Summer Plans

“But there’s no true freedom when your mother’s around, she’ll nag you and hound you drag your heart down. So that’s why I say I’ll get my own ship. I’ll name her and load her and go on my trip. [...] But my mother did follow me right onboard, she said ‘I’ll journey with you and keep you safe. By her son’s right side is a mother’s true place.’”

-from “The Captain’s Mother”, traditional spacer song

Yan was practically in tears by time she reached the dining hall where she had previously agreed to meet her friends. She choked out a quick prayer at the shrine before heading up into the dining hall proper. It was nearly deserted, since it was past lunchtime. Most younger students were busy studying for finals, and Yan's class were all busy interviewing.

It was easy for Yan to locate the table where Sylva and Harbin were sitting, the only two who did not have an interview during that time slot. The two were deep in conversation as Yan approached, but Harbin waved her over.

"I do think that my interviewer had a little bit of a problem with depicting the face of God as a living person, but he seemed to like the project anyway," Harbin was saying to Sylva.

"So it wasn't as bad as Master Hein implied it was?" Sylva asked this while nibbling on a cookie.

"Hey, Yan!" Harbin said, kicking out a chair for Yan to sit on, which she gratefully accepted.

Sylva noted the look on Yan's face. "Interview not go well?"

Yan put her head down on the table, and folded her long arms over it. "The worst," came the muffled reply.

"What happened?" Sylva asked.

"Who was it even with?" questioned Harbin.

In response to both of their questions, Yan held up the card that First Sandreas had handed to her. She covered up the phone number, thinking that it might be private information, but the name on the top of the card was clear to read.

"Haha, holy shit," Harbin said.

"No wonder you had your interview in the admin building," Sylva said. "What was he like?"

Yan chose to keep her head on the table and just groaned loudly. Harbin slid a cookie under her arm towards her face. This at least caused her to pick up her head because he was getting cookie crumbs in her eyelashes.

"I don't know, it was weird." She finally said before jamming the offered food into her mouth.

"Weird how?" Sylva asked.

"Like I was in the hallway for like an hour waiting for two other people to finish their interviews, and his ugly bodyguard or whatever was there the whole time,” Yan mumbled through her cookie filled mouth.

"Well duh he's going to have a bodyguard- you know how many assassination attempts there's been on him this year alone? That we know of?" Harbin's voice was rising in volume as he said this, but Yan waved her hand at him to pipe down.

"Yeah. And once I got in there he asked me weird questions about my project, and told me that God told him to find me, and that I shouldn't take the apprenticeship because it will suck, but that I should because I'll have a ton of power, but I shouldn't because I won't get to have a life, but I should because I'll get paid two hundred thousand charges a year, and then he just, like, let me root around in his brain for a little bit to make me trust him." All of this came out in a rush.

"Why would he ever do that?" Harbin asked.

"He must really actually think that God told him to find you, otherwise he wouldn't let you do that, that's for sure." Sylva said.

"But that really doesn't sound so bad," Harbin said. "Unless you saw something really horrible when you were going fishing in his brain."

Mouth full of another cookie, Yan groaned again. She took a moment to steal some of Sylva's juice and clear her mouth so she could talk.

"I, ughhhhh, when I was in his brain, I, uh, God..." Yan took a deep breath, "Accidentally showed him the memory of when my mom died."

Sylva sucked in her breath through her teeth and cringed. "Yikes."

Harbin also looked somewhat pained. "So what did he do when that happened?"

"He was just 'don't do mind tricks when you don't know what you're doing, it's dangerous'. And then he gave me his card and told me to call him and I kinda ran out and came here."

"Well it doesn't sound like he's revoking your apprenticeship offer, anyway." Sylva said pragmatically. "Are you going to accept?"

"I don't know! Like, it's so weird and just... Why me?"

"Because God told him, I guess." Harbin said. "You've just gotta take him on that, it doesn't seem like something anybody would lie about."

"It's definitely not theologically sound to say you're getting a message from God when you're not." Sylva added jokingly.

