Chapter Forty

I’m not quite sure what the clerk thought, watching a small and giant pair of aliens wheel four carts filled with various balls and frisbees out of the store, but I was a good enough judge of humans by now to say he was most definitely confused.

But our credits were good, so out we went, Boatswain had a series of crumpled boxes under one arm for later assembly while I handled the carts. It took two trips to get it all, but in the end we had enough material to prepare for a game.

Maybe it was realizing how much was on the line, maybe it was my own sense of renewed determination, but in spite of how fearful I was of everything going wrong, just seeing everything coming together was encouraging.

Even… energizing.

There is something magical about progress, when we get nowhere, when we’re mired in our circumstances, emotions, frustrations, and nothing seems to change… it’s easy to get lost in them, to just stay as things are even if they’re unhappy or scary. At least they’re familiar, that first step, that first act toward real success is frighteningly hard to take.

But then the first step is taken.

Then another. And another. And another and another and before you know it you’re picking up speed and things are changing around you and everything is happening and you’re the one doing it and then when you look back you wonder…

‘How did I come so far?!’

So it was for me, and I was happy.

Happy in spite of my fears and terrors and worries, Boatswain’s warning provided fuel for my determination and I was getting somewhere. And to think it all began with one ambitious student deciding humans would be a useful and easy way to make my mark on the legacy of my people.

It was this mood that had me entering and unloading the boxes by the door and calling out Fauve’s name.

“She’s not here!” William shouted from the kitchen. “She went with Teresa for some sort of assignment! She said it was important!”

“Oh.” I said and walked into the kitchen, the other three security guards were present at the table having lunch. I do regret not having the time to get to know them, but their shifts were such that I seldom even saw them.

Still, they were welcome at the table, their big mouths stuffed with sandwich meat, they only nodded and kept chewing.

“Do you know when she’ll get back?” I asked. “I was actually hoping to go to the park and burn off some energy.”

“No, but you left your datapad behind and it’s been buzzing since you left, so you probably wouldn’t be able to go anyway.” He said and pointed to my device on the table. Another buzz began, rattling the tablet as soon as he informed me.

I snatched it up, I hadn’t been gone that long, I opened it and found myself face to face with Bonny Red, the red furred ship captain. “Ahoy there!” She called out, her face loomed so large I couldn’t see all of it until she held it back, “You, matey, you ready to show me this game thing of yours, what’s it called? Bullyball?”

“Ballyball.” I replied, she was loud and boisterous, and held the device back so I could see that she’d reduced her attire down to a pair of knee length shorts.

“Aye, that!” She exclaimed, and fingerbanged her forefinger toward the screen. Her tongue lolled out of the side of her mouth and there was a definite intensity to her amber eyes. “I don’t know where the rums’ gone to on this little blue dot of a world, but I’m willing to put it off for a wee bit if you’ll bring me that lass with the throwing arm and of course that little object she kept tossing around, the ball. What say you? I got my translator installed, and thankfully with a wee bit a tweakin, it lets me talk right, or close to it.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Ah, Captain Bonny Red-” I interjected.

“Just Bonny, or Red, or just Captain if you’re feeling formal rather than neighborly. The full thing is a bigger mouthful than even you can swallow, lad.” She interjected back.

“Ah, right, Bonny… um, the lass is out right now, doing some work of some sort. And by the way, you weren’t really speaking properly before.” I explained, “Your use of English was about eight hundred years behind… I think. Maybe less depending on how accurate their movies were about how pirates talked. I’m not too clear on Earth’s history with pirates.”

“Bah, it’s right if it’s how I meant it, laddy! But I hear you, I’ll keep it as it is without further modification. But you,” she leveled a finger toward me, “are missing out. Their pirates, their ‘free men of fortune’ were amazing! Bold! Daring! Sailing the seas ready for the devil to take their souls into the deep blue at any day, live free or die… almost makes me like the Zenti even… but nah, the Zenti had no panache, just locusts, no style! Anyway, focus.” She shook her head as if to shake a tangent out of her before going on.

“So you need to give us some guidance on what we can and can’t do, right? Modern rules of Earth and all, we want to be good guests after all! So let’s get started now so that we can go out tomorrow!” Bonny was nodding with wild enthusiasm like she could barely contain her energy.

“She’s like a modded soldier.” Boatswain muttered while standing over my shoulder.

“Aye, somebody’s paying attention!” Bonny shouted, her ears pricking up, “I was with the fleet for a while and had some mods done, with the scouts and explorers. Didn’t take, nossir it did not. But it’s probably why I’m a bit like this.” She would have laughed if she’d been human, “Regardless, the briefing, lad. Give it here!” She said and moved aside to show that her crew was gathered and seated on a series of cheap metal chairs obviously borrowed from the human embassy or the local military base.

“I was supposed to do that tomorrow after-” I wanted to tell her it was a violation of protocol, that we had a specific schedule to keep, but I never got that far.

“Nope! We’re here now. We’re ready now. I know we can’t leave tonight since we’ve all got to go through med checks and that’ll take all day, but I want us out on the town tomorrow as soon as possible. My sailors have been trekking the stars for five dlamias years without a port call where we could stay for any length of time. We’ve got a fortune in credits to run through and I won’t have a minute taken up what don’t need to be. You start now or we start without you. You hear me, laddy?”

‘And I thought males like Boatswain were outliers.’ I thought, and gave a steady nod.

“Fine. Give me five minutes to get ready, you’ve got me projected enough for them all to see everything, we’ll go over the basics of human customs, what not to do and what to do. But you have to promise no sneaking out tonight to go find… whatever.” I urged, and you have to let me assign you some human escorts after the game. You don’t want your crew getting lost and in trouble in a strange place after all you’ve gone through, do you?” It was a stab in the dark for me to ask her that question.

I was banking on the idea that she was an outlier in more ways than one, and the moment I saw her turn her head away from me to face her crew again, I knew my bet had paid off.

Whatever her oddities, I knew an act of care when I saw one. Captain Bonny Red really did care about her crew.

She was more serious when she faced me again, bringing the data device on her end close enough that her brilliant and bright amber eye lingered large in the camera, looming like the moon in the sky. “Aye, mate. I swear it on me ship. Nobody sneaks out, nobody sneaks off, an they’ll go with your escorts.”

“It’s a deal then.” I said, and sat down to begin explaining everything I’d come to understand about humanity.

Given everything else, I really should have been nervous about Bonny keeping her word, but I wasn’t. William kindly set my special mug in front of me and filled it to the brim with coffee, accepting a grateful wink in his direction while I talked on.

I was hoping for the best the entire time, of course.

But I was also fairly sure I was going to get it.