Chapter 18 - Spitfire Meets Aria.

We reached Aria, and walked to the back cargo bay doors. Bee held out her hand, running it down the side of the ship as she walked. "She's beautiful." she said.

I grinned. "I think so too." I touched the pad, and the bottom door lowered. Before it had even hit the ground, Bee had jumped inside, her head craning around to take it all in.

"Johansen robotic loading arms." she nodded her approval. "First class!" She seemed to want to touch everything. "Thermo-king ion couplers... nice." And on went her inventory as we made our way to the stairs. "Might want to replace those mag-belts on the scoop conveyor though. That was one of the only problems on these D.T.T. ships, they did a recall on them, so you should be able to have them replaced at no charge."

"Been on a lot of D.T.T. ships?"

"Nope, this is only my second one. My first, was an old Heavy Metal freight hauler. Pilot needed a new de-icing unit installed."

"So, how do you know so much about them then?" I asked, as we worked our way toward the crew quarters.

"My dad loved the D.T.T. line of ships. He used to bring me the models to put together. I even fitted one with micro grav-plates once, so I could make it float around my room. I had to leave them behind when I finally got chased out of our old apartment. I always dreamed about flying in one someday. The Snake Charmer and the War Lance, that you were looking at earlier, are my two favorites! Although they say they are now updating the Tomahawk. They're calling it the Tomahawk MKII!" She paused to yawn again. I opened the door to the crew quarters.

"HOLY SHI..." She slapped her hand over her mouth, Her eyes were huge as she looked around. "This is... wow. Just wow! Which one do I sleep in?"

"Whichever one you want, there's nobody else here." I grinned. "But before you turn in, let's go meet Aria." Aria could access every part of the ship, and was no doubt listening to us at that very moment. But for some reason, I felt that the bridge was where she really "lived". We entered the bridge, and Bee's jaw dropped. She looked like a little kid on their first visit to DisneyPlanet. "Aria, I would like you to meet Miss Bee Noughty. Also known as Miss Spitfire."

"Welcome, Miss Noughty." said Aria.

Bee walked over to a panel of blinking lights, set into the wall of the bridge. She opened up a small access panel, and reached up to gently touch whatever was inside. "Thank you Aria, it's very nice to meet you."

I walked up behind her, and peered over her head, to see what she was looking at. Behind the small, six inch panel, was what appeared to be a rather large computer chip. In its' centre, however, was a glowing crystal. Each facet was a different color and the colors flowed and changed in a non-stop rhythm. "Is that Aria?" I asked, feeling somewhat awed.

"Yes, that's the A.I. chip that holds her algorithm."

I reached out and gently touched the chip as well. "Wow, I didn't even know that was in there!" I said, feeling a bit ashamed.

Bee closed the panel and turned in a circle, taking in the bridge. "Aria, you are beautiful!"

"I... thank you, Miss Noughty."

"Please call me Bee." She glanced at me and smiled. "Or Spitfire if you like."

"Very well, Bee. I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

Bee yawned again. "Is she always like that?" she asked me.

"Like what?"

"I dunno, so formal?"

"Oh, well, ya, I guess so."

"Hmmm..." was Bee's only reply. She yawned again.

This time, I yawned in reply. "Okay, well, I think I'm gonna hit the sack. See you in the morning, Bee."

CLANG! BANG! CRASH!

I was awakened by an awful din the following morning. "ARIA? SPITFIRE?!"

"Sorry Captain Morgan!" came the distant yell.

I stood, yawned, and stretched, then padded down the hall in my bare feet and pajama bottoms. I stepped through the open door to the common room. There, kneeling on the floor, butt in the air, and her head inside an open access panel, was Bee. Tools and parts scattered all around her. I slapped my hands over my eyes so fast it stung, and then turned my back to the room. "Spitfire! Where are your clothes?!"

"Oh, umm, in the 'fresher, Captain Morgan. I didn't want to sleep in that clean bunk with my dirty clothes, so I took a shower. But I was so tired, I forgot to put my clothes in the 'fresher last night. It's not like I'm naked. I'm wearing a towel!"

"Not when you're bent over like that, you're not!" Hell, even now that she was standing up, that towel was losing the fight to keep everything covered!

"Oh... sorry Captain Morgan, but please don't tell me you're all prudish about skin and stuff."

"I am not... prudish! But hell girl... And what's with all this Captain stuff today?"

"We are on board your ship. And while on board, you are the Captain, and it is proper procedure to address you as such." She was starting to sound like Aria! Speaking of which...

"Aria?"

"She is quite correct Captain Morgan. Those are the procedures we agreed to while on Lave station."

"Okay, okay. I give. But just Captain then. Let's skip the Captain Morgan bit." I grumped.

"Very well Captain." Both Aria and Bee chimed at the same time. Bee giggled.

"Oh hell. I need some coffee."

"Is he always like this?" Bee asked Aria.

"Like what?" I interjected.

"Prudish and grumpy." replied Bee.

"I have had no previous opportunity to gauge his opposition to nudity before now. As for "grumpy", I have observed that behaviour only rarely."

"I'm not prudish or grumpy!" I growled, as I stomped out with my coffee to get dressed.

Coffee downed, and pants on, I returned to the common room. Bee was next to the fresher, pulling on her shorts as I entered. "Oh crap.. sorry." I clapped my hand over my eyes again. I heard an evil snort.

"For what, Captain?" asked Bee, with an extra helping of innocent.

"Nothing, nothing. So what were you doing in that panel earlier?"

"Oh, well, Aria and I found the hoses and filter I needed to fix the water recycling system, so Aria bought them, and had them delivered. Then I fixed it!"

"Already? I mean, you did all that this morning?"

"Sure! Not all of us sleep in, you know!" she said, with another smirk.

"Wow, umm.. Okay, thanks!"

"No problem! It was a pleasure to work on Aria. Now, you promised me breakfast, and I'm starving!"

Six large pancakes, six slabs of bacon, two eggs over easy, two slices of white toast, and a large glass of orange juice. And that was just her breakfast. I watched in fascination as she kept shovelling the food down. Then, as she finished, she suddenly became quiet, glancing at me occasionally, through her unruly bangs.

"You turn shy all of a sudden?" I asked.

"What? No, umm, so, they should be done with the maintenance on Aria later today. Umm... You going to leave then?"

"Oh, ya, Aria and I haven't really talked it over yet, but I imagine we'll probably leave sometime today." For some reason, that thought made me a bit sad.

"Oh ya, well, you gotta make a living, right?" She gave an awkward little laugh. "Ya, I got things I gotta do too." She sat there staring at the table.

"Well, come back to the ship with me, I need to get your cred-chip. I still owe you two credits.

"Oh ya, sure."

The walk back to the ship was very quiet. "Wait here, I might be a minute or three." I said at the bottom of the ramp.

"Ya, okay..." she said, scuffing her boot on the ground.

I went up to the bridge and flopped in my seat. "Aria?"

"Yes Captain?"

"What do you think?"

"About what, specifically, Captain?"

"About Spitfire."

"She seems to be a competent mechanic. Her repairs to the water recycling system were efficient and competent."

"No no, I mean what about asking her to be crew? She knows more about you than I do, and she could keep costs down and keep you running, and... and... well, it just feels like the right thing to do."

"Then I would suggest that you hire her as crew Captain. It would be a sensible choice."

I suddenly felt a lot better!

"You're right Aria. We need her, and you know what? I think she needs us too!" I jumped off the couch and ran for the ramp.

Spitfire wasn't there.