Page 10

Garnet

I t was a complete surprise to her, but Garnet loved being on the spaceship.

She’d heard of aliens, of course. She’d watched all the news clips when it came to first contact. But as the idea became normal, she’d kind of just stopped thinking about it. Aliens being real didn’t mean her bills weren’t due, that her life was less difficult, that she didn’t have work in the morning. It was a huge change for Earth, but a weird news story day for her.

But now that she was on an actual ship, she was having a hard time trying to remember why she had to go back to Earth in the first place.

Goldie wasn’t really leaving their room much yet, but that was to be expected. Her sister was a lot more shy, more concerned about burdening other people. She worried about being in places she didn’t belong.

Garnet didn’t share that particular mental hang up. If someone wanted her gone, they’d shoo her out, and unless they did, she’d satisfy her curiosity by getting into everything she could.

Alred told her there was some manual cleaning supplies in one of the storage closets and directed her there, giving her access to a broom that was too big for her, gloves that were way too big for her, and cleaning supplies that actually smelled pretty nice when she was expecting a harsh, chemical scent to match the industrial motif the rest of the ship had. It wasn’t really floral or surgery. It was definitely an artificial smell, but it wasn’t unpleasant.

She was going to start by cleaning the halls. That would let her figure out the layout of the ship, and the halls desperately needed it anyway. She wouldn’t call them filthy, just neglected. Robots did this job usually, Alred explained, but most were broken and one of the crew members, Vytln, scrapped the rest for parts.

This place was hanging on by duct tape and determination, as far as she could tell.

And she loved it!

She always figured spaceships were going to be like these super clean, super regimented, serious places with no room for mistakes or dust. But space travel was normal to aliens, so of course there were going to be starships that needed a tune up and a new coat of paint. Seeing one in person just made it all seem real in a way it never had on Earth.

Cleaning it was a fun challenge as well. Garnet enjoyed a challenge. She liked rising to meet them. It made her feel good every time she met an obstacle and overcame it. She lived for that. And even though it was just cleaning, the fact that she was making clear and obvious progress, changing something for the better, even in this small way, felt good.

Garnet also got to meet the rest of the crew as she tidied up the halls.

The twins made themselves known to her first. They came around as she was working on the first floor, in the very first hall. They just kind of appeared without a sound, looking at her in that unnerving way of theirs. At first, they said nothing. Garet stared back, waiting for a bit, but they remained silent. When she finally gathered the courage to just introduce herself, only one of them spoke back, identifying them as Sorbet and Tebros. They told her to stay out of trouble before leaving her alone. That was it. Their words didn’t even sound so much like a warning as a super awkward way of them telling her to be careful. At least, that’s how she interpreted it since she felt no actual malice from them.

She also got to meet Rok again. The guy with four arms and patches of teal and black scales was absolutely massive. He was also an absolute sweetheart. He walked with his head and shoulders hunched down. Not just because he was shy and sweet, but because his head would brush the ceiling if he didn’t.

She found him crouched down, peeking around a corner, as she was working her way through the first floor. She knew he was staring but chose to ignore it, waiting for him to say something. He made a move like he was about to a couple times but always withdrew again. When she finally just decided to confront him directly, he jumped up, panicked, roared a loud-

“I’m sorry!”

-before running off into the ship. Garnet only figured out who he was and what was happening because Alred chose that moment to show up, laughing uproariously, to explain.

Rokwol, Rok for short, was the delivery boy of this company. He was the one who actually delivered and picked up the packages – usually. Tanin stepped in if it was important or dangerous. He was big, he was strong, and he was also mostly harmless. He knew his size was scary, and he felt bad about it, but he also wasn’t capable of making himself any smaller.

That didn’t stop him from trying. If Garnet came upon him while she was cleaning, he’d crouch down and back away slowly like he was worried she might attack. Or, more accurately, like he was worried she would be worried he’d attack. His voice was big and booming, and when he wasn’t shouting his apologies, he made attempts to make it quieter.

He was scarily big, but she also realized very quickly that he was a total cutie. She just wanted to hug him, pat his head, and tell him it would be okay. He’d never let her, always backtracking if they crossed paths, but that just made her want to do it all the more.

She explained all that to Goldie as she was standing in their privy, washing her clothes by hand in the shower along with her own body. The overall shorts and the shirt underneath them were the only things she had.

One downside of being here was that none of the guys had clothes that could fit them. Tanin was shorter than the rest of the crew. He was big, but not in a way that would do more than earn a second look on Earth. He was still within the realm of normal by her standards. At least, compared to the other monsters working on this ship.

But he was huge compared to her! There was no way his clothes would fit either of them. So, she had taken to washing her stuf by hand at night and wearing them again the next day. It was a lot of work, but it was only for eight or nine days.

