Young Writers Society

That was how Janny found himself entering the captain's office on the third cycle of their stay on the Hub's docks. The requests were slowing down by now, most of the companies on board the ship having sent their emissaries into the trading centre to get to work. And so the captain had finally had time to hear the story of his how abducted head of maintenance made it back from Scentian captivity.

Captain Corli was sitting behind a low desk, not being the tallest Endoleon the galaxy had ever seen, and had two stacks of paper in front of him. One was directly in front of him, the other to his right, and much taller than the first. As he waved to Janny with one hand, he moved a few sheets of stapled together paper from the centre to the right.

"Almost done with the paperwork then?" Janny asked.

"You're talking to yourself again, Gomm," the captain said, but beckoned him forward to take a seat. It was a metal framed chair with some nice, soft cushions sewn in as part of the design.

"No, no. That one was on purpose," Janny said, sitting down. "I'm just glad you have time to fit me in."

"I see," Corli said, setting his smaller stack of papers to the left and bringing a thin laptop computer out of his desk drawer. He opened it up and poised his fingers over the keyboard. "On you go then."

"Oh, right. Yes, sure," Janny said. "So, it all started when Rett asked me to talk to those Scentians. I went through to talk to them about what they wanted from us, and we were in their ship, rather than hours, because there was more space. Then Lestili - well, I didn't know she was called Lestili at the time... Sorry, captain, but this took ages to tell my crew all about. Are you sure you need the full story?"

Corli waved his hand and hit his knuckles on the laptop. "Ow. No, I just need to know how much I owe in ransom money, and who I make it out to."

"None," Janny said.

"None?" Corli leaned forward, nearly hitting his head on the laptop as well.

"None," Janny said. He shrugged. "I got away. Then Lestili helped me get away from the TIPO stealth crafts."

Corli sat back and shook his head. "Well then... Wait, why were you running away from TIPO? They're an integral component of what makes this Hub go round, you know."

"They thought I was Lestili," Janny explained, "And they weren't too happy with her. It's a long story, like I said. I probably shouldn't have said her name actually."

Corli looked at him for a moment, and was completely silent. Then he sighed and said, "Oh well. I suppose you can get back to work then. That was rather painless. Thanks, Gomm!"

Janny fidgeted, twisting a few fingers together and straightening them back out. "Actually, sir, I was wondering if I could ask you something."

Corli had started to close his laptop, but paused. "Well, I suppose I've got some spare time. What's on your mind?"

Janny rubbed the back of his neck. "It's just... between Upumsel and Fri, they've got this place covered really. They've even started to scream at each other a little less. Turns out I trained them fairly well."

"You want to make one of them head of maintenance?" Corli asked.

That stung more than he thought it might. "Well, yes, but more than that. I want to go back to the Hub, back to the Flexie district, back to the room where I left my jumpsuit and got the hat I was wearing when I came back the other day - I don't know if you saw any images of me but that is a fashion decision I am coming to regret."

"But you're wearing a jumpsuit now," Corli said, frowning deeply at him.

"This isn't mine," Janny said, "It's one of the spares. Bit big if I'm honest."

Corli reopened his laptop fully. "So you're saying you want a Hub pass so you can go retrieve your jumpsuit? The one that fits?"

Janny shifted in his seat, wondering how Corli hadn't got the message yet. "Well, I suppose I could do that. But I'd need more than just a Hub pass... I'd need indefinate leave."

"Leave?" Corli's eyes bulged.

"Yes," Janny said. He took a deep breath. "I'd like to leave. Oh, and Cri would like to come with me. She's very curious about everything I told her. She'd like to meet Birt and Odela, and maybe Lestili one day. Even Grescin maybe, though probably not Ennet. I also really need to do something about my legs. I thought maybe Lestili would send me some medicine but the pain just keeps getting worse, the marks are getting greener, and the Flexie archives are proving no help."

"You don't need my permission to leave," Corli said, finally closing his laptop.

"No, but I need a reference," Janny said, smiling with one side of his mouth. "I'm sure there'll be plenty of toilets to clean on the Hub. There's whole towns of people there waiting for their turn at teleportation."

Corli sighed and hung his head, opening the laptop once more. "I'll send it through once I'm done."

"Oh. Thank you!" Janny said. "I thought you might need some convincing... I thought you might... need me."

Corli clicked his mousepad a few times then looked up with a smile. "Gomm, I'm just glad you've expressed interest in something other than disinfectant spray. Next time I see you I expect a favourite pop single, three new foods you've tried, and a new planet you've visited - and it can't be Endol."

Janny sat up straight. "I - okay, sure. Cri's already shown me articles about several tourist destinations. We thought we'd go on a little holiday first. She's not sure she wants to stay in maintenance forever, so we're also going to go see what's out there for her. Oh, she'll need a reference too."

Corli nodded, typing away on his laptop. "Of course. The worst thing she's ever done is, along with you, stick me with just her sister and Upumsel."

Janny gulped. "I'm sure it'll be fine..."

"As am I," Corli agreed. He hit one of the buttons on the keyboard hard. A moment later Janny's techpod buzzed. Corli said, "There! Off you go, Gomm. Send us many postcards!"

Janny smiled and nodded. "Thank you, sir." Then he headed out the room. He walked back to the maintenance lounge reading the reference the captain had sent him. It was one of those standardised forms that big ships like this used whenever employees moved on. It had fields for strengths, weaknesses, experience, qualities. Janny always read weaknesses last when looking at a reference; you had a store of confidence to hold on to so it wouldn't hit you too hard.

In the middle of the corridor, Janny stopped. He put his hand on his cheek and shifted his weight onto one leg, softening his eye sockets so they'd absorb the tears that were springing up. Under weaknesses the captain had written: "Possibly the least adventurous soul you've ever met, but he's working on that."

The End