They left before dinner.
Alex’s impromptu cooking lesson was well received, short as it ended up being, the small group not very familiar with how to cook but interested in getting the skills under their belts. Su said that for the entirety of her life, she had easy access to restaurants and in-home dispensers that did an admirable job, and had not learned anything past making the most basic foods - a sentiment that was echoed by everyone crowded around the stove.
Carbon was amused to find him teaching her people how to brown meat and deglaze a pan for flavor, at least. Her interviews were done, and their window on the planet was drawing to a close.
As he was not a pilot or a captain or anything like that anymore, Alex was more removed from the fine details of the remainder of their passage to Na’o than he was used to. This four-hour stop was actually part of the slack they had in their original charted plan, so while dinner would have just been an extra two hours - or they could have made everyone eat early so they could partake - the Starbound was already pushing the envelope to arrive on time for the one scheduled event Carbon was expected to be at.
Their escort, the Vanasha - Endurance - was actually faster in FTL and could have left later, with the intent of linking up with the Starbound before it had gotten too far from Confederation space. Then both ships would both have to drop out of their waveride so the handful of diners could be transferred back to the Starbound.
The Vanasha’s Captain had agreed that was a possibility, but the way his face darkened as he said it indicated that it was not a good idea - letting the ship he was supposed to be escorting just go off by itself was not something he was interested in doing. There was the unspoken intimation there that if the Royals said to do that, he was prepared to follow their orders.
Alex and Carbon both quickly declined these options. Splitting the group never ended well, and making dinner an early afternoon thing for their own convenience was just too vain.
They said their goodbyes. Carbon finished up quickly, her exposure to the refugees more limited, and spent several minutes being entertained by Alex wading through the group that had gathered in the kitchen, culminating in a clumsy handshake from Su that ended up as a hug that Kaseya joined in - with a loud reminder that he should get the young girl more cheese.
The way the Clan Mother smiled as they left, bemused but sly, told Alex that she had clocked them despite the two of them doing a good job about keeping things platonic. Well, he thought they were doing a good job of it. Apparently it still needed work.
The trip back up was quiet, everyone rearranged in different seats except for the Starbound’s Captain, still gripping the armrests like they would keep the shuttle in the air. Keta and Desaya were still very much in love, nestled up in the back row by themselves and chatting quietly. Alex caught the occasional snippet, the topic apparently tending towards how specific individuals were going to respond to the news.
“So how’d the interviews go?” They had just entered space, the rush of the atmosphere against the hull left behind.
“Productive, though they painted a grim picture.” Carbon slipped her hand into his and looked out the fake portal, Arvaikheer II receding into the distance. “There were four distinct groups, all brought by separate Human traders who had empty holds on the return trip and allowed individuals who were in particularly bad shape free passage. The main causes for these apparently desperate measures were all related to overcrowding and food shortages.”
Alex almost just blurted out something Carbon was already aware of: The Confederation had sent so much stuff specifically to avoid that outcome. She didn’t need that reminder. “That is really bad.”
Carbon nodded, her lips pulled tight as she sighed, her mood turning as she spoke. “It is. I am... I am unaware of the locations of three of the four settlements they came from. Veno, Lasakash, and Nalema Dasa. The first two were moons, apparently, and the third a series of ships formed into a space station... though all were made of decommissioned ships. Something we had discussed, and I know had been used, but not to this extent.”
“What the fuck?” No, really, what the fuck? That was two places they could have put down nearly a city’s worth of Emergency Modular Housing System units, as long as they could flatten the ground a little. Humanity had provided plenty of earth moving equipment for just such an occasion, so it should have been trivial.
She looked back at him, a hint of a smile on her muzzle. “You will be pleased to know that I actually said that as well. It just... flowed from me in the moment.”
“I mean, it works for that kind of information. It really fucking works.” Alex rubbed his eyes as the shuttle banked, lining up on approach to the Starbound “So what’s the takeaway here? I’m guessing that Eleya would not have allowed this to happen for any length of time?”
“No. It would be- will be viewed as a failure. There is a significant issue here, and... I do not know why things were allowed to get this bad.” The little smile was gone, Carbon pensive again as she squeezed his hand. “I have seen the reports. They were not good, but...”
