Chapter 13

Jass floated down the corridor toward the airlock. Kristin had been too busy to do more than her scheduled duties over the few days since they had taken on their new cargo and supplies at Cybele. Jass felt the need to talk to someone she'd known for years, someone she could be a little less guarded with.

As she turned a corner, she saw Dani hurriedly making her way up the corridor. The programmer waved at her and warned her to stay quiet. Jass caught up with her; leaning in close, she whispered, “What is it?”

“I think I've found another bomb,” Dani whispered, her words so quiet that Jass almost couldn't hear them. Without further comment, Jass grabbed Dani's arm and the two of them hurried forward. When they reached the door to the galley, Dani ducked inside. Jass followed and closed the door behind them. It wouldn't offer much privacy, but it was better than nothing.

“What did you find?” Jass asked, but Dani didn't reply. Instead, she ran her fingers under a cabinet and gestured for Jass to do the same. Her fingers immediately brushed over a twist of wiring, but she knew that the electrical wiring for this room ran under this cabinet, so there was nothing unusual there. Then, just as she was about to ask Dani what she was worried about, her fingertips collided with a small metal box. She frowned. That hadn't been there before, and she couldn't remember having seen anything similar on the wiring plans.

She looked at Dani, who shook her head. “I'm not sure what it is, either. But if you angle your head and look at it, you can see it was added pretty recently. Whoever planted it rerouted a few wires to go right through it. I don't know if that's part of its function, or just to make it seem like something that belonged here.”

Jass felt her lungs constrict and struggled for breath. “We have to get rid of this somehow. Can you find out how it's connected and what its purpose is?”

Dani shrugged. “Not easily. It's probably best if we can get it out of there, then I can look at it. I don't know if it's rigged to go off if it's disturbed, though. Our best bet is to shut off all power to it at once. Can you shut off the electricity in just this room without affecting the ship?”

“Yes, we can.” The captain pulled up the console access interface on her computer. It took her a few moments to work down to the screen that gave her access to the electrical systems on the ship. The program asked for approval and confirmation of her identity at every step, and she answered each prompt with growing anxiety. Finally, she saw the controls she was looking for. With a few quick commands, she plunged the room into darkness. A few of the cooking implements beeped plaintively as the power failed, then the room was silent.

“Well, we didn't blow up,” said Jass quietly, “so we must have done alright. Let's get this thing out of here.” She pulled a small pocketknife out of a compartment on her belt and began to unscrew the screws that held the box onto the cabinet.

The device lay in pieces across Dani's bed. Jass had decided not to take the box to the main cabin for several reasons. First, she didn't want a potentially explosive device to make its way into the control room. For another thing, there was no reason to let the saboteur know how much she knew, should the traitor come to the cabin on routine business.

“Any ideas?” Jass asked, looking at the pieces of the device.

Dani prodded a small lump of plastic explosive, which had had the detonator cap removed. “I think so. I don't think you've got a typical bomb here. These pieces over here look like they might be for producing an electromagnetic pulse. It wouldn't be a big one, but it would need to be very big to knock out all of our electronics.” She pointed to the explosives. “I think this is just to remove the evidence of what started the process. The EMP would go off first, and just behind it, the little explosion from the plastics. It would have damaged the galley quite a bit, but not much beyond that. Something that could plausibly be caused by faulty wiring, damaged equipment, or simply someone leaving an appliance on in the wrong setting. Clever, and not too hard to set up.”

Jass let her eyes roam over the dismantled device while her thoughts raced. Was this something that had been on board since the beginning, or had their saboteur gotten new supplies at Cybele? She shook her head to clear it. “I need this stuff wrapped up so I can take it with me. I want to look it over myself when I have time to study it. If I stay away from the main cabin much longer, it'll raise questions.”

The pieces were moved onto a spare shirt that Dani had agreed to use for the purpose, and wrapped so that none of them touched. Jass kept the lump of plastic explosive out in the open; she'd send it through an airlock before returning to the cabin.

As she made her way up the corridor to the main cabin, Jass saw a flurry of movement near the science lab. Martina stood in the doorway, with an unreadable expression on her face. Merriam was holding her hand, but it looked to Jass as if they had been arguing until the moment she turned the corner. Before she could speak to either one, Merriam ducked back inside the lab, pulling Martina behind him. The door closed with a click.

Jass paused in the hallway, listening for any sound of an argument or struggle. She considered pounding on the door, insisting that the couple open it and answer for themselves. But her thoughts were still consumed by the device that now rested in pieces in her quarters. Dealing with the workplace romance would have to wait.

She returned to the main cabin just in time for the beginning of her watch. Aaron was pushing off from halfway up one wall of the cabin and soaring across the room before somersaulting and pushing off the far wall.

“Trying for a new way to drive your captain crazy?” she asked as she made her way to the captain's console.

“Nope. Just needed to move for a bit. There's something a little calming about doing something crazy.” He planted his feet against the wall and brought himself to a stop. “You seem more uptight than usual today. Something wrong?”

She watched him as he lowered himself down from the wall. She'd known Aaron for over twelve years. They'd met during her junior year of college, his senior year. Before this trip, Jass would have said that she trusted him more than anyone except Kristin Marshall. But now she wondered. Someone was planting bombs aboard her ship. And it could be anyone.

“No, not really. Still recovering from a night of sleep in what barely qualifies as gravity. Ugh. Make it zero g or full Mars grav, none of that crazy asteroid stuff.”

“No argument here,” he agreed as he made his way to his console and buckled himself into his seat. “By the way, you'll find this on my report, but I thought you'd like to know. With the fuel we got from Cybele, we were able to make up about a day of lost time with extra burns. I also checked the fuel for the ion drives, and we had a small surplus, so we're going to make up lost time with some burns there, too. Right now it looks like we'll only be two or three days late to Gaspra station.”

“Excellent. I knew I hired you for a reason.” Jass pulled up his report and began checking the details. “You know, I feel like I will go insane if I look at one more report. After a few weeks of this, I start fantasizing about getting Dani to program my console to automatically corrupt all report files sent to it.”

“Why, captain, I had no idea you were such an anarchist at heart.”

The word rankled. “I have a healthy distaste for red tape and beurocractic nonsense. I'd hardly call that anarchy. Anarchists are bastards who are determined to bring down the society that made it possible for them to exist in the first place, and they deserve to be tossed out an airlock.”

Aaron twitched at the mention of airlocks. “that's...a strong response to a simple joke. If I didn't know better, I'd say that something out of the usual had happened.”

She sighed, and put away the reports. “I'm sorry, that was harsh. Let's start this all over again. 'Hello, Aaron, thank you for your wonderful work getting us back on schedule.'”

He didn't respond, but stared into the distance, lost in thought. “I know what it is.”

“What what is?”

“I've never heard you so intense on punishing criminals before this trip. It's more than just being worried about the rumors of sabotage, you have reason to believe that someone on this trip is a saboteur.” He looked at her, eyes blazing.

She felt goosebumps rise on her arms and shivered. The main cabin suddenly felt very cold and she was acutely aware of the thin metal shell that protected them from the dark cold vacuum of space. One good blast was all it would take, and they would all be dead.

She cleared her throat and tried to keep her voice even. “If I thought someone on board was going to blow us all to bits, don't you think I'd say something more openly?”

“Not if you thought that might be more dangerous.” He paused, not taking his eyes off her. “You'd keep it to yourself if you wanted to trick the saboteur into a sense of security, or if you didn't want to create a panic...” His voice trailed off. “Or if you didn't know who it was.”

Jass didn't respond.

“No. No, you can't suspect the rest of us. Damn it, Jass!” He banged a hand on the console, jerking his body against the belt that held him to the seat. “I get not trusting some of the new ones. Like Merriam? I wouldn't trust that guy with an unlit candle, to be honest. Or Martina, or Kara, they both need money. But if you can't even talk to me about it! Hell!”

“What was I supposed to do?” she yelled. “i have no proof of who it is or isn't, and damnit, every person on board this ship needs money, as far as I can tell. Except Merriam, who is still disgustingly rich. Believe me, if I knew who was causing this problem, then I'd know who I could trust.”

Aaron looked as if he were about to respond, but turned around and disappeared down the corridor.

Jass sat stewing in frustration. She was half tempted to write him up for abandoning his watch, but decided that that would only make the situation worse. She could only sit and hope that he wouldn't spread the word through the crew, or she might never get the situation back under control.

The next few days were tense, and Jass got used to having a perpetual headache. Aaron refused to speak to her on all but official matters. Martina was crying less, but seemed to be on edge. Merrian was as generally unpleasant as always. Jass found that she had little appetite, and often skipped meals.

