Welcome to the Mutineer's Odyssey

By Suzanne Dome

Kyrie Carlisle can read the weather, but she really wants to live in space.
Years after a research vessel discovers Earth, the Federation of Allied Planets sends a war ship to oversee the construction of a space station at Saturn, and protect the system. Kyrie is the first Human to work on the Mutineer’s Odyssey, and the first Human Intuitive Navigator. The other occupants, however, are not the polished military and diplomatic envoys that Earthlings expect. Kyrie encounters pirates, technical difficulties in her own position, crew disputes, cultural misunderstandings, and constant anxiety over fruitful blunders of her own. As the crew expands, so do her duties, and she has to decide how far she is willing to go to stay in space.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Suzanne Dome
• Release date: Jan 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005129750

Suzanne Dome

Suzanne Dome was a special ed para for years, and supports STEM education. Now a resident of rural New Mexico, she wrangles chickens when not writing or crafting. Seamstress, jeweler, artist, diabetic, tree-hugging, star-gazing, crystal-gripping Bohemian, in black.Short Stories: Last Star, Tree Row Howl, BOOMER, SaviorWork available in print(Amazon): Weird Wheat; The Scrounger Trilogy: Empty Space, Second Signal, End Transmission, Lotus of the Stars, The Hoof of Nessus, Derelict Passage, Welcome to the Mutineer's Odyssey

Book preview

Welcome to the Mutineer’s Odyssey

By Suzanne Dome

©2021

Thanks

People are so kind and listen to me yammer for hours about my ideas. Love and gratitude to my significant geek Jason (he knows how he helped); special thanks to my siblings and parents for their time, patience, and encouragement; my sincerest appreciation to those who support me artistically across the web, and those who helped me pick a cover design.

A commercial plays incessantly over every station some twenty odd years from now.

Narrator: "Are you a hard worker, with a range of skills? Can you work in a small, confined space for days on end? Would you like to see Earth from space every waking cycle? Train for the Federation of Allied Planets and the Mutineer’s Odyssey!"

The background music consists of an upbeat electronic instrumental, and the camera pans down a long dim silver metal corridor. A binocular Riordjan male and a Calavean male, both in gray and light blue uniforms, greet each other. Cut to a uniformed black human male singing while helping with food prep, and a white human female and a Keps check on the plants in their light columns. At the song’s bridge, pilots and dock crew check out the fighters and the robots. A Keps and a small binocular Riordjan male are in the simulator and turn to wave. A Thorin squeezed into a Riordjan white and gray uniform issues directions. A Hammas female, an Insect from the Fungan moon, and a Navajo human male go over charts in the medical wing. A quad ocular Riordjan female examines a screen in Engineering, and grins at something a binocular Riordjan says. As the view changes to the exterior of the ship and pans the length of it, a list of jobs shown in the footage scrolls across the screen in FAP standard.

Narrator: Interested in living in space? Visit the U-N-O-O-S-A website under their Employment Opportunities tab and select Space for a current and complete list of needs and openings. Each listing contains a link to the education and skills required. Thank you, and welcome to the Federation of Allied Planets!

1

Kyrie waited in the foyer of the space station visitor entrance and scanned the sky.

Not long before she was born, there was a pandemic, and soon after that, Earth found out it was indeed, not the only home for sentient species. A small craft investigating the planet parked in orbit and asked questions. Language translation was established and the planet and the vessel began a massive information exchange. As the largest donor to the U.N., the USA agreed to take the financial brunt of building and operating a space port, and the site selected was on a piece of land in New Mexico already in possession of a space port. They built it in constant coordination with the small ship, which would sometimes vanish and return, always with the explanation of supplies.

Most of Earth accepted it; people who had the capability to watch the UNOOSA broadcasts knew what the people on the ship looked and sounded like. They always appeared surprised in the UNOOSA broadcasts; they didn’t expect humans to already have knowledge of other civilizations in the galaxy. Most other sentients were shocked to learn they weren’t alone, but Earthlings explained that there was a history of UFO and UAP sightings, as well as other phenomena about which science was unsure.

After a couple years, science and training information descended from the vessel, and the US built a training facility close to their space port consisting of dorms, a massive school, and a military base. They scouted students in the final months of completion. The oddest request was for humans who had extrasensory skills, something humanity had long deemed unreal or unnecessary. However, since their space brethren assured humans it was a real phenomenon, they acquiesced and the search for such children began. Other participants were taken from high scoring science students, and fighter pilots from all over the world. Not everyone was as willing to send their best to the academy, and several refused to participate on nationalist grounds. Other countries scraped together their own tutoring or educational opportunities. Russia and China scoffed and refused to broadcast any of the data to their people, opting instead to consider the ship a threat. Some simply didn’t care.