Only five days until they swung into subspace…

Two days left now, actually. And whenever she thought about it, she’d get bummed. All she was doing was cleaning this place, but she was having a lot of fun. And she didn’t have to worry about bills or the rent-a-furniture people coming knocking for their couch back, or Goldie’s ex trying to stalk her again because the last time Garnet beat him with a baseball bat wasn’t obvious enough.

Comparatively, this was actually pretty sweet. So, knowing it was all going to end soon was a real downer on everything.

“I feel bad for screaming at him now,” Goldie laughed, running her fingers through her hair. They didn’t have brushes either. They were missing a lot of things. Just another reason they needed to get back to their apartment and all their stuff.

If it was still there and it hadn’t been so long yet that their apartment manager just evicted them and sold or tossed all their stuff already. She didn’t know. It probably hadn’t been that long. Alred talked her through everything and, realistically, they couldn’t have been gone from Earth for longer than a couple weeks. At least, he explained that would be about how long it would take, minimally, to get from Earth all the way to where they found them, up to now. There was leeway in there since it was all guesswork, and his estimate was based on a direct path between where he guessed Earth was – he didn’t have exact coordinates, so he just made a guess – to the moment they were picked up by the Humility.

But maybe it was too late. In which case, did it really matter where they started over?

“He seems nice,” Garnet agreed, hanging her clothes up in the shower and walking back into their room in a towel.

It wasn’t really to dry her off. The shower didn’t use water. It misted her down with some kind of cleaning fluid that evaporated really well. Her skin was a bit dry because of it, but nothing that a little lotion couldn’t fix.

Clothes, lotion, hairbrush… Really, they didn’t need much.

“What about the guy I kicked my shoe at?” Goldie asked, grimacing sheepishly.

Garnet laughed. “That was a great kick.”

“Stop it. I feel bad!”

Garnet only laughed harder. “Honestly, I haven’t seen him. Alred says his name is Vytln? I think that’s how he pronounced it. He says that he’s usually either in his room or workroom, so I won’t likely be seeing much of him.”

“I want to apologize to him. He even brought my shoe back.” Goldie looked down at the side of her bed where both her slippers were sitting, waiting to be used.

Garnet sat down on the other bed. They hadn’t slept together since that first night. This place really did seem safe, and they were still right next to each other.

“So, Alred is the computer, right?” Goldie asked. “And Tanin is the captain.”

“Right. Sway is the navigator, the twins – Sorbet and Tebros – they’re like the muscle? I think? Trove is there too. I’m not sure what he does except flirt outrageously whenever he sees me. He’s figured out how to wink and now he does it all the time. He says he’s looked up humans so he could communicate better with us.”

Goldie giggled, bringing her legs up and wrapping her arms around them. “They seem like pretty okay guys. We owe them a lot.”

“Yeah. Cleaning their ship kind of feels like it’s not enough.” Garnet shrugged. “But I can’t really do anything else for them.”

“Well, we’ll be out of their hair soon enough.”

“Yeah. Right…”

Goldie cocked her head. “What is it?”

“What’s what?” Garnet frowned.

“You got that tone in your voice.”

“Tone? I don’t have a tone. I was agreeing with you.”

“Yeah, but you were doing it in that tone.” Goldie popped her brow. “You think I don’t know your tones? Come on. Out with it. What are you thinking?”

“It’s stupid.”

“So were a lot of your ideas,” Goldie laughed. “We still had a great time doing them. So? What is it?”

“Well,” Garnet hedged, “I was just thinking… Do we have to go back to Earth?”

“Of course, we do. Earth is our home,” Goldie said immediately, frowning.

“Yeah, but, really, what’s there for us? We don’t talk to mom and dad anymore. My job was going nowhere. We were in debt to our eyeballs.”

“I was almost done with school,” Goldie countered. “Once I had my degree, things were going to get better!”

“Right. Your degree,” Garnet frowned. How could she have forgotten that?

Garnet had done a lot of odd jobs, picked up a lot of hours, to try to save money to get them through while Goldie went to vet school. Her sister was not even a full semester away from being done, and their life was going to get so much better. Goldie would be getting a great salary, they’d be able to pay off their loans and credit cards, and Garnet wouldn’t have to work so hard. She might even be able to focus on getting a job she actually liked, not just whatever weekend, under the table labor that came to her.

“Do you want to stay here?” Goldie asked, resting her chin on her knees.

“I mean, kind of?” Garnet grimaced. “This is so much better than our apartment! There’s no debt out here. We could start over! I mean, I could start over… You were already almost there. It’s not fair for me to ask you to give all that up.”

She was rather disappointed in herself for not remembering how close Goldie was to finishing her degree and achieving her dreams. She’d always loved animals. Helping them as their doctor was everything she’d ever wanted in life, since they were kids. And here Garnet was talking about giving that up to become spaceship maids instead.

It was an upgrade for Garnet, but not for Goldie. And it wasn’t fair for her to ask Goldie to give all that up for her.

“We’re not mated to anyone though.”

“Huh?” Garnet focused back on her sister.