Seven days out from Cybele, Jass was on her way back to the cargo bay when the world started spinning. She grabbed onto a handhold in the wall, trying to keep her stomach from bringing up its contents. For a few seconds, she blacked out.

When she came to, she saw Denjiro bending over her, saying something she couldn't hear. In a moment, Kristin appeared beside him. Jass felt a cold hand on her forehead, and felt as if she might lose consciousness again. She struggled to hold on, and slowly found that she could understand the conversation.

“...clearly overworked and dealing with stress,” Kristin was saying. “She's going to need to rest.”

“No,” Jass said, trying to regain her balance. “I've got to push through this. We should have anti-nausea and headache stuff in the med lab.”

“I realize that I'm not actually a doctor,” Kristin commented, “but I've got the most medical training of any of us. You are sick, and if you don't stop to rest now, it's going to be much worse and you'll be forced to rest for longer.”

“But the schedules...got to keep watch on the main cabin...”

“We'll take care of the schedules,” Denjiro said as he and Kristin helped guide Jass down the corridor to her quarters. Denjiro left to alert the crew to the situation and draw up a new schedule for keeping watch in the main cabin. Kristin helped Jass into her hammock and strapped her in to keep her from drifting out.

“Kristin, I can't be in bed right now. There's something wrong...” Jass tried to clear her head enough to say something, to give a warning, but there was a sort of fuzziness and she couldn't remember what she had to warn her friend about.

“I know we have a traitor among us,” Kristin said, leaning in and speaking quietly. “I know you better than anyone else, remember? Something was obviously wrong, and it didn't take much to put two and two together.” She pulled a small metal object from her pocket. “Look. This is a camera. I know we're not supposed to record things without everyone being aware of it, but desperate times call for desperate measures, right? I'm going to put this in the main cabin, just so we have an extra set of eyes. And if I install it while you're bedridden with a fever, you have plausible deniability in case there are any problems later.”

Jass could feel herself falling asleep, but struggled to keep her eyes open. “Will you come tell me when it's set up? I'll feel a lot better knowing that someone's watching everything...”

Kristin nodded. “I'll let you know when it's set up. But first, sleep. According to the messages you've sent the crew, you must have only been getting a few hours a night, and that'll catch up to you quick. You sleep. I'll snoop.”

Jassmyn's eyes fluttered as she fell asleep, and by the time Kristin had closed the door, she was in a dreamless sleep.

When she woke again, the room was still and dark, and she couldn't find her computer to find out what time it was. She tried to undo the straps on the sleeping hammock, but felt her stomach turn at the first hint of motion. The hammock moved gently as the air in the room circulated, and Jass felt as if she were being rocked back to sleep.

The door opened, and Kristin came through. She turned on a small dim light, which was still bright enough to make Jass blink for a moment. “Feeling any better?”

“Not enough to get up yet, at any rate.” Jass made a face. “Or eat anything, for that matter. I still feel tired, but I don't think I can sleep any more just now.”

“No surprise there, you slept for almost fifteen hours. And before you ask, yes, I got the camera set up. It's sending all the files to my computer, so no one else has access.” She floated near her friend's side, hanging one to one of the hammock straps with one hand so as not to drift. “You know, given the size of this room, I almost feel like we're back in college again. Except I think this might be bigger than our dorm was.”

Jass laughed. “Oh man, I hated that room! They had some crazy excuse for putting so many people in such a small space, what was it?”

“I think the official phrasing was, 'This arrangement has been calculated to be optimal for the utilization of space.'”

“You actually remember the phrase? You have more respect for authority than I thought.”

“Respect, nothing! I remember it because you used to give dramatic performances of great monologues that always ended with that line. After a few dozen repetitions, it tended to stick in your head. It's almost got a rhythm to it.”

Jass was silent for a few minutes, then turned to Kristin again. “You ever think we made the wrong choice in leaving college when we did? Some of the others have got pretty cushy jobs by now.”

Kristin shrugged. “Not really. They got what they wanted, I got what I wanted. I thought you got what you wanted, too, but now I'm not so sure. Do you really want to be planetside all the time?”

“No, but they don't really have to worry about getting blown into empty vacuum just because someone wants their business, either. It seems like it might be a fair trade right about now. But, no, it really wouldn't. I'd still rather get blown out that front window than live tied to one planet all the time. I can't imagine what it's like to live like they do, watching launches from a distance if they see them at all. I think some of them never get further from the planet surface than a quick low orbit trip if they need to get to the other side of the world for a business trip. I couldn't do that. I have to be up here. I couldn't live anywhere else...” Jass knew she was babbling and could feel her eyes closing again.

“I think that's enough conversation for now.” Kristin pressed the back of her hand to Jass' forehead. “You're still burning up. You need to sleep off that fever. I'll bring you some food next time. You're going to need to start getting some strength back, and you can't do that on an empty stomach.”

Jass wasn't sure how often she'd awakened for a few minutes and gone back to sleep almost instantly. Kristin came back with food, and she ate, and fell asleep again. Several days passed before she woke up with enough energy to stay awake for more than fifteen minutes.

One morning, Jass floated slowly up from sleep to consciousness, and for the first time in days, felt clear-headed and awake. She released the straps on the hammock and slipped out, stretching her limbs. In a few moments, she had changed into a fresh set of clothes and made her way out into the corridor.

The hall was empty, and she pulled herself along at a steady pace. The door to the main cabin was open, and she floated through.

Dani occupied her usual space near the ceiling of the room, lost in her own world. Kristin and Aaron were bent over his console, deep in conversation about the rest of the trip. Kara sat at the communications console, scanning the airwaves for any unusual signals and downloading the latest updates from Mars. She glanced up as the captain entered and gasped. “Jass!”

in a moment, the entire room was in an uproar. Kara reached Jass first and gave her a quick hug. “It's so good to see you back here! I tried to visit you while you were sick, but you were always asleep!”

Kristin checked Jass' pulse and temperature. “You look better today than I've seen you in weeks. I think we can declare you well enough to be up and about, just don't push it, ok? I'm going to go get you some food, stay here.” With that, she pushed herself into the corridor and disappeared.

Dani didn't say anything, but smiled and waved. Aaron hung back around the edges of the crowd, looking upset. As the others moved back to their stations, he approached. “Can we talk?”

Jass looked at him. “You're the one who's been giving me the silent treatment lately. Speaking of lately...what day is it? I lost all track of time.”

“We're fifteen days out from Cybele City. You were down for about a week.” He pulled her to the window at the front of the cabin, and glanced outside. “Listen, about our last conversation. This isn't easy for me to say, but I'm sorry. You have every right to keep things from me, or from anyone else. You're the captain, not a buddy, and you have to make the best call. I'm sorry you feel like you can't trust me right now, and I wish I could convince you otherwise, but I'm going to have to live with that.” He exhaled and Jass could see the frustration on his face.

“It's alright, Aaron. I should have been more open with the crew. After all, only one person on this ship is a danger, but the danger will be less if we're all a united team. I'm going to change some things very soon. I hope you can wait just a little while longer.” She glanced at her reflection in the window. Her cheekbones stood out more, and she thought her eyes looked shadowed. The week of illness had taken its toll, but she was determined to recover quickly. “I'm through being afraid. I'm still captain of one of the best supply ships on the Belt, I've got the best crew that any captain could hope for, and the skies are clear ahead of us. It's time to step up and take our best shot.”

Chapter 12

She drifted through dreams, the world around her shifting more rapidly than she could keep up with it. At first she was in the main cabin of the Curious Machine, looking out at a star field that receeded rapidly no matter how much power she coaxed from the engines. Then her seat buckle released, and she was floating up toward the ceiling, which was now the top of a clear plastic cage. She braced her hands against the dome and looked around. The other crew members were in the cage with her: some pounded on the door to get out, some were grappling with the magging gloves, and a few hovered just below her, looking up with hungry gazes. She wasn't sure which ones were which, because their faces kept shifting.

Finally, one grabbed her ankle and pulled her down into the fight. She tried to push against the assailant, but her hands slipped and slid off of his because they were wearing the magnetic gloves. She tried to aim a blow at her opponent's face, but her fist disappeared into an empty darkness where the face should have been.

Jass woke gasping for breath, and slammed into the bottom of the upper bunk when she jolted awake. She swore under her breath, and waited to see if it had awakened Martina, but there was no response. She checked the time. Oh-six-hundred-eighteen by ship's time. It was still another forty minutes before she needed to be awake to prepare for launch, but there was really no point in lying there for that time, she decided. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, and tried to find her way around the room in the dark.

