Chapter 5

“It’ll take a few days to really update this boat,” Sophie was telling Sol as he tested out the Revenge the next morning. “Some tender love and care.” Sophie was visible on the bottom right hand corner of the screen. She was sitting in the captain’s chair of Sinaan Reis, with Erinys standing behind her. Sol wondered what Sophie meant. It was practically a new machine. She’d cleaned out some of the older parts of the engine, replaced the parts that needed replacing, and upgraded the FTL drive. This boat might not be as quick as Sinaan Reis, but it was at least as fast as Reis had ever gone – given that its top speed was well beyond what was legal. With the space in the cargo hold cleared out, Sol had almost doubled his capacity to haul.

Sophie was right, though. With her on board, they could almost exploit the Revenge’s true potential. Sophie had pointed out, earlier that morning, that it stretched her abilities to monitor all of the Revenge’s systems at the same time. Plus, for now, Sol wanted Sophie to stay on Sinaan Reis, his flagship. He would have gladly allowed her to pilot the Revenge, but if there was any trouble, there wouldn’t be any way for her to explain to the federales that she was an illegal AI who was more than qualified to pilot a ship that they had rightfully taken from a bunch of pirates they had just killed. As it was, the ship had been given a random registration number, and no name, on the federal database – part of Sophie’s wipe the night before. That meant that, for the moment, it had no history.

With Sophie on Reis, Erinys could technically be the pilot. Reis currently had no illegal cargo, other than Sophie, and the ship’s computer contained a message from Sol to Erinys asking her to take the ship to Cepha and hand it off to his cousin for safekeeping.

“Ok,” Sol said. “I’m done playing. You’ve done a great job here Sophie. We have a meeting on Thiaki in a couple of days. Lets get going.”

“Will you have dinner on board Sinaan Reis?”

That had been Erinys.

“Is that what you’d like?” Sol asked.

“Oh,” she said. She’d gone back to being quiet and impenetrable since waking up. Sol liked her better when she was drinking. “I didn’t mean to ... Whatever you’d like,” she finally managed to say.

“We’ll see where we are at seven, Naxos standard, ok?” Sol said.

He saw Erinys smile. He smiled back, then cut the feed. Reis had already built an overlay feed into the front window, showing the captain and first mate where anything identified on short and long range scanners would be located visually. It was unnecessary – Sol flied on instruments rather than based upon what he could see in the vast emptiness of space. But the device had made it simple for Sophie to link the Revenge and Reis’s newly installed cameras. Sol had asked her whether that could be done securely. He didn’t want to be monitored by anyone.

Her explanation seemed to make sense, but Sol mostly just trusted her. She’d said that the closed feed between the ships wasn’t as secure as simply not having a feed, but that she could make it nearly impenetrable. She cautioned that communications with other ships, like all communications, were not secure. And she said that it would be easier to humans (she emphasized the point) to talk to one another if they could see each other.

By the time they got to Thiaki, Sophie promised to have installed screens around the oblong fore-deck of Sinaan Reis like the ones that had been installed around the bridge of the Revenge, giving the captain a real-time feel for what was surrounding him, and making it easier for other officers to interact with this ship’s non-navigational systems.

It sounded like nonsense to Sol, who had gotten used to the solitude of the one-man operation that had been Sinaan Reis. If the meeting on Thiaki went well, and if Sol wanted to truly make the most of his now two-ship fleet, he’d have to leave that thinking behind.

Sol sent his flightpath to Sinaan Reis, and engaged his FTL drive. Just before his ship entered FTL, he watched Sinaan Reis wink out of sight.

The time at their destination was close to morning. This time of year, it experienced 8 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. Sol had chosen to remain on Naxosian time for the trip due to how awkward Thiaki time was. So it wasn’t until the evening (Naxos standard) that both ships powered down their FTL drives and docked. They were six hours away from atmo. Sophie had apparently taken a long nap that day, allowing Erinys to become more comfortable at the helm. Most aspects of sailing a ship like this were not amazingly difficult; and particularly when the ship was flying at FTL speeds, there was almost nothing for a captain to do other than monitor. But Erinys had apparently felt emboldened by the responsibility all the same.

