Episode 101. Part 2

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21:53 hrs, ships time

They debate what to do next. The options are limited. It's going to be a week before landfall and payday. Meanwhile, we will have the incarcerated crewmen to take care of—meds, food, water and somehow a way they can eliminate waste without making themselves sick. (Rina opines they could just use a spare corner for all she cares. Nika remarks it wouldn't be good for the cargo in the container with them.)

Consensus: Keeping everyone in the dark as to the whereabouts of the crew is logistically untenable. We decide go wake up the Captain and tell him. If the Captain was in on the Bosun's scheme, or so Christian thinks, the board wouldn't have the Bosun's name on it. Rina asks how long it would take to get Josef's opinion on this and Nika says it will take hours before the message makes the round trip. Furthermore, the captives will be waking up any minute now and the passengers likewise will be venturing from their quarters. We had better tell the Captain now.

As a backup plan, we agree to send a report in to Josef Potemkin so as to keep him in the loop. If nothing else, we will have a trail of evidence showing we tried to do the right thing, should it come to trial.

21:55 hrs, ships time

Christian goes belowdecks to check on Maven and Harvey, still locked up in the seed container. They are awake, confused and not a little bit anxious over the current state of affairs. They demand to know what the hell is going on. He fills them in via handcomm.

Christian: It looks like the Bosun was about to commit mutiny and we're not sure—.
Maven: So why are we in here?
Christian: At this point, we're not sure…We're waiting for the Captain to wake up and decide what to do with everyone. Until this point, everyone that was on this ship at the same time working with the Bosun—
Maven: —'Cause you gotta let us out. He's gonna think that we're a part of this if you keep us back here.
Christian: But we don't know you're not a part of it. (Pause) You see our dilemma.
Harvey: This is….What's going on?
Christian: We'll deal with it then. If it takes too long, I promise you'll have food and water. I'm sorry.

Christian cuts his handcomm channel and goes to check on Arden and his patient.

Arden: We need to get him to a hospital. I don't know what happened, but somehow he appears to have had something a bit past a normal allergic reaction. I don't know what it was exactly, but…
Christian: Perhaps he was allergic to chocolate and the—.
Arden: You'd think he'd know not to drink it.
Christian: You'd think. He may not have thought it was real. If it eases your conscience at all, if any, the Bosun was planning on committing mutiny. We found documents and transponder-electronic things that would transfer the ship, seemingly, to his name.

Christian leaves Arden with that information and joins the others to roust the Captain. He's reluctant to leave the crew locked up in a container that may not have enough air to keep them alive for however long it would take for the Captain to wake up on his own. Nika puts the ship on autopilot. Rina locks the bridge door when they leave. Having secured the ship as best as we're able, we go the Captain's quarters to wake him up.


22:17 hrs, ships time

We enter the Captain's quarters via the Bosun's skeleton key. Ivan is snoring away.

Christian: Captain.

He's going to need more than a simple call to wake up.

Rina: We could pour water on his face.
Christian: Hold on. I've dealt with this with clients quite a few times.

Christian draws back and slaps the Captain hard: Slam!

Nika: Jesus!
Christian: Captain…
Rina: And I was just going to pour water on his face. (To Nika, pointing to Christian) And he calls me bloodthirsty.
Christian: (pointing at Ivan) No blood.

Ivan snorts and coughs.

Ivan: Uhnn…What are you doing…? Did we make contact?
Nika: Captain. Captain….We need you… You're hurt, sir
Christian: No, sir. Your contact is dead, sir.
Ivan: (blinking)…What?
Christian: (firmly) It's a very long story and we need you alert and awake. I'm going to go make you…do you have coffee reserves, somewhere hidden, please?
Ivan: Uhn…Yes.

Ivan starts pulling himself together, straightening his uniform into some semblance of order. When everything's settled, we begin.

Christian: Where to start?
Nika: A medium freighter came into the proximity of our vessel—
Ivan: Yes?
Nika: There was no one on it. No one alive, anyway.
Christian: It was dead in the water, so to speak.
Nika: It appeared to be.
Christian: All lights off.
Ivan: Well, we should probably investigate—
Nika: (overriding everyone) In addition, part of the crew—
Ivan: —Of the freighter?
Christian: —No, your—
Nika: (Shut up, Christian) —No. Of our crew. Was getting rather agitated over the fact that we were hving missions they were not getting part of the take for. So. We took it upon ourselves to contain most of them. The Bosun decided he was going to hit the weapons locker and in the process of subduing him, an accident occurred. He is no longer with us.
Christian: Well, parts of him are.
Nika: He is not—.
Christian: —Before you say anything, I think you should look at this.

