On Board the Bebop
The Next Day
There wasn't much to move from one room to the next, all things considered. Faye left the majority of her clothing over there, the stuff that she knew Ed liked or could someday fit into and the stuff that she wasn't as concerned about. She'd also had Spike bring the television and beta player over to his room, and while he was preoccupied with that she snuck the stuffed bear over as well. It had taken all of five minutes total and most of that time was just figuring out how to unhook the cables and cords. They wisely decided to let Ed hook everything back up again later at her convenience.
Spike's room was built the exact same as Faye's, with the door to the left of the bed and a small bedside table between the door and bed. At the foot of the bed was a flat table top space where the TV was now sitting with the beta player resting on top. There was no closet but there were several pipes running along the ceiling that could handle the weight of a decent number of hangers loaded with clothes - like his blue suit, of which he apparently had two, and his yellow button-up which numbered at least three. And lastly something her room hadn't featured, which was a four shelf dresser, upon which sat Spike's stereo, wedged into the space between the flat table at the foot of the bed and the far wall.
While he was toting the media player to its new home, Faye discovered that only the top two drawers held clothing - and not very much. There were quite a few bright pairs of boxers, several sweatpants, a pair of red pants she knew he liked to wear when working on his ship, and a couple tank tops and generic tee shirts. That was the whole of his wardrobe. The other drawers had been given over to socks, ammunition for several types of guns including her own Glock and Jet's Walther P99, at least two types of grenades, empty cigarette cartons, empty beer bottles, loose pain pills, and various gadgetry that seemed better suited to live in the small workshop space that sat off from the hangar, where he liked to clean their guns.
A small argument ensued about the necessity of having all that actual garbage - why had he kept empty beers or cig cartons?! - and more importantly, the destructive material, in the bedroom. Faye won when she suggested just leaving her clothes thrown all around the room if he wasn't interested in sharing dresser space. She conveniently didn't bother to add that there would be clothes everywhere regardless, simply because two drawers wasn't nearly enough space for all of her favorite outfits. He'd discover that reality soon enough. In the meantime he begrudgingly boxed up all the firepower and other nonsense and stashed it underneath the work bench.
Ein had come sniffing around inquisitively but it wasn't until they sat down for breakfast - noodles and vegetables again, they were down to a limited selection of food choices - that they told Jet and Ed about the decision to cohabitate and therefore give Edward an official space of her own on the ship. No one was deluded enough to think that would mean she'd stop setting up her computer in the kitchen, or living room, or store room, or right in the middle of the hall. But at least now she would have the option of privacy if she so desired - something every teenager deserved.
Ed was quick to inform them that this bedroom business would in no way count towards her birthday as a gift, which reminded all of them about her rapidly approaching birthday.
Jet was quick to inform them that this bedroom business had better mean they'd be discreet now that Ed would be sleeping so much closer than before, which had amused him because their aghast expressions were identical and clearly indicated that they hadn't thought of that part.
By lunchtime, Ed had fully explored all the nooks and crannies and had declared Faye's former room to be… acceptable. Though she did eye up the clothes Faye had left in a way that made Faye herself quite concerned for the future of the various items. But, there was simply no way all of her clothing would ever fit into Spike's room, so… that was that.
xxx
On Route to Earth
The Next Day
Jet swore vehemently under his breath as he strapped himself into the pilot's seat on the bridge. There were safety harnesses for each and every post on the bridge, but they were seldom used because it wasn't too often that the crew was sitting around in the chairs and even less often that the ship was going through turbulence. Normally, everyone hung out in the living area where the gravity was controlled to be more like gravity on a standard planet, and therefore they weren't too affected by anything the ship underwent.
The only times it was beneficial to have the seatbelts were when they happened to be on the bridge and up against other ships in battle, or the memorable time when they'd been knocked off course and crash landed on Io. Of course, when they crashed on Io they hadn't had time to strap in and they were all incredibly lucky no one had broken any bones or gotten concussed.
It was fixing to be another one of those awful instances unfortunately.
They'd been on their way to Earth for a few reasons. Ed had wanted to visit her father - an early birthday gift to him, she'd declared, which Jet found touching and wasn't about to argue against. Doohan had also wanted to get her zipcraft loaded onto the Bebop instead of taking up space in his garage. The next space race wouldn't be near Earth and so there wasn't much point in keeping her vessel there when it would be easier to bring it around the galaxy on board the ship. And of course there was the issue of their dwindling woolongs - forever broke was such an annoying way to live - though the presence of several bounties on the planet to go after would fix that.
On top of all that, there had been an issue in the hydroponics bay and now Jet needed to get some critical parts from a guy he had on Earth, Marcus Carol, a real greenthumb who built and sold all sorts of equipment to help folks on the planet - or off - be able to grow their own vegetables and whatnot. With Earth as inhospitable as it was these days, the guy was doing invaluable work by helping folks provide for themselves and he'd been an enormous aid to helping Jet get the system set up here on the Bebop.
