The chaos was all worth it for these little guys. Heath popped open the box to appreciate the argo crystals. Not that he thought Emerald would bother taking them after they saved Heath in the first place. But also they were a stranger he’d met that day.

  He needn’t have worried, the chunks were still there, the physical manifestation of System energy gleaming in the bridge lights, as if eager to be used.

  “The sensors will tell you what configurations of upgrades are possible.” The Loon cut into his reverie and made a small patch on the edge of the Captain’s station start to glow.

  With more care than he approached most things, Heath tipped all three crystals onto the thin pane of star-hardened glass. Each made a soft plink as they fell the few inches to the sensor pad.

  “List has been developed. Available via Captain's interface or monitor.”

  “Awesome.” Heath went to pull the list up on the monitor when Emerald cut in.

  “What the fuck are you doing, kid?”

  “I’m not a kid. I’m a starship Captain, classed and coded. And I’m bringing up the list of ship mods we can afford with these crystals.”

  Where was this even coming from? He swore he got more respect as a regular generic Spacer than he did now with an evolved Class.

  “You don’t know me from the Emperor. You shouldn’t even let me on the bridge, let alone pull up your ship specs in front of me.”

  Heath thought for a moment. “Are you going to do something bad with the information?”

  Emerald slumped back in their seat and took another swig from the bottle. Whatever was in there was turning Heath’s stomach from across the bridge. Power and Toughness were both much higher than Heath’s.

  “Nah. Captaining’s too much work. Passengering is better.” Heath thought there was something behind that but took Emerald’s example and left it be.

  “You’re high enough level to take me out, and we’re stuck together for a few days. If you wanted the argo, or the Loon, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. So since we’ve established that you aren’t planning anything, I’d like your advice.” They’d already saved him once, and were obviously a much more experienced Spacer than Heath. He may as well take advantage while they were on board.

  Heath would get nowhere without a gamble. Taking a risk on the Loon had been worth it, Heath hoped a risk on Emerald would turn out the same.

  “Fine. Not like there’s anything else to do. Your canteen doesn’t have the bar mod. Or a rec screen. Or anything but standard rations.”

  “Don’t listen to them, Loon, you’re doing great.” Heath muttered.

  In a louder voice he continued, “Okay, pull up the list.”

  It was both too long and too short. Depressingly so. Too long because it pointed out just how stripped down the Loon had become. Too short because while three grams of argo was worth a small fortune, it was a drop in the bucket of what they needed to bring the Loon’s systems back up to scratch.

  “Frina’s fins! How are we even flying?”

  “Hey! We’re doing our best. We had to spend the argo we had to keep the Loon going. But we’ve got what we need and we’ll get the rest back. Right, Loon?”

  “Correct, Captain.”

  Emerald rubbed their hand up and down their face. “I’m too sober for this.” They took another long drink.

  “I’m not touching on that at all. Or what the hells is going on with this ship. You have until the end of this bottle and then I’m going to sleep until the jump.”

  Heath huffed and returned to the list. There, close to the top, were the dampeners. But as he scanned the rest he felt himself starting to skim as everything blurred together.

  “Can we get this organized into categories?”

  Eschewing a verbal response, the Loon’s display blinked off for a moment only to blink back on again, this time with all the possible mods split out into smaller lists.

  Quality of Life, Offense & Defense, and Cargo Hauler Effectiveness were the main ones. There was also Crew Improvement and Miscellaneous. Since he was the only crew member he ignored that one for now, along with Miscellaneous, Loon would have put anything important in the first three.

  After reading through he saw a few things overlapped. Engine improvements that increased speed were considered relevant to both battle and hauling freight. There were others Heath didn’t expect to see at all. Apparently the Loon believed aesthetic improvements to the ship constituted an increase in quality of life and their effectiveness as a hauler.

  Heath glanced over at Emerald.

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  “Don’t look at me. You think you’re ready to be a Captain, you make the decisions. I’ll answer questions, because I’m bored and you don’t have a ship bar, but that’s it.”

