One morning on a beautiful, clear, sunny summer day in the year 2134. A man named Wash stirs awake in his bed, as the trumpets of the national anthem blare out of his alarm clock. He tiredly slaps it on its head and the trumpets are finally silenced, but then it soon tumbles onto the carpeted floor. Wash groans, dragging his hand over his face like a waterfall, as he drags himself out of bed then kneels down to pick up the alarm clock. He places it back on his nightstand, adjusting it back and forth while squinting his eyes, trying to get the placement just perfect. He then pulls open his drawer and extends his tape measure. Exactly 5 inches from each side of the night stand. “Perfect.” He whispers to himself before returning it to the drawer methodically.
Then Wash does his short 5 minute stretch routine. Grunting as he releases his grogginess and spins his arms. He then waddles through his futuristic yet old styled living quarters, to the kitchen, preparing himself a packet of instant coffee. While sipping it, he scrolls through his smart phone looking through emails. Then he opens his planner application, and remembers he has a big day today. Today is the morning he boards and sets off as captain of his spaceship, the 9th Amendment. One of the 12 biggest ships for the task of transporting and exploring. The 1st Amendment is the largest and highest ranking spaceship, with the 12th Amendment being the lowest. Wash them leaned against the wall, thinking to himself what this whole thing was about and how it started. This whole space exploration program to explore and colonize the western sector of the galaxy called Manifest Destiny, America’s second western expansion, has been the biggest news the past decade on Earth. Ever since The Founding Fathers company became the world’s leading space exploring and resource gathering company, they far surpassed even NASA in size, after America became the world superpower of 99% of all nations. NASA is but a faint memory now, something to see in the history books, ever since the program was ended in the 2040s due to the political turmoil and civil unrest of that time period, The Great Fracture that divided the country in many factions between the 2040s and the 2080s, some said it was like the civil war if it was as bad as the great depression caused by many variables. But in its place emerged The Pursuit of Happiness space program from The Founding Fathers company in the 2090s.
Wash after finishing his coffee, chomps down two slices of toast before grabbing some clothes from his closet and entering the bathroom. He changes out of his pajamas and into his neat and collected black captain uniform. He makes sure not a wrinkle or speck is out of place, as he tightens and straightens out his purple cravat. He rinses his face with a handlebar mustache and mutton chops. Then he combs back and gels his dark brown hair with a few strands of white hair in it, while staring into his dark brown eyes in the mirror. He then takes a deep breath, bracing himself for the day ahead.
Then Wash exited the front door of his quarters, walking down several metal hallways with fluorescent lights in the ceiling. Then he arrived on a high platform overlooking the grand open floor landing dock. It’s like an airfield with people and machines roaming about, transporting and performing maintenance. And the outside of the airfield, is surrounded by the sun scorched beige grass of summer.
Wash leaned on the railing, while watching the gigantic side of his spaceship he captains, the 9th Amendment. It has a combination of white and black paneling on the exterior, similar to a space shuttle, which gleamed brilliantly in the early golden morning light. He’s happy that he joined the space career program, The Pursuit of Happiness. He was finally going out into space again, the grand unknown, something he loved and was eager to return to it.
Then, to his dismay, his annoying younger brother Thomas arrived. With his brown windswept hair, sparkling brown eyes, and his clean shaven face that made him look more like a child than a man. All framed by his orange cravat he wore on his black captain uniform that made him look more like a boy scout than a captain. Wash then let out a groan as Thomas eagerly walked over to him with a mischievous grin.
“Hey Wash, checking out the amber waves of grain today?” Thomas cheekily chuckled while pointing to the beige grass bordering the airfield.
“Just when I thought my morning was good.” Wash rolled his eyes.
“Aw, I’m not that bad. Hey, I see that smile there. I know you thought it was funny, don’t try to hide it.” He smirked while pointing to Wash’s cracking smile. Though Wash turned his face away from Thomas while hiding it behind his hand.
“Fine, you got me.”
“I knew it. Deep down you’re not so Mr. Stoic Tough Guy.”
“Shut it.”
“Oh, you said that to a captain? How unprofessional.” Thomas mockingly acted offended. His playfulness always got on Wash’s nerves.
“I hate that you're a captain too, you're a slacker. I don’t know what’s worse, your laidback work ethic, or that somehow everything works out for you in the end. It’s infuriating. But, I outrank you, and we’re not on duty right now. I'm the captain of the 9th Amendment. And you're the captain of the 10th Amendment. Let’s hope that never changes.”
