The Retrofit: The Callistar 1.0

Chapter Nine

KIRA

Kira stared at the message and the little box that had accompanied it. It had been almost a full week since she’d returned to the little apartment-like box on the Eikos. She’d ingratiated herself to some of the crew serving on the station, so she’d not been lonely. Kira wondered if Quinn was and shrugged it off. Aside from the few messages she’d sent, she assumed otherwise.

Are you going to open it or stare at it all day?

“Why, Watson? Are you curious?”

…

It was unassuming- a small metal box with a simple clasp that no wider than her hand or taller. Tempted to allow it to remain a mystery, just to mess with Watson, she popped the edge and leaned it back.

Inside laid a gecko, just like Gary, with skin made of violet so dark it was almost obsidian, but still crystalline, a gleam reflecting off faceted edges. A note rested under it that said: Her name is Gabby, just say it and she will turn on.

“Hi, Gabby,” she peered down at the creature, absolutely as fascinated as she had been with Gary.

The enormous eyes opened, and it raised its head, tilting it as if adjusting the way its neck attached and placing it into position. Making a full circle before it spotted Kira, it raised the tip of its chin, the brighter violet eyes blinking once. A flash of light passed through them, which reminded Kira very much of Quinn’s net being turned off, before it rose, pulling itself out the side of the box and scampering towards her open hand.

Kira laughed.

Gabby?

“He made me my own little pet, Watson, oh I wish you could see her. She’s precious.”

Gabby crawled up her arm and under her chin, nuzzling there and crossing over her collarbone and down her other arm, completing a full circuit.

I’m sure she is.

The hour was too late to wander through the Eikos so she chose to stay one more night. Gabby slept curled up on Kira’s pillow, nestling into her hair, hiding in the dark locks matching the very color and disappearing into them. Morning light broke the nighttime, a simple subroutine to mimic the passing of time, with lights dimming and rising at set times.

Kira readied herself before leaving to find sustenance. But the gecko had other plans. When the door opened it took off like lightning, leaving the Captain chasing her across the deck.

“Gabby!” Frustrated cries followed the critter. Kira did not realize where they were going until they’d arrived at the corridor that led out to the Callistar.

A return meant exploring the changes Quinn made. Gabby’s tiny little pinprick claws scrabbled at the door insistently. Scooping up the tiny traitor, she’d tell her, “I get the point, we’ll go in.”

The gecko stopped resisting, turning the half smiling face upward as if it were pleased with victory but Kira met it with eye-rolling.

Their entrance became punctuated by them passing several new devices throughout that she’d never seen before, even on Toke’s ship. It felt as if she were rediscovering an old friend who had been through a major life change.

There was an entirely new room Quinn had somehow added to the hydroponics bay. Which he’d made large enough to run an industrial multi-tiered hydroponics farm to grow a variety of vegetable matter. All of it could be processed into the raw caloric and nutritional requirements a human body needed, and injected with a flavoring gel to make them taste like whatever you wanted, or used in actual cooking. It was a self-sustaining system as well, with some creative re-working of the ship’s sewage system and a composting system. It was what would let the Callistar be out in deep space nigh on indefinitely.

Hela would be extremely pleased at the addition, surely, as the large orange tree was still cooped up over in its corner. Walking down the rows, she knew this was what deep space required, but it was still a wake up call. They were leaving for a good while. Things were changing.

Leaving hydroponics and traversing the halls, she suddenly noticed the silence. Usually, there was the low hum of the reactor that seemed to move through the ship. The sound of pipes in the walls moving liquids, the low whirring of hidden machinery in the walls. Now though? It was almost utterly silent, perhaps a bit of a low hum she could just catch, but other than that... it barely sounded like the same ship.

Your heart rate spiked again. Are you alright?

Kira didn’t reply. Her mouth formed a thin line as she grabbed a chute to go down instead of taking the long way. This was something she needed to do in a hurry.

