Tan stood with his arms wrapped around Jack in front of the bathroom mirror and careful looped the tie into a double Windsor knot. Tan finished and patted Jack on the shoulders. “Yes, the light blue shirt with the dark blue tie was the right choice.” Jack twisted his mouth into an expression of dubious resignation. “Why do I have to wear a tie?” “Because you’re going to a job interview, and you want to look your best,” replied Tan. “I think it’s silly,” said Jack. “Comb your hair,” said Tan. Jack looked at Tan through the reflection in the mirror. “Have you ever seen my hair? You’d have better luck trying to comb a sheep.” “Try,” said Tan. Jack picked the comb up and stuck it in the thick locks of his mop of hair. “See, won’t work, all the Aestars have hair like this, it can’t be combed.” Tan took the comb and tried to pull it through Jack’s thick hair. The comb wouldn’t budge. “Ouch, that hurts,” complained Jack. “No worries, I was ready for this,” said Tan, retrieving a bottle of clear thick liquid he’d gotten from the store earlier. He squirted some of the liquid out on his hand and rubbed it into Jack’s hair, molding the thick locks into spikes following the natural flow of the hair. Jack watched curiously until Tan was finished. “Holy wow, that looks awesome, what is that stuff?” “Hair gel,” said Tan. “It works best on thick hair.” “This is so cool, I like it!” “It’s called spiky hair, and there’s different ways to do it,” Tan explained. “If we cut the sides, it’s called spiky hair with a fade.” “It’s awesome.” “Okay, son, go put your jacket on, the liaison will meet you at the elevator down the hall.” Jack’s face clouded over. “Don’t call me that, I’m not your son.” Tan tried to put a hand on Jack’s shoulder, but the boy pulled away. “I’m sorry, I’m not trying to take your father’s place.” “Yes you are, you don’t think we’re ever getting back to Aeden,” snapped Jack. Luca, standing in the bathroom doorway watching, glared at Jack. “Jack, you’re such a jerk sometimes.” Jack glared back at Luca. “I’m not an orphan like you, and I don’t need a replacement dad.” “Okay, that’s enough,” said Tan sternly. “I won’t call you that again, I’m sorry, but you don’t need to take it out on Luca.” Jack pushed past Luca and headed for the living room. Tan looked at Luca, there were tears welling up in his eyes. Tan knelt in front of the boy. “He didn’t mean that, it just takes some people longer for their emotions to catch up, and with everything that’s happened to us, they’re starting to catch up with Jack.” “He’s a jerk,” said Luca. “You know you don’t have to call me, dad?” said Tan. “I don’t want you thinking I’m trying to take your dad’s place.” Luca rolled his eyes. “You carried me thirty miles to a hospital when I was sick, you passed your dad interview already. Let’s go, I don’t want to be late.” The sound of the front door slamming shut echoed through the apartment. Tan straightened Luca’s tie. “Do you want some of the gel in your hair?” Luca impatiently shook his head. “We’ll be late, let’s go.” *** Jack stormed down the hall with its well-worn but pleasant green carpet and green trimmed walls. Their apartment was on Deck 27 Green Section. Chief Degas said the apartments were chosen by lottery, but Jack suspected the Chief had put him here near his own family’s apartment so he could keep an eye on them. Jack was mad, at everything, all the time, and he wasn’t even sure why. They could have landed on an uninhabited planet and lived in a cave for the rest of their lives. He knew he shouldn’t have shouted at Tan, but Tan had given up, and even Luca had given up. They didn’t see any way back to Aeden. But then, Aeden really wasn’t Luca’s home, and it definitely wasn’t Tan’s home. Luca had been conceived on Aeden, and as such was registered as an Aeden citizen, but his family had gotten their Gate assignment to Cyphus and moved there before Luca was born. “You must be Jack,” said a voice. “And don’t you look handsome.” Jack looked up. He was already at the elevator and hadn’t noticed. “Hello, are you Sala-je?” asked Jack. “I am, are you ready to see the Belly of the Beast?” Jack tipped his head slightly in curiosity. “I don’t know what that is.” The woman gestured toward the open lift door. “Then I invite you to find out.” Jack entered the lift and the woman followed. He lifted a hand to push a button and paused. “What deck are we going to?” The woman smiled. “Deck Zero.” Jack looked at the control panel. “There is no Deck Zero.” “Of course there is, but unless you’re on the LRES team, you’re not allowed to go there. Not even the Captain is permitted