“Ah, you’re such a rule stickler. A grumpy old man even though you’re 35. You know, you should learn to relax sometime. Maybe your crew would better appreciate you having a little more charisma. But you know I’m already coming for your title, or better yet, I will surpass you! I’ll become captain of the 8th Amendment, just you wait!”
“As if that will ever happen. The only scenario that would occur is if the higher ups in The Pursuit of Happiness are corrupt. Then I’ll use a bot to flood them with as many complaint emails as possible.” Wash smiled.
“Wash, your childishness never gets old. Promise me you won’t change.” Thomas laughed.
“I’ll never change, not for you, but with a work approach like that-” Then suddenly Wash’s smartphone buzzed. He pulled out and checked the notification. “Oh no, we have 10 minutes before it leaves. Quick, we need to race down to our ships.”
“Last one there is a rotten egg?”
“Hehe, like always.” Wash smirked. They then raced down the flights of metal grate stairs. Wash, took a steady yet hasty pace. While Thomas just jumped down the stairs, while giggling. This risky and childish behavior forced Wash to roll his eyes. Then with both of them panting, Thomas more so than Wash. They stood in formation opposite of each other just in time with their respective crews behind them. The other captains and crews of the other Amendments stood next to them.
Then a robot dog called a Rovo, that looked more like a velociraptor, walked up onto the center stage. Hence the v in Rovo. Wash then remembered the tale of its creation, that the robot looks somewhat like a velociraptor solely because the designer thought it was cool. Which it undoubtedly is. A velociraptor video call robot. A projector screen rolled down on the stage as the Rovo deployed its projector and shone it onto the screen. It wirelessly hooked up to the speakers as a video call was displayed to all the captains and crews of the Amendments.
“Greetings Space Patriots. This is General Ben speaking. Today we are ready to launch from the airfield Amendments 9, 10, and 11. The rest are in space already on missions, with 12 being worked on for repairs. Your mission today, patriots, is to quell feuds, disputes, and rebellions between alien species on distant planets in the western sector. You will be transporting highly experienced mediators and negotiators from the peace creating organization, The Tea Party, to settle their matters between themselves with justice, fairness, mercy, and forgiveness. We don’t need more bloodshed than there already has to be. Your specific planets and objectives will be uploaded to your devices, both crewmates and captains alike. That is all. In God we trust.”
We then all chanted “In God we trust.” back to the general, it was a regular tradition from the patriotic restoration in the 2080s. Then the mission briefing ended as the projector turned off and the screen rolled back up on the stage. As we each ordered our crewmate to prepare for the voyage and focused on loading the last of the supplies. Wash and Thomas checked their smartphones for their assigned planet and mission. Wash was assigned planet New New York and Thomas was assigned planet New New Jersey. In New New York, one side of the alien species reportedly is grinding their enemies of the same species and turning them into clearly hot dogs to eat as a form of dominance and intimidation, effectively committing cannibalism. And in New New Jersey, they are on the verge of all out civil war using monster trucks to fight each other over the state of the economy. The mediators from The Tea Party, John Pumpkin and John Squash joined the formation with their respective crews they were assigned to accompany. John Pumpkin with Wash and John Squash with Thomas.
Once Thomas and Wash saw it. Wash muttered “How could something so bizarre happen?” With furrowed brows and a squint of disbelief.
“Nice, you know I’ve always been looking forward to driving a monster truck! I’ve always seen them crush cars in my history books, but I’ve never gotten to drive one before! Well crew, if we do get the chance, I promise you all we will ride one! It’s going to be so awesome!” Thomas bounced excitedly as he and his crew cheered.
Wash then squinted at Thomas, before sighing to himself while rubbing the back of his hand. “And he always gets the fun missions too.” Then the Rovo walked down the center aisle between Wash and Thomas.
“The general wishes to speak to the two of you before you leave.” The Rovo spoke in its robotic voice. Then its face lit up like a screen, displaying a video call of General Ben.
“Now, I know how the two of you get competitive or in disputes. This mission, I would like none of that. And no pointing fingers at each other. Including you, Wash.”
“Why are you calling me out? If anyone is the definition of unprofessional it’s Thomas.”
