Epilogue
It hadn't taken very long to get away from Segway drift and through the nearest slipstream opening. The Maru was free from Greg Neiman and free from Segway drift. Beka was exhausted from head to foot. Her body ached all over and she longed to fall into her bed and not leave it for an absurdly long time, but first things first. There was a little matter than needed attending to in the berthing chamber.
Beka climbed out of the pilot's chair and gave Rev a weak smile. Her crew had been ready and in position, with Rev on the command deck and Harper in the Engine Room, when she had boarded the ship with Trance in tow. She had settled Trance down in the berthing room with instructions not to go anywhere until they were safely out of the sector. On the bottom right bunk, which Rev had chosen for her so she would not be underneath Harper, nor in the bunk that had belonged to their former AG and Environmental Systems officer, was a small box of clothing and other such items a young girl might need. Beka had brought in the first aid kit, taped up Trance's as best she could, wrist with many a silent and pain-filled tear shed on Trance's part, and then showed her where her personal storage spaces were so she could set up her bunk the way she liked.
For at least an hour the poor girl had been alone in the berthing chamber on a strange ship with no idea who she was sharing a space with, or what was going to happen next. Before she went to bed, Beka was going to remedy that situation. Hopefully, after meeting the rest of the crew, Trance would not start looking for the nearest exit.
Beka passed through the berthing chamber and told an eager-looking Trance to wait one moment while she retrieved her engineer. Harper met her at the entrance to the Engine Room. She had a bone to pick with him before she introduced him to Trance. As they made their way upstairs she spoke to him,
"Upstairs is our new AG-ES officer. It's a girl, and I want you on your best behavior." Beka wished she had thought to give Harper time to clean up before presenting him to Trance, with first impressions being what they were. He had not changed his clothes and was covered in oil and grime. It was too late to worry about it now.
"C'mon boss. I'm always on my best behavior. When has the Harper ever let you down?" Beka gave him an indignant look.
"Do you really want me to answer that? I seem to recall a birthday suit jog through Borio Drift's trade square at the peak of the Lunar Festival." Harper's face reddened.
"It was just that once, and I was drunk. How was I supposed to know that Pagorian Ale packs more of a punch than a shot of whiskey? And, with a lower concentration of alcohol no less! I was drinking it like beer, not hard liquor. That one babe, the one with the blonde curls, she told me the jog was part of the festival." Beka pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. She had been quite angry at the time, but looking back… Harper's past transgressions were not the issue however. It was one more recent that she wanted to discuss.
"I saw a girl leaving the ship as I was coming back onboard. A pretty girl," she told him. Harper put on his best 'I would never do anything wrong' smiles and said,
"She was just delivering supplies."
"I thought the supplies were coming in at ten-hundred hours."
"She left something behind," he answered smoothly and in a convincing tone. Harper always had an answer for everything and since she made it her policy not to punish her crew on suspicion of wrongdoing, she let it go. She didn't really care how many girls he messed around with on the Maru, as long as she didn't have to witness anything first hand. He was a twenty-one year old boy, after all. But, she did expect him to be on task and thinking with his big brain when the Maru was at risk.
"Were here," she said when they reached to common room, which was immediately adjacent to the berthing chamber. Trance immediately stood up from her bunk and walked to the doorway that separated the common room from the bunks. She stood in the doorway cradling her broken wrist. She watched Harper with open curiosity. Beka wished she had asked Trance to change as well. The girl was dressed in an outfit very similar to the one Beka had first seen her in, only dark green and silver this time. Her copious amounts of bare skin shimmered in a way that made it almost impossible not to stare. She might as well have hung a neon sign around Trance's neck that flashed 'Total Babe'.
"Harper, I would like you to meet our new AG/ES officer, Trance Gemini," she said. "Trance, this is Seamus Zelazny Harper. He's harmless. Mostly." For the first time since Beka had met the boy a year before, he was speechless. He stared at her with mouth hanging open dumbly. There was nothing in his manner to give away the genius that lurked beneath. Trance looked nervously towards Beka for guidance, and when the older woman could give her none she said to Harper,
"Hello." Harper did no reply. Beka could see the wheels turning in his mind as he processed the implications of Trance's presence. There was her uniqueness to consider, then her hotness, and finally the fact that she was going to be sleeping in the same room night after night, so no matter how hot and exotic he was, he could not treat her the same way he treated every other girl, because he couldn't just say goodbye to her the next morning. Beka felt for the poor guy. It was a lot to take on at once, but he had to say something eventually. She poked him in the side with her elbow.