It would have been nice if that was the only issue currently plaguing the Bebop, but alas the ship was always falling apart in at least two or three ways. Such as the water filtration system petering out, which he'd noticed when the shower he took had taken on a flavor he wasn't accustomed to. And of course there was the more serious issue which Jet had just discovered.
The fuel gauge was obviously broken because, after running out of gas twenty minutes ago, they were now currently in a rough freefall dropping through the atmosphere. It was taking all of Jet's considerable piloting skills to keep the ship coming in at a level where they wouldn't burn up by plummeting in too quickly, but there would be no avoiding a crash landing unfortunately. On the bright side, unlike the desert landscape of Io, Earth still had plenty of water to make their impact less damaging to the ship itself. It had taken weeks to fix everything after Io and they'd all been so sick of shiitake mushrooms by then that Jet hadn't bought a single mushroom for meals since. They still hadn't busted into the stuff from their delivery to Mars and Jet didn't plan on doing that anytime soon. It was nice to know there was foodstuffs in the freezer for when they'd inevitably be down to nothing fresh, which would be soon if he didn't get the hydroponics unit fixed.
It was early enough in what they'd established as the morning on board the ship that no one else was awake - or if they were, they weren't on the bridge giving Jet grief as he worked tirelessly to control the crash. Realistically, if all went well, they'd wake up without even knowing anything like this had happened. If worse came to worse, they'd all be too dead to care. It was something of a win-win, if you looked at it from the right angle.
Agonizingly long minutes later, the ship belly-flopped forcefully into the heart of an ocean. Water exploded across the deck and splashed up to obscure the bridge windows entirely as the hull briefly breached into the depths and then rocked back and forth aggressively as it slowly settled into a sullen float on top of the water. The engines whined to a halt and the entire ship seemed to shudder as it gave up on everything except existing. The silence was ominous but Jet was just thankful to be alive at this point.
Wiping sweat from his brow, he took in a shaky breath and unbuckled from the safety harness.
There was nothing more he could do here. It was time to take stock of what all was wrong with the ship and then reach out to Doohan and Marcus and perhaps his ISSP contacts to get more details about a few of the bounties available here. No doubt about it, this was going to be a long couple of days filled with a lot of dirty repair work and small fry bounty bullshit.
Sighing, Jet smacked his good hand on the fuel gauge, prompting it to momentarily jump to indicate an overfull status before it dropped back to the misleading mark of a half tank. In reality it was bone dry and he was just happy they'd actually gotten to the planet this time, unlike when they'd spent days drifting along waiting for gravity of a nearby planet or moon to pull them in. This just went to show that it was always a good idea to fuel up whenever the opportunity arose because at least then you'd know you were good to go. Unless, of course, there was more wrong… like a leak somewhere. Which… would be all too likely. After all, why wouldn't the fuel gauge and the fuel lines both go tits up at the same time? It would certainly fit their usual luck.
It was while he was putzing around with the various panels on the bridge, trying to determine where the trouble lay, when Ed made her way onto the bridge.
"Good morning, papa-Jet-person!" She greeted loudly, making Jet hit his head as he jumped at the unexpected sound while he was half-buried inside one of the panels.
"Ed…" He groaned, withdrawing from the cords and cables. "Morning, kid. You, uh, sleep okay?"
She grinned ear-to-ear. "You betcha! No odd noises either - are you sure there are rats in the walls?"
Jet flushed. He'd been trying to come up with some kind of explanation for any… uh… inappropriate noises Ed might hear from the wall that her new bedroom shared with Spike and Faye's room - which thankfully wasn't the wall their bed was against. Rats were as good an excuse as any, especially since they did still have a rat issue on board. Ein was good for a lot but he didn't ever try to eradicate the rodents on board and Jet hadn't thought to get any traps recently.
That was just one more thing to add to the list before they were overwhelmed by too many rodents - the little bastards bred like rabbits. On the other hand… perhaps they could be an emergency last-resort source of protein. For that matter, how were rats even surviving on this ship? Most of the time his crew was literally fighting over crumbs which meant there should be nothing for a rat to eat. Just another problem to figure out one of these days.
"Well, no, I was more concerned about the fact that we crashed here a bit ago. You're all good though? Gravity didn't get screwed up in the bedrooms?"
Ed looked surprised. "Not that Ed noticed." She glanced out the windows. "Ohhh lost at sea?"
Jet sighed. "We're not lost, just… adrift. The fuel gauge is all screwed up and maybe our fuel lines too, and on top of that the water filtration system is down. Which would be fine if we were surrounded by fresh water, but we're in the middle of a salt water ocean. So… don't drink the water until I can get the system fixed, hey?" He sighed again. "In fact, I better get that taken care of first. People can only live a few days without water."
