Personal Log 42: 10th - 16th August, 3301 (Part One)
23 Sep 2016Jemine Caesar
10th - 16th August, 3301 (Part One)Once some emotional goodbyes had been exchanged with my grandparents and the navy officers, Sam and I returned to Dalton Gateway starport.
"Where to now, Sam?" I asked.
"Now that you're a CPO," Sam replied, "how about a trip to Beta Hydri to see my family? You have a permit for there, too, now." I hadn't realised that, and happily accepted Sam's offer.
"And," Sam said, "I've been getting a paintjob on my ship. Come and look." Sam made me close my eyes as he led me across the hangar bay into position. "Open," he said.
There on the side of his ship was a painting of the two of us with Bekka, wearing a red ribbon in her hair. "Oh, Sam! It's beautiful!"
Sam took my hand. "There's one of Romeo flight on the other side" he said. We went around to look.
"It's from the holopic you showed me, isn't it?" I asked. Sam nodded, lost in his own memories.
I returned to The Last Thing I Do and checked the starport bulletin board. There was a job delivering fish to Yakabugai which paid almost 20,000Cr, so I accepted the contract and set off. Shortly after arriving in the Yakabugai system, I was hailed by someone calling himself Mavric Duckosky.
"I want revenge on your employer," he said. "Take the fish to Hahn Relay at Apoyota instead. I'll pay you well for your trouble."
Intrigued by his offer, I agreed. I felt really bad about reneging on the contract, but it was only fish, after all. However, after offloading at Hahn Relay, another message came through from Duckosky.
"Nice to meet someone who's as crooked as I am," he snarled over the comms. "Here's your reward. Now get out of here!"
My 'reward' was a mere 1,479Cr! It wouldn't even cover the fine I had incurred for failing to complete the original contract. I had been well and truly duped. Feeling angry and embarrassed in equal measure, I set off back to Eravate to pay the fine.
Sam and I arranged to meet at Maclean Station in a system called Lokitaka Mu, and from there continue on to Beta Hydri. I took on a couple of delivery jobs on the way, and upgraded my FSD to a B3 rating. During the jump from Eravate to Kremainn I heard an odd whining noise which vibrated through the ship. It faded away quickly, however, and I thought no more of it.
I arrived at Maclean Station with an increasingly splitting headache and a bloated feeling down below. These, I knew, were side effects of the raised level of oestrogen in my system from the refertilisation treatment. I sent an audiofac to Sam to tell him I had booked a room for us.
"I'm guessing you're in the bar," I said. "Come to bed whenever you like. But please don't wake me. I feel ill!"
*****
I felt much better the next day, August 11th. While Sam busied himself with some maintenance work on his ship, I loaded up with twelve canisters of polysatinester fabric and jumped to Chowei to sell them. On the way back through witchspace, the whining noise appeared again, this time accompanied by a horrible grinding sound. Then the whole ship began to shake violently. I thought I was going to die.
With one last tremendous judder, The Last Thing dropped back into normal space, and everything went deathly quiet. The sensors were down, and my navcom couldn't tell me where I was. Life support was fully functional, but my comms panel showed transmitter levels were very low. Nevertheless, I had to try calling for help.
"Mayday! Mayday! This is Jemine Caesar, commander of The Last Thing I Do. Can anyone hear me?"
I repeated the message again and again, growing more and more desperate. I had almost given up hope of rescue when a voice sounded weakly over the comms.
"Ahoy, The Last Thing I Do! This is Gooch Station. Help is on the way."
I wept out of sheer relief, and offered a prayer of gratitude to the Lady Gaia.
Presently a ship appeared, and I heard a man's voice on the comms. His accent sounded lanquid, friendly and reassuring.
"Last Thing, I see that you have no sensors, navcom, or FSD. You have minor damage to other systems. Your thrusters seem OK, though. We'll have to do this the hard way, by sight. Fortunately we're not very far from Gooch Station. Please follow me. I'll track you."
With FSD, the trip to Gooch Station would have taken mere minutes. On thrusters alone it lasted nearly seven hours. By the time we reached the station I was absolutely exhausted, but thankful to be alive.
*****
The misjump had shot me almost 100LY from Lokitaka Mu to a system called Aiabiko. After arranging repairs to The Last Thing, I booked myself in to a room and sent Sam a k-cast message to let him know what had happened. Then I slept.
I woke late the next day, August 12th. My ship's navcom and comms had been repaired, but the FSD was proving stubborn. It would be a few more hours before I could leave with my ship, so I decided to make the best of it by wandering around the shopping malls. As I was admiring a pair of House of Lalande high heels, my attention was attracted by the sound of a man's voice, shouting excitedly.
"Hey! Hi there!"
I looked round to see a young man running towards me from across the far side of the mall, waving frantically and smiling He was about 25 years old, not so tall as Sam, with short black hair parted to one side. He was quite good looking, and his voice sounded vaguely familiar.
"I'm sorry," I said. "Do I know you?"
The young man laughed. "No," he replied. "No, you don't. But we have met, briefly, at Trevithick Dock. You had a Sidewinder with a sticker on it: 'My Other Ship Is A Fer de Lance'."
I had no idea what he meant at first, then it came back to me. "Oh!" I said. "That stupid sticker! I'd forgotten all about it."