Christian holds a hand out to Rina and she produces the board. Christian passes it to him.

Ivan: What is that?

Rina explains it to him.

Ivan: (scoffs) Grimes doesn't own a boat.
Christian: No.
Rina: This allows him to own one—.
Nika: Not unless he owns your boat.

Silence.

Nika: Which is where he was heading when we incapacitated the rest of the crew.
Ivan: Where is, currently?
Christian: Currently in the airlock.
Ivan: I should talk to him.
Christian: You're not going to be able to.
Rina: He's achieved room temperature, sir.
Ivan: (putting it together) Grimes tried to stage a mutiny and you stopped him.
Christian: Yes.
Rina: Yes, sir.
Christian: We're not sure who else is in on it.

Nika makes a face, almost, and shuts the hell up. Her loyalty is to the company that hired her, not necessarily the ship and its captain. Harsh, but practical.

Nika: We have not determined the culpability of the rest of the crew.
Ivan: And the passengers are…?
Christian: The passengers are currently in their quarters.
Ivan: Fine. Assemble everyone in the forward lounge. The other mutineers?
Christian: We don't know.
Nika: The engineer seems to be in the clear.
Christian: We weren't sure who was involved, so we took Harvey and Maven—they are in the cargo—and unfortunately, JJ had a bad reaction to the sedative and he's with the doctor. And your mechanic has locked himself in the engine room. We don't know who is involved and until you were able to take charge of the situation, sir, we weren't comfortable risking any lives.

Ivan rises from his bunk.

Ivan: All right. Everyone is incapacitated. Someone else is… the mechanic is in the …?
Christian: Your mechanic is in the engine room. He hasn't done anything to hinder the ship's progress.

Ivan hails the engine room via ships intercom.

Ivan: You. In the engine room. Go to the forward lounge. This is the Captain speaking.
Mechanic: You okay?
Ivan: (snarls) Yes, I'm okay. Get to the forward lounge.
Mechanic: (meekly) Okay.

Ivan eyes the rest of us standing there and points to the forward lounge. We all go.


22:26 hrs, ships time

Once everyone is assembled, Ivan speaks.

Ivan: Some people think because I'm not paying attention to every detail that I do not know what goes on on this ship. That I tolerate insubordination and mutiny. Killing…

He looks at everyone. Rina suppresses a twitch when his eye lands on her and keeps her chin up. As with a junkyard dog, never back down, never show fear, never surrender.

Ivan: …These things are not okay.
Christian: Yes, sir.
Ivan: The next time there is problem…

Ivan walks over to the status board on the wall and hits the controls for the cargo container the crew is in. The lights for the container hatches go red.

Rina and Christian lunge for Ivan's hand, but it's too late. Maven and Harvey are gone.

Christian: (Horrified) Holy Crap!
Rina: Yebani v'rot! ["Holy FUCK!" in Russian (Lit. tr.: Shit in mouth!)—Maer]
Nika: Captain!

Ivan turns and stares us down.

Ivan: I will not tolerate mutiny on my ship.
Nika: We don't know if they were even involved.
Ivan: Next one who tries…

He leaves the threat hanging.

Christian: Aren't we losing valuable cargo right now?
Rina: (angry and shaken) Fuck the cargo!
Christian: I am trying to appeal to—
Ivan: It will come out of crew's pay.
Christian: True. There will be less crew to pay.
Rina: (undertone) Fuck the pay…
Nika: Considering everything else that comes out of the crew's pay…
Ivan: All weapons on table. All keys on table. I have them only now.

Rina sighs and puts her gun on the table. And her extra clip. And her second clip. And her third clip. And though she hates to do it, she gives up the gun Christian discarded on the stairs. She's not telling anyone that she still has her knife. If Ivan wants it, the bastard's gonna have to strip search her for it. Neither does anyone know about the Leatherman in her pocket. Or her slide calipers. Or her 10 mm combo wrench… As long as she has her tools, her wits and her hands, she'll get out of this. She will. She has to.

Nika hasn't moved to surrender her gun as yet.

