First Flyght – Chapter 26

How did I forget about this?

Dad made me trek into the woods in the middle of the night, handed me a box full of stuff I only glanced at, and then what? Well, my whole life fell to pieces, and I got a little distracted.

I tear past Carlos in his den on my way to my quarters. The giddiness of the hot sauce has moved into euphoria, and my skin tingles warmly like I’ve been in the sun all day. My vision is soft, and suddenly everything is hilarious. I laugh at the door to my room. It’s so funny the way it just sits there.

Hahahahaha! Dad! What is this stuff?

I cannot believe my father got me high.

I clutch at my stomach from laughing, and tears roll down my face.

“Uh, what’s wrong with the captain?” Carlos’s head pokes out from his den and seeing it float there? I burst into another round of giggles.

I push open my door and get inside before I pee my pants from laughter. Once in, I collapse on the bed.

I’m so happy! So happy! I smile as I roll myself up into the sheets and…

Maybe everything is going to work out? Oh, wouldn’t that be great? I’ll be an awesome captain! I’m going to turn this around, and everything’s going to be fine, fine, fine.

“Woo!” I hop out of bed and pump my fist into the air. “Yes, yes, yes.” I bounce on my toes, surprised by the amount of energy flowing through me. I could conquer all Seven Worlds right now. Go to every party! Seduce every man!

“Right, right. Yes. I’ve got this. What was I doing?”

Feeling is coming back to my fingers as I snap them a dozen times and try to remember what I was doing.

With my door ajar, I can hear Skylar drumming away on the bridge just beyond the crew quarters. Her rhythm is infectious, and my body dances as I move about the room.

Dad’s box! Yes! Dad’s box. Where is it? Where did I put it?

I blow out a steadying breath, and my eyesight comes into focus a slight bit.

I throw open the wardrobe and pull out every bag I brought with me and stuffed in there. Nope, no, no, nope. A pile grows next to the bed. Opening each drawer, I rifle through everything I’ve put away. No, too small. These places are too small. It was a bigger box.

I turn around and laugh at the mess of my room, but the giddiness is no longer all-consuming. Now it’s just amusing. I tilt my head to the side and pop my lips. Hmmm, whatever was in the hot sauce hit me fast, but it’s also wearing off pretty quickly.

Oh, that reminds me! I put some of this hot sauce in the stir fry I made the other day, didn’t I? I didn’t eat it because I had failed the Flyght interview, but I remember everyone else had. They all loved it, and they were so happy about it too. But no one reacted the way I’m acting.

I jump over everything on my floor and throw myself into the bathroom. The lights brighten, and I look at myself in the mirror. My cheeks are pink, but otherwise, I look pretty normal. I examine my hands and pull away my shirt to look down at my chest and the skin there. A little flushed, but nothing as bad as when I drink alcohol.

“Huh.” The physical reaction is fascinating! I wonder if it hit everyone else as fast the first time they had it. The scientist in me wants to dash out of the room and start asking everyone questions.

But, the box! Where’s the box?

I’m getting distracted. Is it the effect of the hot sauce? Or is it because I’m bone tired?

My room is so small, yet I came on board with plenty of stuff. Where did it all go? Is it in a storage locker somewhere?

I know someone who may know.

“Ai? Are you in here?” I press my hand over my mouth to stop a stupid smile.

“Of course I am, sugar. Do you need something?”

I almost prefer ‘captain’ over ‘sugar.’ And Carlos said he dialed back her personality already? I can only imagine how flirtatious she was before he did that.

“Where did all of my belongings go? When I boarded the ship, I was busy doing other things, and someone put everything away. But I have no idea where ‘away’ is.”

“Say no more.”

And without any warning, my bed lifts into the air. I startle and jump backwards, laughing at my reaction. Everything is funny, even my own fear. A storage unit opens underneath my bed, and my boxes from home are nestled inside.

“Oh! I had no idea the bed did that.”

“The bed can do a whole load of other things as well,” Ai says with an imagined wink. “You’ll have to employ a partner to find out, though.”

I laugh as I blush.

“You can access the bed control on the panel on your nightstand. Captain, are you feeling well? I detect a one-point-eight degree rise in body temperature. You may have a fever.”

I roll my eyes to the ceiling, sure that she can see my expression.

“I’m perfectly fine, thanks.”

“Perhaps you’re ovulating, then. I’ve detected similar rises in other female crew members who have been here for longer than a few months —”

A.k.a. Skylar.

“— And it could be the same for you. Would you like for me to chart your cycle? I’m sure this data will come in handy when it comes time for family planning.”

I’m about to say no, butt the hell out of my life, when I realize the damned AI has a point.

I take a deep breath and let it all out. With it goes the last of the giggles.

“Sure, Ai. Go ahead and do that. Please keep a detailed record in my duonet profile. It’s of the utmost importance I remain childfree during this mission.”

“I understand, Captain. I can also procure birth control should you need it.”

My skin crawls as I consider leaving these critical tasks to the processes of an AI. But she’s probably better at it than me.

“Thanks, Ai. Sounds like a plan.”

“I’m happy to be of assistance, Captain.” Her voice has a note of contentment I haven’t heard before. Maybe I’ve finally made a friend here.

I have befriended a sexbot AI. What the fuck, Vivian?

“Can I have some alone time now? I’m going to go through my personal belongings.”

“Happy to oblige, sweetheart.”

“Please close the door and set it to Do Not Disturb.”

