by Z D Dean
As Samix started the scan, Zade asked, “How long is this going to take?”
“Should take about four hours.”
“Plenty of time for a story. You wanted to know what kind of crewmember I was. It’s only fair that I learn what kind of captain I’m being led by.”
After checking to see that the sensor was functioning properly, Samix sat back down inside the shack. She knew that it was against Unity protocol for a captain to become too familiar with her crew. Zade, however, wasn’t technically a Unity commissioned crewmember, and thus didn’t meet the fraternization guidelines. After thinking for a while, Samix decided that opening up couldn’t hurt, and might even improve the relationship between the two of them.
“Well, first I think it would help to explain some basics. My species, the Xi’Ga, live to be incredibly old compared to yours. Where a member of your species would be considered old if they reached one 100, my species regularly live to 900 years old. As a reference, the Unity was formed by the Xi’Ga, making Xi’Ga time the standard time for our home world and for the Unity. Our home world, from what I can tell, is almost exactly the same as Earth. Unity time denominations must be very close to those of Earth.
“My story started 200 years ago, when I was just a child. When I was very young, before the Unity was as established as it is today, my parents had decided to move to a planet in the outer reaches of Unity space to make their fortune farming. I don’t remember much about the planet because I was so young, but I have searched through every piece of Unity data on its location and the colony’s establishment. We took a colony ship with 15 other families to get to the planet. Even though intragalactic travel had been perfected, as a poor family, we couldn’t afford a fast ship. The journey took almost nine months, but we eventually reached our new home.
“Following protocol, the families of the new colony disassembled the ship to make a protective wall for the colony. After the wall was completed, each family built a homestead. The crop that we were sent to farm had to grow for five years before it could be harvested, thus the first transport from Unity space wasn’t scheduled to arrive until six years after the colony was scheduled to land. It gave us one year to build the colony, and five to grow the first crop, during which time we were completely on our own.
“The first two years went well, but one night in year three, our colony was visited by a group of slavers. The slave trade in the outer reaches of civilized space flourished because colonies constantly needed more labor. The slavers landed in the middle of the night, and began sweeping through the village killing the men, and rounding up the children and women. The children were to be sold to other colonies as labor, and the women were to be sold into a less appealing profession. We were rounded up in the center of the colony. As a frightened girl, I could only cry and cling to my mother.
“When my mother couldn’t quiet me down, the slavers came by to do it for her. As they approached, she picked me up and started to run away. Just as she separated from the group, they shot her in the back; she was gone before she hit the ground. They grabbed me and put me with the other children. The leader of the slavers came over to see what had happened, and to inform his crew that there weren’t enough supplies to take everyone. After executing the women, the slavers took me and five other small children to their ship. The surviving children were left at the dead colony to fend for themselves.
“Aboard their ship, we were all thrown into a tiny cage in the cargo bay for the flight back to the stage two planets,” Samix trailed off, seeing the confusion on Zade’s face.
“The Unity is broken into three distinct areas,” Samix explained. “The core, stage two, and outer rim. Core planets are in the interior of the Unity and are made up of the original Unity species’ home worlds. Just outside of the core are stage two planets: planets not yet developed enough to be considered core, but more trafficked than the outer rim. These planets were the first to be settled after the formation of the Unity and have regular merchant traffic and regulation. They also regularly benefited from slave labor, as they made most of their money from their crops, but weren’t developed enough to have automation. Beyond the stage two planets is the outer rim. The outer rim consists of newly colonized planets, and due to their remote locations, they rarely have any kind of law or protections.
“We only survived because the crew occasionally took pity on us and threw us their food scraps. During the journey, the slavers decided to attack a merchant ship which was putting out a distress beacon. The slavers docked and boarded the distressed vessel to find that it was actually a Unity military bait ship. All I can remember from that day was the noise. The Unity troopers smashed the slavers, but not before one could try to scuttle the slave ship. The troopers managed to rescue us before the slave ship was destroyed. After they rescued us, they tried to find out where we came from, but none of us was old enough to know the navigational data of our planet.
“The combat ship I was rescued by headed back to the core worlds to resupply. As a last effort to get us to safety, the ship landed at planets whose predominate species matched the children they rescued. They left me for adoption on Xi’Ga. The Unity used our situation as a rally cry to build up the military, and because of the publicity, I was adopted by a wealthy family almost immediately. The family couldn’t have children of their own, so I was the miracle daughter that made them whole. The day I was rescued was the day I decided that I would join the Academe. I wanted to help people like the troopers who helped me.
“The family that took me in was wonderful. They treated me like one of their own and sent me to the best schools. As soon as I became eligible, I joined the Academe, hoping to earn a slot in the trooper program. Because of my entrance exams however, I was given orders to attend the more prestigious command program. The Academe was easy for me. While my classmates were studying or practicing, I researched the outer rim planets trying to find out where I came from. I couldn’t find anything on my home. After I came to terms with never being able to be a trooper, I decided that I wanted to command a combat ship. That dream was crushed like my dreams of becoming a trooper. My high marks earned me an assignment in the exploration corps. The combination of my stellar performance during training and my family’s standing within the Unity earned me this command as my first,” Samix finished, staring at the wall blankly.