Ivan: Who has key?

Rina slaps the damned keys on the table next to her gun.

Nika looks at the Captain.

Nika: We are currently on course for Jiang Yin.
Ivan: We will go back to spacecraft.
Nika: You're gonna have to give me a better explanation than that before I turn the ship around.

Ivan gives her one. At the top of his lungs.

Ivan: I have business on spacecraft! Is my ship!

Nika doesn't even blink.

Nika: It's half your brother's ship and your brother hired me. Because you're skimming off the top. So unless you give me a better reason, I'm not turning this ship around. I'm taking it to Jiang Yin.
Ivan: There can be only one Captain on ship.
Nika: I will happily follow your orders until you get us where you're supposed to be. After that, you can get up with your brother.

Ivan glowers but says nothing. Rina and Christian stay quiet, out of the line of fire.

Nika: I have marked where that vessel is sitting. If you and your brother come to terms, I will give you the information, you can go back for it.
Ivan: (with quiet menace) Put weapon on table. If you wish to be mutineer?
Nika: I'm not a mutineer.
Ivan: You get to Jiang Yin, what happens?
Nika: I walk off your boat and go away.
Ivan: (not buying it) Oh, yes. And then what?
Nika: There are always people who need pilots.
Ivan: My family is widespread.
Nika: I couldn't care less. Your brother put me on this vessel to get your ship where it's supposed to go on time. I'm going to get you where you're supposed to be on time, sir.
Ivan: Very good. You will get me where I wish to be. Put your gun on table.

All eyes being on Nika and the Captain, Christian takes the opportunity to slip quietly away to the Bosun's quarters.

Nika gives up her gun.

Nika: I'm not going to mutiny against you. Your brother hired me to look out for you. To get you where you're supposed to be on time.
Ivan: All right.
Nika: You take the rest of that up with him. I'll give you the coordinates where that vessel sits. No one else is going to find it before you get back to it.

Ivan nods and picks up the guns, ceding the argument. Nika hands him her extra clip.

Rina mutters she should just name her gun Yo-yo.

Ivan turns to the ships mechanic.

Ivan: You will be engineer now. If any change in our systems happen, you tell me.

He turns to Nika.

Ivan: If you fly us to Jiang Yin, you will leave boat then.

In other words, she's fired.

Nika: That's between you and your brother.
Ivan: (sourly) Yes. My brother.
Nika: (not really meaning it) Sorry. You're late all the time. Whaddya want from him?
Ivan: You are very close to sharing airlock with Bosun.
Nika: (Cut it out, you're scarin' me…) Oohh…
Ivan: Pilot not Captain of ship. I Captain of ship.
Nika: (mimicking syntax) Can Captain pilot ship?
Ivan: I pilot fine, if necessary.

Nika looks askance.

Ivan: (waving it off) Ship fly itself.

Ivan takes a deep breath and lets out a stream of invective that is as original and thorough as it is loud. Then:

Ivan: Everyone to bunks. To quarters. Except engineer and pilot. Everyone else—.

He waves them to get the hell out. Rina leans in and murmurs to Ivan re: his swearing.

Rina: You forgot govniuk, sir.
Ivan: What?
Rina: Govniuk. [Russian for shithead and reputedly Stalin's favorite—Maer]

Ivan: Yes. That, too. (A beat) Ship on course for Jiang Yin?
Nika: Yes.
Ivan: You take care of body in airlock.
Nika: Yes, sir.
Rina: I'll go help. Since I think I've just been demoted…


22:35 hrs, ships time

Meanwhile, Christian makes it to the Bosun's quarters unhindered and once there, takes the dead man's gun. He shoves it in his sock, since it is now the only free gun on the ship. He pulls his pants leg over the weapon, concealing it. Rina arrives and strips the Bosun's beds of its sheets.

Christian: Why…?
Rina: Shroud.

They're in the middle of wrapping the Bosun when Ivan breaks in via the intercom.

Ivan: That body off ship yet?

Rina growls at the interruption and gives up, ties the sheet ends down tight with double knots and gets to her feet. Once she's safe in the corridor, they seal the airlock and vent the body. Rina crosses herself: head, chest, right shoulder, left. Russian Orthodox, of course.

So long, Grimes.

