Excerpt: Lywn: A Space Trader's Daughter - Book 2 - Kaja Colony Crisis

I stared at the dictionary. “V? How did I end up there? I was only looking for a word in the F section.” I quickly flipped back to there and just as quickly found the word I’d been looking for. Fubsy—Short and stout; squat. “Perfect. Just what I needed.” And the word went into my essay for school. Personally I didn’t much like writing essays for school, but school was a necessary evil. If I ever wanted to do anything, I’d need to “have an education” as my parents were always saying.
I sighed and turned over onto my back to gaze up at the ceiling. It was smooth and metallic, just like everything else on this ship. I was very bored after almost four weeks of travel already. I really was being sent to the middle of nowhere. Of course, my parents were behind all this. They, for some strange reason, had decided that I would be safer in an outer colony at the edge of colonized space than a large central planet that was heavily guarded. I had done my best to persuade them otherwise, but they were adamant in their decision. The result was that they put me on this rinky transport ship headed off to Kaja colony to stay with an old Aunt of mine who was a spinster. She had never married, but my parents felt that I would be safe with her because she ran the children’s home at that colony. I felt like I was being sent to prison. See, I hadn’t seen this Aunt in years, not since I was four, so I really didn’t remember that much about her except that she had a lot of gray hair.
There was only one transport ship a year that made a trip to Kaja Colony so I had to leave () before my term at school had ended. That was why I was sitting in my tiny room writing an essay for school. Thankfully, by the time we got there my school term should be done and it would be the summer. However, that would mean that I would have no excuse to stay in my room all vacation and not talk to anyone.
“How did I get myself mixed up in this mess?” I muttered to the ceiling.
I don’t know how long I lay there, but a beep at the door broke me out of my reverie.
“Dinner will be served in ten minutes,” said a voice through the com.
Ten minutes, I mused. That was barely enough time to get presentable. I knew from experience that if I was late, there wouldn’t be any food left, so I straightened my appearance up and was out the door five minutes later.
The mess hall was loud and noisy when I came through the door.
“Hello there, Lwyn!” came a cheery voice from behind me. () was standing in the door to the kitchen with a flowery apron on. She didn’t like to cook without some kind of apron on and it always had flowers on it.
“Hello, (),” I said and gave her a hug.
“Now you just come on into the kitchen and eat here. The mess hall’s too crowded for such a young girl as yourself to fit in.
“I’m slim,” I teased her.
“You know very well what I mean, dear child. Now come on in before you say another word.”
“Yes ma’am,” I said cheekily before I ducked past her into the warm kitchen. This was the warmest and coziest place on the ship, besides the engine room perhaps. I was only guessing on that point because I’d never been down there and wasn’t likely to be allowed any time soon. It was my dearest wish to somehow get in and have one of the engineers teach me how to work the engines. With that thought in mind, I finished my food quickly and headed out of the mess hall as soon as I had eaten the last crumb. I was on a mission to find (). I’d become friend with him recently and he, as an engineer, was my sole way into the engine room with permission. I could always try to sneak in there one time but I’d probably get caught and then be confined to the passenger deck. I hated staying with the other passengers and I quite valued my time on the other decks. That was the only reason I kept my curiosity at bay. It could get me into more trouble than I could handle and there were still two weeks left in this voyage.
I trotted down passageway after passageway and still I couldn’t find (). Of course I had wasted some time looking out a window at a glorious Nebula in the distance. According to the captain, it was recently discovered and they had decided to detour by it to show us passengers the beauties of nature. However, I did not believe him. It was more likely that they were off course somehow and had unintentionally ended up in this area of space. They had already done it once, and that’s why we weren’t at Kaja already. The original schedule had said we would dock at Kaja colony in four weeks. The voyage was one day shy of four weeks and Kaja was nowhere in sight. The only comfort was that at least one person on board knew what they were doing and where to go and the captain was finally listening to them. Fusby would describe the captain to a ‘T’. He was short, squat and had a very short temper to go along with his short stature. His proud and stubborn nature made it very hard to get along with him, especially for a whole month in close quarters.
