Starmind Chapter 15 (Patreon)

I didn’t wake anyone that morning. I let each and every one of them sleep until they woke up on their own. I kept a careful eye on them, though, and whenever someone woke up I told them the same thing: “Don’t wake the others!”

Harvin was the first to wake.

“Good morning!” I told him. “Don’t wake the others!”

He looked around silently then gave me a thumbs up and carefully undid his straps. He didn’t even right his couch; he just climbed out, a little wobbly on his feet after lying down for so long. Then he walked with soft steps to the access tube, keeping a careful eye on Temeri the whole way.

“Good morning, Star,” he said once he’d used the head and was grabbing his breakfast from the nutrient paste dispenser. “Ugh. This is supposed to be for emergency use.”

“Every day is an emergency right now!” I told him. I didn’t feel nearly as cheerful about that as I sounded, but being sad about it wouldn’t help anyone.

“I suppose it is. What time is it, by the way?”

“A little past 0800 hours.”

Harvin nearly dropped his spoon. “What?! Why didn’t you wake me? Why is everyone asleep?”

“Everyone has been under a lot of pressure and working very hard! You all needed a proper night’s sleep,” I told him firmly. “That includes Temeri! Do you know, I don’t think she’s slept more than six hours at a time since the accident? That’s not healthy!”

Harvin frowned. “More like four. She may have had ten hours total since then.”

“Oh? Did you talk about it when I couldn’t hear?”

“Nah. I can feel it, you know? I told you how it gets a lot calmer, more quiet, when everyone’s asleep? Walls and all don’t really do much to block thought. Your Hull screens a little, with the mana channels and all, but only very little. And everyone has their own voice, so I can tell when the captain’s awake. She’s got real trouble going to sleep.”

“Oh, poor Temeri!”

“Yeah. Maybe I should have told Sim about it by now, but it’s awkward, you know? People don’t like to be reminded that I can’t help but listen in on them whenever I slip up.”

“Do you actually hear what they’re thinking?” I asked. I could see how that would make people uncomfortable. I had some thoughts sometimes that I think would make the Crew worried, and I certainly wouldn’t want them to know that!

“Not passively. If I focus I can, but most people will notice. It’s more emotions, usually. Lots of fear and anxiety, lately, and this constant atmosphere of worry — which might be you, come to think of it.”

“I do worry about you all a lot.”

“Yeah. Which is a real comfort, honestly.”

“You said that before.”

“Did I?”

“Yes! That it was a relief that I want to help you, or something like that. You promised to explain why.”

“Did I? Huh. Maybe I did.”

“So? Why?”

“Why is it a relief?” Harvin stopped eating and put his spoon back in the bowl. “Well… You’re the ship — you’re the only thing between us and the void, you know? We’re a billion miles from home, and you provide us with the air, heat, food and water we need to live. And— uh, some people wouldn’t like me to even bring this up, in case it gave you ideas, but you could easily use that to make us do anything, really, whether we wanted to or not.”

“I wouldn’t!” I was absolutely aghast! The idea of making them do something they didn’t want to for my own sake was… ugh!

And, no! Letting them get enough sleep was different!

“See, that’s just it! You wouldn’t. You want us to be safe, comfortable, and happy, even if that means you don’t get what you want. And then there’s what’s effectively a second class, which I would have a hard time believing except that Varlanda and Bekeri each got a skill from it. And that’s—”

Harvin had gotten more and more excited, but now he became silent for a while. When he continued he was very serious. “Star, can we have a secret, you and I? Just between us? One of the others might figure it out, too, but I’d rather not give them any ideas.”

“Okay. I guess? Although I’ll be very uncomfortable if they ask about it and I can’t say anything.”

“Yeah, I suppose you would. Alright, let’s do it like this: you don’t bring it up, but if someone asks directly about what I’m about to say, you can talk freely. Does that sound better?”

“Much better! So what is it? What did you want to say?”

