LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 36
I patted her hand on my arm and smiled warmly at her for the camera. She was as beautiful as Molly had been, but in a very different way. Shoshanna was rich, but she was very bohemian. Almost a hippy. The woman did yoga every morning upon awakening, and then unfailingly ate muesli for breakfast. Her favorite drink involved kombucha.
She also wore loose fitting clothing, until boarding the ship, where a floating sundress would be impractical and exposing. The jumpsuit she wore for zero-g looked strange on her, I realized. As did the bare wrists and neck, she normally wore loads of loose jewelry, some of it appearing handmade.
As I lived with her on the ship for the next few days, I learned a lot about her. We got together and talked at least once a day. She was great about making natural conversation surrounding Cubes and our mission for the cameraman, and happily answered any questions the host came up with for her. I tried to be accessible for them as well, but they seemed more interested in her than me.
That changed on the fourth day when they caught Shoshanna kissing me on the empty bridge. After that they couldn’t wait to catch us in a compromised situation. We quite wisely kept our affection PG-rated around the crew, but Shoshanna didn’t jump into bed with me the way Molly had anyway.
It happened one night, a week into the expedition, but it seemed to take her an emotional journey to get there. We talked at length about Cubes, and our societal response to them over the years, and it was clear she found the conversations stimulating. But one night was special.
“I just,” she said, stopping to sip from her wine pouch. “I don’t know, I just feel like we’re bad sometimes,” Shoshanna said.
“What do you mean, bad?” I asked. We were in her cabin, in an attempt to get some peace from the documentary crew. They were bored, so the instinct to document a high society romance was coming out more and more each day. Shoshanna had asked me to have dinner with her, something we regularly did by that point. We ate in her cabin, to avoid prying eyes and ears.
After the sealed meal pouches were emptied of their delicious but mushy contents, we floated and drank, looking out her large window and lightly chatting.
Shoshanna sighed and twisted in midair to face the window more fully. “I don’t know, bad. Like there’s something really wrong with us for not only how we treat intelligences we think of as lesser, but also our shared inability to even care.”
“Plenty of people care thanks to you, Shanna,” I told her.
“Well thank you, sweet man, but I mean in general. At large, you know? My little crusade here brings basic awareness to a few hundred thousand people a year, when there’s hundreds of trillions of people in the world,” she explained.
“And by world, I assume you mean the BuyMort system?” I asked, following her gaze to the streaking stars around us. They had been getting thinner for half of the day, and something dark was starting to loom behind them.
“Yeah,” she said, between sips from her wine pouch.
“So your influence is a drop in the bucket,” I continued. “Compared to how you feel you need to be helping, you’re really not helping at all.”
“Yes, exactly! So many people just never think of Cubes at all, and one day soon this horrific crime our society has perpetrated will simply be forgotten,” she exclaimed. “It makes me wonder how many crimes we’ve all already forgotten.”
I nodded and slid closer to her, on the bed. She leaned into my embrace.
“What really messes me up is thinking about how many crimes we’re all still blind to right now?” I said.
Shoshanna looked up at me, eyes wide as she shook her head. “Oh don’t do that to me,” she whispered.
I smiled and pulled her closer. “You’re doing good in the world, that’s what matters,” I said lightly, into her ear.
Shoshanna leaned back to kiss me, and those were the last words we spoke that evening.
Hours later, I awoke to her shriek. I shot straight up in bed and my armor deployed. She turned at the sound and then shrieked at me. Shoshanna had been looking out the window, and there were no apparent threats in the room, so I dropped my armor.
The young woman stared as its plating vanished into dimensional gateways, then relaxed when she saw my face.
“Why’d you scream, Shanna?” I asked, concerned. “Are you okay?”
Shoshanna nodded, then pointed to the window. It had become solid black while we slept. During the night, we passed outside of galactic space and entered the void between galaxies. There were no stars to be seen.
I enhanced my own vision and immediately noticed the dim glow of distant galaxies, as well as a small handful of rogue stars in the gulf itself. But to a normal human’s vision, we had entered a completely dark region of space. Since we were pointed away from the neighboring galaxies, we got no perceivable light through the portals.
“Oh,” I said, before she could sputter an explanation. “Oh I get it. Yeah, that must have been kinda freaky to wake up to, huh?”
Shoshanna was trembling though, so I reached out to her. “I’m sorry I scared you, Shanna.”
“No, it wasn’t you,” she said, leaning into my chest. We bounced against the netting that covered the sleeping area. The mattress went unused unless we were thrusting with the rockets. At prime sub-light speed, they produced a single G of gravity on the ship, a standard feature in most ships that didn’t produce their own gravity for the crew.
“It’s so dark out there. I woke up and saw it and immediately thought I was in deep space all alone,” she explained. “I’m sorry Tyson, I’ve just had that nightmare since I was a child. Since my father . . . threw out our Cube.”
I held her close and nodded. Her obsession made more sense after that morning.
Once she was consoled enough to face the crew, we left her cabin and she called a meeting. All the crew attended, including the off duty security officer. Once they were all floating in the embarkation room, Shoshanna began. She used the equipment window as her backdrop.
