Carpathian Forty-Three

Carpathian Forty-Three - Part 16

Ward walks into Operations, the slight gravity of The Ring holding them 'down' against the inside of the spinning ring that contains their human cargo. Their boots clomp on the metal plates of the floor. Such a strange concept on a ship like Carpathian Forty-Three, floor.

"How are they?" Stephen asks, as even toned as always.

There's a towel around Stephen's neck, damp with sweat. Their normally well coifed hair a tousle after the repairs and space walk. It wasn't grueling work, but any time in a spacesuit is fatiguing. He was little more than a gopher and third set of hands for The Twins. The shock of almost losing Beta didn't help.

"Resting," Ward says. "With some help."

The medic sedated Miki after Beta's rescue. It was Miki's mistake that had caused the maintenance drone to lose their footing on the outside of the ship, to float away into space. Only Voclain's abrupt course correction has saved the drone. Miki blamed themselves. They all blame Miki, to differing degrees.

Voclain is perched on a bar-height chair, one leg curled up under themselves. The captain looks old. The captain is old. Today especially, they look it. They stare at the central operations table, graphs and diagrams display there, detailing the ship's status, blinking at them silently. The captain's glasses reflect those displays to the rest of them, obscuring the vacant look, but not hiding it entirely.

Thakkar snaps off a bite of jerky with their teeth, chewing slowly. They're sitting at one of the normal height chairs, half-way between Voclain and Stephen. They glance between the captain and executive officer, observing, worrying, such as the Martian accountant worries.

Rhianu emerges down the ladder from The Spine with a grunt. The Ring's gravity isn't kind to Spacers, who aren't accustomed to even the low gravity of the ring. Their hair settles into a droopy ponytail, a change from the normal chaos of zero gravity.

"Beta?" Voclain asks, not looking up to the engineer.

There's a tension there, a charged field between the two of them that threatens to spark into argument. Rhianu slides into the chair opposite Thak, pushing against is as they settle in, stretching their spine uncomfortably. It's unusual, to see Rhianu pulled down by the oppression of gravity. The spin of The Ring pulls on their face, revealing wrinkles that are normally hidden by the lack of gravity.

"They're okay. A few minor repairs needed, more from extended EVA than being tethered back down. Alpha is taking care of them." Their tone is neutral. Deliberately neutral. It's so odd to think of pulling Beta 'down' to the ship.

Ward stands with their back against the wall, the only one used to more gravity than The Ring provides. Ward was also the most adamantly against waking Miki to fill in for the departed Fort. Their crossed arms display their opinion on the day's events.

"There were drugs in Miki's system. There are drugs in their system," Ward says, correcting themselves.

Voclain looks up, a question on their face.

Stephen sighs, their expression droops "Yeah. That makes sense." There's a tone of defeat there, not a tone of realization. Stephen, more than any of them, understands what Miki's going through. For Stephen disconnection from the Chorus of linked minds on Luna, humans, and Quantum Sentience both, was a choice. For Miki it wasn't.

"What?" Thak asks.

"Miki's implants allow them to self-medicate," Ward explains. "I wouldn't call them high, just, medicated."

"It's normal," Stephen says, "When you're going though Chorus withdrawal." There's a distance in those words, a desire to keep a memory from resurfacing.

"Enough to cause impairment?" Rhianu asks, not quite angrily. There's a threat of anger in their voice, a warning. They cross their arms like Ward, closing themselves off from the others.

"Yes," Ward says.

"We've been running with a high OS?" Thak asks. It's not right to call Miki high. They're all thinking it.

"Not high..." Ward starts.

"Who the fuck thought this was a good idea?" Rhianu seethes.

"I did," Voclain says quietly.

"We did," Stephen offers, defending the captain, like a good executive officer should.

"No," Voclain says, finally looking up at them, painfully. "I did. You all voiced your opinions." Voclain looks to each of them, the moment stretching as the captain locks eyes with each in turn. "This is my fault."

"Your fault almost got Beta killed!" Rhianu stands up painfully and leans on the operations table, their hands clutching the metal and glass, knuckles white. "Your fault is going to get us all killed!"

Voclain flinches at the accusation. The captain has stopped captaining.

"We are already dead," Stephen says, their voice even, matter of fact, detached, "We died the same time as Fort. We died when our chance to brake and hit a rendezvous orbit died. We're doing what any sentient life does when presented with its own mortality. We're fighting to survive."

"Darkness take you," Rhianu says at Voclain.

"Soon enough," Voclain laments.

The tension permeates operations. Thak glances between the captain and the engineer, obviously worried. Stephen looks to the captain for some indication of where to steer the conversation. They don't receive one.

"We aren't dead," Ward says from their lean against the wall. "I don't intend to die. Darkness can't have me today. What are we going to do?" When a captain is needed, one appears, sometimes from the most unlikely of places.

"Maybe there's another..." Thak starts to say, reaching for the same well that got them into their current problem.

"Not without Fort's echo, their memories. Miki has them," Stephen says. "Besides, we don't have the life support for another crewmember.

"We aren't letting a doped-up OS run the ship for the next three weeks," Rhianu says. They wobble a bit from their perch, standing over the operations table menacingly.

"They aren't doped-up," Stephen says, defending Miki.

"Whatever the fuck they are, I don't trust them to run ship's operations," Rhianu says.

"Someone else has to take over ship's operations," Voclain says. "Miki can practice the braking maneuver, but someone else has to run the ship." Stephen takes a deep breath, exhales it slowly.

"You said we can't wake another passenger," Thak says.

"I did," Voclain says. They lock eyes with Stephen. They all lock eyes with Stephen. The normally monastic executive officer closes their eyes for a long moment, shaking their head slightly. There's smoldering anger and a bit of fear in their eyes when they open them.

"No."