Page 13

Tanin

G oldie and Garnet both got sick when they swung into subspace. Nauseated to the point of curling into balls on their bed but never throwing up. Which, Garnet complained, was worse than just getting it out and being done with it. They were sweating, their entire bodies aching, and they couldn’t take more than a couple steps without collapsing from weakness.

Subspace sickness wasn’t particularly common anymore. In the early days of subspace travel, it had been more rampant. Living beings were never meant to travel through subspace, and it took a toll on the body when forced to do so. However, as time passed, shielding improved, and in this day and age, subspace sickness was rare.

It only showed up when someone was using an outdated subspace generator, or their shielding was old and ineffective. Both of which were true for the Humility. Tanin hadn’t gotten sick before, though Sway occasionally complained of some aches and weakness. Never as bad as what the females were going through, however.

Tanin and Trove took turns bringing them food and water and helping them through the worst of the sickness. There wasn’t much else they could do. The mediring couldn’t help, as even if it did try to alleviate the symptoms, it couldn’t fix the actual problem of them being in subspace. The shielding was still strong enough that it wouldn’t kill them but knowing that didn’t make the symptoms easier to bear.

Tanin would need to buy better shielding for the Humility before he bought a new generator. The last fight with the pirates had done some damage to the shields as well. He told Alred to find them a new station to stop at to resupply and restore the sheilds, though he’d have to wait until they emerged from subspace for any answers. Subspace travel was infinitely faster than standard space travel, but it did come with the drawback that no one could communicate within subspace. While modern communication used subspace to connect the vast distances between planets and peoples, when someone was actually within subspace, they couldn’t use those same communication channels – radio or any other frequency was also absolutely unreachable.

That made the few days they were trapped in subspace peaceful, but miserable for the poor females now under his care.

He was responsible for them now – even if they still needed to get approval for a sponsorship. Even if they didn’t, they were under his care for the moment, and the fact that his ship’s inadequate equipment was what was making them sick made guilt churn in his gut.

That had to be why he was so determined to take care of them. Trove or the others could bring them food trays. He didn’t have to do it himself.

But he did.

He had the synthesizer make them a soup from his home planet that was popular with females because it was easy on the stomach and light in flavor. Females had more sensitive taste buds then males, and so their preferences in food ranged to the sweeter, less heavy foods.

And it seemed to be one of the only things the nauseated females could tolerate. They might not be vomiting, but that didn’t make eating any easier with the way their stomachs were rolling.

Still, they both gave him grateful looks when he walked in, two steaming bowls on the tray, alongside fresh, cool water. He set the tray down between them before looking them over.

They both had a pale cast to their features he knew wasn’t normal for them, and their skin shined with sweat. Goldie had curled into a ball, arms clenched around her abdomen, while Garnet had decided to sit up with her back against the corner of the wall, hugging her knees.

“How are you two feeling?” He asked.

“I’m fine,” Garnet gave him a pained grin. “It’s my stomach that seems to be having a problem. Any way you can just cut it out of me?”

“Sway probably could.”

“Not even going to ask why that is. I’m down. Take it away. I could probably stand to lose some weight anyway.”

“You think?” Tanin cocked his head, checking her out from the side. “I’d say you’re just right. If anything, I’d like some more curves on you.”

Garnet blinked, then laughed, some color finally returning to her cheeks.

“Captain, that’s sexual harassment,” Goldie interjected, giggling. “Garnet, you going to take that, or are you going to HR?”

“I don’t think alien ships have human recourses,” Garnet countered. “I suppose that means I have no choice but to take such salacious comments. Got any more?”

“I can think of a few,” he assured her, earning more giggles from both of them. There was a distinct sense of pained discomfort to the sound, but at least they were laughing. “We should be dropping out of the swing soon. You’ll feel better then. I’ll see if the peacekeepers have any medicine that might alleviate the symptoms.”

“We probably do. In that mountain of boxes somewhere,” Garnet grumbled. “I’m unpacking those first thing when I can stand again.”

They might. Then again, they might not. Tanin still wasn’t sure what all those various medicines did, and since subspace sickness wasn’t common, any treatment used to help probably wasn’t included in common medbay supply kits either.