  “Ugh, fine. Focus on just the Cargo Hauler list. What?” He directed the last to Emerald when they looked surprised.

  “Nothing, nothing.”

  He looked down the choices. Quantum space would be useful in the long term, but they would need buckets of argo before it made a notable addition to the cargo bay. Not like he had a crew that needed more room to live. Or at least that was a good reason to choose what he wanted to anyway.

  “Speed improvements to the engine. That’s my pick. Any thoughts?”

  “A good choice, Captain,” Loon said.

  “It’s one of the options I would go with. There are a few offense/defense mods you’ll need sooner than you think. But speed is never bad for a hauler.” Emerald looked surprised to see the information coming out of their mouth.

  “Exactly.”

  It would also shorten up their nonstop legs, which Heath loathed with the passion of a burning sun. Emerald saluted him with the bottle and tilted their head back to drain the rest.

  “I’m taking the third bunk.” They didn’t wait for Heath to agree or acknowledge them at all before they were off the bridge.

  Heath appreciated the privacy. Without the Captain’s suite, the ship Core was accessed by a panel behind his station on the bridge. It was a little sad, seeing the far less complex arrangement as the metal housing melted away. The first time he did this, decades of growth had turned the Core into a full argo array, with dozens of specific upgrades all linked together to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Now they were down to the most basic configuration.

  He reminded himself of what they’d gained. The Core of his first visit had been flickering or dead in places, and about to be dissolved for good. Today the Loon was strong and healthy. This would be the first chapter on their new adventure together.

  The Loon wasn’t the only one who’d changed, either. His Class instincts as a Spacer were general, ready to bend to a million different situations but without specialized knowledge in any. As a Captain, the difference was night and day. He could read the Core like a book, what each fluctuation meant and how the remaining argo worked to expand on what the Loon’s original Shipwright had created.

  All he had to do was think about improving the engine, with a focus on speed, and his hands moved of their own accord, placing the crystals in the correct spots. Loon and the System did the rest. With a surge of mana, the Core matrix expanded, locking in the argo. A small shudder ran through the ship as they picked up speed, and it was over.

  “A bit anticlimactic,” he said to the empty bridge.

  “Never fear, Heath. Larger upgrades are much more exciting. You were not on board the last time I added any rooms to the interior, but the process is quite incredible.”

  “I’ll take your word for it. So what do you think of Emerald.”

  He went back to his seat and spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with Loon. They were family after all. This was as much Loon’s adventure as his.

  Whether or not Heath got up quickly or lounged in bed depended on what he had to do that day. And this was going to be a good one.

  The first thing he did was pull up his status. He’d felt the notifications piling up during his flight from Haku, but only a fool checked their status during a fight. At least according to Uncle Walt. It was also Uncle Walt’s doctrine that no Class decisions be made without a good night’s sleep, so Heath was used to early-morning stat-point distribution.

  He pulled up his notifications, already summarized. Only the newly Classed read each line individually, and despite what everyone seemed to think, Heath was not a child, he’d been doing this for years.

  [Status Update: Class gains for: Completing first profitable contract, adjusted for difficulty, upgrading ship, taking on first passenger. Net result: 2 class levels. Skill [Ship Operation] increased to level 5.

  Current unspent points:

  8 Stat points

  3 Skill points ]

  Most Captains got at least a level for completing their first job. Two in a day was a real win. Spending the points was easy. Getting hauled around the day before had been educational. Two points each in Power and Reflexes.

  Next time an angry mob came for him he’d be better equipped to handle it, and maybe get a shot in of his own. Needing a half-day to recover every time the ship made a jump was unsustainable, so two points went to Toughness. According to a long discussion with Loon the night before, it wouldn’t stop the jump hangovers, but it would mitigate the effects. The last two he dumped into Precision. Not for any specific reason but it would make manning all the different ship controls at once at least a little easier.

