Episode 604: Search For Closure, Part Three
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Saturday, 14 Nov 2522
It’s Joshua’s birthday. It’s also a workday for us. Happy Birthday, Joshua. Nika actually has a gift for her XO. It’s a recording of the music she’s been composing and playing in her spare moments and as a gift from the heart, it’s personal. She holds on to it until they’re unobserved to give it to him.
When Nika steps onto the Bridge, she finds Boston in the Captain’s chair and looking rather pleased in it. The Captain’s chair is also the pilot’s chair and dammit, Nika’s the pilot and that chair is hers. She lets it slide, keeping a good face on it. When it’s time for her to pilot us out of here, she can take the chair back. It does, however, drive the point home. She and Joshua corner Rina where they can’t be overheard by Boston and lay down the law. Arden’s there and listens in.
Joshua: Anytime you say anything you need to take a ten-second pause before you say it. And then think about ‘is this something I really want to say?’
Nika: ‘In front of’.
Joshua: In front of the passenger. If you think it’s worth saying at that point, go ahead and say it. Sorta like that thirty-day buying rule.
Arden: Can I say it inside ten seconds?
Joshua: You don’t have to do it at all.
Nika: Yes. (of Joshua’s look) No, yes he does.
Joshua: If you do, you have to come for her. (points to Nika)
Nika: Arden, if you have something to say, you need to say it in private to me. Do not say it to the passenger. For any reason.
Joshua: All I’m saying is this guy is obviously … exacting. He’s exacting and over the next week, he’s going to be very exacting with everything you do.
Nika: And very annoying. So bite your tongue. Arden, please answer only the questions that you are actually asked. Think about your phrasing before you open your mouth. Not everybody needs your unique perspective on the Verse.
Arden: Yes, they do. They just don’t really like it.
Joshua: (to Nika) Well, this is what he paid for. Just like to point it out.
Nika: (sighs) I just oughta turn him loose, shouldn’t I? Actually … never mind. We’re ready to get off the ground. Let’s go.
She releases her crew and mutters to herself that she really should just sic Arden and Rina on Boston as a lesson in crew management. But no. It wouldn’t be civilized.
We lift off Belix and Boston directs Nika to take into high orbit. Once we’re there, Boston plugs in the co-ords for the moon of Puck, off Oberon. It’s only a 10 hour trip and we don’t even have to pulse to get there. And once we’re there, we’ll …
Boston: You have rebreathers on the ship, right? We may need to go outside the ship.
Joshua: We’ve got suits.
Nika: Vac suits.
Boston: (disappointed) Well, I suppose that’ll do.
Nika: (annoyed) It will have to. You didn’t warn me ahead of time that we would need special supplies for this.
Boston: I told you.
Nika: Wearing rebreathers is not standard procedure. I’m sorry.
Boston: It should be. What if you had a fire on board ship? Would you put on a vac suit to fight a fire? Really? Is that would you do?
Joshua: (to Nika) Ten … nine … eight …
Boston: Really? You have fancy corridors on this ship but you don’t have standard safety equipment. I wonder if you’ve even charged your fire extinguishers. Have you?
Nika: (softly) We’re going to Puck, is that true?
Boston: Yes.
Nika: Thank you. (to Joshua at the helm) Set the coordinates for—
Boston: I hope we don’t have a fire on the way over there.
Nika: (smiling daggers at her console) Let’s hope.
Boston: Try to avoid the sun.
Ten … nine … eight … Nika shuts her mouth and just flies the ship. Arden’s manning the sensors and very quickly sends a text to Rina in the engine room.
Arden’s text: I told you so.
Rina’s text: Wasn’t my decision, Arden.
Arden’s text: He is a diplomatic—no, that’s not right … despotic … Captain.
God, it’s going to be a lo-oooonnnnnng trip. En route, Joshua chats up the acting-Captain during the next meal with the crew.
Joshua: So, Mr. Boston. Do you have a profession?
Boston: Retired. Engineer.
Joshua: Ah. Who did you engineer for?
Boston: Iskellian.
Joshua: Ah, we’ve run into a few Iskellian engineers in our day. Some of them were nice, some of them not so much. But I guess that’s the way of the Verse, right? People in general?
