180 Ravens’ Resolve

The Spirit of Amelia once again sat in a rented Helios hangar, her ramp down and airlock open. Music blared throughout the ship, and echoed down every passageway, every section, every room.

More than the music, the ship itself was more alive.

The inside of Habitation itself was the most lively. The Ravens had put up posters and photos and handwritten letters and favorite clothing along the walls and around their bunks. Containers filled with the girls’ things were strewn everywhere, ready to be transferred to their new home.

Though it seemed they already had more stuff than they could fit onboard.

So instead of replacing the large screen that used to be next to the terminal, they instead installed more storage lockers and drawers. Which were, of course, quickly populated with their various things.

Claire had also moved in and was sitting at the terminal. Next to her was a half-unpacked duffel bag filled with her professional policing gear, along with a couple containers that held some of her favorite clothing and things.

And on the terminal, she was in the process of selling her old apartment along with most of her furniture. Those were all things she no longer needed.

In fact, all of them had rescinded their refugee habs, and moved what little they had into the ship. The Spirit of Amelia was now their home.

And inside of Habitation’s shower, Eva was busy scrubbing her hair with perhaps too much shampoo. Warm water sprayed onto her from two opposing walls, along with a large showerhead embedded in the ceiling.

.....

She honestly loved the feeling of water as it sprayed on her skin, and occasionally lost all track of time while taking a shower. There were times when she had spent over an hour taking one – the joy of it overwhelmed her sometimes.

It was in the shower that she was able to fully process what had happened with Nightmare. How he had gotten away with it. And that killing him now was going to be that much harder.

But she figured she would deal with it all some other time. After all, she had more important things to worry about for now.

In time, she vowed to herself, I’m gonna kill that little prick.

Once Eva had fully rinsed herself off of the shampoo and her murderous thoughts, she tapped a touchpad off to the side and deactivated the shower. Then she stepped through the sliding door and out to the changing area of the room.

There, warm air blew on her from above, which helped her dry off more naturally. But she still grabbed a towel and began to pat herself down with her own hands anyway. And as she rubbed her hair dry with the towel, she looked over and realized that one of the walls was actually a full-length mirror.

It stretched from floor to ceiling, and it gave Eva a full, unadulterated view of her own body.

She gasped audibly, and wowed at how much she had changed since she last looked. Her legs were long, and toned. Her hips and butt were still shapely. She was extremely happy to see a slim waist, which was accentuated by her relatively broad shoulders.

Though she was athletic and slim, she still had all the right curves. And sure, her muscles were much more defined now – she was in ridiculous shape, but she was still feminine.

And she suddenly found that the lines that defined her – her arms, her breasts, her long neck, and her oval face – she liked how she looked.

Her heart thumped in her chest as the realization hit her. The last time she had looked at herself, she couldn’t stand herself. She couldn’t even look for more than a few seconds. But now, after all that she had been through, all that she had endured, everything about her was different.

She realized that for the first time in her life, she finally started loving herself.

But it was more than just her body – it was everything about her that she loved. Where she was, who she was becoming, how much she had grown, and all that she had learned. Then, she smiled wider when she realized that there was still so much more to learn, to grow, and to become.

~

Close to the Raven’s hangar was a relatively busy makerspace. Its large floor had a number of tables all around the room. Each one of them had an assortment of mechanical and electronic parts strewn about.

More than that, around each table were all sorts of people of every age, gender, and social class.

They were gathered in little teams around their tables and put together all sorts of devices, usually at the direction of a lead designer. Their chatter and activity would have been a cacophony of noise for any who weren’t accustomed to the environment.

Most of the devices they were making were relatively simple – usually some basic single-purpose tool or device. Such as variable flashlights, autolocking containers, hidden tools, retractable spectacles, and so on.

The more experienced engineers and designer teams often put together things like multitools or datapads or wearable devices. They were often looked on with equal parts envy and awe as their tech was relatively complex.

Miko was off in a corner table by herself, with multiple random parts strewn all over her table. In front of her was a partially-built drone, about the size of a basketball, but with the shape of a ladybug.

And as she put her new doodle together, her cottonball drones zipped around and helped her out as best they could. They arranged her tools, brought her parts, and generally kept her workspace clean and organized.

Miko pointed to one of the random parts on the far end of the table, which one of her drones quickly fetched for her. She took it in her hands, disassembled a portion of it with her favorite multitool, and opened it up.

historical

She reached in, pulled out a thin strip of gold along with a short fuse, and tossed the rest aside.

Unlike the other tables, she didn’t bother using any physical schematics, blueprints, or plans. Instead, she relied completely on her mind, and pictured how it all went together internally. More than that, she tended to adjust her design even as she built it.

