Prosperous: Chutes & Ladders
Chapter 3

AS THE TRANSPORT UNIT PUT TRU’S DNA BACK TOGETHER, HE CAUGHTglimpses of First Executive Officer Amanda Wrigley waiting at the edge of thetransport octagon. The transport technicians and engineers would argue thatseeing anything before a person finished materializing was impossible, but Trubelieved his dad’s theory. He’d told Tru that when his molecules went flyingthrough space, they pulled his soul along, and when it wasn’t attached to thebody, the soul could see things more clearly than any pair of eyes.

Amanda was a prim officer. Not a hair was out of place in herupswept bun, not a wrinkle could be seen on her Merchant Raitor uniform. Shehad a messenger bag slung over her shoulder. On the front flap five coloredelectric pens stuck out of the slots made for them. He was sure she had everydetail docket in that bag.

“Captain Barnet.” She saluted. “Your crew is assembling inLucas Hall, sir.”

“Thank you, XO.”

Tru stepped off the octagon and headed for the double doorsof the transport room. She fell in beside him. They exited the room onto thecrowded International Space Station promenade. The two attempted to staytogether as they dodged the crowd of humans and other species.

“Is all the crew accounted for?” Tru asked.

“Except for one communications officer. She claims there was a riot at the Mare Tranquillitatis spaceport and it delayed alloutgoing transports. Would you like your crew’s detail dockets?”

“Did you read them?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you memorize them?”

Amanda stopped short. Tru didn’t. She quickly caught up.

“I…” She hesitated.

“Did you or didn’t you, Wrigley?”

“Yes, sir.”

Tru nodded. “You can fill me in if I need anything today. Isee you assigned the crew bunks.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Have you told them their bunk assignments?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You assigned the bunks randomly, didn’t you?”

“Yes, sir. That’s the most efficient—”

Tru looked at her. “First xeno crew you’ve been XO of, isn’tit?”

“Yes, sir. Why?”

Tru heard a hint of irritation in her voice.

“You don’t bunk certain species with other species. In somecases, you don’t even bunk species with any of their own kind, Wrigley. That’sjust asking for a fight or worse.”

“And how would you know that? You’ve only been a captain fortwo weeks!” she bit back.

He stopped and stared at her with raised eyebrows. Her angerdissipated into nervousness and she looked at the floor.

Tru started walking again. “My father’s crews were always xeno.”

Amanda didn’t say anything for a few moments. “And who wasyour father?”

“Doctor Barnet. The architect.”

Tru glanced at a holographic sign as he passed under it. Thecommercial on it ended and indicated Lucas Hall was the next right.

“The DoctorBarnet?” she asked.

“The one and only.”

“Sir, I’m… Sorry.”

“That’s okay. You should research your captain better beforeinsulting him.”

She nodded. “Yes, sir.”

The two were silent for a few seconds.

“Sir, about the tardy communications officer, Ensign JackieRhoades,” Amanda picked up her pace to stay at his side, “She’s a Silerium,sir.”

“And?”

“She has a lengthy disciplinary record. I recommend that yourequest her transferred.”

“Your recommendation is noted. I’d like to give her a chanceto prove herself a problem first.”

They turned at the next right and the crowd rapidly thinned.They passed the Merchant Raitor Union office where a Yiquar, an ugly, fleshyalien, was briefing a class of new recruits on filing complaints. The MerchantRaitor Patrol office was the next office on their right. The MRP patrolledMerchant Raitor ship and cargo areas in all spaceports. They were known as thetoughest law enforcement in most solar systems and local law enforcementavoided getting in their way.

“Captain, you are going to be disappointed with Jackie’sservice,” Amanda insisted.

“Really?”

“Yes, sir.”

Tru stopped, holding his hand out. “Show me her record.”

She fished out Ensign Rhoades’s docket and handed it over.Tru tapped the activation corner and information appeared on the documentsheet. The image of a young Silerium human in her early 20’s appeared in theupper left and text filled in around it. He skimmed the document, turned itoff, and handed it back.

