No Space for Family [Chapter 14]

“The frontier is not policed very well,” Plip told us as we were taking dinner that night. The autopilot was set in on the course my mom and dad had decided on earlier. Since he had eaten before, Plip just sat and watched us, hands propped up on one another on the tabletop. “I don’t know who’s after you, but if they’re one of those nice rule-followers, they might not wish to follow into Beta administrative areas. And since you’re insistent you’re not smuggling anything, nobody on the other side should give you any trouble. I’ve heard there are some nice planets not far from here.”

“Nice for you or us?” Terren asked, jabbing his fork in interrogation.

Plip shrugged. “For hiding out? They would suit both of us. And it’s not like either of us can use our credits in this sector.”

My mom clicked her tongue. “Our task at hand is time-sensitive. We’ll keep moving forward. We can sort ourselves out once we’re back in familiar territory.”

My dad wiped his mouth and leaned in. “And as much as you’ve helped us, don’t expect you’ll have a full ride.”

Plip raised his hands to the air. “And you’re a lovely family here, but I do feel out of place here. Like I’m constantly being watched.”

“Play your cards right and we might let you use the synthesizer for a proper mattress,” Terren added.

Dad sighed. “What my boy here means to say is that you’ll have to earn our trust.”

“But that too will only go so far,” Mom added. “And in addition to our trust, you’ll have to earn your keep.”

---

Plip found himself mopping floors in the common area for the next few days. I never learned if he volunteered or was made to, but they did look better and shinier. A lot of that stuff had been ignored since the trouble with Grandma had begun. I was just glad I didn’t have to do it.

On the night of the second day on the same heading, I was awoken by the ship’s alarm somewhere outside my room. It wasn’t like an ‘oh, everything is going to explode’ alarm, but I doubt it was meant to go unanswered. Terren wasn’t in his bed, and I remembered that he had been assigned to stay up and keep watch on the autopilot that night.

I unlocked my room and ran out. Mom and Dad were scrambling down the ladder from their sleeping loft. Plip was at the door of the cockpit. He turned around and slid out of the way. “I didn’t do anything. Was just checking on things, the same as you.”

Dad pushed past him. “Terren?”

“Sorry, I dozed off,” said my brother groggily.

The low wailing ceased. Mom addressed the ceiling. “Mo— Aida, what was that for?”

“I’m sorry I woke you all up. It was only meant for Terren.”

“You might have just said something,” Terren complained.

“I panicked.”

Plip chuckled from beside the door. “What sort of AI is designed to panic?”

I made sure to glare at him while Grandma spoke up again. “A ship tried to contact us. So I hailed them back and asked of their reason for contacting us. They said to drop out of warp or else. And now they have joined us in formation, taking up our same speed and heading.”

Dad urged Terren out of the chair. My mom hurried to the navigation seat. “Should we drop out of warp, Jeff?”

Dad rubbed at his face and glanced about the computer screens. “I don’t want to find out what this… ‘or else’ is going to get us.”

Plip shook his head and mumbled. “The else is usually violence.”

“Aida,” asked my dad. “What’s this other ship look like? What sort of class?”

“Those crazy… warp distortions or whatever make it hard to see normally. But it is smaller than us. Like it might only fit one person. Maybe two people if they were tiny and were standing on each other’s shoulders.”

Dad grumbled and changed placed with Terren. “And what would something as tiny as that be out here in the middle of nowhere? Any other ships on the radar? Plip, is there any sort of colony in the vicinity?”

Our guest huffed and began pacing outside of the cockpit door. “I have not been offered a single glance at your navigation since we ditched Anuar. I have no idea.”

“It’s hailing again,” announced Grandma.

My dad huffed and shook his head. “I’m going to drop us out of warp then put us at a full stop. Aida, help us track its position and get us facing it to prepare for any maneuvers we might need to take.

As the streaks of warp distortions dissipated from view, I felt the frontal thrusters fire to slow us the rest of the way, the small engines hissing. My dad kept glancing between the front windows and the radar screen.

The nimble little craft that Grandma described flicked around in front of us. The two ships were practically face to face. “They are continuing to hale us.”

“Put them through,” Dad ordered.

“You’re lucky to have stopped where you did,” said the shrill voice.