"So who were the other students interviewing with him? Anyone we know?" Harbin asked.

"Uh, Sid- didn't catch his last name. White, glasses, big shiny bald head, he's deaf. You've probably seen him around. And Kino Meija- long black hair, kinda brown, fidgety. I've never had a conversation with either of them before today."

"I think I've talked to Kino before- she was in my economics class three semesters ago. She's smart but kinda weird," Harbin offered.

"We're all ‘kinda weird’, that's nothing to hold against anybody." Sylva said. "But you and those two, seems like a random grouping if you ask me."

"There could have been more that I didn't see," Yan said.

"Seems unlikely- three apprentices is already a lot for one person," Sylva said.

"It didn't really seem like he wanted us as apprentices more like as his agents to help him out," Yan said.

"Everybody runs their apprenticeship differently," Harbin said. "My cousin told me that a his boss's boss at the engineering firm where he works took an apprentice from one of the smaller schools but never interacts with him at all. It was more like a regular job than apprentice-ing."

"That doesn't sound quite like what this is," Sylva said. "Is he looking for a successor or something?"

"I don't know," Yan moaned. "I don't know what to do."

"I think you should take it," Harbin said. "You'll never get another chance like this."

"I think you should take the Xenobio position," Sylva countered. "Still exciting, less weird."

"I have to think about it, ok?" Yan said, feeling pathetic. "I don't know how I feel about the whole thing. I know my uncle would want me to take it."

"The weird one? Why would you want to listen to him?" Sylva asked.

"He did take care of me after my mom died. And it would be really really good for the family to get somebody high up in the government." Even though the Trade Guild and the Imperial government were not always the friendliest, Yan thought.

"Don't think of your family, think about what's best for you," Harbin said.

"What's best for my family is best for me, you idiot. If they find out I didn't take the best possible apprenticeship someone will murder me next time I set foot on the ship."

"It's not like they ever have to know," Sylva said. "You aren't obligated to tell them, and certainly the school doesn't send out notices to families."

"They'd find out because I'd look too guilty whenever anybody asked me about how my selection process went. You know how bad I am at keeping a straight face in that type of situation," Yan said.

"Excuses, excuses." Sylva waved her hand as though swatting flies. "It is your decision and don't let me or Harbin or anyone else tell you otherwise."

"Do let me tell you otherwise, because I'm always right, and never, in fact, heretical," Harbin joked. "But seriously, are you leaning towards one or the other?"

"There's a big part of me that just wants to pick the Academics team and be done with it. I think that would be a good life," Yan said.

"I can just picture you being a stodgy old master," Sylva said. "The thought makes me gag."

"You can't go wrong with any of the choices," Harbin said.

"Well I definitely can. All of them have some major downsides, in case you hadn't noticed."

"Yeah if you go with Academics you'll become the most boring person on the planet,” Sylva said.

"That's not true, some masters are quite nice people," Harbin tried to say.

"It's a joke." Sylva rolled her eyes.

"Sure, Academics would be the most boring, I'm not disagreeing with you, exactly," Yan said. "But sometimes it's good to have a bit of stability and familiarity, and I already know a lot of the masters and how we get along, that would make it easier."

"Do whatever you want," Sylva said. "But think about it before you go making any wild and crazy life altering choices."

"I'm not dumb. I probably won't even be able to force myself to make a choice until the last possible second," Yan said.

"Won't being unable to make a decision and then making a panic choice at the very end of the week be the same as not thinking it over and just making a choice right now?" Harbin asked.

"No it's totally different." Yan refused to elaborate. "Besides, I don't want to think about it right this instant." There was a moment of silence.

"Sooooo, what are you planning to do on your month off?" Sylva awkwardly asked.

"You know, you manage to jump from the worst topic to the second-worst topic, it's amazing the talent you have," Yan said.

"I need to find a place to live," Harbin said. "The architect I'm almost-definitely apprenticing with doesn't live on this continent."

"What continent does he live on?" Yan asked.

