"You do love your ship, and as I was the AI, Peter is not technically wrong assuming that you have a closer attachment to it than normal. But if you think that they will take it alright, the direct approach is fine with me." I couldn't help but tease him.
"Alright Wife, let me take that tray and I will follow you to the mess. Let's get this show on the road.
The Waylay Great Room -Day 337- Mark Driver
The atmosphere in the Great Room was one of anticipation, like holding your breath before making a leap of faith. Jason had been in shortly after me, but unlike his normal routine of sitting and eating with the crew, he took a tray for two back to his quarters. Peter had missed Jason by no more than five minutes. As he sat eating his breakfast, he had an impatient air about him. I wasn't sure if he was anxious to speak with the captain or about seeing our newest additions to the ship.
Gabriel and I quietly spoke about the last book we had both read recently, as Peter sat across from us, picking at the remainder of his food and glancing at the door of the lift to the upper decks every few minutes.
Willow, Echo and Aria came in together as Gabriel and I were finishing up with our meals. Peter was on his feet before they were through the door. "Good morning, ladies." He addressed them, his mood obviously brightening at their arrival.
"Good morning all." Aria chirped out in her usual bright morning tones. How she could be that chipper first thing in the morning always seemed unnatural to me, but it never failed to lighten up Gabe's countenance. "Oh, Willow, this wonderful mountain of a man is the best cook you will ever meet, Gabriel. Gabby this is Willow. You kind of met her last night, when the Doc was doing the not introducing anyone else thing." Aria said, getting in another jab at Peter’s lack of manners, the night before.
"Let me get you something to eat." Gabriel stood and started serving up plates as soon as Aria was done speaking. He had turned a shade or two darker, but I wasn't sure if his blush was from Aria’s description of him or the fact that she used her nickname for him, “Gabby"; he always complained about it after she was out of earshot. Despite his dislike for that nickname, he still hadn't asked her to stop using it after all this time.
"I hope you slept well." Peter finally added to the conversation. It looked as though he was going to have tunnel vision whenever Willow came into a room for the foreseeable future. I decided I was surrounded by teenage hormones, coming from people that were old enough to know better, when Willow glanced away trying to hide her blush, as Aria looked gleefully on.
"I was very comfortable. Thank you. Is Echo's aunt up yet, do you know?" Willow asked, as Gabe put down steaming plates in front of the women. "Thank you Gabriel.”
"Thanks, you know I can get my own. But thanks all the same Gabby.” Aria added.
"No!" was Gabe's knee jerk reaction, to the suggestion of Aria entering his kitchen again. Then he softened his tone. "You know Jason said you weren't allowed in the kitchen after the last time."
"No I haven't seen her or Jason yet this morning, but he should be along shortly. It's not like him to sleep late." Peter said, answering Willow’s question.
"I only forgot to put the lid on one time." Aria whined to herself, in response to Gabe’s comment, as she started in on her meal.
"But we are still finding purple gunk in random places around the ship." I reminded, Aria. Willow raised an eyebrow at my remark.
"Would you like me to hold Echo while you eat?" Gabe asked Willow.
"Oh, I guess so. I haven't had this problem before. I always just took care of myself whenever she didn't need me." She told us as she handed Echo off to him. Echo babbled happily to Gabriel as he very seriously listened and agreed with all of her baby talk.
They made a striking picture. If I was an artist, it would be something I would like to capture. Gabriel's large, dark presence was counterpointed by the lightness of the baby's coloring; much the same way that her innocent vivaciousness was counterpointed by the peaceful wisdom that he exuded.
"'No man knows the value of innocence and integrity but he who has lost them.'" I mumbled to myself. (William Godwin)
"We all help each other out around here. You don't have to do everything on your own anymore." Peter told Willow with a dramatic amount of sincerity.
"Thank you. I will try to remember that, it will probably take me awhile to get used to it though." Willow said modestly.
As Jason and a mostly blue woman, that I assumed was the aunt, came into the galley, a hush fell over the room. All of her visible skin, other than an oval around her eyes, nose, and mouth was blue. It made the blue of her eyes more striking and I couldn't tell how dark her hair was naturally, but it was a halo of blue black curls at the moment. Even the baby seemed to focus on the new arrivals.
"Good morning, everyone," Jason said as he put down the tray he was carrying, on the worktop that divided the workspace of the kitchen from the seating areas of the Great Room. "Seeing as everyone is here, let me make a proper introduction." Jason turned to the blue woman with a warm smile. "I would like to introduce you all to Elliot Singer. She is Echo's aunt, and my wife."
After a moment of stunned silence we all talked over each other at once.
"What!? When!?" came from Peter.
"Really!” exclaimed Aria. “That’s great! Congratulations! We should celebrate!"
"Congrats captain, ma'am." Gabriel said.
"Hello." was Willow's somewhat confused comment.
"It’s nice to meet you, ma'am." I addressed the captain’s wife. Even baby Echo started up her babbling again as if to participate in the conversation.
