June was annoyed.
-
June stared at the mirror and sighed. She looked as tired as she felt. The stim levels on her autodoc were running alarmingly low, and she had dialed everything down as far as she could, but the stress was wearing her down. It had taken days until the cooperative had greenlit Marga's plan to erase June from her current employer's systems.
"Won't be clean though." Bjorn had said. "People have active knowledge of you 'cause we tried to buy you out."
June pulled herself away from the mirror and lurched into the meeting room, where Rip pushed a mug of steaming coffee into her hand. She mustered a thankful smile.
"I didn't know that future shaping space discoveries would involve so much paperwork and politics." She said after her first big swig.
"Yeah, you'd think that would be different with the rogues and renegades," Rip pondered, "but bureaucracy is everywhere."
Marga entered with a bowl of popcorn and set it on the table and sat down next to June. The big screen lit up, showing a map of the seven gates and surrounding systems.
"Like every good capitalist conglomerate, your employer has locations near every gate, so attacks need to be synchronized across all locations." A smattering of red dots appeared on the map.
"That'll take more days." June's heart sank.
"Nah." Marga flicked a popcorn into her mouth. "I set up everything immediately. It executed as soon as the auth came in; we're just waiting for the last relay."
All the dots except those around gate seven turned green, and a big countdown with a little more than twenty seconds appeared next to the map.
Silence descended upon the room as everyone stared at the ticking numbers, occasionally pierced by the crunch of popcorn. When the countdown hit zero, the last red dots turned green.
Cheers and popcorn fountains erupted. June sighed with relief, smiled, and stuffed a handful of popcorn in her mouth.
June awoke and felt, for the first time in a long while, rested. She just lay in the darkness savoring the feeling until her stomach growled for a cup of coffee. With a sigh, she abandoned the warm bed and headed for breakfast, with a surprising spring in her step.
"Someone's in a good mood." Marga smiled at her over the rim of her usual, gigantic cereal bowl. "So, have you decided who you wanna be?"
June sat down with a steaming cup and downed half of it before answering.
"No." June sighed. "I can't stay me, but I never wanted to be someone else." She let her head rest on the wall behind her and stared at the ceiling, twirling the cup in her hands.
Marga mumbled affirmatively while chewing thoroughly.
"I won't miss my old life." June pondered. "Which seems sad. The only thing I will miss is my name." She took another sip of coffee. "My parents were botanists and, so I've been told, settled on Juniper after days of debate."
"What were the contenders?" Marga had defeated the last of her muesli and washed it down with some juice.
"Hortensia and Opuntia." June grinned. "Guess I got lucky."
Marga stifled a laugh. "You sure did." She got up and smiled at June. "And you've been stalling long enough. Two more hours, then I will pick a name in honor of your late parents." She put her bowl in the dishwasher and left, holding up two fingers, leaving behind a wide-eyed June.
14/X
-
June awoke and felt, for the first time in a long while, rested. She just lay in the darkness savoring the feeling until her stomach growled for a cup of coffee. With a sigh, she abandoned the warm bed and headed for breakfast, with a surprising spring in her step.
"Someone's in a good mood." Marga smiled at her over the rim of her usual, gigantic cereal bowl. "So, have you decided who you wanna be?"
June sat down with a steaming cup and downed half of it before answering.
"No." June sighed. "I can't stay me, but I never wanted to be someone else." She let her head rest on the wall behind her and stared at the ceiling, twirling the cup in her hands.
Marga mumbled affirmatively while chewing thoroughly.
"I won't miss my old life." June pondered. "Which seems sad. The only thing I will miss is my name." She took another sip of coffee. "My parents were botanists and, so I've been told, settled on Juniper after days of debate."
"What were the contenders?" Marga had defeated the last of her muesli and washed it down with some juice.
"Hortensia and Opuntia." June grinned. "Guess I got lucky."
Marga stifled a laugh. "You sure did." She got up and smiled at June. "And you've been stalling long enough. Two more hours, then I will pick a name in honor of your late parents." She put her bowl in the dishwasher and left, holding up two fingers, leaving behind a wide-eyed June.
