Ship Rats: A Cozy Sci-Fi Short Story

Same Walk, Different Shoes

“Same Walk, Different Shoes” is a community writing project that Ben Wakeman organized as a practical exercise in empathy. The premise is simple. A group of writers anonymously contribute a personal story of an experience that changed their life. Each participating writer is randomly assigned one of these story prompts to turn into a short story. The story you are about to read is one from this collection. You can find all the stories from the participating writers at Catch & Release. Enjoy the walk with us.

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Ship Rats

by Petra Hernandez

“They made you what?” Tallulah asks, her face very unhappy.

We’re sitting in the small area between two retrofitted cargo bays on our spaceship. We call this spot The Squish, because it’s super cozy. It was created when Uncle Greg decided to temporarily turn one very large, often not completely used cargo bay into two, allowing us to take more jobs on each haul. And, because he made sure the vents, wires, and pipes are way up high, he lets us kids use it as our clubhouse. Right now we’ve got The Squish decorated for the holidays with colorful paper chains and some tin stars Penny scrounged up.

Technically, Christmas was yesterday, but we were still in space then. And low on supplies. So we’ll be celebrating late. The parents have promised us a big party once they get our next jobs lined up and supplies restocked.

Tallulah is looking at me, her blue eyes serious and her perfectly pulled-back ponytail tied up with a holiday ribbon, when Penny crawls into the space holding several small silver ration bags and one larger one. “Chips and nacho dip,” he says, his goofy smile large on his face. His teeth are crooked in the kind of way you want to look at. The kind of way that makes him seem friendly. And he’s still wearing his puffy green winter coat.

“Did you say nachos?” Griffen asks, climbing in behind him. She’s wearing all black, as usual and her face is covered in temporary tattoos. The kind you laser print on. She changes them at least once a week and never goes anywhere without them.

“Yup,” Penny says. “Got them from a shop near where my dad took that last shipment. Cheap, too. Only had to wash a few hundred dirty dishes.”

“Nice,” Griffen says.

Uncle Greg is Penny’s dad. And, even though Uncle Greg doesn’t talk about it much, he used to work with a group of space pirates. But when Penny’s mom, Mary, died, Uncle Greg decided to go legit, and now he owns this ship and does supply runs out to Sera colony. He’s not actually anyone’s uncle, but on this ship, we’re all family. So my mom is Aunt Lois, and Tallulah’s dad is Uncle Carson, and Griffen’s moms are Aunt Cheryl and Auntie Meg. And they call us kids the Ship Rats because we love to run around in spaces we aren’t supposed to, and because we scrounge things up. The latter tends to be pretty useful for Uncle Greg, who says every kid has a little space pirate in them.

Penny hands out the small silver bags of nacho dip. They’re warm and we carefully rip off the tops. I inhale the yummy spicy smell. Penny rips the top off the large bag and sets it in the middle of us. We all grab chips, and then dip them in our pouches of cheese.

The chips are still crunchy, and the warm, gooey nacho dip is salty and spicy. Penny’s always good at finding snacks that are hard to get from grocery suppliers.

Tallulah looks at me again, then at the others. “Goose just told me something you should both hear.”

Griffin and Penny turn to me. I’m the youngest Ship Rat. Seven and three quarters. Tallulah is twelve. Penny is twelve too, but a few months younger than Tallulah. And Griffen is eleven. Since they’re all older than me it’s their job to take care of me, and as the youngest it’s my job to be taken care of. And we always take care of each other. No matter what.

Tallulah is the leader. She’s kind of like the captain of us Ship Rats. And she’s the tallest. Penny is the deal maker. He can make a trade for almost anything. He says he gets it from his dad, but Uncle Greg says we should have met Mary, Penny’s mom, then we’d know who he really gets it from. Griffen is… well… she calls herself The Executioner. She makes sure people don’t mess with us. And me? I don’t like to stand out. I like to be quiet and read books. So I’m not sure I want to make a big deal out of the story I just told Tallulah.

“Go on,” Tallulah says, her voice encouraging.