“Sounds to me like her other captain’s just don’t understandSileriums.”

“Sir, it says she has interrupted important meetings,interfered with negotiations, and reported crewmen committing traitorous acts.”

Tru started walking again. “Are you worried she’ll replace outabout your traitorous acts, Wrigley?”

“I haven’t committed any traitorous acts, sir!” Amandasharply retorted.

Tru turned into a hall that sloped steeply down to thebriefing hall stage door. The hall reminded Tru of a secluded library corner:cool, adequate light, and the only sound was the soft swoosh of their shoes onthe carpet and the fans working somewhere deep within the spaceport.

“Then what’s the problem?”

She didn’t answer so he stopped and looked back at her.

“There is no problem, sir.”

“Good. Then let’s go meet our contestants.”

“Contestants, sir?”

Tru smiled, walking to the door. He stopped and buttoned thetop three buttons of his uniform top. He turned to Amanda and found her holdingout a doc-slip.

“What’s that?”

“I took the liberty of preparing your briefing, sir.”

Tru turned and entered the room. She attached to his shadow,struggling to get her doc-slip back in her bag.

Equ’Wixal was a skinny example of the Drasken race. Heentered the briefing hall door and stopped at the head of the stairs, lookingover the variety of species below him. The seats were arranged in a half circlearound a stage and each row was raised high enough so that every seat had agood view of the stage. Equ’Wixal started down the stairs, looking for afamiliar face to sit with.

Normally Draskens were stocky and incredibly strong;however, a childhood racked with illness had left him scrawny and stole hishereditary strength, but instilled in him the desire to cure illnesses. Hisspecies was often mistaken for humans because their differences were hidden undertheir skin. A layer of cartilage had evolved to protect Drasken’s organs fromtheir home planet’s often deadly weather and seismic activity. It made theirbodies look and feel well toned, but it made surgery difficult. They hadtranslucent inner eyelids to protect they eyeball from their desert planet’sharsh elements, and thin outer eyelids that blocked the UV light from theirsystem’s quadruple suns and nine moons.

In Drasken years, Equ’Wixal, or Q’al for species unable topronounce his full name, was a baby at the age of seventy-one, but he hadmarried well to four very rich older Draskens. His wives had married himbecause he was young and his craft was generating more wealth for them. But hishusband, Equ’Arihel, married Q’al because they fell in love.

Q’al yawned, feeling his lack of sleep. All of his immediatefamily had come to Earth the night before and kept him up all night with acustom passed down from The Prophet Tales.Each had sex with him so that if something happened during his journey, hewould leave his family on good terms.

Q’al rolled his lips, so the tip of his tongue touchingthem. At the transport octagon in Q’al’s apartment, Arihel had kissed himgood-bye, surprising Q’al with the intoxicating sweetness of Garis’hmal nectar coatinghis lips. The sweetness would linger on Q’al’s lips for hours, a constantreminder of his beloved husband. And his whispered departing words would carryQ’al through the entire stint: Giveyourself to other species, commit your heart to the Makers and the Draskenrace, but your kiss always belongs to me, sweet Q’al.

“Q’al,” a voice called. “I saved you a seat.”

He stopped to search out the owner of the voice. A youngPaskian female waved him over to the empty seat next to her. Q’al startedacross the aisle toward Aris Dariket.

Aris was a cute creature with a puppy dogface, a blackbutton nose, and a body covered mostly with short brown and white silken hair.Q’al knew the body parts hair didn’t cover because every stint they servedtogether she spent a lot of it in his bed. He wasn’t the only male in MerchantRaitor that knew which body parts on Aris Dariket didn’t have hair. She wasskilled at enticing men to sleep with her, regardless of whether they had aspouse or mate back home or on board. Q’al considered it her luck in life thatshe was one of the top five helmsmen and navigators, because with all thespouses and mates she’d angered, there was little else keeping her employedwith Merchant Raitor.