14/X
June was no more. Juniper Rose Ortiz had died in a rapid, unplanned disassembly event while departing the space station Theseus IV. Without living family or, more importantly, corporate affiliations, her passing was a mere footnote in the global feed. The only person who truly mourned her sat in the common room of the spaceship Tori and was getting used to a new name.
"Isabella. Isa. Bella. Sabell." The woman formerly known as June was sitting at the big table with her eyes closed and a dissatisfied frown.
"You could always use your middle name, Hortensia." Marga interjected, eliciting a pained groan.
"I'll get used to it." Isa opened her eyes and checked the time. "We should make more tea before the others arrive."
Ten minutes later, as if summoned by the steaming teapot, the rest of the crew poured into the room and took their places around the table. Captain Konrad loaded his tea with his usual three spoons of sugar before speaking.
"As you all know, we're fully loaded and were only waiting for our new deep space navigator, so it is a pleasure to officially welcome the latest member of the crew: Isabella." He gestured towards Isabella, who smiled and nodded. "With the latest updates, we are fairly certain that we won't trigger any automated responses during our departure. We should still keep an eye out just in case a certain ex-supervisor gets too nosy." He took a big swig from his sugary abomination before continuing with a serious face. "We will leave in two days, and this will be a long journey. Get your things in order."
15/X
-
June was no more. Juniper Rose Ortiz had died in a rapid, unplanned disassembly event while departing the space station Theseus IV. Without living family or, more importantly, corporate affiliations, her passing was a mere footnote in the global feed. The only person who truly mourned her sat in the common room of the spaceship Tori and was getting used to a new name.
"Isabella. Isa. Bella. Sabell." The woman formerly known as June was sitting at the big table with her eyes closed and a dissatisfied frown.
"You could always use your middle name, Hortensia." Marga interjected, eliciting a pained groan.
"I'll get used to it." Isa opened her eyes and checked the time. "We should make more tea before the others arrive."
Ten minutes later, as if summoned by the steaming teapot, the rest of the crew poured into the room and took their places around the table. Captain Konrad loaded his tea with his usual three spoons of sugar before speaking.
"As you all know, we're fully loaded and were only waiting for our new deep space navigator, so it is a pleasure to officially welcome the latest member of the crew: Isabella." He gestured towards Isabella, who smiled and nodded. "With the latest updates, we are fairly certain that we won't trigger any automated responses during our departure. We should still keep an eye out just in case a certain ex-supervisor gets too nosy." He took a big swig from his sugary abomination before continuing with a serious face. "We will leave in two days, and this will be a long journey. Get your things in order."
15/X
Isa gasped as the belts on her seat pulled her in tight. "That's not how I remember it." She whispered breathlessly. The whole crew had gathered in the command room and settled into the launch chairs. Screens covering the walls, ceiling, and floor of the room came to life, showing the Tori's surroundings, which made Isa's stomach lurch. "That's sooo not how I remember it."
"Yeah, the Tori's still a gunship at heart." Bjorn noted without taking his eyes off his console. "A little rough when it comes to creature comforts. You can close your eyes and follow on the feed." He grinned. "Ada nearly puked the first time we pulled out of a station."
A balled-up piece of paper bounced off Bjorn's head, who caught it before it touched the ground. "You shut your trap." Ada grumbled.
Captain Konrad was tracking readouts on his console for a moment before nodding at Bjorn. "Fire her up."
Bjorn touched his console, and a powerful shiver ran through the massive hull of the Tori, leaving behind a subtle but steady vibration. "All green." He entered another sequence of commands. A deep metallic thunk reverberated through the ship, and gravity vanished. "Lock's off, we're free."
Slowly at first, the world around the Tori shifted and turned, sending another wave of queasy feelings through Isa. The busy station traffic of smaller shuttles and ships made way for the Tori, like a school of fish parting for a predator. Albeit a toothless and brightly painted predator.
Rip tapped Isa on the shoulder and pushed a paper bag into her hand. "Better safe than sorry," they said with a grin.
"Thanks." Isa closed her eyes and opened a nice, static view on the ship's feed. She watched the Tori slowly making her way through the station's main gate and tracked the station as it shrank away behind them. She opened her eyes again and stared into the void of space.
