HOME | DD

Description

"I've never really been on a planet." Tertio said, after another swig of the tea. He was starting to feel downright chatty. "But I've been to a planetoid, which is maybe kind of like the same thing? I've also been to an asteroid-- That's where my crew crystal was, you know? It was a Shaksa mining asteroid, and Hugh went in pretending to be a slave so he could get me out. 'Course, he didn't know I was me-- Everybody was surprised when I showed up, cause I wasn't supposed to be on the ship to begin with. I was a stowaway..."

As he said this last part, he realized he didn't know how this crew felt about stowaways. He suddenly clammed up and looked nervously into his tea.

"Oh?" Kit asked, sounding interested and completely non judgemental. "Well it's lovely that they let you onto the crew."

"You're not a thief too, are you?" Nik groomed a bit.

"Nik, stop. even IF he was. He is an upstanding crewmember now. Isn't that right, Tertio?"

Tertio stared at Nik. “N-no! I’ve- I’ve never been a thief! I mean,” He squirmed, drawing his feet up onto the chair again, “I, I had to pinch a bit of food and water while I was hiding out, But, that was just to survive-- I-I’m not a thief!” He hunched his shoulders and stared down into his tea. He was desperate for them to understand. “... I was just... trying to escape... I was going to get off the ship at their next stop, no matter where it was... Because anywhere would have been better than where I came from.” He peeked up at Nik, shaking a little. “But I promise I’m not a thief... Not really.”

"Alright. alright." Nik said. "We aren't' going to toss you in jail or anything. Just making sure."

"What were you running from? If...you don't mind me asking?" Kit turned from her panel, looking up at him with sympathetic glowing eyes.

Tertio looked over at Kit, his mouth dry all of a sudden. He tightened his fingers around the cup in his hands, but couldn’t bring it to his lips. He turned to look at a spot on the floor in front of the captain’s chair. “I... I...” He had to just start. This was the hardest part. He took a breath. “I was born on Saturn Station. A big orbital around a gas giant, back in Earth space. Never knew my parents, but I was raised by my Nanna...” He looked up briefly at Kit. “I mean, my grandma... She rented a little house in the down-below, and that’s where we lived until... until she, uh...” He cleared his throat and repositioned himself. He rested the tea mug on one of the broad chair arms and picked up the blanket roll instead, hugging it and clenching his fingers into the fake fur.

“I was seven years old... Of course, a little kid can’t pay rent, so the landlord turned me out. I had nowhere to go, just wandering the streets of the down-below, begging for scraps and trying not to get noticed by the rat-catchers. But I didn’t stand a chance... They caught me one day, and put me in the pound with the other orphans and runaways and unwanteds they’d rounded up. It wasn’t long before I was 'hired,'” he accompanied this word with heavy air quotes “by Waldo Hannon. He was a small-time businessman running salvage in the rings. Made his money by using cheap labor, and even cheaper equipment. I was brought to live in a repurposed hangar bay where there were a bunch of other kids, all orphans like me. He paid us in food, but just enough so we wouldn’t faint while we were working.” His voice had taken on a bitter edge. “Every day he’d send us out to work in the rings, using old, hand-me-down space suits and equipment. It was always malfunctioning or breaking down. There were lots of guys running businesses like Waldo's. Kids like us were called ring-rats.”

He slid himself back against the chair, hugging the blanket roll tighter. “There was this one kid, younger than me. His name was Gershwin. His space suit was way too big for him. When we were out on the rings one day, he lost control of his trajectory and started to float away. Not usually a problem, except he couldn’t deploy his grapplers. I happened to see it, so I dropped what I was doing and went after him. I brought him back, but meanwhile the pick-hammer I was using had floated away. When we came in at the end of the workday, I got a beating for losing a piece of valuable equipment. Gershwin got a beating too, for being too little to fit into the suit they gave him...” He shook his head. “Two months later, when the same thing happened, the kids around Gershwin didn’t make the same mistake I had made.” He gulped. “That kind of thing happens all the time to ring-rats... But there are always plenty more where they came from.” He sniffed, and swiped at his eyes with his sleeve, then buried his face in the blanket roll. “Does that answer your question?” He asked, from the midst of the fur.

"Oh... honey!" Kit hopped down from her chair and hurried over to him. She stood on her tail so she could reach him and nuzzled his cheek. "What a sad story! I'm so sorry, seedling!"

Nik turned to look back at him, his antennae flattening against his back. "That's awful...." He mumbled.

