Diadem E1S1: Dirty Closet

The ship was expansive, housing space for many more crew quarters than its current crew complement. Much of the rooms that would have held more crew members had been combined and turned into the crew amenities. The Lumios, who were the original designers, were not in need of a kitchen for food, or a restroom, or showers. One of these rooms was the game room, in which the cascading sound of typing could be heard. Annaheim sat hunched in her seat as she furiously mashed the keys on her touchpad keyboard, her eyes overshadowed by a VR visor. Every once in a while she would sigh in frustration whenever her character died. Her occasional outburst and her focus on the meaningless entertainment gave her a conduit through which to channel her anger towards her mother. She felt like her mother should have gone with her suggestion during the mining of the comet. Then she wouldn’t have had to activate the advanced technology herself. It wasn’t her fault they had almost gotten caught. Besides, the ship probably had tech that could deal with that too. Her mother used to listen to her ideas, but now. . .  Annaheim pouted as she wallowed in resentment for her mother, not noticing Baphin appear at the entrance of the room. “Annaheim? May I come in?” Baphin waited motionless in her high tech wheel chair for a response.  Annaheim took off her visor  “Hey Baph.” “You’re still brooding in here?” Annaheim shrugged. Baphin looked down at the floor, then back up at her unhappy friend. “Wanna prank Chris?  That might take your mind off of your mom.” The teenager’s eyes glinted back to life with a spark of mischief. She thought for a moment, then nodded.  “I had a couple I’d been saving.” Baphin held up a canister of liquid with the help of a mechanical arm from her chair.  “I guarantee you haven’t saved a prank like this one.” Baphin’s suggestion briefly brought Annaheim out of the pit of her sour emotions. A coy smile began to play on her lips. “Oh really? What did you have in mind?” But before her friend could respond, Annaheim’s shoulders sagged as her mother’s voice came over the intercom. “Everyone to the bridge.  We got a distress call.” Baphin put the vial away with an electronic sigh.  “Come on, you’ll see the prank at dinner time.” “You go on.” said Annaheim, holding her shoulder. “Nuh uh.  You go in there again I won’t see you for a week.  The sooner you get out of your shell, the sooner things will get better.” With an eye roll and a reluctant sigh, Annaheim followed Baphin. “I’m only going cause you want me to.” “I know.” Reaching the bridge, the two girls took their places at their consoles as Bridget played a message on the big screen built into the bridge window.  “Have you got the info on that ship for me Chris?” Chris took a deep breath. “I-it’s a cargo ship, the um . . . Lambda. Class 4 trade barge. . . . over 700 crew members.  They’re . . . kinda far. . . maybe we shouldn’t-” Bridget shook her head. “We won’t leave them in distress.  The message is a standard emergency message.  They must have been in too much of a hurry to explain.” “You don’t think it’s pirates do you?” Baphin’s synthetic voice had an edge of worry. Chris went pale. “P-p-pirates?!” “No. . . ?” Bridget shrugged. Baphin’s brow furrowed. “Are you sure they don’t attack ships this far out?” Chris looked from Baphin to Bridget sheepishly. “W-w-well? D-d-do they?” Bridget took on a contemplative expression. “It’s possible. I knew a captain once who responded to a distress signal and then mysteriously disappeared. They never found the ship or the crew.” She chuckled. “But I’m sure nothing like that will happen to us.” The color in Chris’s face was gone. “That’s exactly what people say in scary movies.” Baphin waved him off with a mechanical arm from her wheel chair. “Oh please. You stream too much Chris. If anything, we’re more likely to get sucked into an undocumented black hole out here than get attacked by pirates.” “Oh phew.” Chris wiped his brow before his eyes went wide again. “Wait. . . there’s und-d-d-documented b-b-b-” “Undocumented black holes?” Baphin turned and looked at Chris with a dead stare. “Oh yes.” “Ok, let’s go.” Cut in Bridget abruptly. “N-no let’s n-n-not!” Squeaked Chris. Baphin and Bridget laughed. Baphin’s laughter showed in her eyes. “The look on your face when I mentioned black holes ha ha. Priceless.” Chris sighed and crossed his arms as he realized he’d been pranked. The captain wiped the tears from her eyes. “Ok, for real now. The sooner, the better.  For all we know, these people could be dying.  Annaheim. . . Annaheim?” Her daughter had left again. Bridget lowered her head, remembering how she had acted at dinner the night before. Her down cast eyes met Baphin.  They shared a nod before Bridget stood up and went to talk to her daughter.

