NOVEL NEXT 4.43 Interlude-Damages
Interlude-Damages
(English)
Clunk.
One spaceship connected to another by rigid arms, and a tube extended to follow.
<…Airtight. Seals confirmed. Go.>
They entered the Fafin’s upper cargo bay to find…utter chaos.
Two-thirds of the space was scorched black. Metal shelves sagged from where metal had softened. The rows of crates and supplies were unrecognizable underneath a layer of char. It was hard to believe anyone could have walked away from the site.
But looking closer, there were even more signs of destruction. Pock marks and grooves cut into metal where blades or bullets struck.
“Down here,” Tasser said, finding a floor hatch that didn’t quite close properly.
He and Nai slipped down the stair ladder to the lower deck, winding their way through the Fafin’s corridors until they came to…
A blue blood stain on the ground, since oxidized into a sickly navy-black.
“Must be the next deck down,” Tasser said.
Nai’s eyes lingered on the bloodstain. It could only have been Farnata blood.
They descended to the next deck and paused outside the nearest door.
Both of them gripped pistols, just in case.
Nai knocked on the door, making sure to keep her body out of the door’s way.
“Caleb?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s me,” he said from inside. The door to the Fafin’s medical bay slid open seemingly on its own.
Nai gave a start when she recognized the door had not opened on its own, but by an invisible hand extending from a hollow tee shirt.
“Ah—!...You must be Drew,” Nai said haltingly.
“My English is better,” Tasser said, stepping into the ward with her.
“About time you got here!” Caleb said. He waved from one of the medical beds.
His arm was wrapped in bandages, covering all of one shoulder and going up the side of his neck too. It was sloppy work though, and red angry flesh peeked out from underneath.
Nai was no stranger to burns, but it floored her for a moment just much of his body had been seared.
“I look like a mummy, right?” he smirked.
“I’m surprised you’re conscious,” Nai admitted.
Caleb averted his gaze. Guiltily?
“You should see the other guy,” he mumbled, jerking a thumb toward…the body bag resting on an examination table.
Nai unzipped the bag to find a Farnata’s corpse inside, two bullet holes through the head.
“…Good shooting,” she approved. “No other casualties?”
“Drew turned Kemon’s wrist into hamburger, and I’m pretty sure his ego is shattered,” Caleb said. “But other than that, no. Everyone’s safe and curious what happens next, but I already know.”
He hoisted himself to his feet and trudged out of the medical ward.
“Wait, can you just hand off the reins?” Drew frowned.
“Sure I can,” he snorted. “I’m dead on my feet anyway right now. Let me recover from literally saving us all.”
“You sure you’re alright?” Tasser asked him.
“I’m very sure I’m not,” Caleb told his friend. “It’s good to see you. Both of you. But there’s still a lot of work to do. And the sooner Dyn checks me out the quicker we can sort everything out.”
Tasser nodded. “We’ll catch up.”
“You bet.”
Nai had expected something like this. Caleb would be tired more than anything else for the foreseeable future. She glanced around the medical ward though…Win’s was the only body.
“Wait, Caleb, where’s Kemon?” Nai asked.
Caleb paused at the bottom of the ladder, a dark expression on his face.
“…The brig,” he said, trudging toward the stair ladder. “Drew can show you the way.”
“Hell no,” Drew said. “I'm going to find my sister!”
“Fine, fine…” Caleb muttered.
·····
The next forty-odd hours were blessedly productive, and even better? They were uneventful.
Captain Serral made a simple offer to Kemon’s crew: join the Jack’s mission or depart the ship upon landing on Kendok. Some chose to leave. To everyone’s surprise, more stayed. Kemon’s deception had shaken them deep, and Caleb was right. The crew had bonded with the abductees in their care. If Kemon had understood that at any point, he must have realized too late.
Then again, he and Win had enough foresight to include a trap in the psionics Win shared with the bridge crew. Jordan and Nerin muddled their way through the process of identifying what constructs were safe to keep. It took them a dozen hours, but they did manage to discern the harmful element without Caleb’s help.