Over the remainder of the trip, we don't have much opportunity to conspire: Ivan's alcohol consumption goes down and his periods of drunken stupor decrease as a result. He carries on suspiciously—eyeing the food Christian puts in front of him, watching everyone as they go about duties…

You know, suspicious.

Unfortunately, though his drinking has moderated, his temper has not. He's carrying on like a bigger dick than usual, being hung over and in a foul mood over the entire business.

Such is the face he shows to the crew.

To the passengers he shows a different face: giving his apologies; how these days, the crew, you find them and they are scum of the earth, so it is best when you are not eating you confine yourself to your quarters; he has everything under control, the crew is attending to their duties, they will not be harassing you anymore or bother you.

We watch our step, follow his orders and do what we can to stay out of his way, even as we try to prove to him we have nothing to hide and he has nothing to fear. Christian keeps to the galley cooking, or swabs the decks. Rina scrubs toilets and spit polishes the equipment in the engine room. Nika follows orders. We eat our meals in the crew lounge with the Captain, the better for him to keep an eye on us. No talking, keep eating, you have twenty minutes, he says. Rina chokes down the tofu and the protein paste as best she can, aware she's being watched and any refusal on her part will hink the Captain more than he already is. Christian helps her where possible, but there aren't many options available to him in the galley. We get through it.

When the Captain sleeps, he locks down the bridge before turning in, shutting off access to it and his quarters immediately aft.

It's when he sleeps we can get together to plan what we're going to do next.

Christian is keeping tabs on the Captain's pattern of activity and after some observation, he nails it. That night at dinner, he carefully writes in a thin line of sauce on our plates—hidden from the Captain's line of sight by piles of food—N/R's room. 1 AM.


Thursday, 03 June 2518
Nika and Rina's quarters
01:03 hrs, ships time

Christian knocks on the door. Nika lets him in. Door closed, everyone settles on the two bunks available. Christian draws his gun and puts within easy reach.

Nika: (Of the gun) What's that?
Christian: Bosun's gun. In case.
Rina: (grim smile) Awesome.
Nika: (not pleased) You don't think the Captain's pissed off enough?
Christian: I'm at this point wondering if we're going to reach the planet alive.
Nika: We're gonna reach the planet alive.
Rina: And there's any number of places we can stash that gun.
Nika: He might be royally, royally pissed off right now, but the fact of the matter is, we went to him and we in essence saved his cargo. And potentially saved his life, because if the Bosun had taken over, he probably would've just taken the Captain out. So, pissed off or not, we're gonna make it where we're goin'.
Christian: He's also a murderer. Not that we're not that particularly innocent either, except he killed two of them—
Nika: Exactly.
Christian: Except he wasn't doing it directly in self-defense.
Nika: Yeah, sort of.
Christian: They had no choice.
Nika: The only regret I have is not knowing if the other two were even involved with the Bosun. The engineer obviously wasn't. There's no real way to say… So if Potemkin's skimming off the top, his brother doesn't know about that. If the Bosun's skimming behind the Captain and planning to basically kill the guy…
Christian: I wonder if he could pilot the boat…No, it doesn't matter. It's all speculation and it's in the past. You just want to ride it out?
Nika: It's our only option.
Rina: We'll just keep our eyes open.
Nika: My contract, at least, was—
Rina: I mean, look—where are we going to go?
Nika: —to the company. I did sorta promise the owner that—
Rina: —It's not like we can step outside and hitch a ride out of here—.
Nika: —I could follow orders from the Captain. Which, you know, is actually what I did, except for the fact that the Captain wasn't involved in that part. So as of yet, I haven't actually disobeyed any order except for turn around and take us to that vessel.
Christian: Uh-uh. I fairly certain that, not in front of the Captain, to drug the entire crew is disobeying—
Nika: I did not disobey an order.
Christian: —a non-implicit order.
Nika: There's no such thing as an implicit order.
Christian: Anyway. All right. (Pointing at the gun) It's here in case we need it. He's probably not sleeping much. He's still drinking a little—
Nika: I highly recommend you don't hide that in here.
Christian: I—
Nika: Or in the galley. Or in your room.
Christian: What would you have us to do with it? Or let her decide what to do with it, since she likes them so much.

He stares pointedly at Rina. She stares right back.

