This is a short story I had written in 2020. It’s in draft state, it was never published.
Ceres
–
The Atlas approached the satellite floating around Ceres.
“Launching… Now.”
The bell-shaped drones, nicknamed The Divas, detached from ports on the side of the trawler. The screens showed the drones cutting into the derelict satellite. They’d have all the scrap pieces organized into nets attached at the back of their ship in a day.
Marsha pulled back from the console. As much as she could obsess over stats and thinking up ways she could improve the code for the drones, she had spotted dirt stuck to the wall of the hall and it had really bothered her.
Ayisha glanced at her and smirked, knowing how much that spec of dirt would nag at Marsha. She turned around to her monitors. Their ship was a piece of junk, but this piece of junk was backed by a thousand sex workers and queers expecting returns on their investment. The Atlas was bought off of a rich kid who had gotten it as a graduation present. Even though it didn’t cost him anything he was trying to charge them almost as much as it would be new. Marsha and Ayisha couldn’t negotiate but Bintou could. Right now she was inspecting the oxygen tanks with Kenzie making sure the leak from weeks ago wasn’t coming back.
The Divas kept cutting away at the space junk. Marsha floated to her bunk, which was velcroed to the ceiling of the green room. She found it peaceful to wake up to the herbs and vegetables. The bright lights didn’t bother her any more than the constant hum and hiss of the ventilation system.
–
Ayisha’s voice came on speaker. “Everyone to the bridge, please.”
Marsha pulled a tab from a cardboard box next to her and stuck it to her arm. The adhesive tabs were a nice change after two decades of taking estradiol by injection. She put on her bottoms and floated to Ayisha. Bintou and Kenzie followed behind her.
“Okay,” Ayisha began, “we have another possible mark. Looking online it’s been there for at least 70 years. No registration info but it might be bigger than Roanoke.”
Bintou spoke up. “If it’s that big why hasn’t anyone else scrapped it?”
Ayisha shrugged. “You’re asking if we should do it?” asked Kenzie.
“Yeah,” replied Ayisha. “Could be the DB wasn’t updated again.”
Marsha lifted three fingers. They had a point system for whether they should go for a target. Needed 10 points to do it. Bintou lifted two. Ayisha lifted 3. Kenzie lifted 4.
“We’re doing it then. The Divas are back. I’ll reset the orbit. We’ll be there in a day in fuel-saving mode.” Ayisha turned to her console.
–
Kenzie plucked a puzzle piece floating in the air. It was a challenge for them to get the pieces to be still, especially when the ship fired a thruster to adjust the orbit. Bintou was oriented perpendicular to them cooking up a storm; the steam slowly filling up the common room that doubled as a galley. Ayisha floated in. “Smells great Bintou!” Bintou smiled without looking up. “You say that every time, and I appreciate it just as much every time.”
Marsha was back in her bunk, a zine about grief floating on top of her. She thought.
–
The massive object came in view. The four of them looked to the screens. They were all shocked. It wasn’t debris from old mining missions like they expected. It was a ship. A full on ship. “We have to report this” blurted Bintou.
“Yeah,” responded Ayisha. “Fuck.” She started typing on her console trying to figure out who to contact. If a ship was in distress, they knew who to reach. If they found something like this on Earth or the Moon where there was clear ownership for every square meter they knew who to reach. But if a ship had been floating around for at least 70 years around a remote asteroid like Ceres? There wasn’t anything clear cut for that. It was just them, a few other scrappers, and the mining stations out here.
–
“We’re getting the runaround. TETNA says to call FIS, FIS says to call TETNA,” said Ayisha. “We could get away with scrapping part of this, but we’ll need to safety it. Do we want to find another target or safety? Points for safety.”
Bintou lifted 5 fingers. They all knew what the revenue potential was. “We’re here; let’s get it done,” Kenzie said for everyone and lifted 4 fingers. The Divas were inspecting the outside of the ship. The ship’s name came into view on one of the monitors. The Beccaria.
“Fucking rich people,” said Marsha. Five fingers.
–
Ayisha was helming the console. Marsha, Kenzie and Bintou were in pressure suits in the airlock. The hiss of depressurization finished. Marsha noticed how the red light that turned on to mark the evacuation of oxygen was less bright than it had been. She made a mental note to address that.
