15. Tell Me About Rain #4
The first song that played through Charlie's Walkman, through to her datapad, and was beginning to be captured by the ship's systems, was "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen.
Charlie hadn't chosen it, it was just the next song on the 1979 tape, but it felt entirely fitting.
This was Katie's pick, one of the first songs on the very first mixtape her sister had ever made for her.
A new beginning then. And, to Charlie, what felt like a new beginning now.
"I don't care what we have to do or how we do it - I'll stay here all night if I have to - but we have to get every single one of your tapes into this system. Like, now," Tavi said, grabbing Charlie's arm.
"All nineteen tapes?" Charlie questioned.
"All nineteen," Tavi repeated, his voice sounding sacred, as though she'd told him she'd brought nineteen miracles in her bag.
Maren was already designing the playlist interface. "If each tape has roughly twelve songs, that's over two hundred tracks. We'll need a cataloging system, a user identifiable personal creation task capability, a shuffle feature..."
"Autoshuffle," Tavi said. "I can see it now.
Completely random selection, 100% bona fide, continuous play.
No interruptions. All surprise. All wondrous.
" Tavi closed his eyes and sighed deeply, as if he'd found divine explanation for the universe.
Then he opened his eyes wide. "I'll build it tonight. "
They were mid-build when the Engineering Bay door slid open behind them.
Charlie felt her before she turned.
"Captain," Maren said, straightening slightly. Tavi swiveled in his chair.
"Afternoon, Cap," Tavi said.
"Afternoon, Tavi. Maren," Reyna paused then, focusing her eyes on Charlie. "Charlie." Charlie felt her mouth twitch into a grin. "Maren, can you lead through rounds today?"
"Absolutely, Captain."
Charlie watched Reyna's eyes sweep the bay, landing on the mess of items covering Tavi's station, noticing that all three of those she'd just greeted were huddled around his console.
Reyna's eyes moved to Charlie's Walkman, hooked up to wires and cords, her eyebrow lifting as she glanced back up at the trio. "Do I want to know?"
"Maybe, maybe not," Charlie said conspiratorially.
"Mysterious," Reyna remarked, smirking at Charlie as she walked over to Tavi's console to examine everything closely.
"I'm going to go ahead and go out on a limb here and ask the question.
" Reyna paused, looking over and studying the rig Maren, Tavi, and Charlie had fully assembled.
Reyna looked at it as though it may bite her. "What am I looking at here?"
"An experiment," Tavi said, his chin held high in confidence.
Reyna's eyes moved to Maren, but Maren pressed her lips together into a thin line, pointedly avoiding the Captain's gaze.
"I'm going to get nothing?" Reyna asked the usually reserved Noethan. Charlie watched Maren stay tight-lipped, her smile stretched at the corners of her mouth as the Captain eyed her.
"All you need to understand, Cap, is just to trust us. And know that it's going to kick ass," Tavi said.
Reyna stood up straight again. "Glad to hear it, I guess."
"Oh, just you wait, Captain," Charlie started. "You're gonna feel it." Charlie dropped her voice an octave lower than usual to fully emphasize the statement.
She'd meant the music, the bass, the way a good song thumps through your bones. But when Reyna turned to look at her, something in her expression flickered, brief enough that Charlie almost missed it.
She didn't.
For a second, neither of them said anything.
"I'll look forward to it," Reyna said, her gaze lingering on Charlie.
Then she turned to Maren. "Status on propulsion optimization?"
"On track. Charlie's adjustments are integrating cleanly."
"Good." Reyna nodded once to Maren, and followed her on through the bay, completing her rounds while Maren went through the standard checklist. Reyna checked consoles and readouts and asked questions about coolant cycling and the status of the secondary thrusters.
But Charlie felt her across the room the entire time.
When the rounds were complete and Reyna and Maren made their way back to where Charlie and Tavi were working, Reyna paused once again.
"Torvax, ensure that... whatever these specialists are doing... that they get everything they may need to ensure it is completed how they want."
"Understood, Captain," Torvax responded, his fingers already dancing across his datapad.
"Hey, thanks, Cap," Tavi said, his fist extending up to Reyna. She just stared at his hand, her brows furrowing.
"What am I supposed to do here?"
"Pound it," Tavi said, matter-of-factly.
"I beg your pardon?" Reyna said, completely stunned.
Charlie rolled her eyes. "Here," she said, grabbing Reyna's attention. "Hold your fist out, like this." Charlie demonstrated with her own hand. Reyna looked from Charlie to Tavi, and back again.
