A few breaths of peace

When Kaliasi figured out how to somewhat fly this thing, the ship raised slowly and then drifted away into the open, vast space. The feeling of flying this space craft was completely different from the Earth's prototype of stellar explorer. While the human design was clunky, looked like a brick with a bunch of spikes and hooks and made him dizzy every time it corrected the course, or even slightly turned, in here the acceleration felt like being underwater and swimming. Diving. There was some increased weight, some motion resistance, but it seemed like that experience was much more bearable. And almost comfortable.

He looked at the screen what they were leaving behind. The massive hangar doors were locking up behind them, and the prison space station was long and looked like three layered sandwich, each floor slightly different coloured. Mark observed that parts of it were still on fire, and he swore he could see some movement inside of it. Or maybe those were just lights switching on and off, shadows playing on his imagination.

Kaliasi pressed a few buttons on her console and took her hands off it, sighing, and then turning around her chair to face Veers.

"I set the course on Cirrus, the autopilot should take us there."

"Why on Cirrus?" Mark asked.

"My client is there. I want some cash from that thing, you know, the DNA sample."

"And what if he won't pay?"

Mark crossed his arms on his chest.

"Well, then I suppose I'll have to sell you." She laughed. "In the end you were the one who beat the Nightmare, you might be more valuable that it."

"Wait, I thought you said earlier you killed this thing."

"I have no idea what are you talking about."

She showed him her tongue.

"But real talk now, Mark. What do you want?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've escaped the Sandanian prison with me, and on Cirrus we will be well out of their space. So tell me… What do you want? Should I drop you off somewhere? Fly you back home? Throw you out the airlock?"

Mark looked away and began to weigh his options. He didn't have time to think about it earlier, he was too busy trying to escape and survive. If the opportunity presented itself, coming back home, to Earth, should be his priority. He missed his parents back home, and he was still employed by international space agency, which meant he should come back at the nearest possible date to give the report of the mission failure. But…

But there was entire Galaxy of things that he could try and explore. The Galaxy that so far tried to kill him a few times, and almost succeeded, but gave him more action in one day than he had in his entire lifetime. And also he was beginning to really like this woman. To form a real connection. And he wanted to see where that can lead him.

"I-" He began, but Kaliasi interrupted him.

"-tell you what - how about you become my co pilot for a bit? Like a wing man. I saw how you dealt with that beast, and other shit, and you were fairly acceptable. And in return you'll get to know the real world, real universe. Become less primitive. I think you'll make a good enough traveling companion."

She smiled, showing her teeth.

"And get paid?"

"Sure. You'll technically become my employee."

"Partner in crime."

Mark laughed.

"Say what now?"

"Partner... Whatever. Now can you show me the bathroom? I've been holding in some things for a few hours now and I don't think I'll be able to keep it that way for much longer."

***

They took a trip through the ship together. The toilets where easy to find and even easier to operate. Turned out that three sea shells where not only one of human ideas.

Unfortunately, the ship was small, for a crew of five. The engine room, the common quarters that also often served as the cargo bay, the armoury, the bathroom, and the cockpit was all it had to offer. No kitchen, and they couldn't find any food rations, so he was getting hungry.

"Hey, where do people sleep?"

"It's a small ship. So in the chair, or wherever."

"You mean there are no beds?" Mark asked, surprised.

"Yes. What, did you plan to do something in the bed, you dirty primitive?" Kaliasi winked at him.

"Uhh… well, I was thinking we could, you know, finish the thing from earlier."

He explained.

"What thing?"

"You know… the cuff removal thing."

This time he winked at her.

"Ohhh… too bad we don't have a proper bed. And I'm not someone to do something like that on the floor, or crates. And holy big-giant head forbids, chair. I pulled a muscle for three cycles after last time!"

Mark grit his teeth and sighed.

"Don't worry. We'll be getting rid of this ship when we get to Cirrus. Ideally before."

"Really?"

"Yes, primitive. We took it illegally, which means there will be someone looking for it. And they probably won't care about circumstances and instead opt for shooting us on sight.."

She gave an explanation. And then they just enjoyed the space travel in silence for some time. Of course, that couldn’t last long with those two talkative individuals.

“We have a fair bit of time, Mark. And I think it’s time for an upgrade for you.”

Mark, who dozed off and was basically napping until she spoke, yawned loudly.

“Wha… what? What do you mean by an upgrade?”

Kaliasi stood up and winked at him.

“Oh, you’ll see.”

Then, she proceeded to leave the cockpit.

“What upgrade?!”