Multiple locks on the door unclamped, four at a time. Finally, the door opened inwards. The Divas were waiting for them on the other side. They floated out, one by one, still tethered to the inside of the Atlas with their equipment packs. They each attached themselves to a Diva, and then unbuckled their tethers.
“Secure”, said Bintou. “Secure,” echoed Marsha. “Secure,” completed Kenzie. “Confirmed,” finished Ayisha. The trio could hear their Diva whir and act through their suit. They floated towards the Becarria’s airlock. Marsha couldn’t believe the size of this ship; a hundred people would have all worked here for one entitled prick’s family. Billionaires loved their yatchs then as now.
The Divas brought them to The Beccaria’s airlock. Kenzie opened ports on the side of the door revealing large bolts. They applied the power tool to a series of nuts that would evacuate any air in the airlock. “Clear,” they alerted. The sound of the power tool came through the glove. Oxygen flowed out as a mist. The airlock had been pressurized.
Now that the oxygen was out the next step was to apply the power tool to the series of remaining bolts. The technique was to open two across from each other, kinda like the nuts on the wheel of a car. Finally, the last one was done. Bintou pressed against the airlock door. It opened inwards.
The three detached from their Divas and floated in with their equipment packs. Marsha closed the door behind them and secured it shut. The next part would be easy if there was power on the ship. Hard if there wasn’t. Kenzie pulled the red lever by the wall. White lights blinked on in the airlock and a hiss was heard. The airlock was pressurizing again. None of them expected this to work. They would leave their helmets on; they couldn’t trust that the air on the ship hadn’t been contaminated over the years.
The hiss stopped. The inner ship door started making a mechanical sound that seemed to reverberate decks down and up. Despite the airlock having its light turn on, the interior of the ship was in complete darkness. Maybe the airlock had a separate power reserve. A loud clang sound was made. The door was now open.
“We have access,” said Marsha. “That was really quick,” replied Ayisha over their headsets. “Right?,” finished Bintou. The trio slowly floated in.
–
Kenzie started to float towards the floor. “Magnetic flooring? I haven’t seen this in forever.” They got up from the floor, feet planted on the ground. The equipment packs floated down as well; pulled by the magnetized metal in its contents.
Bintou pulled out a work light from the pack and unfolded it. She activated the pump and a series of large lit up balloons left the base of the work light one by one and floated to corners of the room. This looked to be the loading area for the kitchen.
Ayisha’s voice came through. “The Beccaria transferred around a number of times, and was a medical ship for a bit. No registration info on the last owners; they paid to keep it private. Registration was last renewed 82 years ago for a year. FIS says its ours if we clear and safety it.”
“Understood,” corresponded Bintou. Marsha looked around her. This wasn’t what she’d picture a yacht to look like. It was sterile. Her wrists vibrated. Air was contaminated with lithium. A tank must have leaked somewhere on board.
Kenzie opened their pack up. They pulled out a yellow metal cylinder, and pressed the end which lit up. White orbs left the other end, making eerie screaming like sounds as they floated away. The crew weren’t used to being able to hear the surveyors; usually they were in space where sound couldn’t carry. The orbs left the room and were off scanning the ship for any hazards, the screams of their tiny engines echoing down the halls. Kenzie pulled a tab from the yellow cylinder, and a projection of what the surveyors were scanning appeared, encased in the silhouette of the Becarria’s outer hull as scanned by the Atlas earlier.
Marsha was looking at her checklist for clearing and safety procedures. They would first set up the base of operations here and let the orbs do their job. Bintou was setting up equipment and Marsha went to join her.
–
The interior hatch to the Atlas opened and the trio walked through to a waiting Ayisha.
“How was it? It’s not the same looking at it from here.”
“Gave me the creeps,” offered Bintou. Marsha was relieved to hear her say what she thought.
“Start up tomorrow at 10?” asked Aliyah. Sounded good by everyone.
–
Marsha was in her bunk. She thought about her ex, Emily. Still going over their last moments together, and how she had been so mean and inconsiderate. The long flights in space and slow internet connection meant Marsha had had lots of time to process. She knew now how she felt inadequate. Her watch buzzed. It was 9:30. She grabbed the estradiol and floated out of her bed.
She cut some dill from beneath her bunk and brought it to the kitchen where she had a grilled cheese prepped up. Bintou looked at her. “You’re a strange child.” Marsha smiled as she put the grilled cheese with dill inside the cooker. Crumbs floated in the air. Marsha swooped them and put them in her mouth.
