Because I’m the Captain

———————————– Travel Plans ——————————

Officially there were only three options for passage on  Stellar Path Shipping.   

One was as crew, I’d automatically been rejected by the computer two questions into the application.

The most common was as a sleeper passenger.  Sleeper passengers went into suspended animation, with all that entailed.  Being treated like cargo in a pod naked and shaved bald while drugs were constantly fed through an IV.  Usually you woke up mildly weak and groggy at your destination.  Sometimes you woke up with lingering side effects.  I heard people sometimes needed to spend a couple of months waiting for a new liver to be grown for them.  Every now and then, something went really wrong and you didn’t wake up, supposedly that was rare.   It was a risk I would happily take just to get off this planet, but it was more expensive than I could afford.

The other was as a working passenger.  Since room, oxygen, water, and food were all limited, it was more expensive than being a sleeper passenger.  Plus you were required to work thirty five hours per week, because there just weren’t enough beds to have passengers who didn’t serve a function.   Obviously if I couldn’t afford to be a sleeper, I couldn’t afford to be a working passenger.  

Occasionally, if one had specialized skills that a colony needed, the colony would sponsor a sleeper or working passenger fare, but I wasn’t even vaguely close to that skilled.

Unofficially, there were two other options, a not-actually-working working passenger and a very hard working travel companion.  One could technically be a working passenger, but hire a travel companion.  That travel companion, who would officially also just be a working passenger, would take both thirty five hour work shifts.  SPS didn’t like it, but it was also difficult to prevent.

Being a travel companion was the one and only way I could afford passage to a colony.   Sure it meant working seventy hours a week, plus there was a certain expectation that the travel companion would serve the passenger who was paying their passage, so seventy hours plus some.  

Ironically, the seventy hours, plus waiting on the passenger who hired you, was way more hours per week than just getting a job as real crew, which was forty to fifty hours, but I didn’t meet the educational requirements for that, and it wasn’t like I could afford to go back to school.  The group home I’d grown up in only sent us to school till we reached the minimum age required, then we were expected to start working.  So just taking a job working directly for SPS wasn’t an option.  The only way I was getting off Earth was as a travel companion.

It would be grueling, but I could handle it.  It was only going to be a few months to a year or so, depending on what colony I was able to find someone hiring a travel companion going to.   On Earth, I regularly worked sixty five hours a week anyway, which barely covered my portion of the rent on the 2 meter by 3 meters studio I shared.

———————————- The Travel Companion ——————————–

“I wish I could get away with just sending you to working passenger orientation for me.  It’s not like I’m actually going to be working.”  Veronica complained as we walked towards SPS’s main office building.  “Don’t forget you’re listed as my sister, Susan.”

Veronica was going to be leaving to go to the mining planet, New Kentucky,  her fiancé’s family owned half of.  They’d done well on the colony, and as was common among wealthy colony families, had sent one child back to earth to attend a prestigious university.  Veronica had been a student at the same university.  Her fiancé had left to return home to New Kentucky a month ago.   The plan was he would start getting things ready for their wedding and her to follow on the next ship headed that way.  

I was hired as Veronica’s traveling companion by her wealthy family.  I was even promised that if I worked hard and Veronica was happy with my service during the trip, she would keep me on as a housekeeper when we got to the mining planet.

“I remember, our dad, Barry, bought our tickets.”  I said.  “Attending the orientation shouldn’t be too bad, and there’s probably going to be general safety information you might need.”

Veronica snorted and rolled her eyes as the door slid open to let us in.

 

——————————– An Airtight Seal —————————————–

After signing in, and confirming our identity, we found ourselves in a confrence room with five other future passengers.   

We started out just watching videos explaining that we would be mostly doing work that didn’t require specialized skills, like cleaning, and very occasionally assisting skilled crew members.   There were a few videos with some general instructions about how cleaning and stuff on ships was a bit different from cleaning at home.  

After that there were indeed several videos about safety.  What the high G maneuver alarm sounded like, and how to buckle yourself into a seat for it.  What the loss of pressure alarm sounded like, and what to do if it went off.

After the safety video, one of the representatives from SPS came out to give a live demonstration and a little hands on training.  Veronica was super annoyed when he commented that the long polished nails should go as he was having her empty the dirty cleaning fluid reservoir of the mopper robot.

Then he moved on to safety information, which I had thought Veronica was going to pay attention to, since she did seem to care about not dying, but I guess she didn’t particularly believe that there was much chance of anything actually going wrong enough to need the safety information, but not so wrong that we’d just be dead instantly anyway.  She was putting in the absolute minimum effort she could to be allowed to board the ship.

