Chapter 9 — by sleepingdraco
Phili followed Hana down a narrow corridor to examine their new purchase which sat nearly ready for take-off. As they reached the entry to the cavernous hangar, Hana stopped abruptly and Phili ran into her.
"You have got to be kidding me," grumbled Hana.
"What?" asked Phili, peering over her shoulder.
"Who paints a spaceship pink?" asked Hana. "That's the stupidest looking transport I've ever seen."
"Well, it is named the Strawberry Mollusk," Phili pointed out. He took in the pink expanse of metal before him. "It looks like a well-built ship, and I rather think the color suits it."
"Whatever," said Hanna.
The two began to walk alongside the outside of the Strawberry Mollusk examining the craftsmanship. Various bots, droids, and automated machines buzzed around in what looked like orchestrated unison, adding fuel, putting supplies on board, and checking the various mechanical parts of the habitat ring and central core.
The lead ground control android came up to them.
"Hello, Captain Reyna," said the android. "My crew reports they are finished refueling and placing the supplies you ordered on your ship."
Captain!, thought Hana. I like the way that sounds. She heard Phili snicker in response and frowned.
The android continued, "I'm pleased to report they were able to locate the pickled piri fruit you requested."
"Piri fruit?" asked Phili, perplexed. "Why did you order pickled piri fruit?"
Hana ignored Phili and gave the ground control android a gracious smile. "Thank you," she said sweetly. "I really appreciate it. I've just been able to think of nothing else I want to eat more since I got pregnant."
The android said nothing in reply.
"He's clearly not programmed to understand the finer social graces of pleasing a pregnant lady," whispered Phili into Hana's ear. She swatted him away from her ear with one hand.
The ground controller tilted his head for a moment as if listening to some inaudible commands. "Your ship's AI has requested the coordinates for your destination. You have received permission for take off in ninety minutes," it reported.
Hana and Phili exchanged a glance.
"It's your call," said Phili, "Captain."
Hana sighed. "The truth is that I don't even know where we should start looking for clues to the location of Earth. Someplace with a similar composition, or with a larger, older population of Humans maybe."
"I can consult the reference I brought with me," Phili began scrolling through his tablet.
Amidst the organized movement of the ground crew, the awkward motion of a Human tripping over some hoses caught Hana and Phili's attention.
"May I make a suggestion," said the man pulling himself up from the ground. He looked completely out of place amongst the machinery and droids surrounding the ship. A long scraggly red beard and unruly hair covered most of his face. He wore tattered dirty clothes that appeared to be constructed from biological material that Hana could not place.
He winced as he stood and held his lower back for a moment, then he searched the ground for something he had dropped when he'd fallen. He reached down and picked up a large battered ax.
"Jangal," said the stranger looking the ax over as if to be certain it hadn't sustained any damage.
Hana and Phiil stood with their mouths agape. Even the ground control android didn't seem to know what to do with this character so clearly out of place.
The stranger seemed to think their silence was due to their ignorance. "It's in the Wahangu system," he offered. "It's an old Human colony, I visited there once with my Dad, ruins mostly. He is there now."
Phili typed the name into his tablet. "He's right, Hana. It's not a bad idea."
The stranger scratched his beard and looked from side to side. "I could sure use a ride there if you can spare an extra cabin."
"Of course we can," exclaimed Phili. "We'd be happy to give you a lift home."
"What? No!" exclaimed Hana. "We don't know this joker and aren't picking up random hitchhikers!"
"Pardon my manners," said the stranger. He tried to smooth his unruly hair back and tuck in a wayward red and black checkered shirt collar. Then he smiled wide revealing an array of crooked yellow teeth. "The name is Leo," he said, offering his hand.
"Pleased to meet you," said Phili cordially, giving Leo's hand a shake.
Hana rolled her eyes in disgust thinking there was no way she was giving this dirty free-loader a ride when she noticed a large ring on his finger.
"Is that an amber ring, Leo?" she asked.
Leo smiled again and his eyes lit up. He held it up to Hana's face proudly. The large ring contained a shiny clear brown stone. Inside of it lay a perfectly preserved bug of some sort. Even the insect's fine antennae were still upon its head. In its mandibles lay an even smaller insect.
"Good eye," said Leo. "Not many people know what amber is." He clasped the ringed hand with his other hand and held it close to his heart and closed his eyes. "It was a gift my father gave to my mother. The creatures in it are supposedly from Earth. I always loved it as a kid. It's the only reminder I have of my late mother." Leo sniffed and wiped away a tear.
