Chapter 6
The metal doors leading to the spinal hallway slowly shut, obstructing Dreamweaver and hir family from view. Gildedtongue felt a lump in hir throat swelling as hir eyes blinked away some tears. Trembling hands lifted hir bags as shi took a breath to resolve hir courage. Things will certainly be a lot more different.
A small, mousy human lead Gildedtongue to hir room, he looked almost twelve as his sandy blonde hair adorned a bright freckled face. His body was a bit tall for his age and his skin unusually pale, easy markers to tell he's lived most, if not all of his life in an old space ship like this one. The boy took several looks to the chakat, unused to seeing passengers looking quite so sad. He looked down at the ground as Gildedtongue opened hir bags to pull out hir clothing and put them away. “Momma tells me that you're gonna be th' teacher here?”
Gildedtongue bit hir lip back from correcting the youngster's speech, but responded with a nod, “Did she now? I suppose that's true. I'll have to check with Captain Jefferson about that.” Shi turned to see the puzzled look on the boy's face, responding with one of hir own.
“Th-thought that's how you got on cheap?” the boy queried. Gildedtongue mentally smacked hirself, noting that shi had better go through hir information more thoroughly later. Shi forced a smile and coughed.
“Well, of course. I just meant to ask her what curriculum I should be teaching you all.” The boy mouthed an 'oh' and shrugged as he took that time to depart. The chakat grunted as shi sat on hir haunches, looking out of the window, seeing that the cargo had either been dropped off or packed in as the crew and mecha were making their way back towards the hanger bay. Gildedtongue let out a slow exhale, this was hir first time in space, and this wasn't a massive Federation ship, one with full gravity, giant crew of engineers, and all the luxuries of home. The Purgatorio was certainly an older ship, one that probably only barely met the standards of being a space faring vessel. On the opposite side of hir bed was a waterless toilet and a small sink with a sign reminding the user to conserve water. An irony that a ship designed to transport mass for replicators seemed to lack them, or just have them in the galley. That last thought caused Gildy's stomachs to roll, apparently the small meal before leaving Startail's and Firefoot's home wasn't what hir body considered breakfast. The chakat let out a sigh and decided to wait at least until the ship called for lunch. Hir daily cycles will be determined not by light but by meals and fatigue, shi figured, so time to get used to that.
Gildedtongue thumbed through the datapad shi was given. Shi was indeed the on-board teacher, and looked over the roster of hir students. The children seemed between the ages of eight and thirteen, the children of the crew, more than likely. A mixture of humans, morphs, and even centauroids. The blonde boy from earlier was named “Dominic” and the “Momma” from earlier was Terry Wu, the ship's physician. Gildedtongue raised an inquisitive eyebrow, as Dominic certainly didn't seem to have his mother's gorgeous oriental features at all. The chakat cross linked several more students with their “parents” and found, for the most part, it seemed that most were adopted. Either that or all of the crew managed to break down genetic breeding barriers, and in that case shi wondered how a 4'11” woman birthed a wolf'taur.
The chakat's musings were cut shot as shi heard the voice of the captain ring through the P.A. system. “Good morning, this is your captain, Matilda Jefferson speaking. We'll be dusting off within a few minutes, so I'd recommend finishing up whatever you're doing and get yourself strapped down. Just a reminder that we do have guests along with us this trip, and I'd appreciate it if you made their trip just that much more comfortable. That is all.” The chakat blinked and looked around hir room for something that looked like straps. Aside from the bed and the dresser there didn't seem to be anywhere to hide them Panicked sweat drops formed along the chakat's brow as shi moved atop of the low built 'taur bed and gripped at the sides, feeling the ship shift underneath hir.
The Purgatorio's engines whined, starting to push the massive ship skyward. The middle aged chakat whimpered as shi clutched harder on the sheets and the mattress underneath. Higher and higher the ship climbed as Gildedtongue's grip faultered. Flames licked at the window from the friction of the thinning atmosphere. The chakat gulped as hir hands and forefeet gave way, causing hir to tumble to the other end of the room. Hir head broke hir fall with a hard crack as everything turned dark.
