Each grave chamber on the AOC is wide enough to accommodate two sleeping
persons, but there are only six seats in the main area, life support would
struggle to satisfy the needs of twelve people, and microponics would not be
able to feed all of them for an extended period of time. Plus, it would just
be too crowded. Ramses built this ship using the resources that he was
allotted on Proxima Doma, which were not infinite. It was never meant for
the long term. Its only purpose at the time of fabrication was to make a
quick jump to Bungula, and really that’s it. There are nine people here
right now, and it’s already getting to be too much. The only one on their
team who didn’t join them is Kivi, because she’s working with her tack team
on the ground.
Leona had to go into orbit to heal her legs—which is working, by the way—but
also to avoid the killer bounty hunters who are trying to kill her, either
for the money, or because they’re true believers. Arcadia had to come up
here too, because she looks like Leona, and guns don’t discriminate. Just as
Mateo wanted to be with his wife, so too Vearden wanted to be with whatever
he and Arcadia call each other. Marie and Cheyenne probably had to come,
because they’re known associates of Leona by now, and are in just as much
danger. Lastly, Ramses is the engineer, and had a lot of projects on the
backburner that he has finally been able to actually follow through on. As
for the final two new residents, Alyssa politely asked to see Earth from
above, and Winona demanded impolitely.
It has only been a day, but everyone is already getting on each other’s
nerves. Over half of them weren’t originally part of the crew, so no one yet
knows their quirks and pet peeves. The shorthand the four originals had with
each other has gone out the window in mixed company. So nobody’s happy, but
the ones who have a choice don’t want to choose to leave. Mateo has proposed
a competition. The winner gets to stay, and the losers have to go back down
to the surface. Leona, Marie, Arcadia, and Cheyenne are exempt. Ramses
doesn’t have to compete either, because he will be traveling back and forth
as needed. This leaves Mateo versus Alyssa versus Vearden versus Winona. The
only question is what the contest will entail. His first idea is to play a
round of RPS-101 Plus, but he’s the only one in the group who has ever
played it, so isn’t that unfair?
“Yes, it’s very unfair,” Leona points out.
“You have four people,” Marie begins. “You could always play Bridge.”
“No, remember what you told me?” Cheyenne asks her.
“Oh, yeah.” Marie frowns a little. “People here play Bridge with different
rules.”
“I’ve never played before, so that doesn’t seem to matter,” Mateo notes.
“Neither have I,” says all three other contestants simultaneously.
“Why are we overthinking this?” Vearden questions. “Let’s just play regular
rock, paper, scissors. Anyone can win, even if you’ve never played before.”
“A little boring, if you ask me,” Arcadia says.
“Do we really want to base it on chance?” Winona asks. “That doesn’t seem
right.”
Everyone starts arguing all at once—about RPS, the flip of a coin, and a few
computer games that the ship has installed—until Alyssa loudly interrupts,
“enough! Here’s what we’re gonna do. Mateo, Winona, and I will go back to
Earth. Vearden will be allowed to stay with the mother of his child. There.
It’s done.” Yeah, that makes sense.
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