She found her clothes and changed, shivering in the cold air of the room. She pulled on her magboots and slipped out into the early morning air.

If she closed her eyes, it felt almost like early morning inside the Spirit City dome. The air was cold and still, and there was a hint of moisture in the air that would dissipate as the dome warmed. The asteroid rotated quickly enough to form short natural days, but at this distance from the sun, the difference between night and day outside the dome was scarcely noticeable. During the day period, the dome air was heated by internal heaters and lit with artificial light. During the night period, most of the lights were turned out and the heaters turned down to just above the minimal temperature needed for the health of the human residents and their machines.

Most of the walkways were empty, the miners either asleep or in the middle of a shift, but a few people were working in the main dome, repairing minor items or replacing burned out lightbulbs, or other tasks that she didn't recognize. She was beginning to be more comfortable with the strange swimming motion one used when walking in Cybele City, but didn't think she'd ever learn to love it.

Unexpectedly, she found her eyes brimming with tears of homesickness. Cybele was too strange, too inhospitable. Every action had to be considered, every motion planned so as to avoid disaster. She missed the ease of Mars, the spontaneity that she took for granted when sprinting through the streets of Spirit City in the early morning or at night with the stars wheeling overhead.

In a moment, the feeling passed, and she inhaled deeply. It was a new day. It was a new start for the Curious Machine and her crew. It was time to wake the others and move forward.

The others were beginning to wake by the time Jass got back to their quarters. Elena had sent a message telling them that their breakfast would be waiting in the dining hall. When they arrived in the hall, they were greeted with bowls of scrambled eggs, hot buttered toast, and juicy sausage. None of the miners were present, having changed shifts earlier in the morning, so the hall was quiet.

As they finished their meal, Elena arrived. “I hope you've enjoyed your stay with us. Your ship is fueled and ready to go. Mr. DeWitt, I've sent the fuel quotes to your head offices on Mars as well as the to office of the company that operates the Pequod, so the process for reclaiming your costs on fuel has been started. Ms. Marshall, the same goes for the oxygen stores. I think you'll find everything is as per our agreement.”

The crew gathered their bags and began the trek back to the ship. When they reached the small room on the outside of the farthest dome, they removed their magboots and reclaimed their shoes. Jass was glad to leave the boots behind; the nagging sense that her feet were sticking to the floor was not one that she would miss.

“Before we get settled in for launch, I want everyone to give the ship a once-over,” she instructed the crew. “Go to your areas and check to make sure that everything is in place. If you were scheduled to get new cargo or have anything refilled, make sure that it's been done. Check in with me via the comms. If there's a problem with something, we need to know it now.”

Jass made her way through the tunnel to the main cabin, and began checking the basic systems. Reports periodically came from the other crew members, until the ship was pronounced ready for flight. Jass walked back through the tunnel and shook Elena's hand. “Your city treated us well, and you have our deepest thanks. I hope to make this a frequent stop on future travels.”

The orange-haired woman grinned and returned the handshake heartily. “We'd like that. The mines here are scheduled to run out in the next few years, so we may be moving on to another one of the nearby asteroids, but we'll be on the charts.” Then the grin disappeared, and she pulled Jass close to whisper in her ear, “We've heard that there are more Federated agents out there, damaging ships and their cargoes. Be careful.”

The words sent a shiver down Jass' spine, but she nodded and thanked the woman for the warning. With a final wave, she walked back through the tunnel and helped Kristin seal the airlock from inside the Curious Machine.

The two headed up the corridor and entered the main cabin. Jass checked to make sure that the crew was strapped into their harnesses for launch, then sat down and buckled her own harness.

“Ms. CeSaran, do we have the Cybele base on comms?”

“Comms are open and clear. Going to speaker now.” Jass heard the faint hiss as Kara turned on the speakers in the cabin.

“Cybele base, this is the Curious Machine, requesting clearance for launch.”

“Curious Machine, this is Cybele base. You are cleared for launch, and godspeed.”

“Thanks again for the hospitality, base. That's a party we won't soon forget. This is Curious Machine, signing out.”

“We copy that, Curious Machine. Safe journey. Cybele base, out.” The speakers fell silent.

“Here we go,” Jass said, feeling the engines of the Curious Machine thrum to life. The thrusters that had landed them gently on the asteroid began to fire, and she felt the ship begin to lift off the pad. In a few moments, they were soaring across the asteroid again, Cybele City rolling beneath them. As the city fell away behind the ship, the main rocket engines fired, pressing the crew back into their seats and propelling the ship forward into the field of stars.

“Mr. Dewitt, please lock in the course for Gaspra Station.” Jass felt her body press forward against the harness as the first engine burn ended.

“Acknowledged and done,” Aaron replied, punching a sequence of commands into his console. “Course sent to engines, awaiting captain's approval.”

Jass glanced at the route on her console and pressed the button that released the sequence of burns and course corrections to the engines.

“Next main engine burn in twenty seconds,” Aaron called out. “Engine burn in...ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. Engine burn initiated.”

The familiar rush of acceleration pushed the crew back into their seats as the rockets fired, launching the Curious Machine out into the Asteroid Belt.

After the main engines had finished firing to set the course, the ion engines cut in, and Jass gave the signal to release the launch harnesses. Merriam immediately headed back to his lab to check on the experiments that had been running and to start the new ones. Kristin floated down to the cargo bay to make sure that nothing had shifted during launch, and several others went to the galley to eat their lunch.

Denjiro and Jass stayed in the main cabin. Den floated on his back near the front of the cabin, looking out of the window at the star field ahead. “You know, when I was a kid, my parents took us on a cruise of the asteroid belt. That was when someone had put that 'resort' up on one of the nearer asteroids. It was the new, hot thing, and so we started out from Earth, stopped off at Mars, then toured the belt for a few weeks before landing at the resort.”

“I remember hearing something about that place. Didn't it go bankrupt in record time?”

“Yeah, pretty messy situation for some of the investors. It was poorly run, but the worst part was the customers that it drew in. My folks had been investing in space travel stuff for ages, and had gotten pretty familiar with how things work out here, but most of the tourists didn't know.”

“Oh no...so they expected artificial gravity, glowing nebulae out of the view, things like that?” Jass laughed, picturing the arguments that must have ensued upon arriving at the resort. “No wonder they lost so much money so quickly.”

“Anyway, we were headed there on this cruise. I think I was about seven years old, and of course, I was even more space-obsessed than my parents. I watched any sci-fi show that was set in space, read the entire space section of the local library, and had models of the solar system strung up all over the house. But somehow, it had still failed to convey the sheer scope of the place. I was so disappointed when we got out here in the belt, and you couldn't even see anything. I had built it up in my mind as a dense asteroid field, with tumbling rocks filling every meter. I was so disappointed when we got out here and I realized just how vast and empty it really is. My dad taught me how to think about scale, using the information about our route, and showed me how to find out the real distances between objects in a scale drawing.”

“It's hard to really accept that the universe is really that big until you get out into it,” Jass said, letting herself drift up and out of her seat. “It was the same growing up on Mars. Even when you know better, you keep thinking that the size of things is smaller than it really is. It wasn't until I left Mars orbit entirely and went on my first run to the Belt that I got a sense of the scale. I don't even know how to communicate it to someone who's been land-bound their entire life.” She stretched, feeling a few vertebrae crack as she did so. “Oh, that feels better! Zero g is a lot easier than that crazy stuff on Cybele.”

She pushed a foot against her console, propelling her to join Denjiro at the window. “You know, I think that's the most I've ever heard you say about your family. They're still on Earth, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah, they never saw any need to live anywhere else. It's funny, considering how many immigration ships their company runs.”

“If you don't mind my asking...” Jass paused, then pushed ahead. “I know your family has ridiculous amounts of money. Just being able to go to that resort, not to mention taking a cruise to go there, is enough to see that. So why did you take this job? It barely pays enough to keep someone in an apartment and food on Mars.”

“Nothing special, actually. It's the very old story of the crazy kid whose parents think he should have gone into business. My family has always supported space travel and innovation in that field, but on a large scale. They encouraged my youthful interest in space, hoping that I'd be able to start in the family business right after college. But in high school, I got obsessed with machines and rocket engines. I talked to any engineers who would give me the time of day, joined a local rocketry club, learned to build my own engines.” He flipped over and slowly brought his feet down towards the floor until he was floating beside Jass. “It was a fight to get to study what I wanted to in college. They weren't thrilled about my choice to move to Mars and go to the University in Spirit City, but they agreed to pay for it, as long as I minored in business.”

“I wondered about that minor. Seemed like an odd thing for a rocket guy to study.”