Now all that stood between them and the discovery of a lifetime were two gate-jumps and a lot of deep space.
What could go wrong?
16/X
-
June was annoyed. The pervasive, low hum of the space station seemed to have seeped into her bones and brain and made her fingertips tingle. She could not wait to leave this archaic rustbucket behind, and to that end she pushed her way through the crowded docking floor with more vigor than required.
Past the popular liners and freighters, the crowd thinned, and June's stress monitor dropped to yellow. As she followed her nav-line towards the smaller docks, the ships grew more varied and the crowd rougher.
"Hey! You! Cheap fare!" A bearded person waved and thumped their fist on the hull of a rickety freighter, which seemed to be made of more welds than panels. June made the universal gesture of refusal, which was answered with the universal response for self-love, and quickened her steps.
She had to catch her breath when she finally found the end of the nav-line. What she could see of the ship in front of her looked martial in form but was decorated with artful graffiti; even the name of the ship was painted in beautiful, curved letters: TORI.
She was interrupted by a comms ping from the ship: «Ah, ya made it.»
A bulkhead released with a heavy thud and swung open, and a person walked down the gangway. They were smaller than June, but maybe twice as wide, with short, salt and pepper hair and a matching, neatly trimmed beard, dressed in formal, brown clothes, reminiscent of a uniform.
"Welcome aboard the Tori, June. I am captain Konrad." The captain said and extended a hand.
1/X
@asmw much appreciated, great stuff! In my head canon, this is fitting right into the Expanse universe (or at least next door
). -
@asmw much appreciated, great stuff! In my head canon, this is fitting right into the Expanse universe (or at least next door
).@floe Thank you!
I should probably get around to reading (or at least watching) The Expanse.
-
Isa gasped as the belts on her seat pulled her in tight. "That's not how I remember it." She whispered breathlessly. The whole crew had gathered in the command room and settled into the launch chairs. Screens covering the walls, ceiling, and floor of the room came to life, showing the Tori's surroundings, which made Isa's stomach lurch. "That's sooo not how I remember it."
"Yeah, the Tori's still a gunship at heart." Bjorn noted without taking his eyes off his console. "A little rough when it comes to creature comforts. You can close your eyes and follow on the feed." He grinned. "Ada nearly puked the first time we pulled out of a station."
A balled-up piece of paper bounced off Bjorn's head, who caught it before it touched the ground. "You shut your trap." Ada grumbled.
Captain Konrad was tracking readouts on his console for a moment before nodding at Bjorn. "Fire her up."
Bjorn touched his console, and a powerful shiver ran through the massive hull of the Tori, leaving behind a subtle but steady vibration. "All green." He entered another sequence of commands. A deep metallic thunk reverberated through the ship, and gravity vanished. "Lock's off, we're free."
Slowly at first, the world around the Tori shifted and turned, sending another wave of queasy feelings through Isa. The busy station traffic of smaller shuttles and ships made way for the Tori, like a school of fish parting for a predator. Albeit a toothless and brightly painted predator.
Rip tapped Isa on the shoulder and pushed a paper bag into her hand. "Better safe than sorry," they said with a grin.
"Thanks." Isa closed her eyes and opened a nice, static view on the ship's feed. She watched the Tori slowly making her way through the station's main gate and tracked the station as it shrank away behind them. She opened her eyes again and stared into the void of space.
Now all that stood between them and the discovery of a lifetime were two gate-jumps and a lot of deep space.
What could go wrong?
16/X
@asmw
Oh noes, she thought the forbidden words! -
@floe Thank you!
I should probably get around to reading (or at least watching) The Expanse.
@asmw highly recommended - and the general vibes match perfectly with your story
-
@asmw
Oh noes, she thought the forbidden words!And now they have to live with the consequences
@kirtai -
@asmw highly recommended - and the general vibes match perfectly with your story
@floe Congratulations! You are now officially an influencer as I have just bought the first book.
-
Isa gasped as the belts on her seat pulled her in tight. "That's not how I remember it." She whispered breathlessly. The whole crew had gathered in the command room and settled into the launch chairs. Screens covering the walls, ceiling, and floor of the room came to life, showing the Tori's surroundings, which made Isa's stomach lurch. "That's sooo not how I remember it."
