NOVEL WEB 5. Looking Through Rainbow Lenses
It was interesting walking around the station with Echo. I was used to the place. After living aboard the station for more than two years, I had become accustomed to the scenery. In showing my guest around though, I was forced to look at the familiar paneling and walkways with the eyes of a newcomer once more.
A part of me would always be amazed at the fact that I really lived and worked aboard a space station. I got to live this life, I had earned this life. Despite all of the issues I had with my boss and my desires for more, I was happy I had come so far from where I was as a kid.
Echo seemed to really enjoy the garden atrium where much of the food for the station was grown. The enforced rules on noise level made it a calm and peaceful place to walk around in.
She also enjoyed the viewing lounge that allowed residents to sit and watch traffic coming and going from the spaceport, all while listening to the control frequencies. Despite the chaos inherent in that much traffic, as a pilot myself, I enjoyed sitting there and relaxing with a book when I wasn’t vegging out in my quarters.
We even took a brief tour around the shipyards in the business arm where I worked, though I made sure we didn’t spend much time there since I wanted to avoid my boss.
As I led her away from the salvage arm, Echo spoke up.
“I noticed you seemed rather quick to leave that area. What, don’t want to let your boss catch you skipping work?”
Vitriolic words about Kruger nearly shot out of my mouth unbidden, but I caught myself. I had to be careful not to let my true feelings about the man out. He did want me to keep these people happy after all, and I didn’t want to anger him by making a bad impression. If I ruined his plans for a contract, I would be stuck as his whipping boy (well, girl), for the rest of my time in the system.
“No, I just prefer not to disturb him while he is working. As a contract worker, I can take days off whenever I want without recourse. That just means I don’t get any pay for the day. I needed a day off anyways though, and showing you around seemed like a good way to spend the time.” I gave her a pleasant smile, hoping that the cordial comment would distract from the face I had likely made when she mentioned my boss. She took the bait.
“How sweet of you to say. I think I would like to get to the food eating part, though. I’m getting pretty hungry.” As if to prove her statement, her stomach growled slightly. She blushed in embarrassment, but it was all I could do to chuckle at it. Inside of my head I was desperately trying to bury thoughts of how pretty she was when she blushed.
We kept up with lighthearted small talk on the way to the promenade where I promised her we could find “excellent spaghetti and ‘meat’ balls” from a little restaurant I frequented.
As we sat waiting for food, real conversation started up again.
“So Echo, tell me about yourself. I feel like I’ve told you a lot about myself, but I still haven’t learned much about you.” I reclined back in my seat and looked at her curiously.
She shrugged. “Well, I’m twenty-five, single and work as an apprentice to my father who is captain of the freighter Ratatosk and the head of Erickson Enterprises, primarily a cargo logistics service.”
I nodded, but kept an expectant expression, waiting for more.
"My birth mother stays at our home station in the Centaurus System while dad and I keep the ship flying. I've been doing it since I was a little…" She paused briefly as if to consider something. "...kid."
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table. "So, have you been anywhere especially exciting? As a spacer you must have been to all sorts of incredible places."
Echo nodded in response, letting a soft and reminiscent smile show. "Yeah, I have. Stations all across the galaxy, out to the Groth'daran helix, even all the way to the outer reaches of the Ariadne Arm to deliver equipment for the new slipspace gate network out there.
"Erickson Enterprises is funding parts of that, so we got to see the first activation of the gate. It's one of the newest generation gates too, so the first activation was quite the sight. These ones are much faster in operation than the older gates like the one in this system. You can get a stable gate in less than a minute compared to the almost ten minutes that the first gen gates did."
I hummed in appreciation. It was an impressive feat to have an interstellar gate establish a connection that fast. "That's some preem tech."
She grinned. "No kidding.” I caught a fleeting glimpse at her expression showing a measure of suspicion and curiosity, but it was gone so fast I had doubts as to whether I had actually seen it at all. Her voice was almost nonchalant when she continued. “Only place I've been that had any more tech than that was the Celeste Institute."
My heart jumped into my throat as her words processed. The Celeste Institute was known as the creators of the Continuity of Consciousness Mind Transfer process paired with a nearly as impressive process for constructing artificial genetically engineered bodies. The institute had many smaller pieces of technology they produced as well, but none gained anywhere near the renown of the body transfer technology. In shock, the burning question spilled from my lips.
"What were you doing there?"
An incredulous stare was my response. "If you actually know that name, then what do you think, Soren? I got myself put into a different shell. Old one wasn't exactly doing it for me, you know?" She pointedly fingered her pink, white and blue hair.
