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TO LENA IT SEEMED LIKE shouting was the default communication on this ship. Her mother was lightly spoken if firm in manner. It was going to take a lot of getting used to. At least her eyelids weren’t glued together anymore. This time round it was the captain and the chief engineer in a hasty row with the first officer, who seemed to be in quite a panic, when she opened her eyes a crack.
“Look, haven’t you got some crew to check on, sub-lieutenant?” The captain sounded as if her second in command was playing a tune on her last raw nerve.
“Well, I—"
“Dis-missed!” she barked, her voice starting to crack.
As the marching footsteps receded, the captain and the engineer talked in more hushed tones. They had their backs to Lena, facing the enormous screen, which was now showing a picture of Earth rotating in its azure, glistening beauty.
The engineer put her hand on the captain’s arm, “Adhira, you okay?”
Commander Varma sighed at length.
“I don’t trust him either, but we’re kinda stuck with him,” McGregor said. “You know you can always talk to me, right?”
“Yes. I know, Jenny. He’s not all of it.”
“Okay.”
“How did it happen? How did any of it happen?”
“Well, we got from Earth to Saturn in about fifteen minutes, so what’s that? Four and a half c? Then the same back.”
“But what happened to the inertia? Why are we not squished?”
“I don’t know. There was a change in how I felt. Nausea, I guess?”
“Why Saturn?”
The engineer opened her mouth, then closed it again, shaking her head.
“I chose it,” said Lena. The two women spun and stared at her. Lena wiped transparent goo from the back of her hand as she untangled herself from the tendrils attached to her face. Slowly they retracted into the floor, which smoothed over, giving no impression they had ever been there. The bed that Lena had been lying on for the whole trip remained, like some weird mockery of a sarcophagus. It had morphed from the floor beneath her when she’d first collapsed, almost as though it had caught her. Now, she was sitting up, the platform remained, with an imprint of her body contouring its opal surface.
She kicked her legs over the edge.
“You brought us here?” The captain waved vaguely. “There.”
“No,” said Lena, “She did, but I think she asked me.”
“She?” The captain’s brow furrowed.
“The ship,” said McGregor.
“And you said...?” The captain was patient but bemused.
“Well, I’ve always wanted to see Saturn close up, ever since I was a little girl. So, I think she took me there.”
“Amazing,” Captain Varma sounded genuinely awed.
Lena hopped from the plinth onto her feet and then nearly pitched forward to the floor. Captain Varma was a good catch, “Easy there sweetheart!”
“Headrush,” Lena groaned.
“Just take it slow, you’ve been through—well I can’t imagine what you’ve been through, but you’ve been lying down for twenty-four hours.
“Have I?”
“The doc’s on his way back, he’s just been checking out the other crew.”
“And we’re back home now?” Lena asked.
“Yes, hen,” McGregor smiled.
“Oh, good,” said Lena, “I asked her, but—"
“You keep saying ‘her’,” queried the captain. “Like the ship is a person?”
“Yeah, or like some really smart animal like a dolphin or a whale or something.”
“And how does she talk to you?”
“Kind of in my mind.”
“In words?”
“No, more in feelings and ideas,” Lena chewed her bottom lip, “She enjoyed the trip.”
“I’m glad someone did,” said McGregor.
Lena raised an eyebrow.
“Let’s just say today has not been one of the least stressful days of my life aboard the Bonington, and that’s saying something.”
“She’s sad about that,” said Lena.
McGregor scrunched her face. Lena wasn’t sure what that meant.
“Oh, and that’s not her name.”
“Pardon?” said the captain.
“Bonington. It’s not her name. She doesn’t hate Bonington, but her real name is, well it’s super hard to pronounce, but she says the nearest human name is Aa-rowey-rowey, like a boat.”
“Okay...” now the captain was frowning too.
“She doesn’t want to upset anyone. What can she do to make everyone happy again?”
The doctor rushed back in through the doorway. Lena waved at him. He stopped in his tracks.
“She can start by telling me what she did to my patient!” It was Doctor Fuller’s turn to frown.
“She doesn’t understand what patient means.”
“Someone who’s not well?” offered the captain.
“She still doesn’t understand.”
“What does she call you, hen?” asked McGregor.
“Lena, silly!”
The captain rolled her eyes at that. The doctor attached his cuff to her arm again and it began its squeezing, beeping, and hissing. He cocked his head to one side, observed its readings, then shone a torch into Lena’s eyes. “Can I ask her a question?”
“Sure,” said Lena, “she’s not shy.”
“What did she do to you? We were all a bit worried back there?”
“Oh! Don’t, she was just keeping me safe.”
“From what exactly?” the captain asked.
“She said she’s never had a human rider before, so she had to make sure I was safe for the trip.”
“None of the rest of us got the wee tubes, what aboot us?” McGregor sounded slightly cross.
“Oh, she says she’s sorry, there can be a— A what? A plas-cent-ta. For everyone next time.”
“I think I’ll pass,” said McGregor.
“Was it life support?” said the doctor.
“She says, kind of?”
The captain rubbed her face, “Look, we’ve been on here for twenty-four, pretty terrifying hours, shall we have another twenty-four as shore leave and then re-convene, when we’ve had chance to have a chat to our superiors?”
“I don’t think you’ll need to do that.” A large group of what looked like soldiers had arrived on deck behind the first officer. Lena didn’t like him very much at all. “The first sea lord will be here in five minutes. Your superiors, at least the Indian Space Agency ones had better wait their turn.”
“While I’m here on secondment, I answer to the same admirals you do and well you know it,” Lena thought Captain Varma did a similar cross voice to her mum.
“Can I go and see my mum now?” Lena asked. The doctor was the only one who was listening to her.
“Well,” he motioned for her to sit back down on the plinth, “That’s a little complicated now. Do you know what a quarantine is?” Lena knew, but wasn’t sure why she should be in one, the doctor carried on slowly, considering his words, “well this ship is clearly alien technology, so we don’t know whether it might carry germs that people at the space station here might not be used to.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t cry sweetie, we’ll get your mum to come here, or at least get her to call in, okay?”
“Okay.”