Goldie was frowning. “Aren’t humans only allowed off planet if they’re mated to someone? Isn’t that, like, the rule? Because humans aren’t members of the Coalition yet. We’re just a protectorate, so we’re supposed to stay on our planet.”

“I mean, yeah,” Garnet shook her head. “That’s not the only way though. They say if a human agreed to completely surrender their Earth citizenship and be only Coalition citizens, or like refugee status or something, they can leave Earth.”

“Yeah, but that’s only if they agree to not come back,” Goldie countered, making Garnet’s heart sink in dismay. She’d forgotten about that condition. “If we stayed out here, we’d never get to go back home. It’s to prevent us from bringing back advanced technology or something.”

“Right…”

“And we’d also need a sponsor.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah. Humans that leave Earth need a sponsor. For those mating off Earth, their sponsor is their mate, right? But those who voluntarily surrender their citizenship, they have to have someone willing to sponsor their stay.”

“How do you know that?”

“People in class talked about it sometimes.” Goldie shrugged. “We’re in vet school because we’re into other species. Aliens are other species, just sentient ones. Now that I’m thinking about it, a lot of people talked about maybe applying to try to get a sponsor. It’s not easy though.”

“Why?”

“Well, first you have to find a sponsor. There are those new chatrooms that opened, so humans can talk to aliens, right? But even getting invited there is difficult. And a sponsor has to be willing to take care of you completely while in space. Because we can’t be considered to be able to fully take care of ourselves. It won’t be easy for us to get a job or move places or do anything by ourselves in an unknown place. Like, there are good reasons, it’s just difficult to do. And, in our case, someone would have to be willing to sponsor both of us.”

Garnet shook her head quickly. “Goldie, I’d never ask you to stay.”

“I know.” Goldie smiled at her. “You’d never ask me to give up everything.”

“Exactly. So-”

“So, I’ll give it up voluntarily.”

“No way.” Garnet sat up straight, smacking her hands against her knees. “You were less than one semester from finishing vet school.”

“I can learn something else.”

“You were this close to starting to work!”

“No student debt out here to pay off.”

“Goldie.” Garnet frowned. “You’ve always wanted to be a vet. You can’t give it up when you’re practically there.”

Goldie smiled. “Didn’t you hear me? We talked in class about how awesome it would be if we could go out and study other alien species. There’s so much difference just between a human and a dog. How much difference is there between a human and… whatever Captain Tanin is! Whatever that huge guy with four arms is! This ship is full of a bunch of different species. Anyone in my school would have killed for a chance to be in space studying that.”

Garnet blinked, surprised. Goldie was laughing, a pretty flush in her cheeks. She certainly didn’t look upset that her semester was probably screwed. A few weeks wasn’t much time in regards to possibly being evicted, but it definitely was in regards to school work. Even if they went back, there was no guarantee she wouldn’t have to repeat all she’d missed anyway.

“But if we stay, we lose the chance of going back at all,” she reminded Goldie softly. “There won’t be a chance for you to make it up. It’s a big risk.”

“So?” Goldie smiled. “It was a big risk when we left our parents too. But you didn’t hesitate then. As I recall, you were pulling our suitcase with one hand and me with the other. We literally walked all the way to a motel that night. You didn’t worry about the risk then.”

“We have more to lose now.”

“And a lot more to gain.” Goldie beamed. “Besides, you want to stay. You’ve never asked me to do anything, Garnet. It was my idea to run away from home. It was my idea to go to vet school… It was my idea to go out that night.”

“What?”

Goldie frowned, her arms tightening around her legs. “The night we were taken. I don’t remember anything about who took us, but I do know I begged you to go out. I just wanted to eat together. We rarely went out. We were always trying to save money. If I hadn’t insisted, we might have been safely in our apartment that night. It’s my fault we’re out here. And now, you’re finally excited about something. How can I take that from you?”

“But you-”

“Don’t worry about me, Garnet,” Goldie laughed. “I want to stay too. I want a chance to learn about these aliens. You should be more worried about Captain Tanin. He’s probably the one who would be our sponsor, so he’s the one you have to convince.”

Garnet just stared at her for a long minute. Searching her face for any sign of hesitation. Of indecision. Of regret. They weren’t taken willingly. At this point, it should still be okay for them to return home. They could pick up the pieces of what they were forced to leave behind.

But Goldie was smiling at her. Eager anticipation shining in her eyes. Like this might have been her suggestion. She chuckled as Garnet continued to stare.

“Let’s stay,” she said brightly. “If we can. Let’s start over from here.”

Garnet let out a cry, jumping from her bed. She threw her arms around her sister with a loud-

“Thank you!”

They fell back, laughing together.

Garnet still had to convince Tanin to take them, but she was already proving how important she could be just by cleaning this ship. It definitely needed it. There were a ton of other little odd jobs she could do. They could both prove themselves.

It was crazy, but it wouldn’t be the first crazy thing they’d done. And so long as they had each other, Garnet wasn’t worried about where they were.