Then the general sighed in annoyance. “This is what I mean, Wash. What matters is that the job gets done efficiently. And Thomas, despite his lack of professionalism, manages to complete his tasks well and keep his crew’s morale high. But you honestly keep whining on and on about him, Wash. Including over video communications, which I have to review. Now I don’t want to hear anymore about this, I’m done. You are doing a good job Wash, but this behavior needs to change. Understood?”
“Understood…”
“Good. Now quit bickering you two. You are dismissed.” Then the video call on the Rovo’s face hung up.
“I will return to my usual duties now.” The Rovo bowed its head before rolling along using the wheels on its feet. As the Rovo rolled away. Wash gave Thomas a squint brimming with disdain.
“You always make me look bad.”
“You’re just doing it to yourself big bro.”
“You make me look like a fool, because I have higher standards for our positions and to lead by example.”
“You have higher standards, but not The Pursuit of Happiness. This isn’t a military, or like the navy. It’s a company. You can loosen up. Maybe even have a little fun.” Thomas remarked while giving Wash an encouraging nudge.
Wash sighed, his eyes filled with contemplation. “Perhaps you’re right. I can loosen up.” Wash’s face brightened.
“Haha! Atta boy!” Thomas endearingly slapped Wash on his back. “Now come on, I’m itching to get on the ship. You better pray I don’t beat you to finish my objective first.” Thomas incited a competition as usual. Igniting their rivalrous spirit between them as usual.
“You want a race? Then you’ll get one.” Wash smirked as he shook Thomas’ hand. They then both finished doing the last check up on the ships. The crewmates got into their positions, handling roles on the ships. Wash was silently happy as the engines ignited and they soon began ascending. Thomas was high fiving each of his crewmates and cracking jokes before he cheered and hollered in excitement as they took off. The closer amendments to 1 took off first. Which meant Wash took off before Thomas, which got Thomas a bit jealous. Then Wash saw Thomas was requesting a video call on the center captain screen.
“What?” Wash answered as he rubbed his eyes. Thomas’ face was big and obnoxious on the screen. But his big shiny boots which he kicked up on his command console were even bigger.
“What do you think?” Thomas grinned.
“Don’t play games with me. I’ve had enough for today.”
“I know you don’t really mean that. I can already see you smiling. But seriously, I wanted to call you because I suddenly remembered our dad.”
“You don’t mind if the rest of the crew is hearing this? Because they are in the command room with me.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. I don’t even mind my crew joining in the call as well. But remember our dad, he was also a captain in the navy. I wonder if how we kind of follow in his footsteps is genetics or something we learned. You know, nature versus nurture or something. You know philosophy better than me.”
“I think… It’s a combination of both. We may have some good genes that encourage us to explore and make us drawn to these sorts of roles. But it’s also how our dad taught us about what it’s like being a captain. We got a good picture and experience of it in our childhood. But even both of us have had some interest in hobbies that differed from our dad and each other. We can choose not to be captains if we really wanted.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Thomas thought for a moment as he leaned back in his captain’s chair with his hands behind his head. “Good point. Well I’m done reminiscing on memories, call ya later.”
“Yeah. See you later.” Thomas then hung up the video call. Wash slumped into his captain’s chair while groaning.
Then Marisa, the attendant of navigation, walked and stood beside Wash in the command room, which didn’t look too different from the oval office, it has a clear enlightenment era aesthetic design. She is a close coworker and long running friend with Wash, also she wears what Wash thought to be a pioneer style racoon hat at first, but is actually just a live racoon called Chewsy sitting on her head, which occasionally crawls onto her shoulder which she pets it and feeds it, it’s named Chewsy after how it cutely chews and nibbles on it’s food.
“Wash, it would be wise to get on better terms with your brother, right? To be honest, you’re a bit of a grumpy grandpa.”
“Well I’m not changing anytime soon.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way. You’re our grumpy grandpa. Just know your crew is with you, we aren’t taking sides with Thomas.”
“Good. I know I whine about him almost insufferably. It’s just… I’m worried about how laid back he is on the job. Last mission, he nearly got his crew killed when navigating through an asteroid mission. Yes, the ship was unscathed, but he was dangerously close. I’m worried about the lives he’s putting at stake with his behavior and more importantly, I don’t want to lose him. He is still my dear little brother.”
“I understand now. I know what it’s like to lose a family member. But if Thomas’ behavior is too relaxed, then your behavior is clearly too stressed. That’s why you have those streaks of white hair. So maybe there’s a healthy medium to be found somewhere.”
