Tales from the Stream Ch. 11

Author's Note

It seems most everyone who read chapter 10 was curious to know what happened with Mia, the station's artificial intelligence after the crew left. This chapter should shed some light on that.

Chapter 11: Floating in a most peculiar way.

In the lounge of The Black Prince

Amaliya floated weightless, a meter above the cushions of the Megacomf sofa. She had her back arched with her arms in a V, elbows locked, and reaching toward the starboard viewport. Her legs were spread wide with toes pointed. There wasn't a stitch of clothing on her.

"Ahh," sighed Amaliya.

Between her legs stood Jade, wearing nothing but a pair of magnetic boots and a smile, Her face was slick and glistening.

Jade gripped Amaliya's hips in her hands and leaned forward, tongue extended. She caught Amaliya's gaze as she dipped her head.

Amaliya squirmed. She shivered from head to toe before letting out a little squeak.

"Mmm," said Jade. "Wanna go for another?"

Emily's voice echoed from down the corridor. "Fuck," she hollered.

Jade grinned. "You heard her."

"I don't think she was talking to us," said Amaliya. "Besides, if I have another one... I might die."

"Couldn't have that, now could we?"

"I'd prefer to remain living," said Amaliya. "For now."

"Suit yourself." Jade raised her head and let go Amaliya's hips. "Maybe you just need to hydrate. And then..."

"Doesn't your tongue hurt?"

Jade licked her lips and grinned.

"I'll take that as a no." Amaliya made a move to sit up, but with Jade no longer holding on to her, she ended up in a zero G tumble.

Jade wiped her chin with the back of one hand while reaching out with her other. Amaliya took hold, and stopped spinning. She floated just above the Megacomf.

"A little help?" said Amaliya.

Jade wrapped her arms around Amaliya's waist and pulled her in close. "You said my name. When you were... you know. You said my name."

"I did." Amaliya let out another sigh.

"Fuck!" Emily's voice reverberated throughout the corridor.

"Maybe you should see what she's up to," suggested Amaliya. "Before she breaks something."

"She's a big girl." Jade rested her head on Amaliya's tummy.

"Fuck," hollered Emily. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

"Go," said Amaliya, pointing.

Jade plucked up her jumpsuit where it floated just above the sofa. She poked at Amaliya's suit, sending it toward her. Amaliya managed to catch it in a mid-air somersault before hooking the back of the Megacomf with her heel.

Jade made her way slowly and deliberately down the forward corridor of the ship, each click of her magnetic boots securing her to the metal decking as she walked. When she reached the galley, she poked her head in. "Hey Em," she said.

Emily was standing in front of the dispenser, frowning. She held a portable multimeter in her hand. The dispenser's front panel floated in front of her. Only a long and brightly colored ribbon cable kept the panel tethered to the food processing machine. Emily swore again, under her breath this time.

Jade frowned. "Still no luck on the galley, I take it?"

"Nope." Emily plucked a probe wire from the panel and turned to stare at Jade.

"Maybe you should take a break before you make yourself crazy."

Emily scowled.

"Hm," said Jade. "Wanna help finish painting the ship's name on the hull? Might be nice to get outside."

"Amaliya's not helping?"

"She is. I just thought if you wanted a change of scenery..."

"I don't know if space walking is my thing. I might have to work up to it."

"Fair enough," said Jade. "You seen Lúcia?"

"Not recently."

Amaliya came clomping down the corridor, taking a wide stance, her magnetic boots clicking. Her jumpsuit was only zipped to her naval. "I swear I'll never get used to these things," she said.

"It's only 'til were done painting. Then we'll spin up the ship again" said Jade. "By the way, have you seen Lúcia? I want to let her know the gravity's gonna be off for a while."

Amaliya shook her head. "I think you know where I've been for the past hour and a half."

"Point taken." Jade rubbed her chin, turned and exited the galley without another word. Her boots clicked as she walked the corridor.

"Cap'n?" said Amaliya, before blowing out a sigh.

Emily shrugged.

"Don't work to hard, Em," hollered Jade. "Take a break. Enjoy the zero G."

"Baby, where're you going?" said Amaliya, clomping along behind.

"I want to let Lúcia know the gravity'll be off for a while. You know, while we paint the hull."

"You... You want to paint the hull? Now?"

"Yeah," said Jade. "It's not even half done. You want to float around in this tin can with 'The Bla' painted on the hull? Not me, baby. I ain't goin' out like that."

"You don't want to..."

Jade stared at Amaliya and blinked.

"You know..."

"Oh," said Jade. "I didn't... I mean, I thought you were worn out. I think your words were, I might die if I have another one."