I step forward into the storage space carefully. It’s about a meter deep in the dimensions of my bed, so there’s a good amount of space in here. My few boxes only take up about half the available room. Thank goodness because we’re about to travel the Seven Worlds and, lord knows, I will find things I want for myself. There’s room here for more.

I rifle through three boxes before I find what I’m looking for. Grasping the dirty edges of Dad’s safe box, I pull it free of the padded blanket someone wrapped it in.

But my room is a mess now with my belongings scattered everywhere, and I have no place to set this down and inspect it. So, despite being so curious I’m quietly squealing with delight, I put everything back in the storage space. I make sure I seal everything up, just in case, then I lower the bed with the controls Ai referred to. I’m surprised at the things the bed can do. White noise generator, heating and cooling, head or feet raised — I will need to investigate them all, eventually. Leave it to Skylar to get us luxury beds.

With the bed down, I place the box on it and open it carefully. Now in the light, I can see that it’s jam-packed full of stuff.

First things first, I pull out the seed stores. Each cube is sealed but transparent, giving me a good look inside. Most of these seeds are from vegetables and fruits I sort of recognize. I mean, this could be a pepper seed, and this one could be an apple. But this fuzzy, orange seed? No clue. Some of them are so small, smaller than lettuce or herb seeds. I couldn’t identify them without knowing what they were or just growing them to find out. The largest clear box has three pits the size of avocado stones, but they’re definitely not avocados.

All in all, there are forty-two boxes in here. What could they be? It would be strange for Dad to catalog and keep average seeds I can buy on pretty much any world. The vast majority of the produce we eat in the Seven Worlds are hybrids brought from Earth three hundred years ago.

Except for Rio.

I draw in a long, shaky breath. There’s a very good reason why the planet Rio was named for the city Rio of Old Earth. From what I know, before the wars and the Environmental Decline, Brazil contained a very dense and diverse jungle environment, much like the planet Rio. This jungle produced fruits, vegetables, and even animals not seen anywhere else on Earth. Many cures for diseases were found there too.

The same could be said of the rainforests of the planet Rio though we are much more clueless about what happens in the alien jungles there. So much so that cities on Rio exist on hoverlifts, cities that float in the sky. Even then, many unwitting settlers have been eaten by giant tentacled creatures, plucked from the street on their way to work.

Living there had been fun but dangerous. I had accepted an invitation to study for my financial degree on Rio at the behest of my mother and father. Mother because she had family there who would look after me. Father because he could use visiting his daughter as an excuse to drink with his buddies and go exploring the alien wildlife.

“Dad, what did you find there?” I breathe out, looking at the cubes laid out on my bed.

Dad said I would have access to all the information I needed via my wristlet, didn’t he? A little digging through my message center brings me to an old message of his which gives me access to his catalog. He must have secured this catalog somewhere, and once I’m done here, I’ll be going to Carlos to pull it down off the duonet and keep it on the ship.

I cover my mouth as I look through what’s in here. Plan B isn’t just going to save us; it could be a universe-wide game changer. All forty-two of the seeds have index numbers made up of a series of letters and numbers. I’m not sure if they mean anything specific, but that’s not what’s important.

Take for example Item AH3TB9. Its entry reads, Dark yellow berry. Approximately 8-12mm in diameter. When eaten before bed, 85% of subjects have prescient dreams.

Prescient dreams.

Item NM11TB. Deciduous tree. Grows anywhere from 1m to 20m high. Bark smells of cinnamon. When harvested and ground, it can be added to baked goods. 92% of subjects have gained temporary ability to compose music with no prior training.

I laugh out loud at that one. What a random ability.

Item RLH7T8. Tuber plant with green stalk and pink flower. Tuber is edible. 79% of subjects experienced significant anti-aging symptoms when continually ingested. Use with extreme caution.

This can’t be real, yet I swallow hard at the thought. Did people actually grow younger? Who did Dad test these things on? Is he the only one who knows about this?

He has been looking rather spry lately.

Hmmm.

I scan through the list until I find the ingredient for the Happiest of Hot Sauces. Surprisingly enough, it isn’t a pepper. It’s a flower that carries the ability to create ‘euphoric responses.’ B5RSD2’s entry in the system is longer and more detailed than some others, including notes from Dad about how to soak the flowers, boil them, and extract the liquid to be used in the hot sauce.

Two other plants cataloged in the system have detailed notes from Dad, including another flower that, when ingested, includes a ‘heightened sexual experience.’ Oh great. Thanks for that, Dad. Now I have an awful image in my head.

The second plant he cataloged extensively gives the subject the ability to see at night. That’s an interesting one, too.

Once I’m done scanning the list through twice, I take a deep breath and set aside the box. With everything Dad gave me, I could start a league of superheroes. Everything from telekinesis to heightened empathy to invisibility — even shapeshifting — is listed in here. And if this all came from Rio, then I can only imagine what else is in those jungles.

I tap my feet and rest my head in my hands. Think, think, think. What did Dad want me to do with this?

The money — all the cash Dad made. He made that selling his spiked hot sauces, didn’t he? Wait! Several times over the past few weeks, I’ve heard people talking about black market hot sauces and places to buy them.

Oh. Oh, that’s brilliant!

The box of supernatural abilities, my aquaponics equipment… Yes, yes, it could all come together.

I just need some more ingredients and an investor. I don’t have the capital to start up something like this.

It’s time to sift through my incoming messages again.

Because I know just the person to ask for help.