They only had to tolerate one more jump though. He’d make sure that the station Alred chose next would be one that could improve the shielding so this didn’t happen again. The old generator wouldn’t be able to bring on the symptoms alone if his subspace shielding was good enough. For that jump, hopefully, they’d have some medication for them. If the peacekeepers had any and were willing to give or sell it to him anyway.

Tanin wasn’t a good male, not by any measurement, but it didn’t sit right to have females suffering under his care.

“You two need anything else?” He asked.

“Ginger ale would be nice,” Goldie smiled wanly.

“Not entirely sure ale of any kind would be good on an upset stomach,” he said, not recognize the specific type she asked for. But it must have been a joke, because they both laughed.

He liked it. The sweet sound of a female’s mirth wasn’t something he was used to hearing, but there was a special ring to it.

They were so carefree, so untouched by the past that the rest of the crew had come from. He didn’t know what kind of life these two lived before, but he knew it couldn’t have been as bad as Rik-Vane Station. None of the females from there could laugh like that.

“Captain.” Goldie sat up, giving him a slightly pained smile. “I want to thank you. For letting us stay here. Even though we immediately became liabilities. I promise, we’ll work hard to make up for it.”

“You don’t owe me anything extra,” he assured her. “This is my fault. I promise, I’ll get the shielding fixed right after you are given permission to stay so it won’t happen again. Though, I am curious. What made you two decide to stay in the first place? I thought you’d both be eager to return.”

“Not really,” Garnet shook her head. “To be honest, there’s not much waiting for us back on Earth. Except for Goldie’s education.”

“But it’s okay,” she cut in eagerly. “I don’t mind. Staying here is the first thing that Garnet has ever asked of me. So, it wasn’t a sacrifice at all.”

Goldie was beaming so brightly, not a hit of hesitation or grief for her loss. Whatever she had surrendered, it was meaningless compared to her sister’s happiness.

“What was your education?” He asked.

“I was trying to be a veterinarian.”

An animal healer then. That could be helpful.

“She gave it up for me,” Garnet said, her tone sadder than the one who actually sacrificed. “I’m going to make sure we’re happy out here.”

“I’m happy wherever you are,” Goldie promised, beaming. “Besides, we’ve always done whatever I wanted. I’ve just been dragging you along in my decisions. I’m the one who’s been selfish. This was an easy choice for me.”

Tanin looked between them, rather surprised. If he’d had to guess, he would assume that feisty Garnet was the one who would be dragging the shy, sweet Goldie through life.

Garnet chuckled, reading his expression, and the unspoken question, easily. “I was happy to chase Goldie’s dreams. It’s not like I had any of my own.”

“Until now,” Goldie beamed at her. “And this is fun so far. Everyone is so nice.”

Tanin’s quills twitched. So nice? He didn’t think anyone had ever described himself and his crew as ‘nice’. It was strangely insulting. Niceness would be a weakness back on Rik-Vane Station. It meant someone was a gullible fool. But Garnet was nodding her head eagerly, agreeing with her sister, and the expected sting of the insult didn’t come.

There was a warmth in his chest instead. Kind of uncomfortable. But he didn’t really mind females like this – sweet and soft – considering him nice. It was another way of saying that they considered him safe, that they thought him trustworthy.

And that was strange, but not unpleasant at all.

“Are you really leaving nothing behind on Earth?” He asked, taking a seat on Garnet’s bed. He knew he hadn’t been sad to see Rik-Vane fading into the black, and if he never saw it again, it would be too soon, but their lives weren’t similar to his.

Garnet looked to Goldie first who shook her head – the human non-verbal ‘no’.

“We had some friends,” Goldie said brightly. “I’m sure they miss us, but it’s not like they’ll be super disappointed that we’re gone. They might not even have noticed yet. And we don’t talk to our parents. So, they definitely haven’t noticed yet. Even if they did, I doubt they’d care.”

“Oh, give them some credit, Goldie,” Garnet sneered. “They’d care if you were missing.”

Goldie made a face, dropping back down into her discomfort ball with a groan.

Tanin looked between them. There was a story there, but he wasn’t going to ask. Another lesson from Rik-Vane – you never pry into another person’s past. But Garnet read the curiosity on his face again, and she filled him in with an ironic sweetness.

“Our delightful parents were quite eager to have a baby. They planned for months before trying, they had the baby room all set up. They wanted – and got – a girl and were prepared to devote their whole lives to their singular, perfect, beloved child.”