“Agreed.” Wash said reluctantly. “Maybe I should have you talk to my brother instead.” He chuckled.
“Hey, what’s that small spacecraft flying over there by our starboard side?” Marisa exclaimed while pointing outside the window of the command room, which is at the head of the ship. A white and black spaceship that looks to only hold about 5 people at most in the shape of a fighter jet from the 2010s, clear retro inspired styling that’s still used today. A small american flag is painted on the back fin and on the side of the ship is the printed words Eagle 7. Then another of those spacecraft appeared on our other side named Eagle 9.
“Call the vessels for me Marisa.”
“On it.” Marisa then walks to the command console and navigates swiftly through the menus and buttons of the touchscreen. Then on the center screen appeared a video call from Eagle 7.
“Hello, this is Eagle 7 speaking.” The man wearing sunglasses stated. He looks like he was dropped here fresh out of the air force. And behind him was what looked to be a cosplayer wearing a patriotic space cowboy outfit, some people loved to play pretend out here.
“Hi, this is Captain Wash speaking. Please tell me why you and Eagle 9 are flying with us, I was not informed of your presence earlier.”
“We’re here to escort and protect your ship to its destination from bandits. We’re part of the Eagle program just created a year ago from damaged and a lost Amendment ship. Bandits have been more active lately. If you check your mission app, you’ll probably find our notification of escorting you. Sorry it was so last minute.”
“It’s okay.” Wash then checked his mission app on his smartphone and truth be told, they were there in a notification he missed half a day ago. “Looks like I overlooked that one. My apologies. Please carry on with your tasks.”
“Understood. But we have one last thing we must tell you.”
“Go ahead.”
“Why was Eagle 6 afraid of Eagle 7?”
“Why?”
“Because 7, 8, 9.” They then erupted and rocked with laughter as they turned back to each other and fist bumped.
“Very funny. Marisa, get these goofballs off my screen.” Wash cracked a smile.
“Right away captain.” Marisa then ended the video call. Chewsy then climbed down her shoulder into her arms which she cradled him, then pet him.
Then Wash leaned his mouth close to the intercom. “Attendant and sub attendant of engines, prepare the warp drive.”
“Understood.” What sounded to be an old man and a teenager said in unison. Then a light flicked on in the console, signaling the warp drive is ready. Marisa then engaged the warp drive. The space and stars began to warp and stretch past them.
“Entering warp drive.” The captain informed the crew. Everyone braced themselves and fastened their seatbelts. Then in an instant, the ship shot past stars and planets like a speeding bullet zooming through the barrel of a gun. The strong jolt of accelerating to warp speed was tolerable and only lasted a second. The ship continued to shoot through the galaxy, surrounded by dazzling bands and stretches of light and colors. The crew then got out of their seats and loosened their seatbelts. “Hehe, that never gets old.” Wash chuckled to himself. “It will take about an earth day’s time for us to arrive at New New York, crew. I remember having to manually pilot and steer a ship in warp drive a few decades ago when it came out, what a nightmare. I’m glad the AI handles it for us. Before it was very accident prone, as you had to make sure to line your ship up perfectly so when you do go to warp speed there are no obstacles in your path, because you can’t steer out of the way of anything since you travel in a straight line. We no longer have to play a game of Russian roulette each time.”
“I agree. It’s amazing how technology changes our lives so fast and dramatically. It’s almost scary.”
“Yeah, it’s been a huge problem ever since the 20th century when it was out of control. Luckily we’ve overcome that issue. But I can’t help but feel we’re all behind the times in a way. It still moves fast, though not as fast as back then.” Then Wash sat back, tapping his forehead impatiently like a thought preoccupied his mind. “I need to check on my knucklehead brother, he’s probably slacking off again.” He then requested a video call with Thomas, which Thomas quickly answered.
Thomas was clearly a bit tipsy. “Hey! Missed me already big bro? We were just having fun, you can join us if you want.” Then the best part of the song suddenly came on. Thomas and the crew sang and cheered in unison together. “If you like pina coladas! And getting caught in the rain!”
Then his attendant of human resources walked into their party. She gasped in shock. “Captain Thomas, you get off that table this instant! And, you’re drinking on the job?”