“They added it to the firewall,” Nerin said. “Took forever to figure it out, but Win actually worked it into the extending structure.”
“Dang. That makes sense,” Caleb nodded. He was still under order of bedrest, but it was only a matter of hours before he bucked Dyn’s orders. “I assume we’re only sharing the goodies with the crew who are staying?”
Nerin nodded. “Serral and Weith are working out…what I think amounts to employment contracts to make sure crew don’t just stay long enough to get exclusive psionics and then leave.”
“When did your English get so good?” Caleb asked.
“Since I realized I can mess with my sister by speaking it?” Nerin grinned. “Besides, I kinda wanted to practice it so I can tell off Nora the next time I see her.”
“Petty,” Caleb noted. “I approve.”
“Your emotional maturity never ceases to amaze,” Jordan deadpanned. “Nora really did a number on you guys, huh?”
“Caleb in particular, but, yeah. She did,” Nerin agreed.
“I’ve found it’s healthier to be petty and obnoxious about it rather than nursing an actual grudge,” Caleb grumbled. “Or maybe I’m just repressing how upset I still am about it all, and it’s leaking out as spite.”
“Just gonna lay it all out like that?” Jordan asked.
“Yep.”
“Mmm,” Jordan hummed tactfully.
“How’s the cargo bay looking?” Caleb asked.
“Good. You and Win really tore it up, but most of the damage was limited to the flooring and shelving structure,” Nerin said.
“The cargo’s alright?” Caleb asked, surprised.
“The Fafin’s crew think about a quarter of it was burned, but most of the containers’ interiors stayed intact. Win just scorched the outside, and those crates are sealed in case they hit hard vacuum. They’re not fragile.”
“No one’s starving anytime soon,” Jordan reassured him.
“Good. Good…” he sighed, lying back in his hospital bed. Collecting himself. “Welp, let’s get—”
He started to swing himself out of bed, but Nerin poked him back into lying down.
“Nope. You’re letting us put in an IV first. Doctor’s orders,” she added in Starspeak.
“I gotta talk to folks,” Caleb insisted.
“Yeah, we know,” Jordan said. “Check downstairs?”
Caleb cast his psionic senses downward and found a dozen-and-change human minds below.
“That’s more than just the Ronin,” Caleb commented.
“Ah-ah, Puppies,” Jordan corrected him.
“Right, right,” he said, reminding himself. “So, what, everyone’s going to pile into here?”
“No, Dyn made you a ‘banana bag’ that will get you through a chat with everyone, then you’re right back here for more bedrest,” Nerin said.
“Banana…?” Caleb said, bewildered. “That’s a real human medical term. Who taught you that?”
“Your fellow abductees have had a lot to say about you, ‘Ted’,” Nerin said. “Conversation unfolded such that TV was brought up. You guys really have televised dramas about medicine?”
“I’m so not having this conversation right now,” Caleb muttered. “Just shut up and stick me.”
Nerin needled him, both figuratively and literally, but it was all good-natured. They let his body properly drink in Dyn’s medicine for a few minutes before they went down.
Jordan intentionally headed down into the Jack’s cargo bay first. She wanted to see the looks on everyone’s faces as a bandaged, bruised, and burnt Caleb eased his way down the step-ladder.
All the idle conversations ground to a halt when he came into view though.
The group-formerly-known-as the Ronin were scattered among a dozen other of the abductees old enough to be responsible for the rest. Sid. Ike. Drew. Jean. Everyone.
“Oh don’t stop on my account,” Caleb huffed. He wasn’t even trying to look tough, descending the steps one at a time. He even let out a pained wheeze when he left the support of the railing. “Ow, sonofabitch…”
He glanced around the room, meeting all the eyes on him. No one resumed any previous conversation.
“I wasn’t kidding,” he said. “Keep talking. We’ve got important questions to answer among ourselves, right? And I’m really upset no alien has cracked human painkillers yet, so I’d like this conversation to be quick.”