Rina: (velvet over steel) There are any number of places we could stash it in the public areas where it will be hidden, but we could get to it.
Nika: That would be the only prudent course of action, as far as I'm concerned. Because if the Captain takes it upon himself to decide it's time to search our quarters and make sure we're following orders, he finds that here, he's gonna space the lot of us.
Rina: Exactly.
Christian: (not liking it) True.
Rina: Of course, true.
Christian: I'll put it back in the Bosun's quarters. I'm assuming he's already searched them. And taken any personal effects he can keep them for himself.

The women disagree with that assessment. The bead they've drawn is that now that the Captain's made a sufficient show of manly force, we are all cowed by him and will do what we're supposed to. He had to make an example to us scurvy lot.

Nika: I'm actually sorta fine with the example he's set so far. Aside from the whole, you know…
Christian: Spacing?
Nika: Well, technically he was in the right, Christian.
Christian: I am aware that—.
Nika: Technically he was in the right. We couldn't prove one way or the other whether they were and we had already done all the searching the Captain would've done. So the options are: take the chance they were in fact mutineers—
Christian: Actually, we never searched their quarters. But, anyway….I don't disagree completely and I don't agree completely. The whole situation is—
Nika: —is nothing I'm happy about, mind you—
Christian: —a nasty horrible mess and I agree we probably should just wait until we reach there (pointing rearward, at the derelict). At least he's not going back and exposing us to whatever killed those people, that ship full of people.
Rina: (morosely) Well of course, if this ever comes to trial, we are now accessories to the crime of murdering those two people.
Christian: It won't come to trial because it's just—
Nika: —Even if it came to trial—
Christian: —his word—
Nika: —in space, the Captain's best judgement rules.
Christian: She's right.
Rina: I'm not arguing that. But I also agree with you. That this doesn't sit well with me, either.
Christian: (agreeing) No.
Nika: I didn't say I was happy. I'm just saying that in space the Captain's best judgement rules. That it's highly probable that even if we went to trial for this, the court would find he did what would be required. Because he had no real way to…it's not like we have a real brig to throw them into. We couldn't keep them secure.

Christian picks up the gun.

Christian: The Captain has his own head, right? I say we duct tape this to back of the toilet in the crew head.
Rina: (pained disbelief) Could you think of any more obvious place?
Christian: He has his own bathroom. He doesn't go in there. You got a better place, tell me now.
Nika: If he doesn't go in there, it's probably safe enough….
Rina: Oh, god. Where do I start? There's any number of hatches for access to conduits, electronics—.
Christian: That's why I gave you the gun in the first place. Go.
Nika: Why don't you put it in cold storage
Christian: Because that's the reason I didn't put it in the galley, because I'm the only person who goes in there. And therefore I'm immediately culpable.
Nika: I see.
Rina: It should be someplace any three of us could it if we needed it.
Christian: Or anybody in the crew. Just if they discovered it… Put it somewhere we can get to it easily and go about our purposes.
Rina: Great. I'm figuring there's an atmo vent, about yea-high, put the gun in there, duct tape it so it doesn't rattle, snap the vent back in place.
Nika: Real good.
Christian: Okay.

The gun's a six-shooter. Rina checks to see if it's fully loaded. It is.

Rina: Six shots.
Nika: Here's hoping we don't need 'em.
Christian: Yes.


01: 25 hrs, ships time

Rina makes good on her plan, popping the panel off an atmo vent in the corridor midway between the crew and the passenger lounges, portside and just aft of the heads. She stashes the gun as planned without anyone seeing her do it. She pats the panel for luck and walks away.


Saturday, 05 Jun 2518
Crew lounge
09:03 hrs, ships time

The Captain has us all pursuing tasks that keep us apart, ostensibly to prevent us fomenting another mutiny. He has Rina cleaning out the bilge filters, greasing the ball bearings on the grav rotors, and basically slaving over the machinery. As if telling Rina to go play with the engines and the workings is a problem. Dude, she's on it like white on rice. Arden is closeted with JJ and Christian's busy fulfilling his steward's duties.

Pursuant to those duties, over the next two days Christian works at bringing the Captain subtly to a calmer frame of mind. Christian does this by being a little flattering, using all the lovely little tricks he'd learned growing up as a Companion, trying to get the Captain to the point where he won't be ready for us to act.

After all, Christian relates to us later when we're out from under Potemkin's eye, tense Captains are shoot-y Captains.

