Ch 51

  [Baylor]

  “…need to go. T--”

  He was rudely interrupted by the painful feeling of cloth where it shouldn’t be.

  “Bad small thing. Pup trade. Wrap blue thing, try fake magic.”

  “Eep!”

  He didn’t much care for being dumped onto Christy’s lap, nor did he care to figure out what ‘wrapping’ was. Or why fake magic was even mentioned.

  “Ah, he seemed quite urgent there. Perhaps if there is a time limit, we should know of it?”

  Untangling himself from Christy, he stood up and looked around. The Urissa was a surprise, larger than himself but normal for the race, he didn’t expect to see pretty much everyone else in the room with him though.

  “We should detach from the station if everyone made it back. Christy, tell your contact to reschedule. We can use the shuttle.”

  When no one moved, he started to get a little annoyed.

  “We can leave when Moose is done.”

  Looking at the young girl, he noticed she was holding a data pad.

  “If you’re talking to Moose then let’s tell him we should go. I can help.”

  “No bothering Moose.”

  The fact it came from four different voices was probably more shocking than the response itself.

  “You might as well sit-down Baylor. I don’t know how many times it will take you getting manhandled before you remember that you aren’t in charge of those two, but this will go faster if you don’t interfere.”

  Every part of himself wanted to protest, but the part that had to dig his clothes out from between his legs seemed to have priority at the moment.

  “Right, it seems like we shouldn’t dawdle then. Young lady, you can be a master of something other than slaves.”

  He sighed and sat next to Christy.

  It seemed these people didn’t understand urgency.

  “Like quarters?”

  It seemed he didn’t understand this conversation.

  “Very much so. If that is all you wished for me to know, why don’t you go ahead and ask this Moose what else he wants to do here. It will give me time to think on the offer, yes?”

  The girl seemed to think hard for a moment. He guessed she couldn’t figure out anything else, as she seemed to agree to the plan.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “If you have your quarter with you, I guess that’s alright. Don’t blame me if you forgot it.”

  She left, and the female followed with a sigh.

  He counted in his head, then got up and shut the door. It seemed the other two had the same thoughts.

  “I think it time I was informed of exactly what is happening.”

  He was about to protest, but Christy stopped him.

  “We’re on the run. We don’t know who. We found this ship and wound up contracted to it, so we are pretty much stuck. I called you because this is basically a ghost ship and we need more crew.”

  He really needed to teach Christy that information security thing, but he assumed from context that this was their meeting for the station.

  “Christy, I would do a great deal for you, you know that. But children are a hard line. That girl is broken and only a fool would think otherwise. I can’t condone things like this. I had planned to call a children’s service when I met her.

  “Haah, I still might.”

  He shook his head. He wanted to let things play out, but he needed to set the field first.

  “No, you aren’t seeing things correctly. No Christy, I’m sorry.”

  He couldn’t let her interrupt yet.

  “You are one of the best people I know at dealing with, well, people. But I have watched you here and you still struggle to figure this ship out. I don’t know what your name is, but we are not in charge on this ship. We are at best passengers and at worst stowaways. Don’t think for a moment that we condone what is happening here. Just, also don’t think that we have an answer either.”

  This ship truly was conundrums wrapped in problems.

  “That.. I guess I cannot fault you for something out of your control. I will listen to the end, but I want it known that I protest the use of children in your plans.”

  “Arcto, please. You know I’m not like that. I can’t say I agree with Baylor’s assessment, but I know that the girl is not all there. I also know, unlike both of you apparently, that she isn’t a child. I know she seems small and acts like one. Sometimes. But she is at least old enough to be considered for work.”

  That truly did surprise him. He knew he didn’t spend much time attempting to place the girls age, but between her size and actions he had assumed she had yet to even cross the first age threshold. To be considered for work, at least for a Canirean, she would need to be past that point.

  “I didn’t call you because I wanted you to get involved with our problems, Arcto. I feel just as bad about what is happening to the girl as you do. This ship needs help. As far as we can tell, that girl is managing it all on her own.”

  He suspected the two giants offered more than just protection, both capable of labor if required. The girl could handle a lot of things with that much strength at her whim.

  But he did agree she couldn’t handle everything.

  “How is a girl that small managing a ship like this on her own? They don’t even let you contact the docking authority at this area unless you have a certain tonnage. Surely you are mistaken.”

  He sighed, he really wished they were. Christy obviously felt the same.

  “We can only wish. It has been more than a month now and we have seen no one but the girl. That and the giants, but they are more animal than sapient. The chances are getting slimmer as time goes by.”

  Their guest sighed this time.

  “Yes, that appearance from nowhere was quite the shock. I would have preferred to have had a warning beforehand. Feeling so small is not something I am used to. You say the girl lives alone with it? And there are more?”

  “Like I said. This is basically a ghost ship. From the records I could pull at the station where we boarded, this ship had been under quarantine. I suspect the giants to be trained animal or science experiments that the girl befriended after the rest of the crew perished.”

  The conversation seemed to be pushing away from important topics, so he interrupted.

  “The ship is automated. It is also human make, so that automation is in things it probably shouldn’t be. But it won’t matter if something breaks. The girl wanted to find a human slave, from the sounds of it for you, but I think even she knows and is starting to admit that the ship can’t go on as it has. Having someone here for the girl would mean she wouldn’t need to get involved with me or the danger that entails.”

  “Right, you seemed quite frantic when you came in. We should address that.”

  He sighed. It would have been nice to get a chance to figure out which parts of that story he should give to others.