I stood in the doorway to Uncle's room. Tayle and Gericht, with Winri on his shoulders, stood behind me. Tank had been unable to get away from his duty in the com. office so it was just the four of us. Dust motes floated in the dim light of the single overhead fixture, a plain industrial thing with no cover over its bare bulb. A hidden ventilation fan idly spun, making a persistent clicking noise. If it wasn't for all the boxes stacked on top of the bed I would have thought that Uncle still lived here, and had just stepped out for a minute.
Aside from the bed, there was a small desk and bench tucked into the other end of the cramped room. Tall shelves packed full of data disks, compads, and even some folders with paper documents filled the space on either side of the desk. There were maybe a couple of square meters of open floor left.
"It's just storage space now. After Uncle died, Representative Sakchai took the opportunity to centralize all record-keeping on the station and reduce it to a single office. The only documents still kept here are considered important enough to relocate." I was broken out of my reverie by Tayle's subdued voice.
"Doesn't seem right, that Uncle is forgotten about so easily. He practically raised half the people in this section, he saved the lives of those kids. All there is to show he was even here now is this glorified storage locker that his room's become." Gericht noted softly as atop his shoulders Winri vigorously nodded her head in agreement.
"One thing I learned out there is that life is cheap, no matter where you go. Everyone is always looking out for number one, themselves. Even most of the people cooperating on this station act out of self-interest, not any kind of concern for their neighbors. I watched a lot of people die in my years as a voidrat on tramp freighters. After watching the first dozen or so of your fellow 'rats die you become numb. The only thing you have control over is your own memory of them, hold on to that." Tayle gave me a soft smile as she rested her hand on my arm.
"Well said, Rama. Fame will fade and be forgotten, but the memories of him won't."
Stepping into Uncle's old room, the others followed me in and closed the door behind them. His room wasn't in a well-trafficked section of the station, but this wasn't the kind of conversation to have with an open-door invitation. Shifting some of the boxes to the side Tayle and I sat on the bed, Gericht took the bench and Winri made herself at home on his lap.
"So, how did you end up with a ship of your own, Rama? I can't believe you would ever be able to afford one."
"Yea! Spill, Rama! Who'd you steal it from?" I gave the duo on the bench a mock offended scowl, happy to see them regain some of their good mood, even if it was at my expense.
"I'll have you know I am a man of integrity and robust moral character, I would never stoop to petty thievery." I adopted my most pompous and arrogant voice. Tayle gave me an unimpressed look for my efforts.
"Yes, such an upstanding member of our community that I repeatedly caught you stealing from the kitchens."
"I'll have you know it was only for the most just of causes. I stole only to provide for those in need, why without my efforts poor, sick Arvin would have starved."
"Yes, which is why I let you get away with it, that time. Speaking of Arvin, he's done pretty good for himself. He got snatched up by some girl from section five and moved there, running their hydroponics section with her."
"That's good, I'm glad he's doing well. What about you Tayle, I noticed you look like you've been running scrap duty. With your marriage to Kal you shouldn't have to-" I cut myself off at the pained look on her face. I think I just walked into the proverbial Kab's nest.
"Uh, nevermind forget I asked-"
"She's working scrap because Kal divorced her." Winri cut me off.
"Winri!"
"What? He deserves to know that his friend is being treated like slag for something that isn't her fault!" I felt the beginnings of anger forming a burning ball in my gut.
"He divorced you?" Tayle nodded.
"Yes, after you left we were married, and well, we found out I can't have kids. I'm barren, Rama."
"That's not right, even if you can't give him kids that's no reason to just- just throw you away!" Winri argued.
"Winri's right Tayle, you're not just some baby-making machine. I know it's the way things are here on the hab, that they have to ensure that there's another generation, but he could have taken another woman too. Kal compares me to an Itzli when he's done something like this? He wants to see a cold-blooded lizard all he has to do is look in the mirror." I had learned early on after leaving The Hab to control my anger, but right now seeing the way Tayle had been treated was making it very hard. She was everyone's big sister, and Kal would just throw her away, it made me mad.
"Thank you, Rama, but please don't get involved. There's no point in trying to change things." I looked away, unable to bare the defeated look in her eyes any longer.
I hated that look, it made me want to track down Kal right this second and frag him up. But it wouldn't change anything, all it would do is make things more difficult for Tayle. Her life here on the station was already difficult enough. On the station...
"Tayle, when I leave I want you to come with me." There was a crash as Winri fell off Gericht's lap.
"What?"
"You heard me, when I leave I want you to come with me. You don't deserve to spend the rest of your life being cooked by radiation collecting scrap for an ungrateful lizard like Kal."
"Woohoo, go Rama! Finally making a move." Winri as usual recovered almost instantaneously from her shock, popping back up like a particularly bouncy spring, if only to indulge in her urge to tease.
