“Finally found somewhere you can stay out of trouble?”

Shae stands in the doorway to the observation room, as if waiting for an invitation. I’m glad she’s found me. Sitting here alone ruminating isn’t getting me very far right now, and I could use a little distraction.

“Is that why you’re here?” I ask. “Hiding from the captain?” I raise an eyebrow. “Or did you finally just get sick of listening to Mr. Know-It-All claim that he knows more than the ship?”

Shae takes a few steps into the room as I quickly grab the book, tossing it away from me in the hopes that she won’t notice it.

“He can be a little awkward,” she admits, strolling closer, “but he’ll get there eventually. He’s still getting the hang of things.”

“I don’t know,” I say. “He seems like he’s got things pretty well figured out.”

I scoot over and pat the spot on the sill next to me, inviting Shae to have a seat.

“You’re just jealous because the captain likes him,” she says.

“I’m jealous?”

Shae nods and hoists herself up onto the bit of sill next to me.

“That’s why you’re back here by yourself,” she says. “You’re pouting.”

I shake my head but find myself unable to come up with a proper retort.

Shae pulls her feet up under her and lets her gaze drift around the room. It’s a large room with dark glossy surfaces, an enormous glass pane stretching across the length of it. A high sill extends inward from either side of the room, the perfect place to sit and gaze out into the great, vast beyond. The lighting is dim, and the slick dark furnishings of the room almost seem to vanish into the black of the space outside. The control panels and displays have all been switched off, adding to the effect. On the ceiling is a map of the galaxy. It’s difficult to make out without the lighting function activated, but I’m sure that when illuminated, it’s a spectacular sight to behold. I try to imagine what it would be like to grow up on a ship like this. To spend late nights lying awake in this room, looking up at the stars and systems on the ceiling above, trying to find home. I wonder if my home is up there, Seraphis. Or maybe it’s too unimportant, too inconsequential. Maybe people like to pretend it doesn’t exist.

I look at Shae, watch her take it all in. She almost certainly didn’t grow up on a ship like this. I wonder where she did grow up, where home is for her. The galaxy is so vast and the colonies so expansive. No wonder they can afford to throw a whole planet away on people like me.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

I shake my head. No, I won’t go back there. Not even in my mind.

Finally, after a few quiet minutes pass, Shae turns to me.

“So, what do you think they do?” she asks.

“What do you mean?”

“The ship. Chrysanthemum,” she says. “What do you think they do out here?”

I consider her question for a moment before inching closer to her, leaning my face in toward hers.

“I think,” I say, lowering my voice for dramatic effect, “that this is where they bring wayward cybernetic specialists to make them disappear.” Shae gives me a playful shove.

“I’m serious,” she says with a smile. “I mean, the captain, she’s really…” she trails off.

“Explosive?” I suggest. “Volatile? Irascible? Cantankerous?”

Shae laughs.

“I was gonna ‘guarded,’” she says. “‘Mysterious’ maybe.”

I shrug.

“I like mine better.”

Shae rolls her eyes.

“But really,” she says. “What do you think their job is, their purpose?”

“Their purpose,” I echo, staring out the glass into the dark wake of the ship. Everyone has to have a purpose. What’s Chrysanthemum’s?

“Well, it’s a transport vessel,” I begin. “So, I think we can assume that they do a lot of transporting.”

“How enlightening,” Shae says flatly.

“I think” I start, “they transport people or things that come with a certain level of—” I consider my words for a moment. “—risk,” I finish.

Shae pulls her knees to her chest.

“You think that’s why the Vanguard stopped us?” she asks.

I shake my head.

“I don’t know. Maybe.” I think back to when the Vanguard boarded the ship. How quickly Jahdra reacted. How she knew the best place for us to hide. I wonder if Shae’s thinking the same thing.

“It seems kind of conspicuous thought, doesn’t it? I mean, a ship this size,” Shae says, scrunching up her nose. “You’d think they’d wanna keep a low profile.”

She has a point. It wouldn’t make much sense for a ship like Chrysanthemum to constantly be sticking their necks out. They’d be subject to inspections and manifest reviews, more of less so depending on their pickup and drop off points, of course. But they’d be attracting a lot of attention if they went anywhere clandestine. One little slip up is all it would take. And a ship like this—well, that’s a lot of ship to put on the line.

Unless, that is, they don’t work alone.

The wheels in my mind begin to turn.

A transport vessel.

Sensitive cargo.

A second ship.

Running.

Running from what?

I can hear Shae’s voice, but it’s as if it’s coming from somewhere very far away. I’m too lost in thought to make out what she’s saying.

What are they running from?

What did they take?

And how does it all connect to me?

Shae’s voice becomes louder, cutting through my thoughts. I shake myself from my reverie and turn to face her.

“Sorry, what did you say?” I ask.

She looks at me with a mix of concern and amusement.

“I said ‘maybe we should just ask.’”

“Ask who?” I say, a bit confused. “The captain?”

Shae nods.

“Yes, the captain. Who else?”

I feel a smile break across my face. It’s all I can do to keep from laughing.

“You wanna ask the captain about her super secret space mission that she’s desperately trying to hide from everyone including all of us onboard as well as the entire Vanguard?” I ask, sliding myself off the sill.

Shae’s cheeks turn pink.

“Where are you going?” she asks as I walk toward the doorway.

“Let’s go,” I say with a smile. “There’s no way in hell I’m gonna miss this.”