-+-+-
A blunt, throbbing pain brought the chakat out of hir slumber, feeling a hand cupping the back of hir sore head. Wincing and growling, Gildedtongue opened hir eyes in slits, sneering slightly. A concerned face looked down at hir, black and white striped with a pointed muzzle. One green eye looking over hir, and another eye hidden behind an electronic monocle. Shi pushed the badger away slightly, moving hir free arm to support hir upper torso, closing hir eyes again, “Ugh, that hurt.”
“I'll bet, Wanderer. By the looks of it, you've been out for at least two hours.” The well built morph said quietly, though the chakat still groaned from the headache. Shi got up slowly and looked out of the window, seeing the blackness of space about, without the lens of Terra's atmosphere, it looked bleaker than usual. Gildedtongue held hir head as shi started to walk towards the bed to rest, grunting as shi lost hir footing and tumbled softly across the floor. “Careful, now.” the other occupant said, “Ship's gravity is only sixty percent what you're used to. You don't quite have your space legs yet.” The badger helped hir up with relative ease, manoeuvring hir onto the bed. Gildedtongue loosed another groan as shi looked up at the badger with an inquisitive look.
“I suppose introductions are in order. I'm Saldura Holbock, chief of the security detail on the Purgatorio. I came in to introduce myself earlier and bring you to dine, but that's when I found you passed out. Are you feeling all right? I didn't feel any lacerations or skull breakage, but perhaps we should go to Doctor Wu anyway?” the badger asked, placing a heavy hand on Gildedtongue's shoulder. The chakat waved away that notion, feeling a bit nauseous from the headache but largely in the pink anyway. Shi looked over the badger with more scrutiny now that shi wasn't seeing double any more. A dark olive green uniform that would have probably felt more at home during the Napoleonic era than modern times covered over a stocky yet muscular frame. On the left hip dangled a sheathed sword, the cross-framed cross-guard dangled under hand. The right hip carried a pistol of some sort, but Gildedtongue certainly wouldn't be able to identify it. The badger's face had a warm glow to it, either compassion or the lights of the room was still too bright for the chakat's bruised brain. The monocle looked like it plugged right into the badger's skull, flickers of data over the eye behind it told Gildy that the badger was probably hooked right into the ship's computer. Neither the clothes, nor the tone of voice gave Gildedtongue a clear guess on the sex of the chief.
“Erm, right. I'm chakat Gil-erg, Wanderer, child of...” Gildy trailed off, forgetting if it was hir parents shi should mention, or other programmed ones. Hir face went crimson in blush as shi gulped, completely botching the introduction. Shi looked away for a moment, but brought hir attention back to the badger from Saldura's laugh.
“Acting isn't your strongest of suits, is it, Gildedtongue?” The chakat whimpered softly, but was somewhat relieved to know that the security officer was in on the plan. At least shi didn't need to worry about being thrown into the airlock and spaced for being a stowaway. “It's all right. I'll try to call you by your, ah, official name in public, but do try to learn who you are.” Gildedtongue nodded sheepishly, getting up slowly, looking over at the chronometer. “I suppose you're hungry,” Saldura said matter-of-factly, “C'mon, let's get over to the galley before the Twelve is up.”
-+-+-
The galley was mostly empty by the time the two went in. A morph in an extraordinarily ridiculous chef's hat gave the chakat and the badger trays with tomato soup, cheese sandwiches, salads of unknown plant matter, juice and some sort of flan dessert. Gildy gulped to hirself, having rarely splurged on this amount of food, shi looked for the place to pay for the meals, but saw Saldura already heading for a table. The chakat sheepishly followed, glancing about and sitting across from the badger at a small table in the back. Shi moved the chair to the side and placed hir tray down. Saldura looked over Gildedtongue's meal, then up to the chakat, “You should probably go for seconds after this. I know 'taurs eat more than that.”
“Erm, no, that's okay, this is more than I ever eat at one sitting,” Gildedtongue explained to a perplexed mustalid. Saldura just shrugged after that and started to eat. “So, how many people know about, well, about me?”
Saldura thought about the question almost over dramatically, dipping the corner of the sandwich into the soup before biting into it, “Well, the captain and I do, and my mate, which means by now the entire ship does. Another chuckle rumbled through the badger before another bite.
Gildedtongue sighed to hirself, “Well, I guess I have room to slip up, then.” Shi muttered before starting to eat. The taste of the food quickly told Gildedtongue that it was from the ship's replicator. Shi quietly finished hir salad first before asking, “So, what am I supposed to be teaching the children? And what happened to their last instructor?”