I take a big breath. “When we were here last time I tried to check out a book and the librarian wouldn’t let me.”

“Because you’re not local?” Penny asks. “That’s never been a problem before.”

We’re not from New Glenn. Technically, we're not really from anywhere. We just live in the sky. But this is the place we come to the most often. There's a lot of trade between New Glenn and the Sera colony in the asteroid belt.

“No,” I shake my head.

“Did you not have enough money?” Penny asks. 

Some libraries make you put down a deposit for books, then you get the money back when you return them. Theft is a problem in a lot of the cities we deliver to.

I shake my head. “I had enough money.”

“Then why didn’t they give it to you?” Griffen asks.

“Because I’m not old enough for chapter books,” I say.

“The librarian said that?” Penny asks.

I nod.

“That’s stupid,” Griffen says. “You’re a really good reader.”

“That’s not all,” Tallulah says. She nods for me to continue.

I can feel the heat of the remembered moment crawling up my cheeks. “They made me stand in front of the line of people and read a chapter out loud to prove I could read,” I say.

Griffen is getting angry. “Seriously?”

“But you got books,” Penny says. “You read one to us.”

“I only got one,” I reply. “’Cause I was embarrassed. And I usually get lots.”

“And now she doesn’t want to take it back,” Tallulah pops in to finish my story. “And she doesn’t want to go back to get any more.”

“But you love to read, Goose,” Penny says.

And I do. There’s not a lot for me to do on the ship when we’re in space, so I read. And there’s nothing better than disappearing into a good story about places I’ve never been with people I want to be like. It’s magic.

“We can go check them out for you,” Penny offers.

“We could do that,” Griffen says. “But that librarian isn’t going to be nicer to any other kid that comes around asking for books in the future.” She gets a gleam in her eyes. “I could definitely figure out a way to get back at them.”

“No,” Tallulah says. “We’re not going Executioner on them. Our parents still need to get work in this city.”

Griffen sighs, looking disappointed. “Fine. Then what do you suggest?”

“Penny’s right,” Tallulah says. “One of us will just go and check books out for Goose.” She looks at me. “Just make us a list of what books you want and we’ll get them.”

“Okay,” I say, a bit disappointed that I’ll never get to go back to the library and browse for myself. The thrill of discovery is part of the fun. But I’m already making a mental list of the books I want.

***

The next afternoon Penny, Tallulah, and I are sitting in The Squish when Griffen crawls in, her face angry. This morning Griffen somehow convinced Tallulah that she should be the one to go get my list of books. But I don’t see her carrying anything.

“The library has cleared out a bunch of books,” Griffen says. “Like more than half of all the kids books. They’re gonna shred them!”

“What?” I ask in shock. Not only am I too scared to check books out, now there might not be any books to check out at all? Or, at least no good ones anyway. My life feels like it’s over.

“Why would they do that?” Tallulah asks.

“Don’t know,” Griffen says. “I was snooping and heard them talking about it as they cleared off the shelves.” She looks at me. “I tried to get one of the books you wanted but they grabbed it from me and told me to quit being a troublemaker.”

“You didn’t go Executioner, did you?” Tallulah asks.

“No,” Griffen says. “I mean… I wrestled them for it a little bit. But I kept my cool.”

“Good enough,” Tallulah replies.

“I know someone who might know what’s going on,” Penny offers.

“Then let’s go talk to them,” Tallulah says.

***

Penny leads us through the city. Holiday decorations are still up and wind is drifting the snow. I’m glad I’ve worn my puffy orange coat. We make our way through the tall, shiny new buildings and into the old part of the city that’s made up of bricks and wood. We turn down an alley and there’s a boy who looks about fourteen, leaning up against the wall. He’s chewing a toothpick and flipping a knife in the air.

“Luke!” Penny calls.

“Hey,” Luke nods, still flipping the knife. He looks past Penny and eyes the rest of us suspiciously. “Who are they?”

“This is Tallulah, Griffen, and Goose,” Penny says. “They’re family. Tallulah’s in charge.”

“Okay,” Luke shrugs.

“We were wondering if we could get some info,” Penny says, as we walk up to Luke.

