No Space for Family [Chapter 13]
With all systems reading green, we were able to lift off from Anuar IV with our new passenger. Plip didn’t have much luggage at least.
As we were departing the atmosphere, I heard my dad giving directions all about the cockpit. “Aida, a word— speakers up here only.”
“Yes, Jeff?”
“I imagine you’ll keep an eye on our guest.”
“I’ve had my focus on him ever since he stepped aboard.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have expected anything else,” my dad nodded. “But there’s another thing. It would be for the best if he doesn’t catch on to you being… not an ordinary AI. But we can’t just go without your input. Everyone should refer to you as Aida while he’s here.”
“That’s fine, Jeff,” Grandma said with a slight pause. “But I wouldn’t know the first thing about acting like a typical AI. I’ve kept all those fancy talk-boxes out of my life.”
Mom sighed. “Just… try to imagine you’ve never been a human before. Don’t try to empathize with any sort of feeling that would… require having a body.”
Our guest suddenly poked his head past the edge of the cockpit entrance. Specifically, just his head, as his feet and body remained behind the threshold. “Ah, space. To be finally off that nasty planet.”
Dad huffed a little and turned back. “Yes, how nice. Terren, please show our guest about the areas of the deck he will be allowed— specifically the common room and the restroom. The synthesizer will also be his to use, but for meals only. Maybe prepare some bedding.”
My brother slid out of his seat. “Aye, captain.”
My dad watched and waited a moment as they exited. “Aida.”
“Yes?”
“Have the door to the kids’ room locked while they’re in there sleeping.”
“I had already planned to.”
There weren’t many inhabited systems in ‘our neck of the galaxy,’ as Plip would say. My mom mapped a course to the next closest one as we continued on our long detour. I don’t think our guest cared about the final destination as long as it was someplace different.
I did my part watching over him as well. Well, the rest of my family were a few meters away in the cockpit, but they were focused on our heading and power and stuff. Me, I was studying at the common room table when Plip joined me with his freshly synthesized meal. It consisted of some bulbous pods in a dark sauce that smelled like a saltwater ocean.
“Ah, no piece of technology can compete with the luxury and convenience of a synthesizer. You won’t believe what I had to eat out here on the rim. Now this, this is exactly like what my mother used to make. Before she disowned me, of course.”
My eyes rested on him no longer than necessary before they went back to my tablet. I still managed the discomfort of seeing him cutting into his blobs with the side of his fork. I could barely ignore him as he smacked and groaned with satisfaction.
“What are you reading?” he asked, sloppily wiping his thin lips and wispy mustache.
“I’m reading up on heuristic matrices and how to streamline them,” I explained. “It’s to help… my grandma.”
“Just a bit of light reading then, huh? And for your Grandma, too. My, what a family of savants.”
My dad poked his head out from the cockpit. “You don’t have to talk to him, you know, Sola.”
“I’m just making conversation, my good sir,” said Plip, hands opening up invitingly. “Sir captain, was it? Or was it your wife that was the captain? Or even this little one here, I can’t keep your familiar hierarchy here straight.”
My dad marched out into the common room and leaned his hands on the table between me and our guest. “It doesn’t matter which of us is in charge. You’d do best to stay out of the way and listen when you’re spoken to. By any of us. Don’t worry, we’re quite fair.”
Plip slouched back in the seat. “As long as I am no longer back in that system, I shall put up with whatever you desire of me. Would you like me to show you the synthesizer parameters to make this dish for you?”
My dad glanced at the half-eaten monstrosity and shook his head. “No thank you, we are quite capable of feeding ourselves. At best, we plan to drop you off on the next settled planet we come across.”
Plip jerked up and wagged his finger. “I’d prefer you not, Mr. Umburter, perhaps Captain. If they don’t find me back in Anuar, they’ll search the next closest planet, and then the next. And to remind you, my assets have been frozen. I’ll need to get to a civilized planet to access an assessor who deals with Alpha Credits. Only then will I be out of your hair.”
