Level Up Bitch

by N M Tatum

  Craig descended, and the team followed.

  Motion-activated lights kicked on as they descended. The scent of positively charged air and solvents rushed up to meet them; the smell of machines. Joel sucked in a breath and held it until his foot hit the bottom rung.

  “This is the engine room,” Craig said. The lights illuminated the room, as if part of a timed presentation.

  The room ran almost the entire length of the ship, beginning from the aft and stopping before the bridge. The engine occupied the majority of the aft section. Unlike Sonic’s engine, this one ran clean. It hummed, rather than sounding like someone was beating on it with a wrench. The fumes were filtered out through a direct port that pumped them into the vacuum of space. No oils leaking onto the floor.

  The FTL engine occupied the bow section of the room. Joel had never had the chance to study one up close. He’d read specs online and researched them any way he could without actually seeing one. He felt like he was familiar with them, but seeing it up close was like seeing a picture of the Mona Lisa, and then seeing the real thing hanging in a museum.

  The space in between was mostly empty, aside from fuse boxes and ports on the walls. Joel suddenly realized what that empty space could be.

  “My workshop?” He looked to Reggie, Cody and Sam, a child asking for a puppy.

  They all smiled and nodded.

  Joel sat down on the floor, his legs too weak hold his weight.

  The purchase of something as large as a spaceship is an odd experience. The thing being bought allows one to soar through the stars, to explore distant planets and fight monstrous aliens. Yet, it is paid for with the same currency as a cheeseburger, and in the same manner as signing up for a phone plan, with a few signatures and multiple copies of contracts.

  It didn’t feel as monumental as the guys thought it would. They’d already bought one spaceship. Their first. That had felt like an occasion, like a turning point. They were venturing into unknown territory.

  They signed these papers with their eyes wide open. They knew what they were getting. They knew what owning a ship entailed and what they could expect from the experience. Not to say that it wasn’t an occasion worth celebrating. The Notches ran screaming through the halls of their new ship for a full hour before Craig politely insisted they move it off his showroom floor.

  Cody strapped himself into the navigator’s chair. Reggie and Sam joined him on the bridge for the inaugural flight. Joel stayed in the engine room. He wanted to watch it fire up when the ship was in motion.

  It felt effortless compared to flying Sonic. This ship was maneuvered with subtle motions of Cody’s wrists. Flying Sonic caused him to sweat as he yanked on the yoke.

  They exited the space station and entered open space. Cody put the ship through its paces, testing its thrusters, pitching, diving, rolling. He couldn’t stop smiling. Even when his face started to turn green. He would have thrown the ship into one more barrel roll, but he didn’t want anyone to puke all over the shiny interior. He let the ship drift through open space.

  “And thus concludes the first flight of the…”

  They looked at each other with pursed lips and creased brows.

  Joel arrived on the bridge a moment later, a smile brimming from ear to ear. “That engine is a thing of true beauty. If we ever venture into unregulated space, I might just marry it and produce the first human-machine hybrid creatures.” He froze, sensing a question hanging on the air. “What?”

  “We need to name the ship,” Reggie said.

  “Excalibur,” Joel answered.

  Cody shook his head. “That’s the model name. Too on the nose. There are other Excalibur ships out there. We need something unique.”

  “The Dominator,” Sam said.

  The guys shook their heads.

  She tried again. “The Resolute Guardian.”

  Another no-go.

  “Apocalypse Dawn.”

  The guys looked at the floor.

  “Black Nebula?” Sam clenched her jaw as the guys muttered dissent. “Come on! What’s wrong with those names?”

  “They’re a bit dour,” Reggie said. “Kind of bleak.”

  “We need something on brand,” Joel said.

  Sam tilted her head. “What brand?”

  Joel paced the bridge, gesturing in grand fashion. “Adventure. Cunning. A team that defies all odds through bravery and sheer force of will.”

  “Something video game related,” Cody said.

  “Yes!” Joel pointed at him. “That’s exactly what we need.”

  Sam sighed and sank into her seat.

  As Cody and Joel volleyed ideas, Reggie watched Sam sink deeper. A faraway look came over her, like she was staring off at a place she’d rather be, any place but here. On this ship. That she helped pay for.

  “Guys,” Reggie said.

  They looked at him expectantly. He pointed to Sam. They had an unspoken conversation with raised eyebrows and clenched jaws before Joel and Cody finally understood what Reggie wasn’t saying. This was Sam’s ship just as much as it was theirs. She was an equal part of the team. This was her home.

  Joel sat across from Sam. “I mean, the name should still be super cool and badass. Something totally foreboding. A name that makes our enemies wet themselves. And also all those other things I mentioned when I was being a total jerk.”

  Sam smiled at Joel’s workaround apology. She didn’t want to make it a thing, but she was glad they did. She didn’t have many places she’d ever called home. She hoped this ship would be one. A true home. And to do that, she needed to feel like it was part of her, and she was part of it. A name may seem superficial, but it reflected a lot about the one who gave it.

  Cody’s face suddenly lit up as he shot up from the navigator’s chair. “I’ve got it. The name of our ship.”

  They held their breath.