Chris noticed. “Uh. . . Captain?  Should I lay in the course or. . .”

“Go for it Chris.  She'll be back.” Replied Baphin as Bridget disappeared into the elevator. Meanwhile, Anaheim sat in her room with her arms crossed. She wondered why her mother hadn’t listened to her, why her mother had yelled at her. The perceived injustice prevented her from understanding the situation as she continued to spiral into angst and unhappiness. Her thoughts ran away with her as she began to feel like no one listened and like she was all alone. The frustration and anger brought warm tears to the corners of her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away when she heard a knock on her cabin door accompanied by her mother’s voice. “Anna? Can we talk?” Her mother using her nickname made Annaheim sigh. In her state she didn’t see that her mother was trying to reconcile, seeing the nickname as her mother’s attempt to manipulate her into responding. She didn’t speak, hoping her mother would leave her alone. Bridget’s exhale reached her ears before she continued speaking. “I’m sorry for snapping at you Annaheim. I shouldn’t have done that. I know you were just trying to help and I know it’s frustrating for us to have all this technology at our disposal and to not be able to use it.” She paused, hoping for a response, before continuing. “I get frustrated about it too. If it were legal, I’d have already used it on many of our missions. Right now, if we tried something like that again, we’d be caught and then we’d lose our home. I don’t want to put you through something like that.” Her mother paused again and Annaheim could almost feel her hesitation. “I wish you would talk to me. If you stay closed off and don’t open up to me, how am I supposed to help you?” Annaheim’s cheeks flushed with anger. She thought back to a dark and painful night. Her mother must have anticipated her thoughts. “I was only able to help you that one night because I walked in on what your father was doing. Otherwise I would never have known, because you never said anything.” Annaheim gripped the edge of her bed until her knuckles turned white. How dare her mother bring that up. She felt rage at her mother’s perceived manipulation. She should have known what dad had been doing. Annaheim was filled with resentment at her mother’s implication that it was her own fault her mother hadn’t helped her sooner. It felt like an excuse to shoot shots and make Annaheim feel shame. She grit her teeth and put on her headphones, watching videos on her datapad to block out anything else her mother might say. She didn’t hear her mother profess her love for her, or her sad footsteps as she left to go back to the bridge. Several hours later, a brooding Annaheim reluctantly went to the bridge with the others as they approached the source of the distress signal. Bridget looked at her, “Hi Annaheim.” but Annaheim’s smile and wave back were forced and hasty to hide her festering resentment. She took her seat at her station as the cargo barge came into view through the bridge windows. The class 4 cargo ship was not actually as large as it appeared. The extent of the ship was mostly thin pylons that could extend in all four directions from the vessel’s main body, allowing placements from thousands of large hauling containers full of goods. Placed at intervals in these pylons were automated turrets for warding off the pirates that often preyed on such vessels, and they locked on the Diadem as they approached. Bridget accepted the call that came through from the Lambda and the haggard voice of the captain came through the speakers. “This is the Lambda. State your identity and business immediately or be fired upon. We’re not afraid of pirates!” “This is captain Bridget Falon of the Diadem. We’re here to answer your distress call.” Bridget exchanged a confused look with Baphin. “Oh that.” replied the captain after a moment of silence. “Sorry. That signal was sent automatically, we have everything under control..” Now Bridget was even more confused. “So. . . you’re not in distress?” “Negative. Sorry to waste your fuel.” Annaheim hadn’t been paying much attention up to this point, but as her eyes drifted to Chris at the sensor station she noticed him watching his console concernedly. What was he seeing? Meanwhile Bridget responded to the captain of the Lambda. “I see. Well, if there’s no issue, we’ll be departing. Would you like escort? We’re already here and can accompany you to your destination free of charge.” “Negative. Please just have a nice day. We will be fine. Goodbye.” With that, the call was ended before Bridget could bid the captain farewell and the Lambda continued on its way. Baphin turned to look at Bridget. “You offered them a free escort? Why not get some money out of it?” Bridget scratched her head. “What was their heading? Chris?” Chris snapped out of his thoughts and looked back at the sensor history. “Oh, uh. . . . Alpha Centauri.” “Why would they be going to the military no fly zone we got kicked out of?” Questioned Bridget as Baphin became intrigued with her. “That is odd. Perhaps they’re a military transport?” Bridget leaned back in her chair, “Maybe undercover. Some secret military operation around that area? In any case, we’ll never know.” Annaheim listened, still hot with anger from what her mother had said to her earlier. She finally got up from her