"I'm not walking into a trap, am I?"
"Like we'd even tell you," Tavi answered, smirking.
"That doesn't bode well for my confidence in you." Tavi laughed at that.
"Please?" Charlie said. Reyna looked over at Charlie, then sighed and raised her fist.
Charlie grinned, moving her hand towards Reyna's, bumped it, and pulled away with the full explosion gesture, complete with "ahhs."
"See?" Charlie said, a smile dancing across her lips. "That wasn't so hard, was it? And now, you know how to 'pound it.' Something we humans do when we celebrate or offer a proverbial pat-on-the-back for a job well done."
Reyna smirked, one eyebrow raised at Charlie. "Hmm. Well, thank you for the lesson."
"Anytime," Charlie responded. "I'm always here."
Reyna held her gaze for moment, then nodded once. She spun around and began walking with Torvax alongside and left through the bay doors.
Charlie turned back to the console and picked up a wire connector, turning it over in her fingers. She realized she couldn't remember what she'd been working on before Reyna walked in.
"You okay, Charlie?" Tavi asked, tilting his head to look over at her.
"Yeah," Charlie responded. "All good."
She put the connector down and got back to work.
As Charlie spent the afternoon working on their passion project, still riding the high of "Don't Stop Me Now" playing through a datapad speaker, she felt good. She was working, she had great company, and she was in among the stars. If only Katie were here.
Someone cleared their throat behind her, pulling her from her thoughts.
Charlie turned to find the man named Orion standing there.
She hadn't interacted with him much since she landed on the Emberkind, but recalled how he and Reyna recommended interviews together about Earth.
She took in his warm bronze skin and amber eyes that immediately made her feel calm.
The expression he wore sat somewhere between scholarly interest and barely contained excitement.
"Charlotte Wickett," he said.
"That's me," Charlie said, wiping her hands on her pants. "But please, call me Charlie."
"Charlie," he repeated, smiling at the correction. "Orion, the librarian."
"I remember you fondly, Orion."
"Now, now, Charlie, you must humble me, or my ego would be too large for this ship to handle."
Charlie chuckled. "I doubt that would ever be the case."
Orion smiled. "I can see I'm going to have to come around the Engineering Bay more often for my daily dose of good feelings," he said with a wink.
"I'd be honored," Charlie replied.
"I was hoping to speak with you as we discussed when you arrived, though I wanted to give you time to fully settle into a rhythm aboard our fine Emberkind, here.” He smiled at her before continuing.
“I'm told you've been quite busy, what between fixing our ship's engine efficiency, aiding our crew in the rescue of those beautiful Aetherfin and...
" His eyes flickered to the mess of wires, adapters, and Tavi's scattered components covering every surface.
"Whatever it might be that you have going on here. "
Charlie laughed. "Yeah, we've been... inventing things."
Orion pressed his fingers together, keeping his hands against his chest. "So I've heard. And with music, no less."
"What you hear is true," Charlie said, the pride in her voice unmistakable.
Orion nodded. "Which brings me to why I'm here. Charlie, if you recall, I had asked that you conduct an interview with me so I could capture as much information about Earth as you'd be willing and able to tell."
Charlie nodded. "I do remember that."
"If I may, Charlie, you are, and I say this with the utmost respect for your engineering talents, possibly the most valuable person on this ship for reasons that have nothing to do with engines."
Charlie blinked. "I'm sorry?"
"As I mentioned briefly at our exchange upon your arrival, your planet is grotesquely undocumented in Coalition records.
What we know is pieces and fragments, secondhand data only, and most species within the Coalition argue over what's true and what's just plain hogwash.
" Charlie chuckled, causing Orion to smile at her.
"All I have in my records are outdated surveys from distances too far to even be meaningful any longer.
" Orion stopped again, clasping his hands together.
"But now, here you are. A living, breathing encyclopedia of an entire civilization and all others that belong to Earth.
The data you carry in your memory alone, from the history, the culture, the music, the food, the stories.
Charlie, do you have any idea how extraordinary that is? "
Charlie stared at him. She hadn't thought about it, framed in that way.
Up until just a week or so ago, she'd merely been the displaced human aboard the Emberkind.
Now, sure, she had proven herself on the Aetherfin mission, and now she, Tavi, and Maren were building something to bring to the Emberkind from Earth.
But, overall, she hadn't thought of herself as carrying something valuable.