Tanin frowned, his quills twitching. “There are two of you. And I don’t think your people consider twins to be a singular person like Sorbet and Tebros’ people do.”

“They consider them one person?” Goldie asked, confused.

“Humans certainly do not,” Garnet agreed sagely. “So, what do you do when you’ve meticulously prepared for your singular, perfect, darling child and suddenly there are two of them instead?”

“Rejoice?”

Garnet scoffed. “Absolutely not. You resent the second one for being there and ruining your perfect plans of you, your spouse, and your singular princess. You condemn her for being born small because the perfect one took the majority of the blood supply in the womb-”

“My bad,” Goldie said with a smile.

“-and you blame her for the rest of her life for destroying your ideal family unit.” Garnet finished with a long, dramatic sigh. “That is, naturally, the only right thing to do.”

“I’m hoping this is sarcasm,” he said, relatively sure it was and not something humans genuinely believed in doing to their twins. He knew some cultures considered twins to be jinxes or that one was the flawed version of the other. But he also knew twins tended to run in families and he wouldn’t want Garnet to treat their young that way.

Her young. Her young that way, he meant.

“Mom and dad didn’t want twins,” Goldie said, her voice soft and sad. “They just wanted one, and I was the one they chose because I was born at a normal weight and Garnet was smaller.”

“I heard they even thought about putting me, and just me, up for adoption,” Garnet declared smiling brightly. Like it was just a funny story from her youth and not the potential rejection and abandonment of parents that neglected their own child in favor of the other.

“Growing up, they treated me like a princess, and Garnet like the annoying neighbor kid who can’t take a hint and just go home,” Goldie continued. “I knew what they were doing, and I tried to stop it, but they didn’t care.”

“Don’t you dare feel bad about what they did,” Garnet declared, leveling a finger at her before looking back at Tanin. “Do you know, she would always stand up for me to our parents. Sometimes, literally putting herself between us because she thought they were getting violent.”

“They threw things at you! There’s no ‘thought’ about it.” Goldie reminded her with a harsh frown. “They blamed her for everything. Sometimes, they tried to take me places and leave her behind!”

“And you know,” Garnet snickered, “Goldie always refused to go along with it. If they took her to a restaurant without me, she wouldn’t eat. If they took her to a park or something, she wouldn’t play. Sometimes, she threw a tantrum because I wasn’t included. As we got older, she’d make them bring me places or she’d begin telling everyone how she missed her twin, but her parents wouldn’t bring her along because they didn’t like her. She’d walk right up to strangers and announce it without even saying hi first. Embarrassed the hell out of them.”

“They should have been embarrassed,” Goldie scoffed.

“They should have been ashamed,” Tanin agreed. “I cannot imagine not being delighted if my mate gave me any young, and especially twins.”

Garnet smiled at him, eyes sparkling. “Good to know.”

“Point is, we definitely don’t miss our parents,” Goldie sniffed. “We ran away the night before our eighteenth birthday. That was my idea too. I told Garnet we should run, that we should get away from them, and she started packing a bag right there.”

“I was happy to go,” Garnet sighed, sinking down in the bed. “So, no. There’s nothing for us to miss on Earth. Screw it.”

“Screw it!” Goldie concurred, throwing her fist up before groaning and covering her mouth.

The Humility jerked and Tanin’s stomach dropped. Both females moaned uncomfortably before Garnet blinked, pushing herself up.

“Wait… The nausea’s gone!” She declared, her entire face brightening.

“That was us swinging out of subspace,” Tanin said, standing again. “We’re here.”

“Finally,” Goldie uncurled from her discomfort ball. Subspace sickness was terrible, but at least it ended immediately upon exiting subspace.

“I should go. The keepers will be waiting,” Tanin said. “Take your time getting up. They’ll want to see you, but you don’t have to move too fast.”

“Screw that!” Garnet declared, tossing her blanket aside and throwing her legs over the side of the bed, getting to her feet. “I’m not staying here a moment longer.”

“I am,” Goldie sighed with relief, pulling her blanket up higher to right under her chin.

Garnet smiled at her as she began gathering her hair back into a tail. “So, what are we doing, boss?”

He watched her, wishing she’d let him do that instead. “Well, let’s find out, shall we?”