Chapter 5
Myrum
“You’re free to move around the ship,” the captain of the vessel said. “The only doors you can’t go through are the ones marked with a purple square.”
He sounded a rumble of agreement. “I don’t have any interest in being where I don’t belong.”
Helmen relaxed a little. “Then we’ll get along well. Let me show you the galley next.”
He liked the Ugarian. She was calm, competent, and welcoming. Unlike the crew on the Talin ship, Helmen wanted him to come to her with any issue, although that probably had more to do with getting the bonus than caring about him.
They turned a corner and Myrum could’ve sworn he caught the scent of a human. Not any human, but the small, feisty Amina.
He stopped short, pulling in deep breaths through his nose.
“What’s wrong?” Helmen asked, her ears fully forward and tense.
“I thought I smelled something, uh, startling,” he said.
“We use all the standard cleansers and sealants," Helmen said. “If the smells bother you, then I can have the biocleansers in your cabin set to their maximum capabilities.”
He was distracted by the fading scent, so he only grunted in response. He took a few steps in pursuit only to have Helmen step in front of him.
“I was warned that you might require special accommodations," Helmen said. “I need you to be very blunt with me about your needs. Are you having an episode right now?”
Far from being insulted, Myrum sounded a rumble of amusement. The smell was entirely gone now. He’d probably imagined it anyway.
“No, I was simply distracted. I apologize. If I have a memory episode, I’ll be entirely still and unresponsive,” he explained. “It’s probably best to simply leave me alone until it’s over. There is a chance that my memory episode will become…uh, physical.”
He hated this. He hated his broken brain and unpredictable reactions.
“What do we do if that happens?” Helmen asked, pulling out an information square, probably to take notes.
“Leave me locked in a room,” he said simply. “Holian will cover the cost of anything I break.”
Helmen nodded. “What if it happens in a communal area?”
Myrum sounded a rumble of amusement because he could think of only one answer. “Put me down.”
She jerked and almost dropped her square. “That’s not happening. I’m Ugarian. We don’t execute the sick or injured, we help them.”
He was touched by her response but still doubted he was worth saving. “You’d probably be doing me a favor,” he murmured then continued before she felt obligated to convince him otherwise. “So far I haven’t had an issue. Probably because of Ruby.”
The tips of Helmen’s ears dropped a little in confusion. “Ruby?”
He tugged the fabric around his neck down enough to reveal a sleeping Ruby then covered her back up. It was colder on the ship than the station, and he didn’t want her to become chilled.
“I wasn’t informed that you’d be bringing a pet with you,” Helmen said. “Do you require any special accommodation for the creature?”
“No, I think I have everything she needs,” he answered.
Helmen suddenly snorted with laughter. “The bugs are for her! That makes so much more sense.”
A real rumble of amusement bubbled out of his chestbox. “Did you think I was going to eat them?”
“That's what we assumed,” Helmen said. “I was a little concerned because there couldn’t have been enough bugs in that cage to keep you alive for the entire journey. When we got to the galley I was going to ask you about your dietary needs.”
“You’re a good captain,” Myrum complimented her. “There’s no need to worry, I don’t have a problem consuming Ugarian food. And I will make sure none of the bugs get loose."
“Excellent,” she said and clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s finish the tour, then I need to see to my duties.”
“Certainly,” he agreed. She showed him the galley, his cabin, and finished the tour in a small bay.
“I wasn’t told you had an open space,” he said, feeling even better about the ship. He hadn’t realized Holian had managed to secure him a freighter to ride in.
“Originally the bay was going to be full of cargo, but Commandant Holian insisted we empty it. All the cargo was transferred to our sister ship, Sturdy. You can spend as much time in here as you like. Sleeping in here is an option as well, but we need some warning to make sure you’ll be safe.”
He felt Ruby move against his neck, reminding him that he wasn’t alone. “I’ll probably be in here often, but I don’t think I’ll need to go that far.”
“Then I’ll leave you here and let you make your way back to your cabin when you’re ready,” Helmen said.
“Thank you for your gift of time and skill,” he murmured by rote, even though Helmen was already striding away. Pulling a deep breath, he mostly smelled mechanical oil. It wasn’t a comforting scent, but it was better than the stink of auto-exausters or burning escape tube insulation.
Memories tried to creep up on him.
No! He wasn’t going to do that. He focused on picturing Amina in his mind and set off at a fast pace to walk the outside edge of the bay.
The plan was simple: walk in circles until he was exhausted. It worked in the past and would work again, especially with Ruby nestled against his neck and memories of Amina circling his head. These two females would keep him sane, and neither was aware of it.