on Deck Zero.” “Okay? So, how do we get there?” The woman folded her hands together and smiled. Jack thought she smiled too much. “We can’t, you’re not on the LRES team yet.” Jack was confused. “I’m supposed to do a job interview today.” “Jack, darling, you’ve already passed the interview, by the actions of everything you’ve done since you arrived on this planet. You are fearless, strong, and not afraid to fight someone twice your size. You have a foul temper, you’re stubborn, arrogant, and like to play the hero. Our team explores planets far far ahead of the fleet. We only have each other, and we don’t want someone that plays by the rules. Is that you, Jack, do you play by the rules? Will you break when the odds are completely against you?” Jack shrugged. The woman frowned. Jack narrowed his eyes. He was still mad. “Okay fine, yes, I break the rules when I need to, is that what you want, an admission of guilt? Yeah, I’m guilty. I’m an Aeden, and I’ll do what I want, and I don’t give up.” “That’s better. Now, do you want to be on the team?” “Yes, I don’t want to be stuck on this boat for the rest of my life. I’m a World Walker. It was an accident, or maybe it wasn’t, I don’t know, maybe I fell through that first Gate because I wanted to be a World Walker.” Sala-je nodded at the control panel. “The sub level numbers are negative numbers, the regular deck numbers are positive numbers. Holding the ‘close doors’ button places the next number you push inside parenthesis. The current Deck Zero passcode is (-4)+4.” Jack looked at the control panel, then pressed and held the ‘close doors’ button, followed by the Sub Level 4 button, then released the ‘close doors’ button, and pressed the Deck 4 button. The elevator doors closed and the elevator began to descend. “Very good, Jack. It took Talek six tries to get it right his first time.” The elevator passed the last Sub-level and continued for longer than Jack would have expected. It finally came to a stop and the doors opened. Jack was greeted with darkness; the only light he could see was coming from the elevator. “Go ahead, Jack.” Jack stepped off the elevator into the darkness. Sala-je followed and the doors closed behind her. Jack’s eyes began to adjust to the darkness, he saw lights in the far distance. He got the sensation he was standing in the open. He could see warehouse shelves with stuff stacked on them. The shelves extended upwards of maybe a hundred feet or more, and out as far as the eye could see. Sala-je walked past Jack. “This way.” Jack followed along on a dark path between the shelves. Something caught his attention and he stopped. A small spacecraft was sitting in one of the open areas between the shelves. “What the heck! That’s an Eroden fighter ship, a really old one.” “Yes, we think it’s their first model of a space fighter, don’t touch it, it leaves a really foul taste in your mouth.” Jack reached out and touched the ship, and instantly regretted it. His tongue felt like he’d just eaten dirt mixed with rust and hot sauce. He snatched his hand back and hurried to catch up with the woman. She stopped when they reached a glass enclosed office, the kind you might find a foreman working from on a factory floor. There was a steel platform with stairs next to the office that went up perhaps three stories. The woman started up the stairs, and Jack followed. When they reached the top, she stopped and raised a communications device to her face. “Jack’s in place, bring up the lights.” Sala-je turned to Jack. “We don’t turn all the lights on very often, it takes too much electricity and annoys the Captain. So, this is a rare event and only done when we bring in a new team member, enjoy it.” The lights flickered to life in rows of dim yellow and slowly grew in brightness over the vast open interior of Deck Zero, like a sunrise bringing the world awake. The landscape was broken only by what Jack thought at first to be massive support columns before he realized what they were. “Those are the engines,” whispered Jack. “The lower part of them,” replied Sala-je. “The engines extend up through all fourteen of the Sub-levels, and they’re not all thrust propellant engines.” Jack glanced at the woman. “I didn’t think they were. I already figured out how you lift such massive ships off the ground.” “Really?” “You don’t actually lift off at all, the thrust engines are used once you’re in space to start moving the mass of the ship. I’m guessing you do a twenty-two year burn?” “Twenty-three years, we’re in slow sleep during the burn.” “And for lift-off, you don’t actually lift off so much as the planet