4
Light duty for Ava consisted of walking. A lot of walking. She was to visually inspect things for her father and report to him in person.
He would say, “How is the inventory going?”
She would begin to ask over her wrist comm before he interrupted. “Get eyes on the progress and then report back.”
She had stared at him, narrowing her eyes before turning to storm away.
Her shambling walk prevented her from storming off to the degree she knew she was capable of, which irritated her.
She made her way down the upper main until she reached the first ladder. There were ladders on either side of the passageway, but port ladders were used for descending and starboard ladders for ascending. She took the port-side ladder down to the Main. She had practiced a bit with the ladders since getting back on her feet, but she was not fully comfortable sliding down using the rails as she normally would. Instead, she took the ladder one step at a time. It was slow going, but she was not ready for the jolt that would have come from sliding down the ladder at speed.
Once on the Main, she proceeded toward the cargo bay. Her muscles throbbed and tingled as she made her way down the hall. As she passed the galley, she heard the cook, Angelo, talking animatedly to someone about alien technology and how the artifact was really some long-lost, super-advanced cryo chamber. She was out of earshot before she could hear the rest.
Alex, leader of B Team, exited the equipment locker to the aft. Alex smiled at Ava while her eyes darted down to take in her condition.
Ava returned the smile. “Alex,” Ava greeted.
“Ava.” Alex nodded as she passed.
Ava didn’t dislike Alex, but she was new, and Ava didn’t know how to feel about her. Alex was an unknown. The rest of the crew were people Ava had known for years, some since she was a child. They had reputations and histories she could look to, but Alex had simply shown up at port one day. She had worked a few jobs as a laborer for a week before managing to talk herself onto a ship, the
9Lives
.
Before Alex joined the crew, there was no A or B Team. There was only Ava’s team. They had the two shuttles, but the
Cat’s Paw
was the only one running at full operational capacity. After Alex joined, the
Cat’s Eye
was suddenly ready for routine use. Ava hadn’t understood what had changed in her father’s estimation of the ship, nor his sudden willingness to reassign two of the ship’s technicians, Anders and Oren, to this new squad. Kane had hired Alex and another crew member, and now there were two teams.
Ava had asked Kane about Alex McCarty, and Kane had responded that she was more than qualified, and that was that. Kane didn’t always share his reasoning with Ava, and she trusted him enough not to continue pressing, even if the question remained a nagging curiosity.
Ava put it aside and kept moving down the hall.
She passed the equipment locker, where they stowed their suits and gear. She knew her team would start inventory in the cargo hold, in the very belly of the ship. Team B was working on checking over all the equipment, including the equipment her team used. It was a precaution the captain always implemented: a triple-check. Team A would double-check the equipment for both teams later, and each team member would inspect their own equipment before use. It was better to have something looked over three times than looked over once in a rush and have something missed.
Ava passed the med bay. She couldn’t hear Hailey inside with the door closed, but she didn’t risk it and shambled at an increased pace to lessen the chance of running into her.
She continued to the cargo bay. The door opened, and she navigated down the first flight of stairs to the landing, relying heavily on the railing. She paused there to stretch out her legs. The bay was less busy than it had been. Only the technicians and a few engineers skulked about the artifact in the center of the bay. The raised catwalk had been lowered to half-height, and one engineer, Curry, was slowly scanning the surface closest to him. It looked like painstaking, monotonous work. Ava was curious about what they would find but thankful she didn’t have to do it.
Ava gathered herself and tackled the last flight of stairs.
The cargo bay was the only part of the ship that truly fluctuated in temperature. When cargo was being moved, sorted, or hauled, the temperature was lowered to a brisk thirty degrees to prevent workers from overheating as they strained themselves in their work gear. They would end up covered in sweat after a time anyway, but the cold felt good when they had a moment to catch their breath and served as an incentive to get right back to work before the warm seat began to freeze against their skin.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
When repairs or fabrication were the goal, the temperature was raised above the ship’s standard sixty-five degrees. This allowed hands and fingers to warm and remain as nimble as possible while also cutting down on bruises and sprains.
Ava had questioned her father about whether he was kidding when it had first been explained to her, and he assured her that the first time she rapped her cold knuckles against something after her grip slipped from a wrench, she would understand.
She had been so young and inexperienced that she had questioned Kane directly in front of the new crew. He had turned it into a joke, and the crew seemed to understand that she was just a dumb kid, but Kane had given her such a look. It had been brief but scarring.