"Ed can help! Want me to run some diagnostics with MPU on the ship's functions?"
Getting to his feet, Jet walked over to Ed and clapped her on the shoulder. "That'd be a huge help, Ed. If you can get started on that, I'll go run and get some parts to start fixing stuff up around here. Keep me posted on anything you discover so I don't have to run back and forth a bunch of times, okay? And remember, don't drink the water! Be sure to tell the lunkheads when they crawl out of bed too."
The young hacker gave him a jaunty salute. "Aye aye, Captain Jet! Chief Engineer Edward is on the case!" She followed him from the bridge down the stairs to get Tomato and get started on her mission of assistance, leaving Jet free to figure out where to start with what he'd need to get with the limited funds they currently had available.
xxx
Later That Day…
Sipping absently on her straw, Faye flipped through the fashion magazine while only paying marginal attention to Jet's cranky image on the communication panel of the bridge. In her defense, Ed - playing shogi on the charting table against Ein - was also paying hardly any attention to the ex-cop. Even Spike, who had hailed Jet when he realized the other man was not on board the ship, was paying more attention to the ceiling than to his partner.
Jet, clearly well aware of their all-too brief attention spans, spoke louder.
"I'll be able to get parts tomorrow, but they're waiting on a restock today. Anyway, don't drink the tap water or you'll end up sick and I am not cleaning up after anyone when I get back! I'll be busy enough fixing the water filtration system and the rest of the shit that's broken." He was saying.
Faye tossed her magazine aside and went to stand next to Spike. "Can I still take showers?"
"Just don't drink the water!" Jet shouted. "Like I said, I should be back tomorrow with the parts. Why do I talk if they're never gonna listen." With a growl, he cut communications on his end.
"Ed tooooold you so!" Edward commented, which Faye and Spike both ignored. The young hacker had come pounding on their door earlier, shouting about bad water, but neither had understood what she was getting at when the water looked just fine and didn't smell much different than usual.
Faye looked at Spike. "So… we're just supposed to float here in the middle of the damn ocean?"
Spike shrugged. "I mean, it says we have fuel but… the navigation panel is acting up too, so I don't actually trust trying to program it to bring us anywhere else. Jet's got more skill with repairs than me, I'd probably sink this thing if I tried fucking with it."
"It says there's gas but there ain't! Don't believe the gauge, it's all funky. But the navigation panel? Ed can fix it with MPU!" Ed announced, looking up from her game.
The lanky bounty hunter eyed her briefly. "I don't doubt you can, Ed… but just to be on the safe side, let's wait for Jet to get back, hey? You guys can tag-team the repair work then if you're still interested."
Shrugging, the hacker went back to the game and made a move. Ein nosed a piece soon after that made Ed groan.
Faye sighed. "You two can float here all you want - I'm gonna go hit the nearest casino, try to make us some money since I'm sure Jet's gonna use up everything we had left in the safe. At least Earth still has plenty of places to gamble, I haven't placed a wager in far too long." She stood with a stretch, knowing Spike's eyes were following her movements and the way her shirt rode up.
Edward laughed. "Faye-Faye has gotta stay-ay!"
Turning to face the younger girl, Faye put a hand on her hip, still holding the juice box in her other hand. "And just why is that?"
Giggling diabolically, Edward twisted around to activate a screen behind her that had a camera feed to the hangar. The hangar that was emptier than it should be.
"Wait. He took my RedTail too?!"
Edward nodded. She'd been the only one awake when Jet had taken off earlier in the day.
"Yup yup yup! Said he wouldn't have room in his ship alone for all the parts we need. Yours has the auto piloting system so he can just program it to fly on home!"
Spike stood up slowly, smirking at Faye. "Heh, well, I can still take off. Find myself a bar on the coast to nurse a few drinks… mosey on back when everything is fixed and good to go."
"Sure," Ed chirped at him, with a devilish smile on her face that immediately made Spike nervous. "You coooooould. If he hadn't siphoned gas from the Swordfish because the Hammerhead was low."
Spike threw up his arms and sat back down in the chair he'd just vacated. "Fucking great, Jet leaves us stranded here with no way to go anywhere and nothing to drink."
Sensing the adults were shifting from attempting escape to a weary resignation of their fate, Ed gave her focus wholly back to the game, which Ein was currently winning.
Faye was being quiet - suspiciously so. Spike glanced at her as she finished sucking down her beverage and began walking towards the stairs. She crumpled up the juice box and tossed it aside as she went. Jet would be grumpy about all the garbage she was leaving scattered around, but she wasn't concerned about that… she was more interested in shuffling off without attracting notice.
"Faaaaaaye," He dragged out her name.
Turning back to look over her shoulder at him, blinking innocently with eyes too wide to not be up to something, she smirked at him before continuing on her way. It wasn't until she was out of sight that her voice floated back to him.