"Harper, you're being rude. Say something." And so her did, and it left Beka wishing she had just left things well enough alone. Harper, ever the tactful one, suddenly blurted out,
"You're purple!" Beka waited to see if Trance would become upset or offended, but the girl took it in stride.
"Your shirt is on inside out," she said as if they were playing a point-out-the-obvious game. Harper looked nervously towards Beka to see if she had come to the conclusion he didn't want her to. She had. Trance had not known Harper for more than three minutes, and she had already gotten him in trouble. Since he had not changed his clothes, there was only one reason for his shirt to be on inside out. To be fair, he would not have had a little fun down in the engine room if every task Beka had appointed him wasn't finished, and then some, and he could argue to that point, but it wouldn't do any good. She expected her crew to be one hundred percent ready when the situation was sticky.
Trance was not slow on the uptake. She seemed to realize instantly that she'd landed his buns on the proverbial hot seat, but instead of showing signs of remorse she seemed more amused, as if it had been her intention to get him in trouble all along. She had seen that look on her little brother's face all too often growing up.
"You and I will talk tomorrow, after I have slept for a while. Be thankful I'm putting it off until then. I am going to go get Rev. Trance, Rev might be a bit of a shock to you at first, but I promise he is a good friend of mine and will not hurt you." All traces of amusement left her face and she looked concerned. To Beka's relief, Harper actually offered her a reassuring smile.
"He's cool. Just think of him like a very large, and somewhat smelly, teddy bear." As she left the room Beka heard Trance ask:
"What's a teddy bear?"
When Beka reached command she motioned for Rev to follow her. He did so right away, as he was eager to meet the girl who'd had such an impact on her. Harper was in the process of trying to explain that a teddy bear was not a real animal stuffed full of cotton when he was interrupted by Trance's gasp. She looked fearful of Rev at first, but then her countenance softened to a welcoming smile. She stepped forward with hands outstretched in a way Beka had seen Wayist monks greet each other with.
"You are not afraid of me?" Rev asked. Trance shook her head.
"You are a Wayist, aren't you?" Rev nodded. Trance placed her hands inside of his. They were comparatively very small, and the purple of her skin stood out in stark contrast with the darkness of his fur. "Then there is no reason for me to be afraid. The Wayists would come visit us girls every month to give us things we did not normally get, and to tell us about the Way. You follow the Way. You do not follow the darkness." Rev nodded his head again, very slowly this time.
"Ah," he said, drawing out the word, "follow the darkness is an interesting choice of words, my child." A look Beka could not understand passed between the two of them. Trance suddenly looked away and stepped back. If it had been Harper, she would have said he was being evasive. Did Rev already know something about Trance that she did not? It didn't really matter if he did, because she would probably have more success asking the girl directly. If it were important, Rev would let her know. Beka yawned and looked at her crew, complete once again.
"Girls? What girls? Where did you get her from?" Harper asked.
"None of your business. I think I am going to get some sleep. Harper, you are on food detail today, and dishes detail until further notice. Make sure Trance gets something to eat and save me some for when I wake up."
"Yeah, all right," the boy answered, obviously not happy with having to do the dishes. Beka headed off towards her room, which was directly behind the main berthing chamber. The walls were thin, and she could still hear her crew talking.
"Why did you have to point out that my shirt was on inside out?" Harper asked, his tone hitting the whiny pitch Beka hated very much.
"Well it was. Why wasn't I supposed to point it out?" Trance replied. "Hey, those are my things, please do not go through them."
"Harper, please leave the young lady alone."
"Why do you have a plant?"
"Don't touch Molly."
"Molly? Your plant has a name?"
"Harper, you are supposed to be fixing lunch, are you not?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm gettin' on it." Beka sighed and reached out for the earplugs she kept in one drawer. With a small smile she slid them in. She wasn't sure if bringing Trance onboard was a good idea, but she was sure of one thing. Her life just got a lot louder.