Saldura leaned back, picking at hir own salad, pulling some bits of alien lettuce-like leaves out, “Prior to you, they've mostly been using the ship's database's teaching programs for learning. I know it's not the best way to teach especially at this age, but the Federation authorized and okayed it, and you're the first thing resembling a teacher on this ship since Matilda, Thallon, Thirtysilver, and myself started this crew.” The badger shrugged lightly, “Probably the best thing to do is as the kids tomorrow and figure out how to get them on the same page.”
Gildedtongue nodded softly. About twelve children, all of various ages and educations needing to be dealt with. A momentary longing for the hours of thirty plus screaming children ran through the chakat's brain, but quickly pushed aside. The 'taur will figure out how this'll work, somehow. “Well, I guess I'll be earning my keep that way.” Shi chuckled dryly, prodding the flan with a claw, somewhat disturbed by its tenacity of retaining its same shape. “Erm, you mentioned a mate. I'm guessing also a crew member on board?”
The badger nodded quietly, “Yeah, Thallon. Best damned mechpilot I've seen, and that's saying something as most of those things ain't exactly built for 'taurs.” Gildedtongue nodded and cocked hir head. Sure, morphs, humans, and 'taurs were in plenty of romantic relations across the galaxy, but shi had to admit that prior to Peter and Theresa, Gildy only knew of them academically. The teacher certainly was going to be taught a lot this trip. “He was working that Maurader when you got on board.” Gildedtongue nodded, guessing Saldura was female by that comment, but on the other time, could be a gay male, or, obviously, several other options. Shi mentally sighed, this wouldn't be answered without a blunt question and shi certainly wasn't sure how to go about it.
The conversation went on for what felt like hours. Without the sun it was hard for the chakat to gauge any sort of time without looking at a clock. Finally Saldura stood up and offered a hand to Gildedtongue. The chakat blushed slightly, taking the hand and walked with the badger to hir room. “Tomorrow at 0900 you'll start your teaching, so, probably best if I give you some time to get ready for that,” Saldura said with a small smile. Gildedtongue could only muster a small nod to that, trying not to look into the badger's eyes. The security chief gave another coy smile and leaned over, kissing Gildy's cheek, causing all the hairs on the centauroid's fur to poof out. “I think I'll drop by to see you after class.” Shi said before padding off.
Gildedtongue could barely breathe after that, taking a few steps into hir room and closing the door behind hir. Both of hir hearts were slamming against hir ribcages as shi moved to flop on the bed. Hir purring was well out of control as shi started to rummage through hir things. As shi thumbed through a datapad, hir spirits sank as shi remembered the mention of Thallon. Certainly shi wouldn't want to be the “other woman.” “What do people see in me?” shi asked idly of hirself as shi hooked into the ship's database to see what the children were learning.
-+-+-
“Good morning, class.”
“Good morning, Missus Wanderer.”
Gildedtongue covered hir muzzle in a cough, initially deciding not to correct them, but then decided that shi wouldn't be a good teacher if shi left that in the air, “Ah, it's shir Wanderer,” shi stated to the class' dead reaction. The room shi was teaching in was an empty quarters. Children sat radiated from the chakat, either on the floor, the bed, or leaning against the wall. The chakat choked back a grumble. This certainly wasn't “ideal conditions” for a learning environment, but one must do with what one has. Shi looked over hir datapad, clicking hir tongue against hir teeth, then sighed as shi addressed hir students. “As I think we all are well aware, you all have been learning on your own. Some of you are far in your lessons, some of you have just begun your journey. As I can't exactly give totally unique lessons to each of you, I can certainly give you unique assignments designed to hone your skills.” And also to really exacerbate the notion of cheating, shi mentally added. “To introduce myself, I'm chakat Wanderer, child of Ebonyheart and Trueair. I've received a dual masters in Education and Interpersonal Communications from the Federal Monastery of the Holy Christian Kingdom of North America. My chief hobby is pre-War literature thus you'll be finding a lot of the assignments somehow associated with such.” A human boy raised his hand.
“Will you be trying to convert us to your faith?” the boy asked with a hint of experience in his voice. Certainly the missionaries from the Kingdom have been around quite a bit and are known for their preaching tenacity. Gildedtongue shook hir head slowly.