"Yeah, the Tori's still a gunship at heart." Bjorn noted without taking his eyes off his console. "A little rough when it comes to creature comforts. You can close your eyes and follow on the feed." He grinned. "Ada nearly puked the first time we pulled out of a station."
A balled-up piece of paper bounced off Bjorn's head, who caught it before it touched the ground. "You shut your trap." Ada grumbled.
Captain Konrad was tracking readouts on his console for a moment before nodding at Bjorn. "Fire her up."
Bjorn touched his console, and a powerful shiver ran through the massive hull of the Tori, leaving behind a subtle but steady vibration. "All green." He entered another sequence of commands. A deep metallic thunk reverberated through the ship, and gravity vanished. "Lock's off, we're free."
Slowly at first, the world around the Tori shifted and turned, sending another wave of queasy feelings through Isa. The busy station traffic of smaller shuttles and ships made way for the Tori, like a school of fish parting for a predator. Albeit a toothless and brightly painted predator.
Rip tapped Isa on the shoulder and pushed a paper bag into her hand. "Better safe than sorry," they said with a grin.
"Thanks." Isa closed her eyes and opened a nice, static view on the ship's feed. She watched the Tori slowly making her way through the station's main gate and tracked the station as it shrank away behind them. She opened her eyes again and stared into the void of space.
Now all that stood between them and the discovery of a lifetime were two gate-jumps and a lot of deep space.
What could go wrong?
16/X
Isa watched the ships sensor feed as they approached the gate. The thousands of perimeter buoys indicating the edge of the passage formed a sphere of red lights. Hundreds of ships lay in wait just outside the border for the gate to open, and just inside the sphere hovered an unassuming and somewhat lumpy disk of metal. The gate itself. By now she had seen it open hundreds of times, as sim-caps, sensor feeds, and with her own eyes, but she still got shivers whenever it happened.
The buoys turned yellow in unison, and the space within and beyond the sphere changed. The stars flickered and faded into blackness, just for a fraction of a second, only to be replaced by a different set of stars, a different sphere of yellow lights, and hundreds of new, waiting spaceships.
Together with the new stars, a second metal disk had appeared on the opposite side of the perimeter sphere.
A couple of the yellow lights turned green, and ships began filtering through the folded space in both directions, orderly and calm. The gates were the great equalizer. Few dared misbehave here and lose gate privileges.
The Tori queued up for passage, and Isa pulled up the gate feed. A few ships popped up for inspection, and she began holding her breath and nervously chewing her lip as the GateSec shuttles made their way through the lines of waiting ships.
"Don't worry." Bjorn gave her a reassuring smile and winked. "We bought some good luck charms."
17/X
-
@asmw P.S. is there any way to subscribe to the main thread?
-
@asmw P.S. is there any way to subscribe to the main thread?
@floe I don't know.
Looking into the available filter/notification mechanics of mastodon is somewhere on my todo list.
I've wanted to get notifications for posts with certain tags from subscribed accounts.
-
Isa watched the ships sensor feed as they approached the gate. The thousands of perimeter buoys indicating the edge of the passage formed a sphere of red lights. Hundreds of ships lay in wait just outside the border for the gate to open, and just inside the sphere hovered an unassuming and somewhat lumpy disk of metal. The gate itself. By now she had seen it open hundreds of times, as sim-caps, sensor feeds, and with her own eyes, but she still got shivers whenever it happened.
The buoys turned yellow in unison, and the space within and beyond the sphere changed. The stars flickered and faded into blackness, just for a fraction of a second, only to be replaced by a different set of stars, a different sphere of yellow lights, and hundreds of new, waiting spaceships.
Together with the new stars, a second metal disk had appeared on the opposite side of the perimeter sphere.
A couple of the yellow lights turned green, and ships began filtering through the folded space in both directions, orderly and calm. The gates were the great equalizer. Few dared misbehave here and lose gate privileges.