The cheek nuzzling was the last straw. Tertio started to cry, as quietly as possible, into the blanket roll- which he was squeezing like a life-preserver now. He was vibrating with tears and nerves, and was very grateful that his face was hidden from view. Still, he knew the shaking, the sniffling, and the occasional muffled whimper were a dead giveaway.

Now that he had started, the floodgates opened. He found himself crying about today's trauma, too. He had almost died like an animal today- and his friends might never have even known! It was all so unfair- to be considered nothing. Nothing but a body to operate a piece of mining equipment, nothing but a bit of fresh meat to be fed to a predator, nothing but a third clone. He wasn't nothing! He wasn't.

Eventually, he cried himself out. The blanket was soaked where his face was. His breathing became regular. He wanted to look up, get some fresh air. But he couldn't. He didn't know how to face Nik and Kit after they'd seen him break down like that.

"Oh....honey....honey..." Kit crawled onto his lap, wrapping her long tail around his back and rubbing her soft face on his hand. "It will be okay."

Before Tom, Nik would have just sat there awkwardly, then turned and just ignored it all. But He was a father now and he couldn't just leave a crying child be. He let Kit handle the worst of it, but once the sobbing had died down a little he said: "Well, we are glad you are here. Who else would help us rescue our captains?"

Tertio peeked up at Nik. “I’m not helping very much, am I?” He gave a weak laugh. His voice was squeaky and hoarse. He took a few deep, shuddery breaths, and lay his face sideways on top of the blanket roll. He sighed, and blinked down at Kit, who was still looking up at him sympathetically, and still rubbing his back with her tail. He managed to work up a smile for her, though it never quite reached his eyes.

