Captain's Away! Chapter Twenty-Five
"The House Call"
Captain’s Away! is a long form, weekly serial. New chapters come out every week (more or less). Comments and suggestions welcome as we go along.
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Previously in Captain’s Away!
Yolande and Bertrand Doucette are refugees after escaping the destruction of two space stations in the opening salvos of an interstellar war. Their son, Alain, is missing and presumed dead, and their daughter Marie-Josée is comatose for reasons they don’t understand. Yolande and Bertrand have just been rescued by an Akkadian starship called the Beausoleil.
Unbeknownst to them, the mind of their daughter Marie-Josée has been transferred into the body of the captain of the Beausoleil by means of an ancient technology called the Field. To Marie-Josée, it’s all been a terrible nightmare.
[Author’s note: In the process of revising the manuscript, I have folded the characters of Francis Pelrine and Reverend Therese Arsenault into one. Hey, it happens! It’s a work in progress.]
Chapter Twenty-Five
“The House Call”
Marie-Josée asked the Beausoleil to inform her when all the survivors were settled. She wished to see her parents. She also wanted to get a glimpse of the other survivors, such as Evelyn Gallant, Evelyn’s mother, and Reverend Therese Arsenault—how relieved and grateful Marie-Josée had been to hear the Beausoleil recite those names among the list of survivors. Before all this happened, Evelyn had been all she could think about. They weren’t even officially in a relationship together. They had only ever held hands. And now it was over before it had even begun. Evelyn would not recognize her in this state. Certainly not want to be with her. Not in this ancient, hideous body. Who would ever want to date something like that?
When the Beausoleil informed her of the survivors’ presence in the gym Marie-Josée found that she couldn’t bring herself to go. She couldn’t bear the thought of her parents or Evelyn seeing her like this. She couldn’t imagine what she would say to them. Her parents would not believe that she was their daughter. Evelyn would not believe that she was her friend. Why would anybody? She looked and sounded nothing like Marie-Josée Doucette anymore.
Which set off a chain reaction of negative thoughts that led to no place good. Starting with crushing guilt over the loss of her brother. Why oh why had she treated Alain so abominably his entire life? He hadn’t been that bad a brother. He’d actually been kind of fun. Oh, what she wouldn’t give to hear just one more sly quip at her expense! Instead of getting angry she’d laugh as though it was the funniest joke she’d ever heard. And then she’d try to hug him and wouldn’t the look on his face be priceless? But her smile at the fantasy became a scowl as she reflected darkly that the rascal had probably deliberately died just to get even with her.
It just got worse from there.
Though Marie-Josée had decided to pretend to be Captain Khiboda to control her fate she did not feel even remotely able to play the part in public. Outside her cabin, everyone would think that she was the captain, and expect her to act like the captain, but she wasn’t the captain. There was simply no way that she could prepare for every possible situation the captain might find herself in. It was too much to ask.
Before, Saito had locked Marie-Josée in the captain’s cabin. Now, the door to her quarters having been repaired, she locked herself in. She instructed the Beausoleil to ignore all calls from Commander Saito or anyone else, fully intending to immerse herself in bad romance V-Reals and gorge herself on ice cream until this nightmare ended.
She successfully spent several hours this way until the Beausoleil’s avatar appeared to announce the presence of Corpsman Javad waiting outside.
“Tell him to go away,” Marie-Josée instructed the ship.
“I can’t,” the Beausoleil said. “As ship’s corpsman he has the power to override me if he thinks a member of the crew is in medical distress.”
“Tell him I’m fine,” Marie-Josée said.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re not fine.”
“I am so fine.”
“You’ve locked yourself in the captain’s cabin. You’re ignoring the XO and all the captain’s duties. You’re binge eating ice cream and playing terrible V-Reals. You are not fine.”
“Hmph. Well don’t let him all the way in.”
The Beausoleil opened the door just enough to allow Marie-Josée to peek out.
Javad stood awkwardly in the passageway holding a black medical bag. “Hello.”
Marie-Josée remembered the corpsman being taller (having forgotten that she herself was now taller). With his portly bearing, chubby cheeks, and salt and pepper beard, he was quite a bit less intimidating than she remembered. “What do you want?”
“The Commander—” Javad paused to cough briefly— “asked me to check—”
The cough got the better of him. Marie-Josée saw him work to keep it under control. Great—now she would probably catch his cold.
