winding down from the day. They were tired, but their minds were wide awake.
There were only two new crewmembers in the compartment just then, everyone else had already been on the Samson for some time when he signed up. They had both been working with the repair team, a tall brunette woman named Vera who followed directions well, and a blond girl who had a lot of scholastic training and liked to question every order. She had nearly electrocuted herself at least three times and had proposed an idea that would shut down half the ship's power during its execution.
Finn kept his eye on her, she was a know it all with very little consideration for how things actually worked. She preferred to operate under the assumption that everything was made the way she thought it should have been.
As Finn finished his long stretch Agameg smiled at him from the bunk across the cabin. He was sticking to the bunk above him without using his hands.
“How do you do that?” Finn asked quietly.
“We can form our tendrils into short appendages. It can come in handy when you find yourself wishing you had a third hand. I don't bother with that sort of thing when I'm about to sleep or in a vacsuit though, so I'm using a belt.”
Finn looked closer in the dim light and saw that there was a long strap around his friend's knees, back and waist, attaching him to the upper bunk's support bar. “Ah.”
“I think the real question there is why you do that?” Asked Julie as she leaned out from the bunk above so she could see where Agameg was hanging.
“Oh, my species enjoys sleeping in a hanging position or in zero gravity. As morphic organisms we evolve and adapt very quickly. My family has been in space for fifteen generations now so we've come to prefer low gravity conditions.”
“I would have taken; 'I like it', or 'I'm part bat' or 'my mattress is lumpy'.” Julie said with a grin. “You really like to explain things, don't you?”
Agameg puffed his ultra fine face tendrils, it was how he chuckled when he was in his native form. “I was raised in a tradition of storytelling and I enjoy honesty.”
“We call that long winded.”
“I'm sorry.”
“No, it's okay. I like long winded if it's interesting. There are so many people out here who don't say more than they have to, and the ones who do go on are usually wind bags. You know, nothing but air.”
“I know wind bags, like Burke. He used to go on about the most insignificant things. He never shared his own stories, always borrowed someone else's or falsified them.”
“I know I don't miss him,” Came the voice of Douglas from the bunk above Finn. “The Captain did the right thing, forced the truth out of him and tossed him off the ship.”
“I agree. Burke was never afraid to show his dislike for my race. It had something to do with me being a shape shifter. I'm not even a very good one.”
“Oh! That reminds me. I hear you can do a good imitation of the Captain.” Douglas said, he rolled so he was leaning out into the short aisle between our bunks. His eager grin was infectious. “I've gotta see it.”
“It's not really that good,” Agameg said with a shrug.
“Oh, come on, show us!” Julie goaded. “Have you ever seen it?” she asked Finn.
“This is the first I hear of it,” he thought for a moment. “If everyone promises they'll keep it a secret will you do it? Just for a minute?”
Agameg whistled quietly then nodded. “You have to give me your word. I don't want our Captain to worry about me imitating him.”
“You've got it!” Said Douglas.
“I won't tell a soul,” Julie agreed.
“It won't go past that door,” Swore Vera.
“Sure, I'll keep it a secret.” Said the other recent addition.
“Well, I know I'll keep it to myself,” Finn grinned. He had seen several aliens in his lifetime as they passed through port. Befriending one was new, but Agameg had become his best friend on the ship.
Agameg shrugged, made a small whistling sound and closed his dark, glossy green eyes. He took three deep breaths and in the space of a second his entire form changed. If they didn't know better, everyone in the cabin would have been convinced that it was Captain Valance.
“That's fast!” Douglas said, nearly losing his balance and falling out of his bunk.
“That's amazing, you look exactly like him!” Commented Julie as she reached down and touched his arm. “Can you do the voice?” She asked with a grin.
To Finn it all happened in slow motion. First, the door just started opening, then Ashley's head just started peeking inside. She was just about to wave at Finn but then she caught sight of Agameg and her jaw dropped. Then Agameg did the voice.
“Frost! Leave Ashley alone! It's not her fault she's an excellent physical specimen and you have unrealistic expectations for a mating partner! Now man the maxjack before I pair you up with a nafalli in heat!”
The cabin was filled with laughter. Ashley stepped inside smiling uneasily, not quite getting the joke and looking at Price quizzically. “Captain?”
Agameg turned his head and spotted her then. The look of utter shock and terror on his face as he exclaimed; “Oh God! I'll be put off at the next port!” It was the Captain's face and voice he said it with, however, which prompted even more laughter from everyone.
He shifted back to his native form and his green eyes were perfectly round as he held his hands out in a pleading gesture to Ashley. “I am so sorry! I'll do anything in trade for your discretion!”
Ashley burst out into laughter, finally realizing what was going on. When she and the rest of the cabin quieted down she sat down on Finn's bunk and considered the trade, pondering exaggeratedly. “Hmmm… there's something really appealing about having the only shape shifter aboard in my pocket.”
“I would be in your debt!” Agameg begged.
“Oh don't worry, I won't tell him. You'll have to show him some day while we're on leave though. I'm sure you'd get a laugh.”
“Yeah, right before he puts a sonic disruptor in your vacsuit,” Douglas scoffed. “No more shape shifting for you.”
“He wouldn't do that. Besides, you might get brought in on an important job. If you play your part right it could mean a big bonus,” Ashley reassured. “I mean, you have a unique skill to offer. I say you show him whenever he has the time.”
“Hey, she's right. I never thought about it,” Julie added.
“Well, I wouldn't do it just now. I ran into the Captain on my way here. He's in a mood,” said Douglas.
Ashley laid down beside Finn and looked at him. “Do you mind if crash here?” She whispered.
Finn was taken completely by surprise. “Um.”
The cabin fell utterly silent, all eyes were on the pair.
Julie cleared her throat. “Psst. The answer you're looking for sounds something like; 'why, be my guest.' or 'not at all!' or even; 'my rack is your rack.'”
Ashley didn't wait for an answer, she just rolled over, crushed her back into Finn's chest and pulled his arm over her shoulder. “It's not like that, Cynthia is snoring so loud the cabin's about to implode. Besides, as you can see I'm still wearing my vacsuit.”
“Suuuure!” Came the jeer from above as Douglas smiled and nodded. “Just keep it down when the lights go out.”
“Anyway, about the Captain's mood; he was about to join Stephanie below. They finished their sweep of the hauler and were just getting ready to check the cargo manifest.”
“Did he say what it was?” Asked Vera.
Ashley hesitated a moment before answering. “It's military, I know that much.”
“What, like munitions for the front kind of thing?” Julie prodded.
“That would have come up on passive scanners,” Finn pointed out. “What I saw was very dense but there were a lot of open spaces between. It didn't have a profile I recognized at a glance, but it wasn't weaponry I don't think. Not exclusively anyway.”