Luke stops flipping his knife. “Depends on what you’re trading.”

Penny reaches into his backpack and pulls out a silver ration packet. “Real freeze dried bananas dipped in real chocolate,” he says. “You can’t believe how many carbon filters I had to scrub to get this. Those vents are really hard to crawl through.”

Luke’s eyes light up when he sees the ration pack. Real bananas and real chocolate are super hard to find. It’s like Penny is holding a bag of gold.

“One ration pack, one question,” Luke says.

“Absolutely not,” Tallulah says. “One ration pack of real bananas and real chocolate and as many questions as I want. Take it or leave it.” Griffen slides closer to Tallulah, crossing her arms.

Luke’s eyebrows go up.

“I told you she was in charge,” Penny says.

“Clearly,” Luke replies. He glances at the ration pack again and then back to Tallulah. He folds up his knife and sticks it in his pocket. “What do you want to know?”

“We want to know about the library,” Tallulah says. “Why are they getting rid of so many books?”

Luke shrugs. “They’ve been doing it for a while,” he says. “But it got real serious last month. No one can agree what’s okay for kids to read and what isn’t. There’s people angry about books on two opposite sides. Some of ‘em are upset by stories that are too new and have new ideas and some of ‘em are upset about old books and old ideas. It’s a big mess. Although it don’t bother me too much, seeings as I can’t really read too good.”

“Do you know how they’re getting rid of the books?” Tallulah asks.

“They’ve boxed ‘em all up,” Luke says. “They’re gonna to take ‘em to the recycling plant and shred ‘em.”

“When?” Tallulah asks.

“Tomorrow night,” Luke says.

“Where’s the recycling plant?” Tallulah asks.

“It’s one of the ones just outside town,” Luke says. “Pushed up against the prairies. Pretty deserted out there. Just a few recycling plants and garbage dumps.”

“Thanks,” Tallulah says, nodding to Penny. “That should do.”

Penny hands Luke the ration pack and he holds it reverently. “I like doing business with you,” Luke says. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Will do,” Tallulah replies.

“I like your knife,” Griffen adds. And Luke nods as we turn and head back to the ship.

I can’t believe the library is getting rid of so many books. And that I won’t have anything to read for the next several months as we’re making deliveries. It’s going to be a long, boring trip.

Penny pats my head. “Don’t worry, Goose. We’ll get you some good books before we take off again. Tallulah’s just coming up with a plan.”

I try and relax. He’s right, Tallulah’s smart. But I’m not sure how she’s going to fix this particular problem. It seems big.

***

The next morning Tallulah wakes me up, a smile on her face. “I’m going to get you your books,” she says. “And maybe even something better. To The Squish!” 

I climb out of the bottom bed in our shared bunk room, still in my pajamas. Tallulah walks over to the other bottom bunk and gives Griffen a nudge. “Wake up, Griff,” she says. 

Griffen’s completely covered in blankets and the only proof she’s there is a groan from under the pile of comforters.

When we get to The Squish Penny is already there, bright-eyed and happy, holding some muffins. “I got these for picking up dog poop,” he says.

“Ewww,” Griffen says, wandering in behind us. She’s not a morning person and her hair is messier than usual. And I think she added some new laser print tattoos to her neck last night. But she has so many it’s kind of hard to tell.

“I washed my hands,” Penny insists. “Twice.”

We all sit down and snack on the muffins. They're delicious. Orange and cranberry.

“I have a plan,” Tallulah announces. “And this time it involves Goose.”

My stomach gets butterflies. I’ve never been part of a plan before.

“Do I get to go Executioner on anyone?” Griffen asks, yawning.

“Let’s keep that as an option,” Tallulah says. “But not yet.”

Griffen makes a face, but it doesn’t have the usual fire behind it because she’s groggy. “Are we at least going to get Goose her books?”

“Oh yeah,” Tallulah says. “And then some.”

“Good,” Griffen says. “’Cause kids who don’t read end up like me.”

“And no one wants that,” Tallulah teases.