“Now let’s all practice getting into pressure suits quickly.”  He said as he pointed over at the wall where a few of the adjustable suits hung from hooks and the matching helmets sat on a shelf above them.  “This is one of the many reasons that there is a very strict rule that hair must either be cut short or worn in a style that keeps it close to the head at all times aboard ship.  Not just pulled back, ponytails and braids will not do.  Any loose hair can prevent a full airtight seal.  Also buns need to be small enough that they don’t make it hard for you to slip a helmet over your head quickly.”

Our instruction for showing up to orientation had included mention that any passengers with long hair should put it up in a manner that wouldn’t interfere with putting on helmets, so I was already prepared.  I had put my brown mostly straight one length hair into two tight braids that morning, which I bobby pinned across the top of my head, then tucked the ends into the base on the opposite side.  It was a distinctly old fashioned look, but reasonably easy, comfortable, and secure.   Veronica, who obviously spent a hell of a lot more money on her softly layered and highlighted hair, had her hair up in a much fancier updo,  The length was twisted into a low full bun, and the layers around her face were slightly curled.  I suspected she’d had it done at a salon.   Or maybe she had hairdressers come to her father’s house, I wasn’t exactly sure what rich people did.

The instructor continued explaining how to put on the suits as he led us over to the rack to practice climbing into them while he timed us. 

“Just get that helmet on,”  The instructor said as Liz tried to adjust the leg length of the suit immediately after she’d pulled the cords that had the too long arms gather up to match her body.  “You only take the time to adjust the sleeves first if they are so long they get in your way so you can’t grab the helmet.  Getting a seal between the suit and helmet is what keeps you alive.  If you get the helmet on fast enough to survive suddenly being in vacuum, then you can worry about adjusting the legs so you can walk.”

“Sorry,” Liz said as she picked up the helmet.

Liz tried to put on the helmet, paused, shook her bobbed hair back, and tried again.  She managed, to get it placed, but a bit of the ends of her bobbed hair were sticking out the seem, and the helmet wasn’t clicking.

“Sorry, “ she said again as she reached up to tuck the hair in.

“Why didn’t you put your hair up the way the instructions said?”  The instructor asked.

“I thought it was short enough.” Liz explained in an embarrassed tone, “and it’s too short to put up easily.”

“You either need to figure out a way to keep it contained at ALL times aboard ship,”  the instructor warned her, “or get it cut short enough that it will stay short enough between stops.”

“I will,” Liz promised.

When she finally clicked the helmet in place, the instructor stopped the timer and showed her her failing time.  “Go to the bathroom, and try to fasten your hair back.  You can try again with the hair out of the way.”

“Thank you,” Liz said as she put the suit back on its hook and walked off with her head hung.

“Ok, you’re up next Veronica.”  He said.  “Let’s see how quickly you can get into a suit and get a good helmet seal.”

“Is there a clean one?” Veronica wrinkled her nose at the suits that all had been tried on by someone at least once.

“No,”  The instructor told her impatiently.  “They aren’t that dirty, it’s not like you get into them naked, they are designed to go over your clothing.   In an emergency, you just climb into whichever one is closest, that’s why they are adjustable instead of sized.  Now just grab one. I’m starting the timer.”

“Ughhh…” Veronica let out, but did start climbing into a suit.  She had to be reminded how to adjust the sleeves so she had her hands free to grab the helmet.  Finally she grabbed a helmet and lifted it over her head.

When Veronica tried to lower the helmet down, the back of the hemet hit the low bun, and got stuck.   Veronica spent several seconds pulling it free as the instructor watched the time ticking away on the clock he was scowling at.  When she finally pulled it free, her neat bun was half undone, and hanging to where it touched the rim of the suit.  Of course she was unable to get a good seal.

“Time’s up,”  the instructor said after a while.  “Just like Liz, I’ll let you try again after you fix your hair.  Susan you’re up next.”

“I need Susan to help me,” Veronica complained.

“You can’t put your hair up without your sister’s help,” the instructor asked dubiously.

“She’s just better and faster,” Veronica huffed.

“Fine, it looks like Liz is back anyway,”  the instructor conceded.  “This is why I wish passengers were actually required to keep their hair at the same length crewmen are.  It’s a long trip, and keeping your hair up and out of the way the entire journey is hard.  A short practical haircut makes things much much easier.”

“But it’s not required.”  Veronica insisted.

“No, it’s just a strong recommendation from me.   SPS does not require it, so if you can pass the test with long hair you can board the ship.”  The instructor admitted.  “If you can’t pass the test with long hair though, you have to go as a sleeper, which means your head must be shaved anyway.”