“I saw you on the docket,” she told him. She cozied up tohim as soon as he was seated. “How’s the elbow? I heard you disgraced youropponent with the score.”

Q’al smiled. “The chess game was a joke, Aris. My opponentcouldn’t have beaten a toddler of any species!”

Aris laughed, leaning in. “You know, I put in a request tobe here with you.”

Q’al leaned close, murmuring, “Does that mean we get to pickup where we left off?”

She laughed, linking her arm with his. “Of course!”

Q’al smiled, looking over the faces around them. It lookedlike all of the crew had arrived, so where was their captain?

“I know something that will simply shock you!” Aris told him.

Q’al thought, ‘I doubtit, but…’ He looked into her eyes. “I’m waiting with baited breath, my dear.”

“I… Coerced, we’llsay, a certain board member into telling me who our captain is. Do you want to know who it is?” A soft,alluring giggle escaped her.

Q’al noticed several crewmen around him turn, their chatterdying off. If a crewman found out who the captain was before the briefingbegan, and had good connections, he or she might be able to request a hastytransfer.

“Enlighten me, my dear.”

“The most sought after xeno-psychiatrist in perhaps theuniverse, Doctor Truman Barnet. Do you think that if a human has a doctorate,they’re any better in bed than the rest of them?”

Aris hadn’t been toying with him. He was surprised.

“That can’t be right! I know he stopped practicing threeyears ago, but surely not to join Merchant Raitor!”

She leaned in until her lips lightly touched his.

“When has my information ever been wrong, Q’al?”

Q’al’s stomach trembled with sexual excitement as her lipsand tongue flutter against his. She knew exactly how to use every part of herbody to entice a male. But then he remembered what she’d just told him, and ithad the effectiveness of a cold shower.

“I don’t mean to question your information, dear, but DoctorBarnet cannot possibly be our captain.” Q’al looked back at her. “Why would heleave a lucrative and successful practice to be a cargo captain? There isn’t any logic in it.”

Aris shrugged. “Dunno, but that’s the truth, Q’al.”

The door at the bottom of the briefing hall opened and theroom seemed to hold its breath. A man almost two meters tall walked in. Hefilled out his uniform with a well-toned, healthy body. His light brown hairwas trimmed neatly and even from this distance Q’al could see how blue his eyeswere. A clean shave showed off the man’s strong chin and defined cheekbones. Q’alguessed he was perhaps in his mid-thirties, and he had attended many of Tru’s lecturedto know that this was, indeed, Doctor Truman Barnett.

“He is easy on theeyes, isn’t he Q’al?” Aris asked.

Q’al smiled. Yes. He was veryeasy on the eyes.

And he recognized Amanda Wrigley following him. She was oneof his few human friends and was the only one who knew most of his darkersecrets. She was trying to put a doc-slip back in her shoulder bag and almostran into Tru when he stopped. He didn’t seem to notice, his attention was onthe crew before him.

Q’al sat back, politely giving this highly respected doctor,and new captain, his undivided attention. If nothing else, perhaps he wouldreplace out what would possessed the good Doctor to abandon his lustrous,lucrative, prestigious career as a xeno-psychiatrist to be a low-pay,disrespected, piteous, Merchant Raitor captain.

The large hall could hold a thousand, but today therewere only sixty-seven spread across the lower rows. Tru walked across the stageto the lectern. He had given thousands of speeches and lectures, but never as acaptain. It was exhilarating and frightening at the same time. Did any of themknow his stomach was tensed with butterflies? He was sure the telepaths orempaths did, but they weren’t reacting to his nervousness.

Tru pulled his hands behind his back and cleared his throatas he looked over the crews’ faces. He didn’t recognize any of them and thatwas a slight disappointment. He had hoped he would have gotten at least onecrewman he’d served or trained with.

