Young Writers Society

A/N: Me reading this back was like "oh god why does this jump around so much" i am so sorry

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Treego sprang away from the laptop mounted into the wall. He heard footsteps. Finding himself on top of a row of lockers, he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, as if he had been taking a nap.

"Treego, knock it off," called Eloise, the pilot who'd just come off duty. "You're logged into twitter on my laptop."

Treego sighed and scooted to the edge of the lockers. "I still don't understand how you get internet signal away up here."

"It's not quite internet..." she started to explain. "But what were you trying to do with it anyway? Leave that poor girl alone."

Treego groaned and padded around to face the front of the lockers as Eloise started to fiddle with the lock on hers. He looked down at her and said, "Her name is Holly, and she's our friend. I just want to say hi. She must have seen us on the news, so I guess she knows we're okay, but that's so impersonal."

Eloise was quiet for a moment. "You can't talk to me about her. Or her brother, or her grandfather. Please, you know I'm not allowed to."

Treego scoffed. "Yeah, because he went rogue and faked a big bad company's involvement, blah, blah, blah. You don't really believe that do you?"

"No goddam comment," Eloise muttered.

Treego rolled his eyes, then glanced in despair around the little teal-coloured room. There were lockers on both sides, but most contained important materials rather than crew possessions. Most of the crew didn't even bother to lock their stuff up, but Eloise always did. She wasn't exactly uptight, Treego thought, even if she did sometimes seem it. He wondered if something had happened in the past to make her so careful.

Maybe if she were a little less careful he'd be able to get past the thousand and one security protocols on the 'communal' laptop - communal didn't seem to include non-humans - in less time than the length of her entire shift. He'd try again, but since this was her second time catching him, he would probably be warned away from this area soon. Captain Barrett would be all too willing to listen to an accusation against him.

It was odd, having Captain Barrett around. After living for so long with Patrick, Treego thought they'd all got used to a certain fluffy comfort - or maybe he just meant respect. Captain Barrett did not respect Treego, and he really did not respect Treego's sense of humour.

Treego sighed and started to hop away. The shadow crew list had probably been posted by now, and while there was no way he was on it, it would be interesting to see who was.

---

"Good job, my friend!" Treego grinned, landing lightly on Chip's shoulder.

Chip stumbled a little, bumping into the laboratory table in front of him. Luckily the clamp stand was fastened tight, as it always was when Chip used it, and the test tube barely quivered. The lab was a low-ceilinged room, but wider than most of the other rooms on the ship. It was near the back, hidden away from the glory of the cockpit and the havoc of the central control room.

"Yeah," Chip mumbled, "Thanks."

"Oh, come on!" Treego exclaimed. "You don't have to be so modest! This is a big deal, my man. No more idling away your time on these endless experiments."

"Experiments save lives," Chip muttered, "Captains boss people around. Dexi should be captain, everyone knows it."

"Not Barrett," Treego said, keeping his voice low. Around the workbenches some of the other animals had started to turn towards them. There was Niall, that bat Treego had met on the first day at the manor, as well as Gerry the toucan and Juliet, the dog they'd all met on the last day at the manor.

“Barrett’s an idiot and I don’t know why he chose me,” Chip whispered.

“Well, you probably better go find out,” Treego said. He pointed at Chip’s wrist. They all wore little walkie-talkies so that the humans could contact them easily, and Chip’s was flashing purple. Purple meant Barrett.

“Great,” Chip muttered. “Can you finish up here?”

Treego sprang down on the table. “Uh, sure.”

Chip peeled off a pair of latex gloves, muttering to himself all the while. He kept muttering as he wandered out the door, scratching the back of his head.

Treego looked up at Niall. “Um, what in the world was he doing?”

Niall flapped his wings once, his own personal brand of shrugging. “I’ve no idea.”

Juliet rolled her eyes. “I’ve got it.”

Treego grinned at her and scurried down the side of the workbench. Nominally, he worked in communications, but that really just meant taking faulty walkie-talkies to the engineer, Rhona, in order to get them fixed. Rhona was a good engineer, so this didn’t happen often.

Treego thought he’d spend some of his abundant free time somewhere near Barrett’s office. If he was honest with himself, he didn’t understand why Chip had been chosen either, and he was curious to find out.

---

Barrett wasn't an oversized man - none of the astronauts were - but he had a loud booming voice, and Treego imagined that in another walk of life he might have had a big portly belly. As it was, he was in remarkable shape for someone in what looked like his late thirties, with well-defined muscles and bright, sharp eyes. He was also an idiot.

What was funny though, was that his office was probably the smallest room on the ship, because it had no practical purpose beyond conversation. He had a desktop computer secured with many screws to his grey metal desk, but most of his work he did practically, on the main floor of the ship. Treego did give him credit for that.

Of course, Treego couldn't actually see this big man in his little cramped office, because as expected he hadn't been on the list of shadow crew, and as such was not invited to their meeting. But he'd been in getting told off enough times to be able to tell exactly who was standing where based entirely on acoustics, as he pressed his back against the wall, just next to where the sound creeped out under the door.

"And then we have Phoenix, who will be helping develop faster communication services, as well as Aurora who will be working in welfare," Barrett said, "And lastly Chip, who will be learning how to lead."

"I - I'm sorry, sir," Dexi said. Treego took in a sharp breath. Dexi, sounding timid? She went on, "It's just, I was wondering if you could explain in more detail why I was assigned to the flight team. Just so I know what it is you want me to keep doing. And, uh, maybe we could get explanations for everyone else too?"

Barrett chuckled. "Ah, yes, good idea. Well, we chose you for flying because of your excellent vision, and of course your dexterity with wheel based controls."

Treego held his breath as he went through the other five shadow crew members, waiting presumably as Dexi was, for the one she was actually curious about.

"And Chip," Barrett said. Treego's insides pulled themselves taut. Barrett continued, "Chip we chosen because we think he has the image of a good leader, and that's half of what being a leader is - being someone that your crew feels like they can trust. Chip has good posture, a wide, friendly smile. He's tall - though he doesn't tower over you. And I am sure his opposable thumbs will come in useful in all manner of situations."

Treego stared at the ground. The meaning might not have been clear to the other human crew members, maybe not even to Barrett himself. But Treego knew exactly what he meant. Chip had been chosen because he wasn't frightening, he wasn't so small that sometimes you missed he was even there. He looked like a leader; he looked like Barrett. Chip had been chosen because he had opposable thumbs and he usually walked on two legs. Because he was a monkey, and monkeys were close enough to human.