“Eww,” Veronica complained.  “I’m not going as a sleeper.  My fiance’s valet came as a sleeper and my fiance said he was useless for weeks because he kept puking.”

“You have two weeks before your ship leaves.  If you want, you have time to repeat this orientation.  I can put you on the schedule for next week.”  The instructor offered.  “That way you would have time to get an easier to manage haircut, one you don’t need your sister’s help with.”

“I can pass, now.” Veronica claimed with an eyeroll, then started walking towards the bathroom.  “Come on Susan, give me a hand.”

 

——————————- All Times Means, ALL TIMES —————————-

“I need your help redoing my hair,” Veronica told me as I entered our tiny cabin and found her towelling off the long loose hair.

“I need to use the head first,” I stated.  “Just give me a couple of minutes.

Veronica looked annoyed, but let me get past her to get to the head.

I’d been holding it for ages since I hadn’t wanted to clock out and take a break from my shift if I didn’t have to.  It was hard enough to get in the seventy hours without losing fifteen minutes just to pee, since SPS didn’t allow for quick five minute bathroom breaks, you either clocked out and took a full break, or you held it till the end of your shift.

It wasn’t even the amount of hours working that was really killing me, but the timing.  Because I wasn’t working a schedule made up for a single person with some double shifts, there were awkward gaps between shifts that were scheduled for me and shifts that Veronica was supposed to be working.  They were usually too short to actually get a good deep sleep, but they were long enough that I would lose steam waiting for the next shift. 

I was beginning to worry people weren’t believing me when I said Veronica didn’t feel well when I showed up for her shifts.  Nevermind the excuses I was making for why Veronica and I couldn’t be scheduled for shifts that overlapped were getting ridiculous.  

After I’d cleaned my hands, I decided it was worth a little bit of my water credits so I could splash a small amount of cold water on my face, to help fight the exhaustion that made me want to just go to bed instead of putting Veronica’s hair up.  I took a deep breath, dried my face, and looked at the mirror.  

My own hair needed redoing much more than I suspected Veronica’s had when she’d let it down, god only knows how long ago.  I could see and feel the hair below the braids that wrapped around my head was plastered to my scalp with sweat and oil.  I needed to undo the braids sprinkle on some of the dry shampoo we had been issued, rub it in, and then vaccuum it back out, but I didn’t have time for that. 

I took out just the bobby pins that held the braids to my crown, leaving the hair braided so I could get it back up quickly once I had dealt with Veronica’s completely loose hair.  I figured it was a decent enough compromise, it was only sort of not put up, since it was braided, and my sweaty scalp might be able to dry with the slightly better air circulation.

I let out the breath and went back into the little cabin.

“I need you to put my hair up so I can leave the cabin,” Veronica reminded me impatiently.

“Sure,” I responded, trying not to sound cranky.  “Let me have your brush.”

I’d just barely begun brushing out Veronica’s tangled wet hair when there was a knock at the door.

“We’re busy.”  Veronica yelled at the door.

“It’s the captain,”  Capitan Reyes, the no-nonsense woman with a salt and pepper crew cut, called through the door instead of going away.

“Come back later,” Veronica responded with impatience, then added “HEY!!”  when the door opened anyway.

“The knock is a courtesy, not a necessity,” Capitan Reyes informed Veronica as she entered the cabin. “What are you doing?”

“My sister is helping me put my hair up.”  Veronica answered with annoyance.

“It shouldn’t be down,”  Reyes pointed out.  “Get it back up quickly.  Yours too Susan, though the braids aren’t as bad.”

“You barged into my private cabin to rush Susan putting up my hair?”   Veronica rolled her eyes.  “I’ll have it up before I leave the cabin.”

“Hair must be up at all times, not just outside your cabin.”  Reyes pointed out.  “I understand that you might need to let it partially down while dry shampooing, the way Susan’s is now, but that should only be momentary and you can’t have it completely loose like that, not here in your cabin, not even in the head.  If there’s a hull breach, you have seconds to get into a suit.  I was on a ship that had a hull breach years ago, and two-thirds of the crew made it out alive because we got into suits in time.” 

After giving us a moment to let the information sink in, Reyes continued. “That’s not what I am here about, though.  I’m here because you have missed multiple work shifts and used three weeks of water rations in just over one week.”

“I didn’t feel well.”  Veronica made excuses.  “Susan filled in.”

“That doesn’t explain the water usage, and you can’t keep sending your ‘sister’ to cover your shifts.”  Reyes emphasized sister with air quotes suggesting she wasn’t buying the story.  “If you feel like you can’t work your next shift, I expect you to report to sick bay.”

“What do you care?  The work got done.”