“I beg your pardon,” he said when he was able. “The Commander asked me to check on you. See how you’re doing. Run a few tests.”
“I don’t feel like tests right now,” she said. “Maybe later.”
She stepped away from the door and motioned frantically. “Close it!”
The Beausoleil shut the door.
Marie-Josée made herself a cup of coffee in the captain’s tiny kitchenette. As she did so, the Beausoleil said, “You may want to make enough for two.”
“Why?”
The Beausoleil slid the door to the cabin all the way open.
“Hi,” Javad said, from the passageway.
He had not budged an inch.
Marie-Josée placed her hands on her hips. “Why are you still here?”
“With all due respect, I already told you. I’m here to see that you’re okay, and I will not leave until I’ve discharged my duty to you and this ship. May I come in?”
Fuming, Marie-Josée let him in.
Once inside, Javad said, “Ship. Stop recording.”
“On what grounds?” the Beausoleil asked.
“Patient confidentiality.”
“Wait,” Marie-Josée said. “You’ve been recording me this entire time?” She was pretty sure that the Evangeline had not been permitted to record citizens inside their own living quarters. Privacy laws and all that.
“Of course,” the Beausoleil said.
“Why?”
“For posterity. It’s a standing order.”
“Ship, never record me inside my own cabin!” Marie-Josée ordered angrily.
“At Corpsman Javad’s request I have already stopped recording you,” the Beausoleil pointed out.
“Good.”
“I will resume recording in fifteen minutes.”
“What? No! Don’t record me in here ever. I should be able to do what I want in my own cabin without dumb ships recording my every move.”
“Not recording you would be a violation of fleet protocol.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that were I not to record you I would be over-written and you would be court martialed. You are, however, permitted fifteen minutes of privacy at my discretion.”
None of this helped Marie-Josée’s mood. She felt like she might explode. Sighing noisily, she said, “All right. Well, tell me when you’re recording again.”
She turned to Javad. “What do you want?”
“How old are you, Captain?”
“I’m… forty.” So old!
“Your birthday’s coming up soon, isn’t it?”
“My birthday’s April 14th, 2991. You’re testing my memory.”
“The Commander told me you’re having difficulty remembering things.”
“Yeah. The transition messed me up a bit.” She shrugged. “I’m feeling better now.”
She waited. Javad waited.
“What?” Marie-Josée asked finally.
“You’re not Captain Khiboda.”
“What? Am so!”
To Marie-Josée’s surprise, the Beausoleil said, “Corpsman Javad is correct. It’s obvious to anyone with a knowledge of the Field and a relationship with the real Captain Jane Khiboda. I suspected the truth within three seconds based simply on minute changes to the captain’s physiological patterns. Although there are similarities, your subsequent behaviour confirmed my suspicions.”
There was no point denying it. Marie-Josée had been doing a terrible job impersonating the captain and she knew it. She hadn’t even really been trying. More than anything else right now she felt relieved. Maybe the nightmare was coming to an end.
She fell into one of the pre-fab chairs, landing much harder than she expected. “Oof!” This body was so much bigger than her own. “What about the Commander? Does he know?”
“He’s in denial,” Javad said. “He desperately wants you to be the captain. Needs you to be the captain.”
“Why?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Are you going to tell him?”
“It’s my duty to tell him.”
“Good. Tell him soon. Right now he just thinks I’m crazy. Tell him what’s going on and then put me back in my own body. Without screwing it up this time! Actually, why wait? Let’s do it right now.” She stood up, ready to go, prepared to get back to her own life.
“We’ll talk about that.”
“Why?”
“Like I said. It’s complicated.”
Marie-Josée felt herself getting angry again. “Okay now you’re just treating me like a kid.”
“You are a kid,” Javad said.
“Why did you even do this to me?”
“I thought I was redirecting the captain’s consciousness back to her own body.”
“I’m seventeen! You kidnapped me! I should have security shoot you out an airlock right now. I could do it, you know. Everyone thinks I’m the captain.”
“You could not do it,” Javad said. “For several reasons. Do you mind if I sit down?”
He sat down at the tiny table without waiting for Marie-Josée to answer.
Marie-Josée sat down opposite him, more carefully this time.
“First of all, shooting me out an airlock would be a crime,” Javad said. “Murder, in fact. The real Captain Khiboda would never utter such an order. Even if she, did no one on board would carry it out. I don’t think you would ever really order such a thing. I’m sorry, Marie-Josée. I didn’t mean to do this to you.”