Boston: What sort of engineers did you run encounter before?
Joshua tells him about our run-in with Manse and Roger some months back. One specialized in tree resin and another in hydro research.
Boston: Oh, specialists. Who needs them? Sometimes you need someone who can see the whole picture.
Joshua: Sure.
Boston: Most people don’t see the big picture.
Rina: Didn’t your mother ever teach you never to make sweeping statements about things?
Joshua: (to Rina) Okay, ten seconds.
Boston: Why? Are you a specialist of some kind? You seem pretty general, here. You’re banging around on the hull like you thought knew what you were doing? You’re obviously not a sanitary engineer, given what’s going on the other side of those panels, but that’s okay. Have you not heard of anti-rust formula? They have them. It keeps oxidation of your wiring down to a minimum. Which is probably why you had to put those new wires in there, right? Am I right? Rust?
Before Rina can say a word, Joshua jumps in.
Joshua: Yes, I’m sure that’s exactly it—.
Boston: If we had the time, I would help you go through them all but really, it’s just a—
Joshua: Short trip.
Boston: Yes, a short trip. There’s no sense in doing all that wiring. I’m sure it’ll stick together. These Durance classes are pretty tough.
Kiera enters the conversation.
Kiera: Can I offer you some more tofu, sir?
Rina: (acidly) Sure. Here, give him my share.
Joshua: So Mr. Boston, can you tell me anything about what you’re planning to do on Puck. Is there anything we need to be concerned about or to plan for?
Boston: Well, now that we’re on the way, I suppose it’s important for me to open up to the crew. So have a meeting. Call a meeting.
Joshua: Okay. Absolutely. (On the PA) Attention all crew members. Please report to the conference room for a crew meeting. Crew meeting in fifteen minutes.
Kinda silly to announce it over the PA, because since just about everybody’s already in the room, everybody already knows about the meeting. Kiera starts a fresh pot of coffee going in the galley and trots over to the conference room to join the others.
Kiera: What are we meeting about?
Joshua: Mr. Boston wanted to tell us a little about …
Nika: What we’re chartered for.
Joshua: Exactly.
Boston waves the crew in. Come in, come in. He rubs his hands together and starts speaking.
Boston: Why don’t you all sit on that side? I’ve prepared a little presentation.
The holo table comes live and graphics float above its surface. We see a picture of a much younger version of him—thirties or so—with a handsome woman and three young children.
Boston: Obviously this is me. Happier days. And … This is me now, as you can see. Notice any difference?
He makes the picture disappear and another one takes its place—the way he is now, older and aquiline.
Joshua: You look a little older.
Nika: Much tragedy.
Arden: One … two … three …
Boston: I’m older, yes.
Kiera: The family’s gone.
Boston: The family’s gone. Took me some time to find them.
Kiera: They … are away?
Boston: My wife and I are … the word is estranged.
Rina takes a deep breath. Joshua leans over to her and whispers:
Joshua: Twenty seconds.
Boston keeps on talking.
Boston: She said I focused too much time on my work. Guilty as charged. I did. Probably. Not a problem anymore. I’m retired. Semi-voluntarily. And as a result, I now find myself feeling the desire for my family again. Which is where you come in. What more noble a mission can you have than to restore a family to its … sacred … unity?
Joshua: I know. I’m all about family. I believe in family.
Boston: I hope that clears up some of the mystery. Why, for example, I was willing to pay an extraordinary amount for use of this … fine vessel.
Nika: Family is priceless.
Boston: Exactly.
Nika: Now my question to you is, what has Puck to do where we’re going?
Boston: Ah! You’re reading my mind. That’s good, because I don’t like to have to give orders. So you can read my mind for the orders for that one.
Joshua: (off Nika’s look) I know.
The picture changes again to a flag with the logo of the New World Corp. terraforming company. New World Terraformers. It’s all coming back to us now. It’s the same company that terraformed Perdido where we rescued half a dozen stranded miners.
Boston: During our period of estrangement she decided the best course of action was to a) to—(very very softly)—change her name and b) to join terraformers which is a way, I guess a way to … ah, cutting ties as it were. However, with some detective work I tracked them down to this company and to this very mission. (briskly) Now, sad to say, there hasn’t been any response from the terraformers of Puck. Now this may all be due to the Long Quiet. But the other ships that I spoke to here on Beylix seems suggest that there is no radio communication coming from Puck—which, just to let you know, I’ve made peace with the possibility there may be a disappointing end to this story. But. Any other questions?
