The Star Pirate's Folly

Chapter 25: Optima

"You want slow movements—it's easy to pull a muscle thrashing around trying to get your balance. Know exactly what you want to do before you do it," Truly said through a speaker inside Bee's helmet.

The proximity of his voice unnerved her still despite it being their fifth nullroom session together in as many days. Bee couldn't help but feel like he said the words from just behind her ear. It made the hair on her neck stick up all weird.

"Okay, here goes," she said.

"Not too much force," Truly reminded her.

Bee squatted against the wall above the door to the nullroom, both boots planted square underneath her. Just stand and push off with your feet, he said. Stand and push. Not too hard, she thought as she looked up to gauge the distance to the other side. She straightened her knees to stand and shoved off from the wall, immediately feeling the temporary brain-freakout free fall still gave her.

"I said not too much..." Truly shook his head from his vantage point on the ceiling.

She'd pushed off too hard, zooming toward the opposite wall faster than she intended. She flung her arms out like Truly had told her to do if she needed to stop and the nodes in her palms shot beams of energy toward each wall. Her arms flexed from the strain as she slowed, stopped, and turned to pull herself back toward her starting point.

"Well, you didn't hit the wall this time," said Truly.

"Yeah, I'm a real pro." Bee closed her hand into a fist, reached out to the wall, and exposed the node in her palm when she was ready to move, tugging herself carefully forward with the green beam of energy.

"I've seen worse. You're no natural, but put in the time to practice and nobody can tell the difference. For less than a week in the nullroom you're doing alright."

"Less than a week's probably the most practice I'm ever going to get," she said. "We get to Optima tomorrow, right?"

"Yup."

"And then you guys are off on your treasure hunt."

"Which you're not going to tell anyone about," Truly said. "Right?"

"The Captain already talked to me," Bee said as she raised her boots to the wall. "If anyone asks you're on a routine salvage expedition."

The nodes grabbed on and she dropped onto the wall in a standing position. Moving in the suit was becoming much easier for her—she'd learned in the time she and Truly practiced how the suit used natural, intuitive motion commands to control the nodes. It was starting to feel like a second skin.

"Yeah, well you didn't talk to me yet. And don't think anyone trusts you just 'cause you've been working everyone on board."

Bee reeled from Truly's combative tone. "What? Where did that come from? I'm not—"

"Please. You've been pumping every person on this ship for information since day one. You know too much for me to be comfortable."

Truly descended from the ceiling and flipped himself to land on the floor. He started dismantling his armor as he walked to his locker.

"Well no shit, of course I'm asking questions. I want to learn from you guys," she snapped, glaring at him from her perch on the wall. "You're the real thing. Privateers. That's what I want to be."

"Oh, I see. You think it's that easy?" Truly laughed and mocked her with a high-pitched voice. "I'll just become a privateer, that sounds great! This is no cakewalk, Buttercup. You can't just sign up—and even if you could we wouldn't be bringing on some damn teenage girl."