At last I arrived at the entrance to engine room. The metal door was closed and I could hear no sound except the throbbing of the engines. I debated with myself as to whether I should venture in, however I was quite torn and undecided. I reached out my hand and placed it on the wall beside the door. The throbbing of the engines was even more pronounced, the vibrations rippling through the wall and into my hand. As if the sensation had made up my mind for me, I sat down with my back to the wall and waited. () would most certainly come this way even if he wasn’t in the engine room at the present.
I must have fallen asleep because I woke up to find myself in my room and the time advanced several hours. I whacked myself on the head for being such an idiot as to fall asleep.
“However, I’ve still got a chance to see him, because he works at night!” I exclaimed. I jumped out of bed, pulled on my shoes and was out the door in two minutes. I did my best to keep silent as a glided along the deserted corridors. It was late at night and all of us children were supposed to be in bed by now and not roaming the ship. However, I was an expert at finding my way around the ship at night without running into anybody. The nighttime was my favorite time to explore because there were fewer people around who would stop me. In the corridor outside the engine room, heavy footsteps alerted me to an approaching person. Quickly I scrambled into a side corridor and waited for them to pass by. But they never got past me because when I saw who it was, I jumped out of hiding and attacked them with a hug.
“()! I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“So is that why you were asleep outside the engine room?” he answered, gruffly.
“Of course. I tried to stay awake till you came but the engines put me to sleep. Can I stay with you? Please don’t take me back to my room,” I pleaded, gazing up at him with my best innocent eyes.
He laughed. “Since you’ve already had a few hours of sleep I guess you can follow me around. But only for a little while, understand?” He shook his finger at me.
“I understand.” I grabbed his hand and we walked off together.
“What do you want to know now?” he asked a few minutes later. “This silence is not like you at all.”
“I can be quiet when I want to,” I retorted, rather indignantly. “I was just thinking.” In fact I was trying to decide how best to approach the whole subject of me and the engine rooms.
“Thinking?” he asked in mock surprise. “Is such a thing possible? I thought you were incapable of thinking before acting. I thought kids always acted on impulse?”
“I can think, and I’m not just any kid.”
“Yeah,” he ruffled up my hair, “you’re too smart for a kid your age. Are you sure you haven’t lied to me about your age?”
“Why would I do that?” I asked. “I’m twelve years old and I like being that age. It’s not too old and not too young, at least most of the time.” I made a face. “I do wish I was older sometimes.”
“What kid doesn’t wish that? They’re always wishing to be grownup, but it’s not all that it’s chalked up to be. I wish I was still a kid, about your age. Ah to be so carefree.”
“Carefree? Why do you think being a kid’s carefree? We’ve got worries just the same as you grownups.”
“So what worries got you wishing that you were older?”
I sighed. This was my big moment and I had to say this just right or it wouldn’t work. “I just want to get to go everywhere the grownups can.”
“The grownup passengers or crew?” he asked, catching onto my scheme.
He’s just too smart for my plan. Phooey. I’ll just have to tell him straight out, I decided. “I want to be able to go into the engine room.” He raised an eyebrow, but I rushed on. “I’m so bored on this ship and the engines are the most interesting part of it. And it figures that it is restricted to us kids.”
“It’s not restricted just for you kids. All passengers are restricted from certain areas of the ship and even some of the crew can’t go in there. It’s dangerous around the engines.”
“But I’d be safe with you around. I’d listen to you and do what you tell me. And you’re always saying that you need more people to help and there’s not enough hands. And I could help you, and-”
“Enough already!” he said, raising his hands as if in surrender. “Let me think about it, ok? I’d have to get permission and all from the captain.”
“But you’re in charge of the engine room.”
“Yes, but the captain’s in charge of the ship and I have to pass all decisions by him or else I could lose my job. You do understand that, don’t you?”