Ayisha came in. “The survey of the interior is mostly complete. There’s some parts the surveyors weren’t able to access. The lithium leak appears contained to the lower decks. A bit of radioactivity in an engine room.”
Kenzie was reading a magazine. They collected vintage works like that, finding it comforting to explore a different era.
Ayisha continued. “The surveyors also found signs of organic decay by a door in the cabins. It could be left over food but it could be a dead animal too.”
“Or a person,” Bintou said. “Or a person,” repeated Ayisha. Marsha spoke up. “I’m with Bintou. This ship is creeping me the fuck out.”
“We can swap places,” offered Ayisha. Marsha wanted to say yes, but was embarrassed to do so. “I’ll be fine, thanks though.”
–
The trio floated back to the Becarria’s airlock. Kenzie had enabled the outside access panel from inside, so they didn’t have to use power tools to manually get in anymore. The airlock opened, they detached from their Divas and entered.
The airlock pressurized, the airlock’s lights were still on from their previous venture. The inner door opened on to their work camp. Their gear was strewn everywhere. The surveyors were floating in plain view, and one of the work lights they had set up was deflated and floating.
“Oh no no no,” said Bintou. “Maybe the magnetic floor experienced a power blip,” offered Kenzie. Marsha was scared.
The three set up their gear. “Ayisha, can you look at the footage from the surveyors? See what they saw while we were away?” The surveyors started to scream as they re-entered the cylinder in Kenzie’s hands. “Feeding it to you now,” replied Ayisha.
Video of one of the surveyors played on a screen projected inside their helmets. Ayisha jumped the feed forward in time. Everything in the room was still. Suddenly, it’s all disheveled. Ayisha jumped moments back in time. There. All their gear, as if by a force, was being violently projected around the room.
“Yeah, I’ll go with a power blip on the floors,” said Kenzie. They were the calmest of the four. A science nerd through and through.
–
Normally, safetying a ship meant making sure there wasn’t any hazardous waste that could endanger the lives of the trawlers that worked on them. Accidental explosions while cutting through debris were the leading cause of death. Improper maintenance of suits was the second leading cause. Co-operatives like the Atlas never put money before safety, though they didn’t have that much money to be safe. Corporate-run ships had the money, but did the least they could legally get away with, and barely paid above minimum wage.
Before safetying though they needed to make sure all organic matter was investigated. That was the “clear” part of “clear and safety”. They had never had a job where they needed to do this before. They had come up with a checklist before leaving. First investigate the room. Then the areas the surveyors couldn’t access. Then identify hazards, deck by deck. Finally let out all the air so that the ship wouldn’t explode when cut into, from all the air trying to escape the fracture at once. Then let the Divas do their job. They could manufacture more nets on board from the salvaged materials to drag behind the Atlas if needed, and they probably would given the size of this catch.
They now had a partial map of the ship’s interior from the surveyors. They started walking down the nearest hall. A faint scream was heard in the distance. “I thought you had all the surveyors stowed Kenzie?” said Marsha. “I do,” replied Kenzie.
No one said anything. Marsha told herself another crew must have been here before them. Forgot their orb. That’s what Kenzie would say. Trawlers had been coming to Ceres for thirty years. The Beccaria was a big catch. They couldn’t have been the first to spot it. It was in the database. But why hadn’t anyone marked it as the Beccaria? Why were they the first to know this? She didn’t want to think about it too hard.
They lit up their flashlights as they left their base camp and the glow of the work lights within.
–
It didn’t take long to leave the crew section of the ship with its utilitarian and tight design to the opulent and vast sections dedicated to its wealthy owners. Cherry wood on the walls. A blend of Gothic and Art Nouveau architecture. Such ornate detailing on everything; tiny faces sculpted here, entire scenes sculpted in the wood. Still, they could only see what their flashlight revealed immediately around them.
The hallway opened up into a large, cavernous space. The flashlights were of little use.
Kenzie took a rod from her pack. They aimed it at the darkness at the end of the hall, and swiped the end. A flare shot out, sounding like a scream reverberating along the vast space. The sparks from the flare stayed lit, each scintillating light becoming a source of illumination. They shot a few more in different directions, and the space came into view.
There was a beautiful chandelier on the ceiling, which itself was full of paintings. There was a large stairwell. They knew some of this from the survey that had been done, but the sense of smallness they felt in that moment, that was unexpected.