Silence. Then:
Joshua: So, you did mention the possibility that we might be bringing back, ah … (how to put this?)
Nika: Well, if his family returns with him, there may be household goods that have to go along.
Boston: There you go.
Nika: Mr. Boston—
Boston: Captain Earhart.
Nika: You said that during your—
Boston: You going to read my mind?
Nika: I don’t know.
Boston: What do you think the answer is?
Nika: I haven’t gotten to the question yet.
Boston: Ah! But if you could read my mind, you wouldn’t need to ask the question.
Nika: This is very true. If your wife—
Boston: Give me the answer first and then I’ll try to guess the question.
Nika: (blinks) Oh-kay….
Boston: This’ll be fun.
Nika: The answer is … your children are not there. The question is why would your wife take a job with terraformers and take her children with her?
Boston: Why?
Why indeed? The children in the photo look like they’re four to eight or so. Young.
Nika: Why would your wife take the children to a Blackrock? Would they not be … (how to say it?)
Boston: Safer? Well, by the time she took them there it was, hmm, a few years ago. It’s possible that they would have been a little older.
Nika: How old are your children now?
Boston: I guess the oldest would be … twelve? That much? Thirteen? Somewhere in that neighborhood. And the youngest would be … hmmm … seven or eight. Six. Six, perhaps.
Nika: So you haven’t seen your youngest child since they were very, very small.
Boston: Some would say it’s a tragedy. Yes. That is a tragedy.
Nika: It is a tragedy.
Boston: One should see their children more often.
To hear him say it, it’s as if it’s an intellectual exercise. But the man is earnest. There is genuine feeling there. It’s just expressed a bit … sideways … from the expected.
Nika: Absolutely. Did your wife remarry—
Boston: Well, in sometimes I feel like my ships are my children. Because I take care of them and I gave birth to them. Mentally, like Athena from Zeus’s head. But it’s not the same. A ship can’t love you back like a child can. Or so I’m told.
Yeah. Sideways.
Nika: Were you in the Black for a long time on your vessels? Or were you working in the shipyards?
Boston: I’m not much of a sailor. I spent most of my time on Ares. Working on ship designs and such. But I spent time on the ships. On Ares.
Nika: Certainly.
Boston: I got occasionally tours and such. (shrugs) I don’t really like being in the Black. It isn’t really very safe out here.
Nika: It really isn’t.
Boston: You really don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s diseases that you get out here—
Nika: Did your wife ever remarry?
Boston: I don’t believe so.
Nika: Then why the name change?
Boston: Oh, well, perhaps she didn’t to … Well, as I said. We were estranged. Perhaps she didn’t want me knowing what she was up to. Perhaps she was trying to shield me from knowledge. She’s a kind woman. It seems possible.
Really sideways.
Nika: Not unreasonable.
Boston: I’m not planning on forcing myself on her—as you can see, I’m hardly in a position to do so. (indicates his scrawny self)
Nika: I was simply curious about the matter.
Boston: To be quite honest, I’m expecting to find them dead.
It’s like he’s announcing he expects it to rain tomorrow. Did we mention he’s a little … sideways? When the silence in the room grows long, Kiera takes a little sidestep herself.
Kiera: So what ships did you create and work on, sir?
Boston: Oh, let’s see. There was the X-116. The X-78 AMB. They all had X in their titles. I don’t know if they ever put any of them into productions or not.
Oh, so all his ships were experimental. That speaks of cutting edge. That speaks of genius, even. It would be interesting if any of those ships were put into production. If they weren’t … that quite possibly speaks not of genius but of something else. So that just begs the question: who is Basil Boston and what kind of man is he? And more importantly, just what sort of man did we put in charge? Arden leans in and whispers to Nika as Boston talks on.
Arden: Can you read my mind?
Nika: No.
Arden: I know you can’t read my mind or you would recognize what I’m thinking. You should listen to me more often.
Nika: If I did that we wouldn’t have any jobs.