The man told me his name was Marcus Trelawney.
"I'm Jemine," I replied. "Jemine Caesar."
Marcus smiled, and said, "You're JC. At long last. I'm pleased to meet you. What are you doing here in Aiabiko, Jemine?"
I briefly told Marcus about my ship's misjump and my subsequent rescue the day before. His eyes widened. "So that was you?" he said, incredulously, adding, "I was the one who brought you back to Gooch."
I grinned. "In that case," I said, linking my arm in his, "I owe you a drink at least. Can you recommend a good bar?"
Marcus took me to the Cantina Bar. There was a live band playing mellow music, next to a fairly sizeable dance floor. The bar was obviously very popular, with a good atmosphere, though I noticed that most of the customers were men. I asked Marcus what he would like to drink.
"An Eranin Pearl Whisky, please," he said. I ordered the whisky and a grapefruit juice for myself. "Grapefruit juice?" Marcus asked.
"Doctor's orders," I answered, and promptly proceeded to explain all about my nanobot treatment. Before I knew it, I was telling him my life story, including the fact that I had murdered John Graham on Earth.
"You WHAT?!" he spluttered. I instantly regretted being so frank about the incident, but Marcus was quick to reassure me. "I won't judge you, Jemine. The fellow got what was coming to him, I reckon."
I almost told him about the cloning operation Sam and I had investigated, but stopped myself just in time. It was supposed to be top secret, after all.
The music changed to a quirky, catchy number, which for some reason made everyone in the bar start to chuckle.
"This music was used in an ancient 2D movie," Marcus explained. "It was called "Star Wars". The band plays it here to signal the start of the dancing. Your friend Rikk told me you like to dance."
I was momentarily taken aback by this comment, and then the credit dropped.
"Of course!" I gasped. "Rikk's message! Marcus Trelawney! That was you! You were in his cafe a few days ago. Well, what an amazing coincidence this is! Oh! Rikk said if ever I met you I had to say thank you for the coffee."
Marcus stood and proffered me his hand. "Would you care to dance?" he asked, smiling.
Marcus was a very good dancer, with a natural rhythm. He held me close for the slow dance, slipping his hand easily around my waist. I asked if he had a girlfriend.
"No," he replied. "There was the occasional one back on Earth, though not many,. And there was one here, but it didn't amount to anything. There aren't many pretty girls here on Gooch. There aren't many girls at all, in fact. As you may have noticed."
Marcus told me about his family cruise ship business, and how he had learned to dance while serving as an officer on cruises, entertaining rich travellers. We danced through several tunes, slow and fast. I was pleased that I had forgotten none of what mama had taught me about classical dance. Marcus was good at leading, too. Especially in the slow numbers. The short blue dress I was wearing wasn't really suited to the waltz we finished on, but Marcus didn't seem to mind. His eyes had strayed to my legs quite a few times already.
I told Marcus I would be leaving the next day, once my ship was fully repaired and cleared for take-off.
"Before you leave," he said, "I want to give you a gift. It's a sort of tradition in my family to give presents to new friends. And you are definitely a new friend, Jemine."
I was touched, and said so. "Do you have it here?" I asked.
"No," Marcus replied. "Cargo canisters are a bit heavy to carry around. We'll make a transfer in space."
My mouth dropped in amazement. "Cargo canisters?" I said. "So I guess it's not a box of chocolates, then?"
Marcus laughed, then, with a charmingly shy politeness, said, "May I give you a goodnight kiss, Jemine?" His eyes were full of heartfelt longing. It would have been cruel of me to refuse.
"Well... all right," I said. Marcus took me gently into his arms, and planted a warm, affectionate and gentlemanly kiss on my lips. He was so sweet.
"Here's another on account," I said, returning a kiss that lingered ever so slightly. "Thank you for a lovely evening, Marcus," I said, and stepped out of the suddenly hushed Cantina Bar.
*****
The Last Thing was ready for departure the next day, including the fitting of the upgraded thrusters I had asked for. After a final pre-flight check, I lifted her out of Gooch station to the pre-arranged rendezvous with Marcus' ship. After supercruising a short distance from the station, we dropped down and came to a halt.
I'd never used a cargo scoop before, apart from in simulations. I hoped it was going to be as straightforward. Marcus began jettisoning canisters, and my scooping went almost perfectly. Marcus' gifts were generous, to say the least. Clothes, liquor and coffee were followed by gold, Azure Milk and Leestian Evil Juice, worth tens of thousands of credits.
"Oh, Marcus!" I said over the comms. "I don't know what to say! Thank you very much!"
Marcus explained the rare goods were sourced quite locally, and he had established a good trade route. We maneouvred our ships around one another for a few minutes, thrusting nose to nose and waving playfully at each other.
"I've had a lovely time here, Marcus," I said. "But I must be on my way, now. Thank you for looking after me, and for the gifts."
Marcus' reply sounded a little sad. "I've enjoyed your company, Jemine," he said. "The Cantina Bar won't be the same without you."
I set the course for Lokitaka Mu, and backed away from Marcus' ship.
"I have a feeling our paths will cross again," I said, aligning for my jump vector and engaging my FSD. I waited for the final second of the countdown before saying goodbye to Marcus. A single tear rolled down my cheek as The Last Thing entered witchspace.
I've always hated goodbyes.