throws you into space using the planet’s magnetic field.” “You really are as brilliant as I’ve heard.” Jack looked out at the vast cargo deck/warehouse of endless shelves containing stacks of things he could only imagine. “What is all this?” “This, Jack darling, is one million years of artifacts the survey teams have collected since we left our home world. You are being assigned to the second oldest section. The artifacts you see around you were collected during the time we were passing through Aeden space. Though, when we first entered the region the Aeden’s now claim as their territory, your species was still scratching pictures on cave walls, and when we finally left Aeden space, you were just beginning the conquest of your galaxy.” Jack was nearly speechless at the vastness of the collection. The ship was forty miles long and 34 miles wide, and here, more than even the sea they carried above, demonstrated just how large the RS-40 was. It looked like every square inch of Deck Zero was filled with artifacts. “What do you want me to do?” asked Jack. “That’s your office below you,” replied Sala-je. “We all work alone and prefer our solitude. We’ll only come together when we are preparing to launch a survey mission. Your nearest neighbor is six miles away, over there.” The woman pointed. “You can see Talek’s observation platform. When we’re not deployed on a mission, you’ll exam artifacts and catalog them. We’ve only cataloged about a third of everything that’s in here.” “This is amazing, I love it!” said Jack. Sala-je raised the communication device and spoke into it. “Okay, he’s hooked. Shut down the lights before the Captain has a fit.” The bulk of the lights began shutting down until only the lights immediately illuminating the area around Jack’s assigned office were left. “I just had a thought,” said Jack. “This is one entire open deck, a hull breech would be catastrophic.” “It’s happened before, but during each refit we’ve put better and better armor on the hull. We haven’t had a hull breech in a very long time, but your office is a self-contained airlock, as well as there being emergency booths scattered all over the deck. Make sure you learn where they are, and stay off your Survey Ship.” The woman pointed. “Your launch bay is over there about a mile away. We take turns driving the next mission, but stay out of that ship until you’re certified to fly, or you’ll bring Chief down here on our heads.” “Chief is allowed in here?” asked Jack. “Not really, but you go ahead and tell the Chief of the Boat he can’t come here. The Captain will obey the rule, because it was the first Captain that made the rule. Captains are temporary, they serve for a few years towards the end of their career, and then we get a new Captain. But the Chief of the Boat is chosen young for his potential by his aging predecessor, and the position is for life. The Chief owns the boat. I don’t know how that tradition got started, but the Chief is a powerful man, don’t cross him.” “I know how it got started. Jacuub of the Ruk got it from us when he was in our fleet. Nearly every position on an Aeden ship is either hereditary, or chosen by a predecessor,” explained Jack. “And don’t worry, I won’t do anything to screw up with Chief, I’m dating his daughter.” “Everyone knows about that wonderfully delicious scandal. It’s how you got recommended in the first place, but I am glad you’re coming to our team, just be careful you don’t abuse his favor.” Sala-je turned and went back to the stairs. She looked back at Jack. “Go ahead and get your office organized and decide what you want to do first. You’ll need to start moving stuff around so you’ll have room to store the artifacts you find. Don’t worry, you’ve got a few weeks before you’ll be going out on a survey. Oh, and one other thing. The elevator is right there, you can see it, you won’t get lost just going from the elevator to your office, but if you go out there into the jungle,” she waved a hand at the vast expanse, “make sure you take a pack with a couple days of food and water, and don’t forget to take a Comm. device, even the experienced team members get lost out there. And, if you see Folte-muk, let us know.” “Who’s Folte-muk?” “He was your predecessor assigned to this office about 300 years ago. He went out there and we never saw him again. We think he probably fell from one of the shelves and was too injured to call for help. Out of respect we haven’t assigned anyone to this office since, but it’s time. This is your office now.” Jack rolled his eyes. “That’s just one of them scare stories you tell the new guy. We have