The Long Black (The Black Chronicles Book 1)

by J. M. Anjewierden

  Seemed silly anyway. It wasn’t like she was going to wear makeup while working on a freighter, but if the last two years had taught Morgan anything it was that life rarely made sense. It made even less sense than Gertrude insisting Morgan wear her nicest dress with sleeves and a knee length skirt, instead of the more work-appropriate coveralls, but Morgan was willing to trust Gertrude knew what she was talking about.

  “Are you ready for this, Morgan?” Gertrude asked, smoothing her own dress nervously.

  “I think so. I mean, I had to do interviews to get my other jobs here. Well, besides the janitor position. That was part of my scholarship.”

  “Yes?” Gertrude turned the word into a question. “It is a bit different for professional jobs as opposed to those part-time gigs. The agents are looking for people to entrust with trillion dollar starships, at least potentially.”

  Morgan looked over at her friend. “Are you ready for this?”

  “Okay, I am worried. I have so much riding on this and not just for me either.”

  “You’ll do great. You had the best grades in our class.”

  Gertrude snorted. “Only because you struggled with the paper assignments. My resume is practically blank, while yours has, what, seven Earth years’ worth of experience?”

  “If you two are done psyching each other up, perhaps you could get a move on. Timeliness is not a factor to be ignored.” How Emily had gotten inside, let alone all the way over to the main bathroom, without either of them noticing was not something Morgan bothered to wonder about. She just sort of did those kinds of things.

  “We’re ready here,” Gertrude said, adding after a moment, “Almost.” Grabbing a small tissue, she gently grabbed Morgan’s chin, wiping a stray bit of lipstick off deftly. “Thank you for delaying your trip back to Albion to watch Haruhi for a few hours.”

  “Oh, that’s a happy side effect, but it isn’t why I stayed after the graduation ceremony.”

  “It isn’t?” Morgan asked, raising one eyebrow.

  “Indeed. I am here so we can celebrate the two of you getting good jobs tonight.”

  “The vote of confidence is appreciated,” Gertrude added. “But we’d better get going or we will be late.”

  ***

  Morgan left her sixth and last interview nearly shaking from a mixture of exhaustion, nerves, and contained anger. Gertrude was waiting for her, having finished her seven interviews a full half hour before.

  “That took a while. It went. . . well?” Gertrude asked. She looked over Morgan and tried not to frown.

  “Not here,” Morgan said in way of reply. “Let’s get back to the house.”

  “We’re not headed there just yet,” Gertrude corrected, “Lady Novan wants to meet us at a new restaurant some acquaintance of hers opened up a few months back. Aloha Snacks I think she called it.”

  “She sure has a lot of acquaintances. What about Haruhi?”

  “Haruhi’s normal sitter got there,” Gertrude checked the time on her uplink, “twenty minutes ago.”

  Morgan frowned and checked her own uplink’s time display.

  “That did take a long time. Well, let’s get over there. I am rather hungry.”

  The pair said nothing as they signaled for a cab and waited for it to arrive. Once they were settled inside and the vehicles computer given the address Gertrude turned to Morgan.

  “Okay, spill it. What has you so rattled?”

  “I blew the interview with Takiyama. I’m sure of it.”

  “Oh, it can’t be that bad. Tell me what happened.”

  “A lot of it was the normal stuff. What was your focus in school, what do you like and dislike in a supervisor, those kind of questions. Then they started asking about my years of experience, and I don’t think they believed me at first.” Morgan took a moment to blow out her breath hard before gulping in a quick breath of air. “I had to tell them about Hillman, but that just let them know I didn’t go to school, and then it got weird.”

  “What do you mean, weird?”

  “They started asking me all kinds of questions about the machines on Hillman, like how old they are, what kind of components, lots of questions. They’ve convinced themselves I only know how to work on old stuff.”

  “That is an odd assumption to make, especially since you just graduated from a school that teaches all the newest systems,” Gertrude pointed out. “Are you sure they took it that way?”