Kyrie Carlisle left her family at six, when it was fairly well documented that she was in tune with the weather in western KS, and her parents drove her down to the facility in New Mexico for testing. She was immediately accepted, and began a long training regimen on top of the usual studies. She was educated in biology, space sciences, and well versed in Federation of Allied Planet’s basic official language, beamed down in those early days for communication. Today, she waited to take her place as an intuitive navigator on the defense ship that hovered in orbit for the last decade.

Typically, a Riordjan would take this position, or perhaps a Hammas or one of the reptilian sentients; however, it appeared the ship was in immediate need, so based on her scores, they would give her a test run. An intuitive navigator could connect to a robotic device or ship via a suit that both transmitted real time sensory data to the skin of the suit wearer and mimicked the wearer’s movements by way of the maneuvering thrust on the vessel. This allowed an intuitive navigator to sense impending doom and make immediate course corrections. Navigators functioned in tandem with a pilot on the main thrust and direction control, and a copilot who monitored the main sensors, or operated arms or tools. An advanced intuitive navigator would be able to completely operate a small device on their own, and even project the quantum fields used as outer armor by the FAP.

There was no time for her to graduate. Some of the staff and students had a small ceremony for her when her scores got the attention of the warship. She pushed herself in these last five years, so her spatial awareness and intuitive correctness scored off the charts compared to the other students. She saw her parents for the summer, and worked in the space port lobby when not training or taking classes. Waiting for the shuttles to land would often turn into a frenzy of excitement among the port staff.

Kyrie couldn’t see the star cruiser at the moment, so she watched for the glimmer of an entering shuttle craft. It wasn’t only for her, it was also a supply pickup, and she stood on her toes and grinned when she saw the electric semi pull up outside. She knew there would be other humans, but she would be the first. She breathed the canned air from the ship for years in the lab to test her immune reactions, and so far nothing negative occurred. She ate samples of food brought from other planets, and tasted the foodstuffs produced on the ship in the mechanized processing units. No issues. Medical devices and equipment were tested on the students, with various consent forms, in their campus clinic. Only one student ever had a reaction to the wound sealing foam.

She knew Earth produce was tested in the ship’s grow deck for crew consumption, and with the supplies created all over the planet plus the foodstuffs produced on the ship, there was often excess which would be donated to areas with food insecurity. It was like having an entire continent for nothing but food production, and those food donations had turned the tides for several regions. There were even advisors from other planetary systems working with Earth, and academics of all backgrounds itched to come to the planet to study.

Her parents had applied to host, if visitation outside the compound could happen in their lifetime. She heard over the summer that crew started taking shore leave recently and stayed on a private section of the compound closer to the mountains. Elephant Butte was on the other side.

Deep breaths. In the heat shimmer over the tarmac, she saw the glimmer of a shuttle, and the space port buzzer went off to alert anyone not watching that a landing was eminent. It was installed because of a shuttle accident when she was in 8th grade. No one was killed, but that specific pilot was never seen by the port crew again. After the buzzer stopped, she hefted the enormous duffle bag, and glanced at the storm looming low over the mountains.

On approach, Commander.

Unzi Irarra deftly guided the little shuttle down to the drab sprawl of the spaceport, and he already missed the orbital view of the blue-green, cloud brushed planet. The gauge on the dash suggested it was far hotter than what any of the crew were accustomed to. Behind him, the Commander sat strapped into the seat, his vines awkwardly twined to better fit the Riordjan suit. Dan Fungan, Irarra’s copilot on the shuttle and for the robot craft, verified the coordinates and set the ship’s beacon. A gust of wind from the storm over the low mountain range barely ruffled the shuttle.

Dan was a Fungan, which meant he was not terribly mobile without a functioning skeleton or life support suit, and he was the only one on board the ship. Fungans didn’t typically leave their home planet, preferring instead of allow other sentients to come visit them, and they had a knack for numbers. Dan chose to come to Earth; he picked an Earth name, and to study humans, but Irarra was certain most of it was personal curiosity. He could have been a data administrator or an engineer, but he preferred to be a pilot. They were convenient roommates as well, since they slept in nutrient pods and took up very little space.

The shuttle thumped down, and the radio burst with static and a string of welcomes from the space port tower.

Looks like you’ll have to wear your helmet, Dan.

