Page 8

Garnet

W aking up this time was almost as rough as it had been last time. But at least this time Garnet didn’t have to struggle to consciousness only to be immediately faced with danger. She opened her eyes to an unfamiliar room, but she knew where she was, and she didn’t have an immediate shot of adrenaline urging her to get up.

Probably because Goldie was right there next to her. There were two beds here, one against either wall, but they had slept together like they were children again. Partially for safety, in case something happened, but mostly for comfort.

Goldie was still sleeping when Garnet sat up, looking around. She kicked off her ankle boots by the door last night, next to Goldie’s lone slipper they’d brought back from the medbay. Though, apparently, the guy she’d kicked the second one at had returned it at some point while they were sleeping because it was sitting next to its pair like it had never been lost.

Frowning, Garnet grabbed her belly. She was hungry. It hurt, making her nauseated, as her belly cramped angrily. How long had it been since she ate? She genuinely didn’t know. Not even just because she had no idea how long she just slept, but because she didn’t know how long she’d been asleep before that, and the memories of her kidnapping were fragmented at best.

Garnet stood, stretching her sore muscles – it had to have been a while since they laid down because she was stiff on top of everything. As she worked out the kinks in her body, she turned around. Getting to know the guest room.

There wasn’t much to it. The two beds inside were probably a bit bigger than twin size – but that was more likely due to aliens being bigger than humans than any nod at luxury. She could take about two large steps between each bed, the room was that small. There was a set of drawers at the foot of her bed, and a door leading to a small bathroom at the foot of the empty bed. The toilet was in the shower, it was so small and cramped. They’d both used it last night – yesterday? She had no actual idea what time it was. It was a bit of a struggle.

But she didn’t mind that. Considering everything, she should probably just count herself lucky that she was waking up under her own power this morning.

Garnet wasn’t stupid. She knew that there was really only one reason someone would put a mind control collar on a species known for being sexy and making babies. She shuddered to think of the fate she and Goldie just narrowly escaped.

Shoving that thought away where it couldn’t hurt her, she took the time to relieve herself again. The yellow AI person showed her how to use the shower last night, but she had been on the verge of collapse by then thanks to the adrenaline crash, so she couldn’t remember it now. Rather than try to work it out, she instead did some of the homework necessary to maintain the language imprint. Alred had shown her a screen in their room where she could access the learning modules.

Really, it just involved her reading a short story out loud. It worked to cement both her understanding of the words, the written language, and her ability to speak it. She muttered everything under her breath and, by the time she was done, she was fully awake and restless.

“Goldie,” she turned to her sister, shaking her gently.

“Hm?” Goldie cracked her eyes, a flash of blue making Garnet smile.

“I’m going to go explore.”

“’kay…” She yawned, turning over to go back to sleep.

Garnet smiled at her before grabbing her boots. She quickly zipped them back up before pushing the button Alred showed her that made the door slide open. She stepped out, looking around excitedly, trying to decide where to go.

She was on a spaceship. And that was a much more enthusiastic thought than it had been just yesterday. No way she was letting this chance go without poking around a bit.

Turning right – basically flipping a coin in her head – she began strolling down the hall. Looking around curiously. The doors all remained unopened as she passed them. She touched experimentally at their control panels, but they flashed a sign saying locked, so she gave it up and continued on.

As she got to a corner in the hall, she looked to the right and jumped because there was someone standing there.

It was that three eyed domini from yesterday. The one with the ponytail and the large belt weighed down with weapons. He looked just as surprised to see her before smiling, fangs glinting in the bright light overhead.

“Well, I’ll be,” he chuckled, standing straight. “You’re up. Tanin’s been getting real antsy. Thought humans only slept four marks a night.”

“How long was I asleep?” She asked, cocking her head. Not sure how long a mark was but getting the general gist.

“About nine marks,” he chuckled. “Feel better?”

“Hungry, actually.”