"Yes, well... I did... But, I thought maybe we could snuggle."

"Snuggle," said Jade, stopping in her tracks. "I guess we could do that."

"Don't sound so enthused."

"Sorry, baby. If you want to—"

"No. No. It's fine."

Jade stared into Amaliya's eyes. "Really?"

"Look, just forget I said anything. We can paint the hull if that's what you want to do."

"You sure, 'cause—"

"I'm sure."

Jade leaned in to kiss Amaliya on the cheek. "You're the best," she said, turning toward the conn.

Amaliya curled her lip.

Jade strode down the corridor.

"Shouldn't we be headed for the airlock?" asked Amaliya.

"Lúcia, remember? Got to tell Lúcia the gravity's going to be off for a while. Make sure she doesn't end up stuck floating in the middle of her garden." Jade marched into the conn and picked up the microphone from its cradle.

Amaliya clomped after her. "No," she said, reaching out to cover the mic with her hand. "You are not paging Lúcia over the intercom."

Jade cocked her head.

"Oh come on," said Amailya. "The ship's not that big. Turn around. Let's just go find her."

"But..." Jade stood with slumped shoulders. "But, I like the intercom."

"I know you do, baby." Amaliya wrapped her arm around Jade's shoulder and steered her toward the doorway. "Just not all the time, okay?"

Amaliya clomped along in a wide stance. Jade shuffled along at her side.

In the aft corridor

A bright light, bordering on ultra-violet spilled from the garden room, casting its rays on the floor and opposite wall. Jade and Amaliya squinted as they looked in. Jade straightened up. Both women tilted their heads severely to one side.

Lúcia was hanging upside-down, her magnetic boots clamped to the ceiling. The greenhouse lights gave her white jumpsuit an eerie violet glow. She was wearing red-tinted wraparound glasses and holding a spritzer.

"Hi." Lúcia waved.

Amaliya turned to Jade. "Aren't you glad you didn't go for the intercom?"

Jade looked Lúcia over from head to toe and grinned. "In this particular case, I would have to say, yes."

Half a meter away from Lúcia, floated a shiny metal harvester crab, its eight little legs pistoning in the air. It was also wearing red-tinted wraparound sunglasses perched on top of its metal shell just in front of its eye stalks.

Lúcia reached out. The harvester crab extended a pincer. The two met in the middle.

"That was fucking beautiful." Jade turned her head around to face the doorway. "Em," she hollered. "Em, drop whatever it is you're doing. You have got to see this shit."

Amaliya stepped further into the garden room. Her head was nearly even with Lúcia's, despite the fact that Amaliya was anchored to the floor and Lúcia was attached to the ceiling.

Amaliya smiled. She laid a hand on the back of Lúcia's neck. "May I?" she said.

Lúcia nodded.

Amailya went in lips first.

"Cap'n?" said Emily, rounding the corner.

Jade put her finger to her lips.

"Oh," whispered Emily.

It was several minutes before Amaliya and Lúcia parted. They both sighed audibly.

Emily put her hand on her hip, cocked her head, and stared. "I'm not sure who thought of it, but interesting way to take advantage of the zero G situation."

Lúcia grinned. Amaliya's eyes were unfocused as a slow smile crossed her face.

"You're a good kisser," said Lúcia.

"Mmm. I could say the same about you."

Lúcia performed an upside down curtsy. "Emily?"

"Me?" said Emily.

"Of course," said Lúcia.

Emily shrugged and stepped forward. It was several minutes before she and Lúcia parted.

"See what I mean?" said Amaliya.

"Feeling better about life, Em?" asked Jade.

Emily just sighed.

Jade turned to upside down Lúcia. "Two heavy sighs. And all while holding a harvester crab and a spray bottle," she said. "Impressive. And I'm digging the glasses. On the crab too. Nice touch."

Lúcia grinned. "Reg."

"Huh?" said Jade.

"Reg," repeated Lúcia. "His name is Reg. Though he sometimes goes by Reggie."

"Um..." Jade stared.

"You named him Reg," said Amaliya. "How do you know he's a boy? I mean, the harvester crabs, they're robots, right? Do the have little metal... you know?"

"What is gender but a social construct?" said Lúcia, stroking Reg's back with her index finger. "If Reg wants to be Reg, who am I to tell him he should not?"

Amaliya shrugged. "Makes sense."

"But how do you know he wants to be Reg?" Emily asked. "Did you just start listing off baby names, starting with A, and wait for him to nod in agreement? It's not like he can talk."

"But he does," said Lúcia, as she began walking across the ceiling with Reg the harvester crab in hand. "Well, he can write."