He nodded, smiling. “College was pretty easy for me, actually. I used some of my free time to get myself set up with an apartment off-campus. By the time I graduated, I'd gotten a job with one of the low Mars-orbit supply companies. When I told my parents, they were furious. I got a lecture about the honor of the family, and how degrading it would be to work at the kinds of jobs I was interested in. They told me about the benefits of the job that was waiting for me back on Earth. When I finally convinced them that I had made up my mind, they left, cutting me off from all access to their money. I'd set up my own bank account months before, of course, but it did take a little getting used to.”

Silence fell for a moment. The stars outside the window gleamed brightly, and Jass wondered which ones were really stars, and which ones were asteroids catching the sun. It was impossible to tell at this distance.

“You know,” she commented, turning to face Denjiro, “most twenty-two year olds don't have the kind of mental toughness to face up to pressure like that. Why did you?”

He shrugged. “I've always gone my own way. The only reason that my parents thought I would be following their plans was because the two meshed for the first eighteen years or so. They never really thought about me going off and doing my own thing, and I didn't think that they might have a problem with it, so I never said anything. It all boils down to a miscommunication, in the end.”

“Do you ever get to see them? Do they call, or send messages, or anything?”

“My mother does. My dad is always 'too busy' at work. I haven't been able to visit Earth on my salary, and they only tell me about their visits to Mars after they've left. I have a younger sister who sends a lot of video messages. Here, let me show you.” He picked up his handheld computer and pulled up a video. A young woman with silky black hair pulled back in two ponytails waved and spoke rapidly in Japanese, grinning broadly.

Jass smiled, watching the video. She didn't understand a word the girl said, but her enthusiasm was obvious. “How old is she?”

“Sixteen. She was only eight when my parents and I fought, but they've never stopped her from communicating with me, and I send her stuff from time to time. Her name is Fuyuko. She says she wants to go to Mars University, too, but I doubt they'll let her leave Earth for that long, not after what happened with me.” He touched the screen gently. “She never had any interest in the family business, she's not really cut out for it. Right now, she wants to study fashion design. Last year, it was music. It'll probably be theater next. I have no idea what she'll actually study when the time comes, but it will probably be whatever my parents are willing to pay for. I wish she'd do what I did, and turn down the security in favor of whatever she really wants to do, but I don't think she can. And there's no way I can afford to pay for her school if our parents were to cut her off, too.”

“Are you ever going to go back to your parents' business? I mean, the spacer life is rough, and you may want something easier when you're forty or fifty.”

He shook his head and pushed his glasses up on his nose. “No, I don't think so. Maybe I'll take a job on an orbiting station or something, but this really is what I want to do. I spent one summer interning in my dad's office. It was within view of the launch pad that most of our immigration ships took off from. With every single launch, I ran over to the windows to watch. No one else even looked up from their desks. By the end of the summer, it had become something of a minor scandal, the fact that I couldn't sit at my desk when there was a launch outside. I can't just watch while other people come out here, Jass. It's not in me to live on solid ground anymore, or not for long, anyway.”

She grinned. “Spacer for life.”

He laughed and pushed off back toward the corridor to the rest of the ship. “That's me! Spacer for life!”

Jass went back to work, but kept thinking about the girl with the ponytails, the laughing girl who might not get a chance at creating her own life without money that didn't come from her parents.

Chapter 11

“Mr. Dewitt, do we have a firm ETA for docking with the Cybele colony?”

“That we do, captain.” Aaron made a few final adjustments to his report and sent it to her console. “We should be arriving in orbit in twenty hours, with a prime docking time of oh-six-hundred-thirty-seven. Coordinates and engine firing patterns have been sent, which should get us into orbit. We can take her in manually from there.”

Jass looked over the route, and saw immediately that it was more than adequate to bring them safely to dock. “Load it up, Ms. Chiappari. Route approved, Mr. Dewitt, let's get this part of the trip over with and get back on our way.”

The hours passed quickly; everyone had a job to do in order to get the Curious Machine docked safely. By the time the ship cruised into orbit, everything was ready. Jass checked to see that all of the Pequod's crew were in their quarters and safely strapped into their hammocks.

The crew of the Curious Machine had gathered in the main cabin and buckled themselves into their harnesses for descent to the asteroid surface.

“Ms. Marshall, is the cargo secure for docking?”

Kristin called out, “Cargo checked and secure.”

“Ms. CeSaran, are the comms clear?”

“Clear and open.”

“Mr. Takahashi, are the engines ready for descent?”

Denjiro coughed and replied, “Engines have passed diagnostics and are fully responsive.”

“Mr. Dewitt, do I have manual control of the engines?”

“Engines are on manual and ready to go.”

Jass smiled, and reached out for the controls. “Let's take her down, then.”

At first, the descent was not noticeable. The asteroid had only minimal gravity, but after a few minutes, Jass could feel the weight of her body returning, and she began to settle into her seat. After weeks of weightlessness, even the gravity of Cybele felt strange.

The ship was now traveling across the face of the asteroid, and Jass saw the colony come into view on the horizon as the ship continued to slow.

The official name of the colony was New Coalwood, but most people referred to it by the name of the asteroid, Cybele, or called it Cybele city. It looked like a patch of bubbles, Jass thought, bubbles nestled in a crater, clinging to the rough surface of the asteroid to avoid being flung back out into space.

There were several charred concrete slabs outside one of the larger domes, and she guided the ship towards one of them. The landing sequence started, and as the ship fired thrusters from the bottom of the hull, several large metal bracers descended and supported the weight of the ship.

With a groan of metal, the ship fell silent. “Ok, that's our part of this. Now we wait. Permission to release harnesses, but stay in the main cabin until we're connected to the dome.”

Jass released her own harness and got out of her seat carefully, testing her weight. Merriam fumbled with the latch on the harness and stood up. “Oh man, it feels so good to be able to just stand again—ow!” He planted his first step too hard and banged his head on the ceiling of the room.

“Not all gravity is created equal,” Jass commented. “Just because we have gravity here doesn't mean that it's very strong. Walk carefully until you get used to it. Merriam swore and sat back down, rubbing his head.

Kara said, “Captain, I've got a call from the Cybele base, they're ready to get us hooked up.”

“Excellent, put it through the speakers.”

A deep female voice crackled through the ship's speakers. “Hello Curious Machine, this is Cybele base. Good to finally see you here.”

Jass grinned. “Not half so good as it is to be here. Are you ready to get us docked? We've got some folks who are pretty anxious to get off of this ship.”

“Copy on that, we've got a crew on their way to you now. Everything is done from outside, so just sit tight til we get you connected to the dome.”

“Acknowledged. We'll be waiting. I see the crew now.”

Looking out the window, she could see a large tube, about the size of the airlock on the Curious Machine, begin to extend from the main dome. The front of the tube rested on a wheeled cart driven by a crew of three in spacesuits. In a few moments, the odd contraption had moved out of the field of view of the window.

“Den, Kristin, you two go down and let me know when they've got everything connected to the lock.”

The two crew members agreed and moved carefully down the corridor to the airlock. The others waited in the main cabin until the familiar clunk of a docking mechanism locking into place around the airlock could be heard. Kristin's voice came over the comm system. “Captain, the tunnel is in place and we are clear to exit the ship.”

With a sigh of relief, Jass said, “Acknowledged. Thank you, Ms. Marshall. We'll be down right away.”

Jass waited until the rest of the crew had begun to make their way down the corridor before she left her seat. Walking in this gravity was strange, almost dream-like. There was a definite down now, but each step threatened to send her careening into the ceiling. She didn't mind visiting asteroids, but she was glad she didn't live there.

The Pequod's crew met them in the corridor outside the airlock. Jass pushed her way through the crowd, careful not to bump too hard into anyone.

Just outside the airlock, the three suited figures were taking off their helmets. The one who appeared to be in charge was a middle-aged woman with a shock of curly orange hair. “Welcome to Cybele,” she said, smiling and extending her gloved hand. Jass shook it, and replied, “Good to be here. Let's get this thing moving.”

“Right,” the woman said. “We'll unload the cargo once everyone is off the ship, it'll be easier. I assume your payload specialist has marked everything correctly and grouped it so my people can tell what's being offloaded here?”

Jass glanced at Kristin, who nodded. “Yes, she has. I'll let her give you the details later.”

“Sounds good. Now, if everyone will just follow me. We've got the tube pressurized but we'd like to get everyone back into the dome as soon as possible and get you into the gear you're going to need while you're with us. For some of you folks, this should be a familiar routine, since you left us not that long ago.”

Some of the Pequod crew managed faint smiles, but most seemed eager to be moving as soon as possible. The crews worked their way through the tube and Jass followed at the back of the crowd, the orange-haired woman at her side.