“Sorry to hear about your parents,” Zade said, although the condolence seemed empty to him. He reached toward her, and touched her shoulder.
“Thank you, but I think I have come to terms with it,” she replied, glancing at his hand. She slowly reached up and touched the tips of his fingers with hers.
“It explains why you always look so sad when I talk about never being able to get home,” he said, with a small squeeze on her shoulder.
“You see that? Most people on this boat have the personal skills of a rock. No one has ever picked up on what I was feeling, before you that is.”
“You have to admit it’s weird, though,” Zade continued, moving his hand away from her.
“What’s weird?” Samix asked, watching as his hand fell back to his lap.
“We have so much in common. Both unable to get home. Both searching for some kind of meaning in life. Both boned by our respective governments repeatedly. You have to admit that it’s weird that out of all the ships in your fleet, and all of the people on earth, you picked me up.”
“That is kind of weird,” Samix said, a smile creeping across her face as she thought about just how chance the encounter was.
As the two sat in silence waiting for the sensor to complete its scan, Zade saw an alarmed look on Samix’s face. The sensor had output a warning directly to her interface. The sensor was complete with the scan, but at some point, an extremely large lifeform had developed an interest in it. After Samix informed Zade of the situation, he looked down with his thermals, and could see the faintest pink glow of some kind of enormous fish circling below them under the ice.
“Sam,
I think it’s time to go. I would love to add some kind of watery death machine to my list of conquered foes, but you didn’t let me bring my tools.”
Agreeing completely, and blushing slightly at the thought of Zade giving her a nickname, Samix began pulling the sensor in while Zade broke down the shack and loaded up his suit’s carrying rack. With everything in place, Zade waited on Samix to get the sensor out of the water. As the sensor hit the 100-foot mark, the point at which it was a third of the way out of the water, Samix and Zade felt a thud against the ice.
“You know, I have all of the readings, I think I’m just going to leave this for our new friend,” Samix said as she released the line, she was using to tow the sensor to the surface.
“That isn’t the worst idea. Close up the sensor box and throw it on top of the others.”
The trek back to the ship was done quietly to avoid attracting any unwanted attention from the local wildlife. Zade repeatedly looked back with his thermals, but after the team had departed the observation site, he could not see anything under the ice. After hearing the stories during their excursion, the teammates had a newfound respect for one another, and Zade felt more connected to Samix than he had to anyone before. Zade was happy to have visited another planet, even if it was covered in ice and even though nothing had tried to kill him.
Chapter 9
After the two boarded the ship, Samix immediately initiated the orbital protocol. The two chatted as Zade took off the protective suit and stowed it. As he finished securing it in its storage container, Zade could feel the ship lift off. Samix headed to the command deck to release the data drone, and Zade followed, wanting to see how it was done. Once on the command deck, Samix oriented the ship so the drone could be viewed through the windows as it dropped into warp.
Zade watched in silence as Samix downloaded the navigational data for the planet, a habit she had picked up since the incident on Earth. After validating the drone’s destination and reviewing the data it carried, Samix released it. Zade peered into the space surrounding the command deck and could only identify the drone by one orange marker. After the drone oriented itself, it disappeared with a bright purple and blue flash. The flash was so bright that it left an afterimage dancing around Zade’s vision. Samix then started the protocol to move the ship to the last planet of interest.
“Well, we’re done here. Do you want to grab some chow in the galley?” Samix asked as she looked at Zade.
“I could eat.”
The two headed to the galley, where they chatted and ate. Zade learned that the trip would take around 36 hours, time he could use to get to know the crew better. After the two finished eating, both Samix and Zade headed to their respective quarters for showers and sleep. As Zade entered his quarters he started playing one of his favorite songs from his music collection, the day’s events replaying through his head. Samix on the other hand couldn’t stop thinking about Zade and his situation. She now understood that Zade was not the threat that she feared.
After a quick nap, Zade decided to start making the ship his home. The first thing he had to do was talk to Samix about using some of the space in the cargo bay. His goal was to create some kind of weight room or training area he could use to pass the time. Initially, he worried that the equipment might move around while the ship was in flight but Samix ensured him that the ships gravity drives would keep everything in place. After getting the OK from Samix and clearing an area he could use, Zade headed to the fabrication lab and started the fabrication machines on creating workout equipment.
While the fabrication machines worked, Zade headed to the galley to grab a cup of sloop. There he met an extremely talkative Axis. The two talked as Axis finished his meal. When Axis finished, he tossed his tray and headed to his room. He soon emerged carrying a small board, which he explained was a strategy game favored by his family. He quickly explained how the game was played and badgered Zade into playing a round with him. Zade learned that the game was very similar to chess and, as an army officer, felt he would be quite good at it. Axis explained that throughout the trip he couldn’t get any other crewmember to play with him because nobody could beat him at it. Zade would be the first person he played since early in the trip.
