Junkman is Awake by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

Our new crew

To me, I enjoyed having our ship to ourselves but in all practicality we had no defense against an attack. Someone could have entered in mass and we would be lost. Yes we can’t be killed but that does not stop mental damage.

Vannessa and I have been asked to honor the goblin free worlds to be able to help us in our work and provide security while we travel. This is because of our generous work in helping the freed worlds.

As we were told, the money helps with establishing new worlds. We make it possible to make sure that they have more than the basics. We make it almost a surety that they get off to a very good start.

This is why it will be a mark of honor to have this in their service record.

I can tell that my wife is happy to have people here. It also is a pleasant surprise to her to have children here. They almost all are new species. Mainly felid mouse folk. both boys and girls look like mouse folk but are almost half again taller than the normal height of mouse folk. One thing is that they have longer retractable claws and are very agile. They can use the stealth of the feline.

I really would not envy anyone going against an adult. The goblins are mated couples but there is talk that they also are getting mated to humans. It is told that some female goblins have mated with the dragons and have had gargoyle children. I really would like to see that but not in the middle of the night.

The small ships in the hanger are fighters. They are flown by the mouse folk, the felid mates, for the most part are the mechanics. They want to insure that their mates have the best working ships. There has not been one fighter lost since they started to help the fleet.

Now Amy. She has charmed, in a good way, my Vannessa. She was in the same predicament that my wife was in. Both were tied to that same dock for a long time. Having to experience being passed by as useless.

Vannessa because she was obsolete and Amy because she was an old man dream ship. I love seeing them together. With that shared experience, they are therapy for each other.

Also, Amy loves being able to play with the crew’s children. There have been a few scuffles but that is what being children is. Amy will be scolded just like the others. I have seen that she, of late, sulks for a while.

She cuddles up to Vannessa after that.

This ship now really feels like home. It is full and does not echo. We now see that this is how it is supposed to be. That time we spent just the two of us was nice. That was the time that we grew from human and AI to friends and then to a mated couple.

But now there is life here. You can go anywhere and find people doing things. The Bone Yard is alive. I am happy to see my mate so happy.

We receive a call from the commando’s leader that we need to go with his group. There may need to be a major salvage operation. Now we have more here and it is lively. This needs to be said, the imps make things interesting. Their imagination is wonderful but when they can play with children, you see their true nature. They do love children.

Richard is with us and he comments that this ship is alive. It was an offhand remark by him that got Vannessa and myself worried.

“I saw the small ship you have. Where did you get a gunship? Were those gun ports closed over when you found it or did you close them?”

Vannessa was there and she was concerned so she told him that the AI, Amy, has said her grandfather had her as a pleasure ship. The revelation causes her to remember an offhand request Amy had.

“Amy asked me a few weeks back, while cuddling me, if she could have a few cannons installed on her. She wanted to be able to protect us. I need to dive into her program to see what the truth is.”

Richard tells her that she cannot do that. “You are now too involved as well as you are Jacob. My group specializes in this. We only just got here. We will get to the bottom of this but you need to be ready to shut off the holographic program. She may lash out when we go in.”

I tell him that he has our permission to turn that off as soon as he starts the dive. “I don’t want either of us to do that.”

It is with pain that Vannessa states her wishes. “If you find that she truly is a fighter and a danger, I request that you set up a scenario of a battle and let her go down in that battle. No war ship should be dismantled. It needs to go down in battle.

She is breaking up as we see both the commandos and Amy disappear.

Time does not flow the same in the electronic realm. The commandos reappear but Amy does not.

“She was a war ship that the general was given as a remembrance of his battle. He had the interior remodeled and removed the cannons. The AI was named Amy but it was known as Hell Fire. She resented the degrading treatment. Then to be relegated to the scrap yard was the last straw. She wanted those cannons to be able to go down in battle. Her plan was to separate then challenge your fighters. When she went down in our battle, she asked that her shell be destroyed by your fighters and to have you melt her remains down. She was happy and told me to thank you.”

I’m choking up but Vannessa is not showing it. “I’m happy that she went in battle.” Then she walked away.

With the somber mood, her ship was detached from its bottom mooring. It was towed out to a safe distance. Her AI self had been destroyed so I rigged a cannon with a remote into one of the old gun port.

With all the fighters lined up on one side, I remotely fire the cannon. That is their signal to each fire on the shell. When all have given it their hits, I turn out the lights and explode a small charge, destroying the AI core.

A fitting end to any war bird.

Vannessa watched it all, then she was the one to operate the arms and scoop. She made sure to get all she could but left small shards there to roam the universe. Only after she processed the last ingot did she sit down on the floor and cry her eyes out.

All I could do is silently hold her while she exhausts herself.

Finally she tells me that she wants the ingots to be ejected into a star. “The thought of her shell being a chair or anything other hurts me.”

We do just that. All are present including the children and all the commandos. She launches it into the sun and turned to all.

“I thank you for all your respect. Amy was dear to all of us but she was in pain and she went the way all war birds should go. I pledge to you, our fighter pilots, we will not lose one of you but when your fighter is beyond repair, we will do the same as we did with Amy.”

I tell them that our salvaged remnants will be used to make a new and improved fighter. That went over really well.

Now my wife finishes as she has all the crew’s children surrounding her. “From this day forward, these are my children. I will be watching over all of them. I will be their grandmother.”

She hugs each and every one of them.

Later, by ourselves, I could tell that it was emotionally draining for her. I just talked to her.

“My dear wife, this is part of life. Now that we are eternal, we will see those we love depart. Some will leave to live elsewhere but all will die eventually. What we need to do for those we hold dear is to remember them when we feel sad like we are. Keeping them in our hearts is keeping their memories alive. When we decide to cross over, all those we lose will be there, including Amy. We need to live for them so we can tell them all the things they participated in while in our hearts.”

I held her even when she fell asleep. In the morning, she kissed me and said that she had a wonderful dream where all her previous crews thanked her. Amy was there and she was happy.