"I wouldn't say there's nothing to drink…"
xxx
"Hmm. They must have run out of the goofy juice," Ed said to Ein as they made their way out to the hangar where Spike and Faye had gone hours before. It was after nightfall now and Ed had gotten concerned about her crewmates and the silence that indicated something was going down somewhere.
She had boiled water earlier to make some of the porridge Jet was always eating in the mornings, and to have some water that was actually safe to drink since Faye had polished off the juice boxes before she'd really understood the lack of drinkable water situation. Ed figured she'd feel guilty later about drinking all of the beverages that Ed herself was allowed to consume, but then again maybe Faye hadn't realized she'd drunk the last of that resource.
For a while she'd watched their antics on the screen from the bridge. Spike had chased Faye through the ship - though Ed didn't have cameras anywhere inside to follow their movements, something which she was regretting now - and they'd ended up in the hangar with a bottle of dark amber liquid. Where Faye had stashed the booze was unknown to the young hacker, but she didn't care about the goofy juice the adults often drank - though she did wonder if it was doing any good to hydrate them or if it was just making the thirst problem worse.
She remembered having a very dry, cottony mouth after they'd let her do a shot of tequila with them. Although… no, first her mouth had flooded with liquid as her stomach had rebelled against the unusual substance. So maybe it slackened their thirst at first and then turned on them later the way it had done with her.
At any rate, it had been fun to watch them. Spike could have caught up to Faye easily, but he kept letting her get away and help herself to sips of the bottle. It was when she'd begun to sway that he'd finally tackled her to the deck and sat on her back as he wrested the bottle from her grip and started drinking it himself. After that they'd wrestled over the bottle for a while and then seemed to come to some sort of compromise because Spike handed her a cigarette and she gave him the bottle, and then she pulled out a joint and he gave the bottle back.
After they'd drunk a decent amount, they had staggered to their feet and began arranging things on the deck, right at the edge of the ship, so they could take turns shooting bottles. They didn't just stand a good distance away for this, no, they made a game of it as well. They would dash about and somersault and execute knee slides and whatever else they could think of. It was hilarious to watch the adults pretend to be in a heated battle with imaginary opponents, dodging around non-existent obstacles.
Eventually, Ed had gotten bored with observing and went back to tackling the considerable issues plaguing the ship. With MPU's help, she and Ein were able to reconfigure the navigation panel and sort out an issue with the gravity regulator before it could become an actual problem.
The water filtration system and fuel gauge issue were a tad more serious and had to wait until Jet brought back the proper replacement parts, but Ed felt pretty good about the things she and her crack team of helpers had been able to accomplish.
It was after celebrating with another bowl of porridge - this time loaded with all the sugary goodness she could find in the kitchen - and a fresh pot of water to wash it all down, when Ed realized it had been quite a few hours and she was no longer able to see her crewmates on the camera feed to the hangar. This didn't mean much, as the camera wasn't positioned where it could watch everything going on in that gigantic space. Which reminded her yet again that she really ought to put up more cameras on the ship.
Not for spying purposes, but rather as a safety precaution.
They often left the ship entirely empty - even Ein accompanied them on some adventures - and while they'd lock up every access hatch and door, it's not like it was impossible to break in. In fact it wouldn't even be very difficult. Ed had eliminated the hacking risk to the ship's computer system after the standoff against the virus people that had left the Bebop dead in space in Earth's orbit, but she hadn't done much else to ensure the security of the ship. No one had bothered trying to break in and rob them or steal the ship yet, because undoubtedly a fishing boat didn't seem like a very profitable mark, but there was no point in tempting fate. It was well past time to get everything better protected. The main issue Ed had currently was a decided lack of recording devices and the necessary cables to connect everything together. She flagged this in her mind as her next personal mission to undertake, perhaps using some of her own funds to get the necessary parts. Actually, that was silly now that she thought about it more. Why make a mental note when she could just… order what she needed right now? Well, once she recovered her missing crew and got settled in front of her computer next.
Cackling at her own devious plans, Ed peeked into the hangar. Ein showed far less caution and trotted out to reach the edge of the deck so he could relieve himself into the water. Ein was a very smart boy.
Darkness had fallen on the part of the planet they were on and it was almost disturbing. The water was not especially calm and the ship bobbed on top of the choppy black depths. Normally when they were docked at a city or in a harbor there were countless lights shining out from the various houses and businesses… out here there was nothing but inky black in every direction Ed looked.
It made her feel very small. The lack of stars above was also disconcerting, though she knew that it had been a cloudy day and therefore it was no real surprise to be unable to see the sky… it was just uncomfortable being in such absolute darkness.