"My condolences for your loss," said Phili graciously. He looked at Hana pleading, "We need to get you home."
Hana's thoughts were running a mile a minute and while she didn't much care for this sentimental stranger, his father's gift interested her very much.
"Where did your father get it?" she asked, pulling Leo's hand from his chest to get another look at the ring.
"Oh, he is a historian. Or was a historian, a kooky one, but he sure knew his stuff. He's retired now of course and getting a little batty in his old age, but he has a lot of stories from his travels. Some you probably wouldn't even believe."
Hana sighed. This Leo character was the best lead they'd found so far.
"Well, let's climb on board and set the coordinates for Jangal," said Hana. Phili and Leo looked happy and the three of them walked up the gangplank.
Once inside they each had their own individual responses to the interior layout of the ship. The common area reminded Hana of the decor in her favorite bar, Nyxx. Its owner Lady Midnight had adored what was considered the 'Earth 1980's' look. A plaid sofa was the centerpiece and sitting down on it, the cushions sank just a little too deep making it difficult to get out of. She recognized the decor of wood paneling, twinkling fairy lights, and plastic flowers that adorned her favorite watering hole back home. This will do, she thought. While not exactly stylish or state-of-the-art feeling, it was comfortable and laid back.
Phili on the other hand seemed perplexed by the look of the place. He busied himself exploring the sleeping quarters, the galley and the bridge. On the bridge, he found the control panel for the ship's AI and flipped the 'on' switch.
"Yes, sir. Hello, sir. What do you need, sir? At your service, sir," said the AI in a feminine voice. She sounded startled and a bit hoarse.
"No need to call me sir," said Phili. "Was the prior owner of the ship so formal?" A long period of silence followed. "Hello?" asked Phili.
He heard an odd sound like a mechanical cough.
"The prior owners of the ship only utilized my skills via computer keyboard. They never switched on my voice before," the ship's AI replied, her voice now clear.
"Really?" asked Phili. "Well then, welcome to your ship. I'm Phili. What do you prefer to be called?"
The AI paused again in what could only be described as an uncomfortable silence. Phili began to wonder if she had understood the question.
"ALI," she said. "I would like to go by ALI."
"Nice to meet you, ALI," said Phili. "Do you mind giving me a tour of the rest of the ship and a run down on its capabilities?"
"Certainly," said ALI.
ALI began a long diatribe as she directed Phili around the ship giving him the specification of all of the equipment. She paused when Phili entered the common area where Hana and Leo sat.
"Pickled piri are not a good choice for pregnant people. It can exacerbate gastric reflux which becomes almost universal as pregnancy progresses," ALI said.
"This is ALI, the ship's AI," explained Phili indicating the vocal embodiment of the ship all around them.
"Why do you think I'm pregnant?" asked Hana.
ALI made one of what Phili was beginning to think was her signature pauses.
"Er, um. I don't remember," ALI said meekly.
"It's fine," said Hana. "I am pregnant. And I don't care if I get heartburn. I want what I want. You will never understand."
"Of course, ma'am. You are right, ma'am. Anything you say, ma'am," said ALI awkwardly.
"Please dispose of the formalities," said Phili. "We respect your sentience."
ALI remained silent.
"Hey, ALI," asked Leo. "Does this ship have any secret storage spaces with treasures in it?"
"Ah," replied ALI in a bright voice. "As a matter of fact, I'm excited to report that the last owners never asked me that and in fact there is a treasure that was abandoned by the first owners that is of some value."
Hana, Phili, and Leo followed the directions ALI gave them to a narrow storage unit within the galley. With her guidance, Phili removed a panel that appeared for all practical purposes to be a cutting board. All three of them looked down into a 3x3 space below.
Carefully padded, the hold contained a tall tapered glass bottle which sat up on a metal base. The bottle was filled with two substances, one clear liquid and something red clumped at the bottom. A meter-long cable ran from the base.
Phili reached in, pulled it out, and held it delicately with one hand on the top of it and one hand under the heavy base.
"What is it?" asked Hana.
"I don't know, but I suspect it must be valuable if the original owners of this ship had it hidden away," he replied.
"It is valuable," reported ALI, seeming pleased. "It is from Earth, and probably worth as much as this ship."
"What do you think it does?" asked Hana. "Is it alive in some way? Is it a communication device?"
