Tales from the Stream Ch. 14

Author's Note

If you have not read any prior chapters, particularly the one entitled, Aidoru, you may be confused by the character by the name of Aidoru. Aidoru appears physically as identical triplets. However, the three bodies share a single, linked consciousness. Therefore, Aidoru is referred to in the singular, though to those who don't know her, she appears to be three. She also speaks in Haiku--five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables--with each body reciting one line.

And if you're a newcomer to the series, you should know these stories are generally more about girl power and adventure and light on the sex part.

A big thank you goes out to Maonaigh, for planting the idea for this story in my head for this chapter. Remember the name, and if you ever want to read a really good story, just pick one from the list.

*

Chapter 13: Long Joan Silver

A tourist shop at the center of Nauja Vilnius.

"Look over there," said Amailya. "Is that--?"

Lúcia turned. "There?"

Amaliya clutched Lúcia's arm. "Don't stare," she hissed. "It's not polite."

Aidoru clustered around Lúcia. They both stared at the woman in question.

"It could be," said Jade. "I mostly remember her from the back side."

"Perv," whispered Amaliya.

Jade shrugged. "What? She's got a nice--"

"Why don't you just ask her?" said Emily. "We're pirates. Show some of that pirate confidence."

"Wait," said Jade, holding out her arm. "Let's try to be casual about it. I mean, it's pretty far from Nouveau Paris. It could just be someone who looks like her."

"Fine," Emily huffed.

Jade shrugged and walked to within a meter behind the woman. "You look a little tense," she said.

The woman spun on her heal and shot a glare. "Listen here, I don't know who you..."

The woman cocked her head.

"Captain Jade?" she said.

"Val," said Jade. "I thought it was you." Jade held up both hands and wiggled her fingers. "You do look a little tense."

Val turned her back to Jade and leaned in. Jade went to work massaging her shoulders.

"That's why I'm on holiday," said Val. "A little to the right, s'il vous plait. Mmm."

"Well, that explains what you're doing here, so far from home," said Jade. "They didn't believe it was you."

Emily curled her lip and shot Jade a glare.

"Brought the whole pirate crew, I see," said Val, leaning into Jade. "And who's this on your shoulder?"

"Meet the newest member of the crew. This is Reg. He's a harvester crab. He helps with the garden. But that's just his day job. He's part of the crew."

"Oh, you have magic fingers, mon Capitaine. C'est magnifique."

"So you're on holiday?" said Jade.

"Oui..." said Val.

"So what's there to do here? For, um, holiday."

"Architectural tour," said Val, lifting a small handheld device and swiping at its screen.

"Nice," said Jade, as Val swiped through the pictures.

Reg pushed himself up on his frontmost legs and turned his eye stalks to the tablet.

"Funny that some of the best examples of Eastern Orthodox churches would be off-world. But, look at the detail."

Jade nodded. She looked up. "Hey, crew," she said. "Who needs a little churching up? Val's got some pretty fabulous pictures here."

Amaliya and Emily gathered around. Aidoru traipsed along behind, still focusing most of her attention on the three king-sized Toblerone bars she clutched in her hands.

Everyone oohed and ahhed while Val flipped through her photos. Aidoru divided her attention equally between the photos and the chocolate bars.

"Where's Lúcia?" said Jade. "She should see this. For a little compare and contrast."

Amaliya turned her head. "Lúcia, hon. It's Val. You remember Val, don't you?"

Lúcia was speaking to a woman wearing a vest with 'Ask me. I'm here to help' embroidered on the left breast, just over a name badge. On the badge was printed, 'Joan'. Joan wore a black patch over her left eye.

Jade stared for a moment, taking in the scene. There was a brief flash of light. Appearing atop Joan's shoulder was a brightly colored holographic parrot where once there was none. Lúcia grinned and reached out toward the bird.

"Joan!" bellowed a voice. It belonged to a stern-looking woman behind the counter. "People come here for information on the local sites, not tales of swashbuckling adventure."

"Yes, Missus Hodgepodge," said Joan. She reached up and tapped her shoulder. The parrot disappeared.

"'E's not dead, is 'e?" Lúcia giggled.

"No, I just switched it off," said Joan. "It's a hologram."

"Pinin' for the fjords, then, is 'e?" Lúcia giggled and nudged Joan with her elbow. "Just restin', eh?"

"Umm..." said Joan. "I guess. I don't really know."

"Lúcia," said Amaliya, walking over and taking Lúcia by the arm. "Lúcia, hon. It's Val. You remember Val? She's showing us pictures. I thought you might want to have a look."

"Pinin' for the fjords." Lúcia winked at Joan and shuffled along.

"Hi, Lúcia," said Val.

