First Flyght – Chapter 7

The city spaceport buzzes with activity. Ships are docking, vehicles with crates weave through crowds, and passengers wait for commercial flights while others head to the independent terminals to find their own ships or ships they’ve hired. I come to the spaceport at least twice a month to oversee shipments we get from other planets in our system and Californikos. Between manufactured fertilizers, prefab greenhouses and lighting systems, outgoing produce, and incoming new employees, our family does a lot of business here. We have our own dock which we lease yearly. I hope we paid the bill before all this bankruptcy crap happened.

I wave to the people I know at the security checkpoints, grateful none of them seem suspicious of me. One guard smiles and follows along as I walk past.

“Your dock’s been busy today. It’s not often I see two family ships taking up the available slips.” Without looking at the docket, I’m sure he means the Amagi, Aunt Fusako’s first, smaller ship, and now Skylar’s vessel, and the Tenryū, Aunt Fusako’s pleasure cruiser. “Is everyone in town here for your graduation?”

Not slowing down, I turn as I walk. “Graduation’s not for another three weeks!” I smile and wave, distracting him from the fact that I didn’t answer his underlying question.

Why is everyone in town?

To save my ass.

Skylar and I walk through the mall of shops in the waiting area to our access door, and she scans her wristlet at the panel. The door slides open and reveals a teenage boy in ratted clothing, a smear of oil on his cheek.

“Where have you been?” he asks, his deep voice at odds with his boyish frame. He shakes a wrench in Skylar’s direction.

“Getting the captain,” she says, gesturing to me.

“Captain? Since when?” I ask, bristling. We never talked about this!

“Since this morning.” Her smile is evil, and I think she’s secretly enjoying seeing me out of my element. Though I’m known as Ms. Reliable and Dependable around the Kawabata estate, I’m also known as Little Ms. Boring and Predictable to most of my family. Like I told Dad, I’m not adventurous, but they can count on me when the chips are down.

“Captain,” the young man addresses me, straightening his back and lifting his chin, before scanning me from head to toe. I don’t look like a captain.

“Captain Vivian Kawabata, this is Carlos Duarte.”

Carlos extends a hand which I shake before we bow to each other. Bowing is second nature to me. I cannot conduct a greeting without it.

“Please call me Vivian.”

“I’m the resident tech expert,” he says, ushering us inside the door and locking it behind us. The gangway stretches out with the airlock at the end.

“Tech expert? Not ship mechanic?” I did hear him correctly, right?

“No.” He turns around and smacks the wrench into Skylar’s chest. She accepts it with an oomph. “I do not fix machines. How many times do I have to tell you that?”

“The ship needs maintenance, Carlos,” Skylar says, running after him. “And it’s your turn to take care of it!”

I follow them both down the gangway to the airlock and step inside. This airlock leads right into the cargo hold, just opposite the open cargo door. Slots along the wall are mostly empty, meaning we have little to do yet. From my previous times on the ship, I know that the engines and engine room are above and to either side of the cargo hold. Inside, in the belly of the Amagi, the crew galley, common area, and med bay share space in the bottom of the ship, while more cargo could be held in the area above. That second, auxiliary cargo area was also a superb place to play hide and go seek.

I smile at the memory as I follow Skylar and Carlos. It’s been years since I was on this ship, but I still have happy memories of my time here when I was a kid.

The place is terribly musty though. The cargo bay smells like an old man lived here for ten years.

“What’s that smell?” I ask, trailing behind Skylar through the galley. I am kinda hungry. I wonder what we have on board.

“Yes, Skylar. What is that smell?” Carlos, who has clearly had enough of today, asks Skylar.

She sighs. “It’s mold. We just got the Amagi out of space dock for the first time in three years. We left the cargo bay depressurized, but I kept the crew quarters at low air the whole time so maintenance and the upgrade teams could come through easily. There was a water leak in one of the quarters and a bunch of linens got moldy.” She shrugs. “No big deal.”

“No big deal?” Carlos’s face reddens. “It got into the air circulation vents!”

“It’s been professionally cleaned twice.”

I hate to point out to her that if the smell is lingering, that means the mold is too. I hope it’s not toxic.