After a few more minutes of this, when his voice felt a little more trustworthy, he cleared his throat and said: “So anyway, I’ve never been to a planet.”

~~~
~~~
~~~

Poor little ring-rat.

More art from the RP I'm doing with chill13 (is anyone surprised? ). Tertio is my character, so I wrote his bits, while Kit and Nik are her characters so she wrote theirs.

Tertio is sitting in Rover's chair on the bridge, helping as a 'Shaksa expert' (the hostile aliens they are dealing with), late at night while everyone else is in bed. Man, Rover's chair is complicated to draw! Kudos to Chill for designing it!

Click here to learn more about my Topmost Topaz project.
Click here to learn more about chill13 's Hi-Ho-Hyperdrive project.

Description

"I've never really been on a planet." Tertio said, after another swig of the tea. He was starting to feel downright chatty. "But I've been to a planetoid, which is maybe kind of like the same thing? I've also been to an asteroid-- That's where my crew crystal was, you know? It was a Shaksa mining asteroid, and Hugh went in pretending to be a slave so he could get me out. 'Course, he didn't know I was me-- Everybody was surprised when I showed up, cause I wasn't supposed to be on the ship to begin with. I was a stowaway..."

As he said this last part, he realized he didn't know how this crew felt about stowaways. He suddenly clammed up and looked nervously into his tea.

"Oh?" Kit asked, sounding interested and completely non judgemental. "Well it's lovely that they let you onto the crew."

"You're not a thief too, are you?" Nik groomed a bit.

"Nik, stop. even IF he was. He is an upstanding crewmember now. Isn't that right, Tertio?"

Tertio stared at Nik. “N-no! I’ve- I’ve never been a thief! I mean,” He squirmed, drawing his feet up onto the chair again, “I, I had to pinch a bit of food and water while I was hiding out, But, that was just to survive-- I-I’m not a thief!” He hunched his shoulders and stared down into his tea. He was desperate for them to understand. “... I was just... trying to escape... I was going to get off the ship at their next stop, no matter where it was... Because anywhere would have been better than where I came from.” He peeked up at Nik, shaking a little. “But I promise I’m not a thief... Not really.”

"Alright. alright." Nik said. "We aren't' going to toss you in jail or anything. Just making sure."

"What were you running from? If...you don't mind me asking?" Kit turned from her panel, looking up at him with sympathetic glowing eyes.

Tertio looked over at Kit, his mouth dry all of a sudden. He tightened his fingers around the cup in his hands, but couldn’t bring it to his lips. He turned to look at a spot on the floor in front of the captain’s chair. “I... I...” He had to just start. This was the hardest part. He took a breath. “I was born on Saturn Station. A big orbital around a gas giant, back in Earth space. Never knew my parents, but I was raised by my Nanna...” He looked up briefly at Kit. “I mean, my grandma... She rented a little house in the down-below, and that’s where we lived until... until she, uh...” He cleared his throat and repositioned himself. He rested the tea mug on one of the broad chair arms and picked up the blanket roll instead, hugging it and clenching his fingers into the fake fur.

“I was seven years old... Of course, a little kid can’t pay rent, so the landlord turned me out. I had nowhere to go, just wandering the streets of the down-below, begging for scraps and trying not to get noticed by the rat-catchers. But I didn’t stand a chance... They caught me one day, and put me in the pound with the other orphans and runaways and unwanteds they’d rounded up. It wasn’t long before I was 'hired,'” he accompanied this word with heavy air quotes “by Waldo Hannon. He was a small-time businessman running salvage in the rings. Made his money by using cheap labor, and even cheaper equipment. I was brought to live in a repurposed hangar bay where there were a bunch of other kids, all orphans like me. He paid us in food, but just enough so we wouldn’t faint while we were working.” His voice had taken on a bitter edge. “Every day he’d send us out to work in the rings, using old, hand-me-down space suits and equipment. It was always malfunctioning or breaking down. There were lots of guys running businesses like Waldo's. Kids like us were called ring-rats.”

He slid himself back against the chair, hugging the blanket roll tighter. “There was this one kid, younger than me. His name was Gershwin. His space suit was way too big for him. When we were out on the rings one day, he lost control of his trajectory and started to float away. Not usually a problem, except he couldn’t deploy his grapplers. I happened to see it, so I dropped what I was doing and went after him. I brought him back, but meanwhile the pick-hammer I was using had floated away. When we came in at the end of the workday, I got a beating for losing a piece of valuable equipment. Gershwin got a beating too, for being too little to fit into the suit they gave him...” He shook his head. “Two months later, when the same thing happened, the kids around Gershwin didn’t make the same mistake I had made.” He gulped. “That kind of thing happens all the time to ring-rats... But there are always plenty more where they came from.” He sniffed, and swiped at his eyes with his sleeve, then buried his face in the blanket roll. “Does that answer your question?” He asked, from the midst of the fur.

"Oh... honey!" Kit hopped down from her chair and hurried over to him. She stood on her tail so she could reach him and nuzzled his cheek. "What a sad story! I'm so sorry, seedling!"

Nik turned to look back at him, his antennae flattening against his back. "That's awful...." He mumbled.

The cheek nuzzling was the last straw. Tertio started to cry, as quietly as possible, into the blanket roll- which he was squeezing like a life-preserver now. He was vibrating with tears and nerves, and was very grateful that his face was hidden from view. Still, he knew the shaking, the sniffling, and the occasional muffled whimper were a dead giveaway.

Now that he had started, the floodgates opened. He found himself crying about today's trauma, too. He had almost died like an animal today- and his friends might never have even known! It was all so unfair- to be considered nothing. Nothing but a body to operate a piece of mining equipment, nothing but a bit of fresh meat to be fed to a predator, nothing but a third clone. He wasn't nothing! He wasn't.

Eventually, he cried himself out. The blanket was soaked where his face was. His breathing became regular. He wanted to look up, get some fresh air. But he couldn't. He didn't know how to face Nik and Kit after they'd seen him break down like that.

"Oh....honey....honey..." Kit crawled onto his lap, wrapping her long tail around his back and rubbing her soft face on his hand. "It will be okay."

Before Tom, Nik would have just sat there awkwardly, then turned and just ignored it all. But He was a father now and he couldn't just leave a crying child be. He let Kit handle the worst of it, but once the sobbing had died down a little he said: "Well, we are glad you are here. Who else would help us rescue our captains?"

Tertio peeked up at Nik. “I’m not helping very much, am I?” He gave a weak laugh. His voice was squeaky and hoarse. He took a few deep, shuddery breaths, and lay his face sideways on top of the blanket roll. He sighed, and blinked down at Kit, who was still looking up at him sympathetically, and still rubbing his back with her tail. He managed to work up a smile for her, though it never quite reached his eyes.

After a few more minutes of this, when his voice felt a little more trustworthy, he cleared his throat and said: “So anyway, I’ve never been to a planet.”

~~~
~~~
~~~

Poor little ring-rat.

More art from the RP I'm doing with chill13 (is anyone surprised? ). Tertio is my character, so I wrote his bits, while Kit and Nik are her characters so she wrote theirs.

Tertio is sitting in Rover's chair on the bridge, helping as a 'Shaksa expert' (the hostile aliens they are dealing with), late at night while everyone else is in bed. Man, Rover's chair is complicated to draw! Kudos to Chill for designing it!

Click here to learn more about my Topmost Topaz project.
Click here to learn more about chill13 's Hi-Ho-Hyperdrive project.