“Sorry for the lack of introductions,” Jass said, keeping her eyes on the path ahead. “I'm Jassmyn Stewart, captain of the Curious Machine.”

“I'm Elena Denisoff,” replied the older woman with a smile. “I've heard about you. Pretty young to be running your own supply ship out here. I guess there are more and more like you these days, though.” Before Jass could respond, the group left the tunnel and found themselves inside a small room that lead into the large dome.

“Last lock to go through,” called out Elena. “Just go on through, I'll manage the controls.”

When all of the spaceship crew was through the lock, she turned back to the opening of the tunnel and began punching commands into the keypad on the wall. They heard a hiss as a thick panel slid in to cover the opening, and Elena turned back to them.

“Welcome to New Coalwood, or as most of us call it, Cybele City. We may not have many of the luxuries that you're used to, but we're pretty proud of the lives we've built here. Under normal circumstances, you'd just stop here long enough to unload some cargo, refuel your tanks, and be on your way in a few hours. But these aren't exactly 'normal circumstances,' so we're going to do things a little differently. You're in luck today; we've got a few rooms that are standing empty until we get a few replacements for the mining operation, so you'll be staying there. I've got rooming assignments that I'll send to your captains here in just a minute, and they can dole them out the way they want. Pequod folks, you'll be staying with us until we can work out something with one of the Mars-based rescue crews. We're happy to help out, but we are running a business here, so we'd appreciate it if you spent most of your time in your quarters. Curious Machine folks, you'll only be here for a day, so we've got some special provisions to get for you.” She gestured to a cabinet in one corner of the room. “In this cabinet you'll find some mag boots. They're boots that have a weak magnetic element in the soles. They'll help you keep your feet on the floor in our low grav, since you won't be staying long enough to learn how to walk properly, and we don't want to have any injuries from a misplaced step. There are plenty of sizes in there, so just find something that fits you. Leave your own shoes in there, nobody's gonna bother 'em. Pequod folks, we're not gonna worry about boots for you just now, since you're going to be here for a while. You'll be a lot better off just hanging out in your quarters and walking until you get used to the gravity.”

There was a brief rush for the boots, but soon everyone from the Curious Machine crew wore the boots. Several looked relieved at the added security. Jass lifted a foot, testing the effect. It reminded her of being in the movie theater near Mars University and trying to walk out after a movie over the sticky floor. It was not an entirely pleasant sensation, but at least she wouldn't go flying into any walls if she lost her balance.

Walking through the dome into the city was like walking in a dream, Jass thought. Her feet stuck to the floor, but her body felt almost like it was floating, and her braid bounced off her back at every step and took a few seconds to fall back into place.

The metal walkway lead through the first dome and through a low tunnel to the next. In the tunnel, Jass could see between the domes and across the face of the asteroid. The surface looked a lot like Phobos, she thought, but the horizon seemed so close! It made her feel like she was on top of a high mountain, looking toward a drop off that went for miles. Then they entered the next dome, and the sight was gone.

Her computer beeped, and she glanced at it. It had finally connected to the Cybele network, and was downloading the sleeping room assignments. They had allotted them four rooms, with two to a room. Jass quickly drew up a list of roommates, and put the computer back in her pocket.

Elena stopped in front of a row of doors in a small nondescript building. “Here are your rooms. I'll let your captains tell you who is staying where. Go ahead and drop off your personal effects, then I'll take you to the dining hall. Some of the folks here were pretty impressed by that rescue, and we figured it called for a celebration.” She smiled. “We don't want to keep anyone waiting!”

Jass called her crew together. “I think we can make these arrangements work for one night. Besides, it doesn't sound like we'll be spending much time in there. Denjiro, you're with Merriam. Kara, you're with Dani. Martina, you're with me. That leaves Kristin and Aaron. Sorry, guys, it's the only way to make it work. It's not my fault that more guys didn't sign up for this trip, I knew I should have promised free beer on that recruitment poster.”

Elena showed them into their rooms, and each pair dropped off their bags before exiting to rejoin the group. The Pequod crew took longer to get set up, but soon the crowd was following Elena into the city again.

Jass noticed that most of the domes of Cybele City covered machinery and mining operations; very little formed the actual town, and most of that seemed devoted to small apartments or dormitories. When she asked her guide about it, Elena nodded. “We rotate crews about once a year, just to make sure that no one starts to have trouble from being in low gravity for so long. With a maximum of a one year stay, most people don't want to bring much, they just want to have someplace to sleep at night. Most of the apartments are built on one model. But just because we're not much of a home doesn't mean we're all business, either. We've got a small school for kids who need to keep up with their studies while one or both parents are working. They've got a library that's open to the whole town, with files of thousands of book that can be checked out, plus some music and pretty much any movie you can name. And we have big dinners about once a month or so. We've found that having a big party is necessary for retaining both morale and sanity.”

As they got closer to the large building in the center of the dome, Jass saw more and more people. The families of the miners, she assumed, or those who were off-duty. A woman who caught her eye smiled and waved, and she returned the gesture.

Elena directed them inside the building. It was a large, mostly open space, with a smaller room that Jass assumed was the kitchen. Long tables lined the walls several deep, and chairs of all varieties were scattered around the room. In the center of the space was a large spherical cage, made out of some sort of plastic. It looked like something the miners had made themselves rather than anything prefabricated, and Jass hadn't a clue what it was for. Perhaps some sort of entertainment, she thought.

A blast of warm air, accompanied by a cacophany of clanging, came from the kitchen as a young man opened the door and came out, waving to Elena.

“Hey! We're so glad ya'll are here, we're almost ready!”

“Everyone, this is Max, he's on the morning shift, usually, but he got reassigned to help with the food today.”

Max smiled, and shook the hands of everyone in reach. “I made the mistake of letting them know I was a decent cook once, and now I get drafted every time they want a fancy meal.”

“don't let him fool you,” Elena said, “Max trained as a cook on Mars before he came out here to work. He'll use any excuse he can find to get into a kitchen. Wait till you hear what he has planned for tonight!”

The young cook clapped his hands together. “Yes, tonight! You've all been out in the black for a couple of weeks now, I'm guessing, except a few of you I recognize who stayed with us recently. I can guess you're ready to eat something with a little crunch to it?”

Aaron shouted, “Hot damn!” then fell silent as the others laughed.

“I'll take that as a 'yes,'” Max said. “Well, we've got some nice hot fresh bread, a fresh salad from our hydroponics garden, a couple different pastas and sauces, some oven-baked fish with crispy skin, and to finish up, a hot chocolate cake.”

Jass felt her knees go weak; she was used to the spacer's diet. But to have an unexpected dinner, a meal with heat and texture and everything that the processed food lacked...It was enough to make a woman feel a little weak in the knees. Looking around, she could tell that she was far from the only one with that response.

Elena noticed, too. “Why don't ya'll have a seat while dinner finishes up? It should be soon: the crew from the day shift will be getting off in about ten minutes, and they try to get up here while the food's still hot.”

The crews sat down, the Pequod crew at one table, and the Curious Machine crew at another. Jass glanced at Aaron. “Happy about getting some real food again?”

“Oh, happy does not even begin to describe it. Every time I go home to Mars, the first thing I do is get...a friend to let me use her kitchen to make every food I've been missing. I usually blow the first half of my paycheck at the grocery store just stocking up on all the things I've been missing.”

“I know what you mean, Aaron,” commented Kara, overhearing the conversation. “I usually stop off at the store on my way home from the hangar, no matter how tired I am, because real food trumps sleep for at least a week after I get home.”

“Fried chicken. I always crave fried chicken after the first few weeks in the black,” Aaron continued. “Fried chicken and pocky.”

“Pocky?” Kara laughed. “Really?”

“Don't tell me it's for kids, because that stuff is delicious,” he protested. “I have a whole shelf in my pantry that stays stocked with it.”

Jass laughed, picturing Aaron standing in front of his pocky stash like a connoisseur, selecting which box to open next.

In a few minutes, the doors opened and men and women began to fill the room. Jass looked around, wondering what sort of people lead this life. She couldn't imagine living this close to space without being on a ship.

The people she saw seemed tired but happy; the women wore their hair short, in bobs that bounced lightly in the low gravity of the asteroid. The men tended to be shorter than average, but stockily built. Friends greeted each other with shouts and laughter, and children ran around the edges of the room shrieking with the excitement of a party.