When Irarra was brought to this desolate patch of the galaxy, it was with the crew of a construction ship. Since boarding the Mutineer’s Odyssey, a name chosen by misinterpretation of a collection of Earthling stories, Irarra had mostly been without a navigator, so he piloted whatever he was allowed to and trained every day cycle. He hadn’t flown the robot for six of the local months, since his old navigator chose to work with a different crew.

He lost count of the local year rotations, but felt fairly accustomed to their other time references. The ship was quick to adapt once in orbit and official communications had been established. This watery world inhabited by hairless bipeds was of interest to the FAP, both in terms of potential workforce and in the untouched resources around the solar system.

It was a wonder these things had evolved so far from other inhabited systems, many of which were affected by the Riordjan Expansion, for which their defense ship was originally built. While he was proud of the work he did to assist with the building of the first large space station in this system by that most beautiful planet, Saturn, this was still exile. A half bred Fortean and his shenanigans belonged in the middle of nowhere, on a barely-manned refurb ship, filled with other screw-ups like him, orbiting a planet known more for their pleasure drive than for their science.

The glass-front port glittered in the afternoon heat, and the gauges showed a slight rise in humidity as the ship cooled, but it still was not the sixty percent necessary for his copilot. Commander Iroth leaned past the consoles to view the storm to their port. At least these creatures already had a good grasp of science; the tower informed them it was the middle of the monsoon. That storm dumped a visible sheet of rain that captivated them for a moment. Then Commander Iroth straightened as much as a Thorin could, still taller than Irarra, who inherited little but his height from his Fortean mother.

It’s likely safe. I’m told they sterilize everything in the port on arrival days. The Commander waved the two of them over to the exit ramp in the back.

A lone Earthling stood on the hot pavement at the edge, in the relative shade of the storm cloud expanding their direction. She watched it as well, turned away from them as they approached slowly so Dan could keep up. His air exchange whirred, Irarra took deep breaths, and Commander Iroth filled his air bladders. She turned back to them and lifted the dark coverings on her eyes. It was eerie how Riordjan she appeared; Irarra assumed the Earthling was female based on the shape. Her mouth spread in a wide, teeth-bearing grin.

Dan punched his leg. She’s smiling, not snarling.

Isn’t it just a difference of intent? He sneered.

The ozone from the ship and the baked desert covered any odors from her at the moment, but she did have on a pair of tiny star earrings and a crescent necklace, and a silver ring with a sliver of blue stone inlaid. Her hair was brown and past her shoulders, except for the bangs that brushed the tops of her eyebrows. Her eyes were green and rimmed with a smudge of black. He couldn’t tell if she was compact or squishy with that black and turquoise track suit she wore, that like the black shirt underneath, bore the symbol of the spaceport academy.

Welcome to Earth! She offered brightly when they were about a body length away. Then she jerked her head to the storm. We either need to leave now or go inside, that’s going to hit us any minute.

She seemed not to have any qualms with the appearance of non-Earthlings. Their highest ratings were Imagination and Adaptability on the Sentient Characteristics Scale, after all.

Kyrie Carlisle?

Yessir!

They stood in front of her; an immense bundle of green and brown vines stuffed into a uniform, a slender platinum haired being that could have passed for human but for some vaguely inhuman features, and what appeared to bystanders like a rock in a child’s space suit.

"Commander Iroth, of the Mutineer’s Odyssey." He held out a sleeve covered bundle of vines in an attempt to imitate local greetings, and she took it and gave it a light squeeze. He indicated the other two.

These two will be the pilot and copilot you fly with. Unzi Irarra, and Dan Fungan.

Irarra saluted and stood at attention while Dan shoved his hand up at Kyrie, and she took his gloved hand and held it and exclaimed how excited she was to be able to finally go to space. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do, she admitted. She turned to Irarra and gave him a military salute. He relaxed some and she held out her hand with a closed-lip smile. Commander Iroth stepped over to speak with the semi-truck driver.

You grasp her hand, Dan said in his electronic voice, belaying a hint of amusement.

Oh.

Irarra grasped her outstretched hand, which was warm and soft. He stared at it for a second, and she let go. Humans were also endothermic, he recalled.

Grasp of the common language is quite good at the port!

Commander Iroth rejoined them, and Kyrie grinned big again.

Materials from the fleet helped a lot, Kyrie nodded.