“Figured. Come on. I’ll take you to the galley. Oh.” He turned back before taking more than a step. “Name’s Trove, pretty thing. Nice to meet you.”

“Garnet,” she smiled. “Sorry for freaking out on you yesterday.”

He laughed, waving her to walk with him. “Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to Rok. He’s been going mad. Thinking he scared you and now you hate him or something.”

“Rok is…?”

“The big one.” He held his hand up, indicating to a height over his head. “Black and teal scales. Roars like a beast. Four arms.”

“Oh. Him.” Garnet grimaced. “Er, no. I mean, yes, he did scare us. But we don’t hate him. We were kind of freaking out there.”

“Understandable,” Trove hummed along, sticking his thumbs in his pockets. “But I will say, your pretty faces are certainly a welcome sight. Best surprise I’ve had in a while.”

Garnet chuckled along with him. “Where is Tanin at, by the way? I want to talk to him.”

“Cap is usually on the upper bridge. Likes to keep watch from up there. I’ll take you to him after I get some food in you. Little thing like you needs some meat on her bones.”

Garnet really wasn’t that short by human standards, though she was much shorter than Trove. She was about on eye-to-chest level with him. She wasn’t that big weight wise either, but she certainly wasn’t small. She wasn’t used to people calling her little. It was a bit weird.

But she let that slide as Trove led the way into the galley – the spaceship kitchen. It wasn’t very big, but he explained they didn’t tend to eat there. Everyone would grab their food whenever they got hungry and either eat in their room or at their workstations.

He showed her the food synthesizer and how to use it. All their food was synthesized, he explained – no real meat or veggies, though all the completed nutrients of anything she wanted to make. Their model was pretty basic, so it only made simple foods.

After a few questions, he made her a bowl of, essentially, oatmeal. It was a dish from the home planet of one of the crew named Sway. His species was vegetarian, but more importantly, most of their food was safe to eat for nearly all species. It was something he knew he could give her without making her sick.

“Can you make me another bowl?” She asked once she’d finished scooping it into her mouth. It was just a little sweet, but it was also richer than oatmeal from home. It was heavy in her belly and if she hadn’t just woken up, she might be tired all over again. The only real complaint she had was a weird, artificial aftertaste. When she mentioned it, Trove just said that their synthesizer wasn’t the best.

“You hungry still?” Trove laughed, standing from the little table in the small room – the only thing in there besides the food synthesizer.

“No. It was a pretty big bowl.” She held it up, chuckling. It was made for alien bellies, so the bowl was more like a mixing bowl to her. “But I wanted to bring Goldie some food. My sister.”

“Ah. The other one. No problem.”

He watched her make another bowl, making sure she did it correctly. After praising her for her success, they put the food on a tray and brought it back to the guest room. Goldie was still sleeping, but Garnet roused her enough to tell her that food was there waiting when she woke up. After dropping off the tray, she stepped back into the hall and asked Trove to take her to Tanin.

Now that she’d had some sleep, she wasn’t freaking out, and she spoke the language, she wanted a chance to speak with the man in charge properly.

Trove took her through the ship, explaining where things were as they went.

Their room was in the lower part of the ship, along with the others’ private rooms. That’s why they hadn’t opened as she pressed at their control panels. They were locked to all but the owner of the room unless someone else was given permission to enter.

Everyone had their own room – except for the twins. They were avanava males though, Trove said like that explained everything. But before she could ask, they reached a wall-less lift that took them up a couple floors. The second floor, he explained, was where all their workrooms were. It also had the workout room, the rec room, and the entrance to the storage rooms. Then, on the third floor, the lift came to a halt on the bridge.

Garnet had been most excited about that. The bridge of a spaceship? Surely, that would be the coolest room on a spaceship!

But as they came up, she frowned because it wasn’t the coolest, but it was definitely the messiest room on the spaceship.