  “Mostly?” Morgan blew out another breath. “One of the three interviewers was really unsettling.”

  “Which one?”

  “The tall lady with the white hair and icy blue eyes.”

  “White? You mean platinum blond?”

  “Sure?”

  “She was in my interview too. She’s a bit intense, true, but that’s not too unusual for a ship captain.”

  “You know who she is?”

  “I’ve heard of her, that’s all. Captain Karen Bogard, of the Fate of Dawn. It’s one of the bigger ships Takiyama Merchant House has. It’s less than twenty years old, though, so I don’t get why she’d be curious about your knowledge of old ships, unless. . .” Gertrude trailed off.

  “What?”

  “You haven’t looked into the ships of any of the companies, right?”

  “I didn’t see the point; I don’t care where I end up as long as it is up there.”

  Morgan gestured inarticulately towards the heavens.

  “For you that makes sense. Me, I worry about how long the ships’ routes are, so I did some checking. TMH has one ship that is positively ancient, the Shining Triumph of Earth.”

  “Of Earth? That’s an odd name for a ship out here. Don’t they make their own ships at Takiyama Station?”

  “There are several shipyards in orbit now, but that wasn’t always the case. The thing is, this ship used to be part of Earth Fleet. Mr. Takiyama himself bought it when it was retired, the first ship he used for intersystem deliveries.”

  “But if he bought it from Earth it’s. . . “ Morgan trailed off.

  “Well over a hundred years old, yeah,” Gertrude finished.

  They were interrupted by the computerized voice of the vehicle.

  “We have arrived at your destination gentle beings,” it said in its faintly feminine voice, “Which passenger’s uplink account is to be charged?”

  “Mine,” Gertrude said quickly, before Morgan could volunteer. Morgan was doing a lot better for money now than she had when they first met, but it was still somewhat tight, something Gertrude knew, having helped Morgan learn how to budget better.

  They exited the vehicle quickly, stepping back so it could take off into the low altitude traffic patterns reserved for automated vehicles, then turned to walk inside.

  “I’ll bet that’s what they want you for,” Gertrude said.

  “Well, at least if you’re right I won’t be working with Captain Creepy.”

  “That’s the spirit, look on the bright side. Now, let’s show the world how confident we are, and go celebrate.”

  ***

  Morgan’s worries about the interviews slowly ebbed as the meal progressed.

  This wasn’t due to anything Gertrude and Emily did, though they did do their best to raise her spirits, along with sampling pretty much every food offered by the restaurant, but because as the afternoon wore into the evening the messages started coming into their uplinks, job offers.

  The smaller companies were the first to message, probably hoping that the more promising candidates would jump at the first offer they received without waiting to see who else was offering, but slowly all of them sent offers to Morgan and Gertrude.

  Except. . . they were nearly to the desserts, and nothing from Takiyama.

  Morgan reminded herself they hadn’t contacted Gertrude either, as she sampled a bit more of the brisket. Still, it was hard not to assume the worst.

  As the first round of samples from the dessert menu arrived Emily caught Morgan fixating on her uplink again.

&
nbsp; “I think that is enough of that. Hand me your device. Yours too Gertrude.”

  “What?” Morgan asked.

  “Give me your uplinks. The chime is more than loud enough to be heard from inside my bag, and staring at them will not make the time go faster.

  Morgan handed it over, but couldn’t help looking at it forlornly as Emily put it in her bag. Gertrude had no such problems, but then again, she wasn’t worried about the last one, being quite happy with two of the other offers.

  “Why so worried about Takiyama, Morgan? You told me yourself you were fine with whatever offers you got. Valeyard Intergalactic has offered you a good salary on a good ship. Four month runs with two months off in-between is not bad at all.”

  “I. . .” Morgan started, but stopped when she realized she didn’t know how to answer the question. Why was she so bothered by the Takiyama interview? Even if had gone badly, what of it? Morgan thought on this for a moment, absently chewing on some expensive cheese she barely tasted.