"It's not like that, Winri and you know it." I felt my cheeks flush in embarrassment. It was no secret that most of the boys that Tayle had helped babysit had fallen for her, and I'm sure she herself was aware too going by her own face's attempt to set itself on fire.
"Sure, sure, Rama. I bet it was your plan all along, wasn't it? Go out and get a ship so you could come back and sweep our sweet Tayle off her feet." I cleared my throat and gave Winri a dry look.
"Yes, I totally went out and risked life and limb to seduce a married woman to follow me into a dangerous and uncertain life among the stars."
"Ooh, don't tease someone with a good time, Rama- yowch!" I gave Gericht a thankful look as Winri affected a wounded expression that fooled nobody.
"Look, just think about it okay, Tayle? You two as well Gericht, Winri. Any of my old friends have an open invitation to come with me when I leave. Now, I feel we've kind of left the topic of discussion. Let me tell you what my life's been like and you can decide for yourself if you want to go back out there with me."
Tayle gave me a nod, and Winri made herself comfortable on Gericht's lap again, so I launched into my story. I had only spent a few years as a voidrat, but surviving that long in such an occupation was an achievement of its own. Every day as a voidrat carried the risk of death.
I told them of the daring EVA excursions I made to conduct repairs. I talked about the people who died doing it, crushed against the hull after a course change before they could return to safety or immolated by the drive plume of the engines. There was no hiding the thoughtless brutality of space. On The Hab, the number of people was limited so every life was valuable for its utility. Out there life was cheap, what was the life of one voidrat when there were millions more willing to replace them?
But it wasn't all danger and misery out there. I described the amazing things I had seen. The giant chrome orbital palaces of the Itzli homeworlds. The greens and blues of a vibrant, lush world seen from orbit. Massive cosmic storms light years across as they flashed with purple plasma arcs. The universe was an amazing place, it was just a shame it was full of equally terrible people.
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I came to how I had quit being a voidrat to sign on as a miner. The freighter I had been on had been particularly badly maintained and was carrying a cargo of volatile chemicals. The entire voyage had been one thing after another really. First, we dropped from Subspace into the middle of a meteor swarm causing substantial damage to the freighter.
"Then, while I was outside trying to fix the worst of the damage all the crew except for those on the bridge died when toxic fumes entered the life support system. The sharp maneuvers the ship had taken to escape the meteor storm and avoid more meteor impacts had stressed the already worn-out AG generator for the cargo bays. The chemical containers broke loose and smashed themselves open on the walls of the cargo bay. The only reason I didn't die gasping for breath like the rest was that I was already suited up in the airlock. The bridge crew lived only because the bridge had a separate independent life support system. After returning to the freighter I had to walk down corridors filled with the dead bodies of my crewmates." Winri buried her head in Gericht's shoulder at the image, and Tayle shuddered in horror.
"The journey wasn't over yet though. The captain and surviving crew refused to leave the bridge to help run the ship, terrified that the chemicals might kill them, the bunch of cowards. So it was up to me to get to the engine room and keep everything running on my own. The Subspace drive had been knocked out by the meteors so we had to travel the last intra-system leg of the journey in normal space. I spent three days in that engine room keeping the ship running, scavenging dead bodies for boosters and food pouches to stay alive."
"What did I receive for my heroic efforts to save the ship? Nothing. As soon as we'd docked, I went back to being just another voidrat, not worth even acknowledging the existence of. I just knew that if I stuck with that freighter I'd die on the next flight. So I took what meager savings I had managed to gather and made the down payment on a miner debt contract. I received a decrepit mining craft for below-market cost, and in exchange, I paid a premium on every trip to the belt I made, and I had to make a certain number of successful trips per month. Of course, what they didn't tell you about was all the loopholes in it to stretch the contract out effectively forever, one bad trip away from contract breach. " I shrugged my shoulders at their indignant looks.
Even as self-serving as everyone was on The Hab, there was still a minimum level of integrity because if there wasn't the whole system broke down. Out there, nobody cared because they could always just go somewhere else to frag somebody else.
"If you're not fragging someone else out there, odds are you're the one being fragged."
"Doesn't make it right." Winri pouted, crossing her arms petulantly like a child.
"The universe ain't right, Winri. But there's nothing we can do about it but roll with the punches." I got a pouty huff for my trouble before she jumped topics.
"So! So, how did you get your hands on a ship then? You keep avoiding the subject."
"I'm getting there you little gremlin. You need to understand the situation I was in before I can tell you what I did." I winced as Tayle shot me a sharp look.
"Rama, what did you do?"
"It wasn't that bad! I even got my leg back!" I bit my tongue, too late to stop the creation of cosmic storm Tayle and supernova Winri. My reaction to that tone of voice from Tayle was ingrained from years of troublemaking.