“Star, the only beings that I know of who can grant skills, separate from the system and tied to themselves, are gods. I think you may be a tiny god, Star.”

Before I knew it I was laughing. I had no idea what to expect, but a joke was not it. “Oh, that’s good!” I giggled into his mind. “That's really good! The setup! All serious, ‘You can't tell anyone about this!’ and then that!” I kept giggling as Harvin finished his paste in silence, then told him, “Thank you, Harvin. I needed that.”

Harvin Alder has reached Crew level 2!

I hadn't expected the message, but it just made the whole situation even better. We may be getting chased by Bad Guys, but at least we could still have fun and get closer to each other.

“Did you just get a message about a skill?” I asked Harvin excitedly.

Harvin closed his eyes and nodded. “Starmind Astropathy,” he confirmed seriously.

“What do you think it does?”

“Can't even guess. We’ll have to find out. But, Star? I wasn't joking.”

I started laughing again. “What?”

“I'm serious. I think you’re a godling, like the little gods of the mountains or the great trees. The skills are even named for you, aren't they? ‘Starmind’?”

“That is what I am, but—”

“Yeah,” Harvin interrupted, raising his hands as if to show that nothing more was needed. Then his voice softened, and he leaned back, looking at the ceiling. “Listen, Star. I may be wrong. And it's not important to me if you believe it or not — I just thought you should know. It doesn't change anything. You're great, and I appreciate everything you do for us. Just think about it, alright?”

“Alright,” I agreed. There was no harm in thinking. “I still think it’s a funny idea, though.”

  *

Simeon and Bekeri woke at about the same time, around 0930 hours. Harvin had returned to his couch and gave them a silent wave as I told them the same thing I’d told him, warning them not to wake anyone. They waved back then snuck down off the bridge just as carefully as he had, getting barely a snore or a grumble out of the two sleeping women.

Simeon seemed a little lost about what to do after finishing his breakfast but settled on going through and documenting all the new bits and pieces I’d brought over from New Me. Bekeri, though, was focused and excited — I’d told him about the Phase Disruption Field Generator, and he’d begged me for the schematics before he even started eating.

“Hmm. Well, I can make many of these parts,” he said, flipping around the schematics on his slate. “I even have some lying around. But this? I don't even know what this is! I have no idea what it does, and I’m not sure that I even have the tools to make it!”

“Oh. Sorry,” I said. I was both a little disappointed and a little embarrassed about getting him so worked up about something new that he couldn’t even make.

“Oh, don't be!” Bekeri didn't seem concerned at all; on the contrary, his ears twitched with excitement. “I’ll bet you that once we get that Manufacturing Matrix running you’ll be able to make the parts we need. I feel it in my marrow!”

“You think?” I asked, excited again. “So we need to work together to make things?”

“I think that's exactly it! But! We have more important things to focus on first, don't we? We’re running on two secondary thrusters, yes?”

“Ugh, don't remind me. The broken ones still feel weird. They don't hurt anymore, but they’re really uncomfortable.”

“And I’ll need to take a look to see if there's anything I can do, but that will be a long-term project, I’m afraid. For now, though, there is something we can do to avoid getting caught and shot at again.”

“Boost the drive?”

“Boost the drive,” Bekeri agreed. “But it’ll take some crystals.”

“Oh, we’ve got plenty of those! I’ve made another seven since we escaped!”

“And you're okay with using some?”

“If it means not getting shot at again, absolutely.”

I shuddered at the thought — I’d spent some time figuring out how to do a shudder. I could change the “voice” I used when speaking into the Crew’s minds a little, but body language was very tricky without a Crew body. For shuddering I tried pulsing my gravity field quickly, figuring that would be a decent imitation of how the Crew tensed their shoulders and shook.

It didn't go over well. On the bridge the two sleeping women groaned and Harvin put his hand over his mouth. In the hold Simeon leaned against a wall, breathing slow and deep. And Bekeri sat back heavily on the bench, eyes going wide and ears flattening as he said, “Gods, Star, did you feel that? Did you do that?”