“Never that bad?” If these people had been on the frontier, those reports would have passed through Sharadi. Which raised the question as to how much of a hand he had in this being hidden - was he simply trusting whoever had been sent to manage these places and not doing any due diligence, or was there actual malfeasance on his part? Given his drinking problems, Alex suspected the former.
Carbon nodded, staying quiet as the shuttle slipped into its bay and settled on stiff landing struts. “I need to get this sent to the Empress. This is disturbing information, and it cannot wait.”
“That’s fine, I completely understand. I can manage myself while you take care of that.” He gave her hand another squeeze and stood as the door swung open, a set of stairs pushed up to the shuttle. He tipped his head at the waiting exit. “Go on.”
She paused long enough to wrap her arms around him and kiss his cheek, lips warm and soft, before hurrying out to get this unpleasant task done.
Alex waited for everyone else to disembark. Even waving the lovebirds off before he trudged down the stairs, a lone guy from engineering waiting for Alex to leave so he could start maintenance work on the shuttle.
Speaking of work, there was a stack of boxes resting on a grav sled by the airlock to the rest of the ship, clearly Human-made. The remains of the pallet from his little shopping spree - everything else was destined for the kitchen and had hopefully been sent along to it. This had a different place to go, and since he had the time right now, he would take it up to the theater and get to work on something a little less pressing.
“What are you doing?” Carbon slipped into the dimly lit theater on the Starbound an hour later, locking the door behind her and heading up to the projection nook. “I had expected to find you in the forward lounge.”
Alex had not told her about the details on the projector he had gotten. It was the nicest one his guy could get, and it was actually high end. Sub-millimeter pixel ultra definition blah blah blah. Alex had previously considered himself into this sort of thing, but the further into the specs of an actual projector he got, the more he understood just how far beyond his ken they were. He knew for sure that it was very well reviewed. “Nope, getting ready for movie night. Get everything sent along?”
“Yes, I had... I had a productive conversation with Eleya.” Carbon sounded confused about that, which given the last twenty years of their relationship, was to be expected. “She was incensed, said she would be getting Intelligence involved.”
Yikes. “It’s a start.”
“It is.” She stopped and looked around at the mess that Alex had left. Open boxes, some packing materials strewn about, tools just left wherever. “I fear I am repeating myself, but what are you doing?”
“Like I said, it’s movie night.” He tapped away at the datapad that had come with the projector, a test pattern flaring to life on the screen and quickly expanding to the edges of the reflective area. The self-calibration continued as he neatened up the pile of boxes at his feet.
“That is what is going to be happening.” Carbon was amused by his reply, a finger poked into his side with a playful smile. “I inquired as to what is going on right now.”
“I’ve gotten almost everything set up.” He gestured to the new projector, a stately black box with a lens bigger than his hand pointed at the screen. The old projector was now tucked away in the corner. To prevent having to deal with what he assumed would be clashing standards, Alex had bought a set of wireless surround speakers as well, also very well reviewed. They were already spread out as indicated by the manual. “Just need to finish the calibration and I can give it a try.”
Carbon nodded, watching the slowly changing image on the screen as the projector tried to optimize its output for the best possible image. “What do you think you will show tonight?” She asked, leaning against him.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“I was thinking The Matrix. It is a little dated, but the definition of a classic. Haven’t seen it in a while and it’s in my top ten favorite movies.” He prodded the calibration app on the pad, shifting the color temperatures around a little bit. The display was razor sharp despite being ten meters away, and the colors were vibrant even in the low light. “Hey, can you turn the lights all the way down?”
“What is that one about?” She asked, stepping away before casting the room into pitch darkness save for the screen.
“A guy finds out he’s living in a simulation, wakes up from it, and leads a rebellion against the machines that have enslaved humanity inside the titular Matrix.” Alex flipped between a few light intensity options he couldn’t tell apart and decided that it was as calibrated as it was getting.
“Living in a simulation...” She didn’t sound particularly enthused by that as she returned to his side.
