Nick's face was wide eyed and slack jawed as he patted down his pockets, staring into the distance. "You sneaky…"
"That fake ID must have been pretty convincing to get as far as it did." Jacq smiled to herself, "good thing nobody thought to actually look at the chip's case -- the original owner's name was carved into the design. Easy to overlook, but a keen enough eye…" She let herself trail off as a wave of exhaustion washed over her.
"Tell me that's not what hit me."
Jacq's cheeks burned with the force of her grin. "Your pockets are so wide, you were practically offering out their contents. My hand kind of just… fell into it when you bumped into me."
He stood slowly, casting a flickering shadow over her from a light in the room beside him. "Tell me you picked it up before grabbing me. Tell me it's here, on this ship."
"I wouldn't have thrown it if I'd had that kind of time…" Something about his expression drained her will to speak, as if every muscle in his face was no longer being controlled but rather lay dormant.
He leaned back against the wall with a thump, recoiling with a wince as his head touched the metal. He then slowly pressed it to the wall with visible force, eyes squeezed tight. "We needed that ID chit."
Jacq stood, legs still shaking from the sprint. "For what? It's probably what got you flagged in the first place, you weren't going to be able to use it again."
"The case." He opened his eyes, piercing her with green irises that shone the same whether the light flickered on or off. "It was a designer brand -- Intelligent Designs. We were going to sell it. We needed to sell it." He stepped through the door into the flickering light, slamming it closed behind him.
Jacq stumbled through the sudden darkness to where he'd stood, finding the portal with her hands as her eyes adjusted -- the small lights beneath the grated floor did little besides declare their own presence. She found the latch and tried working it a couple times before realizing it had been locked, and resorted to slamming her fist against the door.
"I can't tell you how bad we needed that case." Nick's voice chirped over an intercom behind her. "Food isn't free, you know."
She found the button under the speaker -- it slid around loosely in its frame as she pressed it. "You wouldn't have been able to sell it."
"We can barely feed ourselves as it is, let alone an extra crewmember."
She punched the button, jaw clenched over straining vocal chords. "I'm telling you, that case was worthless before you even brought it to Estermere!"
"Regardless, I think it's best you went through the airlock."
Her heart stopped, arms going cold as her throat closed. Her finger hovered over the intercom button, but she quickly let it fall. She looked around the dim corridor, but found only darkness further in -- darkness that, perhaps, led to another door?
"Go, please."
She turned back to the speaker. "What?"
"It's not an automatic door, you need to turn the latch and force it open. It'll take some effort since it's pressurized, but once you get it started the escaping air should do the rest."
She punched the button, glancing at the locked door. "I'm... not going to do that."
The door's inner mechanisms clunked, then it opened with a roar of rolling gears. "I guess we probably need the oxygen anyway," Nick sighed. "Looks like you get to starve to death with us, then." He stepped aside, motioning for her to enter into the flickering light.
She squinted against the brightness, happy to put more walls between herself and the void.
"Welcome about Perseverance. This," Nick swept his arms in a broad arc as she entered, "is our modern art exhibit." A single struggling LED spotlighting hanging from the ceiling flickered over two stories of empty space roughly ten meters cubical. Note as your eyes adjust, how the edges of the room appear to connect seamlessly with the void outside, symbolizing the infinite illusion of free will." Nick's hands went through a series of broad and apparently meaningless gestures as he spoke, ending up in his pockets. "Artist unknown, mediums used: Ancient spaceships and sadness."
Jacq squinted into the darkness, barely making out a large, segmented door from floor to ceiling to the left of where they'd entered. "It's the cargo bay."
"Theoretically yes, but it's seen more use as modern art under my captainship." Nick followed her gaze to the doors. "they don't open anymore, so we couldn't carry cargo if we had any. At least, I don't think they do."
Jacq's brow twisted as she turned to him. "You haven't tried?"
Nick nodded slowly. "I was going to, but Hep -- our mechanic -- kind of advised against it."