“I am Captain Barnet. For this stint, you will be servingaboard my ship, Prosperous. And when I say my ship, I do not mean one assignedto me by Merchant Raitor, I mean myship. Her central processor is named Gracie. The computer and security droids,along with our security team, will be keeping order, so please stick to theareas you are designated and authorized to be in. Because Prosperous wasdesigned for scientific expeditions, some of you are assigned as long-termscience crew and should have been notified of this. Look for a meeting requestfrom me after this briefing. Our first stint is—”

Everyone looked at the door at the top of the hall when itopened. A young woman with blood red hair and mottled skin hurried down thestairs, taking a seat at the very end of the bottom row. She sat a small dufflebag on her lap and when she laid her hands on it, the bag deflated to almostflat. Tru recognized her from the doc-slip as the communications officer Amandacomplained about.

“That’s Ensign Rhoades,” Amanda whispered over his shoulder.

Tru returned to his speech. “First we have a cargo run toRighel Prime, and then we’ll be assisting with an archeology dig on AchillianZeta. The roster says this will be seven months, but it may be longer due tothe significance of the Astandi dig. They have five months to recover as manyartifacts as they can before the Drasken begin mining their purchase. Oncethat’s complete, we will dock at the Astandi spaceport Hiskadeni. You will beallowed to request a different ship assignment a week prior to port, or you mayremain on Prosperous.”

Tru paused, expecting to hear groans, but apparently thatwasn’t bad news to this crew. They didn’t even look impressed. Tru mentallyshrugged and continued.

“Before we depart, I have to reassign bunks, so—”

“You mean I won’t have sleep with a particle gun in hand?”someone asked.

Tru smiled. “No. There was a misunderstanding with thearrangements and I don’t want any of you to be uncomfortable with yourbunkmates.”

Everyone clapped. Tru nodded, motioning them to quiet down.He continued once it was quiet again.

“I want everyone to begin assembling outside my chambers atoh-five-hundred tomorrow for reassignment. We will depart at thirteen hundred,on the dot. If you’re late, you will be left and reprimanded. Understood?”

Amanda was the only one to utter any objection. “That willput us behind a day, Captain Barnet!”

Tru addressed the crew instead of Amanda. “Crew, I am theonly one that has to answer for late cargo, not any of you.”

“Lotta of captains say that, and then we get docked in pay,” an angry voice snarled from the faces beforeTru.

Tru decided to ignore the remark. “Any other questions orcomplaints?”

No one said anything.

“All right. I look forward to meeting all of you tomorrowmorning. Dismissed, crew. Ensign Rhoades, may I speak with you?”

The crew quickly cleared out of the hall. Tru turned toAmanda, but watched Jackie skulk up to them.

“You’re late, Jackie!” Amanda snapped. “And—”

“I will meet you outside of my study on Prosperous, Wrigley,”Tru said, stopping her.

Before he could continue, she snapped, “She’s late, CaptainBarnet! You are obligated to—”

Tru looked Amanda in the eyes and firmly said, “You aredismissed XO.”

“But, sir, she—”

“Executive Officer Wrigley, I would like to speak withEnsign Rhoades in private. You are dismissed.”

She didn’t move and he didn’t look away.

“Sir, she—”

“Wrigley, at this moment you are being the problem. Do youwant reprimanded for insubordination?”

Through gritted teeth she snarled, “No, sir.” She walked offwith brisk steps.

Tru turned his attention to the withdrawn Ensign. “EnsignJackie Rhoades, correct?”

The girl nodded, keeping her eyes on the floor.

“Why were you late?”

“There was a riot at the MareTranquillitatis spaceport.”

Tru took a step closer and she looked into his eyes. Hestared into her black eyes for a long moment and then nodded.

“Shook you up, didn’t it?”

“Some Sileriums were killed, but no one cares about them.”

“Some of us do. Judging from that duffel, I’m guessing youdon’t have enough qubits saved to get a room tonight, do you?”

She looked at him, but didn’t answer.

“Do you?”

She shook her head.

“Then let’s get you a bunk assignment so you have some placeto stay. Come with me.”

Tru walked around her, heading for the door. Ensign Rhoadesfollowed him like an abused child.