“Working both her own shifts and your shifts is going to make Susan exhausted,”  Reyes insisted, “especially since you act like you are incapable of taking care of yourself and she is taking care of you.”

“Susan isn’t complaining. Why do you think it’s any of your business?”

“Because – I – am – the – captain -,” Reyes enunciated authoritatively without resorting to yelling.  “Everything that happens on this ship is my business.  Exhausted people make mistakes, on a ship mistakes can be deadly.”

“Nobody is going to die if Susan empties the mop robot incorrectly.” Veronica muttered.

“This isn’t a discussion.  Show up at your next shift.”

“Fine,”  Veronica rolled her eyes again.  “I’ll make my next shift.”

“Now about the water consumption.”  Reyes moved on.  “You can’t waste water the way people do in system.  We have water rations for reasons.  The recyclers can only process the water so fast.”

“Eww,  I don’t like thinking about the water being recycled.”

“Maybe thinking about it will help you use less.  For the next 2 weeks, you need to just use enough water to not get dehydrated.”

“I can’t go two weeks without showering.”  Veronica complained.

“If you hadn’t already used up so much water credit you wouldn’t have to.”

I’d mostly tried to stay out of the conversation and get Veronica’s hair up as quickly as possible, but Veronica looked up at me and said, “You have some extra water credits don’t you?  You wouldn’t mind sharing them with me?”

“I have a liter leftover from last week.”  I admitted, even though I was hoping that I would be able to take a slightly longer shower at some point.  Realistically, it wasn’t like I’d have time anyway.  “You can use it.”

“No.”  Capitan Reyes complained.  “Susan’s water rations are for Susan.  You need to just manage your water use Veronica.   Besides, you’re over your limit by more than just a liter.  Just enough water to stay hydrated for the next two weeks.   Am I understood?”

“Fine,” Veronica pouted.

“And I don’t want to see that hair down again.”  Reyes added in a threatening tone.  “Up at all times means all times.  Not just when you’re out of your cabin, you leave it up when you sleep and wash.  If you can’t handle that, you need to get it cut when we dock at Wolf-Cee Station.”

Capitan Reyes, left the cabin as I was putting the barret into Veronica’s hair that would hold back her face framing layers.

“God she’s a pain in the ass,” Veronica complained once the door was fully closed.   “I don’t know why SPS doesn’t just offer a first class option, this is so ridiculous.  Susan, you don’t mind sharing your extra water with me do you?  We can just do it quietly so they don’t notice.”

Of course I minded, but I needed a job when I got to New Kentucky.  “I’ll share as much as I can.”

 

——————————— The Bad Passenger —————————————-

“You shouldn’t just burst through the door.  You should have given us more time before coming in!”  Veronica insisted angrily.

“I gave you more time after knocking than you’d have had in an emergency.”  Captain Reyes answered in a flat but authoritative tone.  “This is the third time I have caught you with your hair down.”

“I have to wash it,”  Veronica explained.

“No you don’t.”  Reyes insisted.  “Which is the second issue, you are still using too much water.  I am done with putting up with this.  I am making a new rule for this voyage.  Everyone must follow crew regulations for grooming.”

“You can’t just override Stellar Path Shipping’s policies.”  Veronica challenged.

“I’m the Captain of this ship, I set ship policies which can be whatever I see fit when it comes to health and safety, so yes I can.”  Reyes kept her tone even, instead of matching Veronica’s rising tone.  “Second, that policy states that working passengers keep hair in a manner that does not interfere with safety equipment.  You have not done so, so you are in violation of SPS policy.

“Tomorrow when we get to Wolf-Cee, you are getting off this ship.” Reyes continued calmly laying out Veronica’s options.  “If you get that hair cut off, then you can get back on this ship and continue on your way to Nu’tucky.   If you don’t want to get a haircut, that’s fine, but you aren’t getting back on this ship.  I will issue you a prorated rebate for the distance you have travelled.”

“I’m also reassigning Susan to a different cabin when we leave Wolf-Cee, and putting a crewman in here with you, since it is obvious you are taking advantage of her and using her water credits.”  Reyes finished.

“How do you know Susan isn’t using up her water credits herself?”  Veronica argued.

“Because you took a shower using Susan’s water credits while Susan was working one of your shifts.”  Reyes stated.  “Did you think we wouldn’t notice that you just signed into your shift then had Susan actually start working after a few minutes.  Which is another thing I will not be putting up with.  If you don’t actually work your shifts the way you agreed to, you can become a sleeper passenger.  I’m not wasting the food, water, and oxygen to keep you awake if you aren’t doing anything helpful.”

“You can’t just do that.”  Veronica insisted.

