The ship thrummed, vibrating faintly as the main drive engines kicked in and slowly drove the Strato Carrier away from Calgary. Spooky had decided early on to take command of the bridge, and he was expertly commanding the bears as they controlled and monitored the different ship systems, so I didn’t feel the need to intervene. Instead, I just sat at the monitoring station, flipping through the dozens of different cameras placed around the outside of the ship.

  They did a pretty good job of catching the majesty of the city as we slipped away, but that wasn’t their true purpose. Since most combat would occur underneath the carrier, we needed a good way to track the enemy and direct the weapons without actually being there. I would have invested in a better system, but between my catalogs and the carrier, I didn’t have the points. I’d fix it later.

  As we slowly passed over the city’s outer wall, I disconnected from the console and stood up, letting a bear take my place. The scenery was nice, but I had other things that I needed to do today.

  The bridge looked spartan, with bare metal walls and plenty of empty space. It had been designed to be modular, allowing me to add new stations and consoles as additional weapons and subsystems were added to the ship. Even with the half dozen gunner stations and massive strategic planning table taking up space, more than half of the bridge was empty.

  I nodded towards Spooky before swiftly moving towards the stairs at the rear of the bridge. As each step echoed loudly around the cavernous control area, I grimaced.

  “Nyx… I know I said I wanted to save points by keeping most of the ship spartan, only decorating the residential area, but I’m already regretting my choice,” I grumbled.

  Don’t blame me. I told you what each improvement would cost and gave you several different incremental options based upon your preferences.

  “I know, and I thought I’d be okay with keeping the bridge plain, but if I’m going to spend any sort of time up here, I’d prefer if it wasn’t a complete echo chamber.”

  I could install the same stain-proof floor covering that you chose for the residential area, along with some sound-absorbing panels along the walls and roof. They wouldn’t be fancy, but they’d look better than the bare metal. It’ll cost you two hundred points, though.

  “And how many points do I have left?”

  Do you want the total with or without the funds you’ve put aside for your bionic upgrades?

  Pausing at the top of the stairs, I looked back at the bridge and sighed. “How about both?”

  Twelve thousand fifty points remaining, you’ll have five thousand fifty points after buying the four-stage bionic upgrade.

  “So expensive,” I groaned. “I can’t believe that I managed to go through nearly one hundred and eighty thousand points so fast.”

  You could have held back on buying all those Class III catalogs,. That would have saved you a lot.

  “Maybe, but I’ll need them to upgrade the ship eventually. I probably could have held off on the Class III Molecular Reconfigurator catalog. I'm not going to be updating the machines any time soon, but considering how essential they are to my operations, I wanted the option open to me,” I said.

  And all it cost you was the ability to fully arm your flying fortress.

  “It’s not like I need all those weapons right now,” I growled. “The bears can take care of ninety percent of our issues, and the UHR takes care of the rest. Most of the upgrades cost way less than the Class III catalog, so I thought it would be better to invest early rather than struggle to save up later.”

  I actually agree with your choice, believe it or not. Now, did you want those upgrades?

  “Yeah, fuck it, it’s only two hundred,” I muttered as I stepped onto the stairs.

  Out of the corner of my eye I watched all the bears on the bridge simultaneously jump, allowing the textured rubber flooring to manifest under their feet. As the off-white wall panels appeared, slowly tiling the room, the amount of background noise slowly dropped.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Sighing in relief, I turned and descended the industrial, metal grate-style stairs and passed through the reinforced security door, back into the residential area.

  On my way to the living quarters, I spotted a pair of security bears on patrol and just shook my head at their appearance. They were both wearing a stereotypical striped sailor’s shirt, bandanas wrapped around their heads, and foam cutlasses at their hips.

  “Nyx, these props better not be coming out of the family’s point budget.”

  The original set of props that I gave Issi did. They were a spur-of-the-moment thing and cost less than ten points. All the new stuff is being printed on the reserve printer, using elements that either aren’t necessary for bear production or are only necessary in minute amounts. It’s helping burn through some of the things we have an excess of.

  “Yeah… I really need a better way to get rid of some of the shit that’s building up. Maybe I should contact that company that’s buying the raw elements we’re refining out of the poisons in the settling pool. They were really only interested in the rare stuff, but it’s worth a try,” I muttered.

  The situation isn’t as dire as it was before. Now that there’s storage on board the Stratocarrier and back at the shelter, you have a lot more leeway.

  “True.”