When Sol sat down to eat, Sophie asked to be excused in order to check the status of the Revenge – not something she strictly had to do.

“Sophie showed me the daily routine over here. We’re going to take turns doing it,” Erinys reported. That made sense. The routine was daily because that made it a routine. But it could be done every second or third day without putting the ship or the tender into any danger. This way, Sophie could monitor Erinys’ progress.

“Good,” Sol said. “You’re acclimating quickly.”

She smiled, and might have blushed. Sol couldn’t tell.

“Sophie is an AI, isn’t she,” Erinys said.

“You figured that out quickly. Do you work with AIs?” Sol asked.

“No,” she said. “It just didn’t make sense otherwise. You flying out here with a young girl. I mean, I think a lot of people might have found it perverse.”

“Its less perverse if she’s a machine, and therefore consequence free?” Sol asked.

Erinys did blush this time.

“I didn’t mean...” she said. “No, she just doesn’t act like ... someone her age or whatever. I mean, sometimes she does. But sometimes she doesn’t.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sol told her. “Look,” he changed the subject, “after Thiaki, things might change on these boats. I’ll need a crew. Obviously you’re part of that, if you want to be. But pretty soon there may be more people on these boats.

“You want to know if I can stay on the Revenge?” she asked.

“Not necessarily,” Sol said. “I just want to know what my options are. Sinaan Reis is a nicer boat, hands down. Its more comfortable. I’d like you to be comfortable.”

“Do you think you can trust a crew to take over the Revenge without you?” she asked Sol.

“I don’t trust anyone,” he said, which was the truth. “But you have to open yourself up a little to grow a crew. I’d prefer to spend time on both boats. But I may need to put some people on Reis. Is that ok?”

Erinys looked at Sol for a minute, and said “sure Sol. I’ll deal.”

There was some awkward silence until Erinys spoke up again. “About last night,” she said.

“I had a delightful time with you. You were great company. And maybe we can do it again some time,” Sol said, smirking, and hoping to take the awkwardness out of it.

She smiled again, and Sol could definitely make out a blush. “I just hope I wasn’t inappropriate.”

“Erin...” Sol began, but he didn’t know how to respond to that.

Sophie chose that moment to come back onto the room. “It looks like everything over there is in good shape. Are we sailing through the night, or are we stopping here?”

“I’d prefer to sail,” Sol said. “The meeting isn’t until a couple of days from now in the evening, but I’d like to get the lay of the land before we walk into anything with people I don’t know.”

“Can I fly the Revenge?” Erinys asked. Sophie glanced back and forth between her and Sol.

“Sure. Sophie, that’s fine with you?” Sol asked.

“Captain’s orders,” was her reply.

“Do it,” Sol said.

Within ten minutes, he was on the fore-deck of Sinaan Reis plummeting through space. Sol grabbed something he’d picked up back on Piso in a little shop that he’d visited before setting sail. It was an honest-to-God book made of honest-to-God paper. This was an old Martian book of political philosophy that had reportedly been instrumental in shaping Mikhail Habash’s philosophy, called Colonized Minds. He planned to read it during the trip to Thiaki.

Thiaki was sometimes called the Water Planet. It had a few nearly uninhabitable land masses, and was mostly made of fresh water. Unlike Kimolos, the lack of beaches and more temperate climate made tourism on Thiaki less profitable, other than among those who were curious about a planet of water. In fact, the population was only a few million people. Many of those were scientists. Some participated in a burgeoning water trade to nearby Milos. Most of the extant communities had been created through sea-stedding, creating man-made islands on the vast seas that could be occupied by hundreds or even thousands of people. The waters on Thiaki were very deep in most parts. By and large, the sea-stedding islands were held in place by motors, as opposed to any anchor system. Some of the islands had a range of motion that covered many square miles. It had the strange honor of having not been terraformed in any meaningful way.