"You WHAT?!" I flinched at the shriek from Winri and wilted under the glare from Tayle.
"I said I got it back didn't I?"
"Details. Now. Rama."
"There was an Itzli merchant who was... interested in me. I don't know if he wanted me as an exotic slave or just lunch, but I wasn't interested in finding out. He'd been pulling all kinds of tricks to make me default on my contract which would have allowed them to collect the collateral I put down as insurance on the contract, namely myself. I'd be auctioned off to recoup costs."
"Rama..."
"I know it was stupid, Tayle. But if I'd stayed on as a voidrat I was dead. This was the only choice I had. Things had been going pretty well before Ti'Zok took an interest in me too. Anyway, I guess he got tired of playing games with me because one day I came back from mining and he confronted me, telling me he was going to just buy out my contract since I refused to let him pay it off in exchange for a new one with him." Winri huddled back into Gericht, shaking. Gericht processed the story with his usual quiet composure and Tayle had turned pale.
"My only hope was something I'd stumbled across a few mining trips before. There'd been this old derelict mining craft I'd come across, nothing salvageable on it except for a compad recording their discovery of a ship inside an asteroid cluster. So I escaped the station and navigated the asteroid cluster and claimed the ship."
"I feel like you're leaving some details out, Rama. Like how you lost your leg!" Tayle growled, her face regaining color and turning red, and I leaned back from her.
"Um, would you believe me if I said it got caught in a door when I boarded the ship?"
"Ra-ma."
"Ok, so there may have been a chase on the station involving a pair of Kekoans." I rushed on as Tayle's glare intensified.
"I may have also been followed by the Itzli merchant who saw the information on the compad I found. And there may have been another chase through the asteroid cluster which resulted in me crashing my mining craft and having to space walk the last stretch to the ship that involved me having to go through a nest of Kab and one of them taking my leg!" I blurted out in a single breath, watching as Tayle and Winri's eyes got wider and wider.
"Rama..." Winri whispered, clinging to Gericht, looking at me in worry.
"You utter slag-brained idiot. I really should have just chained you to your bed." Tayle's eyes narrowed, her worry for me was a bit more concerning.
"Hey, it all turned out alright didn't it? I even got my leg back, turned out the ship has this nova medbay. I bet it could fix you three right up as well." I desperately attempted to deflect the wrath of cosmic storm Tayle.
"Do you think it could fix Tayle's problem with having kids?" Thank you, Winri, I think you just saved me from a life chained to a bed.
"Rama, could it really?"Tayle's eyes shone with renewed hope.
"I mean, I don't know for sure but if it could regrow my leg I don't see why not. I'd need to have the medbay look at you to know for sure though." I silently queried the ship's medical system with my NIL instantly receiving the answer I was hoping for. It could fix almost all forms of organ damage, including genetic therapy for most disorders that caused barrenness in women.
"Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's go!" Winri cheered.
"Wait, Rama. I almost forgot, Uncle left something for you." Tayle stood, walking over to the desk and opening one of its drawers as Gericht and Winri moved out of the way.
Reaching inside she pulled out a small rectangular box that easily fit in her hand. She handed it to me and I turned it over in my hands, inspecting it. It was made of some brown material, with a shiny yellow metal gilding the edges.
"Is this... wood?" I wondered. I had seen things made of wood of course, both genuine and synthetic. Even the fake stuff was a luxury though.
My NIL pointed out a small indentation just below the latch in the gilded metal that would fit a finger. Fitting the pad of my index finger into the indentation, I felt a cool sensation wash over it before I heard a soft click as the box unlocked.
"I found this box when we were cleaning Uncle's room after... After he died. There was a note with it that if you ever returned it was to be given to you. I hid it in his desk behind all the old documents they left here. No one ever comes here anyway, so it was the perfect place to hide it." I barely paid attention to Tayle's explanation as I gently opened the box, mesmerized.
Inside I found several storage compartments lined with a soft fabric. From the first, I lifted a chain with a pair of tags on it. I grasped my own through my shirt confused before I realized the ones I held before me had my name written on them not in Itzlish but in English. I gently lowered them over my head before pulling my shirt away from my chest and dropping them down to rest beside the other pair.
The next compartment held a silver metal badge with the words 'PROJECT HALCYON' engraved upon it in English. I turned it over in my hands, confusion, and astonishment rising. I looked up at Tayle where she stood watching me silently.
"Uncle didn't leave behind anything else mentioning this box? No notes or explanations on what was in it?" Tayle shook her head.
"No, nothing we could find, just the note saying that it was for you and that you were the only one who could open it." I nodded, looking back down at the box.
Placing the badge back in its spot, I lifted the next item out of the box. I held a pair of plain silver rings in my palm. There was no engraving or gems set in them, they were just simple metal bands.