  “Takiyama is a good outfit, to be sure, but there are others just as good,” Emily opined, pausing to gesture the waiter forward with the first tray of tiny desserts. “If you would be so kind as to get the next set ready, I do believe we will be here for a while yet. If you would, also tell the chef that the Gouda will work best for this dish, in my opinion,” she added for the waiter’s benefit. Amongst the bits and pieces of their conversation Morgan had learned that the owner had traded Emily’s experience with high cuisine in return for the free meal sampling everything on the initial menu.

  “I suppose,” Morgan started, taking a deep breath before continuing, “I don’t like the way she looked down on me. She doesn’t know me, or what I’ve been through.”

  “Condescension does rankle, especially when undeserved,” Emily agreed. “Try this one, Morgan. It is a dark chocolate truffle with white chocolate and strawberries.”

  Morgan eagerly complied, immediately wishing the chocolate was more than a couple bites in size. Gertrude took the opportunity to speak while Morgan was savoring her food.

  “I’ve got six offers to choose from, Lady Novan. What would your advice be?”

  “In your case the pay is less a deciding factor than the child services, but you knew that. I had opportunities to work with Wallen and Sons in my military capacity. On paper they look good, but ever since the ‘Sons’ retired their management has suffered one mishap after another.

  “Valeyard Intergalactic is a great company, but they’re also a young company with young employees. Haruhi would not have many playmates on their small hub station.

  “Garland Forks is a good choice, depending on which ship they would assign you to. The local runs only last weeks at a time, but their specialty shipping line might be gone more than an Earth year, since they go all the way out to the colonies closest to Sol.”

  Gertrude frowned in thought.

  “I didn’t know that about Valeyard. They offered me almost twice what Gailey Incorporated has, though Gailey’s offer was insultingly low. It’s even an officer slot, which makes more sense with what you said. They probably hope I’m mature enough to handle younger crewmen.”

  There was a quiet – but audible – chime from Emily’s bag. All three women stopped and looked at it.

  “And where was Takiyama on your list, Gertrude?” Emily asked.

  “They talked up the schools on Takiyama Station, and its big enough and established enough that there are bound to be lots of kids.”

  Emily fished out the chiming uplink – it was Gertrude’s, not Morgan’s – and looked at the text scrolling across the physical screen.

  “They’re offering you a job as work crew leader on the Daystar Fading. The salary is. . .” Emily took a moment to reread the message, “Quite generous, especially since childcare while you are out is free.”

  “Does it say anything about the shipping route?” Gertrude asked, crossing her fingers.

  “It doesn’t, let me check with. . .” Emily trailed off, imputing some commands into her own uplink manually. “Ten months on, ten off, with a few weeks at the beginning and end in port. That’s in Zion months. The salary is even better than I thought if you only work half the year.”

  Despite the longer year Zion’s months were actually shorter than e-standard – they broke up the five hundred days of Zion’s year into twenty months of twenty-five rather than try and stick to Earth’s twelve months.

  Gertrude’s face fell, her brow knitting in a grimace. “That’s a lot of time to be away from Haru,” she said after a moment.

  “It is, but she’ll be with other children her age, and professionals,” Emily said.

  “It’s a big chunk at once, yeah,” Morgan added, thinking over the other offers, “But look at the others. Four months on, two off. Two weeks on, four days off. You won’t be gone as long, but you will be gone more often.”

  “Morgan makes a good point,” Emily added.

  “Hand me the uplink,” Gertrude said, her hands actually trembling with excitement and nervousness.

  Once Emily had passed it over Gertrude pulled up all the offers with the holographic display. Two she eliminated immediately, leaving five. A third she swiped through with her hand after frowning over it for a moment, dismissing the message from Gailey.

  “Wallen can go, based on what we know,” Gertrude said, to herself as much as either of them, “And I don’t want Haruhi to be lonely.” Valeyard was removed as well. “Garland offered me the old colonies route, so that’s out,” another message dropped, “When you look at it like that, there isn’t much choice, is there?”

