Big Damn Project

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Five years earlier

“You know,” Logan said, wiping the sweat from her brow, “this would make an excellent Relay program.”

“How’s that?” Cait rubbed grease off her hands with a towel. She stood, and joined Logan in the middle of the cargo bay, placing her hands on her hips and examining the work they had been doing. The engine compartment of the Rose was propped open, its metal organs inside sitting cold and dormant.

“Oh, you know,” Logan started. “Two friends buy a ship and fix it up. We’d hire a crew and have all kinds of witty, episodic adventures in far off, interesting places.”

“Do you think there’s an audience for that? Don’t you think that’d be like every other program on the Relay?”

“Every other program on the Relay doesn’t have us.”

“And our awesomeness,” Cait said, staring into the engine.

“And our awesomeness,” Logan said.

“It wouldn’t last.” Cait started to pick up some of the tools scattered around the engine housing. Logan helped.

“But we can at least do the other stuff.”

“Hire a crew? I’ve already started. I have a mechanic and a chef ready to take a tour of The Rose, once we get her out of dry dock. And a couple of hands are interested as well.”

Logan beamed. “What kind of adventures are we going to go on?”

Cait rolled her eyes. “The boring kind that make us money and keep us sailing, dear.”

“But those are still adventures.”

“I’m afraid it’ll be quite like the Fairchild.”

Logan’s smile dropped. “Nothing will ever be as horrible as the Fairchild. Remember the month the toilets kept backing up, and Captain Nolan refused to stop in a port to get them fixed?”

“I still have nightmares about it, yes, I remember.”

“But!” Logan said, closing the toolbox. “We have a boat! And having our own boat requires adventures. It’s nautical law.” They started up the metal stairs to the bridge.

“You’re well silly today,” Cait said, stopping at the top of the stairs.

Logan stopped a few paces ahead. She leaned on the railing of the suspended walkway and looked out over the empty bay. Where the crew and guest quarters had been was a large void; they had been lifted out through the cargo bay to be refurbished. “It’s just… everything feels new right now. The Fairchild… that was fine. We could rank-grind there, but this,” Logan waved her hand at the emptiness of the cargo bay, “this is ours. We don’t have to fight for a crew position anymore, or moody second mates, or being stuck constantly on the second watch.”

“Or backed up toilets,” Cait added.

Logan walked back over to Cait, and leaned against her, resting her head on Cait’s shoulder. Cait hugged Logan. She surveyed the hollow interior of the ship, and inhaled a deep, satisfied sigh.

“This is ours,” Logan said.

“Well, it’s mine,” Cait said.

“But I get BFF benefits,” Logan said, giving Cait a wide, squinty smile.

“Of course.” She ruffled the hair on Logan’s head. “But right now, BFF needs lunch.”

“Then lunch we shall. We’ll plan our adventures.” She linked her arm through Cait’s, and led her out the hatch, into the afternoon.

—-

Present

Billy found Cait in the guest gallery sometime around two in the morning, well into the Middle Shift. The dome above was dark blue, its ring of lights down low to simulate the night sky. Cait had turned on the little table lamp in front of her, and she sat, arms folded on the table, staring at nothing. Billy sat down across from her, removing an empty whiskey bottle from between them.

“How was your evening, Billy?” She asked, her words as strong and composed as ever, but her accent was almost overpowering. Gone was the careful, educated woman from Anchorhead. In her place was a rough but sharp girl from the Doric Republic.

“Cait… You smell terrible.”

“And yet, I feel fantastic. Bloody jolly well fuck-off fantastic.”

“Morgan and Ilonanda gone home?”

Cait nodded. “Our party is over.”

“It looks like the party went on without them.” Billy tilted his head, trying to look Cait in the eyes. She wouldn’t raise hers to meet him.

“It did.”

“Cait…”

“Why was she there?” Cait said, opening her hands in front of her. “Why was she there? Why… why- what do they want with her?”

“I don’t know, Cait.”

“She hurt me, and they’re fine with that.”

“She hurt us, Cait. I was there, too.”

Cait squinted. “Why are they okay with her?”
Billy took Cait’s hand across the table. “I’m sure it’s not what you think. I’m sure it’s just business.”

“That’s what it is, isn’t it? Business. That’s all it is. And I’m a defaulted contract.”

Billy patted her hand. “You need to go to bed, Cait. We’re leaving in the morning.”

Cait glared at the portal to the bridge. She nodded. Cait stood, and wobbled, and when Billy tried to take her arm, she swatted his hand away. “I’m fine.”

Billy nodded, letting Cait stumble ahead of him, but he kept close, his hand inches away from her arm. As they passed through the portal, Billy noticed another figure slumped over a table against the wall, blanketed in the darkness of quarters.

“Why, Billy?” Cait asked, one more time, hesitating at the steps up to the bridge. She grabbed the handrail firmly, and pushed forward. “Why was she there?”

“I don’t know, Cait.” Billy said. Cait stumbled, and Billy caught her, pushing her back in to place. Cait looked down at him, tired and sad and a little glassed over, and gave Billy a weak smile. She patted him sloppily on his head, and continued up to her room.