“Um… Maybe? What did it feel like?”

“Like I was spinning head over heels, over and over, but my eyes told me that I was completely still. Almost lost my breakfast just then!”

“Oh! Oh no!” I said, horrified at having made him feel so bad! “I’m so sorry. I was trying to shrug, and—”

Bekeri held up a hand. “No, that's—” He swallowed hard. “That's alright. I’m fine. Just, maybe consider some other way of shrugging? Especially with the thrust as high as it is now?”

I apologized to Harvin and Simeon, too, and they felt pretty much the same about the experience as Bekeri. With any luck Temeri and Varlanda wouldn’t remember what had happened at all — the whole episode was very embarrassing.

  *

Temeri slept until just past 1100 hours. I really would have preferred her to sleep a few more hours— she had a lot of sleep to catch up on. But it wasn’t like I could keep her strapped to her couch to force her to sleep.

Well, I could. I could have made the locks on the straps part of the couch, so they wouldn’t release. But I wouldn’t. And, anyway, she went from asleep to wide awake, looking around and undoing her straps so quickly that, even weighing twice as much as normal, she was already getting up when I noticed.

“Good morning, Temeri!” I said cheerfully. “Please try not to make too much sound; Varlanda is still sleeping.”

“Star?” she said, and quite loudly, too. I almost wondered if she was upset about something. Then she saw Varlanda, and it seemed that my words had caught up with her because she lowered her voice. “You let me sleep? Oh, thank the gods that’s all— Star, what time is it?”

“Can you go down to the crew level before we talk?” I asked. “Simeon told me that Varlanda might need to sleep for another few hours.”

She took another look at her Enchantress then nodded and made her way down the access tube. “What time is it?” she asked as she entered the rec room.

“It is 1108 hours,” I replied. “You’ve slept for almost seven hours. Which really isn’t enough, after how much you’ve been working.”

“I can be the judge of that,” she muttered, getting her nutrient paste from the dispenser. She held her bowl a little too far from the nozzle and the paste spattered a bit. Temeri looked silently at her hand a bit before wiping it on her trousers.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “Because Simeon says that getting as little sleep as you are isn’t healthy, and he’s the Healer. He should know.”

“These are special circumstances, Star!”

She was being really tetchy. Unusually so. I tried to remember if sleep was a sore subject for her, but, as far as I knew, it wasn’t. Of course, according to Simeon, not getting enough sleep could lead to mood swings and a bad temper, so it might be as simple as that.

What I wanted to know was why she felt she had to be awake all the time when she had me and a fully competent Crew to take care of things! “Temeri,” I said, “are you worried that something will happen if you’re not around to keep an eye on things?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, shoving a spoonful of paste into her mouth and swallowing angrily. The whole process looked awkward and unfamiliar. “But we’re in a crisis. I’m the captain, and keeping us all safe is my responsibility! I have a duty to my Crew!”

Ah! Duty! I understood that! I was sure that Simeon had told me something about that, so I reviewed my archives to double check before I spoke again. That done I said, “In that case, Temeri, what if it wasn’t your duty anymore? The ship’s Healer and two other officers can temporarily relieve you of command for medical reasons, right? Then you could sleep all day and not feel bad about it! How about that?”

Temeri’s eyes went wide. “No! No, Star, there’s no need for that!” she said urgently. “I’ll get some more sleep, alright? Seven hours per night, unless it’s a real emergency. Would that make you happy?”

“Um, okay?” I said, not sure why she’d suddenly changed her mind. “And… would you please go to bed early today? Try to really catch up? I’m going to give Bekeri some mana crystals, so we can maybe pull away from the Bad Guys a little, so there’s really no need for you to stress too much.”

“I…” she said doubtfully. “Okay. I’ll be in bed by 2200 hours, and I won’t get up tomorrow until I’ve had enough sleep. But only if you promise to send someone to wake me if something happens.”

