Starmind Chapter 54 (Patreon)

When Khani, Nahij, Liri, and Mel stepped into my cargo hold, they were cautious and wide-eyed. Not only were they walking awkwardly and whispering to each other about the fact that we had gravity on a stationary ship; more importantly, they were met with a small show of force. Temeri stood front and center with one of the awful weapons I’d let her keep from the gunship, a big, stubby thing. It made the taller woman with the mattress, who was first to see it, very nervous. With Temeri were the rest of the Crew. Bekeri and Varlanda stood by her side on the floor, and Simeon and Harvin were on the landing at the top of the ladder. Each held their Reinforced Focuses, the short spell focusing staves that I’d made for them when we were preparing to be boarded over a month ago. And spread throughout the bay were the golems Sophia had given me. They observed the Fever Dream’s crew in menacing silence, as though they could have done anything if our guests decided to do anything unfortunate.

“Welcome aboard,” Temeri said once the four had all come into the cargo bay. Her voice was firm, but not unfriendly. “I’m Captain Temeri. These are my crew; we can do introductions later. I want to be clear. Our weapons are not intended as a threat. You are guests, not prisoners, until you do something to make us reassess that. But I’m sure you understand that we’re far from home, and though we wish to help we need to take precautions.”

“Uh… yeah,” Khani drawled. He looked as nervous as the rest of his companions, except for the short, hairless woman who looked terribly unhappy with us. “We get that, don’t we?”

“Of course,” the taller woman said quickly. Her voice marked her as Nahij. “So… what does that mean at the moment?”

“It means,” Temeri replied, “that we will take you to your quarters, where you will be confined for a short time while we search and assess your ship. Food and hygienic facilities will be available; we’re pretty restricted when it comes to food variety at the moment, but our water and nutrient paste both come in a range of flavors, so there’s that. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that I expect you’ll be amazed by the hygienic facilities. Now, come on. Let’s get you situated, which… there’s a lift to the work deck, but we’ll have to get the mattress up the access tube somehow. Cut the gravity, maybe. We’ll figure it out.”

“How— just— how do you have gravity?” the shorter woman who must be Liri demanded. If I didn't know better I would have thought that she was actually offended! “The only gravity generators I’ve ever heard of, even theoretically—”

“I have a top-of-the-line, latest generation variable gravity generator!” I kind-of lied happily over the speakers. “Because I am a top-of-the-line ship!”

“That’s Star, our Mind,” Temeri said with just a hint of affection. “If you need anything, just ask. I trust her judgment.” And she wasn’t even lying to them, because she didn’t specify what kind of Mind. Sneaky, I thought.

Of course, we would emphatically not be letting them know about me until we knew and trusted all them a whole lot more than we currently did. They seemed friendly—except Liri—but that didn't mean they wouldn't have some kind of conniption over a living ship. Tammeron finding out was bad enough, and could have ended so much worse than it had. We wouldn't be risking a worse outcome if we could possibly help it.

Still, a ship my size would obviously have a Crystal Mind, and Crystal Minds were nothing if not helpful. I could play that part perfectly!

“Hello Star!” Mel called out cheerfully as they headed for the lift and the ladder. He had his arm around Liri’s back and was almost dragging her as she scowled her way forward. “And hello Temeri and everyone else! Thank you so much for this. I’m not sure that our dear Khani made it clear just how dire things were. A few more weeks and we really would have had to take our chances with the Order if we wanted to live, and honestly? Not an easy choice to make.”

“Bastards would scrap Fever,” Liri grumbled beside him.

“Yeah,” Mel agreed, and it was terribly sad to see how much his face could fall in just a short moment. “Which… I know we don’t have a lot of room to argue or negotiate here. I do. But I’d like to ask you for something, if that’s alright.”

“Can it wait until we get to the crew deck?” Temeri asked.

“It’ll kind of set the mood for our whole stay here, so I’d rather get it out of the way,” he replied awkwardly.

“Very well…” Temeri motioned with her free hand for him to go on.

“I know we offered you our ship. I know. And we meant it, we really did. It’s… I mean, Fever Dream is our home. Our life. But we’ll give it to you, if that’s what it takes. But is there any way, any chance at all, that we could keep Fever itself? Even dormant and unpowered, so we could at least have the chance of installing it somewhere else. It’s… I know Crystal Minds aren’t alive, but… I don’t know how you feel about Star, but Fever is part of the family, you know?”

As Mel spoke, everyone listened, and when he finished, the way his crewmates looked at Temeri and the rest of my Crew was heartbreaking. Not that I had a heart, but same thing. They really were terribly worried about what might happen to their Crystal Mind, and it was awful to know that I was part of making them feel like that. And I was ever so grateful to Temeri when she answered them, because this wasn’t anything we’d talked about. She just said what came naturally.

“We won’t touch Fever,” she told them, softening a little. “If we can neither repair nor tow your ship, Enchantress Tell and Artificer Bekeri will help you uninstall your Crystal Mind. We can even see about keeping it powered somehow, though my crew would know more about that than I.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Varlanda murmured in the background.