A clang sounded, and the din quieted until Jass could see Elena standing in the middle of the room with a metal spoon and a large pot. “That's better! Alright everyone, I think we're pretty much all here, so let's get started!” The applause and shouting crescendoed again and Elena was forced to bang on the pot several times to restore order. “Hang on, I'm not done yet! You've heard about the problems that our friends on the Pequod had when they left us, but they're back with us safe and sound! That's half the party right there!”

The Pequod crew waved from their table, and a few cheers went up from the room. Elena continued. “But the other half of the party is because of these folks over here, the crew of the Curious Machine! They were en route at the time, which is damned lucky for the Pequod, because they heard the distress signal in time to slow down, come around, and pick up the crew. Hell, they even saved some of the cargo!”

The applause and cheering was deafening as the shouts echoed off the metal interior of the building. Jass felt her face turning red, and had to be dragged to her feet by Elena. The ruckus continued for a few minutes before Elena banged on the pot again.

“Alright, we've done our cheering, now it's time to eat! And you can cheer for that if you want, but you'd best get in line in a hurry. If you stop to cheer, it's all going to be gone.”

There was a brief cheer, but most of the people got up to line up for the food. Elena grabbed Jass by the wrist and pulled her to the front of the line, with the rest of the crew following behind. “Your crew gets to go first, since you're the reason for our celebration. And don't be too put off by all the attention; one day is pretty much the same as any other out here, so we make a big deal out of things whenever we can. Helps break up the monotony.”

The Curious Machine crew was able to fill their plates with food quickly, but getting back to their seats proved more difficult. At every step, someone stopped them to congratulate them on a successful rescue, or ask about the latest news from Spirit City, or about their route.

Finally, they sat down at their table. The miners understood the importance of a solid meal after weeks in space, and left them alone to eat in peace. Jass bit into the hot fresh bread, and felt the crust crunch into flakes on her tongue. She could feel the butter coating the bread, running hot and liquid at the corners of her mouth. Next, she sliced a bite of fish off her fillet and tasted it, closing her eyes as the crispy skin crackled. The pasta was hot and fresh, covered in a mushroom sauce, and the salad full of flavor. She tried to hold herself back, but in a few moments, the entire plate was empty and wiped clean with the last of the bread.

Aaron looked over at her plate and laughed. “I guess you were hungry, captain.”

“Just a little bit, yeah.” She leaned back in her seat with a sigh of contentment. “I had no idea I was that hungry.”

“I hope you saved room for dessert,” said Elena, stopping by their table. “Max is pretty proud of it. Here he comes now.”

The young man appeared, holding a large tray of small plates, each with a single chocolate cake in the center. He carefully set a plate in front of each crew member. “Hurry, you don't want these to get cold!”

Jass looked at Aaron, who shrugged and cut into the little cake with a fork. A wave of chocolate spilled out of the cake, pooling on the plate. Aaron whistled and quickly stuffed the bite into his mouth. The others wasted no time in cutting into their own cakes while the dessert was distributed to the rest of the diners.

As the food was consumed, the noise level in the room slowly rose. Finally, after the last plate was cleared and the noise had reached an almost deafening level, Elena stood and called for attention.

“Now that we've been fed, I think it's time for some entertainment!” A roar of approval drowned out her words, prompting another clang from the pot. “Volunteers, step up and pick up your gloves!”

She stepped out of the center of the room and seated herself next to Jass. “Is it a boxing match?” Jass asked over the noise of the crowd,

Elena laughed. “Not really. I guess it's a little like wrestling. We call it magging. It's something that developed among the mining colonies in the asteroid belt, since it's really the only place where the gravity is right.”

Two men stepped up to the plastic sphere in the middle of the room, holding a small box of gloves. From where Jass sat, the gloves appeared to have metal strips embedded in them.

“See those?” Elena said to the whole table, pointing to the box. “They come in sets of four. Each pair in that set will have one negatively charged glove and one positively charged gloves. If you have a negatively charged glove on your left hand, your opponent's will be on his right hand.”

Kara spoke up. “Oh, I think I've heard about this. The gloves will naturally repel each other because of the similar charge.”

“Exactly! The goal is to stick your opponent's hands together while keeping your own free. It's harder than it looks.” Elena motioned for them to watch.

The first two competitors had entered the sphere and latched the door behind them. One was small and wiry, with a shock of close-cropped red hair. The other was taller and dark-skinned, with glossy black hair. Each stood in a low crouch, hands up in a guarded position. They circled each other for a few moments, then the red haired man lunged at the other one.

Everything was a blur of motion for a moment, then the twp seperated, panting. Jass had missed the action, but Aaron yelled in her ear, “That was amazing! Did you see the way he moved? He used the back of his glove to try to slam the other guy's hand across his chest!”

“I think this is going to move too fast for me,” Jas sshouted back. Elena motioned to the clear cage where the action was beginning again.

The taller man grinned at his wiry opponent, and stood still, waiting, while the redhead danced back and forth, looking for an opening. Finally, the two lunged at each other, hands grabbing for each other. It was a strange sight, Jass thought: the sheer weight and force of each man held his hand in place, but neither pair of hands touched. There was a wide space between each one. The red haired man tried to gain an advantage by walking halfway up the side of the cage, propped against his opponent's hands, but the darker man shifted his left hand downward, and the first man lost his balance and toppled to the floor of the cage amid groans from the crowd. The motion bounced him off the floor of the cage, and he quickly braced himself against the top of the sphere before letting himself fall back to his feet again.

They circled and lunged several times, and Jass wondered when they would get tired; it looked exhausting. It was almost like watching fighting fish in a bowl, she thought. The low gravity of Cybele made it possible for the men to walk up the sides of the sphere with little effort, flip over each other's heads, and twist away with a single leap. Again, the pair locked their hands without touching, and moved around the cage, trying to get the other's grip to break. Finally, the darker man pushed hard against the other man's hands, causing him to take a step backward and up the wall of the sphere. With a quick move, he twisted his wrist so that his hand was outside the red haired man's hand, with palm pointing inward, and shoved it with all his strength.

The red haired man threw up his other hand to balance himself as he flew across the sphere, and found his palms locked together by the magnets in the gloves. He swore once, then pulled the gloves off and shook his opponent's hand with a grin. The darker man remained in the sphere, and yelled insults at the next man in line, who was putting on his own set of gloves.

“It's the official sport of the asteroid miners,” shouted Elena over the noise. “Everywhere else has too much gravity to do it right, though they've tried to get it going on some of the moons. Nothing like it anywhere else in the solar system, am I right?”

“I've never seen anything like it,” Jass shouted back, applauding for the fighters. “It's almost like a dance, or like swimming, more than wrestling.”

The competition lasted for hours, and after the Curious Machine crew learned more of the rules of the game, they found themselves cheering, groaning, yelling and cheering along with the crowd of miners.

Hours later, the crew staggered back toward their quarters for the night, still laughing and cheering. The crowd of miners thinned as various groups split off to go to their own lodgings, calling out encouragements or taunts to their friends and the visiting crews, who gleefully returned them. Aaron's arm was draped around Denjiro's shoulder as the navigator laughed. They finally arrived at their quarters and each pair went into their assigned room.

Martina entered the room first and switched on the light. Jass felt breathless from laughing and cheering, and sat down on one of the bunk beds to catch her breath. “That...I don't even know what that was. I have never been to anything even a little bit like that.”

The younger girl didn't respond, but began changing into her pajamas. Jass leaned forward and said, “I know it's hard when someone you've fallen for betrays you, but moping like this won't help. It won't make him treat you better and it won't make you feel better.”

“Stop telling me what to do!” Martina yelled. “I don't care how much older you are or how much more experience you have, or anything else! You're not me, and you don't know my life, so just leave me the hell alone!” She jumped up the ladder to the top bunk and disappeared under the blanket.

“Martina...”

“I mean it, just leave me alone! When we're back on the ship, you're my boss and I'll do whatever jobs you want, but I don't have to take your advice about this!” The voice was muffled under the blanket and Jass though she might have started crying again.

“alright, alright...”

With her mood dampened, Jass changed into her sleeping clothes and got into the bed. It took a while for the adrenaline of the evening to wear off. Finally, she drifted off.

Pictures!

Taking a break from writing for a second to bring you some of the reference photos for my characters!

Jassmyn's appearance is basically this, but without the bindi, and with clothes more practical for a spaceship captain:

This is how I picture Kara CeSaran, except that she usually keeps her hair in a short rope braid and doesn't wear crazy earrings:

And this is my friend @LateNightHunter from Twitter, who kindly agreed to be the inspiration for Aaron DeWitt:

More later!