Now that he was thinking about it, Tsla’o and The Matrix might not get along very well. The whole machine in the brain thing was probably way more body horror - mind horror? - to them than it was to a Human. “Yeah, uh... Now I’m not sure if everyone is going to enjoy the more philosophical or cinematic aspects because the entire setup is that evil AI have Humanity plugged into a fake reality. Literally.”
Thanks to the bright calibration screen, he could see Carbon’s eyes boggling at him in the dark. “Is this a horror movie?”
“No, not specifically. It’s a science fiction action film, and while I would say there are some horror aspects to it... I see where you’re going with that question and yes, I am reconsidering it.” There was a lot of killing in the movie as well, which was actually something he was unclear on how Tsla’o would feel about. While it was all humans, or at least human-shaped things doing the killing, there was a lot of it. “How do the Tsla’o handle violence in movies?”
Carbon took a moment to consider that. “I would not say it is a common theme, but it does occur.”
“Like with fighting or killing?”
“Both happen on occasion.” Her head tilted as she looked from the still calibration screen and back to him, very curious about where he was going with this. “How violent is this movie?”
“Eeh...” How many people died in the lobby shootout? Twenty or something? He wasn’t sure, hadn’t ever counted. Alex closed out of the calibration menu and brought up the media list, his chip of movies already inserted and ready to go. “I mean, it gets really violent. There’s a couple of shootouts, and several people get double-crossed. Some of the worst deaths aren’t even violent.”
Big blue eyes blinked up at him. “Every question asked so far has made this feel like it is ill advised.”
That whole scene with Cypher had slipped his mind. Great acting and characterization because damn was it evil, but... Damn, was it evil. Maybe not the kind of thing that everyone needed right now. He wasn’t even going to ask about the body horror aspects. Not yet. “Ok, scrapping that for a first showing. Maybe as a late night screening after giving out appropriate warnings. Let me, uh... Hm.”
Carbon turned the lights back up, eyebrows both way up at how this was turning out.
There were a lot of action movies on this list. He filtered it, removing the action, war, and disaster tags entirely. That narrowed it down a lot. “Oh shit, here we go. Spirited Away.”
“I hope you do not take my skepticism too personally.” She was joking, of course, but still sounded incredulous.
“Ok, so, way less violent. It’s animated, and while some horrible stuff happens, nobody dies, and the ending is happy.” He mentally reviewed it as best he could in a few seconds. “A couple of people get eaten by a monster but they get thrown up later, perfectly fine.”
She stared up at him, lips pulled thin. “I am starting to hope you take my skepticism more personally.”
“Look, let me screen the first ten or fifteen minutes for you. I’m pretty sure we have a good one here.” He brought up the film and started playing it, hitting the lights in the theater before dragging Carbon down to the back row of seats.
They made it all the way to where Chihiro’s parents start eating food that was just sitting out before Carbon waved him off. “Is it supposed to make me feel uneasy? Why would a parent make such a terrible decision?”
“One of the main motifs of the movie is greed. Their decision is based in that. The food looks delicious, it smells delicious, so they take it. The first time I saw this movie, I think I was a little too young to understand that point but Chihiro’s reaction to their willingness to just start taking without permission definitely resonated with me.”
“So it is intentional. Hm.” She gave him a nod to continue, watching with rapt attention.
Alex’s mind wandered back to the news about how the refugees got to Arvaikheer. How bad the situation must have been for merchants to just load some folks up and hope that they wouldn’t get turned away when they made landfall.
How complicit dear old dad was to things being allowed to get that bad.
It gnawed at him, his jaw working as Carbon watched the movie, already engrossed. That drunk old fuck was already on his bad side and this information was not helping. Maybe he’d want to be there when she spoke to him. Maybe he’d want to speak to him alone for a little while.
That thought startled him - when it was Sharadi fucking up his relationship with Carbon, Alex was perfectly happy to let her take the lead. It was her father, she knew him best. She had taken the time to work with Eleya and Kaleta to figure out a good way to get through his thick skull.