“…Who’s in charge?” Johnny finally asked.
“God, I could kiss you, Puppy,” Caleb said. “Just cutting right to the chase like that? I really wish I’d done that about a month ago.”
“Puppy—” Johnny started to object, but Caleb cut him off.
“I’m going to assume you mean ‘who’s in charge of specifically us abductees, right?” Caleb asked. “Because, I trust Captain Serral. I do. But I think we’ve all been down the road with aliens vaguely in charge of us. Not something I think any of us are keen to repeat.”
“How was it vague?” Ike asked. “The Ronin were in charge, weren’t they?”
“Yeah,” Donnie said.
At the same time Jordan piped up. “They’re Puppies now...”
“See this is where I really went wrong,” Caleb sighed. “Show of hands. Who thinks those now called the Puppies were in charge of all abductees as a whole?”
About half raised their hands. Notably, Johnny and Madeline didn’t.
“Lesson for the future guys, if you’re not sure who’s in charge? And you aren’t sure if you’re supposed to be in charge? Then no one is. I should have raised more hell about that when I first arrived. So we’re disambiguating right the hell now. Is there anyone that thinks they, singularly, should be in charge?” Caleb asked.
“Not me,” Jordan snorted.
Johnny’s legs twitched, and Jordan didn’t miss the motion. He’d been about to stand, but aborted the idea, thinking better of it.
Caleb noticed it too.
“Gold star for you, Johnny,” he said approvingly.
Jordan had to agree. Interesting that he hadn’t thought of the Ronin as in charge. He’d acted in charge of the Ronin, but he apparently hadn’t extended that leadership to the rest of the abductees.
“Isn’t there an elephant in the room for ‘who should be in charge’?” Ben asked.
“Yup, but I’m ignoring it in favor of covering alternatives,” Caleb said. “Who thinks we should have multiple people in charge? Something democratic?”
To Jordan’s surprise, not many kids raised their hands. Caleb was too.
“We tried that early on,” Madeline said. “But it was chaotic. No one agreed on anything. It was too loose.”
“Thanks Maddie,” Caleb said. “Does everyone agree with her?”
“Why didn’t she get called Puppy?” Donnie complained.
“You’re not as cute,” Caleb shrugged.
“Doesn’t that mean ‘Puppy’ fits more?” Drew joked.
Donnie just rolled his eyes.
…But Jordan actually saw Madeline’s expression go flustered for a second. Had Caleb? She couldn’t be sure.
“We can vote for a leader,” Ike agreed.
“Then we agree?” Caleb asked. “Because Ben’s right. There is an elephant in the room, but it’s not the fact that I’ve got no real competition. It’s the fact that I’m not going to be leading people who won’t listen to me.”
“You didn’t tell us who you were!” Johnny protested. Several other abductees murmured agreements. Some of the same ones who’d naysaid his objections to Kemon the first time. Some. But not all.
“You can’t honestly fault us for—” Johnny continued, but Caleb made a hand motion to cut him off.
“I agree,” he said simply. “I withheld important information from you. I thought that revealing what all I knew wouldn’t convince you, and that it would give Kemon room to adjust. My mistake…”
Caleb started materializing pages of information, half-a-dozen at a time, each one covered with notes he’d taken over the course of months.
“…was trying to be reasonable,” he said. “I wanted to start small, create doubts about Kemon first, then work my way up to exposing his many, many lies. I failed to understand your perspective. Whatever ulterior motives he had, he did help you. I should have known I was making an extraordinary claim. And extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Which I had, but failed to use in the most effective manner. For that, I apologize. Lives got put at risk because I made the wrong call.”
The words hung there.
“…I think I can speak for all of us when I say, we accept your apology,” Ike said.
He’d been there when Caleb had ruined Kemon and Win’s hostage attempt. The Puppies didn’t override him. Not even Johnny or Donnie.
“We owe you an apology too,” Madeline said. “You were right; we were being stupid.”
