“I don’t have any money,” I pointed out.
“Now that’s where you are mistaken, Alice. As of this morning you have twenty credits in your ship’s account, and the captain has authorized an allowance of twenty credits per week for the duration of your evaluation period. Basic feedstocks run a quarter-credit per ton here, and the fab fee is only twice that. So as long as you limit yourself to open source designs you can supply yourself with whatever personal effects you like. Just keep in mind that the baggage allowance for crew is only twenty tons, and you’ll have to pay shipping fees if you go over that.”
I stared at her for a long moment. “Twenty tons? What could I possibly need that would be that heavy?”
“You might be surprised. Our security chief keeps a whole arsenal of deadly machines on hand, and then there’s that infernal device the first mate is so proud of. But I suggest you keep it simple for now. A suit, some clothes, perhaps a few odds and ends?”
“You bet! Thank you, Naoko. Um, and thank you, captain, if you’re watching or see a recording or an AI forwards you highlights or something.”
Naoko laughed. “I’m sure the captain has more important things to do than spy on us, Alice. But I shall pass on your thanks, when next I see him. Now, would you prefer an integrated maneuvering pack or a detachable system?”
Turns out space suits are complicated. I was expecting to get stuck with some basic emergency thing, but the design database Naoko showed me had millions of options. Extended life support, onboard nuke packs, armor, maneuvering thrusters, medical kits, deflectors - some of the high-end designs were basically powered armor by another name. Too bad a decent power plant was out of my price range.
“Sixty credits for a two hundred kilowatt nuke pack? Why are those things so expensive?” I asked.
“Because radioactive isotopes are rare,” she explained. “Mining them is a lot more work than just gobbling up a few tons of CHON or nickel-iron, and then you have to work it with specially hardened fabricators that can stand the radiation. Electronics and superconductive power systems are expensive for a similar reason, since they require rare earths and other exotic elements.”
Too bad. For a moment there I had visions of stomping around in a giant battlesuit with a laser cannon. Oh, well. I ended up picking out a nice little armored suit with built-in maneuvering thrusters and an extended-duration life support package, which was probably more than I’d need anyway. Not bad for half a credit.
Lunch was less interesting than breakfast, since Chief Benson and his techs weren’t there. Naoko told me a little about the different cuisines on the autochef’s menu, and talked me into trying the same traditional Japanese food she was eating. The shrimp tempura and spring rolls were pretty good, but not nearly as much fun as having the foxgirls cook for me.
“Would you like to do your own cabin layout?” Naoko asked as we ate. “The crew quarters start out as just a rectangular empty space, so you have a great deal of flexibility in arranging things as you like them. But you may prefer to simply use a standard layout.”
“Probably,” I agreed. “I’m not picky about that kind of thing, and I’m not really sure what I’d want anyway. Wait, does furniture count against my mass limit?”
“No, ordinarily cabin fixtures belong to the ship. You can recycle them whenever you like, and if you leave the ship they get broken back down into feedstock. The mass limit only applies to things you want personal ownership of.”
“I guess that makes sense. Just a standard layout then, I guess. Oh, can I get my own shower, like the one in the Speedy Exit?”
She gave me an odd look. “Of course you can, Alice. Why wouldn’t you have your own bathing area?”
“We all had to share the showers at the orphanage,” I admitted.
“What?” She looked so astonished I had to smile.
“I had a roommate, too,” I told her. “Which was fun, because I really liked Dika, but it was kind of crowded too. So I’m sure whatever you rich spacers are used to is going to be more than enough for me. Heck, one room from that passenger suite I was in last night would be more space than I’d know what to do with.”
“One room? Alice, we aren’t heartless barbarians like those people back on Felicity. No, you’re going to have a proper cabin just like any other crew member. You like high places, correct?”
“Yes,” I admitted, wondering where she was going with this.
“Also open space, and greenery? But you’ll want your privacy, as well. Especially once you get older. Yes, I think this will do nicely.”
“What are you looking at, Naoko?” I asked.
“Trust me, Alice. You’re going to love it. There, I’ve got the Facilities AI setting it up now. Two hours to complete, which will give us time to make a tour of the ship and introduce you to the rest of the crew.”
“If you say so, Naoko. As long as this isn’t going to be too expensive.”
“Goodness, Alice, you don’t have to pay for your cabin setup. That’s an employment benefit, just like life support and medical care.”
“Oh.” I shook my head. “You know, Naoko, I’m really lucky you guys are such nice people. You could really take advantage of me, and I wouldn’t know any better.”
“If we were that sort I wouldn’t have brought you with me in the first place,” Naoko said. “But you do need to learn quickly, Alice. The Square Deal does most of its business at ports the corporate cargo vessels don’t visit. Some of them are just small colonies in inconvenient locations, but many of them are rather rough places. You’ll need to be very careful about leaving the ship, at least until you know enough to take care of yourself.”
“Should I be picking out weapons?” I asked.
“I believe we shall recruit the security chief’s assistance on that point.”
The ship’s database said Security Chief Jim West was an infomorph. I’d never met anyone who’d uploaded their mind to the net before, since that was obviously illegal on Felicity. So I was looking forward to meeting him.
I wasn’t disappointed. We found Chief West in a garage area near the armory, where he had a team of bots stripping down a spider tank. The body he was wearing was some kind of humanoid warbot, and it was positively covered in drool-worthy hardware. There were mass drivers in the arms, and two shoulder-mounted point defense lasers, and deflector shield emitters everywhere. If it wasn’t for the ER tags I would have mistaken him for a security bot.
“Hello, Chief West,” Naoko said. “Can you spare us a moment? I need your opinion on self-defense options for Alice here.”
“The new trainee? There aren’t any ratings in her file,” he said distractedly. “What have you practiced with, Alice?”
“Nothing, sir,” I admitted. “The matrons didn’t approve of violence.”
“Fucking pacifists,” he muttered, sounding disgusted. “Are you a pacifist, girl?”