“Pretty much, yeah,” Ember said.
We all jumped over to Astrid’s Mindscape again and went to her Cognition Room.
Name: Astrid Vaughan
Age: 31 GY
Transcendence Level: 60
Strength: 79/1000
Agility: 79/1000
Speed: 75/1000
Intelligence: 49/1000
Constitution: 50/1000
Wisdom: 52/1000
Mental Resilience: 40/1000
Mental Clarity: 22%
Potential: 80%
“What the fuck, Astrid? How is your Mental Clarity so high?” Ember said.
“I don’t know.” She said, looking puzzled but proud. “I mean, I’ve always been an extremely careful person, I suppose. Before Anatoli I avoided as many situations as I could where anything unexpected could happen.”
“What, like going to watch a horror movie?” I asked.
“I never went to the cinema. I never really left the house.”
“What about shopping?” Ember asked.
“I had it delivered to the door, and my mother would deal with the delivery driver.”
“Oh, wow. I’m sorry. So, how did you end up in Anatoli? Sorry! You don't have to answer that,” Ember said, looking a little embarrassed that she’d pressed Astrid.
“No, it's fine. I’m quite over it now. When I look back over my life before Ogun and his therapy, it's like I’m watching a TV show.
“Basically, my mother died. I spent two weeks alone in the house with her body. I couldn’t bring myself to ring an ambulance, or anything. I just covered her up and tried to carry on as normal. The food ran out after a little while, but I remember not minding too much. I didn’t eat a lot anyway, back then. When they found me, I believed I’d gone quite mad.
“I was taken to a hospital and was about to be committed to a mental institute when Ogun appeared and offered me a lifeline. Not that I chose it; I was incapable of choosing anything at that point. He actually worked with me for a month before he put me into Anatoli. I don’t think I’d have lasted an hour in there otherwise.”
“I guess you feel extra hurt by Ogun disappearing, then,” Ember said.
“I really do, though I’ve a developed the ability to cope with unexpected situations now,” she laughed, which I was bloody grateful for, because it had turned morose as fuck for a minute there.
We all came back to our normal states and walked back with Rufus and Astrid to their waiting shuttles. This time we had a group hug. The whole Mindscape tour and the transcending stuff coupled with Astrid’s story had pulled us all together. Closer than I would have expected. I realized that Rufus was probably just as fucked-up in the past too, and that I didn't need to compete with the pair of them. We all just needed to grow stronger together to face whatever came our way.
We waved them off, then went to find Elyek.
C16
Six P’s
We entered Elyek’s quarters and took a seat, and I began what I hoped would be a positive conversation. “Hey, Elyek. One of the Veiletians, Acclo, has made some changes to how things are run around this place. I’ve warned them that they would only stand until you came back to approve them.”
“Okay,” Elyek said, raising one eyebrow.
“They’ve, um, set up a roster for permanent bridge crew, except for a few blank positions to allow a place for newcomers. One of the things they’ve suggested is that pilot might not be the best role for Calegg, but I’ve straight away stomped that down. Still, I did agree with Acclo that Calegg shouldn’t be covering both posts. Especially since we have a lot of skilled people now.”
“Oh, that is fantastic news. I had hoped one of the newcomers would be skilled with logistics. That will take a huge amount of pressure off me, and yes, we need to reduce Calegg’s workload. He will not like it, but he does need support. Let him choose of course between engineering or piloting the ship.”
“So, you're okay with Acclo taking charge with this?” I asked, surprised.
“Yes, Captain. Only, what will I do? Be Calegg’s copilot?” Elyek said with a laugh.
“Whatever you want. You’ll always be one of the most valuable leaders in the Uprising. You could just hang about the place, causing trouble like me and Ember.”
“Sounds like fun! Let’s go speak to Calegg. This needs to be addressed immediately in order that we can plan for the rest of the crew.”
We all agreed and went off to find Calegg.
He was on the bridge, as always. “Calegg! Old buddy, king of open space, can we have a word in my office?”
He looked over to Elyek, Ember and me and nodded grimly. Saying a few quick words to the Veiletian next to him, he followed us to the captain's office.
Before we could even get a word out, he spoke. “I know, I know. There’s much better pilots here than me. At least let me serve as a copilot?”
“What! Calegg, no. You’re chief pilot here, and where everyone else has nine-hour shifts, you’re the only lucky bastard that gets to pull double.”
“Seriously? I thought for sure I was getting a demotion.”
“You are dude. Sorry.”
Calegg looked confused.
“We need to be the best we can be. You’re a founding member. There’s four of us, and will only ever be four of us who made this happen. But you do double shifts day in and day out when you don’t need to.
“And yes, here comes the boom. You can’t be both pilot and engineer. You’ll have to choose. We’ve too many good people who are deserving of jobs. You decide which. We’ll give you space, of course, and you’ll be in charge of whatever uh… department you settle in.”
“Oh, right. I mean, yeah. You’re totally right of course. It’d be stupid for me to continue to work 18-hour shifts covering two important posts when there are so many people now. Um, I’ll think about it as I work. I'll let you know in a few hours, at most.”
“Okay, thanks Calegg. You're still the man!”
He smiled, then headed for the door. When he stopped, he turned around slowly. “Engineering,” he said as he finally