Nika: `Shoot-y Captains'?
Rina: (laughs) Oh, I like that. Shoot-y Captains. "Now, don't get all shoot-y, now…".
Christian: Well, other than that I guess we're riding it out. Unless he does something stupid. Other than, you know…his existence.


Bridge of the MakeMake
13:12 hrs, ships time

Nika is alone when a signal comes in while standing bridge duty, a coded message sent directly to the bridge comm. It's from Potemkin Colonial Services HQ. Josef. Nika checks behind her for the Captain, sees the coast is clear, and opens it up. Looking at the time stamp on the message, Nika sees there's now a three-hour SOL delay.

Message: Status report. Send back your situation. Tell me what is going on.

Nika quickly fires off a reply.

Reply: MakeMake on course for Jiang Yin. ETA (gives estimate). Problems encountered en route but resolved. More information on arrival.

Nika opts not to reveal anything about the attempted mutiny, going for discretion over honesty. She hits send, thinking on what will happen on arrival: Big talk of mutiny. Big talk of shooting all of us….It's going to be ugly. Yeah. So much for discretion.


Passenger Lounge
18:35 hrs, ships time

Christian serves the passengers, the Robinson family, their dinner and after a leisurely meal Mr. Robinson approaches Christian to make some inquiries.

Robinson: Does it seem like there's fewer crew members than there used to be?

Great. The man's done a head count. We're humped. Christian keeps his expression guileless.

Robinson: I mean, it's not that big a ship. It's been a couple of days since we've seen that guy from Dyton and I haven't seen the regular pilot…

It's apparent to Christian that Robinson is the parental figure trying to maintain an aura of calm leadership, but the situation is making him unsettled.

Christian: I think that might be a question you'd best ask the Captain, sir.
Robinson: That's probably a good idea. Um, okay. We don't want to cause any trouble.
Christian: I understand.
Robinson: We thought we'd heard gunfire.
Christian: You should mention that to the Captain as well. And perhaps ask what he's done to secure your safety.
Robinson: So…he talked about discipline and all that. Is he suggesting that there's some sort of punitive measures and the crew is confined to quarters or something? It seemed an awful long time—.

Christian is torn. He could direct Robinson on the Captain and thus reduce his chances of letting anything slip, but Robinson's family is bunking in one of the cargo modules….and the Captain has already shown no scruple in venting them.

Faced with revealing the facts as his conscience dictates and playing it smart as his experience demands, he does what any intelligent person would do.

He shaves the truth.

Christian: They are in a place where they won't bother anyone, yes. Quite honestly, sir, I don't think you have much more to worry about. We're only a few days out from your destination.
Robinson: Okay…

Christian knows his job is keeping the passengers happy and content and unafraid. So he stresses to Robinson that if he has any questions, he should take them to the Captain. If he wishes to speak to the Captain, Christian would be happy to arrange it.

(And privately thinks that it would be best if Robinson did this when his family was out for their meal and not sitting-duck targets in their container unit. Which thought he wisely keeps behind his teeth, thank you very much…)

Christian: (concluding) I think you'll find the Captain most approachable during that period.

Robinson seems a little overwhelmed by this but agrees and goes back to his family. When the man is out of sight, Christian risks calling the others immediately for a quick conference.

Christian: I might be a little paranoid here, but I don't think it's the worst thing in the world: Is there a way to make sure that the Captain can't do to the colonists' module what he did to the seed module?
Rina: (getting it) I'm sure I can find a way to fritz that circuit from the inside where he can't see it.
Nika: You've got to be kidding.
Christian: The colonists are suspicious. If the Captain thinks they're a threat to his continued survival—
Rina: —He'll space them.
Christian: He will. With no problems.
Nika: I can see him spacing any one of us, okay? I can't see him spacing innocent colonists.
Christian: Why? They've already paid their fees.
Nika: That's beyond the pale. That's bad business.
Christian: I'm going to let you think about that for a while. This is just a precaution.
Nika: He'd have to explain that [spacing the passengers] when we got where we're going.
Christian: No, because you know what he'd do after he did that to them? He would do it to us.
Nika: (Yeah, right.) And land the ship himself.
Christian: I don't know if he can. I don't know if can't. He could always say—
Rina: He could send out a distress signal and make up any story he liked to whoever picked him up.
Christian: Or send for a shuttle from the planet with a pilot to pick him up.
Nika: (She can't believe this rot) I am trapped with the Paranoid Twins.
Rina: Two heads work better than one.
Christian: Would you rather find out now that we're right, would you rather take that precaution? Or find out later?
Nika: All right…all right—.
Rina: —I'm on it.
Christian: Wait til he falls asleep first. And keep in mind he has the engineer looking for power fluctuations.