Lúcia walked down the wall and finally to the floor, cradling Reg in her palm the entire time. She walked over to a corner of the garden room. She pushed aside the leaves of a sprawling strawberry plant. There in the dirt was scrawled, "I spoke to God."

It was some time before the trio of women gathered around Lúcia managed to close their gaping mouths and begin constructing complete sentences. Jade was first.

"Interesting choice for baby's first words," she said.

Lúcia moved the leaves of another strawberry plant. Carved into the soil was, "I'm Reg. But not Reg."

"Maybe it means regular instead of Reggie," said Emily. "Like, I'm regular, but not regular. Like he's special somehow? A special harvester crab. And that's why he hid out in your suit pocket on the way back."

"Stowing away on a pirate ship for a life of adventure," said Amaliya. "And here he got us."

"Did he write anything about wanting to sign on as crew?" asked Jade.

Lúcia shook her head. She pushed aside another clump of Strawberry leaves.

"I am also Mia," was scrawled in the soil.

"No shit," said Jade.

"Did he write anything else?" asked Emily.

"Looks like he ran out of strawberries," said Amaliya.

Jade, Emily, and Lúcia all turned to stare.

Amaliya shrugged. "What? I bet he's programmed not to disturb the plants. He's a harvester crab. Plants are his thing."

"Hm," said Jade. "Makes about as much sense as anything here, I guess."

"Reg did not hide out in my pocket," said Lúcia. "Mia asked him if he wanted to accompany me. I assumed it was for help tending to the garden. We spoke at length about the garden. And other things."

"When I was poking around in Mia's subroutines, I learned a lot about the harvester crabs' programming," said Emily. "They're completely autonomous when it comes to things like tending to plants. But, they also maintain a connection to the central core for more specific and complex tasks."

"You mean Mia?" said Jade. "Mia's the central core. Do you think—?"

Lúcia nodded. "I believe Mia may have asked Reg to come along, not only as a helpful companion for us, but as a way to stay in contact."

"And that works how, exactly?" said Jade.

Emily looked at Reg. "Unless we're in the stream," she said, "the ship can access the net. I would assume Reg and Mia can do the same. There must be some sort of connection. A secure tunnel through the normal data channels that links them together."

"And," said Amaliya, "since we're sitting here, not moving 'cause we're getting ready to paint the hull..."

"The ship's got access to the net. And Mia's got access to us."

"Why didn't she just tell us?" asked Jade.

"We should go back," said Amaliya.

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," said Jade.

Lúcia nodded. "When I left her, she expressed excitement about our visit. But at the same time, I think she was ready for us to leave."

"I got that feeling, too," said Jade. "Nothing overt, but..."

"I believe our presence stirred up fresh memories of Maria, her farmer girl. Though she put on a brave face, the way she spoke before I departed, I believe having us aboard was difficult for her."

"She had two hundred years to reconcile her death," said Amaliya, "and then we come along stirring it all up again. Poor gal."

"I recall the captain saying Mia needed her space," said Lúcia. "I believe the instinct was correct."

"So what do we do?" said Amaliya. "I don't want to leave her languishing, but I don't want us to show up unannounced on her doorstep and cause her to feel like she needs to entertain guests when she's not up for it."

"I believe that is why Reg is with us," said Lúcia.

"Like she's letting us know she's okay, but in a subtle way?" said Emily.

Lúcia nodded.

"What's with the 'I spoke to God' bit?" Jade gestured to the words scratched into the soil.

"I believe it refers to our parting words," said Lúcia. "Before I left, Mia expressed concern that she might be tempted to take advantage of her newly found self-shutdown routines as soon as we cleared the air lock."

Emily frowned. Her lip began to quiver. Amaliya offered an arm around her shoulders.

"I suggested that if the thought burdened her, she should speak to God about it," said Lúcia. "That upon doing so, she might feel differently."

"And you think God passed down instructions to Mia so she could build a VPN connection to Reg?" said Jade. "Like three hundred cubits long or something?"

"I believe no such thing," said Lúcia. "Though clearly Mia was able to construct the data tunnel with the knowledge she possesses. The evidence is written in the soil under the strawberry plant."

"Maybe we could ask her. Just to be sure and all."

"I have found no way to do that yet." Lúcia moved to another corner of the garden room. She walked up to a shelf and pulled out a tray of seedlings from a drawer. Between the tiny sprouts were the letters of the alphabet, scratched into the soil.

Lúcia set Reg in the middle of the tray. She pointed to the letter A. Reg followed her finger with his eye stalks, sat unmoving for a moment, and then turned his eyes to Lúcia.