Arden: That’s not true.
Nika turns her attention to Boston again.
Boston: I was able to locate the pulse beacon for … the five, six pulse beacons of the ships that went on the mission that she was on.
Kiera: So is Puck habitable right now?
Boston: Well, habitable? From what I was able to understand it’s ... hmmm … inhospitable … to human life.
Kiera: Ah.
Boston: But I believe that they have some other life there.
Kiera: Oh.
Boston: So having the respirators would have been a good idea. You really should for safety purposes too. I’d have respirators. But if you have vac suits, vac suits should work. But my hope is that the ship … I mean, they have their own oxygen producing ships so they should be fine. Terraformers frequently work in a non-atmosphere or non-oxygen atmosphere.
Rina: Absolutely.
Kiera: One doesn’t want to be pucked at all on a ship, do they?
Boston: Hmm. So, now that you know the mission I trust there are no further questions?
Nika: None that occur to me at the moment, no, sir.
Boston: Very good. Very good. All right, we should be there … Hmm. A few hours? I’m going to get a little sleep. What time is it?
Nika quotes him the time to the minute: 0900 hrs.
Boston: Hm. That’s another thing I don’t like about the Black. You always have to adjust to the time zone of where you’re going to and you never know what time it’s going to be until you’ve landed.
Joshua: Think of it like an adventure. Of sorts.
Nika: Considering that we’re headed for a blackrock that doesn’t have time zones at the moment, we can remain on—
Boston: Well, it should have a sun.
Nika: We can remain on Beylix time for now.
Boston: I don’t know how successful its attempts to impart proper spin and all that, but I think that’s one reason it’s a blackrock. They may have been unsuccessful. It happens sometimes. It’s really not my specialty.
Nika: We’ll do a little bit of looking as we go.
Boston: All right.
Nika: Have a good nap.
Kiera: Thank you, sir.
He leaves the conference room to take that nap. When the door is safely closed behind him, Kiera starts laughing.
Kiera: We are so pucked.
Nika: I hate you.
Arden: Why won’t you ever listen to me?
Nika: Because if I listened to you we would never have any jobs!
Joshua: That’s not true. I think she’s right on that. Well, we might have had that toy job … but that would have gone bad, too.
Kiera: Yeah, that’s true. (wiping tears) Wind-up soldiers are always the bad thing.
Joshua sobers and looks at Nika.
Joshua: There’s no way—if you’re asking me to do what I think you’re asking. I mean, I could have. The problem is that I’m reasonably certain that he—
Nika: Did she run away from him?
Arden: Wouldn’t you?
Nika: Yes, as a matter of fact. I have concerns we’re taking him to a—well, he doesn’t seem to me to be the violent type …
Joshua: This is not like accessing a computer data base, Nika. It’s … never mind.
Kiera: They can’t be alive because they would have left by now. Surely they’re still not messing with it ten years later.
Joshua: This guy I’m reasonably certain has his own mental model on how things went down.
Nika: I’m sure. Cuz he’s coming across as a man who’s—
Joshua: And I’m pretty sure that if I Read him, I’m going to get. His own mental model on what happened.
Nika: Okay, okay.
Joshua: I can do it if you want.
Arden: What’s going to happen to you if you do it?
Joshua: Nothing. I’m not worried about it.
Nika: No. My issue is he’s coming across to me as a man who’s reached the end of his rope and snapped.
Arden: Just now he’s started to come across as someone who’s snapped?
Joshua: Actually, I don’t think that’s true. I don’t think that he’s—He doesn’t strike me as unusual.
Nika: Unusual doesn’t mean crazy.
Joshua: I don’t think he’s particularly reached the end of his rope.
Nika: (to Arden) You’re unusual.
Arden: And I’m crazy too.
Nika: Don’t have a good response to that.
Arden: Crazy about you.
Joshua: I’m going back to my quarters.
Rina: I’ll go with you.
He leaves. Rina goes with him. Kiera cooes and pinches Arden’s cheek.
Kiera: Awww. How sweet.
Arden: I wanted to give her a good response.
Kiera: (saccharine) You’re so sweet.
Arden: Doesn’t it make you wanna vomit?
Nika: Eww!
Kiera: No. Not at all.