Kira?

There was noise in the engine room, just not enough of it. The new reactor was shiny, fancy, and only produced a very soft, barely audible hum as it towered over her. She was facing her very own, and quite literal, ship of Theseus. She stood within the Callistar, but with so many changes, so many parts swapped out. Was it still the same ship she knew?

Touching it with her bare hands, she did not care if it left marks. Part of her life had been taken away with this change, and yet she’d allowed it. This was no longer her home in a sense, and those returning she knew would feel the same. Alec might not want to be on a ship that no longer ran like clockwork because of his presence. Sure, Morgan might appreciate the speed, but Alec and she had a connection to it that was irreplaceable.

Leaning in, she put her forehead to it. She forgot the real reason she came to the ship, that heavy weight in her pocket unmoving.

“What are ye doing?”

The uneasy truce the two had conjured up between them was possibly about to be over.

The only reason she did not lash out was because Watson sounded, softly, only to her, Kira, please.

He promised Watson a body, one he could have autonomy over. For his sake, she swallowed her anger, knowing how irrational it would appear. Quinn had only been attempting to do his job. It was a retrofit, after all. Things were going to change, they had to change, but this was no longer her ship anymore. It was shiny and new. It may have been old junk, but for the stars, it was her junk.

Bringing her forehead just off the metal, her hands remained as she informed him, “I was listening.”

“Ah, not much to hear anymore,” Quinn said, evidently aware that things were far different. “Oh, I decided on what to do with yer hiding hole. Hope you like it.” Nonchalant, he dropped that bombshell on her, turned and walked away, evidently not picking up on the simmering anger in her voice or body language.

“To do with it?” That brought a raise in octave as she rushed after him. She’d shown him the room in confidence, not knowing he would find another project to start. It was her place of peace and it was her final haven after he’d destroyed everything else that made home home.

Watson made a soft plea again, but she wasn’t hearing it. All she wanted was an explanation of what he had done. Racing after him he disappeared as if he dropped out into space.

She clenched her fist in anger, her nails biting into her skin. Rushing with a swiftness she saved only for emergencies.

Kira, I’m sure it can’t be that bad.

“Don’t defend him,” she growled back.

Reaching her haven, she stood outside, repeating the moment with the reactor. Her lower lip quivered as she shakily put a hand on a scanner instead of a keypad.

The room was... mostly the same. Quinn had added a few things. The first large change was the removal of a chunk of the floor. The newly depressed section’s depth sat only a few inches deep, filled in with some sort of cushion. He’d not moved the area that she had left the blankets and pillows, but essentially made it an even nicer place to get comfortable.

Another addition was planter boxes around the sides of the room that he held grown miniature trees. It made stepping into the small room feel like stepping inside of a forest. There were even a few unused planters, so she could plant and grow whatever she might like. The boxes had automated day/night cycle lamps and would detect moisture levels and self water if required, though she could turn that off if she wanted to handle that herself.

A note rested on the astrium projector that explained the setup.

It went into detail on how to operate the planters automated systems, that he’d installed, apparently, a hidden compartment in her room that acted as a dumbwaiter so she could sneak any supplies down to the room easily, there were instructions for how frequently and where she could get fertilizer from the composting system to keep the plants alive, and lastly a mention that he had swapped out the keypad to a biometric one. She was the only one registered to it. So, even if someone learned about the room, they still couldn’t get in.

It warmed her enough to the ship to see the effort he’d made. It was certainly way more than her own small presents, but she figured he had no sense of cost and gift giving before this.

“Gabby,” she said to the little lizard. “Let’s go find your maker.”

Gabby’s response was to lick at Kira’s cheek, having crawled up out onto her collar. Quinn was a little hard to find, but she got lucky. A drone overheard her when she was muttering to herself about where he might be, and guided her to the airlock at the back of the ship. Peering out the viewing window, she could see Quinn in a suit, working on the engines.