Rina thinks fast. She knows that hacking the door circuit in a way that it doesn't show and still give them control over it is long and complex, and doing it without being seen carries a high probability of discovery. In engineering and on the bridge, the status boards for the doors would give her away. OR she could ruin it so the doors cannot open once they're closed, or fix it so they cannot close once they're opened. The best she could hope for would be to damage the controls just enough to warrant constant tinkering in search of a fix, yet not damaging the controls enough that they'd haywire and either vent the occupants or obey a remote command to vent from the bridge or engineering.

Shit. Faking a reactor failure with steam and strobe lights and sirens would be easier than pulling this job off…

She decides to work on the controls from inside the modules. The module power systems are outside the ship's power systems, so the power fluctuations from her tinkering won't register in engineering or on the bridge. She could futz the controls in such a way as to register with the module programming as a malfunction—one that would not endanger the occupants yet activate the failsafe systems, making detaching the module a five-minute process instead of a five-second one. This way, the occupants could still make their way in or out, no matter how twitchy the Captain's finger was on the vent button.

Rina: (to Christian) If nothing else, in five minutes we can run to get the gun and shoot him in the head before he kills those people. Sucks to be him, but those people would be saved.

Or she could just hit him, Rina admits. She's already demonstrated on Grimes how lethal her punches can be. Nika thinks this mighty funny and even Christian can see the humor in it.

Christian: We could have a Russian versus Russian brawl.
Rina: Guy on Girl. Russian versus Russian. Anybody want to take bets?
Christian: No. No, no, I don't want to go on and think about that.

Rina finds a time when she's not actually assigned to a duty that the Captain would know about and enters the module with a story about checking the module portals against the danger of accidental decompression. And then accomplishes her task under their very noses. It takes her about an hour to complete and the Robinsons are happy to let her have at it.

And the Universe smiles on her for once—the Captain didn't notice a thing.

Later, that same evening, Mrs. Robinson buttonholes the Captain. Christian catches up with her en route, hoping to head off a confrontation—he's seen her expression and knows that look.

Christian: Ma'am, is there something you need?
Mrs. Robinson: I just want to talk to the Captain. There's some strange things on this ship. And I want some answers.
Christian: Well, all right.
Mrs. Robinson: My husband's talked to you. You with your ….long hair and your…yes, we all know about that.
Christian: (unperturbed) My long hair. Yes. I don't try to hide it.
Mrs. Robinson: I know. I've seen it.

Christian has already foreseen where this is going and he's way ahead of her. The Robinsons have a teenaged daughter and Christian hadn't missed how the girl has been looking at him…and making transparent excuses to be in the same room with him whenever possible. Yes, he knows where this is going and has taken pains to give the girl no openings whatsoever to make a fool of herself with him.

Convincing her mother of that, however, is another matter entirely.

Joyous.

Mrs. Robinson turns on her heel and leaves Christian in her dust. He follows discreetly to monitor what she tells the Captain. She finds Potemkin and Christian pulls a fade.

He listens in.

Mrs. Robinson: Captain. Don't think we don't know that something's going on on this ship. There are some obvious questions that need to be answered. What has happened to the crew? Why is this journey taking so long?

Since we'd gone two days off course one way and took another two days to get back on course, four days is a noticeable delay.

Ivan: (clears throat) Space travel. Is complicated thing. There are hazards in space that must be navigated around. I assure you everything is fine. Crew is doing what they are supposed to be doing.
Mrs. Robinson: So. I'm not going to get an answer from you? A straight answer? Are they—are they even on the ship, anymore?
Ivan: There is nowhere to leave. You cannot leave ship in space. You would die. So certainly, they did not leave. Not of their own will.

Christian nearly chokes. He's lived all his life amongst people trained to be the ultimate diplomats, the utmost polite and suave and personable people in the Universe. And hearing the Captain now, Christian is just flabbergasted.

Just. Flabbergasted.

Luckily, Mrs. Robinson misses the implications of the Captain's last sentence. Instead she bulls on.