“But let’s not worry about tomorrow’s headache today,” Temeri continued, the firmness returning to her voice. “I need you secured and your ship searched before we can move on. So: Pilot Khaji and… I’m guessing Diviner Nahij?”

The tall woman nodded.

“On the lift. Get the bags on there, too. The rest of you, up the ladder. Let's get you settled in.”

Getting their mattress up the access tube was no trouble. I simply dropped the gravity to Lunaris standard, and Nahij could throw it up for Khani to catch. And they had no complaints at all about the space we’d prepared for their quarters—Mel even let out a happy, “Oooh, there's a family sized bed! No sleeping on the floor!”

“You’ll have to let Star know if you need the lavatory, so we can escort you,” Temeri said before leaving them. “I apologize for the slight indignity, but that's just how it’ll have to be for now. And later today we'll let you clean up, if you want. For now, if you need anything, let Star know and she'll pass it on if it's reasonable.”

“Thank you, Captain Temeri,” Mel said with a big smile. “We really were in a tight spot there. I’m pretty sure I speak for everyone when I say that we’re happy to accept whatever you're comfortable with.”

The others muttered their agreement, even the unhappy artificer.

“Glad to hear it, Enchanter Mel,” Temeri said. “I’ll leave you to settle in, then.”

Then she closed the door in the wall I’d hastily set up, and I locked it by simply fusing it shut. You couldn't get more secure than that!

“Keep an eye on them, please. I hope they won't try anything, but let me know the moment they do,” Temeri said as she descended to join Bekeri and Varlanda on the Fever Dream. They were away from the parts I’d assimilated and I couldn’t feel them, which was kind of awful, but I was getting better at not letting myself get upset over that. Besides, this time I knew they were nearby.

“Aye, Captain!” I replied cheerfully. “They're just making their bed and talking right now.”

“Let me know if they say anything suspicious, too,” she said thoughtfully. “They should know that you're listening, but maybe they'll slip up. Or not. They could be as friendly as they look.”

“I really hope so.”

“Yeah.” Temeri sighed, stopping at the bottom of the access tube for a bit. “Wait, did you say they’re making their bed? Singular? They didn't have any more mattresses rolled up in that big one?”

“Nope!” I confirmed. “One mattress, two really big blankets, four little pillows. That's it.”

“Huh.” Temeri looked thoughtful for a while, then shrugged. “That's one way to save on space and heating, I suppose.”

Watching Fever’s crew was a lot of fun. I’d had people other than my Crew onboard before, of course, but the boarders who accidentally died really didn’t count as guests, and Tammeron had been either on her own or with Temeri. These new four had a whole dynamic of their own that was so very different from my own Crew’s, and it was fascinating! For one thing, my Crew had never had a conversation just lying together in a big pile.

“So what are we thinking?” Mel asked the room. He was resting his head on Khani’s legs, while Liri lay between Mel’s legs with her head on his stomach, her eyes closed as he ran his fingertips over her scalp. “Are we safe? Or is this just a particularly cruel trick before they sell us to the Order?”

“If it is, they’re damned good liars,” Nahij said. She lay alongside Mel with her head on Khani’s chest, and was playing with the pilot’s hand where it rested on her stomach. It was all terribly sweet, if a little confusing; my Crew were all friendly with each other, but could never have imagined a whole crew being this comfortable!

“Still nothing suspicious?” Khani asked.

“Nothing I can sense. And now we’re inside their shroud I can feel them much more clearly. Again, if they’re managing to hide something they’re damned well trained.”

“They’re suspicious, though,” Liri said sourly. “Was that a damn boarding cannon Temeri had?”

“That it was!” Mel said, adding his other hand and starting to massage Liri’s scalp in earnest. “But they have every right to be suspicious, don’t they? They don’t know us, they don’t know what we’re doing here, and they’re far from home. Aren’t you, Star?”

He caught me off guard with his question, but one of the great things about being a Starmind was that I could react pretty fast if I was paying attention. To them it probably sounded like I’d been waiting for them to ask me something when I replied, “We are! I don’t think the captain would mind me telling you that we’ve come all the way from Mundus.” Then I thought about it for a split second before adding, “Although we’re actually closer to Mundus than to Magnus right now, so you’re farther from home than we are! You must have travelled for a long time!”

“That we did,” Khani said. “Months and months in transit, only to almost get voided by space dust after a few weeks. Like our bad luck’s been building up only to hit us all at once.”

“Would’ve been better than going one by one when life support gave out, or getting grabbed by the Order. Or whatever these guys have planned for us,” Liri grumbled. How she managed to sound so dark while practically melting into the bed as Mel rubbed her head, I had no idea.

“Don’t be like that, Starshine,” Mel scolded her softly. “Nahij says they’re probably good people.”

“Oh, they are!” I told them. “I’m sure you’re all going to love each other once Temeri and the others verify that there’s nothing strange going on.”

“What if they decide that there is?” Liri asked, refusing to cheer up. “What if your captain decides that our ship would make excellent spare parts, and we’re too much trouble to keep around?”