“Not even me,” Griffen says. There’s a wry smile on her face as she tussles my hair.

“So,” Penny says. “What’s your brilliant plan?”

Tallulah leans in and proceeds to explain what we’re going to do as I eat my muffin, very worried about my part in the whole thing.

Once Tallulah’s done explaining the plan Griffen hops up. “Then I’m going shopping,” she says.

When Griffen says ‘shopping’ she means stealing.

“Don’t get caught,” Tallulah warns.

“Obviously,” Griffen says.

I’m worried about Griffen the whole time she’s gone, but she finally shows up right before supper, holding a large bag of what looks like clothes. She and Talullah exchange glances.

I’m confused because I think I see a spot of pink in the bag. But that doesn’t make sense, Griffen would never wear pink, and she’s gone before I can look again.

***

I wake up super nervous. Today is the day. We’re doing Tallulah’s plan and I’m part of it.

The parents are very busy today, so they’ve already eaten and are out and about collecting payment for the newly loaded shipments. And taking a ‘parent’s day’ as they call it, when they go out and do things trying to surprise us for the holidays.

Penny gets to leave right away for his part of the plan. But my part doesn’t start until the late afternoon. That’s when Tallulah says it will work best. Just a few hours before the library closes. So I have the whole day to worry about what I have to do.

Being part of plans is so stressful.

I putz around the ship until midafternoon when Griffen shows up with her usual variety of tattoos gone and in their place, a single, very large raccoon’s face tattooed right over her own. She’s wearing a brand new black coat and pants. Probably the clothes she ‘bought’ yesterday.

“A raccoon?” Tallulah asks, walking up.

“’Cause they’re sneaky,” Griffen says, like it should be obvious.

“It’s a little on the nose,” Tallulah says.

“I’m not known for being subtle,” Griffen shrugs.

Tallulah says it’s time to go, and we head out. She breaks off as we get to the city to go do her part. And then it’s just Griffen and me heading to the library. I’m so nervous I feel cold and hot at the same time and my stomach is super gurgley.

Once we’re standing in front of the library Griffen looks at me. She pauses and kneels down, taking my mittened hands. Her raccoon face is actually making me feel better. It’s really cute. “I know you don’t like being the center of attention, Goose,” she says. “And that you’re nervous ’cause this is your first official Ship Rat job. But if this works, think about all the other kids it’s going to help because you were brave today.”

Griffen likes to act like she’s super tough all the time, but she’s not always tough. I even caught her crying once when I was reading a sad book to everyone. But she acted like she had something in her eye.

“Okay,” I nod.

“Okay,” Griffen says. “This is where we split up.” She squeezes my hands and then stands up. “Now let’s go get us some books.”

Once I’m in the library I go to the kids section and find a chapter book to check out. In the plan they told me to not be picky, just to choose any book. But that seems wrong. So I take a few minutes to decide on a good one, although it’s hard because there are so few good books left. Then I pause. Am I really going to do this? Again? But I think about Tallulah and Penny and Griffen counting on me. And about other kids that might want to read good books, too. And I decide I’m going to be brave and do it.

I get in line to check out my book. There are a few people in front of me. And as I wait more collect behind me. I can feel myself getting closer and closer to the librarian’s counter. And then, I’m there. Staring at the same librarian who told me four months ago that I was too young to read chapter books. The same librarian who made me read in front of strangers.

“I’d like to check this book out,” I whisper.

The librarian looks at me and then at the book. And then they nod. “Twenty-two credits,” they say.

I freeze. Then I hand them the money and they hand me the book and a return slip. And… I keep standing there. Because this wasn’t the plan. They were supposed to tell me I couldn’t check the book out.

I notice Griffen standing off to the side, looking at me questioningly.

“Next,” the librarian calls loudly.

I’m not supposed to talk to Griffen because we’re not supposed to look like we’re together. So I don’t know what to do. Then it dawns on me. It was four whole months ago that I tried to check out a book. And I was only seven and a quarter back then. Now I’m seven and three quarters. Obviously I look a lot older than last time. The librarian must think I’m old enough for this chapter book now. So I’ve got to find a harder book.