  “Ragnarok.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  After its initial flight, Cody piloted Ragnarok back to the space station. They had one more bit of business to take care of before they could leave. A sad bit of business.

  Sonic looked like an old dog, face whitened with age, ears, once perky, now drooped to the side. Her coloring had faded. The pitiful look in her eyes, like she knew what was coming. Today was the day she got put down.

  The dealership took him in trade, but didn’t knock anything off the price of Ragnarok. It was more of an added service, a way to attract business. “We’ll take care of your old, busted-ass ship if you buy one from us.”

  They couldn’t resell her. They’d dismantle her. Rip her engine out, melt her down, sell her for parts. It was a fate she didn’t deserve. She deserved to go out in a blaze of glory, cutting down ShimVens, or sailing into a star as a power ballad played in the background.

  Not like this. Not scrapped.

  She had served the Notches well. She’d gotten them off Earth, allowed them to chase their dreams after they thought their dreams were dead. She was their second chance.

  They transferred all of their belongings from Sonic to Ragnarok, which set Peppy into a diabolical fit of excitement. Joel had to quickly quell him before he “reorganized” the new ship.

  It was time to say goodbye. They stood in the hangar bay of the station, silent, staring at Sonic, thinking back on all the great times they’d shared. Then they nodded, wiped away a tear, and left.

  Joel turned back a few times to look at the ship that he’d patched together from scrap so many times. He’d put more blood and sweat into it than anyone. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

  Sam didn’t try to pull him away or urge him to leave. She just stood with him.

  Joel dabbed at his eye, and then said goodbye to Sonic.

  The common room had transformed over the previous week into Cody’s favorite place in the galaxy. He’d wired the bridge to the monitors he’d mounted on the wall alongside the TV. He could now monitor the fuel output, engine stats, navigation, and communications from the couch. He
was still in the process of networking the manual controls to the common room, so he could steer from there if the autopilot functionality went offline, but he was more than pleased with his progress.

  There was nothing that could blunt his high from charting a course, planning the next fuel stop, and watching his favorite streamers at the same time from the comfort of the couch.

  Then a communication came in from Reggie’s parents.

  His mother, Sue, appeared on the monitor. “Reggie? Is that you? I can’t see a darned thing.” She tapped on her camera, making it look like she was trying to stab Cody with her finger. The act made him flinch.

  “Hi, Sue.” Cody sounded like a child.

  Her eyes focused. “Oh. It’s you.”

  “Yeah, it’s me. So…how are you?”

  “Is Reggie nearby?”

  “Yes, absolutely, let me connect you.” He opened the ship-wide general comm. “Reggie, you’ve got a call.”

  “I’ll take it in the cabin,” Reggie answered back.

  Cody patched the call through to the monitor mounted in the guys’ cabin. Ragnarok was equipped with a ship-wide video comm system. Not only could they talk to each other from anywhere on the ship, but they could see each other, too. They weren’t sure how they felt about that yet. Mostly gnawing paranoia.

  Reggie stirred from his nap. They had been drifting off a well-used traffic lane since leaving the dealership, setting up their stuff the way they liked, making modifications, customizing the spaces. Basically making themselves at home. They had also been catching up on some much-needed rest.

  They had enough money left over after buying Ragnarok that they weren’t pressed for jobs. They had time to relax and lay low, and Reggie wanted to take full advantage of that.

  He swung his legs over the edge of his bed and pressed the button on the wall to activate the monitor. His mother looked down on him.

  “Are you still sleeping? What time is it there? Are you sick? You look sick.”

  “Hi, Mom.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Are you getting enough iron? You stayed up all night playing video games again, didn’t you?”

  Reggie stretched and felt the tension seep from his muscles. “No, Mom, I’ve just been busy. Work’s been crazy. But it’s paying off. Look.” He gestured to the room, to everything around him. “We bought a new ship.”

  Sue continued like she hadn’t heard him. “Have you heard what happened to Rachel Munson’s boy? Dreadful. He was arrested. Poor thing. Police say they found a trunk full of—what’s that stuff called that all the kids are doing?—meth. Rachel tells me he was just driving the car, though. Had no idea what was in there. Too bad. He’s such a good boy.”

  Reggie pinched the bridge of his nose in a vain attempt to keep the building stress headache at bay. “He’s not, Mom. Bobby Munson is not a good boy. He’s a drug dealer. He’s been a drug dealer since he was fifteen.”

  Sue shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. His mom runs the church bake sales.”

  Reggie looked up at the ceiling, half hoping it would cave in on him. “What does that even mean?”

  His dad, Larry, budged his way on screen. “Hey there, champ. Wow, is that a new ship? How’d you get a new ship?”

  His enthusiasm breathed new life into Reggie. “It is! We’ve been doing really well for ourselves. The business is taking off. We’ve had some high-profile clients… I think our name is starting to get out there. We’re building a reputation, a brand.”

  “Good job, sport. I’m proud of you and the fellas.”

  Sue budged back into the center of the screen. “Just make sure Cody doesn’t pressure you to do anything you don’t feel comfortable with.”