chair and abruptly butted into Bridget and Baphin’s discussion. “We could always cloak the ship and follow them undetected.” She put her hands on her hips as her voice dripped with sarcasm. “Or, if you’re still too scared to lose your precious home, we could activate the advanced sensors and track its movements, and the movements of any other ship or ship resembling object within 100,000 light years!” Before anyone could respond, the disgruntled teenager turned on her heel and stomped out of the bridge. She stopped outside the exit and waited, calming herself down. Soon as the doors closed, she faintly heard Chris stand up. “I uh. . . I’m gonna go get um. . . a snack, yeah.” She narrowed her eyes as she kept listening, waiting for the college boy to exit the bridge. “You’re good Chris. I’ll let you know if I need you.” smiled Bridget as she watched him leave, suspecting something was wrong. As soon as the doors closed behind Chris, he looked around before heading off towards the ship’s maintenance area. As he disappeared down one of the corridors, Annaheim stepped out of the shadows to follow him. She had noticed his face take on a concerned expression when he was looking at the sensors earlier. He had seen something, and now he was going to investigate. The sense of adventure and mystery drove her to follow him, and soon she was stealthily sneaking up behind the unaware college boy. She tapped him on his left shoulder before ducking to his right as he looked to his left. “Hi!” Chris jolted at her sudden greeting. “Yipe!” His shoulders hunched as he let out a frustrated sigh. “Not right n-now Annaheim. I’m not in the uh, I’m not in the mood for pranks right now.” “Oh, I see. You’re in the mood for secrets though right?” “Um. . . What are you talking about?” Annaheim waved him off. “Come on, what did you see?” “I d-didn’t see anything.” He stuttered, lying. “So you’re just getting a snack?” Chris nodded hesitantly. Annaheim crossed her arms. “From the maintenance area?” “Y-yeah I. . . wait what?” “Spit it out dork, you saw something. What did you see?” Chris looked around cautiously. “I uh. . . I saw something float over to our ship and disappear.” Annaheim stared for a moment before she couldn’t help chuckling. “So you’re more anxious than usual because of a little space junk? No wonder it’s so easy to prank you.” Chris tried to hide his embarrassment. “Knock it off. There could be something dangerous on this ship. . . . and I’m g-gonna go check it out.” Annaheim narrowed her eyes. “You are going to go check it out? In the dark and damp maintenance area? By yourself?” Chris nodded up until the last question. “I. . . um. . . “ “You need someone to come with you to protect you don’t you?” Chris’s brow furrowed. “If you think I’m g-going to let you c-come along-” “Well if you insist. You’re real pushy sometimes.” Teased Annaheim as she led the way. “Now let’s go.” Chris face palmed and surrendered to the teenager’s manipulative curiosity. “Fine! But I’m not responsible for whatever happens.” Annaheim laughed. “That’s rich coming from the way you cried last time you went down a dimly lit corridor.” Chris grit his teeth. “That prank wasn’t funny. I had n-n-nightmares.” “Dude, literally all we did was turn off the lights.” Annaheim shook her head. “If you cry in the maintenance area, I’ll leave you behind.” “Yeah right! I d-don’t need you. I’m much better than I was b-back then!” By now they had reached the entrance to the maintenance area.  Annaheim opened the four square foot door that was five inches thick, revealing the dark, pitch black claustrophobic  expanse of the unlit maintenance area extending into the bowls of the ship. “Good. I hope you’ve gotten over your fear of tight spaces too.” She chuckled. Chris gulped so hard it was audible, wiping the developing beads of sweat on his forehead. “I uh. . . um. . . . remember when I said I d-d-d-didn’t n-n-need you?” “Aw, does the poor scaredy cat want to hold hands?” Annaheim jokingly held out her hand. She was surprised when he took it quickly. His hand was shaking. “Yes p-p-please.” “Gee, fine. Just don’t squeeze my hand off.” Annaheim rolled her eyes. “You’d think you had trauma or something.” Chris bit his tongue as he followed her into the darkness. “Gosh it’s like holding hands with a blob of jelly. Which way did you see the space garbage bump our hull?” “The s-s-s-s-s-starb-b-b-b-board area und-d-d-der the air lock-k-k.” Stuttered Chris in a state of high anxiety. “And it d-d-d-did-dn’t b-bump int-to the ship. It w-w-went inside.” Annaheim rolled her eyes and pulled him along through the dark, using a pocket flashlight to see. “Good grief. No wonder it’s so easy to prank you. You remind me of that kid in primary school that tried to ask me out.” They continued on until they reached one of the structural beams of the ship, rising up through the deck structure and attaching to the Diadem’s single piece, solid crystalline hull. It glistened in the faint light of Annaheim’s flashlight and shown a whitish light blue. Behind one of the large struts connecting the rest of the ship’s internal structure to its crystillium shell they both caught a glimpse of movement. “W-w-w-w-w-what was that!” “Quit stuttering. I’ll go check it out.” “Annaheim n-no!” “Who d-do you think I you are?  