“I guess I do, but I am a very responsible girl.”
“We’ll see what the captain thinks.” He closed the subject with that so I let it drop, well almost let it drop.
“If I could work with you, what kind of jobs could I do?” I asked.
“You are a persistent kid.” He shook his head. “Let’s see, there are a few small jobs that aren’t dangerous, like handing me tools and-”
“Could I learn any of the jobs?” I asked eagerly. “You know, how to do stuff and all that?”
“Maybe, there might be something,” he conceded warily.
“I would love to learn anything you could teach me.”
“Like how to keep quiet about how nice I am to you?” he said.
I flushed a little. “I guess I could do that. How long’ll it be before you can find out if it’s ok with the captain?”
“I’ll ask him tomorrow.” () pushed open a door and I found myself back in my room.
“Aw do I have to?” I whined.
“Yes, you do. It’s time for bed,” I yawned, “and you know it.”
I hastily covered my yawn. “I’m not tired at all.”
“Yes you are, now, to bed.” Gently he pushed me into the room. He left and shut the door behind him. I followed his advice and got ready for bed. Now that I was thinking about it, I was feeling sort of tired. Exhausted, and fairly happy, I climbed into bed and fell asleep thinking about what I had achieved.

* * * * *

My sleep wasn’t long though. An alarm sounded through the whole ship that knocked me awake.
“All crew report to stations. All passengers please gather in mess hall,” was the cryptic announcement that came over the intercom system.
I quickly grabbed my small bag of belongings. I risked a quick look out the window before I left the room. The nebula we had seen yesterday was closer, but not close enough to pose a threat. However I saw a small speck outlined in front of the nebula’s light.
The threat must be related to that ship, I mused as I left my room and joined the crowd headed toward the mess hall. I wonder what it is. I hope it isn’t something bad. But why would the alarm have been sounded then?
People jostled me from every side. A cacophony of sound beat against my ear drums. The persistent blare of the alarm cut through the babble of terrified people. The shuffling of feet drummed a steady beat that one could hardly work against.
Finally we reached the mess hall and the tightly packed crowd of the corridor gave way to the milling of scared people in the large room. People sat on the tables as well as the chairs, but oddly enough, they seemed to stay away from the window. I hurried toward a spot right next to the window. I couldn’t see the nebula from here, but I at least felt an illusion of space. If I kept looking out the window I could ignore the mass of panicked people milling about in the room behind me. However this illusion was shattered when another announcement came from the intercom.
“This is the Captain. Passengers, please be prepared to spend the night where you are. There is no reason for panic. We have merely sighted another vessel which might belong to space raiders.” At this, muttering broke out among the passengers. The captain continued, “We are not a cargo ship and therefore don’t have any reason to be afraid, but we still need to take precautions. The ship has not changed its course to intercept ours. However we are still being careful. You can do your part by remaining where you are and by not panicking or contributing to panic by spreading false rumors. Thank you.”
I wasn’t too surprised at this, but I still wondered if there was danger. Panicking was the last thing on my mind; rather I was excited and exhilarated. I enjoyed danger and all that came along with it. I looked around the room to see if the crew would need help, but no crewmember was in sight. Then I remembered that they had all been ordered to their stations. With that thought I lapsed back into staring out the window with my cheek pressed against it. The alarm had given me a bit of a headache so I pressed my forehead to the cool glass. That was when I realized that the alarm had stopped blaring its shrill tone. However, the shrill cry of babies had replaced it, and I found them more annoying than the alarm had been.
The view out the window was unchanging so I shut my eyes and pressed my ear to the wall to listen to the throb of the engines. It was comforting to hear its steady beat. I would only panic if they stopped. Hours passed with me still listening to the engine’s sound. I finally moved after a while to grab the blanket that I had brought with me in my bag. Once I pulled that over my head, I could finally shut out all the noise and go to sleep.