"First off, most of you have interacted with Ell on a regular basis. She has been the ship's AI from the beginning." This was met with a shocked silence from all of us except for Echo. She seemed quite happy that her aunt was somehow also the AI of the Waylay, if her excited babbling was anything to go by. "She has been my partner from the start. That's not going to change now that she is here physically." Jason added.
"Can I speak to you in private?" Peter asked Jason. Peter seemed to be barely holding his anger and frustration in check.
Jason looked to his wife as if to check in with her first. "I'm fine. I will stay and get to know everyone else," she told him reassuringly. He gestured with his head for his brother to follow him towards the lift. I assumed Jason was taking Peter to the bridge; it may help their conversation if it served to remind Peter of the hierarchy on the Waylay. Ell took a seat at the table next to Gabriel and Echo. "What a happy little girl, she is. Thank you." Ell spoke to Willow.
"She is a treasure." Willow replied.
"If anyone has anything they want to ask, feel free." Ell offered.
"How did you two meet?" Aria jumped in with, first.
"Well we spoke for the first time through the ship's AI. This is the first time we are meeting each other in person." Ell shared.
"Wow! That's so romantic! It sounds like something out of a romance story." Aria gushed. "Wait… You've seen everything all of us have done or said on this ship!" She continued with dawning horror in her voice.
"Because of the cybernetic components that were implanted into me, by Fenix, it is very hard for me not to be aware of things that have an electronic fingerprint. I only look into things that I feel are pertinent though. I understand most people’s need for privacy." Ell tried to reassure us.
"Is that why you don't like doctors?" Willow asked Ell.
"I haven't had any good experiences with them yet. So I try and keep my distance as much as I can. I know that there are good ones; unfortunately all of mine had a focus on making a name for themselves in the scientific field, not in patient care. I understand your father was a good doctor and that Peter has always taken great care of his patients. That doesn't stop me dreading having to be a patient again." Ell shared.
"We all have our own burdens to carry." Gabriel added.
"'It is easy to tell the toiler, how best he can carry his pack, but no one can rate a burden's
weight, until it has been on his back.'" (Ella Wheeler Wilcox) I quoted. “So, to turn this conversation to the practical, how do we address the AI now?" I asked.
"For now just think of it as a com-link to me. I will have to see what Jason wants done with it." Ell answered.
"Are we staying on this ship?" Willow asked.
"Yes. Echo needs a family, and from what I understand it is the safest option for you also. Jason and I have been orbiting each other’s life for years and I think it is past time for us to finally be together."
"Why are you blue?" Aria blurted out. Once Ell started laughing we all couldn't help but join in too, due to the absurdity of this conversation.
The Waylay Bridge -Day 337- Jason Singer
This had been building up for some time. I knew Pete was unhappy with our relationship but not the underlying reason why. I waited for him to start. He was the one that wanted to talk privately, so he could start the talking.
He walked to the viewport and stared out at the stars passing by. At least he wasn't trying to stare me down. It always made him angrier when he did that, since I would outwait him.
"Did you even really want me to join you? Or did you just need a doctor; and the little brother who you left behind happened to be one?" His voice was laced with pain. He had never said anything about me leaving him behind before.
"If I could have taken you with me seven years ago I would have. I don't think either of us would have been happy with how we would have ended up. But, I wouldn't have left you if I had the choice." I didn't even know what kind of work I could have taken with a kid brother in tow all those years ago; there was no way I could have signed on as a bounty hunter, with a Hunter's Guild ship, like I had.
"Maybe you would have then, but we hardly even know each other anymore. I'm just crew on your mercenary ship, not family." Peter declared.
"First off, we are a bounty hunter ship; we only go after people with legal warrants. Mercenaries will do anything for money. They’re no better than pirates. Secondly, this crew is my family. We take care of each other like family is supposed to. You are part of that. Mom taught us how family takes care of each other. If she had lived maybe things would have been different. Dad was different with her. But all of that changed when we lost her. She would have been so happy that you were helping people. She thought that's what we all did in Fenix. I'm glad she never learned the truth.” I took a deep breath, and realized Pete wasn't the only one that had let things build up for too long. I tried to remember the things Ell had said about talking things out in a healthy way. I started at the beginning. "Do you understand why I couldn't stay?" I asked.
"You said that you couldn't do what they wanted you to do anymore." Pete recalled. "I understand needing to be your own person. If I had been in your shoes I never would have lasted as long as you did taking orders like that." Peter admitted.
"I didn't leave because I needed to be my own man. I left because every time I was sent out on a mission, I was becoming less of the man Mom wanted me to be. Fenix is built on a lie. They make people believe that the Service Program will help them find their calling. They lead them to believe that when they offer up their children to it, they are making the universe a better place. The honor they place on serving in the Program, especially the military, the most ancient part, is just to draw more people in. It is all just so that they get more bodies into their war machine. The Sthenos economy is built around the fact that the allegiance of their great military force is for sale to the highest bidder. The highest bidders aren't people who are in trouble. They aren't miners that have a rightful claim on a world that a corporation decides it wants as its own, or the people that decide to rise up and overthrow a tyrant. We were thugs, hired to do the things corporations and governments didn't want to get their hands dirty with. And if they knew you wanted out, they made sure to use you up before you had a chance of leaving. I don't know how many times 'new' recruits would be sent out to the front lines with no training because they had suddenly been transferred from their 'calling' after speaking out against some aspect of the Service Program. I was surrounded by death for profit and the only way out was to go Recreant. The only way I could keep you from being put on the front lines was to cut ties with you." I needed to make him see that I had done what I could to keep him safe.