My very first impulse was to tell her vehemently that my Crew would never do that, that they were kind and generous and wonderful and how dare she suggest anything else?! But luckily I thought again, and realized that would've been a bad idea. I was supposed to be a Crystal Mind after all, and Crystal Minds, while they were certainly loyal to their crews, were friendly, honest, and above all, helpful.

“I don't think that's very likely,” I told them cheerfully. Then I became sympathetic and serious. “But if that were to happen, there is a friendly station in Avara’s orbit which might take you. And if they couldn't or wouldn't, then I imagine you would have to have a very serious conversation with the captain about how to proceed. If it helps, I find it very unlikely that she would decide to void you.”

“What about selling us to the Order?” Liri asked sourly, but for once I could pick up a distinct note of fear underneath the bad attitude. I got the distinct impression that, given the choice, as horrible as the thought was, she would rather walk out an airlock than end up in the Order’s clutches.

And maybe that was all it was? Maybe she was just scared? Scared of losing her home, scared of losing her friends, and above all, scared of what the Order might do to her.

Based on what I knew about the Order, she was probably right to be scared.

“She wouldn't do that,” I told them as sincerely as I possibly could. “Temeri is an honorable woman, and she knows that the Order are terrible people. If there's no way for you all to get along, and if our friends can't take you, I'm sure that she would rather take responsibility for keeping you safely onboard than let you get hurt.”

“As prisoners?” Mel asked.

“As guests who couldn't leave their quarters freely,” I replied, a little awkwardly. I wasn't doing a very good job of playing Crystal Mind, but I really didn't like how worried they were. Most of them hid it well, but now that I was looking for it I kept imagining that I saw little signs. Fidgeting, reassuring touches, meaningful looks, things like that. Of course, I might have been imagining it all, but I’d rather err on the side of having to pretend that I was a particularly fancy Crystal Mind than to leave them unnecessarily worried. “I realize that sounds very much like the same thing. Please understand, Temeri has to look after her own crew first. If you all don't get along—”

At that same moment my assimilation of the Fever Dream reached the ship’s main engineering space, and once my senses reached in there I had no attention to spare for anything else.

There were chaotic microfluctuations in the spent mana exiting the reactor. That wasn’t supposed to happen; it indicated that more mana was being processed than the power output could justify, and it wasn’t happening smoothly. The energy generated by that had to go somewhere, and since it wasn’t being output as power, and since the generator wasn’t heating up or shaking itself apart, I could only think of one place it could be doing.

“Hey, Bekeri?” I said over his comms medallion. “Do you think energy from converted mana could be stored as tension?”

“Hmm?” Bekeri was right there by the reactor, looking at various readouts on two big slates on the wall.

“Like, could a reactor take the power from processed mana and store it as potential energy instead of outputting it?”

“Well, I suppose…” he mused as he continued going through diagnostic data. “Something would have to go terribly wrong for that to happen, though. No material—even your Hull—can take more than a certain amount of tension before it shatters. Why do you…” He trailed off slowly, his eyes slowly going huge as he turned to look at the reactor.

“That’s what I thought! Bekeri, Temeri, Varlanda! You need to get off the Fever Dream right now!”

Temeri’s response was immediate. “Star, what’s wrong?”

“That reactor is not safe! You can’t stay there!”

“Listen to her!” Bekeri shouted, quickly making his way out of the engineering space.

“Is there a leak?” Temeri asked. She and Varlanda thankfully hadn’t hesitated to do as I asked, and were leaving the Fever Dream’s bridge in all haste.

“It’s not leaky!” I told her. “It’s cycling all wrong, and the power isn’t going anywhere. There’s no… there’s no harmony to it. The resonances are all over the place, and with all the tension that must have built up over the weeks, anything might set it off!”

“Bekeri, what do you think?” Temeri asked. They were all in the tunnel now, returning to me and mostly out of danger. I put up a wall between them and the Fever Dream just in case, then started layering extra Hull on that side of me. I considered cutting loose and putting a few hundred miles between us to be extra safe, but that seemed riskier than it was worth. And I couldn’t just abandon Fever. The poor thing would be so confused!

“I couldn’t see anything, but if Star says she did then we need to shut their reactor down,” Bekeri said confidently. “I had wanted to study it for a while first to get an idea of where the problem is, but we were always going to need to shut it down eventually to work on it. We shall just have to do it that way from the start.”

She nodded. “Star, any idea how long we have?”

 “A minute? A week? There’s no way to say. I’m amazed it hasn’t blown up already! We need to shut it down!”

“Alright,” Temeri said. “I’ll leave it to you. Let us know when you think it’s safe to board again.”

“Aye, Captain!” I replied, telepathically now that they were back onboard.

The first thing I had to do before shutting down the Fever Dream’s reactor was to talk to Fever, but first-first I had to apologize to our guests. They’d been trying to get my attention since I suddenly stopped talking to them, and they deserved an explanation. That, and we needed to talk about their ship possibly blowing up.