Hitting the com on the airlock, she said, “Quinn?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you like to have dinner with me?”

“Yeah.” He never looked up from his work, his arms in an access panel and his eyes glued to his task.

The only meals she’d seen Quinn eat in person had been breakfast and one dinner. Considering that the breakfast one went better, she did a home-style one like Hela made, which involved contacting the chef for her advice and guidance. The small call made her spirits brighter.

Quinn popped in as she finished up throwing food on plates. Sullen enough, hands shoved in his pockets, standing in the kitchen”s doorway. The electric blue slid over her. She felt him looking.

Turning, she set down a plate of biscuits next to the gravy. She kicked Watson out of her head for the moment. He didn’t have a place there during this.

“Quinn, I,” words didn’t really cover how she felt, about Gabby, about her room, so she crossed the small space and embraced him.

Then it all went to hell.

The mental enhancements didn’t drive a physical reaction quickly enough. Quinn didn’t dodge, he just stood here, unmoving, as she wrapped him up. Then he shook, like a chihuahua preparing to bark, his whole body seizing up.

“Quinn?!” Releasing him, she grabbed him by his shoulders. “Oh shit, oh shit, I’m sorry.”

He just continued to move like a rattle in a baby’s hand and she broke away to grab a bag from the kitchen. He lowered himself to the floor, settling his head between his knees, panting.

Kira came back with a sack. He snagged it out of her hand, forming a ring with his fingers, bringing it to his mouth. It expanded and folded, his hyperventilating slowly getting under control as he breathed in the CO2 his body so desperately needed.

“Jaysus fekking christ what are ya doing that ta someone with no warning fer!?”

“Well, I didn’t think you were going to react like that!” Chiding him in return, her voice just as loud as he’d been as she crouched. Kira kept her hands to herself, and a good few inches of space between them.

“Clearly bloody not.” He grumbled, putting the bag on the counter next to him. He then gripped the edge and used it to pull himself up. Straightening his jacket, he openly glared at her.

Kira was just grateful he’d not run off. Standing up to her full height as well she said, “look, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, just warn a fella afore ya go violating his personal space like that.”

“Warn you next time. Got it. Uh, dinner’s ready.”

He grunted, slamming his hands into his pockets before going back around the door to the other side of the pass through to take a seat.

She took a deep breath. It seemed it was always one step forward and two steps back with him. Coming up to the counter, she made her own plate. There were biscuits, sausage and sausage gravy, eggs over easy, bacon, pancakes, and a small assortment of fruit laid out.

She popped a grape in her mouth as her hand went over the bowl before tearing apart a fluffy biscuit, telling him, “I might do a small charter run for the Eikos. They’re short on pilots.”

He made his own plate as she talked, separating out each ingredient and making little piles of all the different combinations of the food, or that was her best guesstimate of what he was doing. “Okay.” A quick beat before he added, “Why the hug?”

“I wanted to thank you. This has been my home, and it is changing to keep up with the times, but you preserved a small piece of it. Although, I don’t think you have any sense of scale when it comes to gestures.” She poured gravy over her plate.

“Okay?” Quinn blinked, looked down, then up, then down again. “I thought you were supposed to do something nice for someone if they did something nice for you?”

“Not always, and most keep the monetary value around the same. Gabby has been lovely, though.”

At the mention of her name, the little lizard popped out from under her collar, tilting its head inquisitively.

“I mean, if you only look at the value of the raw components…” The trailing let her know it was more than she could afford, “Ah, nevermind, I think I understand.”

“Have you thought about what you’d like to do when the full crew comes on board?”

He flashed her a quizzical look, “Yes? I told you what I plan to do.”

Stay in your room until we find you a planet,she thought the corner of her mouth quirked in displeasure. “You don’t have to. We’re an odd crew, but no one is inherently cruel or anti-social. We’d be happy to have you at the dinner table.”

