Chapter 80: 80. Homebound

"I hope Jenny's not upset that we stayed in the city an extra two days," Sarah commented.

Rebecca shrugged, "We told her we were going to spend a little more time in the city, it's not like we just didn't show up. And she didn't say anything about wanting us back. She had plenty of opportunity, we checked-in with her the last couple days."

Sarah nodded, "I know, but she might not have wanted to impose or let on that she's lonely? She's probably been keeping herself out of sight the whole time Mel's people were working on the interior."

"We can ask how she's doing as soon as we get there," I pointed out. "And make a point of asking if she was lonely or if she missed us. And make sure she knows it's ok to speak up for herself. She's allowed to have wants and needs, just like the rest of us."

"Right. We need to make sure she knows the value of open and honest communication just like the rest of us," Sarah agreed. Then she teased, "You're totally going to add her to the polycule before I get a chance, aren't you cutie?"

That made me blush, but I didn't try and argue. Not after how things played out with Rebecca. I certainly wasn't going to complain though, I was positive we all got what we wanted.

Sarah wanted all three of us to share a bed together, and we'd certainly done a lot of that over the past six nights. I wanted to get to know them both better, and at this point I knew them both intimately. And a couple days ago Rebecca admitted she'd been feeling left out, after the way me and Sarah hooked up and were pretty shameless about being in a relationship. Now she was part of that, and we'd spent the past half dozen days exploring and getting used to our new status as a threesome.

At this point Jenny was the only one not involved, and I wasn't surprised Sarah worried about our AI friend being lonely.

Two and a half days ago she called us on the commlink to let us know the work on the interior of the Demeter had been completed and we were welcome to return to the ship. That was the original plan, the first half of our stay would be away from the ship while Mel's people worked on the interior repairs and maintenance. Then we'd move back home for the second half of our time on this world, while the shipyard staff worked on the Demeter's exterior.

Instead we spent an extra two days at that hotel. Literally, in fact. There were a couple days we didn't bother leaving our suite, and we only put on clothes when the room service was delivered or the dishes were removed.

But all good things eventually come to an end, and so it was for our little vacation. Now we were just a few minutes away from Mel's shipyard, and as much as we were all looking forward to being back home again there was also a little sadness that the vacation was over.

And while I couldn't speak for the others, home was on my mind for another reason too. Me and Sarah both checked in at Vesfar Urox again over the past few days, and both of us received replies from our most-recent messages.

Sarah didn't go into too much detail about the missive she got from Sabia, but she did share that her granddaughter still had some doubts or reservations about believing her. And I got the impression that maybe Sabia wasn't that interested in corresponding with her.

Nyssa's latest text left me in a better mood. She apologized for getting Sabia involved and promised not to talk to anyone else, but admitted she'd already spoken with mom. And that was maybe the best news. After Nyssa explained things, mom understood and she accepted me as her daughter.

Apparently mom noticed a lot of the same things Nyssa did, back before I left home. But mom didn't know being trans was a thing, she just thought I was more shy and sensitive than Zack or Aiden or Luke. Now that she understood the truth she was sad she never got to know the real me, but happy I was finally my true self.

And she could see how happy I was in the vid, and the pictures I sent Nyssa that she shared with mom.

Both my little sister and my mom agreed not to tell the rest of the family. Dad for sure wouldn't get it, and they didn't think my other siblings would either.

And finally, Nyssa agreed not to waste all her money trying to rush out here to the frontier. She promised to get an education, but she was still interested in learning something that would get her off Kaitor-7. She didn't outright say it, but reading between the lines about how she had zero interest in 'marrying some guy', I got the impression Nyssa was gay but wasn't ready to come out about it yet.

On the one hand it felt silly she'd be worried about admitting that to me of all people, but on the other hand I could sympathize. It was easy for me to be myself when I was several hundred systems away out on the frontier. She was still stuck on our homeworld with all its archaic patriarchal conformist bullshit.

I just hoped she was serious about investing in her education. I knew she was a smart girl, and I was confident she'd excel at whatever she ended up studying. Then she could get a good job on a good ship, and hopefully have a good life for herself.

My thoughts were still on Nyssa and mom and my old home-world a minute or so later when Rebecca suddenly spoke up, pulling my attention back to the present.

"There's a couple things I should have been clear about earlier," the boss stated. "On board the Demeter the three of us aren't going to be squeezing into one cabin. I'll be staying in mine, you two have yours."

Sarah frowned, "Are we still all together? Or is that over now too? Was it just a shore-leave thing?"

The boss hesitated, then shook her head "It's not over, it wasn't just a shore-leave fling. Sorry Sarah, I didn't mean to imply that. I just meant regarding accommodations, I'm not moving into your cabin and you're not moving into mine."

She continued, "As far as the three of us being a throuple, I'd like for us to continue that? There's still the extra dynamic with me being your boss though. I hope that hasn't been an issue these last few days while we've been on vacation, but once we're back at work it will. What I'd like to suggest is when we're on-duty we put the relationship on hold."

I asked, "What counts as on-duty? Like, is that while we're on the Demeter? Or while the ship's en route? Can you define that for us, so we don't make any mistakes?"

Rebecca nodded, "Lift-offs, landings, conducting business, emergency situations. In general terms, if we're not in the cockpit and we're not dealing with customers, then we're not on duty."

"Makes sense," Sarah responded. "And I think that works for us?"