“Certainly not, David. My job is to simply expand your knowledge on literature, sciences, mathematics, and history. If you have questions pertaining to my faith or any other, I'll do my best to answer them, in private.” David quietly nodded, somewhat satisfied with the answer. “Now, I suppose you at know a little bit about me, so it's best if I know more about you all. So, I'd like for you all to give me your name, any nickname I should call you, and what you like to do.”
Each child sounded off around the room. Gildedtongue smiled slightly to hirself, at least there wasn't anyone too shy in the group, probably stemming from life on the ship, everyone knew each other pretty intimately. Of course, that would mean Gildy certainly would remain the outsider for some time. When they were done, Gildy took a moment to digest the new-found information before starting hir lesson. Shi got up slowly, opening a cabinet and pulled out an old, heavy tome. The cover's text had mostly been faded out of visibility and the spine was heavily cracked. Gildy opened the book up slowly, the musky odour filling the small room. “Le Morte D'Arthur, by Sir Thomas Malory. How many people here are familiar with King Arthur?” About two hands rose to the question, which surprised Gildedtongue. Stories tens of centuries old aren't quite well taught, though many of their archetypes are through more modern stories. “Well, if that's the case, I suppose the beginning is as good as any place to start.”
-+-+-
“And Kevin, I want you to write a two page essay on electromagnetism and how it might have applied to the Sword in the churchyard.” The students all wrote down their assignments before the wolf'taur, James, questioned.
“Isn't it a bit silly that we're writing about a fake story that was written centuries ago? I mean, couldn't we just do simple problems like we always do on the computer?” The other students gave a mutter of approval of this question. Gildedtongue gave a small smirk to hirself as shi leaned back.
“That would be the easy way through it, wouldn't it? However, I'd like to believe that the best way of teaching is not simply parroting information over and over again and memorizing facts, but actually sitting down and applying what you've learned to things. It makes you think more about it and forces you to actually know more to complete the assignments.” The students all gave another grumble at that. The chakat certainly had hir work cut out for hir. “Now, if anyone has any problems or questions, I'll be more than happy to help you. But, as of this moment, class is dismissed.”
None of the students stuck around after that, making twelve bee-lines out to their respected rooms. The chakat gave a small sigh and closed the book, putting it into hir bag. Shi turned hir head, hearing the door opening behind hir, greeted by a long, vulpine face. “Ah, shi seems to have made it past hir first day.” the stranger said with a smile.
“Oh, it takes more than twelve kids and eight hours to vanquish me.” Gildy gave a small smile, then looked over the incoming fur. He looked like a fox'taur, though seemed much more built than one shi's seen in pictures or newsreels, more muscular and toned and taller. His fur had a light red tone that almost seemed pink in the harsh interior ship lights. He moved in closer to the chakat. “I don't exactly think you're here for lessons, so, who are you?”
The todd chuckled to himself, offering his hand with a bow of his head, “Ah, excuse my rudeness. I'm Thallon, Thallon Rosefur. I'm the ship's mech pilot and I've been somewhat, ah, prodded to make sure that you're okay after your first day.” He chuckled softly, scratching the back of his head with his free hand. Gildedtongue nodded and took the offered hand and gave hir own introduction.
“So, you're the one that's been spreading naughty rumours that I'm not who I say I am, eh?” shi asked somewhat knowingly, then nodded to hirself, “And you must be chief Holbock's mate. A pleasure to meet you.” The memory of the badger's kiss causing the chakat's face to blush slightly, but shi slowly swallowed that down. Thallon nodded with a coy grin.
“That's about the size of it. So, have you eaten yet?” Thallon asked. Gildedtongue nearly responded before hir stomachs beat hir to the punch. “I'll take that as a no. C'mon. We've got to fatten you up some how!” Thallon punctuated that with a predatory grin, producing a meek 'meep' from the chakat. Gildedtongue followed the other 'taur through the spine into the dining room. The room was just as empty as the last time the chakat ate. The vulpine gave a small chuckle and prodded the chakat, “Actually, you should eat and sleep in regular cycles. Since we don't exactly have a sun out here, the only way you'll be able to keep track of time is scheduling. Otherwise you kinda go a little psychotic out here in deep space.” The chakat nodded slightly, having noted that shi hadn't really slept after climbing aboard the ship.