The first round, as suspected, was a loss for Zade. He was still learning the game and made multiple rookie mistakes. Dissatisfied with his performance, Zade demanded a rematch; a rematch in which he beat Axis. Impressed that the human could beat him, Axis demanded a rematch. As Axis set up the board for round three, Zade received a notification on his interface saying that the fabrication machines were complete.
“I would love to go another round, but the project I’m working on in the lab just finish. Maybe next time?”
“I can’t just quit after a loss,” Axis protested.
“I can promise you we will play again after I finish my project,” Zade assured Axis. “I enjoyed playing, but I would really like to get more fabrications started.”
The small alien continued to protest, and as Zade left the galley he could still hear Axis demanding a chance to redeem himself. Zade headed to the lab, to find it full of new gym equipment. Zade had instructed the fabrication machines to create varying weights of dumbbells, a large punching bag and rubber mats for the floor. Zade spent the next two hours setting up his gym in the cargo bay. It wasn’t the same as the gyms he had used on post but it was probably the best he was going to get on a spaceship.
The new gym, although small, would be perfect for Zade to pass time and learn how to use his new strength. The first thing he wanted to do was to measure his performance against a known standard. The known standard he lived by his whole life was the army physical fitness test. He was unable to do the run but knew the standards for pushups and sit-ups. In order to max the physical fitness test, Zade would have to do 77 pushups and 82 sit-ups in two minutes. Although he was never truly out of shape, Zade always found it difficult to max his APFT. Zade set the timer in his interface for two minutes and assumed the push-ups position. Once he started the timer, he began knocking out pushups as fast as he could, to his surprise when the timer stopped, he had done 160 pushups. Pleased with himself he reset the timer, stuck his feet under a dumbbell, and began doing sit-ups. Like with the pushups, Zade destroyed the standards doing just over 200 in the allotted two minutes. Just a Zade was finishing up his sit-ups, Axis entered the cargo bay to see what had drawn him away from their game.
“You know, with the nanites, you don’t have to work out to keep your body in top physical condition,” Axis said.
“I know. I enjoy working out to pass time. Plus, the only way I can truly be able to utilize my new strength and modifications from the nanites is to train.”
Axis walk out of the cargo bay, obviously confused. As a scientist and social elite, the idea of physical training was lost on him. Zade, not even winded, sat on the floor and thought about the potential his gym had. The first thing he would work on would be larger weights such as a squat rack and a bench. He didn’t include them initially because he was unsure of how the fabrication machines would complete them. Now, regardless of how well the machines built them, Zade knew he needed the equipment. The only thing missing from the gym was visual and audio motivation. He had the audio he needed with the music Samix had salvage from his iPod. What he needed was posters to put around the gym. The gym was right underneath the second-floor platform of the cargo bay. It gave him about a 40 by 40 area to work out in, and he stacked the dumbbells against the cargo bay wall and hung the punching bag from the stair supports closest to the cargo bay door. There would be plenty of room to include new equipment. Zade headed back into the robotics and fabrication lab through the large rolling door he had used to bring the equipment into the cargo bay. After entering, as he sat down, Zade imagined what a squat rack and bench looked like and sent the images to the large fabrication machine for processing. To the smaller fabrication machine Zade sent specs for the plate weights and bars he would need on the equipmen
t.
As the machines worked, Zade headed back into the cargo bay to do a quick work out. It wasn’t anything extravagant, as the gym was still pretty small, but he did serve its purpose of killing the time it took to fabricate the squat rack and bench. Zade moved the new equipment rack, bench, weights, and bars into the workout room. The new equipment made the gym look complete. Now excited about completing a real workout, Zade headed to his room to change into workout clothes. Samix caught him just before he entered his quarters.
“Axis said he saw you in the cargo bay, and said you seemed agitated. Is everything okay?” She asked.
“Everything is fine. Just finished a workout area and am getting ready the change and try it out. Want to get a quick lift in?”
“You know you don’t…” Samix started but was cut off by Zade.
“I know I don’t have to work out, but I enjoy it and it passes the time.”
“I have some things to do, but I might catch you down there later.”
Samix, now confident Zade wasn’t upset, headed back to the command deck. Zade walked into his room, took off his uniform, and changed to a pair of shorts he had created for sleeping. Now, in gym attire, Zade headed back to his new creation. As he walked towards the cargo bay, Zade sorted through the music in his interface to find the workout mix he had used when deployed. As angry heavy metal started blasting his head, Zade began loading up the squat rack. Leg routines were Zade’s favorite, and as such would be the first workout he did in space. After loading the bar Zade got into position and started his first set. His new nanites improvements meant that Zade had not created enough free weights to challenge himself. Knowing that creating enough free weights to be challenging would use up the ship’s resources, Zade sat on the bench and tried to think up a way to fix the problem. As he sat contemplating his dilemma, Samix walked in. She had changed into athletic shoes, and lime green tank top and a pair of matching green running shorts.