A crack of thunder tore the atmosphere and Kyrie guided them inside the back of the port to the lounge area beside the visitor’s desk and foyer. The duffle bag she hauled was bigger than her by at least three, but she shouldered it like it was nothing more than a small pouch. She stopped at a circle of plush chairs and offered that the storm would likely dump rain on the compound for about fifteen minutes, and it would be safer to wait it out in here. Commander Iroth took one of the seats awkwardly, and Dan took the other seat beside her on a small couch. That left Irarra a seat across from her. Audible exclamations emanated from the clerks down the hall.

In the desert heat, his infra-red pits were useless, but in this chilly air conditioning, her heat signature was far higher than the other two. Dan asked her questions while the Commander listened carefully. She pulled her hair up into a bun and tied it off with an elastic, and then stopped and took on a distant expression. Then the storm eased.

Do you think its humid enough now? Dan turned awkwardly to Irarra, who simply shook his head. Dan’s embossed smile appeared to droop, but the sightless impressions indicating eyes were not tilted down as his posture changed.

Kyrie took his gloved hand again. I would keep the helmet on if I were you. Even in monsoon, it’s very dry here, and normal air conditioning can make it worse. She stared right into his face as she said this.

Dan kept hold of her hand until the Commander stood as awkwardly as he sat.

Kyrie?

She nodded. It’s over. There should be a long enough window to leave, if the cargo is ready.

The Commander offered what equated to a smile for a Thorin. And it’s no wonder you scored so well.

She reddened and her body heat blasted Irarra’s heat pits so that he had to blink it away. She smiled at least. She stood as well and shouldered that massive bag again, and they emerged into humidity and mixed odors of wet pavement, dirt, machinery and pine. The tarmac was damp, even beneath the shuttle, and she mentioned that straight line winds would do that.

And that light effect? What’s the local term again? He pointed.

A rainbow, she smiled and answered in English.

She watched curiously as Irarra and Dan flew the ship while she sat next to Commander Iroth. The Commander explained the ship’s work rules, and sent files to her phone through an app developed by the humans in partnership with the earlier crew. She received the app when it was announced she was going to space, and was given some impromptu etiquette lessons that so far she hadn’t needed. It was going to be a fresh start for her.

Can I ask a strange question, Miss Carlisle? The Commander laid his twined vine arms in his lap.

She shrugged and grinned.

What do you make of knowing of other sentient beings?

Oh, you mean the UAP discussion? Well I grew up with the ships in orbit, so it’s a fact for me. Mom and dad said once that they always thought someone had to be out there. There’s lots of popular entertainment centered on the idea, and I guess even since the research vessel came, there have been cases. UNOOSA is really transparent about it, which is cool. Before, there was lots of cover ups. We covered some of this in social studies. She grinned. Has the defense ship seen them? The UAPs?

He chuckled. Perhaps. It certainly doesn’t sound like any technology we have. He swiped something on his tablet, and instructed her to check her app.

More information appeared, such as a work crew listing, a manifest that showed only thirty-something crew members, maps of the ship’s deck layouts, and Commander Iroth assured her that for the foreseeable future, navigating was her only concern. He showed her that for instance, anyone in administration was also automatically security, and for Kyrie, the image of the Commander losing it and picking up offenders with those vines was intimidating enough, but imagining a Calavean on a security team was daunting. She’d studied the different beings she might meet in a book setting, so she had at least a basic idea. He explained that the vast majority of the ship was automated, such as cleaning and meal prep, so it was common to have fewer crew in a smaller space on the ship rather than fill it to the brim and use all the resources.

It made perfect sense to Kyrie. She took slow deep breaths as they approached the hangar and passed through the quantum field that shielded the open space from the vacuum. To the side, there was a line of sentient beings, either in flight suits or the white, gray, and light blue tunic and pants uniforms similar to what the Commander wore. Not everyone was military, and the civilians on board had to maintain their own ship-appropriate clothing.

Kyrie didn’t have time to shop when she was home for her birthday, right before leaving, so she only took along things that were easily laundered and comfortable. Most bore the academy label.

She hefted the bag and exited with the Commander, who stood in front of the short line. Kyrie, these are the other two robot crews. You will all work together from time to time.

There was a series of hellos and introductions, and then she was handed her room assignment. The six others dispersed, and the Commander handed her off to an iridescent dark teal reptilian named Zoringya, who was both command crew and security.

Come with me, Kyrie. She tapped on a tablet with a slender clawed finger as they walked the corridors, and Kyrie tried to note her position relative to the hangar. They moved up inside the ship’s interior, away from the ozone and chemical tinge, and she noted how many hallways were closed off. One level had the antiseptic med center and the gym