Amina
“I can’t believe Helmen gave me this assignment, as if I don’t have enough to do. She knows I hate dealing with biocleansers,” Jossulum grumbled.
Amina had been watching a display full of engine one’s stats when Jossulum came storming into the room.. Everything looked good, so she turned and faced her dramatic crewmate.
“No one likes servicing them,” Amina pointed out.
“But they singe my nose,” he said, rubbing a hand over his snout. “Besides, I really need to finish putting the patch plates together. Helmen is piling too much work on me. You’ll do it so much faster than me. Please, Amina, service the biocleanser, and I’ll owe you!”
Amina rolled her eyes. Keeping his sensitive Ugarian nose from being burned by the chemicals the biocleansers used had a simple fix; wear a mask!
Jossulum knew that, but he seemed to always forget it until the insides of his nostrils were irritated.
Amina wondered if maybe he did it on purpose because he didn’t like dealing with the delicate machinery.
It was easy to accidentally upset the unit and have to take it completely apart to reset and seal it.
“I’m done here so I’ll deal with the biocleanser for you,” Amina agreed. “But you’re on galley check for me tomorrow.”
Jossulum didn’t hesitate. “Agreed!”
Then he turned and rushed away, as if he was scared she’d take back the trade in duties.
Amina chuckled and left the engine room to head to the tool room to get everything she’d need to reset the biocleanser. Their new passenger must be really sensitive if Helmen was assigning this task as urgent.
It didn’t take long before she was in the passenger's cabin, a little startled to find nothing there. She knew he wasn’t here; Jossulum had assured her he was in the bay exercising.
She could understand that he hadn’t had time to do anything to his cabin, but where was his stuff?
Shouldn’t he have luggage, or at least a bag?
Desur was supposed to bring the stuff from the ship’s main hatch to here. He must’ve gotten distracted. That happened to him a lot.
Shrugging it off, she pulled up a wall panel to reveal the biocleanser unit.
She worked as quickly as she could manage.
Helmen would be upset if she found out Amina traded work with Jossulum, but there really wasn’t any risk of running into their passenger.
Everyone was constantly posting where the Talin was on the crew's message system. The second he left the bay, she’d know about it.
Humming to herself, she got to work. First she replaced the chemical pucks, making sure to wear her mask because even though she wasn’t as sensitive as an Ugarian, it was still unpleasant.
After that she checked the tubes for clogs then made sure the diaphragm was still pliable. Hooking everything back up again, she set the entire system to maximum so it would scrub everything out of the air.
“It’s a good thing the Talin complained," she muttered. “That was much worse than I expected.”
She’d have to have Jossulum tell Helmen all the systems should be checked because this one was obviously overdue and hadn’t signaled.
Closing it all up, she took a last look around the sterile room and shrugged. Passengers probably expected impersonal cabins when traveling. Besides, this Talin was on some kind of super-secret mission, not a vacation.
Packing up her tools, she double checked that the system came on, then she left. Time to get back to her regular duties.
Hours later she was engrossed in going through power maps looking for spikes when a message popped up interrupting her study.
Desur: Talin is leaving the bay. Heading down S11 corridor.
Jossulum: He didn’t stop in the galley, he must be heading for his cabin.
Helmen: Desur, did you get his luggage in there?
Desur: All his stuff is in the cabin. It smelled like nothing in there. You did a good job with the biocleansers Jossulum.
She stayed quiet about the job switching.
Helmen: His cabin door is reporting closed and locked. I’ll set it to alert us if it opens again. It’s safe for Amina to move around if she wants to.
It was only then that Amina realized she was starving.
Amina: Who wants to join me for dinner?
The ship was running smoothly, and they were far away from station traffic, so almost everyone agreed. Helmen decided to stay at her post to monitor. She wouldn’t relax until they were docked again. It was the way she was.
Amina gathered around a table with everyone else, talking, teasing, joking, and eating. It wasn’t until Desur’s eyelids drooped that Amina realized how tired she was. Arriving one day and leaving the next was hard on everyone.
“How long are we going to be at the next station?” Amina asked. “It’d be nice to have a few days’ break.”
Before anyone could answer a roar vibrated through the ship. It startled all of them and caused Desur to fall off his stool.
“What was that?” Jossulum asked.
Amina shook her head. “It almost sounds like—”
Another roar accompanied by a deafening rattle cut off her words. The moment it was quiet, they all heard Helmen’s words over the ship's speakers.
“All hands report to corridor S11, aft section. Bring restraints and sedative medication. Now!”