Captain

“Just tell us about the first time you first heard of this... mutiny, overthrowing your captain, the very man providing you with work and food. What was your role in it,” the sitting cop demanded. 

He had a chip implanted in his head, I could tell by the semi bald patch in his thick hair. We all had chips these days, even the ones who couldn’t afford it in the past. Technology always progressed at alarming rates after the first model was released. We got the first generations, the ones with all the problems. A lot of chips malfunctioned, blowing up and causing death, it’s convenient that they could never figure it out. They also tracked your every movement, recorded all data possible, and made sure certain individuals never saw the light of day. You were told none of that of course, when they installed it. You didn’t really have an option though, just like work, everyone needed it. Funny thing is, nobody ever denied it, especially since it was close to free now.

The other cop was standing in the corner with a mechanical sphere for an eye, glowing red. Those weren’t free. It was scanning me up and down. I felt like it was undressing me, getting under my skin. I had the sudden urge to pluck it out. 

“Answer me!” the cop slammed down his fat fist on the metal table. It rattled and jumped but I didn’t. 

“I...I just work there. Nobody ever told me about a mutiny.”

“Don’t give me that crap, you were flying around in a stolen shuttle.”

“I was escaping from the chaos… I didn’t want to die in a mutiny,” I said, “nothing else.”

“He’s lying,” the cop in the corner said, his red eye swirled and focused on my chest.

“Those things…” I scoffed and pointed at his eye, “they don’t even work yet, first generations. My brother had one and couldn’t even find out if his wife was cheating on him until it was too late. He came home one day to her packing a suitcase.”

“...tell me the truth,” the pudgy cop said calmly. I noticed his double chin for the first time and I lost even more respect, was he really trying to intimidate me? I wanted to laugh but I didn’t.

“...okay, all I heard were rumors. I didn’t even really see it go down, I know more now from what you told me. I don't remember much before the power outage, just that I was making my rounds… cleaning the restrooms.”

The cop looked back to his partner who continued to stare at me, then he turned back and leaned in.

“Alright then, take us back. Tell us what you remember.” 

A notepad came out and he flipped to a fresh page, pen at the ready. 

“Well…” I began.

    The mop head splashed down on the tiled floor, suds foamed up on the porcelain. I pushed the mop this way and that, making sure to cover every inch of the floor and I even put some effort into scrubbing away old stains. I took pride in my job, sometimes. The bathroom stunk to high heaven but I wore my mask and carried a misting device. It blasted the scent of a summer breeze, but neither it nor my mask could save me. When I scrubbed the toilet bowls, I had to look away. The things that could come out of people... disgusting. You’d think the corporation that owned the ship would have mandatory manners classes, but then again, most people here were slaves like myself.

    “Yeah, yeah, “ the pudgy cop motioned with his hand, “move it along, I ain’t got all day.”

    I bit my lip, holding back a dirty look.

“Alright…” I said and after taking a breath, I continued.

    The loud speakers blared, “Attention all crew aboard the Journeyman Mark Four, please report to the conference room. All personnel... report to the conference room.”

    The Captain spoke from who knows where, he usually patrolled the up and down the metal halls, his boots rhythmically clinking. He would give orders here and there, clean that, help them. I knew the captain well though, he was a nice man. Well trimmed and young, he treated many of the workers, slaves or not, with respect. He was often misunderstood as he spoke directly, and he always stuck to a schedule. We all knew he’d be waiting for us in the conference room, staring down at his watch and timing us. I sighed, set my mop back in the bucket of dirty water, and propped it against my cart. I had worked my way up to the upper deck, but I was far from finishing my duties for the day. He had said all personnel and I wasn’t one to argue with the Captain, or anything that got me away from the nasty cesspits we called restrooms. Renovating them would have been my first move as a Captain, but to each his own.

    The halls filled with all sorts of people, lowly workers and higher ups, engineers and managers, slaves and servants. Boots stamped down against vibrating metal as we all power walked in a militaristic fashion towards the meeting room. Some people actually jogged ahead to get a front row seat, possibly catch the Captain’s attention.

    Another slave caught up to me, a younger girl, very pretty. She had the privilege of being the co-pilot’s personal servant. She had her own room, access to the good food, and a shower whenever she pleased. I felt somewhat envious, but also grateful I didn’t have to deal with that jerk.

“Did you hear?” she said in her sweet voice.

“Hear what?”

“There’s news going around…” she looked over her shoulder just as a higher officer jogged up behind us. We let him pass.