She felt very alone, even with Ein on the hangar deck with her. Loneliness was something Ed had not felt in quite a while. Not since she'd rejoined the crew again months ago. Earth was just one of those planets where not all memories were happy ones, though during her time on the surface Ed had kept herself busy and had found ways to make her own life here bright and fun and entertaining. But adrift on the ocean as they were, she couldn't walk and walk and walk and find companionship eventually.
Here if she fell over, she'd be gone forever. There was no walking on water, not even for Ed.
She whimpered and Ein quickly made his way to her side, rubbing against her bare legs reassuringly. Ed crouched down and wrapped her arms around the little corgi, trying to breath slowly in and out, but it didn't stave off the tears that built up against her wishes and dripped down her cheeks to dampen Ein's thick fur.
"Ughhhh…" A guttural noise from behind her made Ed scoop Ein up into her arms as she spun around in sudden fear.
A shape detached itself from the floor of the hangar, beneath the parked body of the Swordfish II.
Shuffling slowly into view, hunkered over and looking a little green, was Spike-person. Ed felt profound relief rush through her and she ran to the lanky bounty hunter, throwing herself - with Ein still in her arms - at Spike. Even hungover as he was, the cowboy managed to wrap his arms around the combination of dog and girl, though he was nearly bowled over by the force of her arrival.
"Uhhh, you okay, Ed?" He rasped.
She shook her head. "It's too dark out here. But Edward didn't know where Spike-person and Faye-Faye were." She gasped. "Where is Faye-Faye?!" She darted a look over her shoulder at the expanse of ocean that lay beyond the edge of the deck, horror struck at the thought of Faye having fallen overboard in a drunken delirium.
But Spike was chuckling, the reverberation in his chest calming Ed down. "She's a puddle in my ship, Ed. Wanted to play music and did until the battery died." He looked over at his craft. "Let's wake her up and head inside, hey? Put Ein down, I'll give you a piggyback ride."
Stunned at this offer, Ed immediately did as told. Spike turned around and crouched down so she could hop onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck in a stranglehold before figuring out how to stay attached without cutting off his air supply. Her legs encircled his thin waist, locking at the ankles in front of his stomach which made him groan sickly again, but he still used his arms to hold her legs steady so she was as stabilized as possible. Spike radiated heat and a bunch of strong smells - sweat, smoke, gunpowder, and booze were the most prominent but they didn't bother Ed because she was used to her crew reeking. It was comforting, if anything.
They made their way to the Swordfish and Spike had Ed rap on the glass of the pod until Faye groggily sat up from the floor of the vessel and hauled herself bodily out of it to stagger alongside Ein behind them as they went back into the Bebop.
Faye collapsed face first onto the couch as soon as they were in the living area. Ein hopped up next to her and positioned himself on her back, using her butt as a pillow. Ed giggled at that and Spike smirked as well, but then he continued walking down the hall towards the bedrooms.
"What do you say we have a little sleepover?" He suggested, stopping and depositing Ed outside of her newly acquired room.
"Sleepover?" She asked.
"Yeah, grab the mattress pad in there and drag it out to the living room. I'll go get mine too. We'll put on some funny movies and see what there is for snacks and just hang out until we pass out."
Ed was delighted. "Indoor camping!"
Spike grunted as he walked towards the other bedroom. "No fires, Ed. No tents. Just sleeping gear and food, okay?"
Obviously no fires inside the ship - Jet had made that abundantly clear the one time she'd tried. And she'd watched their struggle with the tent so there was no way she wanted to try putting that up on her own. There'd be plenty of opportunity for more camping with all the proper fixings, so she didn't care about replicating the experience inside the ship right now. No, she was just thrilled that she wasn't alone any longer.
xxx
On Board the Bebop
The Next Day
Faye tried to hide her aching head underneath the blanket that had been thrown across her slumbering form. The lights were too bright, her mouth tasted as if something had died inside, her headache was basically a physical entity wreaking havoc inside her skull, and Jet's voice was not doing her any favors because he was talking purposefully loud just to piss her off.
"I don't understand how you both got so dehydrated - you weren't even without water for longer than a day and a half!"
"Yeah, but we were thirsty so we drank booze." Spike's voice said in a tone that implied Jet was being intentionally ignorant by not realizing their motivation.
"You didn't give any to Ed, did you?!" Somehow Jet's voice reached a new horrible volume.
Then came the unmistakable sounds of Ed stirring to life nearby. "Ed is sober! No yucky juice for Edward!" The hacker giggled. "Ein and I boiled the water to remove any impurities. Take the bad and make it good!"
Silence reigned for a moment, then Jet's incredulous voice boomed again. "You didn't think to give any to these lunkheads? For that matter, Spike, why didn't you guys boil any water to drink? Are you both really that unprepared to take care of yourselves?"
Spike's voice was whiny when he replied. "Shit, Jet, we didn't think you'd be gone so long. One bottle turned into another… you know how it goes sometimes…"
"Ed thought they were doing one of their drinking games! Sorry, Spike-person - Ed would have shared. Didn't know you wanted any."
