Rising Ark

Sam woke up alone, a familiar occurrence as Blossom was an earlier riser.

With minimal dawdling, he gave a quick check of supplies only to be quickly bothered by Enrys in the doorway.

“Your captain and my partner want to fight,” they informed him.

“Again?” Sam asked.

“Apparently my voice isn’t dissenting enough, so you’re the final authority.”

Sam sighed.

“Of course I am.”

He exited the medbay with a “Don’t fight on the fucking ship!”

“Oh, c’mon,” Noah said, “It’s not like either of us are really going to get hurt, we’re both healers.”

“Be that as it may,” Sam said, leaning down so those on the ground could see his seriousness, “You could damage the ship, and damage to the ship is damage to our survival, and you’ll get Blossom angry.”

“If we get Blossom angry, The Widow might come out,” Noah said like a dare.

“Assuming you don’t kill us all. If you two really want to fight, wait until landfall.”

“But that’s so far away.”

“Tomorrow isn’t that far away.”

“Besides, Muninn has anti-violence laws,” Vyrna added.

“They’re hopeless,” Enrys said. The ship jostled everyone a little as if to emphasize their point.

“I’ll check on The Widow,” Noah called.

“I’ll check on the engineer,” Sam said.

“We’ll check on Watt,” Vyrna offered.

 The path to the Rising’s cockpit is an intentionally isolating experience. There’s only room for one person, and even then it’s a squeeze. Noah, though boisterous, enjoyed the solitude in her few minutes to check on their pilot.

The Widow swiveled in her seat as Noah came in.

The Widow had a small form, difficult to tell the actual height or weight at a glance. She always wore a draping black dress, with matching lace shawl and gloves. Not wishing to be in the open, her head was covered in dark sheer, which she saw through well enough to pilot the Rising better than any AI. Noah was glad to have her aboard, though she always believed she could take on the role if necessary.

“That shaking was not my doing,” The Widow said, “There was nothing to avoid that could have caused me to shift us so rapidly.”

Noah nodded.

“I’ll wait for Sam to give a report,” Noah said, “How have you been?”

“As I always am.”

The cockpit’s decoration was odd. Every time they’d found a piece of long defunct Heroes’ Guild merch, the Widow would stare at it, then take a piece up. Half-decayed Posters of Tesla Coil, Black Dragon, Hallow, etc. filled the wall, without much reason. Like with most things, the Widow didn’t explain why she cared so much about the long-dead Guild. Noah always found herself fascinated by all of them, this time searching for anyone similar to Vyrna and Enrys. The closest was a poster without a name whose hero looked to be a similar ethnicity to Vyrna and herself.

“What are you staring at?” The Widow asked.

“Your posters. They’re—”

“Blossom’s gone!” Sam yelled.

The Widow stood at attention. Noah grabbed one of their intercoms.

“We’re calling a meeting, all crew and passengers to the mess hall.”

“Which of you took her?” The Widow accused as their guests sat in the mess. Sam watched all of them with the paled eyes of a spirit mage searching for lies.

“Why would I take the ship’s engineer? Where would I put her?” Watt asked, “We’re in between worlds at the moment. If this ship is damaged—”

“Then we all know the danger,” Noah said, “You were pretty interested in the dynamic of the crew for someone only using us for a quick trip.”

“I’m a curious guy,” Watt said.

“Dangerous trait when you’re suspicious.”

“How do you know it wasn’t one of your own?” Enrys asked, “Why are we the only ones on trial.”

“Because everyone here knows she’s essential to the ship,” Noah said, “Beyond that, Sam’s in love with her, The Widow came with her, and I’m the only one who might care about this ship as much as she does, so unless she spontaneously opened a hatch and jumped into the endless between, it’s one of you three.”

Vyrna stayed conspicuously silent. Noah had recognized them somewhere, and she usually stayed apprised of bounty hunters. Why there’d be a bounty on Blossom was beyond her, but it made sense.

“Stay here,” Noah said, “I need to check my files.”

Sam and The Widow changed their positions in her absence to appear more menacing.

The passengers eyes moved from one to the other.

“What’s in that package you two brought?” Watt asked.

“Excellent question,” Sam said. He stalked out of the mess hall toward the cargo hold. Enrys ran past to try blocking him, but he walked right through them, causing their whole self to tighten from the chill.

“Don’t go near it,” Enrys warned.

“Why not?” Sam asked. “What are you hiding in there?”

“It was large enough to hold a person,” The Widow said, joining the procession, “I watched it come in.”

“What is in there is not a person,” Enrys said, “And it shouldn’t be opened by anyone.”

“You lost that privilege when Blossom disappeared.”

“Senyr,” Vyrna said, making everyone turn toward them, “Let them look, prove our innocence. You can close it the moment they see she isn’t in there.”

“Senyr?” Sam asked. He’d heard that name before from his sister’s lips.

“Great work making us seem less suspicious, captain,” Senyr said.

Sam ignored whatever information was being revealed, still not stopped by anyone as he entered the cargo hold.

The vines around the container were dripping something. They had clearly decayed enough in Blossom’s absence.

“We don’t have very long, do we?” Sam said.

“No,” The Widow confirmed, “We do not.”

The smell was rank as Sam pulled the vines away, several of them fell to the floor, shrinking into death.