“And what would have happened if we didn’t?” Asked my dad in return, eyes studying the other craft through the windows.

“You’re entering into a ship graveyard,” replied the smaller ship.

“Ships that didn’t heed your little intimidation tactic here?”

“…No, sir, I think you have it wrong. These ships came here long before us. Nobody has touched them for many years. Do you not know where you are?”

“My apologies, we are not from this area,” sighed my dad. “Please, proceed.”

“I see. My people work this space now as salvagers. There are many wrecked ships. Many old warp cores with poor stabilization. If your ship or other warp through here recklessly, it could end in great harm to yourselves or my people.”

My dad wiped his brow. “Well, that’s a relief. I mean, to hear about that now. Is there any way around?”

“You must make more distance and then you may warp, but this area requires a wide berth. You may also go through on thruster power alone. Two weeks in Alpha standard time is an average journey. But we understand the desire to pass through here quicker. I am able to guide you for a minor fee.”

My dad held his hand to the control panel to mute the transmission. “Great. We can either pay him with money we don’t have access to, or we can add more to this detour.”

“He could also just be trying to scam anyone that comes this way,” suggested Mom. “Aida, is what he saying true? What do you think about him?”

“I don’t trust him.”

Mom sighed. “We know you don’t, Mom. But can you confirm anything he’s said?”

“When I sent out a pulse to search for any other ships, I saw many. They are all broken and in many pieces. I guess there is also warp core radiation, according to whatever this other nonsense is.”

“Great, thanks,” my mom said flatly. “I’ll… leave it to your judgment, Jeff.”

My dad was already nodding. “We can’t offer cash for his service, but scrappers are, by definition, opportunists. So we might as well try to fight him at his own game.

My dad turned his head Plip’s way, who shook his head and stared back. “What now?”

Dad went back to the comms. “I’d like to invite you to dock with us and we can discuss a trade.”

My dad still had me hide behind him and Terren before the docking gate opened. The scrapper’s ship latching onto our own barely produced a tremble through the hull. Still, our systems locked onto one another effortlessly.

After the final hiss from the airlocks, the doors opened and our second guest walked onto the deck. He was barely a meter high, even smaller than me, with fuzzy brown hair and a beard. The jumpsuit he wore was covered in oil and who knows what else, and he was carrying a blocky backpack over his tiny shoulders.

He had to reach up high to take my dad’s outstretched hand. “Oh, what’s this? Ah, that shaking-hand thing. “

My dad shook and introduced himself. “I’m Jefferson, Jeff if that’s easier, and this is the Ora. Welcome aboard.”

“Cabble, from the Octrice Salvage company.”

“Come, into our common room,” said my mom, leading the way. “We may have a seat.”

I took the new visitor’s side as we walked. “Hey, so, how did so many ships end up out here?”

He looked me up and down past his bushy eyebrows. “Well, little one. This is a place you might say is neither here nor there. Neither sector calls it specifically their own. And big old spacecraft don’t just go away, so they get brought here and… blown to bits. So that pirates and other no-do-gooders don’t just use them for their own purposes.”

Terren took the chance to talk Cabbel up as well. “What’s the most interesting thing you find out there?”

The visitor wagged his finger. “Ah, old memory cells that haven’t been wiped. Recordings and files from people who served on these ships once. Not anything classified— mostly— but it is interesting to hear what they were doing or going through. Not that any of that amounts to much scrap value.”

“Okay kids,” said Mom, standing in the doorway and ushering the rest of us through. “Let’s not wear the guest out with questions. Us adults need to talk business.”

Plip was already sat at the table, perking himself up as Cabble stepped into the room. “Good day.”

My dad pulled out a seat for the little man. “Here’s the deal. We’d love to take you up on your offer, but we have no credits until we complete our delivery… far on the other side of this mess here. The boss doesn’t give us any to spare. But this fellow who has hitched to us here, Plip, is in a business you might be interested in.”

Plip put his hands together. “Good day, sir. I’m in the insurance business with Cycles Go ‘Round. Perhaps you’ve heard the name?”

Cabble shook his head and pulled off pack, swinging it to the ground before hopping up into the seat. “I’ve heard those three words, not in that particular order or grouping, mind you.”

“Cycles Go ‘Round— Time doesn’t stop, and neither do we,” Said Plip in a sing-songy tone.