There were quite a few sea-stedding encampments across Thiaki – far too many to effectively monitor.

Eliza was supposedly located on a very small sea-stedding encampment in the northern part of the planet, a much less popular location than the equator because of the colder weather, and the length of the days, or the nights, given the season. Eliza’s Island apparently followed the seasons, so that the nighttime was almost always longer where Eliza lived than the day. Sol doubted that the physical darkness was a very good shroud over her illegal activities – but a pirate’s image was sometimes her only major asset.

On their way to the planet, Sophie’s voice came over the com: “Lets dock.”

Sol knew that meant trouble. Sol dropped out of FTL speed. The Revenge followed a second later. When they’d docked, Sol came aboard the Revenge to find Sophie and Erinys on the bridge.

“There’s a hell of a lot of chatter on the undernet. Some citizens in Thiaki are agitating for independence, and its enough that the feds aren’t likely to just let it go,” Sophie said.

“Well, that’s information that would have been really useful a few days ago,” Sol said. “Send a message to Sheba asking her to cancel the meeting. We can do this later.”

“That’s a terrible idea, Sol,” Sophie said.

“And why is that?” Sol said, annoyed.

“Because we’re close to Thiaki. Its pretty obvious to anyone who has been watching the planet that we’re heading there. I’ve already spotted some federalized Naxosian hoppers on the scanners. And at this point, I’d bet that anything we broadcast will be listened to and analyzed,” she said.

“So it would be better to keep on going, into a planet that’s about to be overrun by feds, so that we don’t look like we’re avoiding the feds?” Sol asked.

Sophie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that’s basically what I said.”

“Look, under normal circumstances, there would be no reason for anyone to stop or board us. You told me that we’re good. But if they lock the planet down – which isn’t unlikely given its size – then we have a whole other issue, particularly if its discovered that we’re meeting with known pirates. I don’t think Mr. Colfax would be doing that with his sister, or niece, or whatever the fuck you’re supposed to be, huh?” Sol said, a little harder than he intended to.

Erinys looked confused for a moment.

“Look,” Sophie said. “The agitation is around the equator, on an island called Goshen. These guys aren’t likely to waste time scouting the entire planet, are they?”

Sol wavered. Sophie was right. He just didn’t like to fly into a conflict, even if he would likely keep his distance.

“Ok, are there any tourist spots on the island?” Sol asked.

“Its a shitty location for tourists,” Sophie said.

“Yeah, and tourists are fucking stupid. Now are there any tourist spots on the island?” he asked.

“Yeah. There’s an Island called Antioch that has a small resort. Some of the rooms are underwater. There’s watersports, and other crap. Why?” Sophie asked Sol.

“If we’re stopped, that’s where we’re going. And it would really sell the story if we had some reservations,” Sol said.

“They’re expensive, Sol,” Sophie said.

“So is bail. How expensive?” Sol asked.

“I have a room for four fifty,” Sophie said. “Underwater.”

“Bits or rezzies?” Sol asked.

“Oh, that’s bits. But they only accept rezzies,” she answered.

“Book it,” he told her. “We’ll go there first. With the feds swarming the place, we can’t very well orbit our ships if we’re all going to be planet side. And I don’t think I want to leave Erin up here. Can we dock the ships on Antioch?”

“Everything costs money, that’s all,” she explained.

“Good. Good. We’ll be fine,” Sol said, mostly to himself.

“Who’s Mr. Colfax?” Erinys asked, after a few moments of awkward silence.

“That’s me,” Sol said. “I have a fake identity. It comes in handy when you’re a chronic law-breaker.”

“Oh...” she said. “Can I have one?” She smiled adorably, and it eased Sol’s tension momentarily.

Sol smiled back. Sophie answered her though. “I can’t make it now, unfortunately, because I’m worried anything I do will be monitored by the feds as long as we’re here. As soon as we’re off Thiaki, I’ll turn you into a new woman.”