Now, though? Alex found himself angry on behalf of the people that had been crammed into retired ships and apparently put on starvation rations when there were millions of tons of supplies readily available that would have prevented both of those things from happening for very long. He was mad about what Sharadi had let happen to his people. Alex had no real claim to that, he wasn’t exactly the model image of a leader despite hearing about how he’s got a lot of traits that the Tsla’o consider admirable. He really only felt like he was a prince on paper, as a matter of convenience for Eleya. But since he had been put in that position, he felt it was important to try and do right by the Tsla’o. He was feeling awfully damn protective of these people right now.
His quiet seething was interrupted by his and Carbon’s phones going off. Just a ship-wide notification that dinner was about to be served. He hit pause. “So, you think it’ll be well received?”
“The ending is happy, right? Some of this feels harrowing.” She stood, stretching before shuffling down the aisle. “It feels like it could turn darker.”
“No spoilers, but the kid and her parents make it out unharmed. You’ll have to finish watching it to find out how.” He shut the whole thing down and turned the control tablet off, following her back to the projector and sliding the tablet into a charger built into the side. “It’s loaded with symbolism that might not land, it was made by aliens.”
Carbon nodded, shoulders lifting in a little shrug. It was alien. “I noticed that most of the characters are not Human, some more obviously than others.”
“Spirits, mostly, as indicated by the title. I can tell you what some of them are, but I have forgotten a lot of the fine details.” He had watched a breakdown of the characters before, but that had been a decade ago.
“We will revisit that - I find I am very hungry. We should go.” She took his hand and pulled him along, pulling him close once they were back in the corridor.
Carbon stayed stuck to him all the way down to the dining room. They ate separately from the crew, which sort of chafed Alex, but he wasn’t just some guy anymore. He might have come to terms with feeling protective of the Tsla’o pretty easily, but the actual Royal treatment was going to be more difficult.
The second best Zeshen he knew was already seated. Sure, he only knew two of them so far, but Kaleta was a very, very distant second so it was worth pointing out... Even if he was only pointing it out to himself. Carbon was trying to salvage some portion of their relationship and Kaleta seemed to be very earnestly engaging in that in turn. He would continue to bite his tongue as long as they were working together.
Dinner was soup. Large bowls of that seafood-based broth they had at The Hammer’s Rest, more conventional noodles, and a variety of vegetables - including some carrot and cabbage. Nice to see that chef had dipped into the supplies he had gotten, Alex having told him the food was for the entire crew, with a few exceptions.
He’d recommend cracking open a can of SPAM for it, next time. A nice thin slice would work wonders.
Kaleta was full of questions. She had decided on not coming down, and now wanted a full rundown on what Carbon had seen... and Alex as well if he wished to speak with her. They weren’t on such good terms just yet.
Alex let Carbon talk while he ate and wrote up a note inviting the crew to movie night. The translator they had built into his comm worked a treat, which was good but also not helpful if he was ever going to learn to read and write Tsla. Which he kind of intended to do. It was just a little rundown. Start time, title, a brief plot synopsis, seating for about thirty, and enough audio translators that a full house would have to share so have your own wireless earbuds or antenna interfaces if it looks like a lot of folks are going to show up. Bring your own snacks. Send.
Dessert was chocolate ice cream. Coconut milk based ice cream, that lesson had already been learned. A hit at the table. Hopefully the crew would like it too, he had bought a hundred liters of assorted flavors for the Starbound and another hundred and fifty for the Vanasha.
He was dimly aware of the ongoing conversation when he heard Carbon invite Kaleta to the movie. Yes it would be a dark room and she would hopefully know how a movie worked so he wouldn't have to interact with her at all, but ugh, come on. They had almost killed each other. He glanced over at Carbon, who was already looking at him. She knew he was not keen on Kaleta, it was clear in her gaze, but she wanted his approval here.
If it had been anybody else wanting his blessing for an ask like this, no. Absolutely not. Not his mom, not Neya, not Eleya would get him to bend on this. But it was his wife. It was Carbon. He wanted her to have a good life, one where the scattered remnants of her family were not also held distant over... Well, it was a bit more than a mistake, but that whole situation had been a stack of bad decisions. The worst one she herself had made was trusting that Sharadi could still make a plan because she was desperate to get that idiot some help.
And besides, they had almost killed each other so they were even on that front. “Doors open at five PM ship time, movie starts at a quarter after. Bring your own snacks.”