I was close enough to hear my mom whisper to my dad. “Is that even their jingle?”

“Shh.”

“Salvaging, I can imagine, is a job that is not without risks,” said Plip with his made-up pitch. “Would you say that’s right?”

Cabble chuckled. “That’s just how life out in the nothing is.”

Plip raised a finger to the air, ready to make up something. “Well, while you’re out in the nothing, CGR would like to offer you something. Now, here I am on this craft whose captain has been a loyal customer for some time. So long that they’ve been able to take advantage of our high-value cargo policy… one that requires an agent present, thus me being here. Course, we’re at a little impasse here… not that we can’t not make a deal. See, we’re expanding our reach across the sector, and we welcome any and all new policies… usually for the right price, of course. But if we can get your cooperation, good Mr. Umburter here is allowed to make use of his affiliate status to sign up someone like you with a fresh new policy with us, free of charge for one standard galactic year. And you may cancel that at any point. Not that you won’t find our coverage extremely helpful come those stressful times.”

Cabble sighed and twisted around in his seat, narrowing an eye to my dad. “You would do that for us, Mr. Captain?”

My dad nodded. “We both tread treacherous paths, Mr. Cabble. There is a saying back where my people came from; you scratch my back, I scratch yours.”

Plip leaned in to seal the deal. “We can cover two… no, three craft belonging to your organization, as per this introductory deal,” he determined, glancing at my dad to make sure the fake offer seemed enticing enough. “Uh, no craft longer than forty meters, sadly. But more registrations can follow if you decide to upgrade your policy. At your convenience, of course. I would be happy to draft the forms while you take us through.”

Cabble hopped up from the seat and glanced around. I seemed like my dad had been holding his breath. “If it’s free, I can’t say no. Deal accepted, Mr. Jeff, Mr. Plip. And to be honest, not much piloting is required on my part if we want to get a move on here. I’d love for ya’ to fill me in while we get through it. If it wouldn’t be too much hassle. Mr. Jeff, show me your cockpit? Then we may set off.”

My dad let out his breath and perked up. “Ah, the cockpit. So readily?”

Cabble picked up his pack with one hand and patted it with the other. “My ship’s docked, I’ve got my tools, and I assume you have somewhere to be. Same as any of us. Am I incorrect?”

“You aren’t,” said my dad with a shake of his head. “But… is there anything I could do to make this process easier for you?”

Cabble began walking to the cockpit on his own. “A data ingress. That’s all I need.”

My dad hurried after him. “Sure. It’s just below the pilot’s seat there on the left. Port, I mean. On the port.”

The visitor hunched down and was immediately folding up the cover. “Let’s see. One, two, ten, twenty… twenty-eight contacts. Alpha C connector? Very high throughput.”

“I may have an adapter…” my dad muttered.

“No need,” said Cabble, fishing through one of the bulging, front pouches on the boxy backpack. “I’ve pulled apart and combed through ships from across six different decades, there ain’t no connector that I’ve not seen. Yours… nice and up to date. I commend you.”

“Yes, well, various custom bits in this iteration of the ship,” said my dad warily. “Hopefully whatever you intend… won’t meet its match here.”

Cabble unzipped his pack and opened a metal flap hiding beneath the fabric. I managed to look around my dad’s legs to catch sight of the IO of the strange device. He reeled a cable from the top it it, effortlessly attached a stubby adapter, and fitted it into the port below the pilot’s seat.

“Give it a little to initialize,” Cabble said, standing and wiping his hands on his thighs. “Oh, I should have said it will draw a bit of power. I imagine you have some to spare.”

“Sure,” nodded my dad, still staring at the mysterious device. “And what exactly will that allow you to do?”

The short stranger looked up at my dad then shrugged in the direction of the front windows. “It’s got a detailed map of the scrap field, including the worrisome warp cores we need to avoid. It will temporarily access your piloting, navigation and sensor systems to get us through safely.”

My dad groaned with a little bit of apprehension. “And your role in this?”

“Get it running, like I’ve already done. And then remove it once we’re through. Simple as that.”

“I see.”

Cabble patted at my dad’s hand. “Worry not. I wouldn’t be aboard now if it were some sort of dangerous task, would I? My ship is latched on to yours. But you may sit at your controls as usual to see as the program runs its course. But if I were you, I’d just take my time an’ relax.”

