Cassie was not out of breath by the time they walked into the engine room.

She was almost out of breath. And trying to hide it.

The trek back through the entire length of the ship had taken them almost an hour, and they hadn't even gotten lost once. Helen clearly knew this place like the back of her hand, confidently leading them to the subdecks that housed the major systems. The hum of working machinery was getting louder. Power generation, propulsion, environmentals, it was all up here.

This was the heart of the ship.

But not a healthy one.

Once they'd gotten up the ladder, she'd quickly lost count of how many shoddy repairs she'd been able to spot so far. And those were only the ones that were visible. And she hadn't even gotten to the main systems yet.

She peeked into a room as they walked by, distracted by the familiar sharp, acrid scent of rubberized metal. It looked like it housed one of the oxygen scrubbers, one that didn't seem to be working. The workstation screen was silently flashing red with errors, begging for attention. Part of the complex network of pipes and chemical vats had been dissembled... and not in an organized fashion.

Along with the parts scattered on the floor, she spotted a laser torch, just lying on the ground, as if forgotten. Not recently either, given the thin coating of dust. And there was no sign of anyone in there.

"We're almost there," Helen called out ahead of her.

Cassie ducked under a low hanging cable, moving onto the next room, which was completely packed with machinery. Even Helen had to slow down here, taking care to avoid tripping over the thick cables snaking across the floor as she made her way deeper into the inanimate jungle.

Cassie followed, carefully navigating the narrow throughways, which had some alarmingly sharp edges sticking out. If there was some sort of path their captain was following, Cassie couldn't see it.

The hum was louder here and, unlike the rest of the ship, this place smelled. Not a lot, but enough for someone used to clean, filtered, scrubbed air to notice. She couldn't quite identify the metallic tang lingering about, or the faint smell of burnt toast.

The smell shouldn't have been there. The filters in the ventilation system should have removed it. But she liked it. It was real. It meant stuff was working.

It was comforting, like home.

One of the free hanging cables brushed her sleeve, leaving a greasy, black smudge. She didn't even notice it, the colour easily blended into her stained uniform, and she was focused on avoiding an exposed gearbox on her right.

Cassie made a mental note to never let her hair down in here.

It wasn't the only thing around here that had had it's guard removed. Or modified. Some equipment seemed to be constructed entirely out of patchwork, so much so that she was beginning to wonder how much of the original ship was even left.

Helen slowed to a stop. "So this is our maintenance hub." She raised her voice above the noise. "You'll be working here."

Cassie nodded, eager to finally get started.

"Aqeel?" Helen called out, sticking her head between two humming metal boxes.

There was frustrated muttering from the depths of the mechanical jungle.

Cassie couldn't make out any of the words over the cacophony.

Helen stuck her head further in, raising her voice. "We're getting ready to undock, is everything good?"

"Yes, yes, all good." A gruff voice answered, sounding slightly muffled. "Minor tuning. All finished now."

"Good," Helen yelled back. "I brought Cassie down."

Something metal clanged in the distance. "Who?"

"Our new trainee." Helen's yelled response sounded more that a little annoyed.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Oh, right." Aqeel's voice came back. "Send her in."

Helen pulled her head out, looking at Cassie. "He's in there somewhere. I'll leave you two to finish the preflight checklist together."

Cassie nodded again, before stepping sideways into a tiny nook, so Helen could pass back the way they'd come. Cassie continued onwards. It was beginning to feel like she was solving an intentional maze, even though it had one very obvious clue.

All she had to do was follow the smell of burnt toast.

She almost tripped as she walked into the small clearing. In contrast to everything else, it was a relatively clean, open space free of machinery. This was the eye of the only-slightly-metaphorical storm.

Where Aqeel had clearly made himself comfortable. There were scattered tools and workbenches with half-finished projects. There was a toaster, paired with a plate of blackened bread. That in itself was a mystery. She had no idea where he might have gotten actual bread, considering how all their food came in dehydrated, prepackaged portions.

Aqeel was leaning back in a well-worn, comfy looking chair. From this angle, all she could see was the dusty grey hair on the back on his head. He hadn't noticed her yet, his attention still focused on the many screens in front of him.

Some of them showed the status of the ship and it's systems. Some of them showed sensor readings from outside the ship. Some of them were displaying diagrams.

