all sentient and didn’t really belong to anyone… but I wasn’t able to engage with them like I’ve been able to do with Grandma. Well, this version of Grandma. Not that the original version was bad. But… I’ve learned a ton about how artificial neural links are created. Heuristic processes and how they come together. One day, I could make my own AI.”

Mom chuckled and pulled me closer. “Hah, and when I was your age, I only had to think about choosing the right shades of makeup to put on. And of course, hiding them from your Grandma who thought I was too young to be wearing that sort of stuff.”

“I hate to interrupt,” Grandma projected suddenly.

“Mom…”

“It’s not about your ten-year-old self having lied to me. There’s an incoming communication from somewhere here on the planet.”

“This Plip guy, is it?” Mom sat up and focused on the communications panel. The caller was patched through to the cockpit. “This is the Ora.”

“Is it, now? If Mr. Umburter has given me the wrong frequency…”

“Our crew member Mr. Umburter is occupied,” said my mom in a tone that was often used to tell me or my brother that we were about to be grounded. “I am the captain of the Ora, I can take any communications for him.”

“A woman?”

“Oh, were you not aware you were dealing with a matriarchal-run ship? I am assuming you are our interim business partner from Cycles Go ‘Round, Plip?”

“You are correct, ma’am,” he said back. “I imagine the crew I hired for your sake has arrived. Before I give them the go-ahead to start fixin’ your craft, I expect my credits.”

“You’ll get half now,” Mom said, leaning forward in her seat. “The final half when we know that the work done won’t result in our craft corroding itself to pieces or blowing up.”

“That… wasn’t what Mr. Umburter promised.”

“He doesn’t get to promise anything for the captain’s sake. Half now, or none and we go to someone else. And you’ll get to deal with those workers getting annoyed at bringing all the barrels back the way they came.”

“…I’ll transmit my wallet code.”

Mom nodded and smirked. “Good doing business with you.”

The call ended without any more nasty adult speech. “You really don’t trust him, do you?” I asked.

“I trust him less than your dad does, but more than he thinks he trusts how gullible we are.”

I tried to piece together what that meant, but I gave up halfway through. “You and dad are too good at lying.”

My mom grabbed me tighter and pulled me up on her lap, grabbing at my sides. “Oh, we’re the liars, huh? Then I guess you’ll tell the truth about this, right?” With her fingers moving like little engine spiders, she tickled up and down my sides.

I squirmed, held tight by her grasp, but I held back my laughter. “N-no, it doesn’t t-tickle,” I said through a half giggle.

With one last grasp at my sides, she held me tight and kissed the back of my head. Her arms reached around me to reach at the comms panel. A long numerical code came across the screen. Mom paired it with her wallet code and typed in a number of credits that I had never imagined being put up all at once. She confirmed it before slouching back into the seat with me.

“Don’t spend it all in one place,” muttered my mom. “You know, Sola, technically I am the captain, so you can’t say I lied to him. After all, I am in the captain’s seat right now. Handling captain’s duties.”

I giggled. “But I’m in your lap, which means I’m better than captain, right?”

My mom scoffed and gave me one last tight hug. “If anything, it makes you the brains of the operation, just like dad.”

Terren poked his head into the cockpit. “Hey, Captain Mom and Captain Sola up here, the workers have finally started up. Why don’t you tell us simple deckhands back here the system status? Dad says the pressure can’t go above 10.34 Bar or we’ll stress out the compressors too much.”

“On it,” Mom said back, pulling the systems panel back within view.

With an exaggerated salute, Terren ducked back out. I nodded and looked back at the readings. The meters were moving little by little.

“Look at them go,” said Mom, rubbing at my back. “Well, I guess I should join your dad and tell him about the arrangement I made with that sly fellow, just so there’s no surprises. Work with Grandma and let us know when we’re getting close. 10.34 bar, got it?”

“Got it,” I said, jumping up to let my mom out. I settled back in right after, taking in the screen and its moving dials. “Grandma?”

“Yes, dear?”

“Since you’re part of the ship… kind of… does it feel like anything? Having systems be replenished?”

Grandma pushed out a synthesized sigh, something she had been practicing and perfecting. “Your mom is right, you really are the brains of the operation. I don’t think anyone else could think of a question like that. I mean, it doesn’t feel like anything. But those fake gauges on the screen there? There’s plenty of computerized trickery going on to turn the numbers into those kinds of pictures. I suppose it is quite weird, though… every point 001 seconds I get an update on how much of that refrigerant stuff is in the system. And that’s exact.”

“You’ve learned a lot too, Grandma,” I admitted.

“Yes, that the goings-on inside of a computer are actually quite boring and mundane. Hey, look, girl. We’re getting up to that pressure that your brother told you.”

“Open comms with me to the cargo container, then.”