Mom snuck up behind Dad and whispered in his ear. “Is this going to be okay?”

Dad crossed his arms and wandered back. “I see, how convenient. And you will have time to discuss your insurance arrangement as well. Amelia, make our guest feel at home if you could.”

“Of course.”

Dad marched back to the back hall and looked up at the ceiling. “Aida, you’ve been listening?”

“He’s pleasant,” she responded lowly.

“Is that all?”

“For once.”

Dad clicked his tongue. “Well, for now, keep your routines out of the ship’s systems. Whatever he’s got running in that box, I doubt we should be messing with it or interrupting it.”

“I could figure out what it does and try to copy it.” Admitted Grandma smugly. “If I had time. I would have to be refreshed on what the sides of the ship are, too, of course. Port and…”

“Starboard,” I whispered.

Dad patted my head with a weak smile. “That’s the one. Well, same deal as before. Just keep an eye out.”

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.”

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.”

No Space for Family [Chapter 11]

“I know them!” I shouted probably too loudly, even for the bustling alleyway.

“Yeah, I’m sure I’ve seen that name in your dad’s files here,” added Grandma.

Dad jerked back and shook my shoulder. “What are you two talking about? Aida, why are you in my files?”

I reached up and grabbed my dad’s wrist. “Dad, Cycles Go ‘Round is here,” I said pointing to the restaurant.

“They’re operating out here?” He said with a squint. With a parting wave to apologize to the shopkeeper, he allowed himself to follow after me. “If that’s true, that’ll be a stroke of luck.”

Cycles Go ‘Round was our insurance company. Some of my dad’s longest meetings were with them. Even before our first job started, they visited us and the ship and looked it all over. Then we paid them a lot of money. I guess that means they would help us if we were in trouble. It was something that my dad had set up, so it didn’t matter to me much.

Dad took the lead as we marched into the restaurant. Both the booths by the windows and the tall seats at the bar were full, and more people were pouring out into the aisle, shouting out weird-sounding orders. Glowing signs in scripts I couldn’t recognize dangled above the patrons’ heads. A pig-faced fellow glared down the length of my dad’s arm and to me as we walked in, heads swiveling back and forth.

“Sir?” he said with a snort. “This ain’t be quite the place for childrens, yaknow?”

My dad looked at me then the man before tilting his head. “Uh, of course not. This is… my sister. Older sister. All the females of my species grow up to be about this tall. Or are you just gonna’ just a book by its cover?”

I cleared my throat and made my voice deep. “He doesn’t look like he’s ever seen a book, bro.”

Dad yanked me harder than normal and pulled us both deeper into the less restaurantly-seeming place. “Your sister?” I asked him lowly.

“Shh. We look enough alike. And saying you’re my wife… too weird for me.”

“Good call.”

“Shh,” he shushed again. “…should have just brought Terren.”

I was forced to cling close while passing through the sea of people. I could feel myself sweating through the heavy layers as the sweltering mob buzzed around. I thought I smelled more burning booster fuel, but it was probably something else.

“That could be him,” Dad said under his breath.

I ducked under his arm and clung to his side. At a snug, tall table under one of the dirty windows was a male dressed in a pristine, puffy, insulated jumpsuit. The fur-lined hood was pulled back to reveal a thin dark-haired male, vaguely humanoid, with dark whiskers modeled into a human-looking mustache. Sharing the table with him was someone fitting the dirty, well-insulated local aesthetic. The mustachioed businessman cracked his fingers while the local signed away at a tablet.

My dad and I crept in close enough to hear the conversation. “A trick I see a lot, you know, is to install a secondary black water tank. Say that your primary one sprung a leak. The folks at checkpoints don’t want to poke their eyes and noses into a tank of you know what. But little do they know, it’s just free storage space and a way to fudge the numbers on any weigh-ins. Then if you’re underweight… remember what you gotta tell my people at Cycles Go ‘Round if you encounter one of those… pirates, right?”

“AI processors,” said the local in a lumbering tone. “Pirates stole the processors I was shipping.”

“AI processors is correct! The hottest most stealable stuff.” The agent said back, pinging his fingernail on the side of his drinking glass. The local pushed the tablet back his way and he gave it a singular glance. “Very nice. Looks good to go. Thank you for allowing Cycles Go ‘Round to watch over your business ventures!”