My mom?” snapped Annaheim, mocking Chris’s stutter. Chris dropped his gaze in embarrassment. “P-please don’t make fun of my s-stutter.” But Annaheim wasn’t listening, having already started heading over to the shape they had seen a moment ago.”Hello? Is there someone there? I’ll have you know me and my friend know Martian karate. So don’t try anything.” Chris was confused. “Neither of us know Haakmigh.” He closed his mouth when he saw Annaheim shoot back a glare. She aimed her dim pocket flashlight back at the structural pylon. “Come on out, or we’ll come get you ourselves.” A synthetic voice replied from behind the pylon. It was male, somewhat high pitched and almost comical, like one of those sports narrators from long ago. It had an English quality to the accent, accompanied with rolled rs and professional vocabulary. “Salutations. I mean you no harm. I am going to come into the light. Please do not be alarmed.” Occasionally the voice would glitch and strain. Annaheim took a step back apprehensively. Chris inhaled sharply. Out from behind the pillar staggered a humanoid robot. He was painted to look human, and he was wearing a butler outfit with a bow tie and suit. He gave a bow, trying not to fall over as oil and lubricant oozed out of a gash in his side. “Pardon my intrusion on your ship. I am Dudley McDurphy. I am a Butler android created by Genevieve Tech. Sereal number: 15T34Z539A6A.” Annaheim stumbled backward a bit, eyes wide in shock. “What the heck…?” she whispered. She swallowed hard, regaining composure when she realized it was just an android. There were countless others like it in rich houses on Earth, Pirel, and Mars. She narrowed her eyes. “Wait—are you rogue?” The android shook its head with robotic, jerky movements. “No I am not. I am following my programming.” “And what is your programming?” Annaheim took a step toward the robot, to Chris’s concern. “I am programmed as a caretaker for my master.” “Who was your master?” The android blinked and looked away. “I am programmed to protect the privacy and safety of my master.” Annaheim began to relax. “Then why are you here? What happened to your master?” “I left to protect my master.” Chris was still worried. “D-d-do you have a s-safety c-c-codex?” The android turned its glowing green eyes onto Chris, who immediately looked away in fear. “Correct. I have a functioning safety codex that adheres my thoughts and actions to the three laws of robotics. They are as follows: 1. A robot cannot-” “Yeah yeah, I’ve heard that a million times. Don’t worry about Chris, he’s a scaredy cat. So long as you don’t hurt anyone on this ship, I won’t tell my mom you’re here.” Interrupted Annaheim. Dudley looked down at the gash in his side. “Even if I was capable of causing harm to humans, I don’t think I would be able to do so in my current state.  It is also against my programming. I merely wish to protect my master.” Chris scratched his head, deciding that the synthetic butler wasn’t a threat. “I don’t know about this.” Annaheim jabbed him in the arm. “You’re not gonna go tattletail to the captain are you?” “Well um. . . as a crew member I kind of have a duty to-” Annaheim’s brow furrowed, she didn’t want to use this, but it was the best trump card she had. She pulled out her datapad, pulling up a photo and showing it to him. “If you tell my mom, I’ll tell her about this.” Chris’s cheeks flushed red. He tried to reach for the datapad but Annaheim pulled it out of his reach. Tears began to form in Chris’s eyes. “Please don’t show her that. If you do, she’ll kick me off the ship.” Annaheim rolled her eyes, feeling like he was being dramatic. “Uh huh. Sure. Either way, it will be really bad for you if you tell her about Dudley. So don’t. Ok?” Chris looked from Dudley to Annaheim, and hung his head with a sigh. “Fine. But you can’t keep him on this ship, or she’ll find out anyway. He’s got to leave on the next planet we stop at.” “Well since we hardly ever go to any planets anymore anyway, I’m ok with that arrangement.” smiled Annaheim before walking over to Dudley. “Is there anything you might need? I’m not a mechanic, but that nasty gash in your side might need attention.” Dudley nodded before examining his injury. “Indeed, that and a someone who is a mechanic would be most appreciated.” “Well, I don’t think Van would be any more welcoming than my mom.” Annaheim thought for a moment before she had an idea. “There is someone on this ship who could help you though.” Annaheim let go of Chris’s hand again as they exited the maintenance area back into the well lit corridors. “Now remember what I said.” Chris shook his head. “I don’t like doing this. It feels wrong.” Annaheim crossed her arms. “Would you rather I show my mom that picture?” “No.” Chris sighed and headed to his room. Annaheim watched him leave with a feeling of ridicule. It was almost comical to her that the anxious college boy thought Bridget would throw him off the ship for something so silly. She thought about this as she headed to Baphin’s room, chuckling at how easy it was to prank Chris. Her and Baphin had been messing with the poor young man ever since they first met him. Now, her smile faded as she realized how much she was exploiting him. She didn’t have a choice. Bridget might not throw Chris off the ship for his secret, but Annaheim was sure her mother would take something away from her if she found out about Dudley, or worse, Bridget would throw the poor android out into space.