  As I turned the last corner and stepped into the corridor just outside the living quarters, I slowed down and stared at the figure approaching from the other direction. It was clearly Issi’s frog, but instead of his usual dapper tophat and suit, the bot was wearing a massive powder wig, an ancient-looking set of gold-rimmed spectacles, and a garish powder blue noble outfit.

  “Looking good,” I smirked.

  “Captain Isabelle refused to attend classes today, saying that she’d only parlay with someone with sufficient authority,” the frog explained. “So I needed to dress up as a governor and teach her the basics of negotiation today.”

  “That’s pretty smart. I think I just would have tried to stick to the original plans and then engaged in a contest of wills until one of us gave up,” I said.

  “That would have taken several hours, if not more. If the Captain has learned anything from you, it's stubbornness.”

  My smirk fell, ever so slightly. “I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or not.”

  “It is what it is,” the frog shrugged. “If you’re looking for the kids, they’ve already retreated back into the living quarters.”

  “Thanks,” I chirped as I slipped past the bot. “And keep up the good work.”

  When I opened the door to the living quarters, I found the kids at the table, a pile of plastic ships and coins in front of each of them.

  “I’ll trade you fifty coins for your galleon, Eddie!” Issi declared.

  “We established that galleons are only worth thirty. Why are you paying so much?” the older boy asked suspiciously.

  “Because I wannit!” Issi replied. The girl still had her pirate outfit on, but the eyepatch was flipped up, allowing her to see.

  “Alright, but it sounds like you didn’t quite understand the professor’s lessons today,” Eddie said, a small smile on his lips.

  As soon as the gold and ship exchanged hands, Issi jumped up in her chair. “Now, I spring my ambush! Hand over all your gold!”

  “You can’t do that. The whole point of the game is to exchange resources to learn the value of things!” Eddie grumbled.

  “I learned that galleons are stronger than merchant ships, and you traded all yours away! Your money or your life!” Issi declared, drawing her foam blade.

  “Evie, talk some sense into her, please,” Eddie moaned when he saw me.

  “Why? It seems to me she understood the spirit of the game better than anyone else. Besides, she’s the one with the sword,” I quipped as I slipped around the table, leaving Eddie to his fate.

  Jane was in the kitchen, making use of the massive new island to lay out a ton of different ingredients and different kitchen utensils. I wasn’t even sure she knew how to use them all, but she looked confident enough to trust her.

  “Are we away already?” she asked without looking up. “I didn’t feel anything.”

  “That’s because the ship is exceptionally stable and relatively slow. You’ll probably only feel something if we need to pull an emergency turn or something,” I replied, darting in to grab a carrot before she could smack my fingers.

  “You’ll ruin your appetite like that,” Jane exclaimed.

  “Yeah, about that… I won’t be eating with you tonight, probably not breakfast either,” I said quietly.

  “We’ve discussed this, Evelyn; you don’t get to skip meals just because you’re not hungry. It’s not healthy,” Jane sighed.

  “It’s not that!” I snapped defensively. “I have something I need to do, which’ll take a couple hours. Maybe a full day.”

  “What?” Jane asked suspiciously.

  “Bionic enhancements… body upgrades,” I clarified when I saw her look at me confused. “I wasn’t able to keep up with some of my friends when the Antithesis showed up last time, and now that I have the points and the downtime, I figured I should do it.”

  “What do these enhancements involve, and why am I only hearing about them now?” Jane asked.

  “Well, they make me faster, stronger, and harder to kill, and as for why I’ve never told you… I guess because I never really thought about it until now. I figured you’d be all for things that keep me alive longer,” I said.

  “I am. I just like to be informed. You’re not going to come out with purple skin or horns or something, are you?”

  “I’m sure I could, but no. Just tougher skeleton, better muscles, faster healing, and tougher, redundant organs,” I explained

  “Redundant organs?” Jane asked.

  “More useful than you think,” I grumbled. “Look, I know it sounds scary, but the process is safe. I just need a couple hours to allow everything to develop. Twenty-four hours tops. I figured I should get it done ASAP so I’d be ready to watch the kids the rest of the trip.”

  “And you need to do this now?” Jane sighed.

  “Better now than once we arrive at one of the cities,” I said. “Last chore before I’m free.”

  “Fine, but when you get up, you’re watching the kids for twenty-four hours straight while Alan and I take a break. You owe us that much,” she declared, exasperatedly.

  “Deal,” I replied, backing away from the kitchen as fast as I could before she changed her mind.

  As I passed the table, I saw Issi celebrating, Eddie was face down on the table, and Jennifer was laughing at them both.

  “That’s the art of negotiation, getting what you want,” I muttered with a smile.

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