The local stood up with a grunt and shuffled off back in the direction of the bar. Before anyone else could take the seat, my dad pulled me up close behind him and hefted himself onto the well-used stool.

“Hi there,” he said with a smile.

The agent blinked at us for a few moments before flashing his own wide smile. “Yes, hi there. Look at me, what a popular man I am today. Interested in an insurance policy?”

“We’re actually already customers,” my dad nodded, patting me on the shoulder. “My older sister and I of course. She’s mute, by the way.”

Dad and I glanced at each other. We reached a silent agreement and turned back to the agent at almost the same moment.

“You… with Cycles Go ‘Round. I see,” he said, intertwining his fingers. “You must have… signed up with my colleague.”

My dad nodded. “One of your colleagues, yes, but there must be a lot of you out there, of course.”

“Of course,” repeated the agent, shoving his words in before my dad could take a breath.

“It was probably an Alpha Standard year ago, way off in the Callus system, if you’re familiar with it.”

The agent clapped a single, loud clap that pulled the attention of the closer half of the restaurant. “Is that so? Well, I went and thought that I had gone forgotten the face of one of my dear customers. Our dear customers. The name’s Plip. And frankly, since we’ve just expanded into this here neck of the cosmos, I wasn’t expecting to meet any far-flung travelers who make use of our business.”

My dad laughed and patted the edge of the table. “Well, far-flung is a pretty accurate term. We’re already a bit off the beaten path, and then we ran into an… incident back in the Greenmire system.”

“Shame, I’m sure.”

Dad looked over his shoulder before leaning back in closer. “Might we find a quieter place? Perhaps you’d like to stop by our ship so we can hash things out? And perhaps tell us if we’re covered?”

Plip drummed his fingers on the table. He glanced at me, who was trying not to stare at him too much. “Your and your sister’s ship? Suppose it can’t hurt. Uh, big or small ship?”

“Not too big,” My dad said, making an unconvincing box shape with his hands. “An old… converted… freighter. You’ll see.”

Plip stood and opened his hands to the aisle to let us through. He wavered back and forth through the bustle behind us until we were all outside. He hung behind us, glancing and nodding at the passing locals.

“You should know, Mr…”

“Oh, my apologies,” replied my dad, glancing back and bowing his head. “Umburter. Jefferson Umburter. Our ship’s the Ora. I should have brought our policy card, but I left it on board. Never thought I would run into one of you. You may look us up if you need.”

“Uh, I’ll take your word for it. But Mr. Umburter, I’m a simple agent, a salesman most days. Not quite an expert on complex systems. An… adjuster could certainly be a better judge of the cost of various repairs, but I am also low on the pole. Tell us again, what’s the cause of your discontent?”

“Unforeseen solar activity.”

“The worst kind of solar activity,” Plip nodded.

Dad kept glancing back to make sure the agent was following us as we crept closer to the edge of town. The outskirts were more loosely packed with buildings and people and their sounds. I noticed that we were headed in the wrong direction to get back to our ship. One thing that never happened was my dad heading in the wrong direction, so I said nothing and waited to see what was happening.

Dad sighed. “Yes. We… blew a gasket… or five… on our cooling system trying to… keep things together. Heading back through Greenmire wasn’t an option, of course. Actually ending up here was a stroke of luck. And that we would run into you.”

“That makes the both of us lucky, don’t it?”

Dad glanced back and forth. We were about to round the corner of a house when he turned around. “More than you would know,” he replied, stopping all of a sudden and pulling me around behind him. “Before we go any further, I’m going to need you to tell me—“

I glanced around my dad’s waist and saw the flash of metal. Plip had jerked back and pulled out a blaster from his padded boot, pointing it our way. “Ain’t neither of us going any further! I knew you were trying to track me down! You won’t get me this time!”

“Dad!” I shouted, hiding my head.

My dad raised his hands in the air. “Whoa, what the hell! I don’t know who you think we are!”

“You’re the CGR goons, the real thing!” Plip said, jerking the hand blaster at my dad’s stomach. “Trying to take me down finally. I knew these backwater tools would get to sending in claims to the company right away!”

“Cycles Go ‘Round goons? Why would the company be trying to take you down? What sort of employee are you?”

