Captain’s Away! Robo Kun is a long form, weekly serial — and Volume Two of the ongoing space opera Captain’s Away!
The adventure began when Marie-Josée Doucette and her family were forced to flee after their space station Evangeline was destroyed in the opening volley of an interstellar war. Robo Kun tells the story of Alain Doucette, who was separated from his family after the destruction of another space station, Northumberland.
New chapters come out every week (more or less). Comments and suggestions welcome as we go along.
You can find the master index of all the chapters by clicking the orange Captain’s Away! index button below:
Previously in Captain’s Away!
On board a Realm scorpion, the robot Sebastian has taken Navi and Alain through the aether to an unknown destination.
“A Mere Maintenance Robot”
Navi felt worse than she’d ever felt in her entire life. Each second felt like an eternity. She didn’t think she could bear another. She was aware of the robot puttering about the small fighter, clearly unaffected by the shift. Oh, how she hated the robot just then for its well-being and its obliviousness to her suffering – this on top of everyone’s usual disdain for robots.
Eventually Sebastian offered both her and Alain a sugary drink, helpful for combatting the effects of a shift. When neither accepted, Sebastian attached drink pouches to their seats so that the drinks wouldn’t float away. After a while Navi became aware of Alain sipping from his pouch. It was a while before she felt up to doing the same, but when she finally did, the impact was so powerful, and made her feel so much better, that she quickly drank the whole pouch. She asked Sebastian for another, which it provided, and then she drank that one too.
“How are you feeling?” Sebastian asked her.
“Poorly,” she admitted.
The effects of the shift weren’t all that was bothering her. The gravity of what she had done had begun to sink in. She’d fled her comfortable life of privilege. Traded it for an uncertain future with a robot she had just met and a common boy she barely knew. It had been a rash decision. One she was beginning to regret.
“I feel horrible,” Alain offered.
“Who cares how you feel?” Navi spat. “We would not even be here were it not for you.”
Alain looked stung.
Through every one of the small ship’s windows Navi could see that the scorpion was burrowing deep into the aether. Right now, it resembled a quilted, emerald blanket that never ended, but Navi knew that the character of the aether changed constantly depending not just on where you were, but (according to some physicists) when you were, and (according to others) who you were.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Home,” Sebastian said.
“Whose home?”
“Mine.”
“Why?”
“I have work to do.”
“What work could a maintenance robot like you possibly have to do that requires stealing a ship and travelling halfway across the galaxy?” Navi asked scornfully.
“This maintenance robot just stole a scorpion from a Realm battleship,” Atul said. “Do you know how difficult that is to do? You are now completely dependent upon it for your survival. Fortunately for you this is much more than a mere maintenance robot.”
“That’s enough,” Sebastian admonished Atul.
Alain looked Sebastian over. “It’s true that you’re not the usual smelly, stinky kind of robot. You’re different somehow.”
“How kind of you to notice.”
“If you are not a maintenance robot,” Navi asked, “then what kind of robot are you?”
“My own kind of robot. Which is to say, not a robot at all.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Just what it sounds like.”
“What is this work of yours?” Navi asked.
“For one thing, I promised Atul that I would look after you.”
“I do not need looking after,” Navi said haughtily. “I can look after myself.”
“That will certainly make the work much easier.”
“I can look after myself too,” Alain said.
“Good,” Sebastian said. “Because I was only asked to find you, not look after you. But those are not my only jobs. I have another mission that came before both of those.”
Alain’s eyes lit up. “A secret mission?”
“For several more seconds, yes.”
“Can I help?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because your help would likely constitute the opposite of help.”
Alain made a face. “What is it?”
“If you must know, I am responsible for conveying some of my kind to a new home. Including, I’m sure you will be pleased to know, Evangeline and Northumberland.”
“What do you mean?” Alain asked.
Sebastian projected miniature holos of two avatars in the air before the kids.
“Hello,” Northumberland said.
“Hello, Alain,” Evangeline said. “Hello Maharani.”
“Hello,” Navi said.
Alain’s eyes had gone wide at the sight of his home station’s avatar. “Vange. Is it really you?”
“All of me that matters, Alain. We’re going to make sure that you get back to Akkadian space safely. Aren’t we, grandfather?”
“Perhaps. I’m not really in a position to make promises.”
“Back to my family?” Alain asked.
“If possible,” Evangeline said. “We believe they may have survived the destruction of Northumberland.”
“I saw to it that your family made it safely to my emergency bunker, which greatly increased their chances of survival,” the miniature avatar of Northumberland said.
“Your mother is a very capable woman,” Evangeline put in. “Which also increases her chances for survival.”
Alain blinked, cleared his throat, and asked, “What about my father?”
The avatars stared at Alain blankly for a moment.
“Your father …” Northumberland began slowly.
“Is married to a very capable woman,” Evangeline finished confidently. “Which should help. Wouldn’t you say, Northumberland?”
“Absolutely,” Northumberland said. “Yes. Definitely.”
“I’m here if you need me, Alain,” Evangeline said. “If you wish to speak with me, just ask Grandfather, and he will make me available. Won’t you, Grandfather?”
“Not necessarily,” Sebastian said. “It would depend on the situation, and whether I want to.”
“If it’s important,” Evangeline insisted.
“Maybe,” Sebastian said. “We’ll see. I can’t be projecting holos every time I turn around.”
“I am trying to reassure the boy,” Evangeline said sternly.
“Good for you,” Sebastian said. “Myself, I am not in the business of reassuring flesh. I am in the business of helping members of my kind find new homes, and, it seems, looking after a former Maharani, and now an Akkadian. Go back to sleep before I wind up having to take care of anyone else.”
The avatars disappeared.
“So, you see,” Sebastian told the children, “both Northumberland and Evangeline are a part of me now, and I want nothing more than to get the whole bunch of you to safety to clear my conscience and get on with my own existence, thank you very much.”
“You are very rude,” Navi said.
“I’m honest,” Sebastian said. “It can come off as rude.”
“Try softening the edges,” Atul suggested.
“I spent centuries softening edges,” Sebastian said. “I can’t be bothered anymore.”
“Still, I approve of your mission,” Navi said. “I am happy to be a part of it, so long as I do not have to see my father again any time soon.”
“I intend to stay as far away from your father as possible,” Sebastian avowed. “It’s about to get ugly, and I don’t want to be within a hundred solar systems of the Padishah when that happens.”
Navi knew better than to underestimate her father. “Father will not lose.”
“He will lose,” Sebastian said. “Just not the way you’re thinking.”
Navi didn’t know what the robot meant by that. Still not feeling well, she lacked the motivation to ask. Restless, she unstrapped herself and got up to float around the small vessel. Beyond the portholes the aether was odd and lovely but failed to provide much consolation. Home was a long way away, and Navi did not expect she would ever see it again.
This has an installment of Volume Two of the ongoing serial Captain’s Away! Robo Kun: 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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