Chapter 10

Jass felt like she was going crazy. She hadn't lived in conditions this cramped since college, and this was a step above that. The ship, which had been designed for a maximum of twelve people now held twenty, and she felt as if she bumped into someone with every move. It would have been impractical to ask the Pequod crew to remain in their quarters for the entire trip to Cybele. Their quarters were designed for sleeping, not for spending a day in, much less a week. On top of that, most of them were eager to help with anything they could, since they were unused to having so much free time aboard a ship and wanted to contribute something to a crew that had rescued them. She had to admit, the interior of the ship was now cleaner than it had ever been, and Kristin had gotten the cargo more organized with help from several unoccupied spacers.

She pulled herself down the main corridor, apologizing wearily as she bumped into others and bounced off again. Finally, she floated through the door of the medlab and closed the door behind her with a sigh. In a moment, she had strapped herself into the treadmill and begun to run.

It felt good to feel her feet connecting with the treadmill pad, she thought, good to finally stomp something in a satisfactory way. Zero g had many pleasant aspects, but she missed being able to casually make emphatic movements. Sometimes you just wanted to kick something or wave a hand without wondering if the action would send you careening into a wall.

She'd read reports claiming that most of the benefits of running in zero gravity were psychological, and the limited physical benefits might not be important enough to legitimize the space that treadmills occupied in most ship's medlabs. Jass wondered if the authors of these reports had ever spent months in zero g themselves. It wasn't about keeping her body ready to live under gravity again, or keeping her bone mass high enough. It was about really connecting with something, meeting an immoveable object. She went a little loopy if she floated around the ship too long.

Jass expected her computer to beep at any moment with some quasi-emergency that she would be expected to handle, but as long as the computer kept silent, she kept running. She kept her eyes closed, imagining herself running through the streets of Spirit City, as she did most mornings when she was planetside. It was slightly depressing to run so long with only a view of the medlab wall.

Finally, beginning to sweat even in the chill of the room, she slowed to a halt and tried to catch her breath. It was the longest uninterrupted running time she'd had since the Curious Machine had left Mars.

Jass slipped out of the straps that held her to the treadmill and wiped her face and shoulders with a towel to prevent any loose droplets of sweat from shaking loose and getting into the ventilation system. The filters could handle a certain amount of liquid, but it was better to add as little liquid to the atmosphere as possible.

She floated down to the shower room and scrubbed herself clean with the less-than-satisfying powder and pulled on a fresh set of clothes. Her stomach growled and she glanced at the time. Forty minutes until her next shift, more than enough time to grab lunch. She pulled her hair into her usual braid as she floated out into the corridor.

Up ahead, she heard the sound of a loud conversation and saw Martina backing out of the science lab. The young woman looked like she had been crying, but she turned toward the main cabin without seeing Jass.

The captain hesitated, wondering if she should go after her, but thought better of it. She typed a text to Kristin, who was on her shift in the cabin, to check on Martina and see if she could figure out what was wrong.

The galley was occupied by two of the Pequod's crew and Denjiro, who had them all laughing as he told stories about his early years in space.

“So then there I was, this innocent college kid floating in my first zero g galley, and the captain, who was this guy only a few years older than me, thought he knew everything—so he sneaks up behind me and signals to the other guys to keep quiet.”

The other crew members were snickering, but didn't see Jass waiting in the doorway.

“And he gets a water pouch and squeezes it until there's this huge bubble of water floating in the air. I mean, this thing was the size of a basketball. And he very carefully pushes it towards me, but of course, I'm facing the other way because I was actually listening to the announcement over the comm like I was supposed to.”

Jass grinned. She had heard this story before and suddenly got an idea. She pulled a piece of trash out of her pocket, which she had intended to dispose of in the galley, and silently crumpled it into a ball. This motion attracted the attention of one of the Pequod's crew, but he looked away again without giving a clue that anything was amiss.

“So there's this HUGE ball of water headed straight for me, and everyone else is watching this thing tumble through the air, and no-one says anything until the thing is a few inches from the back of my head.” Denjiro continued, prompted by laughter from the other crew.

The ball of trash sailed silently toward the back of Denjiro's head.

“And I turn around and--” Denjiro turned to demonstrate and squawked as the ball of trash collided with his nose. Jass and the other crew collapsed in laughter and Jass rolled through the air into the room.

“You know, captain, that story really didn't need a visual aid.” Denjiro grinned as he grabbed the ball from the air and lobbed it back at Jass, who caught it easily and deposited it in the disposal.

“Hey, you give me a set-up like that, what did you think I was going to do? You've got to stop standing with your back to open doors.” She rummaged through one of the over-full drawers to find a protein bar.

“So, captain, how goes our little ship?” he asked, as the two members of the other crew left, still laughing. “I hear we're making good time.”

“It would seem so,” she replied, taking a bite from the bar and dropping the wrapper into the disposal. “Aaron has a good course laid in, and Dani's program has the engines running at peak efficiency, so we're looking at a delay of four to five days instead of seven. I'm headed up there now to check for any changes.”

He nodded. “The engines seem to be handling the new program well, so I'm happy. But it'll be nice to get to Cybele and get a fresh start, this first leg has been a little rough.”

Jass swallowed the last of the protein bar. “Ugh, don't remind me. Only a few more days, though. I'll let you know when we have a firm arrival time. Keep those engines running!”

She pulled herself out of the galley and went hand-over-hand up the corridor to the main cabin. When she arrived, Dani and Kristin were talking quietly and waved to her.

“Did you see Martina, Kristin? Were you able to find out what was wrong?” Jass sat at her console and began to go over the latest reports.

“Yeah, I did. I tell you, this whole intern thing was a bad idea. Think we can get the investors to change their minds for the next trip?” Kristin's dark rough-edged hair was held away from her face by a purple bandanna, and she adjusted it slightly.

“What did you find out?”

Kristin leaned against the console, looking out at the star field in the front window. “Well, in the first place, our little intern seems to have had a thing for our scientist.”

Jass looked up from her reports. “Martina has a crush on Merriam? Oh hell, that's not going to end well. Were they sleeping together?”

Kristin shrugged. “She wouldn't tell me, but knowing him, it's likely. You really think he'd turn down the chance to get with any girl?”

“Ugh. I'm going to wring his scrawny little neck. She's nineteen!”

“Which, in this case, makes her an adult.”

Jass sat back in her seat and looked at Kristin. “Ok, so she's being stupid and he's taking advantage of it. Why was she so upset this morning?”

“Oh, it gets better. You saw that dark-haired girl from the Pequod crew who came aboard in tears, looking for someone to rescue her?”

“Please tell me he didn't.”

Kristin nodded. “Apparently, Merriam was more than happy to offer overnight counseling services. And Martina found out. Walked in on them, apparently. Seems our scientist was too preoccupied to lock the door behind him.”

Jass groaned, and turned away from her console. “I'm going to have to talk to both of them. We need everyone working at their peak, not distracted by hormones. How are our stores of suppressants in the med lab?”

“Should be near full.” Kristin punched a few commands into her computer and nodded. “Yeah, looks like only five have been listed as used. There's plenty.”

“I'll pick some up and make sure they use them.” She sighed. “Were we this stupid and crazy at nineteen, Kristin?”

The other girl smiled. “I think we were stupid in our own ways. Quitting school, for one thing. Just because we weren't stupid about guys doesn't mean we weren't stupid.”

“Ok, so that may not have been the smartest thing we ever did. But I can't shake the feeling that there's a difference. I mean, our stupidity had a purpose to it. I quit because I wanted to learn something I wasn't getting in a classroom. You quit because you'd already figured out what you wanted and how to get it.” Jass typed a command into the console and brought up the personnel record for Martina Olleson. “She doesn't seem to be learning anything, or even to want anything. I can't figure her out.”

“Maybe that's not your job.” Kristin sat in an empty chair and looked at Jass. “You're her boss, not her guidance counselor. Give her some hormone suppressants so she can do her job, fine. But her college stuff is her business. If she really doesn't want anything, you can't force that on her. She's not you or me, or anyone else. It's her first real trip off-world. She's going to make some mistakes, and they may be painful ones, but she has to be the one to make them.”

“I know, I know. It's just hard to see someone so young wasting an opportunity. It's infuriating.” She closed the personnel screen, and went back to reading the reports.

Jass banged on the metal door of one of the crew compartments and heard a muffled shriek inside. She smiled wryly. She had been correct, then. Merriam wasn't in the science lab, nor was he in the main cabin or any other part of the ship. It had been a simple matter to check and see which compartment had been assigned to the dark-haired girl from the Pequod.

A shaky female voice came from the room. “Who is it?”

“This is Captain Jass Stewart, and Merriam Stone, if you value your job, you will open this door in the next ten seconds.”