Annaheim reached Baphin’s door and knocked. “Hey Baph? You there?” “Annaheim? Honey?” She froze at her mother’s voice, turning and not looking her mother in the eye. “What?” “You keep blocking me out where we can’t resolve this thing between us.” There was pain and sadness in Bridget’s eyes. “What do you want me to do?” Annaheim crossed her arms and looked away. “Maybe if you cared about me, you’d listen to my ideas. Maybe if you cared, you wouldn’t yell at me. But you only care about yourself.” Annaheim could see the confusion in her mother’s eyes, and wondered why someone who claimed to love her couldn’t see that they were in the wrong. “But honey, I’ve always cared about you. Would I have stopped your father if I didn’t? I know you don’t like me bringing that up, and I’m sorry for mentioning it, but I couldn’t just stand there and let your father hit you. It’s because I love you so much that I stopped him. It’s why I ended up divorcing him.” Bridget’s voice quivered in frustration. Annaheim considered her mother’s words. Yes she was angry her mother had brought up that night again, but she had a point. “You should have known what he was doing sooner.” Bridget wiped developing tears, her voice barely a whisper. “You don’t think I wish I'd known sooner? Every night, I relive that moment, wishing I could have acted earlier.”

Annaheim’s heart clenched painfully, a lump forming in her throat. She hadn’t thought about how her mother might blame herself. Was it unfair to hold onto this resentment?

 “The thought I could have tried to notice sooner has haunted me ever since that night. But I look at you, and how you’re recovering from what happened, and I feel a glimmer of relief. That no matter when I helped you, I was able to help you. And now, every time we’re in a situation where there’s even a possibility you might not be safe, I get scared.”

She paused, trying to keep her voice from cracking with emotion. “It was wrong for me to yell at you, and it was wrong for me to dismiss your idea so disrespectfully. But I was trying to focus on keeping you and everyone safe. Because now, I don’t have to worry about just you. I feel responsible for the safety of every person on this ship.”

Annaheim listened to her mother tearfully pouring her heart out to her as her own tears began to bead at the sides of her eyes. Her heart beat hard with a heavy dose of reality as her personal grudge and false view of the situation melted away. “I had no idea you felt like you had to carry that much responsibility. I didn’t realize how much it weighed on you, or that you cared that much. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shut you out. It was wrong of me not to give you a chance to explain yourself and I robbed you of seeing my perspective. Can you forgive m-”

Her mother pulled her into a loving embrace, her warmth seeping into Annaheim and calming her emotions. She hugged her mom back with genuine love and mother and daughter rested in each other’s arms for a moment before her mom pulled away. “We should head to the mess hall for dinner.”

For a moment Annaheim thought maybe Bridget wouldn’t be harsh to Dudley. “Uh, mom?”

“Yes honey?” Bridget turned to look back at her. “We need to hurry or Chris’s stew will get cold.”

Annaheim was turned off at her mother’s gentle authoritative reminder, and the thoughts of her justifying throwing Dudley out into space came flooding back. She bit her tongue and thought up something else to say. “Baphin has a new prank for Chris. She says it’s going to be a really good one.”