“Oh relax Jess, you’re such a teacher sometimes, the AI will handle the warp drive navigation perfectly fine. It’s only gone wrong maybe, twice in history or something. It’ll be fine. Come on, have a drink with us.”
Then Jess stormed off into the hallway out of the command room.
“Don’t be an imposter among us Jess.” Thomas watched Jess leave, to hopefully reel her back into the party, which he failed to do. Then he turned back toward the camera to speak to Wash. “Sorry about that, looks like we have a drain with us.”
“A drain?” Wash asked Thomas.
“It’s new kid slang for a party pooper. You’re really behind the times bro. By the way, you might have to wash up the mess after our party.”
Wash then groaned, while massaging his eyelids. He then promptly ended the call right then and there himself. “Do you see what I mean Marisa?”
“Yeah, I’m with you.”
“The worst part is that he somehow gets away with it. It’s like the very universe itself refuses to punish him. It’s as worry inducing as a cup tipping over the edge of the table, wobbling but never falling.”
“I understand how you feel about him now. He’s like a walking safety violation.”
“Took the words right out of my mouth.”
“So why is your name Wash? You never told me yet.”
“It’s because Washington is a name the government would like to preserve for purity, no person can be named Washington.”
“Oh, that’s right. I remember that law now. It was put in place with the new patriotic restoration in 2088. And when The Founding Fathers became dominant.” Then a moment of silence came between them as they stared out the front window of the command room at the head of the ship together. Strands of dancing colors whizzing past.
Marisa then spoke a bit melancholic, with a glance toward the ground, while methodically petting Chewsy for comfort. “I hope we do better than our ancestors with this second manifest destiny. So it’s more a force of good rather than something messy and ethically questionable, sometimes.”
“Yeah, I hope so too. Was there ever a time in history when it wasn’t a mixed bag? Everything always seems to have some good and some bad. Like some slider to the left or right.” They sat in silence, thinking together. Their usual favorite past time together.
Meanwhile on Thomas’ ship, the 10th Amendment. The attendant of Foreign Languages and Customs walked into the command room, drying off his hair with a towel. The rest of him is dry though. He wore a red Hawaiian t-shirt, big white sneakers, khaki shorts, and always wore dark sunglasses. And had cheek length straight blonde hair that acted like curtains for his face.
“Aloha dudes.” He said.
“Alex! My gooptacular bestie.” Thomas remarked as they went in for a bro hug.
“I just got out of the shower. Nearly drowned there without my floaties.” They then both burst out in laughter, bending over like folding chairs.
“That’s a good one as always. Come on, let’s drink! The party is just getting started.” The crew all whooped and cheered. They then sat down together at a table in the mess hall, blasting funky music through the speakers. Leaving the command room completely empty since they moved in out of there for more space.
While laying back and reflecting, Alex then said to Thomas, “Remember Skibidi Toilet, that 2020s video series my grandpa used to watch? You know, I watched it and it’s better than I thought. I’m serious. Don’t judge a book by its cover. And speaking of old things, I might start to miss the architecture of my homeland. You know, the wide roads, suburbs, and parking lots.”
“Haha, that's so 20th century.”
“Yeah, but I miss Walmart most of all. There’s none out here on any planet besides Earth.”
“Are you sure about that? Who knows one of our colonies might end up building one. But that stuff is over a hundred years old. So who knows.”
“Well. It’s just that I grew up by an abandoned Walmart building with a giant parking lot. They fenced it, but didn’t demolish it for a long time. But they finally got around to it once I graduated high school. I feel the sight of it will be part of my childhood.”
“Do you remember this old phrase, ‘Go touch some grass’?”
“Haha yeah I do, that’s so 21st century. I remembered learning that in my history class. It still makes more sense than our current time ones like, ‘That’s so mooble.’ Or, ‘Glunk it or glank it. But never swank it’.”
“Pfft, yeah definitely. Sometimes when I’m studying languages, I wonder if human language was ever intelligent to begin with. But I’m glad we don’t have to live in that phone addicted era my grandpa lived through, he talks about it all the time and warns me of similar things. You know, he really does want me to ‘touch grass’ and live my life. Though even though I’ve learned much about it, I really wonder what it was like to live through that time.”
“Hehe definitely. I probably would’ve become a popular youtuber. The end of the golden age of the internet. Granted, I wouldn’t have liked to be cooped up in a house all day long. Instead, I have this ship” Thomas chuckled as he spread his arms, gesturing to the grand size of the 10th Amendment. “You know your grandpa is onto something, you should live life in the moment. So here, have another drink. I always love having these kinds of conversations with you.” Thomas smiled as he poured a glass of strawberry milkshake whiskey for Alex.
