This is the first addition to Cherry's story in quite a while. For those returning, welcome back! For those dipping their toes into Cherry's world for the first time, welcome aboard! It's not altogether necessary to read the entire series to enjoy this latest story, although it would certainly add to the experience. In particular, the basis of part 9 goes all the way back to Cherry's very first adventure and her flight from Earth.
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In Part 8, Cherry's life and the lives of her ship mates changed forever.
On the massive orbital commerce station Hyfax 7, a local magnate attempted to seize their beloved ship, the Emperor 16, and in doing so break up Cherry's new family. But through a combination of outrageous luck at the gambling tables and some legal intrepidity, Cherry once again saved the day, and in doing so secured them not only a huge fortune but also a new, modern and massively upgraded ride - the new E16.
We rejoin the story just a few days later, as the crew get to know their new ship en route back to Cremufax to invite their old friend Natalie to join their partnership. Chronologically, this story takes place prior to the events of the Epilogue to part 8.
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"I know Hyfax 7 will always have a special place in our hearts Cherry, but I really think we should try Hyfax 2 after Crem. I hear great things. Hydro spanner."
"Oh yeah?" Cherry replied, reaching beneath the console Tor was working under to hand him the tool. "Like what?"
"Just trust me, you'll love it!" Tor insisted.
"If you say so," she replied, chuckling as she checked the readouts monitoring Tor's repair. Of course, the new E16 really had no need for this kind of repair to be done manually. A veritable army of bots and drones could easily maintain the ship. But Tor insisted. He let the bots do most of the work but Cherry could certainly understand his need to get to know their new ship. As de facto chief engineer on the old E16, he had known every nook and cranny of the ancient freighter that was now berthed comfortably in the cavernous hanger bay of its successor, and it was his firm intention to become just as familiar with their new ship. "OK, looks like that did it, the flow is coming back into equilibrium," Cherry noted.
"Course it is!" Tor beamed, climbing out from under the console, "I'm a damn genius!"
"Sure you are," Cherry said, smiling wryly before hitting a switch to activate the internal comms system. "Cherry to bridge, hey Skip you up there?"
"Sure Cherry, go ahead," Heb replied from the bridge.
"Looks like Tor solved the flow issue, you can bring her back up to mark 12 now," Cherry reported.
"Good work guys, mark 12 it is. Oh, hey Cherry, Fem says you got a letter. Looks like it's from your mom and dad."
"Cool, thanks Skip. Tell Fem to transfer it to my quarters, I'll get it there." Cherry didn't attempt to hold back the excitement in her voice. She hadn't heard back from her parents since sending word of her good fortune, her very good fortune on Hyfax 7. The sometimes lengthy delays in communications owing to the vast distances involved was one of the things about interstellar travel Cherry still found it hard to get used to and it just felt odd not to have had a conversation with her parents since becoming fabulously wealthy, wealthy enough that she knew their lives would change just as much as her own.
"Tor, do you mind...?" she asked.
"No sweat Cherry, go ahead, me and the kids'll finish up here." The kids was the term of affection Tor had already coined to describe the new E16's army of bots and drones.
"Thanks," she said and smiled warmly at him as she made for the transit pod that would take her back to the forward end of the massive ship and her quarters.
They were thirty-six hours out of Hyfax 7, en route for Crem. Though everything since she'd first joined the old E16 was new to Cherry, it felt a little fun that for the first time, her crew mates were in a similar situation as they got to know their new home. Of course, life was a little easier for everybody the more they learned to trust things on their new, sleek, modern ship. Stuff broke down less, needed a little TLC less. Water even came out of the dispensers a little faster. It still felt a little strange moving around, to see everything look so shiny and new and that internal, unspoken thing that happens when a place starts to feel like home was probably still a ways off.
But all things considered, Cherry was in a good mood as she entered her new, spacious quarters and sat at the large desk set against one wall. She took a moment to marvel at the view of stars rushing past her windows, at the fact that her quarters even had windows, and smiled as she once again savored their good fortune. She used her Biohud to interface with the screen over her desk that doubled as a mirror and called up the video message from her parents and set it to play.
She was feeling a little warm so she'd turned around briefly to take off the light jacket she had on and throw it on her bed. When she turned back and saw what was on the screen, she nearly fell off her chair.
Phil.
The prick.
She hadn't laid eyes on the man she once shared a home with since the night she left him and, even before he said anything, the very sight of him send Cherry's stomach tumbling.
"Hi honey," he said. His face was too close to the camera and wore what Cherry could only describe as a maniacal grin. "You're a hard woman to track down Cherry. I asked your mom and dad but they were, I have to say, not very cooperative," he went on.
Cherry's mind churned. Phil's face filled the screen and she struggled to make out any other details in the image. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, something was not where or what it was supposed to be. When Phil spoke again, she understood what it was.
"So, I'm afraid I had to be a little bit more persuasive that I think you'd like." He stepped back from the camera so the space he was in became visible and Cherry felt her stomach lurch and her mind whirl. Her heart seemed to thump in her chest and for a moment her vision got a little blurry.
Still, there was no mistaking what she was looking at. Phil was in her parent's apartment. Her parents were there too. She could see her mother, blindfolded and gagged, her arms and legs bound, sitting on the couch. Her father lay on the floor. Though he was also bound, Cherry didn't think he was conscious and before her mind could start to think of other possibilities, Phil carried on.
"Don't worry honey, mom and dad are fine," he said, smirking into the camera. "Well, mom is anyway. Dad required quite a lot of... persuasion, so he's actually not doing too good.
"So let's make this simple Cherry. I have something of yours and you have something of mine and I want my fucking money you little bitch. You have 48 hours. And you know what, I'm not even gonna tell you what I'm gonna do in 48 hours if I don't have my money. I'll just leave that to your imagination and I know what an active imagination you have. I always hated that shit. 48 hours Cherry. Don't be late."
The screen winked off and Cherry screamed. Unable to process the magnitude of the awful emotions and possibilities that raced through her mind, her body just reacted instinctively. Her shriek could be heard in every corner of E16's crew concourse.
Even though they were a deck below, Heb and Fem had no trouble hearing her. When they burst through her door in a panic a few moments later they found her on the floor, more or less in a fetal position, crying uncontrollably.
It took a few minutes for them to calm her enough that they could move her to sit on the edge of her bed and another few minutes to gather that it was the message, still queued on her wall monitor, that was the problem.
Tor had arrived by then. Heb didn't think it was a good idea for Cherry to watch the message again, so Tor half guided, half carried her to the galley so Heb and Fem could watch the message and start to figure out what was going on.
When they went to join Tor and Cherry, they found her sitting on a couch, her knees pulled up to her chest. She had mostly stopped crying but her eyes were very red and her body seemed to shake.
"I'll go get her something," Fem said and left for the med bay.