Returning the rings, I picked up the next object. It was another badge, but this time it was made of stiff leather. Stitched into it were the words '12TH FLEET 2ND CRUISER SQUADRON "IMMORTALS"' surrounding the image of what must have been an ancient human warrior wielding a curved sword and a shield.
"I don't think I've ever seen that script before, I wonder what it says." Tayle pondered.
"It's in English, it says it's from the second cruiser squadron of the twelfth fleet called the 'Immortals.'" I replied absently as I replaced it in the box and reached for the last object.
"You can read it?!" Winri interjected.
"Yea, the ship I found is Human, I learned it there. It's the common dialect of humanity that all humans are supposed to learn, it's what we're speaking right now actually." Picking up the last object interrupted whatever response they had to that revelation because as soon as I picked it up the metal disc came to life.
Fumbling, I almost dropped it as the image on it disappeared and reappeared with each touch. Finally catching it, I was able to get a good look at the image the holoframe, as my NIL labeled it now that I was paying attention to it, was projecting. A pair of smiling humans looked back at me.
Showing only their head and torso, the woman was the one that drew my attention first. Dark-skinned and haired she was beautiful, with a happy smile on her painted lips, and dark eyes dancing in joy in a heart-shaped face. From what I could see of her she was wearing a colorful shoulderless outfit colored in red, orange, and gold. Her smile if anything grew brighter as a short animation looped showing her hand as she displayed one of the silver bands from the box on her finger.
The man beside her was an example of opposites. Pale skin, blond hair, and gray eyes set in a chiseled face. Despite his stern features, he too had a happy smile on his face raising his hand interlinked with the woman's, displaying the other ring. All I could see of his clothes was a white, red, and gold jacket buttoned closed.
"Wow, do you think those are your parents, Rama?" Winri exclaimed.
"Maybe? I mean they could be anybody."
"You have his eyes." Gericht quietly noted.
"And you have her hair, too." Tayle noticed.
"Oh! Oh! You have his jaw and her skin! They're totally your parents!" Winri pitched in.
"Huh, you might be right." I considered as I rubbed my jaw, comparing it to the one of the man in the holoframe.
The image evoked more than mere curiosity in me now. I felt a deep sense of longing welling up in me, a choking sensation filling the back of my throat as emotion threatened to overwhelm me. Most people would say that I didn't have nearly enough information to confidently say I knew they were my parents, but I just knew. That woman was my mother, she had given birth to me. While Uncle had been like the father I never had, and Tayle the sister I never had, the man smiling back at me in the image was my real father.
Reverently, I placed the holoframe back in the box tapping it one last time to turn off the projection, feeling a deep sense of loss as the image disappeared. Closing and latching the box, I looked up to see that Tayle and Winri were as deeply affected as I was. Tayle's eyes were wet, and Winri was sniffling valiantly trying to hold back the flood that wanted to burst forth.
I would talk to Hailey later, to see if she knew anything more about any of these items. While most more recent information and history about humanity had been purged from the ship, and Hailey had apparently led a relatively secluded life, I still held out hope that maybe she could tell me something.
"So, you guys want a tour of the ship? I owe you that visit to the medbay don't I?" I stood, feeling awkward in the emotionally charged room, and latched on to the first topic I could think of. Tayle wiped the corners of her eyes as she stood. Winri desperately scrubbed at her face with her sleeve as Gericht also stood, picking her up.
"Yes, you do. But don't go thinking it makes up for all the trouble you managed to find your way into while you were gone." I get the feeling that if Tayle decides to come with me when I leave it will be less about her getting out of this slag-pit and more about making sure I don't do anything else stupid.
"We'll meet you-" Whatever else Tayle was about to say was cut off by the beeping of her chronometer. I checked the time on my NIL, realizing in all the excitement I had never checked what the station time was compared to the ship's time. It was almost time for dinner ship time, but on the station, it was barely after midday.
"Looks like it'll have to wait, Rama. I didn't realize it was so late already. I'll have to leave now to make it in time for my shift, and no I can't skip. After your deal with the station rep. We're pulling in all the scrap we can find."
"Later then, it's almost evening for me going by ship time, so I'll meet you in the docking bridge at 0900 station time if that works for you." Tayle gave me a knowing look at my lack of foresight, and I grinned sheepishly as they filed out of the room ahead of me. I should probably talk to Hailey first instead of just showing up with them unannounced.
I head back to the ship on my own after they leave, I'm kind of surprised I still remember how to get around The Hab after all these years. Tayle and the others have really had it rough, so I hope Hailey will be alright with me inviting them along. She needs more people to talk to than just me, and I think they'd be a good influence on her.
Why did I just feel a shiver go down my spine?