  Slowly, making sure everything was transcribing correctly, Gertrude spoke a quick note of acceptance into her Uplink, translated automatically into text. She didn’t quite push the button to send the message.

  “Am I doing the right thing? Ten months,” She emphasized.

  “Take a deep breath and relax,” Morgan said.

  Simultaneously Emily said, “You’ve thought this through. It is the best option.”

  Closing her eyes tight Gertrude mashed her thumb through the send button hovering at the bottom of the holodisplay. She didn’t open her eyes until the ‘message sent’ alert had nearly faded, followed by the holodisplay shutting itself down.

  “I feel a little funny,” Gertrude said, slumping back in her plush chair.

  Emily signaled the waiter over. “More of the dark chocolate strawberries. And a shot of whisky for my friend,” she ordered, gesturing at Gertrude.

  Gertrude drank it in a single gulp, coughing for a moment before taking in three long deep breaths.

  “I’m okay, I’m better now. I can’t change it now, and that makes it easier somehow. Whatever comes, I can deal with it.”

  “I think we should look at Morgan’s options now. It doesn’t appear that Takiyama will be making you an offer after all. Still, twelve of thirteen between you is an amazing accomplishment. Even with the shortages of trained crewmen there are doubtless many of your classmates who are relieved tonight to find themselves with a single offer, and sadly others who got none at all.”

  “Yeah,” Morgan said, more than a little dejected, and not just because the annoying interviewer had rejected her. Finding time to visit Gertrude and Haruhi in person wasn’t going to be easy, whichever choice she went with.

  “Five choices,” Morgan said, gesturing for her own uplink. She put it on the table, pulling up the five options in the holodisplay like Gertrude had.

  “You’d take the one from Wallen or Gailey?” Gertrude asked.

  “Not really, no, so those two we can ignore. That still leaves Sutton Shipping, Rhoades Travelers, and Valeyard.”

  “Sutton,” Emily said slowly, clearly not happy.

  “What?” Gertrude and Morgan said at the same time.

  “The military likes them,” Emily started, but her tone clearly stated that they wouldn’t like the reasons, “They’ll ship to anyone and everyone, including many places the rest of the
companies won’t touch. It makes them a lot of money, but they travel through a lot of dangerous parts of the galaxy.”

  “Why would the military like them?” Gertrude asked.

  “Because we can place spies among the crew that are allowed on a lot of planets we have no diplomatic ties with.”

  “You’d better not take that one,” Gertrude said firmly.

  “I guess that explains why they are offering triple the salary,” Morgan said with a frown. “I had wondered why the recruiter mentioned that most of the staff was male, and that I’d be guaranteed a private room because of it.”

  “Okay, never setting foot near them,” Gertrude said. “Who’s next?”

  “Rhoades and Valeyard.”

  “Your objections to Valeyard won’t make a difference for me,” Morgan said, looking at the two remaining offers side by side.

  “You’d still be younger than any of them,” Gertrude pointed out, “Even officially. That might make things a bit interesting.”

  “That will be true whoever I pick,” Morgan countered.

  “What is Rhoades offering?” Emily asked.

  “Crewman second class, rotating position between radiator maintenance and hydroponics support.”

  Gertrude let out a small laugh.

  “Oh my, they’re offering you that?”

  “What?”

  “Half the time out on the hull of the ship fixing the radiator fins, or near it anyway, the other half making the crew’s waste into fertilizer for the hydroponics bay? What a lovely job.”

  “Oh,” was all Morgan had to say about that.

  “They always try and disguise the crap jobs with fancier names. Well, out here anyway. Somewhere where all the jobs are bad I suppose you don’t need to bother.”

  “It seems then the choice is obvious,” Emily said.

  “Yeah, I guess it is,” Morgan said.

  Gertrude apparently could hear the sadness in Morgan’s voice, asking, “What’s wrong then, honey?”

  “I didn’t want to say anything, but I had hoped to work with you, or at least for the same company.”