I see a grown-up chapter book on the counter and pick it up. It’s got a skeleton on the cover so I think it’s about death? The title is Being Human: Mortality and its Discontents.

“I’ll take this, too,” I whisper again.

The librarian looks at the book. “That’s too old for you,” they reply.

It’s working.

“But I can read it,” I say, more loudly this time.

“I doubt that.” The librarian is annoyed now. “The words will be too big and the ideas will be way beyond you.”

“But I can read it,” I say, feeling everyone looking at me.

“Prove it,” the librarian challenges. “Read the first page aloud.”

I can feel everyone behind me staring. But I know my friends are counting on me. And I see another girl about my age standing off to the side, watching. Maybe she’s afraid to check out books, too. So I open the book and turn to the first page. I clear my throat, and I start to read. 

The words are big. Two of them are new to me. But I sound them out in my head. I won’t let my friends down. Five perfectly-read, clearly-projected sentences later I glance behind myself and see everyone in line watching me and listening.

Then Griffen starts yelling.

I turn and see several books falling out from under her black coat as she’s being hauled toward the desk by the security guard. I quickly shut my book and look away. I don’t like this. I’m feeling very scared.

“I wasn’t going to steal them,” Griffen says loudly. “I was just borrowing them. This is a library, isn’t it?” She’s struggling under the security guard’s grip on her shoulder.

“Ugh, you again,” the librarian says to Griffen as they stand up. They look to the guard. “Take her to my office and we’ll call her parents. Or the police. Or both. We’ll call both. But make her wait there a while. Think about what she’s done.”

I take one quick look as they haul Griffen into the back office and then I run out of the library.

***

I run the whole way back to the ship. I keep looking behind me, and even though no one is following, I feel like I’m being chased.

Our parents aren’t due back for a few hours and the sun has already set. But as I reach the ship the soft glow of light from the door helps me feel calm. And when Talullah walks out I feel instantly safe.

“How did it go?” Tallulah asks. “Everything work out okay?”

“No!” I say, very upset. “I didn’t distract them enough. They caught Griffen.”

“What do you mean?” Tallulah asks. “What happened?”

“They caught her trying to sneak into the office,” I say. “And she was stealing books. Well, borrow stealing. Kind of.” I look up at Tallulah. “I think she’s in library jail.”

“Where’s library jail?” Tallulah asks, looking a bit worried.

“The office,” I say. “They’re making her think about what she did.”

Tallulah laughs. “Goose,” she pats my shoulder. “That’s where she wanted to sneak into in the first place. It’s okay. That’s the plan. Griffen’s going to hack the library system and change the delivery location for the books they’re going to shred.”

“But how’s she going to get out now that they know she’s there?” I ask, still worried.

“It’s Griffen,” Tallulah says. “She’ll find a way.” Tallulah starts to guide me onto the ship. “Let’s go inside before we get too cold.”

Then I remember I’m still holding the grown-up chapter book. I look at it in horror. “I just stole a book,” I whisper, holding it up to Tallulah.

She smiles. “Griffen will be so proud.” She looks at the book. “Oh, and she’s going to love the cover.”

And that makes me smile, too.

The next hour is the longest hour of my life. Waiting to find out if the recycling truck will bring the books here, and waiting for Penny and Griffen to get back.

I can tell Tallulah is a bit concerned because she keeps looking at the clock, but every time I catch her doing it, she just half smiles and we go back to tidying The Squish.

Finally, there’s a buzz on our ship’s intercom. That means someone pushed the call button outside. Tallulah and I look at each other. “Act normal,” she says, as we walk to the receiving bay door.

I’m not sure what normal looks like, but I try to do it anyway.

Tallulah presses the button to open the door and Luke is standing there with seven kids of varying ages. Tallulah and I both relax.

“I brought the muscle you asked for,” Luke says, smiling.

“Great,” Tallulah replies. “The truck will be here soon.”

It’s dark outside, and the air is cold. Luke and the other kids all come onto the ship to keep warm. There’s one girl at the back of the group wearing bright pink. It’s really dark, but she looks kind of familiar.