“You tell me that!”

Dad stomped back. “Tell you what? What do you think I’m doing here? With my little daughter in tow!”

Plip lowered his gun slightly. He glanced around my dad’s side and took a peek at me before I was pushed further back. “Now you said she was your sister. And non-speakin’!”

“Because they don’t let kids in bars! But there was no way I was going to leave her in a busy alley all alone.”

I wagged my hand out from behind my dad. “I thought it was a restaurant.”

“Shush, girl.”

“Sorry, Dad.”

Plip wagged his gun at the floor. “Yeah, shut it! Big daddy, explain!”

“I’ll ask you not to talk to my daughter that way.”

“WHAT. ARE. YOU. HERE. FOR?”

My dad shoved a hand against Plip’s mouth. “Okay, hear me out.”

The agent jerked back and spat on the ground. “Talk then, damn you!”

“We don’t need to file a claim with Cycles. I just need your ear.”

Plip clicked his tongue. “Your head is not on straight, is it?”

My dad ignored him and continued. “You seem to be acquainted with this place. Regardless if you’re a model agent or not. Our ship, and most importantly, my family, are in possible danger if we can’t get a move on. Everything I told you about the condition of our ship was true. We need to get fixed up and get out of here, but the locals aren’t too keen on helping outsiders. We will pay you what we can if you can get us access to a shop. Get us fixed up— on the down low, if possible.”

Plip looked my dad up and down. “Got credits?”

“Enough.”

The agent nodded his head and slipped the weapon back into his boot. “Now you’re speaking my language. Man, I might be able to get out of this place sooner than later. Gentleman’s agreement?”

My dad watched as Plip extended his hand. My dad took it up and shook it. “Deal. I’ll give you our communicator frequency and you get us details on the fix. Once we have the parts ready for us, then I’ll pay up.”

No Space for Family [Chapter 10]

“It’s going to be a long detour for us,” Mom admitted.

“But necessary,” Dad added. “We can’t risk it again with the Greenmire systems and its pair of stars awaiting us. And we’ll need to make a stop in a decently civilized place. The systems purge put us low on refrigerant. And we can’t risk running out if we want to keep Grandma’s body on ice.”

“If all that cold makes my hair brittle and fall out, I’ll never be able to go out in public again,” Grandma complained.

“One worry at a time, Mom.”

I glanced over the star charts. The systems in the direction of our heading were kind of sparse compared to the systems we had been in before. “You don’t think there are any really good doctors out this way?”

Terren nodded pensively. “If there were, who knows if they’d be able to understand our physiology.”

“Indeed. Unfortunately, this area is on the border of our incorporated star systems,” Dad said, leaning over at my controls. “We’ll be lucky if folks accept any of our credits. We may have to get creative and see what we have available for trade.”

---

We gave the Greenmire system a wide berth. Out the way my dad had chosen, there wasn’t a whole lot. Well, actually, there was a big asteroid field. That’s where we met the Froungles, but you already know that story.

Grandma got her first taste of interacting with the translation matrix to understand their language. A good deal of people we had come across in our travels spoke Alpha Galactic standard, or at least fragments of it. In addition, some commonly spoken languages in our galactic vicinity could be translated through the ship’s built-in dictionaries, no artificial intelligence needed. However, Getting through unknown ones took some processing power, which we definitely had, albeit at Grandma’s whims. I’m beginning to understand why she settled on a mostly human-inhabited planet.

Well, while we were able to help the Froungles fix their engine and get them on their way, all they had to offer in trade were some unrefined minerals from their mining expedition, slightly radioactive ones at that. We gracefully turned those down. At the very least, they pointed us in the direction of an inhabited planet as thanks for our deed.

It was another two days before the light of Anuar glowed in our windshield. Its fourth planet shone with a little collection of artificial lights in a few meager groupings. In our approach, we came across a few other ships departing and arriving from its atmosphere.

“Good thing we put off painting the hull,” my dad teased. “Nobody will look twice at an old rust-bucket-looking freighter like ours.”

“And what about when we land?” Grandma asked.

“What about it, mom?” Asked my mom.

“Well, what if those nasty people from that space prison have put out an APB for our capture? A warrant, a bounty? And we’ll be the only human folk among these other freaks on this edge of the galaxy.”