The look said,
You are embarrassing me.
There were moments when Ava closed her eyes and still saw that face.
Kane had pulled her aside later and explained that she couldn’t question him like that in front of others. He was still her father, but while she was on his crew, she needed to act like a crew member and not a child. Ava had understood and promised through tears that she would never do it again and that she was sorry. Kane had hugged her and told her he understood but would hold her to her promise.
Ava forced herself to walk upright across the bay floor toward the freight elevator that ran down to the cargo hold, where her team would be. The elevator was on the port side of the bay, and it took a painfully long time for her to reach it, as stiff and sore as she was.
Weak,
she thought.
So tired of being weak.
She exhaled, gritted her teeth, and pushed through the pain, nearly collapsing as she reached the railing of the freight elevator. She used the railing to guide herself toward the controls. She slapped her palm down on the large red button with a downward-pointing arrow emblazoned on it.
The lift began whirring as it descended. The noise was loud enough to notice but not loud enough to drown out the sound of enthusiastic clapping from just behind her.
Ava had wanted to collapse to one knee and succumb to a bout of ragged breathing as the elevator descended into the belly of the ship. Instead, she found herself craning her neck to look over her shoulder as her knees shook.
Behind her, having just climbed the ladder next to the elevator, stood Team A.
Ethan, Peters, and Juarez leaned against the outer railing of the elevator, cheering for her. Ethan clapped with a smirk that barely held back a laugh. Juarez whooped and yelled, “You did it!” and, “You go, girl!” while Peters simply shouted, “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” on repeat as she continued descending into the cargo hold.
Ava’s face flushed with embarrassment, and she fought the urge to shrink away. Instead, with considerable effort, she raised a fist into the air and pumped her arm in victory while silently wishing the elevator would carry her farther out of sight.
Ethan reached out and turned a key in the service box to his right. The panel opened, and he casually pressed the manual override button. The elevator grumbled to a stop. He thumbed another button, and the elevator reversed its descent, bringing Ava back up to the cargo-bay level.
Ava continued pumping her arm and even cheered along with Peters, yelling, “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” with him. Juarez grabbed the railing and began jumping up and stomping his feet against the grating, building the celebration into a fervor.
The energy was infectious, and Ava couldn’t help but smile.
Idiots,
she thought.
Her idiots.
The elevator pulled to a stop, but the yelling and clapping continued as Team A stepped around the railing to join Ava on the platform. Gradually, they settled into silence.
Ethan patted her on the shoulder and said, “Seven minutes and fifty-eight seconds.”
“What?” asked Ava, completely taken aback.
“Later. Inventory of the cargo hold is complete. We were going to move to the cargo bay next, but Curry said he wanted us to wait until he finished his scans. He needs absolute quiet, and he knows how rowdy we can be,” Ethan said.
Ava stared at him for a moment before Ethan came to a realization. He turned toward Curry, halfway across the hold beside the artifact. Curry glared at the man, his entire being radiating distressed frustration.
“Sorry, man. We’ll stop until you’re done,” Ethan shouted.
Curry made a rude gesture and turned sharply back to his tools and notes.
“That guy has anger issues,” Juarez whispered.
“I think maybe that was a pretty measured response, considering,” Peters argued.
“Back on topic, boys,” Ava wheezed. Now that the exaltation was over, her body was screaming at her again.
“Right,” Ethan said. “We decided we would head up to the equipment lockers and inventory and check the equipment in one go.”
“Efficient,” Ava remarked.
“That’s what I said,” Peters added.
“Then we move to the shuttles. Again, inventory and equipment checks,” Ethan continued.
“Even more efficient,” Juarez said.
“Stow it,” Ethan said, delivering a swift but weak punch to Peters’s shoulder.
“That was Juarez, not me,” Peters complained.
“Then pass it on,” Ethan explained as if it were obvious.
“Oh,” Peters said before turning and slugging Juarez in the arm, harder than he had been hit.
Juarez started to retaliate before Ava stood to her full height.
“Knock it off,” she barked.
“Everyone out, now!” Curry yelled from the far end of the room.
Peters and Juarez scrambled to comply with the frothing engineer. Ethan started to leave but looked back at Ava questioningly.
“What?” she asked. “Obviously, you have to carry me.”