2.
I
took my first cup of the concocted drink made by the drink machine. Tiffany the
Twisted which was the ship nicknamed has monitored our vitals during the
hibernation and when awakened from, the ship’s pods, it will also schedule our
dietary intake. I had refreshed and change into the body fitting overall which
served as the uniform I wear on duty. On the forearm of the overall was the
logo of the ship; The Mercedes TF99-9. I had my utility belt which housed my
favorite extendable energy baton and the set of tools for me to work on
anything mechanical.
“Bitch,
don’t wake the others yet.” I know it felt weird to be talking to myself in the
chamber but when you are in a ship traveling across the galaxies, you get used
to it as if you are talking to the walls in the chamber.
“Brief
me for the interruption to my rest.” Traveling across the galaxies took a long
time even at a maximum Warp Speed of Three, which was not fast considering the
Empire Military models were doing to the maximum of Warp Speed of Nine on the
newer designs. With this ship, I could do Warp Speed of Four but the containers
we were to tow will be scattered in the journey, hence we only up to Warp Speed
of One. We have the frame shell to lock the containers at the rear like a
wagon. I was secured by cable links that held it in places.
“Navigator,
I woke you as per protocol. We have two alerts. The first was the malfunction
at Container Five.” I heard the bitch. That was me when I am agitated.
“Bitch,
it belonged to the Captain or Benz. It’s their task. I am the Navigator.”
“I
did call the Captain to respond and he did proceed to attend on the first alert
but the second alert was your area.” Tiffany rattled on. That was an issue with
an automated system. They don’t know how to collate the issues and make an
informed brief to assign.
“According
to the protocol in the ship regulation, if there is a second alert was
triggered and the Captain was pre-occupied, then the Navigator was to be called
on.” That was the second issue with the automated system; they don’t know to
abbreviate their explanations.
“I
heard you, bitch.” I shouted back. ”Tell me of the second alert.”
“My
designation is referred to TF99,9 or Tiffany by the crews, I am however not a
bitch. That is a reference to a female canine or a fox, or an otter but I am
not of those breeds.” The ship answered me which was of lately frequent and
tiresome.
“Ok,
I retract my statement. Now please”, The last word came out with the squeeze in
my butt. “Give me the second alert, please.”
“The
second alert was that we lost Container Five fifteen minutes and thirty-three
seconds ago.” I heard the bitch and dropped my drink to rush to my console at
the Bridge. Losing a container was bad for the business.
The
Bridge was not a huge compartment for it housed only the Captain’s seat and
mine behind him. It was more of a fighter cockpit but it held the needed
consoles for us to control the whole ship. My rush to the Bridge took me thirty
seconds from the Common Chamber where I had my drink skipping the obstacles and
overlay of cables. The Mercedes was an old ship and some parts of it were
modified or added on to make it work.
I
jumped onto my seat and pulled the revolving console display panel to my front.
I punched in the codes to activate the panel and did a ship-wide search for the
Captain.
“Captain,
where the fuck are you?” There was no reply.
It
was not like Hirohito to go silent on the communication unless he was
incapacitated or worse, dead. He was after all with the dead. I recalled my
maiden voyage and could not understand why I took up the task. I had Hirohito
as my first mate before he turned Captain.
“I
can’t serve below a woman.” Hirohito had conveyed his view then although being
the major shareholder I hold the decision.
“Fuck
you, Hirohito. You had no issue with that when we were at Felix Five.” I hit
back. He did report to me then.
“We
were in the shitty environment and I never told anyone I work there.” Hirohito
gave me his reason. “Now I am to own… okay, partially own a ship I need my
honor so that the others will smile at me.”
“Fuck
you, Hirohito. I was not like letting you kissed my arse. It’s…” I was upset at
our first argument as a shareholder of the enterprise.
“Tiffany,
your fanny is not of my interest. Nor is my ‘inkei’ (penis) for your liking.”
Hirohito knew of my gender preference. And he was straight like a taut string
on the bow. That was when I agreed to him being Captain and I knew met his
friends to tell them we are a ‘hearse hauler’.
So I called up the Captain
"Please bring me my wine"
He said, "We haven't had that spirit here since 1969"
And still those voices are calling from far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say
That
came through the communication unit. It was Hirohito's sick way of
communicating then.
“Fucked!
Don’t get into my arse with that song.” I screamed out. “We lost a container.”
Those
words sang out was a grim reminder we lost the container on the route on one of
your hauls. The container was designated cargo ‘1969’. It took us two calendar
days to find it and another three days to restore the link to the ship. We
almost did not reach the funeral transfer to the surface ships at the
designated space station. We lost our bonus on that trip. And we never speed to
the funeral since then.
“Bitch, why didn’t you tell that?” I engaged
my anger on the ship.
“The
containers are not a part of me. I merely advised that it malfunction as per my
system protocol.” For once Tiffany was being brief. Now I know why it woke me
up. I have to navigate the route back to where the container could have been
disengaged. And from there, with the speed we were traveling at, it could have
taken on its trajectory and be in the radius of the wide orbit.
Or
out of it.
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