 “I heard… there’s gonna be a mutiny!”

“Mutiny? Who did you hear that from?” I asked.

“Well… I don’t know, people? Everyone is talking about it, you haven’t heard? I’m not sure of the details but if it really happens...” she said.

“Are you gonna do it?”

“What, mutiny? Me? Well of course not, what use would I be? And, they would replace me as a servant in a heartbeat. It took me forever to get where I am… but... it does make you think, what’s it like to be free?”

More people jogged by, we were going pretty slow but I didn’t care much, I liked being around her and talking.

“I don’t really know, I have no memories other than being a slave,” I said.

“Oh… me neither.”

We rounded a corner and the hallway opened up to an arch, it was more of an auditorium than a conference room, really. Not even five minutes after we walked in and took our seats, the captain checked his watch and nodded to an officer who walked behind us and shut the door. I felt sorry for any poor sap that was stuck on the other side, the Captain would give them an earful later and probably assign an extra task, I learned that lesson the hard way.

“Alright then! It is 1600 o’clock on this fine Thursday afternoon. Officer O’neil, if you could please take attendance.”

He tapped his pad and nodded to the Captain. The scan was a quick check of who showed up via brain chips, you could always tell with the first generations because they would tingle in your skull.

The Captain flipped through his own tablet and flicked a series of charts to the holoprojector behind him. It beamed them in 3d space with a bright, white light.

“As you can see, our income here…” he pointed with a long metal rod, “has been steadily declining. This is both from a lack of production and the cost of maintaining this ship. I know it has not been easy since we lost the last mining job and our deepest condolences go out to Officer Benjamin and his crew.”

He was talking about how we had lost a drone ship in our last encounter with a group of pirates. We lost both our load of ores and four crewmen. One of them was the slave girl's brother, she hung her head low and I could see tears pooling in her eyes.

“But we have endured! Though we lost the job, we have not lost hope. Rations have begun to run low,” he pointed at another chart, “... we are currently working on a solution.”

The group erupted in murmurs, the loudest of them “low rations?!” That was unheard of, especially for a ship as large as ours. One of the officers raised her hand.

“So when are we expecting to find work?” she asked.

“Soon… we have a couple deals in the works but for now, the best thing we can do is to preserve our food for the longevity of the flight.”

There were more murmurs, louder now and the Captain stood patiently, allowing us to talk and reading his pad. After some time, the rabble died down and he began to talk again.

“So…” he flicked another graph up, “these will be our personal allotted foods and…”

The power cut off and the charts disappeared. There were a couple surprised screams from the crowd but then it was silent.

“Oh great... O’neil what was that?”

A tension rose in the air and I felt the urge to dive behind the seats and hide.

“O’neil?”

    No answer.

“And what happened after that?” the cop asked, scribbling a couple words and looking up. His partner had taken a seat now and leaned back in a plastic chair, sipping a cup of coffee.

    I could tell the story, if you would stop interrupting, I thought but I held my tongue. 

    “Well… the captain spoke to us, tried to keep us calm.”

“Alright nobody panic, remain in your seats until we can get this sorted out,” the captain said. A small light flicked on and hovered near his head, pointing out. He walked over to the door and tried the button. Of course as I expected, it didn’t work. He pressed it a few more times before mumbling to himself. People all around me started whispering and their voices echoed off the high ceiling. In the dark, this gave me an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

The girl beside me whispered, “...hey are you still there?”

“Yeah,” I replied, “...hold on, let’s get our lights on.”

Several other lights began to flick on in the crowd and then mine did too. It lit up the girl’s beautifully clean face. Everyone’s attention was redirected to the hissing of a hatch being opened. It was the captain, he pulled out a metal wheel and spun it until the hatch popped open. 

   He turned back to us, “Okay everyone stay here while I go find out what happened to the power. Johnson, since O'neil has gone missing I’m putting you in charge.”

    “Copy that, sir,” Johnson said from across the room. He got up and made his way to center stage. 

   The captain poked his head out and looked down the hall, both ways. He drew his pistol and  climbed through. The last thing I saw was his light fading down the hall, leading with his gun.

    The officer named Johnson started giving a rundown of emergency procedures, nobody paid much attention. My mind was preoccupied, I had a bad feeling about the whole thing. When did the power ever go out on a ship like this? Food shortages, power outages... I made a decision to follow the captain. I tapped on the slave girls leg and nodded to the hatch that sat not five feet from us. She gave me a scared look and shook her head, I smiled and turned off my light. When nobody was looking, I slipped off into the hallway.