"Bonjour, mademoiselle." Lúcia curtsied. "Comment ça va?"

"Bon. Bon." Val smiled. She flicked her finger across the screen. "I was showing the gang some of the picture I took on my tour. This is the Church of Saint Sava. It's one of the oldest here in Nauja Vilnius."

Lúcia leaned in.

"Hey, Em," said Jade. "You s'pose you could bookmark that in your Michelin Guide? Maybe we could check it out while we're here."

Emily pulled out her tablet and tapped at the screen. "Got it, cap'n."

"Arrgh, I'm going for me break." Joan's voice carried across the shop. "Ya cannot stop me, matey."

"You can at least wait until Lukas is here," said Mrs. Hodgepodge from behind the counter.

"Fine," grumbled Joan. She reached up to touch her shoulder. The holographic parrot reappeared.

"Joan!" hollered Mrs. Hodgepodge.

"Fine," Joan repeated, switching off the parrot.

"She's a pirate, like us," whispered Lúcia.

"I think she's more of the pretend variety," said Jade. "A local thespian, perhaps. Getting in character for a season of Gilbert and Sullivan at the community theater."

"She has an eye patch. And a parrot on her shoulder," said Lúcia, glancing at Reg, who was perched on Jade's shoulder.

"She does, but it doesn't mean she's a pirate."

"Oh, but she is, Captain. I know she is."

A few meters away, Aidoru flipped the three Toblerones over in her hands. She began picking at the ends.

Jade turned to Aidoru and shook her head. "Aidoru, honey, we have to pay for those first."

All three Aidoru heaved a heavy sigh and stood with slumped shoulders leaving the still sealed Toblerone bars hanging loosely in her grip.

The door chimed and a young man walked in. He made his way to the front counter and plucked a vest from a hook. On his name badge, right under 'Ask me, I'm here to help', was 'Lukas'.

Jade turned to Lúcia. "Looks like Joan's on her break. Let's go talk to her. Five minutes tops and I bet you'll agree she's about as much of a real pirate as we are." Then turning to Val and the rest, she said, "If you'll excuse us for a moment, we'll be right back."

* * *

In the alley behind the shop.

"Whoa, that is nice." said Jade. Her gaze was fixed on the gold watch Joan turned over in her hands as they stood huddled together. "Is it real?"

"Does it look real to you?" said Joan. "It's real enough." She fiddled with her eye patch. The holographic parrot on Joan's shoulder was switched on and set to full brightness.

"I like your parrot," said Jade.

"And I like your..."

"Harvester crab. His name's Reg."

"Nice. So how 'bout the watch? Look good on your wrist, wouldn't it?"

"Worth a few gold Doubloons, I'd say. Probably more than we have on us."

"How 'bout movies?" Joan stuffed the watch back in her pocket. "You like movies? Name any film. If I don't have it, I can get it. Computer software? I've got that too. Whatever you need, ole Long Joan Silver can get it for ya."

Jade just stared, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape. "Long... Joan... Silver...?"

"Do you take Dogecoin?" asked Lúcia.

* * *

Back inside the shop.

"She's a real pirate," said Jade, bouncing on her toes. Reg bounced as well.

"Lúcia was right," said Jade. "I'll never doubt your intuition again."

Lúcia grinned.

"Joan's a real pirate," continued Jade. "You should see all the movies she can get. And for practically nothing. We should get some to pass the time when we're in The Stream without internet."

"I've seen those movies," said Emily. "And the heads of the people in the audience of the theater where they were filmed on the sly."

"Did I mention they're dirt cheap?" said Jade.

"No thanks," said Emily.

Jade turned to Amaliya. Amaliya shook her head.

Lúcia shrugged.

"Hey, where's Val?" said Jade. "Maybe she'll want some movies."

"Just left," said Amaliya. "She had a tour bus to catch."

"Bummer." Jade looked around. "Who's watching Aidoru?"

"She was just--" said Amaliya, looking this way and that.

"Aidoru, honey." Jade hustled off to the corner of the shop where Aidoru stood. Aidoru looked up. There were chocolate smears in the corners of her mouths and crumpled cardboard containers in her hands.

"I told you we had to pay for those first."

"Argh, don't give it another thought." Joan swooped in. The parrot on her shoulder was blazing at full brightness. She took the empty Toblerone boxes and walked to the front counter to ring the sale.

"How much?" asked Jade.

"Thar be no charge, matey." Joan winked, and whispered, "One pirate to another. Besides, I get an employee discount."

"Joan!" hollered Missus Hodgepodge. She tapped at her shoulder.

"Yes, Missus Hodgepodge." Joan switched of the holographic parrot. She turned back to Jade. She leaned in close. "I heard you and the lady talking. She called you Captain and spoke of your pirate crew. But don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

"You want to see our ship?"