Her fellow former-Ronin all guiltily looked at the floor. Nobody was proud of being taken for a ride.
“Not just them,” Jordan added. “I hate to dump this on people who include my sister, but everyone else fucked up too. No one has been taking our situation seriously enough. Sid and Jean were at least trying to make sure younger kids kept learning stuff, but even they still checked out too much. We need to be constantly taking the initiative if we ever want to make it back to Earth. We can’t just sit back and let other people solve our problems. I think everyone here owes Caleb an apology, because he paid the price for our complacence. Mine included. I got too caught up in reuniting with family, and I was slow to finish the job I volunteered for.”
‘Sorry’s mumbled out from everyone present.
“I accept your apology,” he said. “So let’s start fresh. Properly, this time…My name is Caleb Hane, and I’ve teamed up with some aliens to track down and help humans stranded across different star systems. We’re either going to help them get situated for the present, or move them someplace where they can stay until we find a way back to Earth.”
“Sounds like a good goal,” Ike said. “I think you’d make a good leader. Vote?”
It was going through the motions, but they were important motions.
The vote was unanimous. Even Donnie, bitter as he was, raised his hand.
“Cool,” Caleb said. “First thing you all should know is that we’re probably going to repeat this whole thing once we land with every abductee properly in attendance. The hangar Kemon had lined up is more than big enough. I’ve got an itinerary for when we land, I’ll shoot it to everyone psionically. Second order of business, you all have probably already covered. Keep talking to Serral, Tasser, Fenno, Weith—my crew. Just keep talking to them and do what they tell you. If it’s too much, say something. Communicating amongst ourselves is going to be essential. I don’t care if you think you might be complaining. Complain anyway. Share. Your. Thoughts. Speaking of sharing thoughts, third item: psionics. They’re really useful and y’allya’ll haven’t realized their potential yet. Expect classes to be mandatory until everyone is up to snuff. Scratch that, we’re going to have a lot more classes than just psionics, but psionics are the ones really important in the short term! Point is…everyone’s going back to school. So be prepared.”
·····
The Jack’s fabricator was invaluable.
Well, any fabricator would have been invaluable for these purposes. Replacing the burnt flooring and shelves didn’t require any complex materials. Between Nai and the Fafin’s manpower, they rearranged the cargo to clear half the floorspace, pried up the blackened panels, and fed them through the fabricator.
Jordan thought it was pretty funny to sweep up all the dust and ash, but it all went into the recycler. It made sense. The exact chemical changes of burning the floor didn’t change the overall mass. Some of the material burnt into the air, but for the most part, all the mass stayed the same.
It just took the fabricator a few hours to chew through the molecules and churn them back into unburnt flooring.
With twenty-odd people working, replacing the whole floor took only twelve hours. Fourteen if you counted replacing the melted shelving.
All told, it was strange to see the scorched containers resting on new metal shelving. The walls were still scorched in places, but Nai said replacing those panels was trickier.
“I wonder how long the hallway floor is going to stay that way,” Drew said.
“The one where Win got shot?” Jordan asked.
“Yeah.”
“Not sure. I guess it might depend on how long we stay on this Casti moon,” Jordan said. “Because when Caleb rescued me on Cammo-Caddo, there was an elephant in the room about the fact that the Jack can’t take care of dozens of humans all on its own.”
“…But this sucker could,” Drew grinned, rapping her knuckles on the walls. The Fafin was certainly capable of supporting a huge number of people. As important as the ship itself was the crew though. Together, they pooled enough collective capability to support more than just its own demands.
For all the same reasons Kemon had made the vessel a functional home for his crew, the Fafin could become—at least the backbone of—a similar home for abductees. There were a lot of A-ships out there, and it wouldn’t be easy to just feed the abductees with them.
But on Cammo-Caddo, Jordan had listened to a lot of conversations about the finances of a Casti street gang. She knew a ship like this one could raise a lot of money.
It wouldn’t just be the aliens operating things though. Caleb was right. Humans needed to take the initiative and support themselves too.