My dad turned a chair around and sat on it, arms across the backrest. “Let’s bring it back a step or two. We’re taking a big risk having you aboard. Tell us who might be after you.”
Plip puffed out his cheeks. “I think it’s beyond obvious that I don’t work for those Cycles Go ‘Round chumps.”
“It certainly seemed strange to encounter an agent of theirs so far off the beaten path. So if not working, what brought you out there?”
Plip rolled his eyes. “I stowed away on a ship. Which brought me… to locales that were not… conducive to my happiness. So I stowed away again. Only this time, I was found out. And the types of folk that conduct business in this part of the galaxy don’t turn to the law when dealing with… unfortunate souls such as myself. They said they would pluck my whiskers if I didn’t turn over my credits,” he said with a shiver and a stroke of his mustache. “And then when they got what meager credits I dared to divulge to them, they dumped me still in Anuar. No usable money, only the clothes on my back. And after too long feeling sorry for myself… and dying of hunger and the cold… I decided to do as the locals do.”
“Do business,” my dad said with a nod.
“Bingo,” Plip said with a jerk of his finger. “And you know what? You can only call a person a smuggler if they happen to get caught with something they ought not to have. The rest of the time, they are haulers, much like yourself here. And all of these legitimate businessmen would want their cargo to be insured. So what do I do?”
“Sell them insurance?” I asked.
Plip winked at me. “That’s right. Nothing too big, nothing too expensive. They just pay me a bit upfront to set up their policy and they’re on their way. If something happens, they contact the main office and get their claim handled.”
My dad groaned. “Except the company’s main office has no record of them ever being customers.”
Our guest shrugged. “I was betting on them not needing that sort of thing right away. Made up my own little clause of a trial period or whatnot. I was hoping that I would have enough credits to get myself a proper seat on a ship back home before anyone was the wiser. And look, here we are.”
My dad stood and shook his head. “Obviously, someone did notice. You were worried about Cycles’ goons coming after you. They froze your wallet after all. They must have got your credentials from one of the customers you scammed. Our payment to you probably looked like we were another sucker being taken advantage of.”
“Does that mean that the bad guys have our wallet code now, too, dad?” I asked.
“I mean, they’re not bad guys. They exist to keep honest people and their money out of trouble. But…” Dad paused, his jaw going slack and his body suddenly jerking back. “Amelia!”
My mom shouted back from the cockpit. “I think I’ve got the gist. Aida, access our bank statements. Run a deposit to my personal account for a deci credit. Just to see if the assets in the business account aren’t frozen.”
“Understood,” Grandma said in her most neutral tone.
Plip glanced about the common room. “I should say, Jefferson… Mr. Umburter. The inside of this ship betrays the appearance from the outside. And your cargo bay looks nothing like any I’ve seen. All the computer bits were methodically installed as if they’re part of the ship and not its cargo.”
My dad leaned down in front of our guest, hands resting on the table. “That is none of your business.”
“Jefferson, there is a flag on our account,” Grandma spoke up.
My dad leaned in closer to our guest. I couldn’t see his eyes but I guessed they were mad because Plip leaned away from him. “If we didn’t have our own business to deal with, we would drag you straight to CGR’s headquarters and turn you in ourselves.”
Plip held his hands up defensively. “I shall be at your disposal to make it up to you in any way possible.”
“Dad,” I interrupted. “Why would the insurance guys have the banks block us if we’re already their customers?”
“Because…” He muttered, sliding back. “I’m not sure.”
“If… someone were after us…” I thought aloud. “Wouldn’t they try to stop us from getting help?”
“Someone after you, you say?” Plip hummed, hands together.
“Once again, not your business.” My dad huffed, turning back to the cockpit. “Amelia. We need to decide where we’re going so we can jump to warp. Pronto.”
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