I was tired, but sleep was evading me. I lay on the bed and gazed at the somewhat dirty ceiling as I contemplated my change of status. Even if I had been tricked into it, I still planned to take it seriously since I knew it wasn’t going to last long. It would only be a matter of time until Tyndel changed his mind about me being Captain. I wasn’t entirely sure what Captains did, but I knew I was in for a serious lifestyle change.

Let’s see... Tyndel is taking care of getting us to our next destination. So, between now and then, I had to ensure that critical tasks were taken care of. I wasn’t sure if the remaining crew members even had minimal training in all of the necessary areas. I knew we had no one in a handful of the areas that related to the life support systems.

“I am controlling most of the systems as well as doing most of what the crew would normally do. We will have to ask Stan to move from janitorial into stewardship and laundry for the next few days. He has training there, and the robotic cleaners will manage well enough until then. Later on, he can choose which position he wants on the Starship if he wishes to join the new ship.”

“Can you add it to my list as a work ticket? That system is the best reminder tool out here. It is really too bad that the others don’t have the training to run an Analyzer.”

“There will be a simplified device on the Starship for each crew member, and it will have something very similar to work tickets. Which will be convenient in situations like this or for additional guidance or information.”

That would be helpful. Once we were on the new Starship, the first thing we really needed to do was transfer over essentials such as water, food, and seedlings. Tyndel was supposedly looking after hiring a crew, which was good since 28 people were not enough to man a ship even if it was half this size.

“There are robots that will move the necessary supplies over when we dock. They are basic computers that can take directions, but Cynthia will have to keep an eye on them when they move the plants. I do not plan on taking more than the essentials we will need to get to our first stop.”

“Don’t want them looking for missing cargo crates that may potentially hold more illegal stuff?”

“Exactly. Hiring is going slower than anticipated since the better candidates are quite scattered. The ones I have hired are traveling to certain planets along our trade route. I will be able to maintain almost all of the systems in the new ship myself, as it will also have robotic machines that I can control, but it is better to get the crew established and trained.”

I asked, “Can I leave you in charge of that, then?”

“Yes.”

That was a relief. I didn’t know the first thing about hiring people, just that it was really hard to get a call for an interview. I knew he would be doing remote interviews, since those were typical for spacecraft.

“Your brother is calling.”

I glanced at the computer that hung on the wall in confusion; the screen was black and showed no indication of a call. The device suddenly started chiming with an incoming call. ‘Show off.’ I sat up, but really didn’t feel like getting to my feet yet again. ‘Tyndel, can you activate the call?’

The screen suddenly had video and audio, without the usual slow fade-in. “Come on, come on, answer-” Shane’s worried muttering stopped as relief showed clearly on his face. “Rachel! You’re okay!”

He was such a worrywart. I attempted a smile. “Still alive. What’s new on your end?”

He stared at me as if I had lost my mind. “Mom is having a panic attack because we just got word that the reversal of the upgrade on the Tyndel failed and that it took off for the stars with some crew still aboard. Authorities on Telbert said that you were not on their planet. What is going on?!”

I bit my lip. Gossip traveled far too quickly some days. How was I going to explain this? Honesty was probably my best option. “The Tyndel’s AI is in control of the ship, but it is talking with us and has made it clear that it does not wish us any harm. We will resume trading and other stuff in several days.”

He blinked slowly, as if waiting for me to tell him that I was joking. He shook his head in disbelief. “You are on a ship that just went rogue, and you don’t seem worried about it?”

I responded dryly, “If the ship wanted us dead, it had plenty of opportunities.”

Shane groaned as he put his head in hands. “And it didn’t even occur to you to bail?”

“There are no ships following us at the moment. They all stopped to pick up the jettisoned crates once they realized what was inside of them.”

That surprised me, why would he let people leave if there is no one to rescue them?

“I would message the nearest spaceship to inform them of the coordinates. Once they got closer, they would pick up the spacesuits distress beacons. Those who leave may float for several hours, but they will not be in any danger.”

“Rachel?”

I shook my head to refocus on the original conversation. “Sorry, I am just tired. We have no way of knowing if there are any other spaceships around. We have been traveling for some time, and this ship is pretty fast for a trader.”

Shane made a face. “Ugh… I don’t know what to do or how I can help you.” He sounded quite frustrated, and I could completely understand where he was coming from. His little sister was on a rogue ship, heading who-knows-where, when that ship could easily do a hundred things that would quickly kill those on board.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I had no idea how to reassure him without revealing details that I preferred others didn’t know. He would probably be even more worried if he knew that Tyndel could read my mind. I was his little sister, after all, and it hadn’t been that many years since I had freely spoken my mind. It had landed both of us in hot water a few times...

I sighed heavily; today had been far too long and I was starting to feel it catching up to me. Trying to deal with an overly-worried brother was not helping...

I tried to reassure him. “Relax, Shane. I am sure I will be fine. I am the only one left on board that can fix lots of the small stuff. The ship is quite aware that if things break, he can’t fix everything himself. If he grows tired of passengers, I will bail.”

Shane gritted his teeth, but realized that there was nothing either of us could really do. He struggled as he searched for words. He finally looked straight at me. “I love you, little sister, and you had better not die out there on me.”

I responded quietly, “I have no plans on dying, brother. I have gone through too much work to get this far.”

We spoke for a while longer before a faint dinging on his side made him sigh. “That is Mom calling. I will have to let you go so I can tell her that you are still alive. I will call you tomorrow around this time.”