"I spoke out about things I didn’t agree with. I got a reprimand but I wasn't kicked out of med." Pete had no clue how close he had come.
"Ell changed your transfer to a reprimand. And then she dug up the skeletons from your instructor’s closet, and got him removed so he wouldn't know about the switch. If he had been clean I'm not sure what we would have done. I had been so powerless. Ell saved us both that day." I was starting to feel the drain from this conversation. I hate having to talk about the past. Digging up all of my old wounds and poking around in them was not something I wanted to be doing.
"Why didn't you tell me about Ell in the first place?" I could tell he was feeling as drained as I was. "You have been keeping huge secrets from me." Peter stated.
"I realized we hadn't spoken in years. I wasn't sure who you had become over all of that time. I married Ell to help her get out of the Service Program. In exchange I got this ship and Ell made sure you were protected while you were still in the Service Program. She was only a kid at the time. The last thing I wanted to do was admit to anyone that I had a child bride, even if we hadn’t met in person. So I never told anyone and it became my life. She became my best friend. There hasn't been a day in the last five years that we haven't talked to each other. I didn't want to feel powerless again if I could help it, so I kept her separate. She wasn't ready for us to have more of a relationship before now. I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that she's really here. I love you. You’re my little brother. I’ve watched out for you the best that I could. But cut me some slack, I'm just as messed up and imperfect as the next guy, if not more so." I said.
"So I was right to be worried that you had fallen in love with your ship is what it boils down to, is that what you’re telling me?" I had never been more pleased to hear a teasing tone from Peter in my life.
"Even Ell says I love my ship." I chuckled. I knew that our wounds weren't healed but at least they weren't festering now.
The Waylay Great Room -Day 337- Willow Linn
After Ell explained that the cybernetics implanted in her head made it possible for her to control and manipulate all but the crudest of electronics, she explained that it required her to focus, otherwise it was like music she could hear coming from another room or looking outside as you walked by a window. She told us that if she had to try and focus on a lot of things at once, she could become overloaded. It could physically harm her. The blue was from a medical device that helped her heal and boost her abilities. She must have used a blue embrace countless times in the past, and likely had better control over its functions then most.
I didn't know what the doctors would have implanted in her, but my father had been horrified by the cases he had researched on human modification. He said that the process was not anything a true doctor would put his patient through. Merging human with machine was a long, painful, and dangerous process.
Ell seemed drawn to Echo, but she hadn't asked to hold her. I could see the resemblance between them. Echo had the same blue eyes and dark curls as her aunt. When Ell held the baby's grasping hand she did so in such a way that it brought to mind someone touching a delicate glass figurine; as if Ell was afraid that if she made a false move she would break Echo. She had the same reverence for this small life that her brother had shown. It reassured me that she would want what is best for Echo.
"Was there something that you wanted to do before your circumstances dictated your quarantine with Echo?" Ell asked me.
"I was learning how to be a nurse from my father." I told her. I was a little thrown by the change of the conversation.
"Maybe Peter could continue your training. I understand that you are very close to E
cho, but I don't want you to feel that caring for her is your only option." Ell replied.
"I'm sure the Doc would love to have Willow be his student." Aria added in a gleeful tone. Aria had spent most of our time together the night before talking about how Peter and I would be the perfect couple, and telling me everything she knew about him.
"Once we get fully settled, I will speak to him about resuming my training. It's always good to have more than just one person that is medically trained." I turned the conversation to include the men. "Where are we heading now?" I directed to Mark.
"We are back on the trail of our latest bounty. We should be landing on Shangri-La in a few days." He answered. Aria had explained the bounty operation to me the night before.
"So Jason, Aria, and you will attempt to locate and apprehend the bounty when we get there?" I asked to clarify.
Mark answered, "Yes. Peter and Gabriel normally stay with the ship to make sure we are ready to leave as soon as possible. We get our ship leave after we drop off the bounty. Jason always tries to make sure our time off is somewhere decent. 'There is precious little hope to be got out of whatever keeps us industrious, but there is a chance for us whenever we cease work and become stargazers.'" (H.M. Tomlinson) Aria had told me about Mark's quotes. They are something that I will enjoy looking out for.
"What do you do to keep yourself busy while they are off chasing down their bounty?" I asked Gabriel.
"I keep an eye on the ship's security on a planet like Shangri-La. If we don't need the extra security then I do my normal kitchen duties." Gabriel replied.
"What does Peter do?" I asked the table at large.
"He mostly prepares the medical suite in case we run into any trouble." Aria volunteered.
"Maybe we can use that time to sort through some of the crates in the hold of your ship." Ell suggested to me.
Alpha Dawn: Book one of the Teragene Chronicles Page 6