“So, Thallon. Ah, what's with all the children on board? I mean, aside from a couple, it doesn't seem like any of them are any of yours,” Gildedtongue asked, picking up hir helping of stew and bread. Thallon furrowed his brow slightly as he took a table in the corner, the same one Saldura took hir to.
“One of the more interesting aspects of this job is that we find ourselves in some of the sections of the galaxy that's under rule of the Federation only in name alone. As long as a warlord or a bandit group doesn't stir up too much trouble, they can enjoy a lot of power in some of the further colonies and planets on the edge.” Thallon sipped his drink as Gildedtongue listened closely.
“We were doing a simple delivery to one such colony about three years ago and en-route we had come across a barely puffing derelict. Life support was nearly dead and none of the escape pods had fired off. We were running far behind in our shipments but the Captain decided to take a look anyway. There was no reason to. The ship wasn't even giving off a distress signal.” Thallon leaned to the side, resting on the wall, “I guess it's what's called 'Woman's Intuition' but not much reason that we docked with the ship.
“We just did a quick sweep of the corridors that weren't spaced. A locked room had something knocking at the door. At first we just thought that it was a bit of debris that was floating and bouncing off of the walls, so we didn't open it at first. The open rooms had the definite marks of raiders in there. Hell, these weren't even proper pirates. Each room still had plenty of valuables in them, they just were there to get their rocks off killing people.” Gildedtongue whimpered a bit to hirself, not feeling all that hungry any more.
“We took a torch to the locked door, hoping that maybe we'd find something breathing. The twelve kids there had managed to hold up in a pantry room, feeding off of cans of emergency foodstuffs and water, though that supply ran out days before we got there. Each looked rather scrawny when we got them, but the doc got them pretty well intact.” Gildedtongue gave a warm smile at that. “Initially we were going to just dump the kids at the nearest Federation station we came across, but, after a month or so of them with us...” the todd trailed off, shrugging his shoulders and forehips. “The outlying stations are pretty much as shady and as crooked as the bandits, if not more so at times. So, pretty much we decided to adopt them and give them a home aboard the Purgatorio. They seem pretty happy with the arrangement and we're trying to bring them up as well as we can. It isn't easy, but I guess that sort of thing isn't meant to be.”
Gildedtongue had to wipe a few tears and nodded quietly. Shi noticed shi had been choking hir napkin pretty firmly and gulped as shi put it down. Thallon gave a small smile and reached over to pet Gildedtongue's sides, “But, now they've got a proper teacher, so should be even better for them.”
“I suppose so. But, I'll try to keep that in mind in my teachings. I don't think I want to pick at any scabs.” the chakat said quietly, then took to hirself to finally start to eat. They ate the rest of the meal in relative silence.
When finished, Gildedtongue wasn't sure what to do, but Thallon offered hir a hand. Shi took it and followed him back through the corridor. The fox'taur made some joke in the hallway, but the chakat was feeling a bit nervous and only gave a polite laugh, not really remembering what was said. Shi gave a few looks over the todd. Young, at least half hir age, strong looking and rather sure. Probably what Dreamweaver would have been like as a fox'taur, and twice as old as shi is now. Gildedtongue mentally was a bit repulsed with hirself as shi somewhat realized that shi slept with someone about a quarter of hir age.
“Yoo hoo, Gildy. Thallon to Gildy.” The todd had been several paces behind the chakat as shi turned around, obviously having been lost in hir own mind for a few moments. Shi backtracked to the door as Thallon smirked. “Well, thanks for the lunch. Hope you don't mind that I prattled.”
“Oh, no problem at all, Thallon, I...” the chakat's speech was cut short as shi felt the todd suddenly embrace hir and dip hir anthro torso down a bit, kissing the chakat deeply. The door opened as Gildedtongue's wide eyes darted into the quarters, seeing Saldura there in a bra and boxer shorts with a suitable buldge from the latter half. The chakat's blush got hotter as shi fought for a moment before being let go. The lighter gravity letting Gildy get hir footing and standing up a moment before dashing off to hir own quarters.
“Think that was totally necessary?” the badger herm asked hir mate as shi looked down the hallway.
“Absolutely, m'dear. Shi needs to loosen up a bit.”
“Really? Well, I don't know about hir, but I know someone here going to loosen up.” Saldura grabbed Thallon by the lapels yanked him into the quarters before locking the door behind them.