Once we’re inside with more light I pause, looking at her again. “Griffen?” I ask, a bit confused.

Griffen isn’t wearing any black. She’s wearing a bright pink sparkly puffer coat, purple snow pants, blue mittens, and an aqua touque with a puff ball on top. And she’s only got one very small, purple butterfly tattoo on her cheek.

She smiles. “I wondered how long it would take you to recognize me.”

I hug her, glad she’s back safe. I’ve never seen her face with so few tattoos.

“I thought I said no face tattoos,” Tallulah says, slightly disappointed.

“This is so small it doesn’t even count,” Griffen says, patting her own cheek. “And I wore pink for this job. So I don’t want to hear it.”

“How did you escape library jail?” I ask.

“My new clothes are reversible,” she says, zipping her coat open to reveal the black interior. “And I brought my portable laser tattoo kit. So after I changed the shipping coordinates for the recycling truck on the library’s system, I changed me. And then I waited until closing and they came back to find pink me sitting there. I said some mean girl with a raccoon tattoo tricked me into taking her place. And then they just let me go. No questions asked. No one even stopped to look at me. Kids who wear happy colors get away with everything. It’s so annoying.” She rolls her eyes.

Suddenly, we see the lights of a delivery truck coming towards us, and Tallulah lowers the receiving ramp. The truck backs up to the ramp and a man gets out, looking from our ship’s call number to his tablet screen and then back again. Tallulah walks down the ramp and over to the driver.

“I have a delivery for… uh…,” he looks at his tablet again. “Captain Tallulah’s Recycle Everything Company?”

Tallulah pauses, gives Griffen a quick eyebrow raise, and then turns back to the driver and smiles. “That’s us. We recycle everything. Well, my mom does,” she says.

The driver nods. Then notices all us kids in the cargo bay. “Your parents here?” he asks.

“They’re picking up other shipments,” Tallulah says. She turns to us kids. “Everyone grab a box, or two to a box if they’re too heavy, and bring them onto the ship.”

We all start loading the boxes into the receiving area. It doesn’t take long. But as Tallulah and I set down a box we’re carrying together I look at her. “Where’s Penny?” I whisper.

She shakes her head. “I don’t know. But he needs to get here fast. Or this whole plan falls apart.”

Luke walks past us and Tallulah catches his attention. “We need to move slower,” she whispers, and he nods.

The last few boxes take us twice as long to load onto the ship. And one of the kids even pretends to get confused and starts to reload some of the boxes back onto the truck. But we can only slow everything down so much. And now we’re all standing here, all the boxes loaded onto the ship, and Penny still isn’t back.

The driver walks up to Tallulah. “I’m going to need the 5GHQ-B slip,” he says.

“Right,” she nods. “Right. Which one is that?” She’s obviously stalling.

“The slip that says I delivered the materials and verifies you’re a certified recycling transporter,” he sounds mildly annoyed.

“Right," Tallulah says. “Mom said that was somewhere around here.” She pretends to sort through some papers on the intake desk tucked into the wall of the ship. “What does it look like?” she asks.

The driver sighs heavily. “Three colors,” he says. “Bright yellow, pink, and white. You keep the yellow sheet, I get the other two.” He’s starting to look suspicious. “Are you sure your mother’s verified to carry recycled material loads?” he asks, stepping closer to the desk.

“I’m back!” Penny shouts, jumping onto the ramp waving a form in his hands. “Sorry. Dad totally forgot to leave the 5GHQ-B here. I had to chase him down.”

“Dad?” the driver asks, his eyebrow raised. “I thought it was your mom’s business.”

“Mom and dad run it together,” Tallulah says. “But mom’s the brains.”

“Right,” Penny says. “Mom. We’d fall out of the sky if it wasn’t for mom.”

Penny hands the tri-color form to the driver and he looks it over. “Your mom forgot to sign it,” he says. “Or was that your dad’s job too?”

“I can sign it for her,” Tallulah says. “Do it all the time.”

The driver pauses, still clutching the form, looking doubtful. “It’s just that she really should be here to…” he begins.