“And they determined it was safe for us to be in here. So, shoo.” She waves him away. “Go back to speaking to your computers. When will Ai be back online?”

He deflates. Was I this whiny as a teen? “Do I have to turn her back on? It’s nice not having her hit on me all the time.”

“Yes. We can’t leave port without her.”

Carlos storms off in the direction of the bridge.

“What is he talking about? And what’s going on here? I’m the captain? How is that even remotely feasible?”

Skylar doesn’t answer. “Come on. Let me take you to your new home, and we’ll talk.”

Through the galley, past the guest rooms, past areas I was forbidden to enter as a kid because they have ‘delicate’ technology in them, and up the stairs to the two decks of crew quarters. I grow nervous as we approach Aunt Fusako’s old room.

Here was her private space, the only place she had to herself. Though she has four husbands, only two lived aboard ship in the other quarters, and the other two were onboard when they wanted to be. Skylar is her only child that grew up on the ship one-hundred percent. Every other one of my cousins cycled in and out between planets and cruising the stars with their mom.

I remember Aunt Fusako, pregnant, and pacing the halls of this ship. I think one of my cousins was born down in the med bay. Shaking the image from my head, I follow Skylar into the quarters.

“Mom gave me a budget for fixing up this ol’ ship,” Skylar says, sitting on a chair across the quarters. “I spent it on updated engines, a new AI guidance system, and better quarters. What do you think?”

I’m impressed. I remember when this was spartan space, nothing but cold, dark metal and hard edges on everything. Now the room is softer and brighter. To the right is the bathroom with a toilet, a sink, and a pulse shower. A big bed takes up most of the available floor space with a built-in closet opposite it. A small desk is built into the opposite wall with more storage and a pulse washer for clothes. It’s modest but comfortable. If you want to meet with someone, you do it in the galley and common area. This is private space.

“I like it,” I say, crossing to the bed and sitting on its bare mattress. “You did a good job with the place.”

My eyes refuse to focus on anything around me. This is not my room at home. This is not my home. Period. I’m living someone else’s life, aren’t I?

Skylar crosses the room to sit next to me. She takes my hands in hers, and I rest my head on her shoulder.

“I know you’re in shock. This was not supposed to happen.” She takes a deep breath. “None of this was supposed to happen. Do you want to know what I was doing two days ago?”

“What?” A tear rolls down my cheek.

“I was looking at the applications of five other women who wanted to be captain of this ship. And let me tell you, I didn’t like any of them. They were all arrogant, and they all wanted to buy the Amagi out from under me.”

I sniff up and turn to face her. “Why don’t you captain this ship? It’s yours, right?”

“It is, but I don’t want the responsibility of hiring staff, paying them, and deciding on clients. I did that for three years. Mom made me. All I want to do is fly… and meet men.” She winks at me. “Have kids and raise them the way I was raised. Captain? That’s a job for someone else. Someone who is not me.”

“Someone who is me.” My voice is a lot more depressed than I actually feel. What do I feel? Nothing much. My fingers prickle with numbness. “I am the worst person you could have for this job. Like, the worst, Sky.”

“Are you kidding me?” she asks, jumping to her feet. A big smile has returned to her face. “This will be the most awesome year ever!” She lifts both her fists into the air. “I now have a captain I can trust, someone I know will not swindle me out of my own ship. We’ll have more than enough opportunities to travel the Duo Systems, meet tons of people, and make money. Action!” She pumps her fist. “Adventure! Love! Sex!” She presses her hands together in prayer position. “Yes, God, lots of sex.”

A small laugh bubbles up through my tears.

“It’s going to be great. We’re going to find you some consorts, maybe even some husbands. We’re going to visit every corner of every planet we come to, eat exotic foods and drink rare wines. We’re going to find Tomu and kick his ass. We have so much to do. I know it’s going to be the best year of our lives. And we’re getting started right the fuck now.”

Her eyes are starry and wide, and though I’m buoyed by her enthusiasm, I can’t help but think she’s absolutely mad.

Totally insane.

But fuck it.

I’ve got nothing else to do.