stories like that at Gate Command.” Sala-je’s expression remained serious. “No, Jack, we’d really like to find his body so we can lay him to rest.” Jack looked out at the vast maze of shelved artifacts. Somewhere out there were the bones of his predecessor? *** Luca ran ahead of Tan carefully jumping over the seams of the deck plating and singing, ‘step on a line, and ya break your father’s spine’. “Slow down, you won’t be late,” said Tan. “Come on, I want to hurry up and get there,” replied Luca impatiently. The Robotics Division was located down on Sub-level 2. Luca bolted out of the elevator the moment the doors opened. Tan paused a moment to get his bearings. There was a map on the wall opposite the elevator that displayed where all the various offices were located. Tan checked for the office they were supposed to go to; it was in the opposite direction Luca was running. “Luca, it’s this way,” Tan called out. Luca flipped a u-turn without slowing down and ran back. “I knew that,” Luca shouted with a grin as he slid to a halt in front of Tan. “Where are we going?” “Chief said we need to see the Director of Robotics. His office is this way.” Luca ran to the first door. “This one?” “Not that one,” said Tan. Luca ran across the hall to the next door. “This one?” “No.” Luca continued to run back and forth to the doors. “This one?” “No.” “This one?” “No.” Tan was pretty sure it was just a game now, but by the process of elimination, Luca finally found the right door and burst through, to the surprise of the man sitting at the desk opposite the door. Luca came to his best position of attention in front of the desk. “I’m here for my interview,” declared Luca. The man frowned. “Do you always bust through doors without knocking?” Luca lost his smile and looked back at Tan. “You’re interviewing a seven year old, Sir, please be more considerate with your tone of voice,” said Tan as a warning to the man. Tan didn’t wait for an invitation and sat down at one of the empty chairs. “Luca, apologize for entering the office without knocking.” “I’m sorry,” said Luca, then smiled and propped Mr. Buckles up on the man’s desk. “This is Mr. Buckles.” The man’s frown deepened. “I don’t want to interview the bear, I want to interview Luca.” Tan stood. “Sir, whether right or wrong, the Aedens have integrated the minds of their people with these devices. At this point, you cannot safely separate the boy from the A.I. without serious risk to his health.” “I’m not hiring the bear, I’m hiring Luca for the apprenticeship program,” replied the man. “I expect him to leave the bear at home.” “Sir, the bear and Luca are a package deal,” said Tan. “And, you won’t be hiring Luca at all, this interview is over. Come on, Luca, this is the wrong place for you.” Luca stood. “But I have to enroll in the apprenticeship program, it’s required for school.” “Not here you don’t,” said Tan holding his hand out to Luca. “I have a better idea.” Luca grabbed Mr. Buckles and took Tan’s hand. As Tan began to close the door to the office behind them, he noticed the man was attempting to push a finger up his nose as far as it could go. Tan looked down at Mr. Buckles. “I should scold you for doing that, but he deserves it, now tell him to take his finger out before he hurts himself.” “Where are we going?” asked Luca. “There’s an office I’ve noticed on the way to the restaurant I work at, we’ll go there, but I have to tell you, I’m not very happy about this mandatory apprenticeship nonsense, but at least I’d be able to drop you off and pick you up to and from work.” Luca was more subdued during the elevator ride up to Level 4. Tan stopped in front of the office and Luca read the sign on the door. “Computer Technology?” asked Luca. Tan knocked on the door before pushing it open and peaking inside. The office was an open floor design, with desks in rows, and cluttered from one end of the office to the other with computer parts, wires, and stacks of data disks. A woman at the first desk looked up. “Hi, can I help you?” “I’m sorry to bother you without an appointment, but… we just came from Luca’s Robotics interview, for the mandatory apprenticeship program, and it didn’t work out so well. I was just wondering if you were scheduling interviews?” The woman’s eyes widened as she saw the little boy leaning against Tan for emotional support. “You’re Luca, and the famous Mr. Buckles… omgosh… Miss Jena, Luca and Mr. Buckles are back on the market, and they’re here wanting an interview.” “I heard,” said a woman at a desk behind her. The woman stood. “It’s not a wonder your interview didn’t go well with Director