Chapter 7
"Attention all crew, attention all crew. This is Rory. Momentarily, I will bring down all ship systems to test a fail-over of auxiliary power. We can still patch into the orbital's power if anything goes wrong, but I don't expect any issues. Should be at only 10 minutes without power. I repeat - ship will be without power for up to 10 minutes momentarily. End Announcement."
Adair is in the kitchen preparing sandwich boxes, which entailed making sandwiches and putting a baggie of veggies and a cookie in each one. They put an extra half sandwich and cookie in the captains and their boxes; being from a heavy world, their metabolism ran hotter, and they both needed more calories.
Doc enters and isn't in there long before Rory's announcement comes over the loudspeakers. He looks at Adair and shrugs. He is on the way to the coffee urn as all the lights went out. "She wasn't lying about it being temporary," he jokes, pouring himself a mug of hot coffee and letting his eyes adjust to the emergency lighting.. Then, holding the cup up, he savors the aroma before heading towards Adair.
"How's it going? Need any help?" He smiles as he asks Adair if they need any help to do his job.
"Nope," Adair replies, as they close the last box. "All done. I even remembered mine and Brigit's extra food, which I don't think about that when we're eating. I usually just eat, so I'm glad I remembered."
"Yeah, that's something I have to keep in mind when I'm preparing your meals. Well, thanks, sorry I wasn't on ship."
"It's okay," Adair responds, smiling. "I like to help. So how did the shopping go?"
Sipping from his cup thoughtfully, Doc walks over. "Good, but weird. Hey, you follow Electra, right?"
Adair cocks their head to the side quizzically and nods, indicating that he should continue.
"Well, this older woman in the store, I almost bumped into her - you know how I am when I'm deep in thought." He starts while slowly stroking one of his locs with the hand not holding the steaming mug of coffee. After Adair's nod, he continues. "Well, anyway, after almost bumping into her, she told me about my grandmother and how proud she was of me. Her statement threw me for a loop, of course, and she had details to prove that she was actually talking with my grandmother. Anyway, after telling me what she told me, I wanted to return the favor, energetically speaking, you know." Adair nods, "And after thinking, she gave me this."
He reaches into his shirt and pulls out the medallion. That feeling which was growing familiar of not wanting it far away comes over him as he shows it to them. Adair leans in, all other thoughts left as they marvel over the quality of the medallion. "This is beautiful! You are so lucky."
Adair thinks for a moment, still staring at the medallion. Then, without looking up, they ask, "Wait, you said a transfer of energy; this seems like she just gave you more energy..."
"That's what I thought as well. The woman explained that she wanted me to carry this into the sky to have the sky goddess bless it Herself. I didn't want to argue with her, but I guess that works as a transfer of energy."
Adair thinks again, idly stroking the medallion as Doc tried not to think of how close it was to Adair stroking his chest, "I suppose technically that works. I suspect your grandmother had something to do with it, though."
Doc thinks back to the scene with the older woman and then nods in agreement. "I think you're right. She nodded right before giving me the medallion. Man, I'm glad I'm surrounded by smart people!" He shakes his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, I'm working on not using gender references in my speech, but it's hard. A lifetime and all that."
Adair places a hand lightly on his arm. "It's okay. I know you try. And you have been doing quite well. I appreciate it." His heart flutters at the touch. This is the closest they've been with him, and he is finding that he likes it.
"Thanks, I can't wait until it's habit," he says with a hint of hope.
"It will, it will." Adair pulls their hand back and looks up. "Shouldn't the lights be coming ba..." And at that moment, the lights flash on, and it momentarily blinds them as they were looking right at the lights.
Doc laughs. "Close your eyes for a moment, and the burned image will fade. Don't worry; I won't let anything scary catch you unawares," he says.
"What if you're the something scary though..." they ask in jest.
"Now I'm hurt; you don't think I'm scary, do you?" Adair can hear the smile in his voice, and knows that they hadn't truly hurt him.
Doc takes the boxes that Adair had made and stacks them as they reply, "No, I don't think you're scary." Adair opens their eyes and, for a moment, shares a rather intense bit of eye contact with Doc.
Rory's voice over the comms breaks the eye contact. Causing them both to take a half step back. Adair busies themself with continuing making lunch boxes. Doc watches them.
"All clear, everyone. Auxiliary power worked as expected. And, since I have everyone on the comm channel, Cap, the ship is ready and raring to go."
"Almost time. How are you feeling?" Doc asks Adair.
"Excited, but a little nervous, you know." Adair rests on the counter, idle for a moment. They know they had things to do, but didn't mind being here. "I mean, we are on the best ship in the fleet, and we trained hard for this, so there isn't really a reason to be nervous, but it's the first time. They say you always remember your first time." They blush at the double entendre.
Doc gulps hard, and grabs the counter and Adair saved him.
