Mark closed the door behind us. We were in the Moribus Captain’s Quarters. I sat down and rubbed my temples. 

“So what now?” I asked. “Please tell me you stopped me because you had a plan.”

“You’re the Cap’n. I’m just a lowly mortician.”

“Mark! I swear to god—”

“You know, Mel, I don’t know what swearing to ‘god’ really means, but it’s best we stay out of it.” He took a seat and poured himself a cup of saka juice. “This is just reality.” He gulped down the entire cup. “I’ve lived my entire life dealing with corpses. It’s like what Dans said to the Emperor. We’re not soldiers.”

“But we have the crew! Everyone on this ship can help!”

“You don’t understand, Mel. Defying royalty isn’t something we just do. Me!” He pointed to his chest. “Only I did. And I was just letting out steam. I wasn’t going to do anything about it.”

I took a deep breath and gestured for the drink. Mark handed over what was left of his cup. I peered down at the slightly blue-tinted liquid. It was clear, but just murky enough to hide the bottom of the cup. It reminded me of my relationship with Dans. She was a stranger I just met yesterday. Was one day enough for me to call her a friend? 

I thought back to the times Dans helped me. It wasn’t much, but it was still something. She helped me in ways that I may not have done the same for somebody else. But is helping somebody out enough of a reason to call them a friend? I didn’t know the answer to that. 

I took a small sip of the juice. And then I grinned. I figured it out. It didn’t matter if she was a stranger or a friend. It didn’t matter if she helped me out. All I had to do was ask myself, will I regret it? And the answer was yes. I’d regret it until the day I died. 

I was going to save Dans no matter what. And maybe find some way to get revenge on the Emperor. After all, I’d regret it if I didn’t. 

“Tell me,” I asked Mark, “are you having fun?”

“What… no?”

“Do you feel good about Dans being captured?”

“No! Why would I—”

“Do you like the Emperor?”

He eyed me suspiciously. “Just spit it out. What are you implying?”

“Pull out another cup, will ya?” I asked.

He hesitantly pulled out a mug.

“Now fill it up.”

“Okay…”

I held my cup up high. “Hit it with your cup.”

“What? The mug?”

“Yeah.” I lightly tapped his mug with mine. “To having fun! Come on! Repeat after me! To having fun!”

“To… having fun?” he responded, but he looked a little puzzled. 

I swallowed the rest and set the cup down. “Okay, let’s go save Dans. I’m captain, remember? Gotta listen to me.”

He gave a quick smirk. “And do you even have a plan?”

“We’ve got two days before Sakon’s supposed to call me—”

“You’re… calling him Sakon?”

“Look, he’s not my emperor. And he never will be. It was never my plan to be under somebody’s rule. Plus,” I added, “once we get Dans out, we’d be considered criminals.”

Mark raised an eyebrow. He swirled his mug around by the handle before setting it down. “Let’s hear your plan.”

“Good. First thing’s first. I need more information. Sakon mentioned a Sector 4-F. What is that? You know?”

“Wait just a second.” Mark walked over and started opening all the cabinets in the room. He eventually pulled out something that looked like a brochure. When he opened it up, I realized it was a map. The image was spherical. It was divided in half horizontally. He pointed to the top side of the map. “This is above sea level. It’s basically where we’ve been hanging out.” He then pointed to the bottom half of the circle. “That’s probably where all the prisoners reside.”

“Probably?”

“I’ve been there before, but that was a few decades ago. I don’t know where it is anymore. Nobody does. But that’s the only place we have.”

“And why’re the prisoners there instead of up here?”

“There were rumors that have been circulating recently that experiments were done on prisoners. It’s most likely where Sector 4-F is.”

A corrupt government with secret human experimentations? What a surprise. “We have two days, Mark. We have to get Dans out tonight. And for that to happen, we need to figure out a way down.” I explored the map, trying to find a path, but I couldn’t see anything that would indicate a way down. “Can we get down through the elevator thing in the middle of Sakoria?”

“The elevator?”

“The thing that brought us up to Sakon.”

“Oh, the levitator? Well, I’m not entirely sure. I’ve never tried to go down illegally before. Never had a reason either.” 

Levitator, you say? Dumb name. Should’ve just called it an elevator. “Also, can we not get there on the sakoar? Like drive down through the water somehow?”

“No. I’m quite certain the bottom is sealed off.”

“Okay, what about communication? Got any long-range communication stuff?”

“We do have echolocation devices on the sakoar for long distance underwater communication.” 

You’re kidding. “No, like… talking stuff? You know, talking through something and you hear the other person or something? Anything called a phone?”

“Phone?” Mark looked at me, confused.

“Okay, nevermind. We need to find the entrance to the bottom area by tonight. How do we do that?”

“Well… I do have some connections with black market morticians, but—”

“What? That’s perfect!” Black market? Holy cow. Sounds dangerous. I love it. “What’s so bad about the black market? Can’t be that bad, right?”

“Ah.” He paused. “They’re known to kill for valuable soul crystals.”

“Oh.” I suddenly thought of an idea. “Wait, Mark. We have soul crystals! We can make a trade with ‘em!”

“Ah, the soldiers.” He scratched his neck. “That’s not entirely a bad idea.”

“Yeeeees. Come on, Mark. This is like the perfect storm—I mean, plan.”

Mark paused. “Okay. I’ll get in touch with them. You stay here.”

“Wait, but what if something goes wrong? Why do I have to stay here?”

“Trust me. It’s better if they see a familiar face. Just wait for me. I’ll be back before dinner.” He got up to leave.

“Like 6pm?” I glanced at the clock on the wall. It looked like we still had some time before it was dinner.

“Yes, around 6pm.”

“And you’re sure you’ll be fine?”

“Yes, I’ve done this before.”

“Alright. You’re more knowledgeable on black market stuff, I guess. But just to make sure, give me a place that you’ll most likely be if you’re late.”

He scratched his neck again. “Fine. Here.” He handed me a slip of paper. It read, Soaring Heights Inn.

“And… what am I supposed to do with this.”

“Go there if I’m late. But really, I won’t be late.”

Ah, I’ve got so much time to spare. What do I do while I wait? “Oh, that reminds me… Where’s the shower, Mark? It’s been a while since I’ve had a shower.”

“Shower?”

“Yeah, like don’t you guys clean yourselves?”

“For hygiene? No, that’s what the suits are for.”

“What?” I pointed at my wetsuit. “You mean these?”

“Yes. Haven’t you noticed? There’s water in your suit right now.”

“No, I didn’t notice.” I felt all around my body, but I still couldn’t really tell if there was water or not. “So I’m just forever wet?”

“And forever clean.”

“Wait, but why though?” Do they really want to save five minutes from their day by not showering? Doesn’t seem all that necessary to make suits for that. They should’ve used that time to make cars.  

“Sakonian skin is highly susceptible to dryness, so we wear suits that keep us constantly saturated. I’m not quite sure about your species, however.”

“Huh.” Webbed hands and now wet skin? They’re basically frogs at this point. “Alright, I guess. I’ll see you at dinner.”

I watched as he waved a short farewell before taking off. My hands shook a little, but I was confident that we could pull this off. And if all else failed, I’d curse Dr. G out again. I forgot to do that last time.