—-

Nina tilted her head, casting her gaze across the Shah board. She squinted, resting her hand on a piece, then taking it away slowly. It would seem Toby had her trapped, her pirate ships cornered by his royal navy. She usually had a pretty good lock on the pirate side of things, but she was also accustomed to playing against artists, and their minds tended to be everywhere but the game. Toby seemed to have a decent handle on what was happening. She picked up a small attacker, and placed it next to one of Toby’s fleet ships.

“I’m capturing this one,” she said. “You can let it go or pay the ransom.” She smiled triumphantly. Toby rested his chin on his hand and furrowed his brow. He studied the board, his eyes darting over the pieces.

Billy pounded down the steps. He strode over to the table where Toby and Nina played, and looked them over. “Nina, could I borrow you?”

“Sure? What’s going on?”

“I need you to take care of Xiphos,” Billy said. He started back to the steps to the guest quarters.

“Is she okay?” Nina followed, and motioned for Toby to do the same.

“Yes,” Billy said. He dropped his voice. “Though she might regret it in the morning. As for right now, she needs to be moved to her bed. We’ll have guests tomorrow, and a passed out teenage girl is not really the image we want to be presenting.”

“Ah,” Nina said.

Xiphos had sat down at one of the tabled across the gallery. She was hard to see in the darkness of the gallery, though the ambient light glinted off an empty wine bottle. Nina sighed through her nose, her hands on her hips.

“I’m taking her back downstairs?”

Billy nodded. “I have other people to take care of tonight.”

Nina did the math on that statement. Tre was already asleep. “Ugh.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s only Molyneux Island that does this. Except Logan seemed to have made things worse.”

Nina looked over at Billy. “What happened? Why is Aunt Cait so mad at her?”

Billy shook his head. “That’s really a story for another time. Well, let’s get on it. We’re the functional bits of the Rose right now; we might as well be useful.” He strode off to the bridge.

Nina sat down next to Xiphos and shook her gently, trying to wake her.

Xiphos stirred, rolling her head over to look at her disturber. “…hey, Nina…” She smiled, her voice weak.

“You need to go to bed,” Nina said, pulling Xiphos’s arm over her shoulders. Nina motioned to Toby to be ready to help.

“Are you coming too?”

Nina stood, pulling up Xiphos with her. “Oh sure.” They started towards the door, slowly, each step a whole new adventure. Toby took his place next to Xiphos, doing his best to stabilize as he could.

“Hai Toby,” Xiphos said.

They made a few more steps towards the door. Xiphos swung her head back around to Nina. “Nina,” she said, forcing the words out. “Nina. Nina.”

“Yes?”

“You… you know I love you, right?”

“I love you too, Xiphos.”

Xiphos shook her head. “No… you don’t. I’m not good enough.”

Nina grunted. “That’s not true, Xiphos.”

“No, it’s true! But that’s okay. It’s okay. I still love you.”

“I’m glad, Xiphos.”

Xiphos rolled her head back to Toby, leaning on his shoulder. “You’re okay, too. You’re nice.”

Toby’s ears perked. He felt himself blushing.

“Toby.” Xiphos nudged him with her nose. “Tooby. You’re nice. I bet I’d like you if I liked boys more.”

“Thanks…” Toby said.

“Nina likes you. Nina’s nice, too. You guys’d be nice together.”

They struggled down the steps, and helped Xiphos into her berth. Nina pulled Xiphos’s coat off, and Xiphos collapsed into her, nuzzling against her shoulder. “Are we going to make out?”

“No,” Nina said. “You’re going to go to sleep.”

Nina looked up at the top bunk where Xiphos usually slept, and then down at Toby’s bed below. She guided Xiphos into the bottom bunk, and pulled a blanket over her.

“I’m sorry,” Xiphos said. She grabbed Nina’s arm. “I’m sorry.”

Nina brushed the headfur away from Xiphos’s eyes. “Why are you sorry?”

“You’re mad. You don’t like me. At the party-”

Nina sighed, her ears dropping. “Xiphos, of course I like you. When tomorrow comes, we’ll have a proper conversation about this. But for now, you need to sleep.”

“-were nice to Toby and-”

Nina put her hand over Xiphos’s mouth. She kissed the cat on her forehead. “Sleep.”

Nina found Toby on the couch on the middle of the crew quarters. He stared at the floor, looking tired and distant. She sat down next to him, hugging herself.

“Is she okay?” Toby asked after a moment.

Nina looked up at him, and weakly petted his head. “I think so. Billy would have said something otherwise.” She leaned forward and scrubbed her face with her hands. “What an awful end to a night.”

Toby sighed. He stared at his shoes.

“Here’s a weird question,” Nina started. Toby looked up at her, his ears alert. “Are you a good hugger?”

“Uhm-” Toby said.

Nina pulled him in close. Toby struggled a moment before he realized what was happening, and then returned the favor.

After another moment, they separated. “Thanks,” Nina said. “My night is slightly less horrible now.” She stood and stretched. “Are you tired?”

Toby shook his head.

“Good. We have a game to finish.”

[g]

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Tags: adventure, anthro, billy, boat, Boat Story, Cait, commentary, family, fiction, furry, nina, serial, story, tobias, toby, web fiction, weblit, xiphos, YA