“Yes, I can.”  Reyes then turned towards me, obviously feeling the conversation with Veronica was over.  “Susan, come with me.”

Veronica stood fuming as I followed Captain Reyes.

“I’ll try to talk her out of it.”  I promised Veronica as I stepped through the door.

“Even though you have been fine about keeping your hair up, except that one time,”  Reyes took on a friendlier tone as we walked,  “I can’t make rules for some passengers but not others, so sorry but you’re going to have to cut your hair too if you want to continue.”

“Could you please reconsider for both of us.”  I started as I caught up to Reyes.  “I will try harder to keep Veronica’s hair up.”

“Listen, I’m sorry this is affecting you too, but frankly you brought this on yourself when you agreed to be Veronica’s travel companion.”

“My sister is getting married as soon as we get to New Kentucky, she just wants longhair on her wedding day, “ I pleaded.  “I know you’re upset with Veronica, but…”

“Save the bullshit.  I know you’re not Veronica’s sister,”  Reyes cut me off.  

“I just…” I tried to think of an explanation.

“I know how the deal works,”  Reyes stated.  “You just wanted off earth and couldn’t afford to buy the ticket yourself.  Though frankly of all the places in the galaxy to go, Nu’tucky is a poor choice.  The place’s a dump.”

“It’s gotta be better than earth.”  I said.

“You might change your mind once you see the place.”  Reyes informed me.  “Nu’tucky is all mining and industry, those are the things that made Earth what it is today.  There are still some nice parts of Earth if you can afford to go to them.  The only sort of nice place on Nu’tucky is the dome that’s owned by the family Veronica is marrying into.”

“I have a job lined up there,”  I told her.  “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“If you want you can just stay at Wolf-Cee,”  Reyes suggested.  “You won’t have to cut your hair if you stay.  Though you might just want to anyway once you find out what it’s worth on Wolf-Cee.”  

“huh?”

“Nevermind.” She continued.  “Theoretically, you can get tickets to somewhere else from Wolf-Cee, but they are almost as pricey as tickets on Earth.   I’m assuming that if I issue a prorated rebate of your ticket, it will go to Veronica since her father paid for you to accompany her.”   

“Yeah, if I stay on Wolf-Cee without Veronica I will be stuck there.”

“There are worse places to be stuck,” Reyes claimed, “Where we dock is just a space station, but you can probably find work there, and the max work week limit in system is better than on Earth.  Most you can work anywhere in the Wolf-cee system is fifty hours, just forty-five on station.  And Wolf-Cee is a much cheaper place to live than Earth.  Even at starting wages, it doesn’t take forever to save enough so you can go down to the surface.  It’s a nice enough planet though not fully terraformed yet.”

“I wouldn’t stay there and abandon Veronica just to avoid a haircut, even if I am a bit nervous about it, and it is a nice place.  I’ll stick with Veronica.  If she decides to stay on Wolf-Cee, I will too.  If she gets back on the ship I will too.”  I said.  “I know you don’t approve of the arrangement, but I promised her Dad I would take care of her till New Kentucky.  I took the ticket, so I’m obligated.” 

“It’s up to you.”  Captain Reyes shrugged.  “By the way, stop calling it ‘New Kentucky,’ marks you as a first slipper.”

I watched feeling just a tad confused by some parts of the conversation as the captain went through a hatch marked “BRIDGE CREW ONLY” leaving me standing there as the hatch closed.

 

——————————- Under The Captain’s Wing ———————————

I gathered my courage and knocked at the door to Captain Reyes’ office.

“COME” she called clearly from inside.

“Hi, can we talk?”  I asked as I slipped inside.

“I don’t have a ton of time, we’re going to start docking procedures in just an hour.  Obviously I have to be on the bridge before that.”  Reyes stated bruskly without really looking up from the screen she was scrolling down.  “If Veronica sent you to try to talk me out of insisting on her getting a haircut to stay on board, you’re wasting both of our time.”

I think Reyes expected me to just say I was sorry and leave.  I continued to stand there though, trying to gather not just courage, but the words I needed.

“Is there something else?”  Reyes asked, pausing her scrolling and looking up, when I didn’t leave.

“I know this is kind of stupid,” I admitted.  “And I’m sure it’s something I shouldn’t be wasting your time with, but I just didn’t know who else to talk to, and it’s kind of embarrassing.”

“Sit,”  Reyes invited me in a more patient tone.  “As I’ve said, everything that concerns this ship concerns me, and that includes issues that affect my passengers.”