And the Fafin was perfectly suited for that. A-ships could come and go, using the Fafin as a home base while they split off to accomplish different objectives the abductees and their allies needed.
Kemon had tried taking everything from them.
It was fitting that everything of his was taken.
A Flotilla with every ship, every hand working toward the same goal: find Earth.
“You’re right,” Jordan said, a faint smile touching her lips. “But ‘the Fafin’ is a lame. It could use a new name. Something us.”
“Yes!” Drew said. “We’ve been calling them ‘A-ships’ for months! Ooo…we should pick a theme. Caleb already named the Jackie Robinson…maybe historical figures…I like the idea of human ships getting human names…”
“How about ‘heroes’?” Madeline suggested, wandering into the sisters’ conversation.
“Any particular reason?” Jordan asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” she blinked. “We’re all feeling mighty ‘saved’ right now. If you and Te—Caleb hadn’t come when you did, I’d be dead and everyone else would be blaming the wrong people.”
“Jackie Robinson is pretty heroic,” Drew conceded. “If you like baseball, I mean.”
“Hey, do you mind if I steal your sister for a minute?” Madeline asked. “She’ll probably tell you all about it later, and that’s fine, but this’ll be easier for me if it’s private.”
“Sure,” Drew said. “Catch up in the mess? I heard there’s real food! Or…alien food, just…also safe for humans.”
Jordan nodded.
Drew sprang up the nearest step-ladder while Madeline dragged Jordan into the least overheard corner of the cargo bay.
“When you fought us on the asteroid,” she said, “Donnie figured out you were doing all those mind games.”
“Had to,” Jordan agreed. “Five on one? I wouldn’t have a chance otherwise.”
“Just how much…I don’t know what the word is. Just how much ‘insight’ did you have into us? I put on…hah, ‘little miss space marine’ armor and still couldn’t lay a finger on you. It was like you were reading my mind. And well…psionics…”
Jordan actually did smile at that.
“No. I wasn’t reading your mind. It’s just…you guys were thinking with your emotions. And I’ve got a lot of experience with how emotions affect attitude and behavior. But psionics don’t work that way. Only your own psionics can interact with ‘you’, whether that’s your brain or your consciousness. That actually works in reverse too. Any psionics that interact with ‘you’ that directly become ones under your control…if you have the know-how, at least.”
“So we were just that dumb?” Madelin asked glumly.
“…Yeah. You were,” Jordan admitted.
“I thought so. Or feared,” Madeline said. “I’ve already apologized to you and Caleb both. But I don’t think that’s enough. I owe you a thank-you. Not just for rescuing me, or trying to be gentle about it, but…not giving up on us.”
“You’re welcome,” Jordan said. “I’d do it again: you guys are worth it.”
Madeline opened her mouth to say something self-deprecating again, but Jordan preempted her.
“—even if you don’t feel like it right now,” she added.
“Well, I don’t,” Madeline huffed.
“Oh please, you’re an idiot,” Jordan said. “What do you know? Not three days ago you tried stomping onto an alien military base! Who’d trust your judgement right now?”
Maddie laughed.
“Even about my own self-worth?”
“Especially about that,” Jordan said. “When was the last time you met someone who had a good idea about their own self-worth?”
“Mmm…I dunno, I ran into you a few minutes ago, didn’t? And Caleb talked to us about an hour ago…”
“Oh please, Caleb and I are teenagers just like you. It’s just unlike all of you, I have a piece of my old support system out here with me, and Caleb is an exceptionally good liar who happens to have a head start building a new support network out here among the aliens.”
“Nai told me some of the story,” Madeline nodded. “She seems really cool.”
“Yeah, your Adept education is sorely lacking, and it’s Nai that’s going to be correcting you Puppies’ many, many shortcomings. So you might change your tune on that quickly,” Jordan warned.
Madeline chuckled again.
“I can live with that. Seriously, Jordan. Thank you.”
Jordan nodded, meeting the other girl’s gaze.
“I meant it before: you’re welcome.”