Page 57 of Sway's Peace
The pair were a lot of fun to talk to and hang out with. Like Grace, they were sponsored to be out in space. Tanin was their sponsor and, unlike her, their sponsorship was still ongoing. But since Garnet had mated Tanin, Goldie was the only one left on it. They had a ton of questions for her, like she was some sort of authority about living out in the Coalition. Since she had more than a few years on them in that regard, she was happy to give whatever information they needed. Though it wasfunny to suddenly be considered the expert in a subject that still sometimes overwhelmed her.
Grace had a lot of questions for them too. About their abduction, what it was like to suddenly be forced to live out in space, what life was like on a spaceship. They got to see so many different stations and planets and colonies – it sounded amazing! She was jealous.
They were headed to a factory colony now. They had to pick up a shipment of weapons and shields. It was the first time they used their new subspace crystals, and the girls were excited. They both had a bad case of subspace sickness thanks to the dying crystals and inadequate shielding. They also, apparently, used to have to travel leapfrog style since the old crystals didn't allow them to swing for long distances.
The fact that they could now just swing immediately to their next destination made them all thrilled. They were talking about how many more jobs they could do now, which would translate into more credz, and therefore more upgrades and comforts. Grace easily got wrapped up in it. Enjoying the fruit of her labor – even if all she did was the administrative work, it was still cool to see.
But, of course, she enjoyed spending time with Sway the most. Trying not to be clingy or overbearing, she’d limit herself to joining him on the bridge to only once a day. He worked a lot. Doing the complex calculations required for subspace travel was a near constant job. Most ships would have a least a couple of people to do it, while larger ships would have an entire navigation team. She didn't want to pester him, but she did want to spend time with him.
Things between them weren’t as easy as before. There was a new tension, a new hesitancy, now. She wasn’t sure she’d call it a bad thing. Just an awareness, a new layer of consciousness, that made things tense but not altogether uncomfortable.
There was a lot about Sway she didn't know. She wanted to ask about everything, but at the same time, she appreciated that he might not want to talk about it. Knowing what she did about his past, it was hard to ask him the usual questions about his life she would in getting to know anyone else. She couldn’t ask about his childhood, his family, his friends.
She did ask about what it was like working on the Humility. He explained how he’d needed to learn subspace travel almost entirely from scratch. He knew the basic calculations from experiments with the Master, but that hadn’t been about travel. Grace was curious what a mad scientist could possibly need subspace calculations for, but she was absolutely sure that she didn't actually want to know.
Just another thing she couldn’t ask. Another layer of tension.
In contrast, she wasn’t shy about talking to him about her life at all. She’d already verbally vomited her family trauma all over him. It couldn’t really get much worse. Actually, it could only get better since she could prove that she was capable of doing more than just trauma dumping.
And, to her surprise, he really listened. Not to say that people ignored her in the past, but whenever she would have casual conversations, theyfeltcasual. Especially in dating. It was a prelude to a relationship, a necessary step that had to be taken that neither party really enjoyed.
But Swaylistened. When she talked about her family vacations growing up – which were always luxurious and extravagant –when she talked about her life in school, when she told him about what it was like on Holotulle, he paid attention with the most rapt expression on his face. Like every word from her mouth was precious and important.
And she knew it wasn’t an act, because he was able to remember it all. When she talked about her best friend from high school then brought her up again later, he remembered her name and their relationship dynamics and how odd it felt for them. They were friends because their parents demanded it, not because they really liked each other, but it still formed a sort of comradery – an us against them kind of thing.
Sway listened. He paid attention. He didn’t just mumble a reply and retain half recalled details. It was wonderful and drove any lingering hesitation about him from her mind.
Okay, yes, he kicked in her boss’ chest, but it was in defense of her! And he insisted that he was still a pacifist despite it. She had some reservations about that declaration, but he seemed determined to make it true, and she loved that.
Grace would never demand perfection from someone, but seeing them work on themselves, trying to be better, was always admirable.
By the time they were coming in on approach to the colony planet, Grace and Sway had come back to a point where they were conversing naturally, though it wasn’t as easy as before. Still, she could feel the desire to make it easy again coming from both of them.
The factory colony was built on a partially terraformed dwarf planet rich in natural minerals needed for production. The mines on the planet had been around for generations, the factories only popping up later as the terraforming processadvanced enough to allow people to live on the surface. They still required the use of obelisks out beyond the highly populated areas, but they didn't need to wear full space suits anywhere on the planet any longer.
Grace found herself in the position, for the first time since leaving Earth, of being the one who knew all those ‘normal’ things. She was the one explaining all of that to Garnet and Goldie.
Obelisks were extremely advanced technology. They looked as they were named – massive, squared columns with pyramidal tops. But they served a function in that they produced literal tons of breathable air. They were capable of stabilizing wild atmospheres, including weather and temperatures, as well as altering gravity into more standard strengths in a given area. Obelisks were used on asteroids and colony worlds and terraforming planets as borders around towns to create livable ‘bubbles’ wherein people could live comfortably.
The colony they were going to was so old and well established, the obelisks were only serving as gravity modulators. The atmosphere had already been altered enough that it was full of breathable air, and the weather and atmosphere had completely stabilized. The planet was covered in so many of them by now, around each of the mining and factory populations, that only the most extreme parts of the planet would need some kind of life support assistance.
Grace had never been to a colony world like this before. She’d only been to Holotulle and Hir-Fallow – both of which were extremely cool in their own rights, but were still just cities. Holotulle was a ringworld, but she’d lived in a city upon it. Hir-Fallow was a station, but she lived in an apartment and walked to work like a city.
This colony was the first time she’d ever been to a place like this. She felt like a tourist, especially when she asked Sway if she could go down to look around. The entire crew were all going to pick up the delivery – it was a big one, so they needed everyone to help. The twins, she was told, would be going too, but they were serving as security, not actually picking up anything.
Garnet and Goldie were going to stay on the ship, since the colony wasn’t really anything worth seeing from an exploring perspective. Goldie had work to do, and Garnet was going to take that opportunity to sort all the supplies they’d picked up on Hir-Fallow. Similarly, Loyalty was opting to stay inside. He had one reason to be here – to get home – and he was just riding along for now because this delivery came first.
Grace, however, wanted to see the colony. She knew there was nothing to really see. It was just a factory, housing for the workers, and some basic stores for those same workers. It was like saying she wanted to go sight seeing in a small town in the backwoods – there was nothing tosee. But despite that, or maybe even because of it, she really wanted to go.
When she said as much to Sway, he offered to go with her. Just like that. And she accepted.
As far as date locations went, it wasn’t really a good one. But she was still excited as she got dressed that morning and went to meet the others at the landing shuttle. The Humility was just a bit too big to land easily on planets, so they needed the shuttle. All of them piled inside, the others giving her and Sway curious looks, though they didn't question anything.
“Be back at the shuttle in one mark if you aren’t picking up,” Tanin ordered everyone as he piloted the ship down. “We’ll be taking off then.”
“Yes, captain,” the guys all intoned at the same time, though it was clear he was only speaking to Sway and Grace.
She couldn’t help but smile. The dynamics between the guys were interesting. She didn't know if she’d call it close like a family, or even that overtly friendly, but there was a dependence between each other. Like soldiers falling in line beneath a commander. They were clearly comfortable with each other, but there was no teasing or ribbing or playfulness that she expected from friends.