Beglan: Have you changed something in the food?
The rest turn to look at him.
Beglan: You seem different lately. (a beat) So we’re going to go ahead and help this man on his quixotic mission?
Nika: I dunno. You see any problem with doing so?
Beglan: I assume we’re not going to assist him in taking people that don’t wanna go, but—
Nika: No.
Beglan: I’ve got a feeling you’re not going to find any people on Puck.
Nika: You know what? If we don’t, that’s his business.
Kiera: But how will he react if we don’t find anyone?
Nika: He seems to have girded himself for that possibility.
Kiera: Then again, we may get him as another charter for another week.
Nika: Thank you, Mercenary Queen.
Arden: I’m going to go to my bunk and put a pillow over my head and hope we survive this mission. And cry.
And on that happy note, the meeting is adjourned.
Later, the same day:
We arrive and spend some time orbiting it, looking for signs of the colonist settlement. Nika looks up information on Puck in the meanwhile. Puck was declared a failed terraforming stage. It actually managed to almost get through all its terraforming before an error in its matrix ended up producing instability in its crust and forming unusual gasses which made it inhospitable. It is not unheard of, however, that are high risk, low yield. Wildcat missions to get around the stranglehold Corone Mining has on the industries. And there are people who seek out such places to settle on, despite the dangers. It would be possible, just, to make a livable space in a greenhouse dome on Puck, with your own oxygen and hydrogen. That’s assuming that plate instability hasn’t already ruled that out. Still, human beings are tough and have been able to live under harsh conditions. Greenhouse domes and other such ‘hard’ shelters would make it possible.
There’s a chance that people are living on Puck. It’s possible that no contact has been made because their equipment went down and they’d had no way to repair it, hence their radio silence. The ships they took to Puck are the popular Munroes, a Bumblebee class ship, that are meant to last for a one-way journey, land, and then be taken apart to provide start-up shelter. The ships are only a thousand tons and the capacity for such vessels would be at most one or two families. We’re likely looking for a settlement of maybe two dozen people. And if it’s a mining crew, that number could be less. There’s no knowing for sure unless or until we find them.
Six hours later, there’s nothing showing up on the scopes. Boston check in on the bridge.
Boston: Any sign of anything?
Nika: Nothing so far. But we haven’t covered the entire range yet.
Boston: Hm. It’s not a good sign if there’s no energy signals.
Nika: No, sir. It’s not. But don’t give up hope entirely. We’ve still got some to go.
Boston: Do you think it’s wise to hope? Wouldn’t that be—
Nika: What do you have if you don’t have hope?
Boston: Well, if I hope and then I find out that they’re dead, then I’ll just be sadder. Won’t I just be better without hope?
Nika: If you didn’t hope, you wouldn’t be here.
Boston: Well … hm. Wouldn’t I be here? Hm. Perhaps I should see a psychiatrist. That’s what they said to me when they suggested I retire.
Nika: Have you been having problems focusing a little tightly?
Boston: (blinks) What’s that?
Nika: Are you having problems focusing a little tightly?
Boston: That’s a personal issue.
Nika: (carefully) You seem a little bit … (gestures) … stressed a good bit, that’s all.
Boston: Got a lot of doctors on this ship. Plastic surgeon and a—(turns to Arden on sensors)—what did you say your specialty was?
Arden: Surgery.
Boston: Surgery. I thought there was a psychiatrist on board. (to Nika) I don’t feel it’s really your place to ask.
Nika: Certainly not.
Boston: Keep looking. I’ve got you for a week.
Nika: Absolutely.
He leaves and Arden comments once the door closes:
Arden: If he comes up here again and asks if we’ve found anything, I’m saying, “Nope. Dead as a doornail.”
Nika: Arden!
Arden: It’d be funny.
Nika: Would you like that if you were looking for your family and someone told you that?
Arden: No. That’s not the point.
Nika: Yes. For all we know, his family really is dead. (to self) For all I know, he made them up.
We go on searching. We orbit some more. Three hours later, the readings are no different. Boston tells us to keep searching. We set the sensors to scan throughout the night and Joshua offers to stand watch over them. There’s a minor discussion on standing that watch in shifts. Beglan offers to man them for a few hours and Rina follows suit.
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