I nodded, "It might take a bit of time to get used to, but I'm sure we'll manage it."

By then we were circling over the shipyard, but the roof was closed over the bay where the Demeter was being worked on. Since we couldn't set the grav-sled down next to the ship Rebecca had to land in the small lot in front of the main building. Then we gathered up our bags and everything from the back, and headed into the building's lobby.

The receptionist recognized us and waved us through, and another minute or two later we stepped through the large loading doors into bay ten. It was very clearly still a work-site, but most of the activity was happening towards the back of the ship.

The two main engines were stripped bare, their streamlined coverings had been removed and there were shipyard staff on a platform working on the starboard engine. The front of the ship looked fine though, and we could all see that the cockpit window had been replaced.

After standing there for a few seconds staring at the ship we started moving again. The ramp was down but the main airlock was closed.

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As we approached Sarah pointed to the starboard side of the ramp, "The broken strut's been replaced, so we shouldn't have any trouble opening and closing the ramp."

"I'm sure we won't have any trouble with any of the repairs," Rebecca replied. "Mel's people do excellent work."

The airlock started to open by itself as soon as we approached it, so we knew Jenny was monitoring things and obviously noticed our arrival. Once we were all inside the main hold Rebecca hit the control to seal the airlock up again behind us, then we continued aft towards engineering.

That's where we met our AI crewmate, she'd just come down from the main deck to greet us. From the purple fringe in her hair we knew she was using her android body rather than her HPD.

"Welcome back captain, Amanda, Sarah. It's good to see you all again," she said with a smile.

"Hello Jenny," I replied. "How are you doing? I hope you weren't too lonely while we were away?"

Rebecca greeted her as well, but Sarah's attention was on some of the machinery. She left her bags on the deck while she opened a few maintenance covers, to get a closer look at things.

Jenny replied, "I've been fine, thank you Amanda. I've kept myself busy with my various projects. Reverse engineering software, making changes and modifications. I've also done some more studying. I may have downloaded a few more courses from some of the local universities."

"What do you think Sarah," Rebecca asked our engineer. "Do you approve of what you see?"

Sarah smiled as she started closing the covers, "Sorry boss. Couldn't help it, I always need to double-check things after someone else has worked on my engines. So far it looks good, definitely passes a visual inspection."

She picked up her things and the four of us finally rode the lift up to the main deck. Then as we headed towards our cabins to unpack Sarah asked Jenny, "I assume you've been working on your android while we were gone. Did you fix that issue where autonomous mode reverted to a different personality? And acted like I was your owner?"

"The personality module issue should be fixed," Jenny responded. "The ownership issue is a separate matter. I've identified the problem but it remains unresolved. We can discuss it further some other time, I'm sure the three of you have things to do as you've only just returned."

Rebecca asked, "Is there anything else we should know about? How did it go having Mel's people on board, was there any trouble with them?"

Jenny shook her head, "No trouble. I stayed out of sight and kept my android body off-line in the cabin when there were maintenance personnel on board. As for things you should be aware of..."

After a brief hesitation she suggested, "You may want to have a look at the cockpit once you've unpacked. It's in very good condition, but the shipyard staff did a little more than just replace the window and repair the damaged controls."

The boss frowned and headed straight for the cockpit. She left her things on the floor outside her cabin door as she went past.

Sarah and I ducked into our cabin and put our belongings on the bed, then hurried forward to see what was wrong with the cockpit.

"Well this isn't so bad," I said as I got a look at it.

Rebecca sighed, "I guess. It's going to take a while for me to get used to it though."

All the loose cables and dangly wires were gone. The haphazard custom-modified controls were still in place, but the maintenance people rerouted all the wiring so it was out of sight, behind the panels and consoles where it was supposed to be. They'd also thoroughly cleaned the cockpit after they finished their work. It didn't look new, it still had that aged appearance, but now it was more like what you'd see in a museum. Old, but spotless.

"I'm going to miss all my loose cables dancing around during take-offs and landings," she added with a sigh.

Sarah smiled, "Sorry boss. You know that was a safety hazard though, right?"

"I guess," Rebecca pouted.

Seeing her pouting made me realize she was just playing it up for sympathy or something, that she wasn't as upset as she was pretending to be. I decided to play along though, I stepped closer and pulled her into a hug as I consoled her. "I'm sure you'll get used to the new look Rebecca."

"We could always add some fake cables for the aesthetic?" Sarah offered as she moved closer and joined in the hug. "That way you'd get the same look, without the risk of something vital getting unplugged."

Rebecca wrapped her arms around me and Sarah as she sighed, "Nah. It wouldn't be the same, and I'd know it was fake."

The three of us finally let go, and as we turned to exit the cockpit we all saw the look on Jenny's face. She was clearly surprised and curious at how Rebecca accepted the double hug from Sarah and I.

Seeing the the way Jenny was looking at us the boss smiled, "Why don't we all take a bit to unpack and get settled, then the four of us can get together and catch up on everything? Meet in the mess in thirty minutes?"

Nobody had a problem with that, so we all exited the cockpit. Jenny went straight to the mess to wait for us, while Rebecca gathered up her things and disappeared into her cabin.

As Sarah and I went into ours I offered, "I'll take care of the laundry. Actually I'll let Rebecca know as well, I can do her things along with ours."

My girlfriend teased, "We haven't been back on board for ten minutes and you're already doing the ship's maid thing again."

I just rolled my eyes as I gathered up the dirty clothes.