adventures in vents
four
It was clear that Darcy knew what she was doing and was good at what she did. Miles could appreciate that. He just wished she did it without threatening to bite his head off. Maybe he was being annoying, but he genuinely was just trying to help. There was nowhere he could really go when the control room was his area. Darcy’s laser eyes were still better than hanging around Daniel and the others.
They took off the next day after resupplying, and Miles could feel Darcy’a excitement no matter how much she tried to hide it. Miles could understand. He was the same way when he first left home. It wasn’t exactly a graceful launch though, since Daniel insisted on being a show off. The ship lurched forward and spun out to break the atmosphere. Darcy gasped and braced herself, eyes wide. She was trying to watch out the window, but Daniel’s fancy flying made it difficult. She looked green now, which was no way to experience her first flight.
Miles tensed his jaw and made his way up to the cockpit. Everyone was lounging around lazily, except for Daniel and his smug grin. Miles ducked into the cockpit and sat in the copilots chair, which was always empty thanks to Daniel’s big ego.
“Hey, can you slow down a bit?” Miles asked. “Or fly straight. The new girl is feeling sick.”
“If she’s sick, that’s her problem,” Daniel said nonchalantly. “She’s the one who wanted to board a space jet.”
“Yeah, a jet,” Miles said. “Not a fucking roller coaster. We’re out in open space and no one can see us, just cool your shit for a little bit.”
Daniel glared at him, but flicked the autopilot on and settled into a steady cruising speed. Miles made his way back down, stopping to get a food tray before joining Darcy again. The color had returned to her face and her eyes were the size of dinner plates as she looked at Onius-1 from the window. Miles didn’t bother telling her he was the one who made Daniel slow down. He wasn’t looking to make her praise him.
She eyed the tray warily as Miles offered it to her. For such a rugged crew, the packaged food and snacks on the tray were surprisingly luxurious. The sort of thing that was only found on the highborn city planets. She hesitantly took the tray and poked around at what was on it.
“What is this?” she finally asked.
“Lunch,” Miles said. “Or dinner. Your call. There’s no concept of time in open space.”
“And this fancy stuff is what you eat?”
“Yeah, sometimes,” he said. “We do transports to a lot of the luxury cities. We work with a lot of the restaurants and cafes to bring them their luxe goods, so getting to try the product is just a perk.”
He decided to leave out the drug smuggling part. She didn’t need to be dragged into that if she didn’t want to be. Miles sat down a safe distance from her while she started eating. She practically melted when she bit into a frosted cake, and Miles cracked a smile.
“It’s normal if you feel sort of nauseous at first,” he told her. “It’s called space sickness. If you’ve spent your entire life living in one setting, your body sometimes has a hard time adjusting-“
“I’m fine,” she said. “You don’t have to explain things to me like I’m a child.”
“Oh,” Miles frowned. “That’s not what I was doing. On my first voyage I didn’t know-“
“I told you, I’m fine.”
Miles tried not to take the jab personally, so he just forced a smile and stood up to give her some peace. One of the error lights on the control panel began to blink orange, signaling something was wrong. Darcy set her tray down to look at it. Miles was hesitant, but decided to explain it anyways.
“It’s a damage alert” he said. “The numbers next to the lights correspond to a different part of the ship. There’s a book in the drawer you can reference if you need to. If it blinks red, that’s major damage. It needs to be fixed as soon as possible. If it blinks orange, like this, it’s minor damage. Not great to fly with, but it can wait a little bit if you’re busy. So 113 is blinking orange, which means something is up with the left wing. That’s something you’ll get used to with Daniel and his stupid flying.”
Darcy glanced over at Miles, and he could have swore she looked the slightest bit amused when he shot down Daniel and his flying.
“So someone has to put on a space suit and go out there,” she said.
“Actually, no,” Miles told her. “You don’t have to worry about doing that.”
“Why?” she asked defensively. “Because I’m a girl? Because I’m shorter than you? You think you can-“
“No, fuck, of course not,” Miles said. “I’m just saying we can fix it from in here with the spider.”
“The… spider?”
“Yeah, it’s a droid I built,” Miles said, taking the keyboard that controlled the spider out of a drawer. “Putting a suit on and going out there is dangerous, so the spider is a safer option. Not to mention a more efficient one since it’s not affected by gravitational changes.”
Darcy watched as Miles set up the controller and a holographic screen lit up in front of the keyboard. He hit a key, and the spider scuttled out of its charging port and out a door giving it access to the outside of the ship. They watched from the window as it went to the wing where one of the panels had come loose and waited for instruction.
“Do you know DOVA code?” Miles asked.
“Yeah,” Darcy said.
“You can try if you want, then,” Miles said, stepping aside. “The spider does whatever it’s programmed to. Just program the commands for whatever you would do to fix the panel, and the slider follows.”
She paused for a moment before typing in a few lines of code. Then she looked back out the window as the spider got to work.
“You built it?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s my own design,” he said proudly. “Cool, huh?”