“Thank you everyone, I’ll make this brief,” she started. “Last night we passed into the gulf between galaxies. We’re on track, following Cube’s primary theorized trajectory, but it will be another week at our max safe speed before we can begin searching. So get ready but take your time. Any questions?”
The mechanic raised her hand. “Yeah sorry, I’m a little unclear on the exact nature of that search. What will we be doing, exactly?”
Shoshanna sighed and nodded. “Good question. We here on this ship will actually be doing very little during the search. Our doctor suggests mental health exercises because of the void out the windows. Other than that, rest and maintain a ready state. If we find our target we’re going to have to take immediate action.”
“So we’re all just on call?” asked one of the net-handlers.
“Six Nu-Earth standard days from now is our first window, so there’s plenty of time to engage in R&R. But after that point, yes I would like everyone ready to move to stations if our target is found,” Shoshanna explained. “Thankfully the Crown of Thorns didn’t throw Cube very hard, or he would be much deeper into the gulf.”
“And how are we going to find this Cube?” another voice raised. I think it was the janitor’s.
“Another good question, thank you,” Soshanna started. “Well, the Navigator has advanced scanning suites, we plan to use those to locate Cube once we’re within range.”
“So we’re doing nothing,” another handler said.
Shoshanna sighed and shrugged. “Yes, I suppose. I’m sorry. There’s plenty of food and wine, and we have a full suite of entertainment downloads available to the crew. But the actual work is not going to be for a while yet.”
Out of nowhere, my mind exploded with vibrant colors and a booming, enthusiastic voice-over, accompanied by an epic orchestral soundtrack:
"Think you have enough entertainment options? Think again!"
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The screen of my mind was filled with a dazzling cascade of visuals—explosions from action movies, heart-pounding beats from live DJ sets, and breathtaking scenes from nature documentaries. Everything was hyper-realistic, with each frame more vivid and exhilarating than the last.
"It's not just entertainment—it's an ADVENTURE!" the voice declared, as virtual spotlights swung across a digital stage, revealing a parade of holographic avatars dancing to the latest hits.
"Experience the thrill of tremendous action with blockbuster movies that will leave you on the edge of your seat! Dive into fantastical realms with immersive gaming that transcends reality! Feel the energy of live performances, all from the comfort of your home or starship!"
The visuals intensified, now featuring a whirlwind tour of top-tier shows, exclusive premieres, and interactive events. Characters from beloved series leapt out of the screen, engaging with the viewer as if they were part of the action.
"Boredom? Not on our watch!" the voice laughed. "With Stellar Stream+, you'll have a front-row seat to the greatest show in the universe! With thousands of titles, there's something for everyone—action, romance, comedy, and more! Plus, exclusive content you won't find anywhere else!"
Fireworks exploded in my mind's eye as the ad reached its climax. A holographic conductor orchestrated a symphony of spectacular visuals, and the screen filled with golden, glittering stars.
"Upgrade now and dive into a galaxy of entertainment like never before! Subscriptions start at just 70,000 Morties per month! Stellar Stream+—because the universe is your theater!"
I paused a short time before tossing the ad away and moving forward to her side. “This was all made clear in the mission statement, which all of you were supposed to read before boarding. This is a low-effort mission. You’re all getting paid to float around, sleep, screw, drink, whatever. Then for a few hours on one day of this mission you’re going to have to jump to and do your jobs. Is that still unclear for anybody?”
The documentarians loved that, I saw a small commotion from their huddle. The host was excited, and trying her best not to touch her floating cameraman and disrupt his shot.
“Is it really true you fought a black hole spider?” the male mechanic asked in the silence that followed my statement.
“Yes, I did, though I’m not sure that’s an accurate description of the beast,” I answered. “I’m an open book, people. Come talk to me anytime I’m not busy and I’ll tell you my life story. Let’s just get this mission clarified in everyone’s minds right now please. Now, any more questions about the mission?”
After a moment of silence, the doctor raised a hand.
“Just shout it out doc, no need for ceremony,” I told him.
“How large, exactly, is the Cube we are hunting?” he asked.
Shoshanna happily lifted a finger. “If he has not ingested any further material, which is likely in the void, his last recorded size is two kilometers squared.”
I blinked. Cube had gotten big.
One of the net-handlers whistled. “Can this rig even manage a cargo that size?”
“Of course, that’s why I bought it. This ship is rated for comets and ice chunks that size, so Cube should be no different,” Shoshanna said.
“Excuse me,” the doctor interjected, hand raised again. “Am I wrong in believing that Cubes are capable of massive electrical discharges?”
I shook my head. “No you are not, which brings us to the most important element of this rescue. Trust. We’re going to have to convince Cube to trust us before we can net him up. That will be my job.”
“Trust?” someone yelled.
“What the hell does that mean?” another joined in.
“How are we supposed to establish trust with a Cube?” the doctor asked.
I raised my hands and they fell silent. “That’s my job, I said. I know this Cube, he was mine a long time ago, and I raised him from a baby. I’m going to talk to him when we find him, then he’ll let us haul him back.”
They muttered after that comment, but no further loud questions came our way.