“Or,” Luke says, walking down the ramp to join us. “We can load this all back onto your truck and you can return it to wherever you brought it from and we can do this all again tomorrow.”

The driver looks suddenly exhausted. “I’m deciding to pretend none of this ever happened.” He hands the form to Tallulah. She signs her name at the bottom and rips off the bright yellow sheet handing the other two back to him. “Happy Holidays,” he says as he walks back to the truck.

Once he drives off we all cheer and then it’s all hands on deck to store the books in The Squish before the parents get back. It’s the only place they won’t see them. It takes a bit of doing, but we pile every book into the small space. And there will still be just enough room for the four of us to fit in there as well.

After we’re done Griffen clears her throat loudly. “I got something for the person who made this whole thing happen.” She pulls a roll of paper out from a pocket inside her coat. “I printed this out before I left the library.”

She hands me the paper and I carefully unroll it. “The Goose Riggens Memorial Flybrary,” I read aloud. I feel like I just got the best hug ever.

“See kid,” Griffen says. “You’re already changing the world.”

We tape the sign up in The Squish, which us Ship Rats decide to now call The Flybrary. And then we dole books out to the kids that helped us load them, with promises to be back in a few months for them to make exchanges. And our library is free so they don’t have to spend any money. Then I give Luke a book to help him with his reading, and promise to help him personally when we come back.

After the other kids leave, their arms full of books, us Ship Rats sit in The Flybrary.

“We did it,” Tallulah says. “We pulled it off.”

“Thanks to another brilliant Tallulah plan,” Penny adds. “Sorry I was late. The guy at the recycling center changed his price on me last minute. I had to run two separate jobs to get the additional ration packs he wanted for the slip. I barely made it.”

“But you did,” Griffen says. She’s busy lasering new tattoos onto her face. “You’re awesome that way.”

“Speaking of the unexpected,” Tallulah continues. “‘Captain Tallulah’s Recycle Everything Company?’ It was supposed to be Uncle Greg’s name on the sheet.”

Griffen doesn’t even bother to look over. “Just helping you build your resume. I see a captainhood in your future. Hopefully a pirate one, because then I’ll be on the crew. So, looking out for my future, too. Just helping myself by helping my friends. I’m awesome that way.”

Tallulah rolls her eyes, but she’s obviously flattered.

“And,” Griffen says. “You should have seen Goose pull her first job. She read in front of those people like a pro. She read words I’ve never even heard of before. I was trying to figure one out and that’s probably why I got caught.” She looks around. “I should probably read more.”

Penny and Tallulah both smile at me and I feel pretty good about everything. Especially the fact that I’m surrounded by books. And for the rest of the evening, until the parents get back, we all sit there, snacking on ration packs, reading, and feeling pretty successful.

***

The next morning everyone is in a really good mood. Even the adults. Because last night we had our Christmas celebration. And now it’s time for take-off. Each of us has areas to check for pre-flight safety lists. But as Tallulah and I check our allotted spots in the receiving bay, I hear Auntie Meg, the pilot, call over the ship’s intercom. “Greg, looks like we’re about nine hundred kilos over weight?”

Tallulah looks at me, her eyes wide. Uncle Greg is just walking through the receiving bay and he pauses. 

He looks at us, then walks over to the intercom. “Sorry about that, Meg, I forgot to mention that I strengthened that temp wall separating bay six.” He looks at the book in my hand. “I’m thinking it’s going to become a permanent fixture.”

“Okay,” Auntie Meg says over the intercom. “We’re good on fuel. But a heads-up next time would be great.”

“My mistake,” Uncle Greg says. He sets down the communicator and then looks at Tallulah and I, both of us staring at the floor like it’s something we’re supposed to inspect.

“Hope none of you Ship Rats got into any trouble,” Uncle Greg says to Tallulah. Then he winks. “At least none you couldn’t get out of,” he adds, and walks off.

We both breathe a silent sigh of relief. And then we see it. A bright yellow slip of paper folded up, peeking out of Uncle Greg’s back pocket.

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