  Skills were easy too. [Personal Bank], [Leadership], and the long-resisted [Steady] appeared on his status while his free Skill Points ticked down. Decisions made and excited to get going, he jumped out of bed and got ready for the day. And then realized he didn’t have a way to practice any of them. He could jog around their tiny open space to practice [Steady] but it wouldn’t do anything to help unless he set a course for the Loon to fly erratically, which his pilot training resisted. There wasn’t any way to touch on [Leadership] either, Emerald wasn’t officially someone he was leading. Yet, he reminded himself. They would come around.

  That left [Personal Bank], which was the least exciting option. He opened the Skill interface and saw his credit balance had already appeared. Which was just depressing. He closed it again immediately.

  After checking with Loon that they were still on course, Heath made his way to their tiny mess hall. The last of the oat bars stocked for breakfast wasn’t much, but it packed enough nutrition to get through the day, and that was what mattered. He reminded himself as much every morning when he forced one down.

  Heath was quickly becoming an expert in making the most out of travel rations. The oat bars were much better when turned into oatmeal, so he poured some water over it and stuck it in the miniscule flash-heater. After a few minutes, the bar softened into a slightly-more-palatable sludge. Which he was spooning into his mouth when Emerald walked in, saw him, and walked right back out again.

  So much for convincing them to sign on officially. No, he still had time and that was quitter thinking.

  Heath filled the days in his usual manner until the next jump, watching vids the Loon had grabbed while docked on Haku, fantasizing about future upgrades, audio books, music, and slowly going crazy as he scampered around the ship to do the work of an entire crew on his own. He made it, but each day firmed his resolve to find someone, anyone, to join him.

  He saw Emerald exactly twice. Once more in the dining hall, bottle dangling from their hand as they mindlessly chewed some rations. Another time when Heath had gotten bored enough to lurk outside of their bunk, working up the courage to knock. That is, until it slid open to reveal Emerald, eyebrow raised in silent question. Caught flat-footed, Heath had nodded and walked away without saying anything.

  The jump itself was as awful as always. If the extra points in Toughness helped, Heath couldn’t tell. Emerald came onto the bridge afterwards, eyes wild and looking worse for wear.

  “Jump successful. Scan shows ship operating at full efficiency. Time estimated to next jump, 26 hours.”

  “Thanks, Loon.” Heath groaned.

  “I take back everything I said before. The second you get more argo you install those dampeners.”

  Heath winced when he tried to nod and settled for a shaky thumbs-up. Then he did a double-take at the sight before him.

  “Green,” Heath said. “Your hair’s green.”

  “Hmm?”

  “Your name is Emerald and your hair is green.”

  “What’s your point?”

  They both sat in silence after that, listening to the hum of the engine until they gathered the requisite energy to stagger back to bed.

  The next jump was much the same, but had the benefit of dropping them in the Eubank system. The flight to their next gate was going to take them right past the second planet and main colony, a perfect time for a break on some actual solid ground.

  His hyperactiveness got worse the closer they were getting to the planet, until he had to physically force himself to strap in for their descent through the atmosphere.

  “You sure you want to be a starship Captain, kid? Seem awfully excited about touching land.”

  “What? I love space. I just like visiting new places. That’s part of the fun!” Nothing was bringing his attitude down today. “And it’s been a while.”

  “This world is mostly subdued, though the status hasn’t been updated to full colonization yet. I figure we stop in one of the cities and check it out a bit, then maybe a quick wander before we head off. Only 12 hours tops, and our new upgrade means we’ll still get to Atala before our predictions.”

  Emerald heaved a deep sigh. “Fine.”

  Heath was wearing them down, he could tell. By the time the Loon reached Atala, they would be begging to stay on board. It was a calculated risk. Emerald might wander off the same way they’d wandered on, having used the Loon for a free ride, but Heath didn’t think they would.They were too comfortable on a bridge, and too high a level not to enjoy the lifestyle. More cynically, they did not have the aura of a Spacer that enjoyed much of anything, and the Loon might be the path of least resistance.