"I don't know, I forgot to ask. He said he would send me the details of the arrangement after I formally accept at graduation."

"At least you can stay in your campus apartment until the end of the month," Sylva said.

"Yeah, but I have five years worth of garbage piled up in it that I need to get rid of."

"Well we're all in that boat," Yan said. "Sylva keeps our living room neat enough but her bedroom is-" Sylva mock slapped her hand over Yan's mouth. "Mmmmph."

"The secrets of my bedroom must never be revealed," Sylva said.

Yan licked the hand that was covering her mouth.

"You're nasty, you know that?" Sylva wiped her licked hand on her cassock.

"Just another charming piece of my personality," Yan said.

"Again, not sure how that makes you 'universe leadership' type material, but who am I to know," Sylva said. This made Yan laugh.

"So, Sylva, what are you doing over your month break?"

"No idea. I was hoping one of you was going to be doing something interesting so you would invite me along," Sylva said. “The less time I have to spend with my family, the better off I am.”

"You're welcome to spend the month househunting with me," Harbin offered.

"I said 'interesting,' not 'mind-numbingly boring'," Sylva said.

"I'm probably just going to work a month on my family's ship- my uncle said they would be in this piece of space for a while. I can get you a letter of transport if you want."

"What's working on a trade ship like?" Sylva asked. "It's a little embarrassing, but you know I've never been off planet."

"If I'm being completely honest with you," Yan said, "The work that you would probably be able to do is minimal, since you have absolutely no idea how a ship operates."

"Sure, but I'm sure somebody could find me something to do."

"Unless you enjoy cooking, cleaning, or running errands, I doubt it," Yan said. "Nobody would let you touch anything important."

"I love cooking, and I could even learn to handle running errands," Sylva saied.

"I notice the sly omission of cleaning from that list," Harbin said. "How interesting."

"I mean you can come if you want. It'd probably be more exciting for you than for me," Yan said with a shrug.

"Obviously, since you've been on ships your entire life," Sylva said dryly.

"Yeah. That and spacers are like, how do I put this politely?" Yan started, and Harbin laughed, knowing what was coming. "Spacers are just incredibly horny all the time because there’s nowhere for them to go, and any guest on the ship gets their choice of who to sleep with. To put it as bluntly as possible."

"Wow, space sex paradise, I'm definitely in,” Sylva said.

Yan rolled her eyes.

"If you really do want to come, I'll ask the captain for a note of transport for you, but it really isn't that fun. I'm only going to see my family, and because I don't have anything better to do that month."

"I really do want to come, I'm not joking" Sylva said earnestly. "Not to be sappy or anything, but I don't know how life is going to be when we're both in our apprenticeships and, yeah. I just want to spend some time with you." Sylva's face did look almost pitifully earnest, and Yan had to smile at that.

"That is pretty sappy. But I'll message my uncle and see about getting you aboard." Yan stretched her arms out above her head. "Oh, one other thing- we don't speak New Imperial on board, so that might kinda suck since you don't speak Terlin, or Imperial Sign... Most of us at least speak a little bit of Old Imperial, so you should be fine..."

"It'll be ok, I'm sure," Sylva said brightly. "Besides, you can translate for me."

“Ugh, no thanks.” Yan stood up. "I think I'm gonna go chill out for a little. Think about what I'm gonna do. And I'll write to my uncle about you."

"Ok, I'll text you if any of us get up to anything later," Harbin said. "We probably won't, but you never know."

Yan waved goodbye as she headed out of the dining hall.

> Hi Mr. Sandreas. This is Yan BarCarran.

> Sorry about what happened earlier.

> I want to be your apprentice.

> Let me know what I have to do.

Dear Uncle Maxes,

I have a month free before I start my apprenticeship. I'd rather tell you about it in person, so I am coming back home for at least a little bit.

Can you have the Captain write me and my friend Sylva letters of transit for the Sun's Gold out of system? She wants to see what working on a ship is like and spend the month with me.

My final project went well. I can bring it with me so you can see it if you want.

Love,

Yan