“Of course! Oh, thank you, Temeri! I’ve been worried, you know? You’ll make yourself sick if you don’t sleep properly!”

“We have a Healer,” she grumbled softly. Then, in a normal voice, she said, “Alright, Star. Thanks for your concern.”

“There’s no need to thank me! You’re Crew,” I reminded her. “Your health and happiness is important to me, and Crew can’t be healthy or happy if they don’t get enough sleep!”

“Right. So. Bekeri wants to boost the drive again?”

“For an extended period, yes. We’re on two secondaries right now and those aren’t enough to keep us ahead of the Bad Guys. I’ve been staying ahead of them, but I can’t pull away; any time I burn, they burn harder. But with the boost we’d be able to accelerate faster than if we had all thrusters working! We talked about it, and we agreed that the Bad Guys probably can’t make more fuel in-flight the way I can, so if we build up enough relative velocity we should be able to force them to give up. We just wanted to ask you first.”

“Appreciate it. And yes, that sounds like a good idea. As soon as possible, preferably.”

“I can ask Bekeri and Simeon to secure their things and get ready right now, if you want?”

“Do it,” she said, then went to clean and stow her bowl and spoon. “Please,” she added.

“Aye, Captain!”

I felt a lot better than I could have expected this morning! We had a plan to outrun the Bad Guys, Bekeri thought that the skills I gave the Crew were intended for us to work together — which I loved — and Temeri had promised to get some more sleep! Maybe I could get her to let everyone else sleep as long as they wanted? I’d have to ask her when she was in a better mood.

I passed Temeri's orders on to the others. Simeon could pretty much just drop what he was doing and make his way to the bridge, but Bekeri needed to secure his project and his tools — he was making sure that he had all the components for the Phase Disruption Field Generator. Then he made his way to the engineering section and prepared to cast his spell.

“Is everyone ready?” he asked, and I checked with the Crew on the bridge. They were all comfortable and strapped in, but I asked to be sure.

“Ready!” I told Bekeri. Then I brought out two mana crystals and gave them to him.

“Excellent,” he said, weighing the two small crystals excitedly in his hands. “I’ll use one to extend the duration, and one to boost the power of the spell. And, do your trick with the gravity as I’m heading up, would you, Star? It’ll save us a few seconds before I'm in my couch. Fun, too!”

“I will,” I laughed. “Temeri says, ‘Whenever you're ready,’ by the way.”

Bekeri cast his spell, and the crystals he held crumbled into dust that simply vanished as though they’d never been. Then he rushed to get to the bridge.

As he climbed, I reduced the thrust until he became weightless, but once he was safely back to his couch I ramped up until we were really burning! I pushed my gravity field as far into the negatives as it would go, until I could feel my mana decreasing — I hadn't even known that I could do that! — and then pushed the thrusters until the Crew were struggling to stay conscious. I kept it up until Simeon slapped his armrest and choked out, “Enough! Star, enough!” Then I throttled back to where they were feeling about 5 G’s, where they could at least stay awake, if with some effort.

I didn’t like doing it. I wasn’t maliciously hurting them, but even making them uncomfortable made me uncomfortable, too. There wasn’t really any choice, though. The Bad Guys had been slowly gaining on us for hours, their thrust-to-weight being far better than mine, and unless we wanted to get shot at again, we’d all have to endure some discomfort. Now, I carefully watched as the rate at which they were closing in slowly decreased, then hit zero, and finally went negative. We were pulling away, and when I announced that a half-breathless cheer went up from the crew.

I hadn’t been burning aimlessly, either. As the distance to the Bad Guys ever so slowly increased, I put us in a stable orbit around Avara.

By the time Bekeri’s spell ran out several minutes later, the Bad Guys had given up. They put themselves on a trajectory that would bring them close to Erebus, then cut their thrust.

We were safe. For the moment, at least.

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