“Yeah, cheers.” Alex toasted and clinked his glass to Thomas’.
Hours passed until their spaceships exited warp drive at the same time, slowing down to regular cruise speed. Eagle 7 and Eagle 9 escorted Wash’s ship. And Eagle 8 and Eagle 15 escorted Thomas’ ship. Wash and his crew were well prepared and already in position. While Thomas had only wrapped up the party an hour before. Most of the crew are still recovering from a hangover. Wash and Thomas had missions on two different far away planets in the western sector, so at least Thomas was out of sight and mind of Wash’s mind by now, giving him momentary peace.
Wash then steered his ship to approach the planet New New York. It was a cold and muggy planet, mostly only during the winter. Mostly rocky with grand stone cities. The blue planet’s atmosphere was surrounded by dark and stormy clouds. Wash scanned the intimidating sight as his expression became serious.
“Alright crew, prepare for entry. We are going down with the mediator to supervise the operation and extract them once it’s done or the situation goes south. As regular procedure goes. We will bring our ship into orbit, then deploy our landing pods for entry at the designated landing zone. These landing pods are reusable. They will fly back up to the 9th amendment once we exited. We must be cautious on this unfamiliar planet with a hostile civil situation. Be wary of the rough weather conditions. Arm yourselves with your sabers and pneumatic muskets. Some soldiers, and that space cowboy from Eagle 7 and Eagle 9, will join us after landing on the planet and give us additional protection. Is that understood?”
“Understood.” Wash’s crew chanted in agreement. John Pumpkin, the mediator aboard Wash’s ship, also nodded in agreement. He planned to carry no weapons himself, as he wanted peaceful negotiations. Everyone drained out of the command room. The only two left were Wash and Marisa alone.
“Aren’t you going to start getting ready Marisa?”
“Wash, one last thing. Before we deploy, I wanted to ask. Why did you two become captains?”
“I guess my private life is never safe around you. But yeah, you probably heard it over the call between us at the start of this mission. Our dad was a captain in the navy. And ever since I was a kid, my dream was to become an astronaut after reading about them in the history books, but that didn’t work out since NASA ended a long time ago. So I joined the navy for a while, eventually becoming a captain. And then once The Pursuit of Happiness space program was up and running strong in the 2110s, I knew I had to join, it was like a dream come true. And for my brother, I guess we both had a calling to become a captain like our dad. We might have the genes for it. He does it for freedom and I do it because being out in the unknown, leading my crew, and working as a team for glory. That always appealed to me. And Thomas, he does it also to try to beat me at my own game. He’s always been competitive like that. I should probably shut up about my brother now, right?”
Marisa then bursted out into a fit of giggles. “You’re smart and self aware. But yeah, I think that would be for the best.” She smiled.
“Understood.” Wash smiled and nodded. “And what about you? Why did you become an attendant of navigation? I also haven’t asked you about that yet.”
“Well, I wanted to be a xenobiologist so I can explore and study alien life. But I kinda failed the testing and studying for it, funny enough. So I defaulted on a knack I’ve always had ever since I was a kid. I loved to play and explore the woods, if you’re not used to it, it feels like you're exploring an alien world. I loved to make my own maps and learn different ways of traversing it quickly, and also some routes that were fun like going across a creek by swinging on tree vines. I also was interested in sailing for a little bit before I found out I was easily sea sick, so that’s off the table for me. So yeah, I end up becoming an attendant of navigation after learning of this program too, like you. I was also interested in the beauty and awe of the stars of the night sky and some astronomy stuff. I had a great tutor.”
“I see, you always were a full person.”
“Of course I am, I’m not just a pair of legs walking around the ship.” She laughed.
“Haha, that’s not what I meant. What I meant was that you seem to be so full of life. You have memories and feelings you’re so openly willing to tell. I can’t help but wonder what that’s like.”
“And I can’t help but wonder what it’s like to be a grandpa.” She smirked while tapping him on the shoulder. Taking great pleasure in her exclusive privilege to tease the captain, which Wash only gives to her and his brother Thomas.
“Hehe, that’s enough, run along and get ready. We have work to do.” Wash straightened out his cravat.