"I don't think he understands," said Lúcia. "He can write, but he does not read."

"Maybe he reads machine code," suggested Amaliya.

"I thought about that," said Lúcia. "But I don't know any machine code. Do you?"

"We could try books," said Emily. "Mia said Maria taught her to read from children's books. Maybe..." Emily frowned. "We don't have any children's books, do we? Unless..."

"What?" said Amaliya.

"QR codes."

"That's it." Jade stepped forward. "Em, can you print up some QR codes for everyday objects? Like stuff we have around the ship?"

"Yes, but—"

"Amaliya, baby, you ever get the urge to play dress up and do the sexy school teacher thing?"

"Umm," said Amaliya, "didn't know you were into that."

"Not for me," said Jade. "For Reg."

Amaliya stared. "Okay, that's weird. Even for me."

Jade chuckled. "The teacher part, that's for Reg. The sexy bit... well, that's just me talking."

"Oh," said Amaliya.

"Nice work, crew," said Jade. "Lúcia, bring Reg. School's in session."

Lúcia, Amaliya, and Emily traded shrugs. Jade marched out into the corridor, magnetic boots clicking with purpose.

"Where are you off to now?" sighed Amaliya.

In the galley

Jade ransacked the cupboards in the galley. She pulled out a box of pilot biscuits and set it on the table. "Em?" she said.

"Got it, Cap." Emily printed a QR code for food.

Jade set a first aid kit on the table.

Emily chewed her lip. "Medicine? Or ouch? What am I going for here?"

Jade opened the kit and pulled out a bottle of ibuprofen. The rest of the kit floated away.

"Medicine. Got it." Emily printed another QR code.

Amaliya reached into a cabinet and pulled out a transparent pouch labeled Emergency Water Ration, 500mL.

"Yes," said Jade.

Emily printed another QR code.

"That's a good start," said Jade. She turned to Lúcia.

Lúcia held out her arms to place Reg in the center of the galley table. The four women waited.

Jade stepped forward and poked the water pouch. "Water," she said, and pointed to the QR code.

Reg ambled toward the water, but soon began floating above the table, no longer able to maintain purchase with his eight little legs.

"Do they make mag boots for crabs?" asked Amaliya.

"I don't think so," said Jade, reaching out to press the water pouch back toward the table.

Lúcia reached out to stroke Reg's back and orient him to the tabletop again.

Reg turned his eye stalks to Lúcia.

Lúcia nodded.

Reg turned his eye stalks back to the objects in front of him. He reached out with a pincer and poked at the water pouch.

"Water," said Jade. She tapped the QR code.

Reg poked the pouch once more before he and the water pouch began floating away in opposite directions.

"We really need crab boots," said Amaliya. "Why doesn't anybody make crab boots?" She reached into the first aid kit, pulled out some tape, and secured the water pouch and other items to the table.

"I want to try something," said Emily.

Jade nodded.

Emily stepped forward and rearranged the QR codes. Lúcia pressed Reg to the table again. Emily tapped the QR code for water that was now sitting in front of the pilot biscuits.

Reg turned his eye stalks to Emily and then back to the objects on the table. He reached out with his pincer and poked the box of pilot biscuits before floating off again.

"Damn," said Jade. "I thought he had it."

"Give him time," said Amaliya.

Amaliya stroked Reg's back as Lúcia had done, and pressed him down to make contact with the table. She tapped the QR code for water and then poked the pouch of water.

Reg's little metal legs skittered over the table top as he walked toward the pilot biscuits. He tapped the box with his pincer before turning his eye stalks to Amaliya and raising himself up on his frontmost legs. The motion caused him to float off the table again.

Amaliya caught Reg in her hands. "It's okay, hon," she said, while stroking his back. "We'll get there."

In the galley, several hours later.

"Okay, Reg," said Amaliya. "Find the water."

Amaliya tapped a single QR code she had placed on the table in front of the three objects. "Water," she repeated.

Reg reached out with his pincer and poked the pouch of water.

"Yes!" exclaimed Amaliya, "You did it."

Jade and Lúcia raised their heads from where the lay cradled in their folded arms.

Jade blinked. "Did what?"

"He found the water," said Amaliya.

"Hold on a sec," said Emily. She picked up the water QR code and laid the code for medicine in its place.

"Find the medicine, Reg," said Amaliya, stroking Reg's back and pressing him to the table again. "You can do it, buddy."

Reg turned his eye stalks to Amaliya.

"You can do it," she said. "Medicine."

Reg walked forward and poked the pouch of water.

Amaliya sighed. She picked up Reg in her hand and rubbed his back. "It's okay, hon."