If I were the Captain, I would have started with the power rigs and I assumed that was where he was going. The hallway led me down and around to a tighter corridor. I flicked on my light and it illuminated neon orange arrows. I followed the ones that led to the lower deck. A staircase sat at the end of the hall, spiraling down with solid metal plates. I followed them around and around until I landed at the base deck. I had been down here many times, cleaning the bathrooms and running errands, but it looked much different in the dark. I navigated through the wide open space, passing by different machines that protruded from the floor. I found a wall and walked along it, keeping close  for guidance and heading towards where I thought the engineering room was. I heard voices echoing down the hall and froze in my tracks. 

The first thing I thought was “Captain!” but I dared not call out yet, I didn’t recognize the voices. They grew closer and I could see one of the men, clearly not wearing our uniforms. My heart skipped a beat and I quickly ducked down, looking for a way out. A decent sized vent sat low in the wall and I quickly removed the screws holding it in. I flicked off my light and just as I crawled inside, the boots came stomping over to the wall. They stopped and stood there, talking. I heard one of them say, “I thought I saw a light…” and another “have you been in the rum again? Ain’t no light here.” My heart was pounding and my palms sweating. After some laughing and shoving, they left for the stairwell. 

They were gone but I waited awhile longer, listening to their boots on the metal plates, going up and up. I crawled out and saw it now, the place they had come from. The engineering room. 

    I flicked my light on again as I opened the door into the room. Computer chairs sat at desks full of electric panels and screens. The room was a mess, wires shredded and consoles smashed. A chair sat broken and upside down in one corner and in the other I saw a figure slumped over.

    “Captain…” I whispered, “Captain, is that you…?”

    It grunted and wheezed. Then I saw it, blood splattered on the wall, an ocean beneath him, and rivers that ran in the crevices of the floor. It struggled, but finally held up it’s head. It was the Captain.

    “A...a….adams. C...come,” he strained and I could tell he was in immense pain. Whoever those men were earlier must have done this.They had beat him within an inch of his life. I knelt down beside him.

    “Captain… oh my god...who did this to you?” 

    “M...m...mutiny. Tell….the others. S...s...stop them.”

    He let out a raspy wisp of air and fell limp to the floor. 

    “Captain!”

    “And then I hijacked a shuttle and escaped on my own. I wanted to warn the others… I really did. But I knew it was too late, those men were way ahead of me. I got scared and ran. Then you stopped me, literally from fleeing for my life,” I told the police.

    “He’s telling the truth,” said the mechanical eyed man.

    “Hmm…” said the pudgy cop, “you didn’t get a look at the men?”

    “Not a clear one, like I said, I was hiding in that vent and it was dark… and after I saw what they had done to the captain… I...I…”

    I could tell that the attitudes of both cops had changed, I saw them let their guards down. 

    “Well you’ll be happy to know, we have multiple units dispatched and tracking down the ship as we speak.”

    You’ll never find them, I thought, useless peacekeepers.

    “That’s good… I hope you find them and that everyone is okay. I don’t really expect much though… there were some good people on that ship,” I said.

    “We know…” said the red eyed cop. “We will keep you informed on the case.”

    “Thank you,” I said, “So… I’m free to go then?”

    They looked at each other, then the pudgy cop took out his keys and unlocked my handcuffs that were attached to the table. 

    “Yeah you’re free, my partner will escort you out,” he said.

    I stood up and was led out of the room, I looked over my shoulder at the sitting cop rifling through his pages and pages of notes for an answer. I smiled. 

They brought me to the nearest fuel station, a short walk. They also confiscated my shuttle, I mean it was technically stolen. I made a phone call and after a couple trips on the shuttle transit system, I got to where I was going.

The last shuttle pulled up to a station in the far reaches of space, outlaw country. It was a trading station, bustling and booming with business, legit and not. Cars flew in drones through the air and people flowed in crowds below. I got out on the landing pad and saw it off in the distance, the infamous Journeyman Mark IV. A smile grew on my lips, I couldn’t help it. When my shuttle flew away, the ship approached me and opened the bay doors. A giant brute stood in the massive doorway, covered head to toes with tattoos. He smiled and motioned to me. I leapt from the landing pad to the door’s platform and caught the handrails.

“Welcome aboard,” he said in a gruff voice, “...Captain.”