The fog blows out of my mind as my eyes slowly blink open. Why am I in the living room? As I start to push myself up I feel a sharp pain in my neck. “Ah! Shit!” That’s what I get for sleeping on an armrest. Is there a blanket on me? Finally getting upright, I notice a blanket slump of my chest and the lack of the Kaeleen who’d just been there. Did she put this blanket on me? When did I fall asleep? What time is it?

“RIN, what time is it?” I rub the sleep from my eyes as the computer reads out the time.

“It’s nine AM, Captain,” the voice from above informs me.

“When did I set up that meeting with the parents?” I steady myself to keep my sleepy body from falling over. As I struggle to keep my eyes open, I begin to stumble towards the bathroom.

“Your meeting is at noon, Captain.” Yeah, I’ve got some time. Walking into the bedroom, I shed my uniform and underwear, tossing them on the floor. I reach up and lean back, stretching with a grunt. Stepping once again onto the warm tile of the bathroom, “If I laid down in here I’d fall asleep…” I take a moment to appreciate the heat under my toes before snapping back to reality and turning on the shower.

One morning routine later and I’m dressed and mildly more prepared to tackle the day ahead of me. Still fighting to keep my eyes open, I head down to the bridge to check on our status. The doors slide open a welcome sight: Simon’s back. Most everyone seems to be at their stations, except Brenda. Not that I’m complaining. Walking down the ramp to my seat I notice Selai isn’t there yet. Maybe she slept in. If she finished the movie we were watching it was probably pretty late. More importantly though, I should check on how Simon is doing. Turning around, I guide my hand along the railing while stepping backwards and looking to the cyborg above me. “Simon, how you feeling?”

He looks up from his station, “I’m operating adequately, Captain. Dr. Medli said it would take a while for my wounds to heal, but she released me to return to my duties.” I throw a thumbs up and open my mouth until I’m interrupted by a panicked voice on the far side of the room.

“Wounds?! Oh my God! Are you alright Simon?! What happened?!” Yuki was speaking at million words a minute. Those were just some of the sentences I was actually able to parse out. “Who hurt you? Was it Clark? Clark! Why did you hurt Simon?!”

I throw my hands up to protect my body from the verbal assault. “Whoah! Calm down there. I didn’t hurt Simon. Also, that is the loudest I’ve ever heard you, Yuki, good job.” At this point everyone is turned around to face the center of the room.

Shauna leans back in her chair and crosses her arms. Looking up to Simon, she holds a quizzical gaze. “Oh shit, yeah. Your face is really beat up. What happened?” How are you all just now noticing this? It’s really hard to miss.

Simon turns his attention to me as if asking for permission. “Captain? I do not wish to share confidential information without your permission.”

I rub my still tired eyes and nod. “Yeah, that makes sense. I’ll tell them.” I look around the room to address the crew. “OK, I need to preface with the fact this is all confidential. Nothing I’m about to say is to leave this room. Got it?” Everyone nods and murmurs some assurances. “Alright, so yesterday, a group of teenagers, from the civilian group onboard, attacked Simon. Selai and I talked to them and learned a bit behind their reasoning. They’re currently in the brig. I really don’t want to say any more until we’ve talked to their parents and see if they share in their children’s beliefs.”

Terry stares at the chairs across from him in disbelief. “Teenagers did that?” Turning back around, his voice trailed off into the inky black space in front him.

“Why didn’t you just fight back and stop them?” Lance has a leg up on his knee and crossed his arms. “You’re certainly strong enough to.” Simon turns his attention to the engineer to his left.

“Not only were they civilians, they were also minors. I knew I could take the damage and did not want to unintentionally injure them. I may be a cyborg, but part of me is still human and capable of errors. Thus, I opted to alert my team and wait for them to apprehend the three.”

“Huh…” Lance just kinda stares at him, eyes squinted.

This is bothering me too much. I gotta know how all of them missed his busted face. It’s too fucked up not to notice. “OK, but seriously: how did all of you not see his injured face? I assume he’s been in here with all of you and you all missed it?”

Lance breaks his gaze and addresses me. “I mean, you know Simon. He was in here first and he’s always got so many holograms in front him that we didn’t really get a good look at him.” Everyone nods again and mumbles ‘yeah.’

I look around in stunned silence for a moment. Shaking my head, I plop down in my chair and collect all my thoughts. “Terry, how’re things going?”

Terry perks up at his name and turns back towards me. “Oh! Things are going well! I had a pretty good day yesterday all things considered.” I meant with the ship but he sounds too excited. What kind of monster would I be if I cut him off?

“And then I headed down to-” He’s still going… 

“Then I went to bed and had a rather nice night’s sleep.” Is he done? It’s been like five minutes!

“That’s all really good to hear, Terry!” I try my hardest to sound sincere. “And how’s our progress?”

Terry jumps a little bit again, “Oh! Haha, yeah we left port about twenty hours ago. Things have been smooth sailing so far…” He looks up to Simon, “Well, for most of us. Sorry, Simon.” Simon nods in forgiveness.