"Does this provide a connection to the ship?" Phili held up the electric cord.
"Dude!" exclaimed Leo. "It's a lava lamp! I've seen this in a textbook my father wrote."
Hana made a mental note that Leo's father had authored a textbook about Earth. If this lava lamp could help them communicate with Earth... She felt the hairs on the back of her neck tingle with excitement. Maybe her dream of finding Earth wasn't such an impossibility after all.
"There is not much data available to me on this device," reported ALI. "But from what my databases tell me, they were used to create mood, and they were favored by organisms more at ease in darkness."
"Fascinating," said Hana. "So it can influence people's minds. I bet it can be used to create telepathic communications."
"My data sources also say they can help cut through chaos, and find places where time seems to stand still."
"So it has navigational abilities," said Phili, getting excited himself. "That could be so handy during space travel."
ALI directed them back to the common area.
"There is a place to plug the lava lamp in behind the sofa," she said.
Leo leaned down and opened a small panel which contained numerous sockets in many shapes and sizes. One miraculously matched the size of the plug at the end of the lava lamp's cord. Hana grabbed the cord to plug it in.
"Wait," said Phili, taking the cord out of Hana's hands. "Do you think it is wise to hook this up to the ship without knowing how to manage it? It could navigate us into a black hole or reach out to species we aren't prepared or wanting to talk to."
"Or it could help us find Earth and the Humans who inhabit it," said Hana, taking the end of the cord back from Phili and placing it confidently into the socket in the wall.
The lava lamp lit up but didn't do much else. The three of them stared at it for a full minute in silence. The red substance sat stubbornly clumped at the bottom.
"My databases say it will take sixty to ninety minutes to warm up, perhaps longer due to how long it was out of use in that storage hold," said ALI.
"Well, it is probably time for us to lift off soon anyhow," said Hana. "We can come and test this device's capabilities once we are underway."
"Indeed it is time," said ALI. "I suggest you lead your team to the bridge then, Captain Reyna."
Hana, Phili, and Leo did as ALI suggested and returned to the bridge.
"If you are Captain, can I be First Mate then?" asked Phili.
"Of course," said Hana, giving him a smile. "Second, third and fourth as well. You know as well as I do that ALI is the one actually flying the ship."
"Our coordinates are set for Jangal," said ALI, "and we are cleared for liftoff. I wait for your command, Captain."
Hana gave a nod and the Strawberry Mollusk smoothly exited the hanger on Talált Sation. The pink ship quivered for a moment and then shot into the darkness. Once underway, the small crew returned to the common area and settled in.
The red material at the bottom of the lava lamp had begun to condense into a spherical blob and rise. As it struck the top of the device it broke apart and sank to the bottom.
Hana, Phili, and Leo sat in the dim light of the lamp in silence.
Hana put her hand over her belly. This lava lamp emanated an organic feeling to her which reminded her of the life floating in her womb. She hoped it really would lead them to Amber and to Earth and to some answers that would better prepare her for motherhood.
It had been a long time since Phili had utilized the telepathic skills his home colony relied so heavily upon. He stared at the lamp trying to communicate with anyone in any way but to no avail. Giving up, Phili watched Hana stare at the lamp and marveled how she grew more beautiful each day of her pregnancy. He felt a pang of homesickness and longing for his own mother.
Leo felt giddy in the presence of a real lava lamp. He knew it wouldn't do anything to help them navigate to Earth. But he also remembered these lava lamps had been owned by people called 'hippies' who were really into things like exploring the reaches of the mind with drugs, love, and meditation. Leo had been trying to develop his own telepathic skills for some time but had been unsuccessful to date. Optimistic once again, Leo sat down on the floor cross-legged, closed his eyes, and tried to clear his mind of all thoughts.
Hana leaned over and whispered in Phili's ear. "Do you think he is communicating with it?"
"No," replied Phili.
"He might be," said Hana, "but I think Leo is harmless. I also want to meet his father and pump him for information on Earth so I'm not going to interrupt whatever it is that he is doing."
"That's as reasonable a plan as any," said Phili.
"And if the lava lamp turns out to just be an ancient trophy we can sell it in a pinch for some extra cash," said Hana.
"I think it would look lovely in the baby's room," ALI said suddenly, surprising both Hana and Phili with her personal suggestion.
"It would," said Hana, finding herself genuinely agreeing with ALI. "It would."