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Olivia felt the slight vibration through her chair as Seraph’s main engines fired. A small smile crossed her lips as she delighted in the knowledge that those powerful engines were under her control. At this moment, she could do anything or go anywhere.
Seraph might just be a small survey ship turned cargo hauler, but she had a surprisingly responsive maneuvering system. Olivia itched to see just what she could really do. Perhaps this system had an asteroid field or a dense ring system?
“Start calculating a jump for NGC-28901 via NGC-28991.” Ariana’s voice called into Olivia’s headset.
Reality shattered her daydream and Olivia let out a sigh. Someday she might be allowed to do something more than fly straight. But even this was a dream come true. At sixteen she should be in sitting in a classroom, not behind the controls of a starship.
Pulling the navigational charts off the shelf, Olivia flipped through the massive book until she found the entry for NGC-28901. Then she began entering variables related to that systems spatial coordinates into the erasable FTL jump equation chart. While she worked on the calculations, she turned on a music playlist, something she had never had access to before. The first two jumps had required her complete attention, but it had already become routine. Singing quietly to herself made the mundane math equations go faster.
By the time she had finished the first song, she had completed her jump calculation. She then ordered the computer to calculate the same jump. Seconds later it returned a course and awaited confirmation to enter the course into the FTL. She verified the computer's calculations against her own, smiling when they matched.
She kept singing as they flew to the jump point. Getting into the song, she stood up from her seat and started to dance. Turning around to get more space to move, Olivia came face to face with the hard grey features of Squee.
“Aagghh!” Olivia yelped, throwing herself backward.
Squee remained still aside from spreading his hands out to his side and said something that she couldn’t make out.
Catching her breath, Olivia turned her music down, “What?”
“I said I did not mean to startle you.”
“Well, you did anyway. How did you get in here?”
Squee turned to his left and gestured, “Through the door.”
“Oh, right. I never heard it open.”
“You appeared to be quite engrossed in your work. I did not want to disturb you, so I remained silent.”
Olivia’s cheeks flushed, “How long have you been here?”
“Five minutes or so.”
“Well, say something next time. It’s pretty rude just to watch someone in silence.” Olivia said trying to stand up as tall as her small frame would allow. Despite that, she barely came up to Squee’s chest.
“I apologize again. It has been some years since I have been around people. Even longer since I have been among humans. I must endeavor to remember your cultural norms.”
“Yeah, well...” Olivia said.
“I will leave you,” Squee said and turned toward the door.
“No, wait. You can stay. You just startled me is all. Why did you come up here anyway?”
“I wished to observe our departure.”
Shaking her head, Olivia mumbled, “Why does everyone want to do that?”
Oblivious to her statement, Squee turned back and resumed staring at the navigational display. There weren’t any windows that would allow them to see the actual scene before them, but then nowhere on the ship had a window. The icon representing Seraph sat in the center of the display as numbers rapidly changed next to all other objects that they were tracking.
Glancing back to Squee, Olivia felt a sense of sadness from the giant. She changed the navigational display over to a camera view, selecting the aft array. The image of the planet appeared. As the seconds ticked by, it slowly shrank.
“How long were you down there?”
“Long enough to never want to go back again.”
“I can’t imagine. I was born on a planet but today was the first time I’d been down on one since, well, I can’t even remember. Alone, on a desolate world?” Olivia shuddered.
“It was not a vacation, so to speak.”
“How did you end up here? You said you crashed?”
“More or less.” Squee said quickly and then, “You have spent most of your life in space? Aboard this ship?”
“No, this is a new gig. I spent most of my life on the Hub.”
“I have been there a few times. A very...interesting place.”
“Never got a lot of Rokma passing through. I thought your people kept mostly to themselves.”
“We do. But I spent many years among the broader galaxy. You could say that is how I ended up out here. Not listening to the ways of my people.”
The pair contently watched the planet for several minutes before a sharp earsplitting alarm sounded. Olivia jumped slightly in her seat.
“What is that?” Squee asked.
“Umm...not sure.” Olivia said and then checked her instruments, “It looks like a proximity warning. We’ve picked up a ship nearby. It must have just jumped in.”
“We should warn them about the spiders. And not to eat the moss.”