Ask Yourself

The gray metal of the freighter spacecraft's halls rumbled and vibrated with the activity of the engine. Fans whirred, pushing purified air into the living spaces and sucking out the stale. Heaters warmed the walls and floors. Lights glowed on the balding heads of some, and cast stark shadows on muscles pulled taut in many faces. The freighter’s entire crew was assembled in a line with their backs against the wall, hands on their heads. Their safety suits and air tanks were on, but not their helmets. Those had been taken from them. 

The pirate captain’s voice crackled from the speaker on his safety suit as he strolled down the line of freighter crewmen his people were holding at gunpoint. “I just have one more thing I want from you.”

As he stared straight ahead, Joshua David, one of the two youngest members of the crew, asked himself what the pirate captain could possibly want from them that he didn’t already have. So far the pirates had stolen as much of the freighter’s cargo as they could fit into their smaller hold, and rifled the few possessions in the cabins. There was nothing left except the ship itself. 

Standing beside Josh in the line, Rich, the other youngest member of the crew, asked himself why their own captain hadn’t found a way to keep the pirates from boarding them. They were losing half their cargo, and on top of that, the pirates had stolen his handheld gaming device. 

“Any volunteers to join us? ‘A pirate’s life for me’, the jolly brotherhood, all that kind of thing. Any takers? We always want new blood and muscle.”

Rich looked at the pirates standing across from him, wielding such power, with no one to stop them. He asked himself if working on a freighter under a captain who could be one-upped by lawbreakers was attractive to him, and decided it was more attractive to be a one-upping law breaker. He stepped forward. “I’ll come.” His ginger hair and scraggly beard were wild and bright in the harsh lighting. He looked at Josh and grinned. “Come on!”

“Rich,” Josh said, “they’re pirates.” He asked himself what his friend could possibly be thinking, and hoped that stating the obvious would make him realize his mistake, and step back into line. 

“Pirates are cool,” Rich informed Josh. Turning to look at the rest of the crew, he hooted, “So long, suckers!” and grabbed Josh and dragged him out of the lineup. 

“Why him?” the pirate captain asked. 

“He’s my buddy.” Rich shot Josh a look, silently asking him to just be quiet and come. 

The pirate captain held up his hand to stop the two from joining his ranks. “You need to break ties with your captain before you can come with us.” 

“How?” Rich asked. He sounded all too eager. 

“He’s right there. Tell him.”

“Tell him what?” 

“If you don’t know what you want to tell him, maybe you don’t want to come with us badly enough. We don’t want you thinking you can just come back to these people. If you come with us, it’s for good. Make your choice” 

Rich turned to the freighter’s captain, asking himself what the pirate captain would want to hear, what would prove him worthy to be a pirate, too. He decided cussing the captain out was the best idea. “…and I’m done working for you.” Then Rich stepped backwards into the line of pirates, elbowing for space. 

“Well?” the pirate captain asked, looking at Josh. 

Rich hollered, “Tell him off, Josh!” 

“Go on then!” the freighter’s first officer shouted, jabbing a finger at Josh. All the pirates swung their weapons to point at the irate man. “Knew we shouldn’t have taken on kids like you! If you’re such good buddies with that no-account deserter, we don’t want you, either! Get out!” 

“Mr. Long—” the freighter's captain started, sounding angry and giving the first officer a hard look, but he was cut off by the pirate captain.

“Shut up!” the man barked, shoving his helmet-visored face close to the freighter captain’s exposed face. “You gonna tell off your guy for saying what the rest of your crew is thinking? Those two are mine now, not yours.” The pirate leader pulled back and jostled Joshua. “Tell him you’re not his anymore.” The man’s voice fell to a quieter tone, so only Joshua could hear him. “Do it or I’m killing you. You’ve come too far for me to let you pull out.” He slapped Joshua on the back. “If you even look sorry, you’re dead.” The pirate backed up into his own line of men, leaving Joshua alone in the no-man’s-land between the two crews. 

Joshua asked himself what he wanted more: his life, or to be polite to the captain. Then he looked the man who had been his captain in the eyes, summoned all the anger he could, and shouted all the most terrible words he’d never used before at the man who’d done him only good. Then, out of breath, he turned his back on his former crew and pushed into the line of pirates, telling himself he had made the right decision.

Two of the pirates offered their new recruits the helmets they’d taken from them. De-helmeting the crew was a common piratical practice. It made it easier for them to shoot the crew if they misbehaved. 

As the pirates turned and hustled them into the airlock with their new captain, Rich wrapped an arm around his friend’s shoulders. “Come on, Josh. Don’t tell me you never once thought pirates were cool.” 

“I did until I read Treasure Island,” Joshua muttered. 

“Never read it. This is gonna be great.”

In his mind’s eye, again and again Josh saw the hurt and anger well up in the face of the captain, the man who had given him a job when no one else at the last spaceport would, and had done the same for Rich. He asked himself if this was worth what he’d done. 

Meanwhile, Rich asked after his handheld game, and happily punched a pirate in the shoulder when it was given back. He got shoved in return, and grinned. It felt good to be part of a powerful brotherhood.