She huffed in response.
“You’re upset,” Javad observed. “You have every right to be. You’ve undergone an incredible transformation. Even now your mind is struggling to come to terms with it.”
“Where’s my brother?” she shouted, back on her feet again. She’d been bottling all this up inside. “What happened to him? And what about my friends? Where are they?”
She lowered herself onto an object that superficially resembled a couch but could just as easily have been a slab of concrete. Seeking comfort, she grabbed a pillow and hugged it with both arms. Like the couch, it was about as yielding as a granite rock. Disgusted, she threw the pillow down, half expecting it to punch a hole in the deck. She wanted to cry but deliberately refrained from doing so in front of Javad.
Javad waited patiently while Marie-Josée regained control of herself.
“Listen,” she said, when she was finally able. “What about the real captain? Where is she?”
“The most logical explanation is that her consciousness still resides in your original body.”
Marie-Josée considered this. “You mean she was in my body when I was in it?”
“Sort of. That’s the idea. To inhabit someone else’s body and take it over if necessary.”
“That’s horrible! You people are monsters.”
Javad appeared unfazed by the accusation. “The agent can also simply lurk within the host’s body, witnessing, observing, but never interfering.”
“Spying, you mean.”
“Yes, essentially. But remember, this was an accident. We didn’t mean to direct the captain’s consciousness to your body. And I did my best to redirect it.”
“Your best wasn’t good enough.”
Javad lowered his gaze.
“I’m sorry,” Marie-Josée said. “That was mean. I’m just—not myself right now.” She barked a maniacal laugh upon hearing her words.
“No need to apologize.”
“Why didn’t it work?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe the captain knows. Can’t we just ask her? You said she’s still in my body. Making it do—who knows what she’s making it do?”
“She’s not making it do anything,” Javad said. “I saw your body after the transfer. It was unconscious the entire time.”
“Unconscious? Did you break my body?”
“Something’s wrong,” Javad admitted. “But it’s on board the Beausoleil now. We’ll make sure it remains in perfect health until we figure out how to get you back to it.”
“You’re going to put me back in my own body?”
“Eventually, yes. I’ll try. But there’s something we need to talk about first.”
“I know what you’re going to say. I already talked to the Commander about it.”
“If he told you that this ship needs a captain, he’s right. As crazy as it sounds, we need you to be the captain for a while. It’s a pretty important job. One that could make a difference in this war. That could save lives.”
“How exactly?”
“It’s not my place to say. Above my pay grade. The Commander will tell you when he thinks you’re ready.”
“What if I say no?” Never mind that she had already said yes.
Javad shrugged. “Then I guess you stay in the captain’s cabin playing V-Real fantasies while the Realm crushes Akkadia and people in the real world die. Including us, maybe.”
Marie-Josée scowled. Javad blinked. He might even have flinched. On the captain’s face it would have been a heck of a scowl, Marie-Josée realized. She parked that tidbit of knowledge away for when it might come in handy.
“How long do you need me to pretend?” she asked.
“Not pretend,” Javad said. “Be. You will need to be the captain until we meet with the T’Klee. A couple of weeks. A month at most.”
A month. It might as well have been forever. Still, she could make use of that time ensuring her parents and the other survivors were looked after properly. The rest of the captain’s responsibilities—including meeting with the T’Klee—filled her with dread. The T’Klee were known to be dangerous. How was she supposed to deal with them? What if they could tell that she wasn’t really the captain?
It was too much to think about right now.
“Who’s in charge of the ship now?” she asked. “Besides the commander?”
“There are various department heads,” Javad answered. “In ordinary day to day situations the ship can function perfectly fine without much input from the captain. It’s the exceptional circumstances that require the captain. There are a lot of those though.”
Which sounded to Marie-Josée like an excellent reason not to be captain.
Javad smiled kindly. “Why don’t we get on with those tests? The ones the Commander wanted. We can start with your blood pressure.”
He produced an inflatable cuff from his bag and approached Marie-Josée.
Her mind awhirl, Marie-Josée did not object.
Help me make this chapter better! What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
This has been an installment of the ongoing serial Captain’s Away! A Strange Dimensions book.
Also by Joe Mahoney: A Time and a Place
An unlikely hero travels to other worlds and times to save a boy who does not want to be saved in this unique and imaginative adventure, by turns comic and tragic.
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