“We’re actually closer to the galactic core than Chandra is, Grandma,” I mentioned. “The edge is the opposite direction.”

“You know what I mean, dear.”

“Don’t worry yourself Aida,” Dad responded. “I won’t be going to any town square and trying to loudly haggle. Anyone who spends their time traveling knows to stay off the main streets and get in with the locals.”

“Off in the alleys, then, where the miscreants hide away.”

“What if…” I suggested. “Grandma hacks the city’s communication network and sees if there are any people talking about us or the Ora or the AI.”

Terren scoffed playfully. “Little sis got through one single locked door and now she thinks she can take down a whole city.”

“It’s just an idea, you jerk!” I hissed back at him across the cockpit.

Dad chuckled. “Okay, you two. Sola, thank you for the idea, and the laugh, but I don’t think that will be necessary. I mean, we haven’t even gotten an approaching hale, not even an automated one. I think this is one of those places where you set down wherever you can. I doubt they have any sort of high-tech network. But I’d appreciate it if you joined me down there.”

“Jeff?” Mom asked loudly. “Bring Sola?”

My dad nodded across the cockpit at her. “Hear me out. We still need an adult responsible for the ship. And having two big gents wandering about in a shady manner would draw too much attention.”

“Granted,” Terren interjected.

“Sola would be by my side the entire time. And only using the communicator to connect back here and have Aida interpret for us using the translator. We’ll be all incognito and covered up anyways, it’s -40° on the surface down there.”

Terren jerked up and craned his neck over the back of the pilot’s seat. “Are you kidding me? Is that in Celsius or Fahrenheit?”

“Actually -40° is where both of them line up,” I informed him. “It could be either.”

Mom pursed her lips. “Fine. But I need to hear back every ten minutes.”

My dad piloted us down to a free spot about a half kilometer away from any buildings behind a rocky mound. The Ora sat down its landing gear with a crunch. Frost immediately began to form on the windshield, creating intricate designs. I could have looked at them all day if my dad didn’t immediately call for me.

“Be ready in five,” he said, pushing himself out of the pilot’s seat. “Get a snack and a bathroom break in. We’ll have to get dressed up nice and tight before heading outside.”

I did as my dad asked. Before joining him, I pulled out a communicator from the cockpit, fiddling with it the whole way back to the cargo bay where I had heard my dad working.

He was pulling on a thick, heavy jumpsuit beside the AI core. The synthesizer on the wall was busy extruding a nicely folded one for me as well. He nodded at me. “Almost ready.”

“Same here,” I said, holding the puck-shaped device in my hand. I stared at the lens of the micro holo-projector until it flashed the right glyphs. “Grandma, I’m sending out a synchronization code. It has eight digits.”

“I already see it, hun,” she said. Halfway through, her voice began coming through the communicator’s speaker.

“Do you hear me?” I said, speaking back into it.

“Of course,” She said, voice echoing. “Twice, even! How strange. 3 milliseconds apart, specifically.”

“It’ll be less annoying once we’re no longer here in the ship,” I said.

“How could my little granddaughter ever be annoying?”

Dad snuck up behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders. “You’d be surprised, Aida.”

“Dad!”

“Hah, joking. It’s my duty as a dad to make bad jokes like that. Also, I want you to encrypt the signal for us. A little bit the opposite of your desire to hack everything, but necessary nonetheless. By then your suit should be ready.”

The thermal outerwear was so stiff and thick that I could barely put my foot down from the cargo hatch on the back of the ship. The rocky ground crunched beneath my feet. Dad held at my free hand to get us free. With his other hand, he waved back to my mom, standing in the doorway with arms crossed over her chest. I couldn’t tell if she was cold or angry, but it was probably both. She closed the hatch behind us.

“Your mom wants me to test if the communicator is working,” Grandma announced.

“It’s working,” Dad said, leaning down to the device attached to my collar. “Tell her to keep a hug ready and warm for us.”

“…She says to focus on what you need to do first. You dork.”

“Wait, is it you calling us dorks, or my lovely wife calling us dorks?”

“Don’t bring little Sola into this name-calling,” Grandma replied. “And if it were me doing the name-calling, yours would be much worse.”

“Understood. Over and out.”