Chea, he’s a pungda.” The woman at the first desk turned around in her seat. “Hey everyone, Luca and Mr. Buckles are here, and they want an interview.” “Well give them one,” shouted several people standing up from their desks to see the famous Mr. Buckles. “Everyone calm down,” ordered Miss Jena. The woman walked around the desks and knelt in front of Luca. “Hello, Luca. Hello, Mr. Buckles. It is such an honor to meet you two, I never thought we’d even get a chance to meet. We’ve all heard about your odyssey, Mr. Buckles. I don’t think there’s ever been a Teddy Bear before that’s traveled half-way around the world on his own to get back to his boy.” Tan held up a hand. “I’m sorry, I must be missing something. What do you mean, Luca is back on the market?” The woman stood. “Oh, you poor man. You’re so new here, all of this must be confusing. Every Division tries to get the very best apprentice candidates from the pool of available candidates, but the Senior Chief said Luca was going to Robotics, so nobody got a chance to even show Luca what they can offer him.” “Ah, I see. I don’t think Chief meant to do that, he was just trying to help the boys,” said Tan. The woman’s voice was kind and soothing as she gently tapped Luca’s head. “We would love to have Luca and Mr. Buckles here, but that wouldn’t be fair to Luca. How about you go home, research all the Divisions, and then decide what’s best for Luca? If he comes back here, he will be welcomed with open arms. May I ask Luca a question?” Tan tipped his head. “Yes, of course.” The woman knelt back down to Luca. “Why did you want to be in Robotics?” “I’ll be eight years old in two months,” replied Luca. “Ah, and is eight the standard age that Aedens change their A.I.’s outer shell?” “We change the shell every year. I’m supposed to get the Wolf backpack next, but I can’t because I’m here.” “Thank you, Luca.” The woman stood and looked at Tan. “And that’s why you should go home and research the various Divisions before you choose one.” “I’m a little lost,” said Tan. “He wanted to be in Robotics because he wants to make Mr. Buckles a new outer shell, but Robotics doesn’t make the outer shells for computers, A.I. or otherwise. Robotics only makes an exoskeleton for the larger robotic excavation and mining robots.” “I understand, thank you. Who makes the outer shells for the A.I.’s?” “There are no children’s A.I.’s still in production, but there is a limited production of Survival A.I’s for our pilots. The outer shells are produced by Computer Technology Division, Tool and Parts Division, and the Marine Technology Division.” “Now I’m concerned about Jack’s interview,” replied Tan. “You don’t need to be concerned. The Rumors are already spreading. The south elevator that services Deck 27 Green Section has been held on Deck Zero all morning. Jack wouldn’t have made it to Deck Zero unless he passed his interview with flying colors.” Miss. Jena held her hand out. “I would be most happy to discuss Luca’s options over a cup of coffee if you like.” Tan took the woman’s hand. “I really can’t leave the boys alone, and I don’t have anyone yet to babysit, perhaps you could come over to the apartment for dinner. I would like to know more, so I don’t make this kind of mistake again. I’m a rather good cook.” Luca’s eyes darted back and forth between Miss Jena and Tan; they were holding hands way too long. Luca rolled his eyes and pulled on Tan’s other hand. “Come on, dad, let’s go, I’m going to miss Sky Knights.”

If your mind goes straight to Warehouse 13, don't. This storyline will not be like Warehouse 13. My thought is, if you fly around in a big spaceship for a million years, with generation after countless generations living out their lives on the ship, they will have visited many planets, and they will have picked up a lot of stuff they found, to include all the crew's various no longer wanted possessions, or possessions when someone passes away. You'd put all that junk in either the attic, or the basement. Well, the bridge goes in the attic, so they would be tossing everything in the basement. And that's what we got here - A really really big spaceship's overflowing basement of collected stuff. And of course there's the stuff you'd expect, like all the bags of rocks they've collected, because for some reason astronauts just love to collect bags of rocks. But there's the potential for all kinds of weird stuff that Jack might find. Mundane stuff. Not magical. But possibly tech that is still unusual. Or maybe just some love letters Jacuub of the Ruk wrote when he was a young man. Who knows what Jack will find.