"Sure." Joan tilted her head toward Missus Hodgepodge at the front counter. "But we'll have to wait until I'm done with my shift."

"Oh yeah, no problem," said Jade.

"Oh, Captain," said Emily. "A word, if I may?"

"Um, sure, what is it Em?"

"I need to pee," said Emily. "I'm not too keen on going in there alone."

"Sure. Okay."

"Great," said Emily, taking Jade's arm. She marched Jade to the sign labeled toilets.

* * *

Inside the Lady's Room

"Don't you need to? You know?" said Jade, bending her knees to squat just a bit. On Jade's shoulder, Reg squatted a bit too.

"No. We need to talk about Joan."

"Yeah. Cool, huh? An actual pirate. Long Joan Silver. What a name. I was thinking she might make a nice addition to our jolly bunch. I mean, we'd have a vote and all, but..."

"Honey." Emily laid her hand on Jade's shoulder. "Joan's not a pirate."

"Yes, she is."

"She has a parrot and an eye patch, but she's not a pirate."

"She knows things, Em. Piratey things. She's the real deal."

"Jade. Captain." Emily took Jade by the hand and led her to to an open stall. She closed the door and placed a hand on each of Jade's shoulders to look her square in the eye. "Look, I pretty sure the piracy is all in her head."

"Oh, now suddenly you're a psychiatrist? I thought you studied computers. Don't you do computers? You do computers."

The door to the bathroom opened with a whoosh of air and clicked quietly clicked closed. Emily and Jade looked at each other. Jade held her bottom lip in her teeth. Reg peeked up with his eye stalks level with the top of the stall.

Amaliya peered back from the other side. She grinned. "Are we planning a heist?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Seeing what you're doing here. Plus, I had to pee."

"Who's watching Aidoru?"

"Lúcia."

"Oh, that's a good plan," said Jade. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"About as solid as inviting someone onto the ship who we just met half an hour ago in a tourist shop on a strange planet," said Amaliya. "But don't worry. They're browsing the candy selection. Your pirate friend Joan's letting them have samples."

"Unsupervised?"

"They're with your pirate comrade."

"Yeah, but..." said Jade.

"If you're concerned, I'll go check on them." Amaliya flushed. "Keep me apprised of what comes out of your clandestine meeting."

"She's right, you know," said Emily. "We don't know much about Joan."

"Hm. I s'pose," Jade rubbed her chin. "You gonna pee, Em? You said you had to pee. Or was that just a ruse?"

"Why? You like to watch girls peeing?"

Jade shrugged.

Emily grinned and dropped her pants. "Aye, captain," she said.

* * *

Back in the main area of the shop.

Amaliya was standing next to Joan with her mouth agape. "Captain, you have got to see this."

Joan grinned and lifted her eye patch.

"Whoa!" said Jade. "Cool." Underneath the eye patch was dull gray metallic where the cornea should be. There was a slight bluish-white glow behind the pupil.

Reg dipped his eye stalks to look under the patch.

"Cybernetic," said Joan. "I was born blind in my left eye, but we don't have the technology to synthesize biological replacements, only cheap cybernetic. Doesn't bother the locals, birth defects are a dime a dozen around here, but it creeps out the tourists, so I usually keep it covered."

"Cyberpirate," said Jade. "How cool is that?"

Jade's eyes opened even wider as Joan pulled up the right leg of her trousers to reveal a shiny metal prosthetic.

"Whoa," said Jade.

Joan flashed a grin and pulled a box of small tablets from the pocket in her apron. She shook one out and popped it in her mouth. "I also take daily prescription anti-psychotics." She held out the box. "Want one?"

"Um," said Amaliya.

"Kidding," said Joan. "Breath mints. See?" She turned the box around to show the list of ingredients in tiny text under a bold swath of, "Now with twice the minty goodness!"

"Captain," said Emily, "don't you think..."

"She's fun?" said Jade. "Do I think she's fun? And piratey? Why, yes I do."

"Miss Long Joan Silver," said Aidoru.

"Do you have a ship as well?

"Being a pirate."

"As a matter of fact, I do. And what a beauty she is," said Joan. She straightened up, thrust out her chest, and reached up to activate the holographic parrot on her shoulder.

"Joan!" hollered Missus Hodgepodge.

Joan sighed and switched the parrot off. She leaned in and lowered her voice to a whisper. "We'll have to wait until I'm off work. Come back around 5:00-ish?"

* * *

A dimly lit starship hanger on the edge of town.

"I know what you're thinking," said Joan. "She's not much to look at, but one of these days I'm gonna get her running. And then things are going to change around here."