"Well, I need to go make sure the ship is ready, and course plotted." Adair gets up and heads towards the door, but not before grabbing a mug of coffee. They knew she needed all of their wits about them, as one wrong calculation could spell the end for the crew. Adair gulps as they remember the stories they learned in the Academy about astrogators that miscalculated and jumped long, right into a celestial body on the other side. She draws a pentagram in the air and heads to the bridge.
"Good luck. I'll bring these up after pull out. I know navigation detail can last a few hours."
#
"Welcome, Brigit Borea. Please remove your shoes before entering." The AI tells her, and she walks in after taking off her shoes and clipping them magnetically to the wall. She marvels at the tree as she enters. It always amazes her that the Accord put trees in every ship. The existence of the Ship Tree, tapestries, and altar drove the point home that her people believe in higher powers, really believe. And she loves that she is a part of that belief.
Her thinking about belief makes her realize that others on the ship might want to say some prayers before setting off. Making her way over to the intercom on the bulkhead by the door, she flips on the all-ship communication. "Attention, crew. If you have nothing pressing to get ready for pull-out and would like a moment to commune with your deity, please meet me in The Grove. I've already started setting up. This gathering isn't a formal ritual, so formal roles aren't needed. Thank You."
She walks over, presses her hand to the palm reader, and smiles as the AI greets her.
"High Priestess, Brigit Borea recognized. Please remember to stow implements when finished with rituals or personal work," the AI says. And with that, the altar slides out, and she marvels at how practical the little altar is. It has all the implements you would need and, using magnetically charged wood, it all feels like wood but stays in place.
Brigit picks up the Athame but sets it down, remembering to Ground-and-Center first. Walking over to the Ship Tree, she kneels and presses her hands to the dirt and closes her eyes; she imagines her hands growing roots of light and flowing down into the soil, and through that connection to the ground, linking her back to Terrene. She briefly wonders if other people imagine the connection to their homeworlds. Brigit could feel calm settle over her as the negative energy flows into the dirt and the positive energy flows back in to replace it. She is in the middle of this when the door opens, letting Adair and Doc in. She raises her head and opens her eyes. "Welcome. Do you know if anyone else will join us?"
They look at each other and shrug. "We came from the kitchen. Happened to be there together as I went to make sandwiches and found Adair had already made them. Thanks again for that." Doc says. He turns to Adair with a smile as he made his way into The Grove.
Thinking for a moment, Brigit realizes that Rory probably wouldn't have time. "Unfortunately, I don't think Rory will make it since I asked her to do a favor for me after she finished with the regular inspection. But Cali might..." She trails off and smiles as Cali walked in. "We were just talking about you. I'm glad you could join us. I was just telling them that Rory probably wouldn't make it as I tasked her with a favor."
Adair and Doc had already headed to the Ship Tree to Ground-and-Center when Cali comes in. So Cali walks over to join them. Brigit, meanwhile, stands and walks to the altar and taps a button the designers had discretely hidden in a compartment from where the altar had slid out. A screen comes to life and shows the location of the four Blessed Accord planets. She takes a moment to remember where they are; she picks up the Athame from the altar and, facing toward each of the planets, calls on the elements to protect them while they commune with their respective deities.
By the time she has finished, the others have finished Ground-and-Centering and are proceeding to find the tapestry with their particular deity on it. The people who set up the ship tailored the tapestries to the crew. They have representations of each of their personal gods and goddesses. Doc goes to his, but there is a moment when he considers joining Adair in front of Electra and Zeus, not so much for Zeus, but part of him felt he needed to say hi to Electra.
Ultimately, he goes to the altar, takes the little bowl of water, walks to his deity tapestry, and sits. After closing his eyes, he brings their images into his head as they had taught him. And it didn't take long before they were animating in a way that he isn't controlling. This part is the part that always amazes him. "Please, Poseidon, I know we are not sailing on water, but we are sailing in a way. Watch over us on our journey. Give us fair warning of impending troubles, so we may use our gifts to overcome them." He can see an old-earth sailing vessel in his mind, and it morphs into their ship. Poseidon hauls his arm back and throws his trident. The trident cracks through the stars, creating a path, and their craft follows that path to their destination.
After having some calm moments without visions, Doc opens his eyes and stands, taking the bowl back to the altar. He looks down, a little surprised to find that the bowl is empty. He smiles as he puts the bowl back on the altar, knowing that someone would fill it. It always amazes him when he gets straightforward proof like that, that the deity is there. He is glad his grandmother was working on his family; he resolves to redouble his efforts to get his family to move to the Blessed Accord.
Turning after putting the bowl down, he sees the rest of them finishing up. "Good work?" he asks.
"Oh yeah. I'm grateful that we put these in our ships." Brigit reaches out and pats the tree before making her way to the altar to make sure everything was back. Seeing that it is, she presses the button to cause it to recede, watching as it slides home into its little nook. The tapestries rise and retreat into the wall as the wall closes over the altar's alcove. She turns and makes her way to the door. "I definitely needed that. All right, back to work, everyone. It's not long now."
Doc is the last one out, and he shuts the lights off. He has an idle thought that slightly sets him at unease.
He hadn't felt Ananke.