Traveler in the Dark

36

Liu finished the orbital exit. He rechecked the calculations he had made only a few hours before, hoping his math wasn't as rusty as he suspected. Without the communications array, there was no way to check the predicted course until they came within visual range of the Keseburg. He just had to hope the large ship would be in the projected position. As long as they hadn't altered their flight path in the past weeks, he was confident they would be on target. He pressed his fingers into his eyelids and yawned. Then he unbuckled and pushed off toward the kitchen, stretching as he spiraled down the hallway. Issk'ath watched him as he floated past the equipment lock. Liu yanked himself to a stop with a sigh. The thing's eyes were creepy but he couldn't just let it sit there alone in the dark. Liu plastered an uneasy smile across his face and poked his head around the door frame.

"How are you—" he paused. He'd meant to ask how it was feeling, but rejected the idea as nonsensical. This thing was just wire and sparks. It wasn't like them. "How are you operating?" he finished awkwardly.

"Within norms," it said, further illustrating what Liu had thought. "Thank you for your concern," it added.

Liu nodded and turned to move away.

"May I see the rest of the ship?" it asked suddenly. Liu froze.

"I— better ask the Captain about that," he said quickly. "It's not— we just have several sensitive experiments in the labs," he was sweating and Liu could only hope Issk'ath didn't know enough about humans to notice.

"Very well," was all that it said.

"I'll go and find her," Liu stammered, pushing away before he could make it worse.

He was absently tapping his cup at the table when Al Jahi found him. "Do you need me to up the caffeine allowance?" asked the captain.

Liu smiled and shook his head. "No. I got enough sleep. Drinking it more out of habit than anything else."

"So why are you tapping?"

"Sorry." He pushed the cup away, locking it into the holder. "Am I that obvious?"

"You always tap when you're upset. Drives me nuts when I'm trying to listen to the feed."

"I'd say we all have reason to be upset," said Liu. He stared at Al Jahi, wondering if he ought to tell her about Issk'ath or not. He already knew her answer. What good would it do to ask?

"But specifically..." Al Jahi prodded him.

"Specifically, the robot wants a tour."

"It— what?"

Liu picked up the cup again. Twisted it between his hands. "Issk'ath. It wants to get out of the equipment lock and move around. I told it we had delicate procedures going on in the labs. That seemed to satisfy it for now."

"It's only a two-day trip— surely we can persuade it to stay put for that long."

He shrugged. "Maybe. I wasn't going to tell you, but if it decides it's waited long enough, that cargo band wasn't really meant to restrain anything, just hold it in place during launch. One of that thing's pincers could probably snap it no problem."

Al Jahi crossed her arms. "I hate this," she said.

"Me too," said Liu. "We're hostages in our own ship. It doesn't need air. It doesn't need food. I don't even think the environmentals affect it. You think we made the wrong choice?"

"What other choice was there? Remember," she said leaning toward him and lowering her voice, "We stick together. Forty-eight hours, we can hold these people in check that long. Just stay calm. Besides, it may not need the things we do, but it needs us. At least for now. This is our home. Space is our habitat. Without us, it would just drift forever. It needs our maps, our ships, our pilots. Especially since we watched the sunset the other night."