Rory walked away from the trio clearly dismissing himself. He couldn't help but throw a look over his shoulder to see Aspen one last time as he walked away. She didn't miss his gaze, and looked directly into his eyes. I'm in trouble thought Rory as he was walking through the large doors and let them slide behind him. He rubbed the back of his neck. She was gorgeous he couldn't shake the thought of kissing her lips. He was greeted at the captains quarter by his crew and his right hand man Levi.
"I've seen that look before. I thought we discussed this."
"No you discussed how you felt and I completely ignored you. I am a grown adult and captain of this ship until she is bought or found she belongs to me whenever I please."
"You sound like your going to rape the girl."
"You know what I mean. I can make her fall for me quickly and then when its all said and done she will leave me like all the others. Whether its with another rich man or another slave. I'm just showing her a good time until then.
"I don't know how you sleep at night."
"I sleep soundly and on my back. Now how is my ship and when can we launch to the next pilot?" asked Rory clearly dismissing the subject
"We need another 3 days before launch. The thrusters on point 7 still are cold and the 5 and 9 are just warming. The chronolapser should be ready by then."
"I just bought a new chronolapser last week!" Roared Rory
"Turns out some of the parts where from the salvage." replied a bored Levi
Rory posed with his hand under his chin "Yeah, well that's what I get for getting something from the outskirts of the pilot. Launch as soon as possible in the mean time lets see if we can find some resources from the local giants. I think they have one here that contains a certain gas we need to power the ship." Rory was handed a small looking device that appeared to be a clear glass tablet. He pulled a frame of immediate galaxy and pointed to Saturn. "They call the giant Saturn, its got a 25% atmosphere of helium and then we need to go to this giant that they call Venus utilize the atmospheric sulfuric acid clouds. There should be a couple of other useful gases to help the the Chronolapser start. I want solutions Levi not problems its fairly simple."
Levi rolled his eyes "Simple maybe to you."
"Just get it done Levi!" Rory shouted his anger erupting. Levi walked away in a rush to complete the tasks at hand.
Rory shook the device before looking around the ships upper deck. The crew that had held still during the confrontation quickly resumed their previous tasks. "I'm going to my personal quarters. Do not disturb me go directly to Levi first with inconsequential tasks." his voice boomed over the activity. The crew seemed to understand in general and did not acknowledge the statement as they knew that could put them in the sights of the captains fury. Rory walked to his quarters with the clear tablet in hand. When his door shut he opened tapped the clear tablet with a combination. An immediate digital view of showed Aspen. She was talking to someone, he guessed Xochitl. He knew that if he wanted to get close to Aspen he would have to seek the approval of her best friend. It was clear to him that the two were almost magnetic never straying to far from one another side. Xochitl was clearly the one who was feisty not that Aspen wasn't. She was her own type of fierce. Unafraid to ask the hard questions that needed to be answered. Then there was Bill. How was he going to get pass the old man who clearly had taken on the roll of body guard for the duo. That was a mistake asking Bill to get to know the girls. It had only built a trust and trusts could lead to discord. It was better when the passengers on this ship were everyone for themselves. Occasionally Rory would get a feisty batch but he always delivered no matter the cost. Usually one demonstration of ending a life would bring order and compliance. It was a hard truth in his Pilot, but the truth was that in his world in his reality there was consume or be consumed. As difficult as it was to accept his Pilot was too powerful, there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. If you ran away from your Pilot the guardians of his pilot would eventually find you. This was the harsh truth and one day his pilot would consume all pilots.
He stared at the girls image floating above the tablet. He studied her face filled with concern. What he would do to keep her forever he thought to himself. What he would do to take away that sadness for the rest of her life. She felt different somehow from the rest her eyes clearly tainted with drops of tears threatening to fall. He saw one slide down her cheek and he pretended to brush it away with his fingers.
Her image was suddenly clouded by Xochitl hugging her best friend. She was probably there to whisper words of encouragement, he thought. He was sure that Xochitl was telling Aspen that they would somehow escape. He knew this because there was always hope at first in the eyes of the captives. He could still see the fight in Xochitl. He was sad to know that someday he would smother that fire in her belly. There was no hope for anyone anywhere. The only hope you could find was to find a little love in this inane existence.
So help him God, he thought, one day he would love someone as much as they needed to be loved. One day someone would love him the way he could infinitely love. He hoped it would be Aspen. She was perfect in his eyes.