Of course, sometimes that led to some setbacks. And also the rare bug. But it was all worth it to her. The act of building something intuitively was a process she was starting to seriously enjoy.

It wasn’t as though she didn’t enjoy making blueprints first. It was simply the amount of freedom she could enjoy without one.

It dawned on her why Eva preferred to let her trait speak for her.

Freedom was addicting.

Miko paused as she slipped the gold strip into a control block in her other hand. She realized that if she wanted to optimize her own build process, she needed to build a tool, or code some intelligence, or both.

She couldn’t just rely on her own intuition all the time after all.

But that would have to wait. Right now, what she needed was a ship overseer. The kind that hunted down all of the ship’s bugs, whether digital or physical or both, and disposed of them.

The moment she slipped in the fuse into its slot next to the gold strip, a small yellow light next to them began to blink.

Miko stared at it quizzically, experienced an aha moment, then spun the block around in her hands. On one side were a number of paired pins which had a few jumpers between them. She pulled one out, and slipped it over a different pair.

When she moved back to the fuse, the light next to it was solid green.

A smile of satisfaction spread across her face as she placed the control block back into the ladybug’s belly. She quickly went to grab one of the tools next to her, but it slipped out of her small hands.

It fell onto the table with a loud THUMP, which caused everything else on the table to clatter noisily. Although some of the other engineers complained loudly, she barely even heard them.

All she could do was stare at her hands as Pio’s words echoed around in her mind. About how their physical growth was forever stunted. Her mind came to the realization that she may not be able to build everything she wanted, simply because of her size.

She looked down at the large tool under her hand, and thought about all the things she wasn’t able to do with it. The thought shook her, and immediately knew she needed to do something about her shortcomings.

But had no idea where to start.

~

Although the huge auditorium was packed to the brim with people, there was hardly more than a murmur among the crowd.

Up on the brightly-lit front stage were a few dozen naval officers and instructors in their full formal regalia. Their uniforms were adorned with all their buttons, stripes, and medals. On their hips were their sabres and sidearms, all polished to a shine.

Behind the lectern at the very front and center of the stage, an officer in her mid 50s addressed the crowd before her. She gave them a rousing, powerful speech.

And the crowd itself was composed of over a thousand uniformed cadets, all standing in orderly rows and facing the stage. All of them were dressed in their medical technician uniforms – white with light blue trimmings.

All of their faces brimmed with pride and accomplishment. Though a few also showed signs of exhaustion. At least, a happy version of it.

In the balcony above and around the crowd were thousands more – friends and family of the graduating cadets below. They too shared in that feeling of pride and accomplishment, and reveled in it.

All were enraptured by the dean’s rousing speech.

“Every single one of you experienced an incredible amount of trials and tribulations here at the academy,” said the dean, “but you all should know that it was all just the beginning.”

She looked out at the crowd in front of her, their hearts and minds wide open, their faces intent. All were focused on hearing her words.

“And speaking of the beginning,” she continued, “the length of human life used to count roughly 33 Gaea-Clock years. That’s the equivalent of 10 Galactic-Standard years today. Ten! Picture your normal ten year old. Now imagine as they were millions of years ago. That same person would have been something like a clan elder.

“Wanna know what changed in all that time since? And yes, certainly natural and artificial genetic evolution helped increase human lifespans... But even more important than that has been the growth and evolution of our medical knowledge and technology. And of course, our drive for perfection in our practical application of medicine.”

The dean stepped away from her lectern, but was followed by her voice amplification drone so she could still be heard by everyone. As she talked, she paced up and down the length of the stage, and made sure she looked into her cadet’s eyes.

It was critical that they all heard her.

“Which is where we all come in,” the dean continued. “Myself, my officers, your teachers. You, all of you. Every single one of us is here to help humanity move past our own frailty, to heal our wounds, to reverse biological entropy, and to push us all towards a 200 year lifespan.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a technician patching up the wounded on a battlefield, or a geneticist in a lab building a better vaccine, or a technologist designing a more efficient nanite, you’re all humanity’s future. So stand up! Stand up and applaud yourselves!”

The dean and all her officers and instructors clapped loudly as the cadets stood up and cheered for themselves. Even those in the balconies above applauded.

A feeling of pride swelled throughout the hall, alongside hope, excitement, and adventure.

Amal herself was filled with all those emotions. Not just because she had lived through so much, or because she had learned incredibly precious skills, but because she found a place where she could truly be.

The farm was one thing, certainly, but being a Raven – that was on another level entirely.