“You got it.”

I sat up straight and cleared my throat. “Attention, this is the captain speaking. Coolant systems have reached optimum pressure. That is all, over and out.”

Grandma waited a few seconds before responding. “Well done. Very official. Now those dirty little freaks can get out of our space. A few of them have been eyeballing my systems here. I bet they’re wondering how much they could earn if they took out your parents and just started scrapping things.”

“Grandma!”

“You never know,” she said. I imagined her shrugging.

I heard my dad’s heavy footsteps marching up from the rear of the ship. I actually knew the sound of my mom’s and Terren’s footsteps too and could tell them all apart. I had gotten used to their sounds as the floors were just thin plates of metal. When Grandma was… ambulatory, the sound of her footsteps had caught me off guard several times.

“Holding down the fort, my little Captain?” said my dad as he arrived by my seat.

“All under control,” I said with an official nod.

He leaned across me and looked at the readout from the systems screen. “Just about perfect. A little bit on the high side.”

“Sorry, I was talking with Grandma…” I said, hiding my face a little.

Dad rubbed at the back of my head. “That’s just fine. We can burn a little off before the systems get running. It was probably just a little bit extra in the lines from the worker’s pumps.”

“So we’ll be able to get back out there?” I asked, looking back up.

He looked down at me in the eyes. “We sure can. Hey, Sola…”

“Yeah?”

“You don’t think I’m that big of a liar, do you?”

I laughed a little. “Only when you need to be.”

He rolled his eyes. “Luckily, I don’t need to that often. And I’m the best dad around, you know, so I haven’t needed to say this. But there’s a saying parents sometimes use; do as I say, not as I do. Luckily, I say and do the same thing enough.”

I glanced about. “Does that mean I shouldn’t take up the family business?”

My dad held his palms in the air defensively. “I mean, unless you want all this.”

We both laughed.

“There are plenty of things someone with your smarts could do when you’re older, jobs that aren’t half as stressful.” He said, waving at me to move. “Well, It’s time for me to be captain for a bit, okay? I’ve got to pay Plip the last bit of what’s owed to him… if he weren’t coming our way right this moment.”

I stood up out of the pilot’s seat to get a better look out of the front window. Sure enough, the skinny man in the puffy outerwear was marching hastily up to the front of our craft.

“Your mom sent over the credits, right?” Asked dad.

I nodded. “I saw her do it.”

“I’ll be back.”

Dad marched back in the direction of the cargo bay a little faster than how he had come. I maintained my captain’s duty for a little bit longer. “Grandma?”

“I’ve been listening. I don’t think this is a savory character. I mean, have you seen his mustache? If you can call it that.”

“Can you let me listen in to the cargo bay?”

Her synthesized laugh was still a little bit rough. “Hah, how could I say no to the captain?”

“What brings you out here, Plip?” Came my dad’s voice through the speaker above. “Making sure the work is up to standard?”

“Mr. Umburter,” said the local, voice hurried. “And… you must be the true captain I talked to a bit earlier.”

“Just talk,” said my mom. I could almost hear her hands on her hips. “The payment went through without a hitch, I hope.”

“I was just about to pitch in the second half,” added my dad.

“Euh, uhm, about that,” Plip said. “Credits from your neck of the galaxy are a hot currency here, I’m sure you understand. Which is why I was able to get a great deal for you, you can’t forget. I mean, plenty of folks make trade in credits here on the frontier so they can engage in business further into the territory.”

“Spare us the economics lesson,” huffed my dad

“Well, I was about to pay off some debts using my newly found funds. But it seems… my assets have been frozen. As of just one transaction ago.”

My mom almost made a sound like a growl. “Are you going to tell us that’s our fault?”

“No, no, no. Quite the opposite. But it would seem I’ve been under… watch. And this most recent transaction has let the concerned parties know where I’ve been… spending my time. Or so I would guess. So, I wish to engage in another business venture with you. You can keep the second half of the funds originally owed to me, and in exchange, you let me aboard and take me wherever you’re headed.”

For a few moments, nobody said anything. I imagined my mom and dad looking back and forth at each other. My dad finally broke the silence. “You would be sleeping on the floor at best.”

“Jeff,” my mom retorted.

“He helped us. We can help him. If only for a bit.”

“…He held you at gunpoint.”

“Uh, well,” Plip squealed. “I’m sure we won’t need to do that again. Here, let’s get rid of this guy. And the blade, too. There, all gone.”

Terren rushed into the cockpit with me, shaking his head. “Oh gravity, this guy. This guy is the biggest sleazeball. And you’d never guess what he just… you’ve been listening in on them the entire time, haven’t you, Sola?”

I nodded.

Terren sighed. “Well, I guess it’s only appropriate that the captain knows all.”