  Reggie was used to his parents’ frigid attitude toward Cody, but something about that comment felt different. Specific. Before he could ask his mom to clarify, Larry began to speak.

  “So, this new ship, it have more space? Bigger rooms? More rooms?”

  This comment, too, felt heavier than a simple question.

  “It’s a little bit bigger. More efficiently designed, so it makes more out of the space it has. Two bedrooms, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  Larry smiled, though it seemed insincere. “Oh, good. So, do you guys alternate or something, like you did on the old ship? Take turns getting your own room?”

  The real reason for his father’s questions finally registered.

  “Sam is still on the ship. She’s a full-fledged part of the team now. A full partner.”

  His parents couldn’t manage their false sincerity any longer.

  “I don’t like it,” Sue said. “That strange woman on a ship with my Reggie. The look of her… She’s not a nice-looking girl.”

  Larry shrugged. “Well, let’s not resort to pettiness, Susan. She’s a perfectly fine-looking girl. Quite nice, actually. Pretty. Very—”

  “I get it, Lawrence,” Sue snapped. “Kind. I mean kind. She doesn’t look like a kind person. She looks mean. And I know mean when I see it.”

  Reggie recalled the conversation of one minute ago regarding one Bobby Munson, budding drug kingpin.

  “There’s nothing wrong with Sam. She’s very kind. And strong and great at this job. We wouldn’t have this ship without her. We wouldn’t even be alive without her.”

  Sue did not like the sound of that. “What exactly does that mean? Did someone try to hurt you? Give me their parents’ names and numbers.”

  Reggie stood, his shoulders back and chin up, as defiant as he ever got to his parents.

  “Mom, please listen. This job is dangerous. Probably more so than I thought it would be when we first had the idea. But I really like it. And I’m good at it. We’re building something here—me, the guys, and Sam. We couldn’t do it without her. But this business, it’s ours. We’ve put blood and sweat into it. I’ve never done anything like this. I’m proud of it.”

  His parents were silent. They stared at him like they’d never seen him before. His mother blinked, and recognition slowly returned. “Well, if you’re proud, then I’m proud.” She choked up. “My baby’s a man.”

  Reggie’s face burned. He looked at the floor.

  “Maybe you’ll give up those video games now,” she said.

  His face burned for a different reason. He wanted to shout “Never!” but decided it best to let it be.

  His father said nothing else, but Reggie could see it in his old man’s eyes—the pride, but something more than that, too. An acknowledgement. A welcoming. Reggie had stepped over the line that was always moving in a father-son relationship; he was his father’s peer in that moment, a fellow working man.

  They said their goodbyes. Reggie beamed as the screen went black.

  “Everyone to the bridge,” Cody said over the general comm. “We just got a call about a job.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The self-satisfied smile plastered across Cody’s face gave the others immediate pause when they walked onto the bridge. They proceeded as though they were walking into a minefield.

  Reggie almost didn’t want to ask the question. “What’s the job?”

  “Rapoo infestation,” Cody said, calmly, but clearly queuing up for something. He brought the job specs up on the monitor like he was a lawyer slamming evidence down in a courtroom. “At Jasob Corporate Headquarters!”

  Reggie and Joel threw their heads back. “More of this conspiracy shit?” Joel groaned.

  “I know, right?” Cody knew Joel’s frustration was directed at him and not at the fact that the conspirators had struck again, but he decided to roll with it. “Another Layton competitor targeted. Another link in the chain of causality. This is it, guys. This is proof that this is a real thing.”

  Reggie shook his head. “No, this is proof that the Rapoo are nasty, little creatures who like to tear things up. I thought the ShimVens were the conspiracy creatures, anyway.”

  Cody made a big circular motion with his hand. “It’s all connected, man.�
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  “Now you really do sound like a batshit crazy person,” Joel said. “Minus all that nonsense, I know what this really means. It means we get to use our new weapons.” He walked off the bridge, followed by Reggie.

  Sam patted Cody on the shoulder. “I believe you. This is way beyond coincidence now. We’ll keep our eyes open when we’re at Jasob. Something will turn up.”

  He nodded, appreciating the vote of confidence.

  The team rendezvoused in a section of the cargo bay that Joel had dubbed ‘the ready room’. The area was originally meant to function as a storage area, but its potential would have been wasted. Joel hauled all the weapons, including the new Rapoo teeth gear he’d made, into the room and lined the walls with them. There were four lockers, each containing a spacewalk suit.

  Cody had networked in a monitor, so he could brief the team as they prepped for the mission. He fastened his belt with its new dagger holster around his waist while he spoke. “This job is coming straight from Jasob’s top brass. This is their corporate headquarters.” An image of the space station appeared on the monitor. “Not just a waystation or commercial hub—their corporate headquarters. Executive offices, R&D department, buttloads of top secret proprietary info all over the place.”

  The external image of the station changed to a detailed schematic. The floorplan was different from the other stations they’d visited so far. It had one main hub, which contained the offices and administrative brain. Then, branching off from that hub, connected by a single tunnel, were three smaller substations, each housing a different department. R&D occupied one. Housing, another. The third substation was the hangar bay where all incoming and outgoing traffic was routed.