Mrs. Robinson: Be assured that when we get to Jiang Yin we will be alerting the authorities about this.
Ivan: Of course. You are free to do whatever you wish when you leave here. I think flight would be more pleasant for you if you don't think about these things for the next few days. When we get to Jiang Yin, when you see your new home, you will be excited. The children are looking forward to playing in the fresh air…so…I have many things to attend to here, so if you will excuse me, I am sure our steward will—.

Christian shows himself to head off any more disastrous slips the Captain might make.

Ivan: Ah! There you are.
Christian: Yes, Captain.
Ivan: (to Mrs. Robinson) Mr. Edge will be happy to provide you with some amusements. Mr. Edge, if you would escort Mrs. Robinson back to the passenger area.
Christian: Yes, of course, Captain.
Ivan: And in future, bridge area is for crew only.
Christian: Yes, Captain.

Ivan has already forgotten her. Mrs. Robinson isn't quite ready to be fobbed off so easily, however, and bends Christian's ear.

Mrs. Robinson: I've dealt with people like this before. You won't hear the last of this. I've been in space before. I know people who know the Alliance shipways, and the Navy…
Christian: Yes, Ma'am.

Christian gently escorts her to her quarters, thinking as he does so it's time for another strategy session with his fellow crewmen.


Nika and Rina's quarters
23:19 hrs, ships time

Christian knocks quietly on their door.

Tap-tap.

Rina: That better not be a candy-gram.

Christian slips inside. He wastes no time but gets right to it.

Christian: Mrs. Robinson had a little conversation with the Captain today. She's threatened to report him to the authorities. And then later threatened his license.
Rina: For what?
Christian: Well, she and her husband have noticed the sudden lack of crew on the ship.
Rina: What if she reports him to the authorities? Do we care, so long as we're not aboard when it happens?
Christian: In general, honestly no.
Nika: Is there any reason no one's answered her questions?
Christian: I don't know why the Captain hasn't seen fit to answer her questions. That is a good question.
Nika: Assuming you're the first line of defense, why didn't you answer her questions?
Christian: The Captain's job is to answer her questions.
Nika: (Right!) 'Way to pass the money….
Christian: I am still technically under his orders.
Nika: Were you under orders not to tell her anything?
Christian: Was I given orders not to tell her anything?
Rina: (shrugging) What could she do? If you told her, what could she do?
Nika: It depends on what questions she's asking.
Rina: I wouldn't know.
Christian: "Where are the crew?", "Why is the ship taking so long?"
Nika: The trip is taking so long because we had to—
Christian: Hazards of space, blah-blah-blah—
Nika: —take a detour around something. And?
Christian: Hopefully nothing will come of it.
Nika: You couldn't answer that convincingly?
Christian: (A beat)… She said something about my long hair and walked very quickly in the other direction.

Silence.

Rina: For some people it's snakes. For others, it's hair.
Nika: Okay. Whatever.
Christian: Honestly, at this point should it come up again…I don't know. I didn't want to a) alarm them and b) give them more worried and make the Captain upset. Or more cause.
Nika: It's a valid concern…
Christian: It is a valid concern, that they go about asking about how he's a murderer and they are going to report him to the authorities—.
Nika: You could have just told her that some of the crew were confined to their quarters.
Christian: We did tell them they were in a place where they wouldn't bother anyone. (heartfelt) Ever, ever again.

Nika looks at him, incredulous.

Nika: (please tell me you didn't) And you answered her in that particular tone?
Christian: (annoyed) No. You know I know how to deal with people. At the moment, there's not much we can do, either. I recognize when some are so irate that nothing you can say will affect them and they are getting to this point. Hopefully, we will get there soon and this will all end. Pleasantly.
Rina: Couldn't you just slip kortine in his coffee or something?
Nika: (swatting her) Oh, stop.
Rina: Couldn't you slip kortine in my coffee?
Christian: You don't want to know what's in your coffee in the morning. Here's a hint: it's not "coff" and it's not "ee".

Christian stands.

Christian: Well. I'm going back to my quarters.

When he's gone, Rina looks over at Nika.

Rina: Tell you what. I'm making sure that everything of mine is packed and close to me as possible, like a rat leaving a sinking ship.
Nika: So much for signing on with this ship.
Rina: Um-hm.

We reach the Prairie Paradise of Jiang Yin without further incident.



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