“Let’s move the basecamp here,” said Ayisha over the headset. “Marsha, can you take care of that? Bintou and Kenzie, please investigate the organic matter.”
“On it,” said Marsha. The others acknowledged in turn. Doing this alone creeped out Marsha. She retraced her steps to the room outside the airlock. Another work light had deflated. There hadn’t been a magnetic anomaly. “Ayisha, another work light went down. Can you see what happened to it?”
“Give me a sec.”
Marsha folded up the structures. There were three equipment bags worth. She brought one over to the grand hall. The sparks from the flare were still lit up, but some had started to fade. She dropped the bag and went back. Ayisha came on her headset. “You guys didn’t experience any anomalies with the floors did you?” she asked.
“No,” replied Marsha. She didn’t want to know where this was going.
“The sensor on the worklight shows it was thrown around pretty violently.”
Marsha picked up her step. She ran into the room, quickly put what she could in the bag, and ran out to the grand hall. More sparks had faded. Bintou and Kenzie were now pretty far away.
Marsha went back for the final load including the work lights. She was running down the hall, when she heard stuff being thrown around the room. She turned back towards the grand hall. The sparks were out. “Ayisha! Ayisha! Bintou! Kenzie!”
She fumbled for the flare launched. She launched three more. She knew it was a waste, but she was petrified. “Marsha!” replied Ayisha. “What’s going on?”
Then every sound stopped. Her suit, which normally always made background sounds, wasn’t heard anymore. It was still running, just no sounds. And then Marsha just heard what sounded like a big step. Then another. It was coming from the room she had been in. She ran towards where she expected Bintou and Kenzie to be. Why hadn’t they responded? “Bintou! Kenzie!”
Up the grand stairwell, down the hall. Marsha looked at the holographic map projected on her arm as she ran. A glow was coming from behind her. The halls were dark. With her moving up and down as she ran the flashlight on her suit barely lit anything.
She turned one hallway. “Ayisha! Why aren’t Bintou and Kenzie replying!”
“They are to me, where are you?” replied Ayisha.
“I’m running to them! Something is up at base camp, I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t want to be alone!” Marsha turned down another hallway. She passed a grand piano. This should have been the spot where they were. They weren’t there. Marsha looked down to the projected map. Wrong deck. She had to retrace her steps, back to the grand hallway.
The stomping was definitely in the grand hall now. She could see the hallway be faintly lit up from whatever was in there. No going back. She looked to the doors around her. She entered one. The stomping was still getting louder. Approaching. What was that?
She looked around her. This looked utilitarian, like a maintenance crew’s break room. There were lockers. She got in one. She turned off her flashlight, the projected map, the screens projected on her helmet. She turned off her suit’s support systems. The background sound of it working stopped. She had a few minutes before the carbon dioxide levels in her suit would rise.
The stomping got closer. She tried not to breathe. Marsha watched through the slits of the locker as the door started to glow a little. Then the stomping faded, and disappeared. Marsha waited a few minutes. Then she turned on her suit’s support systems.
“Marsha? Where are you?” It was Bintou over the headset. “Marsha?”
Marsha started to cry.
–
Marsha had warned them about whatever that was. They found her in the maintenance room.
“It’s us honey, we’re coming in.”
Bintou opened the door. Marsha saw Kenzie’s face. They looked upset.
“I don’t know what it was,” started Marsha. “I’m really scared.”
“It’s okay sweetie. We’re going to pack up and head back to the Atlas. There’s other ways we can safety this ship without being here. It’s just more time consuming is all but we have all the time in the world out here, don’t we.”
“Kenzie?” asked Marsha.
“There was a body in the room,” interjected Bintou. “She was on the bed, a woman in a gown.”
“She looked like she was made of wax,” said Kenzie. “I’ve never seen a body before.” They shook their head as if to wipe the thought. “Why didn’t you answer us?”
“I didn’t hear you, I tried calling for you too.” Marsha replied on the edge of tears.
“Let’s get to the camp and fetch our gear,” said Bintou.
“What if it comes back?” asked Marsha. “We’ll deal with it. Ayisha, can you deploy the surveyors? Maybe they can spot this thing.”
“Okay.” The three heard distant screams of the surveyors leaving the tube at the base camp. One was getting nearer, and then more distant.