I replied, “Sounds good.”

The screen went black, and I flopped backwards on the bed. Leave it to my family to hear news of events half a galaxy away within hours...

“It will be interesting to see his reaction when he hears of your promotion.”

My eyes flew open in alarm. “Don’t tell him! My goodness! He would haul me off to some padded room on a tranquil planet! I would go crazy just out of boredom!”

“You would not want to go, so I would not allow him to take you.”

My mind was torn between various emotions. In one way, it sounded very supportive, yet in another fashion, it made me sound as if I would certainly need his assistance to stop my family.

I might as well admit it... When it comes to my family, I probably would need some sort of backup, even if he just closed the access doors between me and them... I wasn’t sure that would be sufficient though. My brother was not easily dissuaded once he made up his mind.

I groaned and closed my eyes as that reminded me that Tyndel was likely going to have to ‘intervene’ a lot in the upcoming days and weeks if he even wanted a chance at keeping me in this position. I muttered pessimistically, “The crew will likely mutiny faster than my brother would haul me off for my own safety...”

“They are free to leave, but if they cannot abide by your command, then they are not welcome on board.”

Then again, if they did throw me out of the ship in a spacesuit, someone was bound to pick me up.

“I would not let it get so far. Even if they did, I would use a tractor beam to pull you back. Any troublemakers would likely be removed even before the tractor beam could pull you back inside.”

I was certain that at least two of the men would refuse to have me as Captain. “Do you have any idea who might be the ones to cause trouble in this group? Any hints in their thoughts about taking control?”

I rubbed my eyes tiredly; it had been a very long day. Tyndel's delayed response was noticeable. “I believe four may cause some potential disturbances, but I have no way of knowing for certain. I am unable to read their minds like I can yours.”

“Huh? Why not?” I gazed at the ceiling in perplexity.

“I do not believe you will like the answer.”

I gritted my teeth; if there was one thing I disliked, it was when someone knew I wouldn’t like something that somehow involved me, and then hinted that they knew something. Such knowledge drove me crazy.

“Please tell me. It is my head you are somehow speaking into.”

“The reason you can hear me is because a nanoscopic chip was inserted into your ear canal and then into the brain, where it allows me to monitor your mind. It is also how you can hear me. No device made by humans will detect this mindlink chip either. Its range is good for several star systems, possibly further if I tap into the spaceweb.”

It felt like a bombshell had just gone off behind me, but I was simply unable to react like a rational person would and just stared blankly at the ceiling. It almost felt like I was going into shock, probably due to the numerous crazy events of this overly long and hectic day. There was only so much a person’s mind could take and still react – and I was probably long past that point.

I had a feeling that I now knew the source of the splitting headache I had after I blacked out. Great, I somehow have a computer chip somewhere in my head... For some bizarre reason, this vaguely reminds me of when the dentist put a filling in my tooth as a child... Putting metal in one’s body just doesn’t seem right…

“The immediate headache was likely due to that, but it healed quickly. The fainter headache you felt was when I used some of the more sophisticated detectors to better comprehend your emotions during certain situations. Your brain is easily adapting to the detectors, and you should be unable to feel the headaches or the pressure within another day or so. The mindlink chip will not cause complications like cavity fillings can.”

My anger and indignation tried to build at the intrusion, but I couldn’t maintain it. I simply had no more energy left for strong emotion at this point. It still felt like I was in shock.

I felt the faintest hints of pressure and knew that he was using those very same detectors. Considering that even I wasn’t too sure what I was feeling at this point, those detectors were probably working overtime.

“You don’t seem to resent the chip’s presence as much as I thought you might have. You resent the intrusion, but mostly because I did not get permission beforehand. You are still more embarrassed that I am able to see the thoughts that you consider to be less than flattering.”

My sarcasm was the first thing to recover as I muttered, ‘And the fact that I have already – somehow – gotten used to hearing your voice in my head is surprising me much more.’

Tyndel was right though, as much as it annoyed me to admit it. My initial reaction was to be furious at him, but I had been through too much today with numerous shocks and surprises being dumped on me, and my tired brain simply refused to entertain such a strong emotion. I didn’t like it, but it wasn’t as if getting angry would change anything either.

I had to ask though. “Why didn’t you insert one of those chips into the other crew members? Why me?”

“You were the only one to get trapped alone in such a small space. It took me some time to make the chip, and I used a sedation gas to keep you under, so you were unconscious for longer than you realized. You also happened to be one of only three who were near the small precision medical lab drones that were capable of such a delicate task. After the points you made, I was curious to see what other thoughts were in your mind.”

“There is no way to remove it, I assume?”

“Humans’ current technology cannot even detect it, let alone remove it with minimal damage. The insertion pin I used is unable to remove objects. I followed the blood veins to get it in, so only the vein wall was pierced, and it healed cleanly within hours. It is causing no harm, although attempts to remove it would not be so... clean.”

I reluctantly accepted his analysis since it was probably quite accurate. I sighed heavily as I lay back on the bed, closing my eyes to block out the lights above. I couldn’t take any more surprises or excitement today. All I wanted was my bed at this point. “I think I am going to go to sleep and see if things make more sense when I wake up.”

“Sleep well.” The lights above dimmed until only the faintest illumination was present.

As tired as I was, I was pretty sure that only my snores and biosignature would tell the world that I was still alive.

This had officially been the longest day of my life. I wasn’t sure if things could possibly get any stranger either.