“Can you make an exception to the no cutting hair aboard ship rule, so I can just cut our hair myself.”  I requested, “instead of taking Veronica to the station barbershop?  I know we couldn’t in transit, since that would have involved having our hair down, but I figure that wouldn’t matter once we are docked.  I won’t be able to do proper layered haircuts that qualify as crew standard, but I think I could manage to bob our hair short enough to be ok.  I’ve trimmed my own split ends a few times.”

“The no haircutting aboard ship rule isn’t about not taking hair down.  If it was, the crew could trim their own hair, since we all have short hair anyway. The rule is because the filters and recyclers are already taxed by the amount of hair humans just shed day to day.”  Reyes explained to me.  “Hair’s hard to break down, adding too much extra to the system could overwhelm it.  As a one off, it probably wouldn’t be that big a deal, but once I make one exception, the requests start pouring in.  Besides, it’s a waste for your hair to go into the ship recycler.  Station’s have recyclers that can break apart every molecule.  Why don’t you just want to take Veronica to the station barber?”

“One of the crew told me there isn’t a salon on the station, I asked because I thought it might make Veronica more comfortable.   Veronica’s only ever gone to fancy salons, so she doesn’t really have barbershop experience.  I’ve never had a professional haircut at all, at the group home the staff just cut our hair.”  I admitted.  “When I was old enough to leave, I mostly just wanted to grow it out, and it didn’t seem worth paying just to get the split ends trimmed.  So… I’ve never been to a salon or barber.  Between just not even knowing our way around space stations and not really being familiar with barbershops… I’m just not sure what to say and stuff.  Plus when I asked about getting around the station, everyone said it’s like a maze…”

“You know what,”  Reyes said as she stood up and started coming around her desk, “I’ll just take you guys there myself.  I could do with a trim anyway.   I’ll help you get through the maze of station corridors.  I can make sure Veronica gets a short enough haircut.  And I’ll make sure neither of you get taken advantage of as first slippers.   How does that sound?”

“It sounds nice, but I don’t want to take up too much of your time.” I said, getting up  as Reyes had gestured for me to.  “Would you rather just suggest a crewman for us to go with?”

“Honestly,” Reyes said, standing in the door and holding it open for me.  “Giving someone instructions then following up on how it went is probably going to take longer than just going myself.   I also suspect Veronica would give a crewman a harder time than she’ll give me.  Besides, this way I get a trim; I like to keep things sharp.  Alright?”

“Ok…” I said as we approached the hatch only bridge crew were allowed passed.  “I would appreciate you coming if it’s not a nuisance.”

“As I said, it’s not a nuisance.  I’ll need about an hour to get things squared away after we are fully docked, then I will come and pick you and Veronica up.  You should let your hair down once we are docked, it’ll make it easier at the barbershop.”

“I’ll do that.  Thank you for this.”

“No problem.”  Reyes paused at the hatch for just a moment.  “Now go make sure Veronica is ready for docking, there will be zero to high Gee maneuvers.”

Then Reyes slipped through the hatch.

 

————————————- Frugality ————————————

“Susan,” Veronica begged me.  “You have to talk her out of this.”

“She isn’t going to listen to me.”  I told Veronica as I followed Captain Reyes through the winding corridors.  “You have to decide if you want us to stay and try to arrange alternate transport, or if you are willing to do what we have to to get to Nu’tucky.”

“I have to get there,”  Veronica admitted, “and ships only go there every two months.  It will take ages waiting for the next one.”

“This is the place ladies,”  Captain Reyes called as she paused in front of an open hatch surrounded by swirling red and white LEDs.

“Will you please reconsider?”  Veronica pleaded with Reyes again, in desperation.  “I can make it worth your while.”

With a look of zero remorse Reyes said, “No.  Now get in there.”

“Hello ladies,”  a smiling man with a huge elaborate pompadour, who was standing in front of a barber chair holding a cape ready to drape over a vaguely familiar looking crew member from the ship, greeted us as we entered.  “Hope you don’t mind a little bit of a wait.  There’s a barber convention down planet, and everyone except me went.  I only stayed instead of us closing shop since we knew there was a ship docking, and we know how there’s always at least a few crew that are over crew standard length.”

With that the barber swung the cape around the crewman in his chair and fastened it around his neck, as Captain Reyes, Veronica, and I went to make ourselves comfortable in the line of waiting chairs..  The barber lightly ruffled the hair of the crewman, so it fell over his eyebrows and into his eyes.  

“Jackson is one who always pushes the limits on that,” Reyes gently chastised the crewman.  “You should have gotten it done when we docked at Earth.”

“Hey, not all of us make a captain’s salary,”  Jackson complained, though he was smiling, suggesting a relationship full of comradery.  “Some of us can’t afford a trim at every port.  Especially Earth.”