Faye moaned and pulled the blanket off her head at last, giving in to the hassle of being conscious if only to find something to clear the awful taste from her tongue. "Faye-Faye would like some water now, please," She rasped at her comrades. It was still too bright, so she draped an arm over her eyes.
"Well… if you're sure, Faye…" Spike's voice was sly and Faye immediately regretted her words. She moved the arm, also regretting that when her head protested the sudden loss of pressure that had been keeping her brain in one place, but regaining sight didn't help her escape the couch before a bucket of water was poured onto her face and upper body.
Spluttering and furious, Faye sat up, dripping water onto the cushions and mattresses that were for some reason on the floor. She glared around at her shipmates - all of whom, even the freaking dog, seemed to be laughing at her plight. With a screech that hurt her own throbbing skull, she vaulted to her feet and stormed to the washroom, giving Spike a solid punch to the gut en route. He staggered at the contact but continued to wheeze in amusement as she disappeared into the shower room to either find relief from her hangover under the spray… or else find relief by dying quietly out of sight of any of these assholes. Fuck, she loved liquor but she sure hated how rotten the next day always was.
xxx
On Earth District 32
Late December
"Are you sure he's here somewhere?" Spike asked Jet as they flew their zipcraft low over the pock marked surface of one of Earth's innumerable deserts. Supposedly the planet had once been much greener back in its heyday, and to be fair there were still quite a few forests and jungles and tropical locations but the vast majority seemed to be rather arid. Between climate change, global warming, and the near-constant rain of meteorites from the shattered moon, it was a place very few chose to call home anymore, except the folks who lived underground.
And the crazy folks like Ed and her absent-minded father, who was the target for today.
Jet had spent several days working on the Bebop, eventually getting enough gas where they could fly over to a dock and tie up, and therefore get more help in the form of Doohan and Jet's odd plant-loving buddy Marcus Carol. Neither man had been willing to venture out to the ship when it was at the mercy of the high seas, not that they'd been knocked around much while out there in the salty middle of nowhere. But once they'd been closer to humanity, it had been a lot simpler to get stuff done and by now things on the Bebop were as good as they ever really were. All damaged circuitry had been repaired, the water filtration was filtering properly, the fuel gauge had been replaced entirely, and surprisingly the fuel lines hadn't had any leaks that they'd found.
Marcus was on board the ship with Faye, showing her how to get the hydroponics equipment functioning again - a task which she'd tried to fob off on Jet, who had told her plainly that everyone needed to know how to keep shit alive on the ship if they wanted to keep eating. She'd grumbled but acquiesced.
Which meant Jet was free to join Spike and Edward on their mission to track down Appledelhi.
They'd flown first to Doohan's garage so they could pick up Ed's zipcraft and she was long gone now, spiraling up into the clouds and shooting across the horizon and doubling back on herself and whatever else she thought to try on the spur of the moment. She was tracking their progress so she could catch up to them whenever they finally managed to locate her dad.
"There's been a lot of meteor activity in this region lately," Jet replied over the comm. "It makes sense that this is where he'd be."
"Right…" Spike set his ship on a course to follow Jet and took his hands off the controls so he could find a cigarette and his lighter. He was stress-smoking but he wasn't exactly sure why. He'd encountered Ed's father before and the man wasn't tough to deal with or anything. Then again he'd never gone to bat for someone against their parents, so maybe it was simply that.
Ed had been a mess when Spike had come to his senses after the drinking binge and gunplay with Faye on the deck. It had been her quiet whimpers that had gotten through the pounding headache that had begun to overtake his senses when he'd woken on the cold deck of the ship. Drinking on an empty stomach and without any water for far too long was never a fun experience, but even worse was waking up feeling like garbage and hearing someone nearby in distress. Especially when that someone was Ed.
He'd heard Faye in distress plenty and while it was never something he liked hearing, it wasn't quite as chilling as hearing Ed upset. There was so little that knocked Ed off balance, so little that seemed to genuinely cause her ill ease. Even being washed down the river had been a fun adventure to Ed, after all. So when she was sad or scared it made Spike very uncomfortable.
And he thought he understood what the problem had been.
With Jet gone, with Faye and Spike himself being distracted by booze and their own shenanigans, she'd been on her own for the entire day. Which was fine, that was something Ed was used to. But she'd been left alone as the day had become night and night was full of hidden dangers. On their camping trip, Faye had made up that whole scary story all about loneliness and Ed had been hanging on her every word. It was clearly something that Ed had a lot of personal familiarity with.
When they'd first found her - or rather, when she'd found them - she had been on her own. Not even Ein for company because the data dog had already been on the ship with them. And, prior to that, she'd spent some time in an orphanage. Spike himself had not met Sister Clara yet because Jet and VT had handled that meet up for Stella's gardening task, but Faye had told him all that she had learned of Ed's history from the nun.
