Life on the Humility was much simpler than life on Hir-Fallow Station. On Hir-Fallow, there were tons of places for her to hide, and the home she’d built for herself was deep in the station, far from any eyes or ears or noses. And because it was, she could do whatever she wanted there, and she even had access to everything she needed through the various maintenance tunnels and halls.
On the Humility, she had to eat nutrition powder mixed with water since she couldn’t get near the synthesizer without the Big Guy catching her. But Haven didn’t really like eating anyway, it was just another annoying, necessary bodily function she had to satisfy. Most times, she didn’t even taste her food as she was eating it while working. So, the basic, unflavored food didn’t bother her.
The Humility being so old and repaired so many times over – she could tell it had just by looking at it – actually made her life easier. It took her a bit, but she found a hidey hole to make into her home. There was a secondary command center in the center of the ship, away from the main bridge, that was obviously an addition built sometime after the ship’s initial completion. The secondary command room had been built on top of the subspace generator, within a slightly larger room that once had some other purpose, though whatever that was had been lost to time. The walls and floors of the secondary command center were thicker, heavier, meant to protect the room in case of attack. Not as much as the shelter room, which she could only see from the outside and absolutely could not access, but it was still impressive.
However, the room built within a room created a pocket not originally intended in the ship’s design. A small space between the original walls and the added walls. It wasn’t big enough for most of the aliens in the Coalition to slip into, but it was big enough for her. And since it was beside the thicker, shielded walls of the secondary command center, her scent and sounds were totally disguised once she was inside. But because it was in an old room, it also offered all the benefits of life support – warmth and comfort – without being out and about in the ship.
She made herself a nest there and only snuck out whenever she wanted to work on the ship, get herself food, use the privy, or mess with the Big Guy.
Haven knew other people would consider the way she lived strange, but she had long since given up caring. She was odd. She was not like normal people. For whatever reason, she didn’t think like them, and she had completely embraced that, choosing not to be bothered by it any longer. In fact, she fully embraced her differences and enjoyed her strange life.
That’s how her time on the Humility passed. She snuck around the ship when she could. She learned about the various crew members by listening through the walls and through the cameras she had hijacked. It was like a TV drama. They were her friends in the same way as Grace. She considered them friends while they didn’t know she existed. But that was the best way for her to have friends. That way, she couldn’t disappoint or annoy anyone.
It was a good thing she had going. Really, it felt like her life had peaked.
And then one of the pipes burst near her little room.
Really, pipes bursting was a common problem on the Humility. It was an old ship. She didn’t know how old, but she heard the others often cursing the decrepit vessel whenever it acted up, especially the Big Guy. The in-between room she had claimed had been completely gutted before its renovation, and there were lots of exposed pipes.
But because they were hidden, the Big Guy hadn’t had a chance to work on them. They weren’t scanned or documented as needing repairs during the stop at Hir-Fallow, and they were so old, they weren’t connected to the new ship AI. It worked outgreat for her because there was absolutely no way for someone to detect her back there.
However, for the ship itself, it wasn’t good because it meant that this particular area got no maintenance. It wasn’t vital to the ship’s survival, so there was no need to go digging into it, but it was still an overlooked area where things going to other parts of the ship ran through. And when that pipe burst, the only person it inconvenienced was Haven.
The pipe was connected to one of the private room privies. It drained the cleaning fluid from their mister back to the main collecting tank so it could be recycled and reused. When it broke, she was sleeping. It was a rude awakening to suddenly find herself drenched and cold. She didn’t know which mister it came from, but it was still gross and now her bed was soaked through. The stolen blankets she gathered together to make into a pallet had come with her from Hir-Fallow. They were placed in the most comfortable spot in her in-between room. Which just happened to be the lowest point of the room, so the point that got most of the damage.
She had to get that pipe fixed. And she had to fix it before it became obvious that there was a broken pipe somewhere draining their misting fluid. The ship’s AI was smart – and alive. He wouldn’t just keep track of how much fluid they had. He would be able to see that they were suddenly losing too much of it and then alert the Big Guy. That would set him off in a search to find which pipe was busted. And he might not find her hiding spot immediately, but he’d still eventually figure out which pipe was broken and track it to her in-between room.
Then, she’d be screwed. She’d lose her new home, she might be discovered, and her sweet life would come to an end.
Haven was in trouble. Shehadto fix that pipe.
Which, really, wasn’t a problem. Fixing the ship was her whole hobby and goal anyway. That’s how she learned and how she passed her time. But the things she fixed were usually things like the wiring or the tech or something her tools would fix.
She had to replace the pipe. She couldn’t just glue it back together. Which meant she needed a pipe. Which meant she had to leave her hidey hole and go to the most dangerous place on the ship.
The Big Guy’s work room.
He was the mechanic on the ship. That’s how he knew she was there, messing with his stuff. He kept really good track of everything. But he also hoarded all the tools and replacement parts. His workroom was like a goldmine for her, but it was also the place she’d most likely be caught.
That made it a challenge. And a temptation.
And she really needed to replace that pipe or she wasn’t going to be getting any more sleep.
She did her best to set herself up for success though. She first went to one of the panels with crazy wiring and organized them. Making sure to leave some obvious tracks that she had been there. She worked until she invariably drew the Big Guy to her location.
Then, when he was doing his thing hunting her, she raced through the walls to get to his workroom, grinning like a fiend the whole way.
The Big Guy’s workroom was really easy to get into. She just had to sneak past the superheated engine – which, whilenot comfortable, was at least fast. She was sweating already, however, when she stepped over the shield line and was struck by drastically cooler air. She wouldn’t call the workroomcool, but at least it wasn’t an active oven like the engine room.
The replacement pipe she needed was easy to find in his pile of scrap. But even as she was picking it out of the pile, her eyes were roaming over everything. Practically salivating at the playground sitting before her.
The bench was filled with tools. The scrap was a huge pile of potential. There was even a forge! Of all the things she’d played with and learned thus far, a forge wasn’t among them. She knew she shouldn’t linger. She got what she needed and should move on, but this kind of place was exactly the kind she felt most comfortable in.
Then, her eyes were drawn to the far end of the room. She couldn’t say that she hadn’t really noticed the huge thing taking up the entire wall. It was impossible to miss. But it was the first time she let herself actually look at it.
At first glance, the thing was just that. Athing. A big blob of what appeared to be half melted scrap and discarded metal all twisted and pressed together into a vaguely round shaped object that was as tall as the ceiling and wide as the wall. It wasn’t perfectly circular. Instead, there was a dip in the middle with a hole leading to a bright area that sparkled – like the hole in a donut with sparkly sprinkles inside it.
Haven’s head tilted as she looked into that hole. Curious about what was sparkling. Curious about the giant thing. Really wanting to know.