Sol blinked. “We good?” he asked.

“We good,” Sophie answered.

“Alright. Send coordinates for the resort to my ship, could you? I’ll rendezvous with you once we hit atmo. If anyone asks, Sophie is my niece. And Erin is a family friend. Until we figure out a fake ID for Erin, that’ll have to do,” Sol said.

Several hours later, Sol entered Thiaki’s orbit. It was during the day, so there were still a few hours before the meeting with Eliza. To someone who had lived such a significant part of his life in the sky, the idea of a water planet was daunting. The vastness of space held no sway over Sol’s imagination. He’d been there. He might not know its nooks and crannies, but he was fairly certain that he knew what he would find in them. Water was something else.

Antioch, it turned out, had a medium sized spaceport, and their rates for docking rights – while above average – were not exorbitant. Sol made sure that the ship’s visible registration reflected Crazy Times, and that the only ID he had on him said Schuyler Colfax – what a dumbfuck name – before entering atmo. The Revenge – now officially “Reina” – was also registered to S. Colfax.

This should be a cakewalk, Sol thought, as he flew the tender out of Reis’s aft, toward the resort. The “Island Paradise,” as the resort was creatively called, was actually a separate island from Antioch. Antioch, Sol had learned while en route, was one of the oldest islands on Thiaki. It had been built before modern technology had perfected the concept of a floating island. It was unique in that it had been built into the bottom of the sea, with massive columns holding it in place. The columns did not actually support the island. Instead, they simply kept it from moving. The columns were spaced about the island, and they occupied large rings that had been built into the island, and around the columns. That way, when the tides went in and out during the day, the island glided up and down the columns. The island itself was buoyant, like every other man-made land mass on Thiaki. At parts, the columns stuck far into the sky, like obelisks, and great statutes of the colonial heroes had been affixed atop them, keeping watch over the one-time colonial stronghold.

Thiaki, in many ways, still was a colonial stronghold. Like the rest of the Isles, it had been federalized officially within the last decade; and for far too long before then, it had been treated like simply part and parcel of the Federation. But part of the impetus that caused someone to leave a normal, or nearly normal, planet and move to a water planet like this one was a desire for independence. Thiaki was hard to control. Physically, it just was. The climate notwithstanding, very few parts of the planet were less fit for civilization than any other part – allowing independence-minded citizens to plant their sea-stedding communities wherever they wanted to. The fresh water of Thiaki not only supported a water trade to nearby systems, but it also allowed a full-scale hydroponics industry to develop in parts of the planet. It was still unregulated – or, rather, it operated in the grey area between the law and enforcement.

So the colonial heroes – the would-be enemies of the federation – sat atop large obelisks that looked eerily as if they were moving slowly up and down over the course of the day, and stared down at the people of Antioch. The feds had chosen not to take them down. Let the people have their symbols. They could rally around their symbolic freedom while letting more important things, like licensing and taxation, go the way of the federales.

Sol paid the docking fee, and met up with the others. Sophie was wearing an outfit that was about right for going to a water-themed resort: she had on her red bikini top and a pair of the tightest shorts the galaxy had ever seen. Erinys was wearing a loose-fitting blouse and long skirt. It looked like it breathed well enough. Besides, it was colder than Kimolos by a bit – still warm enough to support swimming and frolicking, but nothing like the simultaneously oppressive and liberating heat of Kimolos. If anything, it was Sophie who stood out.

They hopped on board the little tender and sped off to the resort.

After checking in, they took an elevator down to their room, fifty feet below the water level. One wall of the room was nothing more than a large window. The other walls of the room were solid, presumably because they faced towards other rooms in the resort. Their room was exactly that: One bed, and a bathroom with a large whirpool bath that abutted the window. Sol had never seen anything like most of the fish that passed by the window. Most were small. But not all of them.

Sophie smirked and pointed to the bed. “You horndog you ... a room with two hot girls, a single bed, and a whirlpool?” she teased.