Brought to an orphanage at a young age, only six or seven years old, she'd spent a year or two there before wandering off on her own… which had eventually led to her meeting Sister Clara and the children in her care and staying there for another year or two and then… simply wandering off again. At some point after that she'd reached out to the Bebop crew and the rest was history.
But Spike had questions about that story. He believed every word of it, but he wasn't happy about much of it. Why had she kept leaving places where she had friends her own age and a caretaker to look out for them? What had driven her to venture forth on her own in a world so difficult to survive in?
Spike suspected she'd been trying on her own to find her father - perhaps her mother as well. He knew as little as Ed herself about her mom. Which of course brought them to why they were here trying to find Appledelhi. Partially so Ed could enjoy some time with her father - who truly did love her - but also to demand some answers from the preoccupied man. It was like an itch now, the need to know more about Ed's past and parents. And if it was driving Spike this batty, he was pretty sure Ed herself was harboring some anxieties about it all.
Had she felt abandoned again when she was by herself on the ship while he and Faye were being lushes in the hangar? He hoped not, but sometimes it was difficult to convince yourself that you wouldn't be alone forever more - in the dark it was especially easy to believe the worst.
Monsters loomed in the shadows, self-doubts grew to monumental proportions. As an adult he'd dealt with these dark emotions fairly regularly, but they had been present in his youth as well - to an even greater degree, as much as he could recall anyway. Being a kid made everything harder because you were so small, so inexperienced and unaware and so… vulnerable. Even someone as clever as Ed.
"Spike! I think I can see his vehicle down there!" Jet's voice and image, grimly determined, came over the comm, interrupting Spike's melancholic musing.
Finally!
Sitting around with emotions was not the way Spike liked to live - he was a man of action or a man of energy-conservation. If he wasn't engaging his body in something strenuous, he was napping in preparation for whatever required his skills later on. Being morose was fucking miserable and he had more than his fill of that emotion. Faye had been a huge boon in bringing happiness back to his waking hours, and Ed herself was just as instrumental in keeping him buoyed up and optimistic. Now it was time to return the favor to the young hacker.
They landed their craft near Appledelhi's off road vehicle and Jet radioed Ed to let her know of their success. Indeed, before Spike had even reached the edge of the crater he'd chosen to investigate, they could already hear and see Ed's unique vehicle approaching. He peered over the lip of the enormous crater but saw no sign of life inside the bowl, so he backtracked to where Jet had disappeared over the edge of another nearby crater.
Sure enough, there was the hulk of a man and his lean assistant, down near the center. They were both poring over a computer screen and seemed oblivious to Jet's approach or Spike's for that matter. But when Ed bounded over the lip of the crater and came barreling down the slope, Appledelhi jolted upright and whirled around, catching Ed when she leapt at him. This time he'd grabbed her hands, but he still spun her around in a tight circle before abruptly releasing her hands - which made Jet stop in his tracks, appalled - but Ed merely curled into a tight ball in the air, spinning so she could land on her feet with her arms thrown up in a victorious pose.
"Françoise!" Appledelhi exclaimed. "Or is it Ed these days?" He grinned at his daughter and ruffled her hair when she cartwheeled back over. "We've been plotting some incredible landings!"
"Sure, sees her twice in a decade and he remembers both her names EVEN THE MADE UP ONE but can he remember mine when he sees me every day?" The grumble from Appledelhi's assistant was quiet but still heard by Spike and the others, though like the last time Spike had observed the duo, Ed's dad appeared deaf to Macintire's words. He wondered, not for the first time, whether his obliviousness was intentional or subconscious on some level.
"Our search for peace continues, my child!" Appledelhi was telling Edward. He wrapped a beefy arm around her shoulder and gestured across the sky and then looked down at her and gave her a wink. "You conquered chaos quite well yourself, in that frozen place."
"Oh! Father-person saw Edward?"
The mountain of a man chuckled. "Yes, Macklemore played your race as it was happening. Very exciting stuff. Egg?" He offered her an egg that even Spike hadn't seen him grab from anywhere. Were his pockets stuffed? They didn't look like it…
"Have you come to map with us?" He asked Jet as Ed cracked the egg open and drank it.
"Uh, er… no, um, that is unless Ed wants to…?" Jet stammered, averting his eyes from Ed. No surprise there, he was always loath to drink prairie oysters too - because of the raw egg, he claimed - but still it was something that baffled Spike. How could a grown man find raw egg consumption so gross?
Ed was bouncing on her toes. "No, Father-person. But Ed has thoughts on a satellite approach for meteor prediction." She answered excitedly. Appledelhi turned back to her, looking equally delighted by her words.
"Oh! Is that so! My brilliant child! You'll have to send me your ideas, we can work together to puzzle out the future of this land!" He cheered, ruffling her hair again.