“What are we doing?”  The barber interrupted the banter.

“One millimeter.” Jackson requested.

“Very economical choice,” the barber stated with just a slight touch of contempt.

I watched as the barber took a device off a charging pad on the counter under the mirror and tapped a few times.  After a moment of the device making slightly mechanical whirring noises, it settled into a gentle hum.   The barber came around behind Jackson, holding the device in one hand and a comb in the other.  He used the comb to lift the shaggy hair on Jackson’s forehead up and back.  As he held the hair up and back with the comb, he placed the humming device on Jackson’s forehead, just in front of the hairline, and slowly pulled back.

Jackson’s shaggy hair began to tumble down, as a path of fine stubble was left where what I concluded must be fancy hair clippers had traveled over Jackson’s scalp.  When the clippers reached the back of Jackson’s head, the barber shook the hair that had stayed in his comb to the floor, and repeated the process just to the left of the path of stubble.

The barber worked in an efficient, though not rushed manner, to divest Jackson of every scrap of the shaggy hair he’d come in with.  It must have only been three or four minutes till Jackson was almost bald.

“Neckline preference?”  The barber asked Jackson.

“Squared is fine.”  Jackson stated not sounding like he actually much cared.  

Though Jackson seemed unlikely to appreciate it, the barber took a smaller clipper off of the charging pad, and used it to shave a crisp line across the back of Jackson’s head, up and around his ears, and finally at the bottom of his sideburns.

“Thanks,” Jackson casually said as he vaguely glanced at the mirror the barber was showing him the back of his head with.  “What do I owe you?”

“Fifteen pups.”  The barber said, making me imagine they were about to be bartering dogs.

“What’s that in stellar credits?”  Jackson asked as he rubbed his rather bare head.

“At the current exchange rate, ten-fifty-seven.”  The barber seemed a bit annoyed.  “The bank charges me an exchange fee though, so more like twelve.”

It suddenly occurred to me, that I would be expected to pay for the haircut I didn’t particularly want, I leaned over towards Captain Reyes and whispered as softly as I could, “I only have eight-twenty stellar credits.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Reyes whispered back reassuringly.

“Here, I’ll put twelve on this, and you can keep the change,”  Jackson said to the barber as he tapped a card against his watch before handing it over.

“Thanks.”  The barber said with a hint of sarcasm, as he took the card.

“Jackson,”  Reyes, reached out to hold him back as he passed her on his way to the hatch.  “As much as I appreciate frugality, maybe don’t put it off quite so long next time.”

“Sure thing Cap’n,” Jackson chuckled. “Just next time, can you try to dock somewhere less expensive than Earth when I’m due for a haircut.”

“I’ll try,” Reyes chuckled back, “but no promises.”

Jackson left just as the barber finished cleaning up.

 

————————————-I’ll Go First ——————————-

“Ok ladies,” the barber turned his chair towards us invitingly, “who’s next?”

I nervously bit my lip, and looked over at Veronica.  She just sat pouting, slouched in the chair slightly, her arms crossed in front of her, not making any move to get up.   I looked over at Captain Reyes, she raised a questioning eyebrow.  Captain Reyes finally got up herself.

“I’ll go first,”  she announced as she walked to the barber chair.  “Number three on the top, two on the sides.  Taper the bottom just a bit.  Rounded neckline.”

“Perfect.” the barber said, obviously happy to have a customer who didn’t just view haircuts as an expense to be put off.

Reyes, sat comfortably as the barber swung a fresh cape over her and fastened it.  He grabbed the clippers and tapped the tiny screen a few times.  The clippers once again made some whirring sounds then settled into the steady hum.

When the barber pulled the clippers over Reyes’ head, only a slight dust of salt and pepper hair clippings fell to her shoulders, and the path left behind was just a tiny bit crisper looking.  The clippers hummed along as the barber worked them all over Reyes’ scalp, pausing only occasionally to tap the screen and adjust them slightly as he worked his way down the sides of her head.   It took quite a bit longer than Jackson’s hair cut had till the barber finally exchanged the adjustable clippers for the smaller ones to shave the requested round hairline just above Reyes’ neck.  

After shaving in the neckline and placing the little clippers back on the charging pad, the barber didn’t act as though the haircut was fully done like he had with Jackson.  Instead, he came back with a comb and shears.  He combed up Reyes’ head, and snapped the scissors blades quickly against the comb.  As he did, only a barely visible dusting of the short hair fell.

The barber went back and forth between the little clippers and shears a few times, before finally dusting off Reyes’ face and neck.  He took the cape off her, and held a mirror up to show her the back of her head.