I managed to gain my footing and march fairly easily beside my dad. “No snow,” I said wistfully.

Dad glanced up at the dreary sky, allowing puffs of frost to exit his mouth. “It may be too cold here for it to snow properly. Which I know sounds ridiculous.”

“Cause the water never has a chance to evaporate or transpire?”

I think Dad shrugged, but it was hard to see under all our layers. “I guess nothing sounds ridiculous once you apply proper science to it. I promise once we get Grandma back, we can go some place that will actually be fun.”

“I’m having plenty of fun,” I said, wanting to jump, but knowing the heavy outfit would probably make me fall over.

“Well I’m glad that’s one of us… joking!”

All the buildings within the town were made of thick blocks of stone and concrete. The number of proper windows was sparse, most being small slits with meager lights casting lows glows through their frosty panes. Deeper in towards the center of town were a few taller buildings, but not many were higher than two stories.

We ran across a few inhabitants of the town, peacefully waddling on by under their heavy layers, barely giving us a second look. My dad still held onto my hand tighter than usual.

“Let’s avoid the center of town.” He said down to me, guiding us away. “Any place stocking ship supplies would need more space, probably on the outskirts.”

“Yes, captain.”

Through my cold, runny nose, I could smell the constant sharp odor of thruster fuel and burning oil. We soon found ourselves in a busier area down an alley on the north edge of the town. Between their different shapes and sizes, not to mention the variety of outerwear, it was impossible to tell who was a local and who had come from elsewhere. It made me feel like we weren’t going to stand out as much as I thought. My dad and I still didn’t let go of each other’s hands.

My dad approached the first shop we came about. At least I think it was a shop. Under the frosty, stiff canopy was a collection of barrels, oily ship parts on tall, unorganized shelves and head-sized buckets of nuts and bolts, none of which seemed to go with each other. My dad caught the attention of the shop owner, a wrinkly little guy with one hand.

I held to the back of his outerwear, glancing about for any other things of interests. People were pulling sleds of parts across the mucky ground that had probably gathered a thousand footprints in that past hour. A huge fur-covered biped marched about shirtless, seemingly untouched by the cold. A restaurant or something like it hummed with conversations and the clatter of dishes.

My dad took my hand up again and we wandered off, his head shaking. I couldn’t help but want to listen to all the different languages and try to pick out any that sounded familiar. The next shop further down the alley had a female-sounding shopkeeper draped in dingy robes, her shape nearly completely hidden. She seemed to speak less Standard than the first.

“Refrigerant. Do you have any?” Asked my dad plainly.

“Why refrigerant?” The shopkeep hissed back, arms wide. “Cold here already.”

“Yes, here it… cold,” my dad snapped, trying to keep a hold of the conversation. “But there are other places people visit that are warmer. Much warmer. Too warm for our ship.”

“Not here.”

“I see. Well, thank you anyway.”

After a few fruitless stops, we found ourselves on the other side of the alley, making a loop back the way we came. I heard a few familiar words from the restaurant at the end of the way. I could barely hear over the sound of my dad trying to reason with the salesman.

“Refrigerant, yes. I need Difluoroethylene. No, I don’t know what you would call it in your language. Maybe… hey, maybe I can show you the structural formula to see if you recognize it. Hey, Sola, use the communicator, ask Grandma if she can send us an image of Difluoroethylene in its structural formula. What do you mean you don’t know what that is?”

I held one hand on the hem of my Dad’s jacket and one on the communicator still pinned to my front. “Grandma, are you listening?”

“Yes, dear. I think I can get that thing your dad was asking for, but it doesn’t seem like it would help.”

Dad leaned in closer to the salesperson and began describing the refrigerant the best he could. I shook my head and turned my ear to find the source of the conversation I had heard. “That’s fine, Grandma. Can you hear someone speaking Galactic Standard in the crowd nearby? Maybe you can isolate what they’re saying.”

“Ugh, let me guess, I have some extension to do that?”

“Go through and filter out some of the other voices first. I mean, that’s what I’d do.”

“What you’d do, huh?” she seemed to sigh. “I’d say there’s more things you… personally… can do than things you can’t do. Let’s see. Well, luckily it’s some loud oaf. Yeah, I hear it. Cycles Go ‘Round, they’re saying? Around? Where have I heard that before?”