She didn’t say anything. Miles should have expected she wouldn’t give him that validation. It didn’t matter, he was still proud of the spider. At least there was another person who understood what the droid could do. Miles let her play around with the spider a little bit and stepped aside to give her some space. He trusted she wouldn’t break anything.
They took off the next day after resupplying, and Miles could feel Darcy’a excitement no matter how much she tried to hide it. Miles could understand. He was the same way when he first left home. It wasn’t exactly a graceful launch though, since Daniel insisted on being a show off. The ship lurched forward and spun out to break the atmosphere. Darcy gasped and braced herself, eyes wide. She was trying to watch out the window, but Daniel’s fancy flying made it difficult. She looked green now, which was no way to experience her first flight.
Miles tensed his jaw and made his way up to the cockpit. Everyone was lounging around lazily, except for Daniel and his smug grin. Miles ducked into the cockpit and sat in the copilots chair, which was always empty thanks to Daniel’s big ego.
“Hey, can you slow down a bit?” Miles asked. “Or fly straight. The new girl is feeling sick.”
“If she’s sick, that’s her problem,” Daniel said nonchalantly. “She’s the one who wanted to board a space jet.”
“Yeah, a jet,” Miles said. “Not a fucking roller coaster. We’re out in open space and no one can see us, just cool your shit for a little bit.”
Daniel glared at him, but flicked the autopilot on and settled into a steady cruising speed. Miles made his way back down, stopping to get a food tray before joining Darcy again. The color had returned to her face and her eyes were the size of dinner plates as she looked at Onius-1 from the window. Miles didn’t bother telling her he was the one who made Daniel slow down. He wasn’t looking to make her praise him.
She eyed the tray warily as Miles offered it to her. For such a rugged crew, the packaged food and snacks on the tray were surprisingly luxurious. The sort of thing that was only found on the highborn city planets. She hesitantly took the tray and poked around at what was on it.
“What is this?” she finally asked.
“Lunch,” Miles said. “Or dinner. Your call. There’s no concept of time in open space.”
“And this fancy stuff is what you eat?”
“Yeah, sometimes,” he said. “We do transports to a lot of the luxury cities. We work with a lot of the restaurants and cafes to bring them their luxe goods, so getting to try the product is just a perk.”
He decided to leave out the drug smuggling part. She didn’t need to be dragged into that if she didn’t want to be. Miles sat down a safe distance from her while she started eating. She practically melted when she bit into a frosted cake, and Miles cracked a smile.
“It’s normal if you feel sort of nauseous at first,” he told her. “It’s called space sickness. If you’ve spent your entire life living in one setting, your body sometimes has a hard time adjusting-“
“I’m fine,” she said. “You don’t have to explain things to me like I’m a child.”
“Oh,” Miles frowned. “That’s not what I was doing. On my first voyage I didn’t know-“
“I told you, I’m fine.”
Miles tried not to take the jab personally, so he just forced a smile and stood up to give her some peace. One of the error lights on the control panel began to blink orange, signaling something was wrong. Darcy set her tray down to look at it. Miles was hesitant, but decided to explain it anyways.
“It’s a damage alert” he said. “The numbers next to the lights correspond to a different part of the ship. There’s a book in the drawer you can reference if you need to. If it blinks red, that’s major damage. It needs to be fixed as soon as possible. If it blinks orange, like this, it’s minor damage. Not great to fly with, but it can wait a little bit if you’re busy. So 113 is blinking orange, which means something is up with the left wing. That’s something you’ll get used to with Daniel and his stupid flying.”
Darcy glanced over at Miles, and he could have swore she looked the slightest bit amused when he shot down Daniel and his flying.
“So someone has to put on a space suit and go out there,” she said.
“Actually, no,” Miles told her. “You don’t have to worry about doing that.”
“Why?” she asked defensively. “Because I’m a girl? Because I’m shorter than you? You think you can-“
“No, fuck, of course not,” Miles said. “I’m just saying we can fix it from in here with the spider.”
“The… spider?”
“Yeah, it’s a droid I built,” Miles said, taking the keyboard that controlled the spider out of a drawer. “Putting a suit on and going out there is dangerous, so the spider is a safer option. Not to mention a more efficient one since it’s not affected by gravitational changes.”
Darcy watched as Miles set up the controller and a holographic screen lit up in front of the keyboard. He hit a key, and the spider scuttled out of its charging port and out a door giving it access to the outside of the ship. They watched from the window as it went to the wing where one of the panels had come loose and waited for instruction.
“Do you know DOVA code?” Miles asked.
“Yeah,” Darcy said.
“You can try if you want, then,” Miles said, stepping aside. “The spider does whatever it’s programmed to. Just program the commands for whatever you would do to fix the panel, and the slider follows.”
She paused for a moment before typing in a few lines of code. Then she looked back out the window as the spider got to work.
“You built it?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s my own design,” he said proudly. “Cool, huh?”
She didn’t say anything. Miles should have expected she wouldn’t give him that validation. It didn’t matter, he was still proud of the spider. At least there was another person who understood what the droid could do. Miles let her play around with the spider a little bit and stepped aside to give her some space. He trusted she wouldn’t break anything.