"Kind of?"
He tilted his head to one side. "I asked if he thought the doors still worked." He tilted his head to the other. "He said 'don't' which I took to mean 'no'." He shrugged. "If Hep can't fix them with what's already here, then they might as well just be another wall -- and in that way, they work splendidly."
"Why didn't you just ask him what he meant?"
The side of his mouth strained in a not-quite-smile. "you'll see." He continued the tour, pointing out the crew quarters before leading her up a rattling ladder to an equally sound catwalk. They entered a room directly above the crew quarters, in it's center was a multifaceted pillar that connected floor to ceiling, branching out into the window frames above and containing the glistening, bare torso of the pilot at the bottom, his face hidden behind a metal sheet.
Jacq slowly took in the room from the floor up, lingering on the void beyond the numerous, jagged windows above. She swayed as her eyes tried to adjust between the infinite depth of glowing pinpoints and the relative closeness of the numerous window frames. The stars beyond moved to her left, which directly contradicted the information her brain was receiving from her inner ear.
Nick caught her by the shoulders as she tilted dangerously far towards her heels. "Yeah, I don't know why they put the window up there -- especially when the ship was designed to move laterally from where we're standing. It messes with your inner-ear at first but you'll get used to it; we call it 'getting your space-legs.'"
"Structural integrity," The pilot interjected. "It was either put a window there, or don't have any windows. And no, we do not call it that."
Nick frowned at the torso. "Just like we don't sit in the pilot's seat without covering ourselves, right Jarett?"
"If you don't want me to sweat, you're gonna have to get Hep the parts to fix the AC in here. Extra clothes aren't going to cool me off."
"But they will keep your bare ass from touching the seat." Nick's eyes narrowed at the helmeted body. "You know, for when someone else sits there. When you aren't my pilot anymore."
Jarett's only response was the deep, slapping gurgle of air being pushed through cheeks submerged in a shallow puddle, amplified by the metal enclosure he sat in.
Nick rubbed at his brow. "You could at least sit on a towel..."
"Captain," Jarett chided. "I only have one towel, and I prefer to use it when I'm clean. Hold on-.." another deep gurgle-slap, much shorter than the first. "I think of it as job security, and an incentive for you to provide higher-quality sustenance."
Nick's eyes were shut so tight they seemed to be trying to cave in on themselves as his thumb and forefinger moved to assist, jaw muscles pressing the caramel color from his skin. "Jacq, Jarett." He gestured with the hand that wasn't currently moulding his face into putty. "Jarett, Jacq."
"Oh, right." The helmet slid up, revealing Jarett's stubbled, equally-doughy visage. "The new kid." He smiled at Jacq. "Hi, I'm Jarett."
"Jacq." She waved awkwardly at the sweaty nudist.
Nick blinked a couple times, dropping his hand to his side where it slapped loosely against his Jacket. "Leru gave you the rundown?"
Jarett nodded. "She told me the basics - that we had a new crew member, that she was a child, and that you had manipulated her into joining us for unknown reasons."
"She didn't say that last part."
Jarett shrugged. "I inferred it. She also said we're going to discuss the future over thirds."
Nick was already walking around the pillar towards the far side of the room. "Sounds like you've got it, I'll see you there."
"Yup, but thanks for stopping by anyway, Cap!" Jarett called over his shoulder before turning back to where Jacq still stood with a roll of his eyes. He smiled, "It was nice to meet you."
Jacq smiled weakly, glancing between Jarett and the floor as she followed Nick out the door on the opposite side of the room. She found him in the hallway beyond, staring at a closed door opposite the one they'd just exited. She grunted as she tried to roll the door closed behind her, unsure whether it had actually latched by the time she was done with it but she was done with it all the same.
She turned back to Nick to find him unmoved. His face was centimeters from the surface of the door, arms by his sides with his fingertips arched upwards, barely touching the metal. His shoulders rose and fell in a deep slow rhythm as she watched, frozen between steps in the middle of the hall.