The container was locked with a two part code.

“I assume it needs both of your DNA?” Sam asked, flaring out a knife.

“No,” Senyr said, “DNA’s too easy to get a hold of, and we both went through psychic relations lessons at Solarluna.

“You can block your mind,” The Widow translated, “My how things have progressed.”

“So each of you has half of the code,” Sam said, “So it can only open with both of you?”

They nodded.

“Do it,” Sam gestured with the knife.

Senyr dutifully completed their part of the combination before scrambling it again. Vyrna added their part, and the lock clicked as stale air came out of the container.

Inside the container was a wooden jewelry box. Sam stepped forward, with Senyr held back by Vyrna, and opened the box.

Inside was a brilliant diamond that summoned everyone’s attention, pulling them towards it.

Senyr snapped the box closed, pushing Sam away from the greater container to close it.

“I assume that proves our innocence,” Vyrna said.

Noah’s files were a pile of hard drives and a holo-emitter she could easily connect them to. She searched the pile for the one labeled “bounty hunters” and set it on the dresser before snapping the holo-emitter’s cable in.

She tapped the first name and ran through the photos of everyone until she came to the familiar one.

“You cocky bastard, coming onto my ship…”

While she was here, she may as well check for where she remembered the other guests.

She grabbed the academy drive and switched it out.

The first one she recognized was her old roommate. Haven Senyr had let their hair grow from the crew-cut of years ago, but their curious eyes and the scar on their cheek proved Enrys to be Noah’s old friend.

“You fucking knew.”

The record said they’d left work for the government, granted permission to leave their commission after a great tragedy as one of two survivors.

The other survivor was another very recognizable name.

Captain Brynn Avery, who Noah had never seen anything but clean-shaven until recently, had left his commission a few years ago after a great tragedy which left he and Senyr the only survivors. The item they were transporting was never recovered, but that had to be a damn lie with how insistent they were about their cargo.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He probably didn’t remember her, and even if he did, she’d said she wouldn’t forgive him.

She ran to the mess.

Empty.

She ran to the main deck, nobody.

“Where the hell is Watt?” she yelled.

In the hold, the other four moved away from their tension to realize they’d abandoned the third passenger. The Widow ran back to her post, passing by Noah on the way. Noah ran into the hall, finding Avery, Senyr and Sam in remorseful shame.

“I told you to stay in the mess.”

“They were—”

“Was I not clear?”

Most would assume considering Noah’s chaotic demeanor that Sam was the older sibling. In this moment, Avery and Senyr became sure it was the other way around. No little sister could make someone cower in one sentence like that.

“Records state we had something appear, disappear, then reappear further away,” The Widow said, the plants carrying her words to the rest of them, “I believe that must be Watt’s ship.

“What does he want an engineer for?” Sam asked.

“We recognized her from bounty displays,” Avery said, “He probably did too, possibly researched your ship to make sure he had reason to get on.”

“We have a spirit mage,” Noah realized, “Most other people wouldn’t be willing to go to Muninn”

Blossom wandered, initially with intent to go to her room with Sam, but now she moved toward the cargo hold.

“Just checking in on you guys, making sure you’re in top condition.”

Rising didn’t react, but Blossom could feel it become more comfortable.

“That’s right,” Blossom said, “I’m here.”

Their passengers didn’t bring much with them, but something brought her toward that hidden space she made for Enrys—Senyr, Vyrna had called them Senyr, and Senyr had called Vyrna Avery. Those two were complicated.

All the more reason to check what they brought with them, but Blossom was far from willing. Something about their dodginess felt like it was a last resort for them, and Blossom could understand that situation.

Instead she moved to Smith Watt’s items—her acquisition, however unintentional.

“What are you hiding?”

She couldn’t actually see in the environment, but the Rising had a greater perception that she could tap into.

At the top was a small case with a biometric lock.

“Easy.”

They never promised security of items, and besides, she wouldn’t take anything.

Parts of the Rising came down, as the part in Watt’s quarters transferred the information to the ones Blossom held against the lock.

As it snapped open, she pulled out a flashlight to get a good look inside.

She was staring at a tranquilizing rig, the kind bounty hunters used to knock out their live catches.

“Oh, that’s bad.”

She ran back up to wake up Noah, who wouldn’t tolerate a bounty hunter hiding on her ship, but she was stopped by someone grabbing her from behind and putting a hand on her mouth. Watt dragged her back into the hold.

“I get a warning every time my items are opened,” he said, “I was hoping to wait until we got to Muninn to grab you, but my hand’s been forced.”

Blossom tried to wrestle out of his grasp, but she wasn’t strong enough.

“Blossom is a nickname from your father, I assume, Gentry’s obviously from him.”

She tried to stamp on his foot, but he kept moving them out of the way.

He flipped open the briefcase with ease and grabbed the syringe.

The Rising reached down and grabbed his arm, finally giving Blossom a chance to run until she felt something stab her in the neck.

She pulled out a tranq dart before she could do anything but fall down.

Watt felt the whole ship shiver as his target went down. He picked her up, clicking the key to his ship to summon it next to the Rising.

“It’s honestly beautiful,” he told the unconscious Blossom as he watched the Rising, “Shame your absence will wreck your friends.”