She was rewarded with the sound of a male voice swearing, and the sound of clattering inside the compartment. Approximately nine seconds later, the door opened. Merriam stuck his head into the corridor.

“What?”

Jass grabbed his hand and slapped a thin packet into it. “Hormone suppressants. If you can't think straight enough to do your job, I expect you to use them.” She glanced into the compartment beyond him and could see the girl struggling to slip into her clothes. “As long as you're getting your work done, I don't really care what—or who—you do. But hell, Merriam, you're thirty-two. You couldn't find someone your own age?”

She moved down the corridor, but Merriam shouted after her, “You can't make me take these!”

“You're on shift in the main cabin in twenty minutes,” she called over her shoulder. “If you miss it, I'll make sure they end up in your food. Get your shit together.”

She found Martina checking the cargo that the Pequod would need to offload on the Cybele colony. The girl was still sniffling and stopped to wipe her eyes from time to time.

“Martina.”

The girl turned around rapidly, trying to hide the signs of her distress. “Oh, I was just finishing up here, I'm sorry I'm going slower than I thought...”

“Don't bother to explain, I heard what happened.”

“Oh.”

Jass floated closer and held out a package of pills. “Relax, I'm your boss, not your mother. I don't care who you're sleeping with or not sleeping with as long as your job gets done. But these can make some of the urges a little easier to deal with. I'm not going to order you to take them unless this starts to have an impact on your work.”

Martina took the pills listlessly and put them in her pocket. “I can handle it on my own.”

“Wasn't questioning that. In fact, I highly recommend that you do just that. But let me give a little piece of advice.” She leaned in closer to the younger woman. “Don't get involved with anyone on board a deep space ship. It's never pretty, and it almost always ends badly. Besides, if you're going to hook up with someone, did it have to be Merriam? He's thirteen years older than you, and a whiner at that. If you really can't go without sex for nine months, at least pick one of the nicer guys.”

The intern's face flamed red, and she didn't look up from her checklist. Jass sighed and left the cargo bay. Offloading at Cybele couldn't come soon enough.

Chapter 9

Almost as soon as she'd given her crew permission to release their launch harnesses, Jass had drifted across the cabin and strapped herself into a sleeping hammock. The caffeine had worn off an hour before, and she needed no help falling deeply asleep.

When she woke, most of the other sleeping hammocks were empty. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and looked at her computer. She'd been asleep for nearly twelve hours, and it was time for lunch. She quickly freed herself from the hammock; grabbing a change of clothes from the bag she'd placed in the cabin earlier, she made her way to one of the two bathrooms aboard the ship to shower and change.

It was one aspect of spacer life that she would never love, she thought. There was something about water, good hot water, that washed away more than dead skin cells and dirt. The only way to get clean aboard a deep space ship was to use a dry soap powder; it had been developed by scientists who swore that it cleaned as well as soap and water, but Jass was sure they were wrong. But it couldn't be helped: water couldn't be wasted out here, so shower powder it was.

She rubbed the grainy dust into her hair and over her body, working it into her scalp with her fingers. After waiting a few moments for the powder to soak up the oils in her hair and skin, she leaned over and started to shake the powder out of her hair. A quick once-over with a towel removed the powder from her body, and she stepped into her clean clothes.

The galley was empty, since it was between meal times, and Jass ate a small breakfast. Her growling stomach craved more, but she knew that it would be easier to return to her normal schedule if she waited to eat a full meal until the next meal time.

Feeling refreshed and fully awake, Jass made her way back up the main cabin. Boxes of extra cargo were strapped down along the walls and floor, and she was glad she could float above them rather than try to walk between them.

Pulling herself into the room, she saw Dani at her usual spot near the ceiling and Aaron working at his console. He looked up as she entered and waved. “The fearless captain awakens! Feeling better? You looked pretty trashed by the end of that rescue.”

Jass nodded, grabbing the edge of his console to anchor herself. “A lot better, thanks. I appreciate everyone covering the watch shifts while I was asleep. When's my next one?”

“Not for another two hours. You've got some time.” He worked in silence for a few minutes, adjusting numbers on his screen and watching the rough animations of the resulting routes.

“What's our current time frame for getting to Cybele” she asked, watching the screen. “When I went to sleep, we were going to be late by a week, but you were hoping to shave some of that time off.”

He nodded, and cleared the screen before pulling up a new window. “The cargo that the Pequod crew brought on board didn't weigh as much as we feared, so it took less fuel to correct our course. I used some of that excess to give us a few extra engine burns, so we're looking at a four to five day delay instead of seven. It's still not great, but it's better. I don't want to do any more burns, though, until we see if the Cybele colony will actually come through on their promises of fuel.”

“Smart move. I assume Kara's kept in touch with the colony to keep them updated.”

“Yeah, she's been on the comms with them every time we've had a course correction or engine burn. They've actually been pretty good about the whole thing. They don't actually owe us or the Pequod anything, since the attack happened outside of their jurisdiction.”

“Maybe they want to get some good PR out there, especially if it turns out that the Pequod saboteur got his materials from their colony.” Jass wished again that they'd been able to question the traitor.

“I was wondering about that,” Aaron commented, closing the route animation. “Either they don't know who did it, or they got rid of him.”

“oh?”

“No-one came aboard in restraints of any kind, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't leave a known saboteur to run around free.”

Jass pushed herself over to the captain's console and buckled herself in. “I think Captain Morris has his own way of dealing with those things.”

Aaron stopped working and looked at her. “Are you saying...? Geez, without so much as a trial? Aren't there laws about this sort of thing?” He ran a hand through his hair, sweeping it back from his eyes.

Shrugging, Jass didn't turn around. “Accidents happen.”

“'Accidents?' That's what you're going to call it? Not vigilantism? Or, I don't know, murder?”

She turned to face him, one arm crooked around the back of her seat. “They were stranded in the middle of the black, with no hope for rescue until Mars could send someone, with limited supplies of air and food. This isn't the city, this isn't planetside. We have to make hard choices out here.”

“What the hell? This is bullshit, Jass! I can't believe I'm hearing this from you!” He pounded a fist on the console, sending him lurching against the seat belt. “You can't just...just make up your own rules out here!”

“And what would you do?” she responded, shouting the first few words before calming her voice to a quiet hiss. “If you were stuck on a ship that was dead in the water, on your last tank of oxygen, the oxygen that was supposed to get you home, and looking at a galley with dwindling supplies of food, what would you do? You'd share that air and food with someone who'd put you in that situation, someone who had done their best to kill you?”

“Damn it, Jass, yes!” She had never seen him this openly angry, and the strength of his protestation surprised her. “If I had to share the last breath from an oxygen tank, I'd do it, just in case I was wrong. Do you know how Morris knows that he got the right person? What if he didn't?”

Jass realized that she hadn't asked how the Pequod's captain had identified the saboteur, but pushed the thought aside. Aaron continued, “Besides, it just...it just doesn't feel right. I don't know if I can explain it, but...” His voice trailed off into silence. Then he unbuckled his seat belt and propelled himself to the window. The starlight reflected in his eyes as he looked into the unchanging expanse. “I don't know if I can explain it right. But this whole place is so empty, so deadly, it feels wrong for us to be the same. We're in space because of what humans bring to it. We don't explore and colonize because we love the emptiness, we do it because we like seeing humanity, and hope, and...and home in new places.” He turned to look at her; his eyes were no longer angry, but filled with a loneliness she hadn't seen before. “Don't you remember what it's like to come up to an asteroid and it looks so dark and cold at first, but then you get closer and you see those warm yellow lights of a colony? It's almost like coming home, like finding a house waiting for you in the middle of a cold, dark night. But if we're going to toss people out of airlocks without a trial, or even any real proof...” He shrugged. “We might as well shut off those lights and just let the night take over, because we'll be no better.”

Jass had a reply ready, but held back. This was not a difference to be settled by arguing. She pulled up the reports she'd missed while she'd slept and tried to read them, but couldn't keep her mind on the task.

“What will you do?”

She looked up. “what?”

Aaron was watching her from the window. “If you find a saboteur aboard our ship. What will you do?”

She didn't respond for a little while. Truth be told, she wasn't sure. She'd been mulling over Captain Morris' actions every waking minute since she'd found out about them. Would she be able to shut one of her crew in an airlock and blow the outer doors open? What if the saboteur was one of the members of the crew she'd learned to think of as a friend? Could she stand and watch as they were sucked into the freezing black? On the other hand, could she bear to watch someone who'd tried to destroy her ship standing in front of her, using oxygen that the rest of the crew might need to survive?

Truthfully, she responded, “I don't know.”

“I'd feel better if you did.”

“So would I.”