"Doesn't look much different than the shuttle Captain Jade took me flying in," said Amaliya. "Right after our first date."

Jade smiled. "A wee bit bigger though. How's she handle?"

"That's just the thing," said Joan. "I haven't actually taken her up. Got a leaky reactor and I'm not sure I know what to do about it."

"Are we being irradiated?" asked Amaliya. "Like right now? I'm not going to grow a second head am I? I don't need second head."

"It's shutdown cold," said Joan. "Been that way since my people got here. It's one of the original colonist ships."

"You came here on that?" said Emily. "You're braver than I thought."

"Look around you. Besides our churches, what do we have? We're not a wealthy colony. But from stories I've heard, with the purges and ethnic cleansings back on Earth, it was either ships like this or... I don't even want to think about the alternative. Anyway, my grandparents chose to cast their lot among the stars."

"I understand running away from pain. But I'll never fathom what your people must have been through to make that choice." Amaliya stepped forward, wrapping her arms around Joan.

"How do your grandparents feel about you being a pirate?" asked Jade.

Joan raised her head from Amaliya's shoulder and chuckled briefly. She turned to Emily. "Your friend the skeptic is right," she said. "I'm not much of a pirate. Except in cyberspace. Long Joan Silver is my hacker name."

"And a fine hacker name it is, sister Joan of the Long Silvers," said Lúcia. "And a fine ship."

"I just wish I could get her running. I've got such grand plans for her in my head."

"Piracy in high space?" said Lúcia.

"Maybe," laughed Joan. "If I ever get that far. But I'd settle for establishing some good trade routes."

"That doesn't sound very piratey," said Jade. "Not that I'm judging, cause I'm not. You should see our track record. Besides an epic bar fight when we liberated Aidoru..."

"Well," said Joan, "My idea is to--"

Jade glanced around. "Where is Aidoru?"

Jade watched three identical heads peek out from behind the ship's hull. She watched three identical hands crumpling three identical Toblerone boxes before dashing behind three identical backs.

Jade shook her head.

Joan sighed. "...but alas, I'm just not that good with reactor mechanics."

"Sorry, what?" said Jade.

"Reactors, huh?" said Emily. "Funny you should mention reactors."

"Jade's a wizard when it comes to reactors," said Amaliya.

Jade stepped forward and shot a crisp salute. "Machinist's Mate, First Class, Espinoza reporting for duty, ma'am. What duty am I reporting for, exactly?"

"You're fixing her ship, honey," said Amaliya.

"Colonial Navy?" said Joan.

"Until they kicked me out. But yeah. I worked at the shipyard on Kepler, too."

"You should see her in a coverall. Wheeling out from under a shuttle. With a smudge of grease on her cheek." Amaliya sighed.

A big grin crossed Joan's face.

* * *

Several hours later.

Jade wheeled out from under the ship's starboard nacelle. There was a small smudge of grease on her cheek. She reached for a 12mm wrench.

On her shoulder, Reg shook his eye stalks back and forth. Jade put the 12mm back and grabbed the 13mm. Reg bounced up and down.

Jade wheeled back under the nacelle.

"I've got such big plans for this little ship." Joan beamed. "Once I can get her flying, I can get into the stream and get some trade routes going."

"Expanding the market for your pirated movies, are we?" said Emily.

"Nah," said Joan. "Though that is a good idea. What I'm really looking for is a planet with more advanced manufacturing capabilities. Particularly in the biological and pharmaceutical fields."

"Captain Jade used to be in pharmaceuticals," said Lúcia.

"Those were the recreational variety," said Jade, her voice echoing from under the ship. "And I was on the distribution side, not manufacturing."

Lúcia shrugged.

Amaliya turned to Joan. "You're not thinking of--"

"It's a nasty business," said Jade. "I don't recommend it."

"No. No. Strictly medicinal," said Joan. She fingered her eye patch. "Remember when I told you about my cybernetic eye and how common birth defects are around here?"

Amaliya nodded.

"It's because of the ships like these. The reactor didn't get leaky with age. It started out that way. It's a cheap design. Half of them were leaky after three months in the stream."

"Typical amoral corporate greed," said Amaliya. "Cutting corners and selling shoddy goods to keep the stock price up. Never once thinking about the people they're endangering with their careless regard for safety."

"It's not that," said Joan. "From the stories I've heard, the first generation colonists knew full well what they were signing up for. They bought the ships on the gray market."

"They willingly boarded a ship with a leaky reactor?"

"No," said Joan. "They boarded a ship that had a fair chance of developing a leaky reactor. There was an equal chance that the inspectors were being overly cautious and there would be no leaks or the leak would be minor. Those were the ships that made it here. The rest..."