Some of them showed old zero g football matches.

Suddenly, Aqeel swiveled around to face her. To her surprise, he was wearing the uniform, very stained, almost black. She had a feeling that he used it purely for the pockets, which were stuff with a whole manner of tools, widgets and kinknacks.

As he moved, a slinky fell out of a pocket on his calf. He ignored it, touching his short, peppery beard as he looked her over. "So... you're the fresh meat."

Cassie squirmed under the scrutiny.

She didn't like how that sounded. It was worse than greenie.

But maybe it was more accurate.

"Um, yeah," Cassie almost whispered, nearly a squeak. She cleared her throat, trying to stand up straighter. "But this isn't my first ship, I was assigned to the Queen Margret before this. So I'm familiar with spaceships."

Aqeel didn't look impressed, if anything he looked rather bored. "I've seen your resume."

"Oh, right," Cassie mumbled, sticking her hands in her pockets.

"This place is nothing like the Queen Margret." Aqeel tossed an elastic band ball into the air and caught it. "We don't carry passengers, for starters."

"Yes, of course, that's not-" Cassie bit the inside of her cheek, thinking about what to say next.

The others seemed to believe that she was competent, if a little clumsy. But the others also knew jack shit about how this place actually worked. She might have been able to fool everyone into thinking that she actually knew what she was doing.

Everyone except Aqeel.

If anyone was going to be able to sniff out her inexperience, it would be him. And he'd just seen right through her opening. She couldn't afford to make another bad impression.

Cassie took a breath, picking her next words carefully. "I just meant that... I think I can be useful, but I am ready to learn."

"Hmmm..." The ball had disappeared into another pocket just as quickly as it had appeared.

Cassie stared at her boots. Her eyes traced the scuff marks, the exposed metal visible through numerous small tears, the rusted eyelets barely holding the frayed laces in place. She tried not to look nervous as she waited out the silence. Her stomach felt like she was going through the grav flip again.

"Did you read the manuals?" Aqeel asked out of the blue.

Cassie blinked once before her brain managed to fully process the question. "I didn't have a lot of time, but-"

"Good," Aqeel interrupted. "Because I don't use them anyways."

Given their surroundings, that probably should not have surprised her. But it sounded like progress. She was beginning to shift into cautious optimism. "Um, okay?"

"And I don't have the time to explain every little thing to you," Aqeel went on, still sounding rather bored. "Just watch and learn."

Cassie nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Knock that off," Aqeel snapped. "We're not that kind of ship."

"Sorry," Cassie said softly.

The look he gave her was just as disapproving. But at least he didn't say anything.

"So... um... when do we start the preflight?" Cassie asked tentatively, hoping to change the subject.

Aqeel finally smiled, bringing out the deep laughter lines around his eyes and mouth. "It's all done."

Cassie's brow furrowed. A preflight for a ship this large could take hours. "Huh? How?"

Aqeel shrugged. "I finished it right before you got here."

"But I thought you were tuning the... ion amplifiers?" The words felt wrong coming out of her mouth, she knew that couldn't be right.

Aqeel smiled mischievously.

"Which was obviously not what you were doing because..." Cassie hesitated. "...this ship doesn't have ion amplifiers."

"Smart girl." Aqeel winked conspiratorially. "A ship this size would never have ion amplifiers, but our fearless captain doesn't know that." He smirked triumphantly. "That was just an excuse to avoid another boring meeting."

"Oh," Cassie uttered quietly.

Aqeel leaned back lazily. The chair creaked.

Cassie's eyes flickered around, the chaos around them finally sinking in. This place was feeling more intimidating by the second. "So then... where should I start?"

"Come!"

That was all the warning she got before the old man bolted out of his chair with way more energy than she'd thought he'd had in him. He slipped out of the area through a small passage on the other side, an opening that she hadn't even noticed earlier. She followed him through to find herself right at the entrance to one of the main corridors.

No complicated navigation required.

Cassie glanced back at the well-hidden entrance in confusion. She didn't have the chance to ask him why they hadn't just entered this way in the first place, because Aqeel was already halfway down the corridor.

"Where are we going?" Cassie called, racing after him. She caught up to him as he was beginning to climb down the ladder at the end of the hall.

"To see the most important piece of tech on the boat."