There was one person inside. Someone she hadn’t met on her desperate flight through the ship. He turned around as they came up, his entire body covered in bright blue feathers. All but the crest laying flat on his head and the long feathers of his tail which had beautiful yellow and orange and pinkish-red banding coloration. He was a bird man! He didn’t have a beak, but he did have bright black eyes – all over black, like a doll’s eyes.

Which might have been more impressive if it didn’t appear that he was making a nest of garbage and dirty dishes. They surrounded him and his seat on all sides. There was nothing spilled anywhere, but it was just a cluttered, dirty stack of mess.

“This is Sway,” Trove introduced jovially. “He’s our navigator and helmsmale. Sway, this is Garnet, our new human friend.”

The bird man whistled gently before giving her a kind smile. “Hello, Garnet. Welcome to the ship. Er, sorry for you being forced to be here.”

“No, it’s okay,” she said quickly, putting a smile on her face. “Thanks for taking care of us.”

“Cap should be up there,” Trove interjected, pointing to a ladder on a near wall. “You go on up. Cap will take care of you.”

Garnet nodded. “Thanks, Trove.”

“Sure,” he smiled back.

She nodded at Sway as she turned to the ladder and began to climb. There was a hatch at the top, but it was sitting open, allowing her to climb right up and in. From below, she heard Trove mocking Sway for showing such a mess to a pretty female, but she just chuckled and ignored them as she stepped off the ladder, looking around the upper bridge.

The lower bridge, underneath Sway’s mess, resembled something like a command center. There were four chairs in total, though only Sway’s was occupied. The other consoles were all dark as well, though his had multiple different displays lighting up the air that he was jumping between like he had ADHD and couldn’t stay on one task. But there wasn’t a cool viewing window of space or anything. It looked more technical than spectacle.

The upper bridge, in comparison, was much smaller, but that’s where the view was.

Garnet gasped as she turned, stepping forward into the room. There were windows in all directions but the very back, offering her a great look at space. A black emptiness so complete it was like there was nothing there.

But projected onto the windows was a bunch of data, galaxies, star maps, information. It brought the entire space to life. The dim light glowing like something out of a dream as she looked around, trying to take it all in and understanding none of it.

There was a chair here too, just one, but it had been pushed to the side. Instead, Tanin was standing in front of the console, a bunch more information floating in the air before him. There was a model of the ship with little purple dots. She realized, when she saw the two at the top, they must be the people who inhabited it. There was another ‘screen’, insomuch as a holo light display could be called a screen, that was filled with words she was too far away to read, and two more similar screens beyond that one.

The light was low in here, letting the holos shine brighter. Their colorful glow reflected brightly off Tanin’s gray skin. He looked at her with that same, calm, stoic expression. She met it with a bright smile of her own as she approached.

“Captain,” she greeted formally.

“Garnet,” he inclined his head as she stopped in front of him, resting her hip against the console. “Glad to see you awake.”

“It’s good to be awake,” she beamed. “I feel like I got my head on straight. And I feel like I should probably apologize for punching you yesterday. Sorry. I was panicking and I didn’t think that you were trying to help me.”

He inclined his head. “No need to apologize, but you have my forgiveness if you’re seeking it.”

“Great.” She smiled, folding her hands together in front of her. “And thank you for taking care of us like this. Even if it is temporary.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Is there anything I can do to help you at all? Earn our passage a bit.”

“No. You relax,” he turned, closing out one of his documents. “Alred says it will take another four or so days until our generators are recharged enough to attempt another swing. So, until then, we’re just cruising.”

“Swing?”

“A subspace swing. Moving a ship through subspace means you can travel faster than light without consequence, but it requires a subspace generator. And I’m afraid ours is old, and it takes a while to recharge. Until it does, we can only move under the speed of light.”

“Oh, I’m in no rush,” Garnet assured him quickly, smiling. “Now that I know I’m not in any danger, it’s actually pretty cool. I never really thought about leaving Earth before, but I’m here now, right? Might as well enjoy it! So, who are you guys? A delivery company, right?”

“Correct,” Tanin watched her as she looked around his ship model. “This is the Humble Delivery Service.”