The Tori queued up for passage, and Isa pulled up the gate feed. A few ships popped up for inspection, and she began holding her breath and nervously chewing her lip as the GateSec shuttles made their way through the lines of waiting ships.
"Don't worry." Bjorn gave her a reassuring smile and winked. "We bought some good luck charms."
17/X
Slowly, the Tori coasted past one of the green-glowing perimeter buoys, across the invisible boundary, and into the gate. Isa tracked the seam, where the skies of 'here' and 'there' touched, where ships from the other side slid into existence from nothing.
"It boggles the mind." Marga whispered, her eyes closed, deeply immersed in the feed.
"It sure does." Isa looked at the large metal disks, now floating on both sides of the sphere, and remembered the hundreds of papers on their function she had read, none of which had produced more than fancy theories. "Literally."
The Tori had passed the half-way point.
Marga opened her eyes and looked at Isa. "Where do you think the new gate leads?"
"I have no idea." Isa shook her head. "Maybe to one of the gates we know, maybe not. But my hope is that with actual, hands-on research, we can find a way to choose the destination. All the research on the seven gates is done with your hands tied behind your back. No one will let you interfere with their new silk road. I can't wait to get my hands on it."
Marga smiled. "Every now and then, when the realization hits what we're actually doing and where we're going, I get shivers down my neck and butterflies in my chest. This is wild."
The Tori floated through the perimeter on the other side and made her way to a parking position.
"And now for the most important part of any epic adventure." Rip sighed. "Waiting."
18/X
-
Slowly, the Tori coasted past one of the green-glowing perimeter buoys, across the invisible boundary, and into the gate. Isa tracked the seam, where the skies of 'here' and 'there' touched, where ships from the other side slid into existence from nothing.
"It boggles the mind." Marga whispered, her eyes closed, deeply immersed in the feed.
"It sure does." Isa looked at the large metal disks, now floating on both sides of the sphere, and remembered the hundreds of papers on their function she had read, none of which had produced more than fancy theories. "Literally."
The Tori had passed the half-way point.
Marga opened her eyes and looked at Isa. "Where do you think the new gate leads?"
"I have no idea." Isa shook her head. "Maybe to one of the gates we know, maybe not. But my hope is that with actual, hands-on research, we can find a way to choose the destination. All the research on the seven gates is done with your hands tied behind your back. No one will let you interfere with their new silk road. I can't wait to get my hands on it."
Marga smiled. "Every now and then, when the realization hits what we're actually doing and where we're going, I get shivers down my neck and butterflies in my chest. This is wild."
The Tori floated through the perimeter on the other side and made her way to a parking position.
"And now for the most important part of any epic adventure." Rip sighed. "Waiting."
18/X
Isa hated waiting. While the others seemed to have no problem with the downtime, she alternated between studying her notebooks and peeking at the timer for when the gate would reopen. Another fifteen hours to go. Bjorn and the captain were deeply engrossed in a game of chess with the occasional outbreak of mild profanities; Marga had vanished in the feeds again; Ada was reading an antique paper book; and Rip had yawned, waved, and vanished. She groaned.
"Just get some sleep." Ada gave her a friendly smile.
"I... I can't." Isa had to stop herself from chewing her lip again. "I'm a little wired."
"Hmm." Ada nodded with a pondering face. "Come." She unclipped from her seat and pushed off, floating gracefully towards the ceiling hatch where she grabbed onto a handrail and looked at Isa expectantly.
Isa hesitated briefly, then followed Ada as she vanished through the ceiling. After a short, but dizzying, zero-g journey through the innards of the Tori, they were floating in one of the top cargo holds. Containers were locked to the floor everywhere, and the ceiling had the smooth, rounded contour of the Tori's upper hull.
Ada entered a few commands on a control panel, and the lights went out, plunging the room into absolute darkness, followed by soft hissing as the hull slowly pulled away, revealing a transparent canopy, with a breathtaking view of outer space. She took Isa's hand and pulled her gently up, until they floated just under the ceiling.
"Pretty." Isa sighed. "But I don't think this'll calm me down."
"I know." Ada pulled an evaporator from her pocket, took a tiny drag, and held it out. "We'll need to work on alternatives, but for now, this should do."
19/X