"Wait, that's not all we came for!" Spike shouted as Appledelhi made to wander back to the computer readout he'd been engrossed in when they arrived. From seemingly nowhere, Appledelhi pulled out a basket of eggs and tossed it end over end at Spike, who squawked and made a mad scramble to grab the eggs as they came tumbling out of the basket in motion.
"Uh, no, er - thanks, but actually we have a few questions," Jet hurried to add.
Appledelhi looked curious, as curious as Ed standing beside him. Macintire continued to mumble under his breath. He hadn't even bothered to try correcting his boss on his name earlier.
"We were wondering if you could talk to Ed about her mother - or if you had any pictures of her, or information about her?" Jet pushed on before father or daughter could be distracted.
Spike set the basket - which he'd placed all the eggs safely back into - on the ground. Ed's expression had become blank, a look Spike had seen on his own face staring out of the mirror or a reflection all too often. Appledelhi looked poleaxed. Even his assistant had stopped muttering to give Jet a wild-eyed look.
"Yoko, my Yoko," Appledelhi whispered. "My siren, my heart," He staggered a few steps away, staring up at the sky with tears in his eyes. "Chaos… chaos claimed my Yoko…" He turned back around, glancing sharply at Ed. "She would be so proud of you, my wild child. She was always singing, always dancing, always eager for adventure and she wanted them all. You were a dream come true. We brought you with us everywhere - to see all of Earth's beauty, to witness the changes to the landscape… " He trailed off, clapping Ed on the back warmly. "You have the hologram of me, yes? I left it with Clara for you."
Ed nodded vigorously. Her eyes were shining wetly but her cheeks were dry. "Ed keeps it under her pillow, for sweet dreams."
Her father beamed at her and barked at his assistant. "Macbeth! There's a box in the vehicle, in the safe. Grab it for Ed!"
Macintire, sharing a solemn look with Spike and Jet, moved without complaint to do as the other man asked. He disappeared over the crater to rummage through the vehicle, returning after a few minutes with a small instrument case. He handed it over to Ed who looked unsure for a moment but then stood straight and opened it up.
There was no instrument inside, but rather another holographic projector and a music box. She regarded them quizzically and her father knelt down next to her and took out the projector. He pressed the button to activate it and Edward gasped.
An image rotated in front of them of a young woman with Ed's distinctive hair, the same shockingly vibrant red, but spilling all the way down her back in waves. Her eyes were also the same amber of Ed's own eyes, and her mother was gazing blissfully down at a child - an infant Ed judging by the tuft of red hair visible amidst the cloth she was swaddled in. Ed's mom - Yoko - was wearing a bright blue jumpsuit with hot pink slashes here and there along the sleeves and pant legs. There was a pair of goggles around her neck and a headband with cat ears on it sitting atop her head.
Appledelhi set the projector back into the instrument case, still showing the image of his family, and took out the music box next. With a gentle touch he wound the handle for a few moments and then let it play. A woman's voice sang out, accompanied by a piano.
"I've kept you both as close to my heart as I could. But… you should have these, Ed. She loved you very much. Wanted you to see the stars." He sighed softly. "I was a wreck after she passed. I couldn't take care of you. I couldn't take care of myself. It took me years to find my purpose."
Ed reached out for the music box and set it back into the instrument case and put the case on the ground. She patted her father comfortingly on the shoulder and he swept her into his arms for a powerful hug.
"It's okay, father-person. Ed understands. And… Ed can make a copy of these, so we can both have mama close by." Her cheeks were damp now, but she was smiling at the same time.
Spike took in a deep breath, looking away from the scene in front of him. Sand or something was stinging his eyes. He saw that Jet was also trying to look anywhere else, and Macintire was unabashedly sobbing but no one was paying him any mind at all.
After a bit the music box reached the final note and Ed slowly pulled away from her father. She turned off the projector and closed up the instrument case. She grinned fiercely at her father, pride emanating from her.
"Ed has not just seen the stars, Ed has seen the beauty of other planets. By carrying her in my heart, I can show her the universe and take her on incredible adventures with Bebop Bebop. She's always with us, you know." With that, Ed picked up the case, planted a sloppy kiss on her father's cheek, waved merrily to Macintire and hightailed it up the crater slope to wherever she parked her zipcraft.
Appledelhi remained on his knees looking at the sand in momentary silence. Eventually he stood and regarded Jet and Spike seriously. "You are better caretakers than I could be. Then or now. She needs to be wild and free, just like her mother. Keep her well."
He resolutely turned his back on the pair of bounty hunters and walked over to the computer again. Macintire, scrubbing the tears from his face, also regarded the readout again.
Spike cleared his throat and reached down for the basket of eggs. He didn't look over at Jet, but he knew the other man was following as Spike led the way from the crater pit.
xxx
Do you have the strength to sit with each moment?