I didn't want to believe it at first. The hair was incredibly obvious in its reference. That I’d missed it initially was ridiculous. Conflicting emotions raced through me; disbelief that I was actually sitting with another person like me, jealousy at the fact that she had gotten my ultimate dream, a sense of longing for my own new self, all of that with the still persistent thoughts of just how pretty she was.
My head thumped down on the table audibly as my racing mind forgot to hold it in place. A deep sigh escaped my throat as pent up emotions found any outlet they could.
Her voice carried a definite edge when she spoke again. "You don't have a problem with that, do you? Because I just started thinking you were a decent person and I would hate to have that ruined so soon."
I pulled my head up just enough to see Echo's raised eyebrow and eyes primed to stand judgment on my answer. I felt heat rush into my face and stammered in response.
"No. I don't have a problem with it at all. I was just…" I scrambled to find the correct words. "Surprised. Not many around here are accepting of such things, let alone advertising that they had done such a thing!" With everything I had dealt with, I wasn’t really ready to admit the condition we stunningly shared. Even so, it took a lot of effort not to blurt out the secret I had kept for so long for fear of my safety. Regardless, a public venue like the promenade was far from a proper place for me to get around my fears.
I tried to exude an air of sincerity to Echo as her eyes moved across my face. It took conscious effort not to let my anxiety cause me to break out in panic at the thought of offending Echo like that. My eyes watched on as I was scanned and judged by the piercing gaze coming from across the table.
Much to my relief, her eyes softened after a moment but almost immediately narrowed again in thought before her expression relaxed completely and a small smile attempted to blind me.
“Good. I didn’t think I was wrong about you. Had to make sure, though.” Echo reached for the glass a waiter had put on the table previously and took a drink. After finishing the glass, she put it down and took a deep breath.
“Alright, so… I’m a trans woman, I visited the Celeste Institute, I work on a cargo ship and have visited planets all over known space.” As she listed each thing, she raised a finger to count. “I work under my dad and my birth mother is back on the home station. I like cool tech, get myself into occasional trouble by leaving my ship without telling the captain, and I’m here talking with you now. Anything else about me you want to know?” Another sly look glanced my way.
I gulped down a couple sips of my soft drink as well to steel my nerves before responding. “I would love to get to know you a lot more than that, but I suppose I can wait.” My ability to keep calm and deliver the line so smoothly impressed even myself. I could only hope that I wouldn't come off as a creep.
It seemed that Echo accepted my line at face value though as she nodded with a hint of color in her cheeks. Before we could continue further, however, our food arrived. It was delicious as usual, certainly better than my usual cafeteria fare, but also a fair bit pricier. I figured that the extra money would be well spent in this situation. Of course, my mind wasn’t focused on money as long as the pretty girl continued to sit across from me. When the bill came, Echo and I both tried to take it. But in the end, we ended up splitting it and taking care of our own meals.
Within moments of us presenting our cred chips, Echo’s left wrist pulsed with a blue light. She tapped at a subdermal implant and opened a holopad similar to my own, though obviously by a different and higher end manufacturer. Her expression shifted to a slight grimace.
“Well, looks like my dad found out that I’m on board the station instead of the ship. He is telling me to meet him in the dock authority offices.” Her look turned somewhat bashful. “Think you could take me there? I’m sure Captain Erickson would like to meet the pilot that helped us out this morning.”
From the expression and tone of voice, I deduced that she was asking me to come as more than just a guide but also as a distraction for her father. However, her need for a guide was a valid point and I really had been enjoying our time together. I sighed and nodded.
“Yeah, I can do that. Just don’t use me as a scapegoat, please? Coming to the station was your idea, not mine.”
Echo beamed, obviously approving of my answer. The two of us stood up and I motioned her to follow me as I began walking towards the nearest lift. I couldn’t help but get the feeling that I was getting myself in a bit too deep too soon. Time would have to tell if I was dooming myself, though. Of course, if my current job situation was anything to go on, I probably already was.
“Okay, so my dad is a pretty good guy, but he is the captain of a starship and he is kinda protective of me, so… watch out for that, I guess?”
My fear of impending doom intensified. After the warning from Morik I was already nervous. I couldn’t imagine what her father would think of me. I needed to be sure I made a good impression. Would he think badly of my longish hair? Would my androgynous clothes make him biased? It did occur to me that I was overthinking the situation, but the thought didn't allay the trepidation. It also didn’t stop the thought that I would probably have a much easier time if I just had a body that matched my mind.
Damned anxiety brain.