“Thank you, Terry.” Looking around I realize a way to save a lot of time. “How about this, if anyone has anything they think they need to tell me: just speak up now.” Everyone is silent and looks to each other expectantly.

“I think your hair looks good today.” The soft voice of Yuki skips over to me. I can’t help but smile at her compliment.

“Haha, thank you, Yuki.” She smiles back and gives a little salute. OK, that was cute. “Anyone else have anything to say?” I see Shauna smile and I choose it best to just cut her off now. “Don’t even.” Her smile fades into a scowl as she turns around. Why do I feel like I dodged a bullet? Just then the door to the bridge slides open as I hear the voice of my First Officer gasp in excitement.

“Simon! You’re here!” I hear Simon moan in pain as I turn to see Selai patted his bruised back.

“Selai, leave the poor man alone,” I plead. She laughs and starts walking down towards our seats. She stops in front of me and looks at me blankly. “Yes? Can I help you?”

“You’re in my chair.” I squint my eyes and cock my head to the side. Sensing my obvious befuddlement, she continues, “That’s the First Officer’s chair. The Captain’s chair is usually that one.” She points to the seat on my right. I can hear everyone, but Simon, chuckle.

“Are we still on this?!” Selai recoils in surprise. “The chairs are exactly the same! Why is everyone obsessed with this?!”

Selai’s expression retreats in fear. “Oh sorry… I can sit over there if want.”

I shake my head and stand up. “No no. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. You weren’t here for that argument. I’ll sit in the right chair.” I take extra care to over emphasize ‘right’ as I shuffle over. Sitting down in the “Captain’s chair,” I look over to Selai with a moderately annoyed look. “Happy?”

She chuckles at me. “Yes, I am.” I can’t stop from cracking a smile too. Turning back to the viewing screen, we all spend an hour bickering and bantering while Selai and I wait for our meeting.

Checking my watch, I see that it’s not long until we have to see the parents. “Hey, Selai.” She turns her head to face me. “You wanna go grab some lunch before we go through with this?” She nods enthusiastically as her eyes flare up in excitement. “Then let’s go.” The two of us leave the bridge in the hands of the others and head out to the nearest cafeteria.

We part ways and reconvene at a table. I sit down with my sandwich and she sits across from me with a salad. “That’s all you’re gonna eat? A salad?”

She stares at me, face scrunched in offense. “Yeah. What’s wrong with that? I wanted a salad.”

“A salad isn’t a meal! It’s barely a snack.” I throw my hands out towards the salad in an over exaggerated manner to play up my frustration. “You need real food.”

She throws her hands up and shakes her head, matching my enthusiasm. “What do you mean ‘real’ food?! A salad is real food! I wanted a salad. I’m not that hungry. Let me eat my lettuce in peace!”

We’re both smiling now and trying our hardest not to laugh. “No! You’re not allowed to eat a salad for lunch! That’s an order from the Captain.” Despite my smirk, the anger burning in me is real.

“Are you seriously ordering me not to eat this salad?” Her mouth is agape with the humor of my stubborness. “You’re insane.”

“Yes I am!” I cross my arms and sit back in my seat. “You’re welcome to eat your salad, but you have to have something else.” I tilt my head up as if I’m a king who’s passed down a royal decree.

She mirrors my position and crosses her own arms. “And what are you gonna do if I just eat this salad?” Shit, I didn’t think this far. I twist my face in frustration at her devious smirk. Look at her, with her evil grin. She thinks she’s so smart.

“I’ll… Throw you in the brig!” I point a finger to the ceiling to make myself look more official.

“Haha, I’m eating my salad now.” She picks up her fork and stabs at the greenery in her bowl. Placing it in her mouth, she chews the lettuce and protrudes her head towards me, shaking it slightly in a mocking manner. “Mmmm.”

“Oh! You’ve done it now! A month! No, A year! No! 5 years, 10, 20! 20 years in the brig!” I’m waving my hands around like an ass. We both burst out in hysterics.

“You’re an idiot.” She’s smiling but her eyes still carry some sincerity.

“Yeaaaah,” I look down at my sandwich still trying to get over the stupidity of the whole situation.

“And you’re one to talk about only eating a salad!” She rests her elbows on the table and points at me, accusingly, with her fork. “You had like one slice of pizza last night then passed out.”

“Ye- wait. I only had one slice? But the box was empty this morning.” I look at her with wide eyes, astonished at what must’ve happened.

“... I said I wasn’t hungry.” Her smile returns, this time as a coy pride in her gluttonous accomplishment.

“Selai! That was a large pizza! You seriously…? How?!” I’m in absolute shock. I can’t believe she ate nearly a whole pizza by herself!

“I was hungry then. Now I’m not.” We both lose it again. The crew members around us stare at us laughing hysterically over pizza and salad. They probably think we’re insane… We probably are.