“Nothing yet,” said Ayisha. “Okay?” asked Bintou while looking at Marsha. “Okay,” replied Marsha. She hugged Kenzie and asked “You good?”
“Yah, thank you. Just want to get out of here.”
The three made their way out to the hall. Past the piano. Instead of going down the stairs of the grand hall they jumped down, slowly floating to the magnetic flooring. The base camp was ahead, in the dark.
“We got this,” whispered Kenzie. They grabbed their stuff. Then a deep thunk sound. “Ayisha?”
Silence. Another deep thunk. The scream of a surveyor went by.
“Run”. They quickly grabbed their stuff and headed to the room that had the airlock. They ran in and found all the work lights were busted and the equipment Marsha had left behind wrecked.
Thunk. A light came from behind them in the distance. Approaching.
“Leave the rest, get in the airlock!” hissed Bintou.
“The handle is gone for the hatch,” said Kenzie frantically.
Marsha looked around her. There was an open hatch. She looked at the projection on her wrist. It led to a stairway to the lower level. “Follow me,” Marsha whispered loudly.
They headed down the stairway. At this point Marsha didn’t know where she was heading, other than to take as many turns as possible hoping to leave whatever that was behind.
The thunk stopped. They stopped and looked around. Kenzie looked to their projected map. “The engine room is this way. There’ll be another airlock there.”
They followed Kenzie. All of them listening intently for any distant steps. Marsha heard faint piano. “Can you hear that?” she asked.
“What are you hearing,” asked Aliyah, by way of text appearing on their helmets. “Piano,” answered Bintou. “I have sent the Divas to the hull by the engine room. I’m not seeing an airlock,” was the text follow up. “I’ll keep looking.”
They found the engine room hatch open. They closed it behind them. The air was glowing blue from radiation leaking out, but their suits could handle it. The engine room was eight stories high, filled with large machines and catwalks. A control room was close to the ceiling, overlooking the entire space. Kenzie pointed to it. “We should set up there.”
They made their way up. The walls were magnetized, which they found when their packs floated towards them, so they ended up walking on the walls to get there. They reached the control room and closed and locked the entrance hatch behind them.
“Ayisha, did the surveyors show anything? That thing?
Silence. The three looked at each other with panicked faces. How did it find them so fast?
“Hold on,” said Ayisha. Breath of relief.
“That section that was closed earlier to the surveyors is open now. I never picked up anything about what you all were seeing.”
“Can you send a surveyor to the piano? It was at the top of the stairwell of the hall by the base camp, to the right,” asked Marsha.
The barely audible scream of the surveyor was heard. Followed by a big clank. The scream got louder then stopped.
“I just lost connection to the surveyor,” said Ayisha. “We heard a large bang,” relayed Bintou.
“What are we going to do?” asked Marsha. Kenzie looked around them at the engine room control panel. They kept down, so nothing on the engine room floor could spot them as they approached.
“I think I could turn power on to the rest of the ship,” said Kenzie. “Get power for the lights on at least.”
“If this makes sounds maybe it’ll bring whatever that is here,” said Marsha. “What’s our own light situation like Kenzie?”
Kenzie looked to their pack. “Just some lanterns.” Marsha looked around herself. There was a hatch behind them. She looked at the map projected on her arm.
The scream resumed and was getting louder. They all looked at each other. “Ayisha, turn off the surveyor! It’s coming,” hissed Bintou.
“It’s not me!”
The large thumps of footsteps were in tow. They heard the hatch they had used to enter the engine room open.
Marsha opened the hatch behind them as the surveyor entered the space. The three got through. Bintou quietly closed the hatch behind them.
“We have to find another airlock.”
“Or get the Divas to cut through the hull,” said Kenzie. The violent depressurization of a hull breach though would rip apart their suits.
“There’s maybe another exit ahead. Follow me,” said Marsha. They quietly and quickly followed.
From behind them they heard large smashing coming from the engine room. Suddenly, the hallways of the ship were lit up by red flashing lights and a wailing alarm. The radioactive leak in the engine room had gotten worse. Bintou grabbed Marsha’s stunned hand, and pulled her forward.
–
Kenzie was directing them now, to the bridge, looking at their map on their arm. Ayisha had located an airlock beneath it. It meant going through the opening that had been closed to the surveyors, so they knew there’d be a point where they’d be on their own to figure out how to get there. But none of them had said it. They just knew.