She snickered, giving him a look. “Humble Delivery Service?”

“Seemed like a good name.” he shrugged off her teasing giggle. “And it is true. We’re not a large delivery service. It’s just us. My company is this ship and crew. We specialize in hazardous deliveries. Including deliveries to dangerous territories if necessary.”

“And that’s how you found us?” She turned to face him again.

“We were hired to fetch your chest out of a pirate infested area of space. The shinuk king who hired us no doubt thought you were well hidden. And you might have been, if it weren’t for Alred.”

“Your computer guy?”

“ Computer guy? ” Alred popped into being beside them, making her jump slightly. “ That’s the best way you can describe me? ”

“Were you eavesdropping?” Garnet frowned.

“Don’t worry about him,” Tanin reassured her calmly. “He can’t really help it. And he’s nosy. If he hears his name, he simply has to pay attention.”

“ Anyone would respond to hearing their name spoken. I just happen to have ears all over the ship to hear it with ,” Alred countered snootily, making her giggle before he faced her. He gave a deep, formal bow. “ I introduced myself before, but you were probably a bit too preoccupied to remember. I am Alred van Hamass Recall-12. ”

“I remember,” Garnet assured him as he stood straight. “I guess I’m just a bit confused. You’re an AI, right?”

“ Something like that. ”

“So, you’re a computer program?”

“ Essentially. ” He sounded so amused, even looked it despite his lack of face.

“Alred is a recall,” Tanin said simply. “An undroitt recall. His species, the undroitt, has been extinct for thousands of years. All that’s left of them are the AI that were made based on scans of the last of their brains before they died out completely.”

“ To be perfectly accurate, I’m the twelfth recall of the original scan of the biological Alred that forms my person, ” he interjected. “ I am still classified as a sapient species, however. My species is species number nineteen in the Coalition, in fact. We’ve been members longer than most. We just aren’t a biological species any longer. ”

“Oh,” Garnet said, starting to get it. “So, you’re not an artificial intelligence. You’re like an un-artificial intelligence. A computer, but you’re a real person at the same time.”

“ Correct. As it happens, I’m not listed as a crew member, so anyone who looked at the crew roster of the Humility wouldn’t find out about me. It’s very handy in the cases where someone tries to sneak something by the captain. Because I am not a true AI, I am not bound by codes in the same way regular AI are. I can easily jump into other devices and look at their codes. As I did when I looked into the chest and found the life support system that alerted us that something more was inside. ”

“Recalls live in the technology space,” Tanin continued, knocking his fist against the side of the console. “The entire ship is technically Alred’s body. His light form is just a creation he makes so we have something to look at.”

“Wait,” Garnet narrowed her eyes on Alred. “Are you telling me that you can see anywhere inside the ship?”

“ Yes. But don’t worry. I don’t look into the private rooms unless invited. The others have already lectured me about that. ”

She made a sound in her throat, still glaring suspiciously. She didn’t think she’d care if a computer saw her changing, but he wasn’t just a computer program, and he was still a male, right?

Or… was he not? He was as smooth as a doll downstairs, but his voice and the rest of his nude body was completely masculine. She honestly didn’t know, but she wouldn’t be comfortable with some random female or non-binary person staring at her changing either.

“ You can relax. I wouldn’t do that. I have some morals, ” he chuckled.

“You also have work to do,” Tanin said, giving him a pointed look.

“ I’m also adept at taking a hint, as it happens, ” he laughed, winking out of existence. Garnet blinked, not sure she was going to be able to get used to that.

“If you need anything, you can ask him,” Tanin said, clicking on something. “He’ll be able to take care of you.”

Garnet turned, standing at his side, looking at what he was reading. He didn’t try to stop her either, so she guessed he didn’t care.

“What’s this?”

“The peacekeepers.”

“Huh?”

“They’ve given us swing coordinates to meet up with them and drop you off.”

Garnet’s heart immediately sank in disappointment.