Bridget shook her head with a chuckle. “That poor boy.”

At dinner, Annaheim eyed Chris as he made his way about the kitchen, trying to ignore the slow bubbling guilt in her heart that threatened to steal her appetite. He seemed distracted, accidentally dropping his stirring spoon into the pot. Her eyes drifted to Baphin who had one of the mechanical arms of her wheelchair half way in her pocket where the canister of liquid was. Once Chris was passing out the bowls of stew, it was all both girls could do to keep from snickering. Vanderson looked down at the bowl Chris had set in front of him, pulling out a soaked stirring spoon. He pursed his lips, eying the college boy with his old grey eyes. “You tryin to tell me somethin kid? Am I gettin skinny?”

“What? Oh! M-my stirring spoon. Sorry ab-bout that Mr. D-ditch.” Chris stammered as he removed the ladle from Van’s bowl.

Unbeknownst to the college kid, Baphin reached over with her mechanical wheel chair arm and poured the liquid into Chris’s bowl of stew that he had set at the table. Annaheim kept quiet as she, Baphin and Van all exchanged looks of mischief. Her eyes drifted to Bridget and Pyo. Her mother was watching with curiosity while Pyo stared with his characteristically emotionless expression, but she could see a glint of excitement in his eye. He knew some prank was about to take effect.

Just as they were about to dig in, Pyo cleared his throat and bowed his head. Bridget noticed and did the same as she and the others realized they had almost forgotten to say grace. Annaheim dipped her head but kept her eyes open, thinking of how she would ask Baphin’s help in fixing her new friend in the maintenance area. She didn’t close her eyes until Pyo had finished praying, not wishing him to see she wasn’t listening and feel disrespected.

As they all raised their heads, Annaheim took a sip of her soup as she watched Chris from the corner of her eye. He took one sip, made a face, and then took another sip. He looked around to notice everyone else very much enjoying their stew. Annaheim looked over at Baphin to see her trying to hold back her laughter that was threatening to shine through her eyes. Bridget had noticed Chris’s reaction as well, her curiosity growing. “Chris? What’s wrong? You don’t like your own soup?”

“Tastes fine to me.” Grunted Van as he took another big sip. “Almost makes me wish I hadn’t commented on you giving me the ladle.”

Annaheim played into it, taking a huge sip of the stew, as she tried not to wrinkle her nose at the smell. “Mmmm. It tastes really good tonight. Did you add something special?”

Chris watched, hopelessly confused as he tasted his soup again, this time spitting it back out into his bowl in disgust.

“I find it quite excellent.” Pyo picked up his bowl in his hands, lifting it up to his lips and finishing his stew in several gulps. As he placed the empty bowl back down on the table, he gave a mighty belch, before standing up and bowing to Chris. “I commend the chef tonight for his exquisite masterpiece.”

Annaheim was trying so hard not to laugh, but what happened next broke her resolve where she was unable to contain it anymore.

As soon as Chris opened his mouth and began to speak, his voice came out high pitched. “It t-tastes horrible. Wait what?!” He slapped his hand over his mouth in surprise and shock as everyone at the table erupted with laughter. Baphin laughed through the speakers in her chair as Annaheim doubled over, nearly dunking her hair in her own stew. Bridget almost fell backwards in her chair from laughing as Van’s shoulders bounced in jolly belly laughing. Even Pyo let loose with a soft yet hearty laughter.

Chris narrowed his eyes at Baphin and Annaheim. “Hey! You two p-pranked me again! That’s n-not funny!” But hearing his own voice sounding so ridiculous, he finally couldn’t help but laugh with everyone else.

After the laughter died down, Bridget thought for a moment, before speaking. “I want to apologize to you guys. What I said last night about us not all being family was wrong. I was treating you like some corporate crew, like I was back in the industry working with crews and ship owners who only care about the bottom dollar. But you guys aren’t like that, and I should never have treated you that way. We’re not a crew. We are family. And this isn’t our ship. It’s our home.”

Everyone smiled as the comradery of the room brought them closer together. Annaheim felt joy with these people. Sure, she and her mother didn’t always see eye to eye, but they didn’t have to in order to be a family. And that’s what this crew was; a family. But then her heart sank. Dudley wouldn’t be seen as family. She couldn’t tell her mother about him. Her eyes shifted to Baphin. Could she even trust her best friend not to tell? She looked towards Chris, hoping her blackmail would be enough to keep him from telling.