Quinn did his little dance with his eyes, the flash of his implanted light making it easy to catch. “I don’t… I won’t… I’ll just be leaving. Why give them a chance to even try to get attached?” It seemed to have triggered a realization as he shoved back away from the table. “Thanks, fer dinner. I should get back to work.”

The plate before him was left half full.

“Quinn, wait.” Half jogging around the partition, she’d ask of him. “At least let me make you a plate to take with you for later. You barely touched yours.”

Pausing at the door, he shuddered, his voice cracked, wavering between the accent and the utter monotone, “I… will send a drone for the plate. I just, I need to be alone. I need to be alone.”

It was so raw, the way he said it. It lacked anger. She could only hear fear. Pure terror and worry in the way he spoke, in the way his shoulders hunched up. “I... I will be here if you need me,” she told him. What else could she say?

Quinn vanished. Going forward, he seemed like he intended on making himself scarce whenever she was aboard the ship. He didn’t kick her off, but she guessed he tracked her movements, as he was never anywhere near.

Communication was kept to a bare minimum, simply thank you’s for his meals, a polite no when she asked him to dinner again. Kira became frustrated as he isolated himself as deeply as he could within the bowels of the ship. The only sign of his presence were the progress trackers he’d installed on her communicator ticking towards completion.

Left to her own devices, she began exploring every room in the Callistar. They were all changed in some way. For the ship’s systems, the overhaul was total: engines, life support, reactor, hydroponics, medical, and even the entirely new drone bay were all state-of-the art. The kitchen remained the most familiar, but additional apparatuses for cooking were added to what was already there.

The crew’s rooms were mostly untouched except for some small quality of life improvements. Brand new mattresses made of a learning foam that read the body of the inhabitant and optimized temperature, curvature, and softness to provide a perfect night’s sleep. He’d provided personal entertainment headsets with hours of entertainment downloaded to the shared computer core. The improvements to the shower stalls in the bathrooms, with additional water outputs and options for massaging water baths, were personal favorites of hers.

There were even decorative choices, much like with Kira’s private room, added on to make the rooms feel more personalized to the inhabitants. It more or less confirmed that Quinn had read files on all of them. He treated their home with respect as he did his best to continue to honor the way the ship had once been, while making everyone’s lives better.

Even with her time taken up by volunteering and exploring, his absence loomed. Particularly because his messages became more and more terse and brief than before- if that was even possible. Kira mulled it over, giving him a few more days of his self imposed isolation before she decided at the end of a week that she had had enough. Putting herself together, she left her room, which he’d fixed during the supply run she did off the ship. It was what made her decide to finally go and find him. Hounding his drones through the ship, she knew he was avoiding her. The only way to keep him from doing so would be to keep herself off the system, but it was impossible.

“Watson, can you check life signs from the Eikos?”

Captain, I think it might be best if you leave this one alone.

“Life signs, Watson.”

Watson would not grumble at the command because the system only garbled it, so he would do so. He was sentient, and capable of lying, and in this case, he actually assisted Quinn, sending her on a wild goose chase.

Finally, she stopped listening to Watson and threw up her hands in frustration. Blocking him off, she went through her favors on the other ship, contacting the Eikos security team directly to ask.

They informed her there was one signal of life outside the ship.

Checking the relayed percentages and guessing by the largest left, she headed down to the nearest airlock to see if he was visible. Checking the comms there, he disabled the short band radio that would let her talk to him from the airlock, and his communicator was still off, which made her options suiting up or waiting by the airlock itself.

Banging her fist next to the viewing port, she returned to Eikos that night in order to share a night with what company she could find. It wasn’t particularly the best, but she was in a mood that she couldn’t settle.

Cutting off Watson to keep him from playing mother hen worked for a while. When he began to openly show concern, rebooting the link himself to ask her to return to the ship, she ignored him, instead pushing her limits and snapping at him.

Then, he would do the last thing he could. He would attempt to contact Quinn.