Marsha jumped, scaring Kenzie and Bintout. “What?” hissed Kenzie. “I thought I heard something,” replied Marsha. Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything, but she wanted to be comforted. But it didn’t come. “Let’s keep moving,” offered Bintou.
They approached the opening. It was decorated in cherry wood, with little cherubs and vines intricately carved on the perimeter, hiding an explosion-proof gate weighing tons that could come down in the event that a strike with a micrometeorite or orbital debris had compromised the ship’s hull. On the other side was a ballroom with large windows that showed a view of Ceres. The red blinking lights of the radiation alarm weren’t flashing this side of the gate.
“Can we shut the gate?” asked Bintou. “I’m not sure whether we’d be keeping anything out or in,” said Kenzie. Bintou thought about it for a second and dropped it. They kept moving on, past the bar and the chandelier, to a large open stairwell on the opposite end. Just as they reached the first stairs, they heard piano. The music started in the ballroom. “Quick!” hissed Marsha.
They quickly went up the stairs. The chandeliers of the ballroom behind them were dim where they had been off entirely. They could see the glow of their lights against the stairwell as they ran up get brighter.
The piano was joined by a faint orchestra. None of them knew what was going on, but all knew there was no point in asking.
“There!” hissed Marsha as they passed the bulkhead separating the passenger area from the crew compartment again, this one for the bow of the ship. The ornate woodwork gave way to matte white walls, though everything looked grey in the flashlights. She looked at her wrist. The wheelhouse was ahead, one deck up. The airlock was just beneath it, straight and to the left.
They heard the chandeliers in the ballroom shatter. No other sound. They all kept running to the airlock. They got in Bintou closing the door behind them. Kenzie yelled “suit check!” Bintou looked to her wrist. “Clear!” Marsha followed with “Clear!” “Clear, clear, clear and go!”
She turned a knob that manually evacuated the air in an emergency. They could see the white oxygen mist leave the room. As the air left the chamber, they heard thumps outside. Bangs. There was nothing to cover the door with. The sounds faded as the remainder of the air left, though they could feel it with their feet.
“The outer door won’t open!” yelled Kenzie. They turned to Bintou and Marsha with open eyes and a face that said they didn’t know what to do. “Sending in the Divas. Is the air out?” asked Ayisha. “Yes!” replied Kenzie.
For twenty seconds they waited; knowing that there was nothing they could do while whatever was causing the bangs was on the other side waiting for them..
Twenty, long, seconds. Then finally they saw sparks behind them light the room. It was the Divas. They were cutting into the hull. It took ten seconds for them to rip the wall off. “Guys?” said Marsha. She was looking at the inner hatch. It was misshapen; like something had hit it. Bintou spotted it too.
She turned around. Three Divas were visible in open empty space. She jumped. Bintou and Kenzie followed; and the Divas caught them. Ceres was visible below. They secured themselves in the drones, and they left going around the ship and taking them back to The Atlas.
Suddenly there was a big cloud of oxygen and bits of ship flying everywhere; the door in the airlock must have failed. No sign of anything. No monster. Just the freshly ruptured Beccaria, Ceres, The Atlas, and them.
–
Ayisha greeted them at the inner hatch of The Atlas, and they had a group hug, floating in the airlock. They just all stayed there for a bit.
“Let’s get out of here”, she said.
Bintou nodded.
–
The Atlas pulled back from The Beccaria. They could spot the damage underneath the wheelhouse, where the Divas had rescued them and the rupture had formed. “There’s someone on the bridge!” yelled Marsha. He looked like an old white bearded man in a captain’s jacket. He looked straight ahead, ignoring The Atlas. When Marsha went to point to the apparition on the deck he had vanished.
“There!” said Bintou. Antique drones from the Becarria were leaving the ship, tugging at the damaged parts floating left behind by the Divas. They looked like large golden clams bringing the pieces back to their ship. “Should we try to hail them?” asked Ayisha. Bintou looked at her and gently shook her head. “Some souls want their peace among the stars. Let the cishets deal with this.”
Soon, the Beccaria was a small dot in the night sky, indistinguishable from the stars. They had about a day before their orbital change would reach the next piece of junk to salvage. She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Bintou. “We’re going to the galley to talk about what just happened, decompress, and maybe have a good cry.”
Marsha nodded. “I’ll be right there.”