“Very nice,” Reyes praised the barber for the trim that had simply cleaned up her existing crewcut slightly as she examined the neckline in the mirror the barber held up for her to see. 

Reyes got up, chatting with the barber, took a card from her pocket, and tapped it against her watch.  As she handed it over to the barber, he was obviously much happier with whatever tip Reyes had added onto the fifteen pup price.

 

—————————– Unexpected Compensation —————————-

“Who’s next?”  The barber asked, once again spinning the chair invitingly.

Reyes looked at us as I nervously bit my lip and Veronica continued her pouting.  Neither of us was volunteering.  I looked back at Veronica again, and realized as much as she was just trying to look angry, a tear was rolling down her cheek.

“I’ll go next.”  I nervously volunteered, getting up and walking towards the barber’s chair.  

“That’s Earth grown virgin,” Reyes told the barber as I blushed and wondered if I needed to divulge that I wasn’t actually a virgin.

“Well in that case, this is on the house.”  the barber offered enthusiastically.

“And you’ll be offering her a fair price for it.”  Reyes stated.

“Of course, of course,” the barber agreed with a slight tone of disappointment.  “How does two pups a gram sound?”

“Four,” Reyes countered.

I listened with confusion to Reyes and the barber haggling.  I had figured out pretty quickly that pups were what they called the local currency of Wolf-Cee.  I got the impression they were haggling over how much the Barber would be paying me, which seemed kind of backwards.  The barber paused the haggling to confirm with me that my hair wasn’t ever bleached or permed, as Reyes had insisted, and asked how much time I’d spent off Earth. 

“Are you good with three-twenty pups per gram?”  Reyes asked me.

“Yeah,”  I said, mildly amazed I would be leaving the barbershop slightly richer instead of poorer.

“Come on, sit down,”  the barber encouraged me, as I nervously stepped forward and lowered myself into the seat.  “Now, how did you want it cut?”

“I don’t know,”  I admitted, then turned to Reyes.  “How do I have to get it cut?”  

“Crew standard, fifteen centimeters and bangs a centimeter above your eyebrows, would do,”  Reyes told me, “but frankly crew standard is not a great style.  And if you go shorter, that’ll be more grams you get paid for.”

“I guess I could go shorter,”  I said, trying to figure out how many more grams of hair each centimeter I was willing to sacrifice might be, I didn’t think going as far as Jackson had was worth it, but if crew standard wasn’t going to look great anyway…

“God you’re such an idiot,” Veronica complained,  “you are actually considering letting them cut off more hair just for a few credits.”

“A few credits means a lot more to Susan than it does to you. Hair grows back.”  Reyes informed Veronica angrily, then switched to a softer tone.  “Your bangs probably have to be around four or five centimeters anyway, right barber? You could ask for a four centimeter tapered pixie.  It’ll look good on you.” 

“A tapered pixie would indeed look excellent with your face shape.”  The barber concurred with Reyes.  “Pixie is a much more elegant cut than crew standard, and should yield several more grams.”

“Ok,” I nodded, not really clear about the difference between the styles, but I trusted Captain Reyes’ opinion.

“Just give me a minute,” the barber requested. “I need to get a special cape and dropcloth for the floor that captures all the hair.”

I felt weirdly on display, as the barber fussed about with the drop cloth.  It didn’t help that two more crew members I knew, Nguyen and Horowitz, came into the shop as he prepared for the major haircut that was going to have an audience.  I was extra embarrassed when the barbers started putting the special cape, that had a turned up edge, on me.  The weirdest part of the cape was how it had a funnel-like bit toward the front, where there was a sort of pocket bowl in my lap.

“What’s with the weird cape?”  Nguyen asked.

“Earth grown virgin hair has some elements in it in particularly high concentrations that are hard to get in this system.  Makes it worth extra effort when recycling it.  It’s not quite valuable enough to be worth importing hair from Earth, it’s cheaper to just import the pure elements, and not even vaguely enough to pay for a ticket out here, so nobody would travel here for it. But Wolf-Cee is often the first stop for ships coming from Earth.  It’s the first opportunity most passengers coming from Earth have to get a haircut once they have found out how uncomfortable it is to keep their hair up for weeks on end.  So since passengers wanting haircuts are already here, it’s worth collecting.”  Reyes explained.  “He’s paying Susan three-twenty pups per gram.”

“Sweet,”  Nguyen responded, “Don’t suppose I can get the same deal?”

“You didn’t even go down planet when we stopped at Earth.”  Horowitz said with a snort.  “And I’m pretty sure blue isn’t your natural color.”

“Oh well.”

“Please sit nice and still,”  the barber instructed me when he was finished getting me ready,  “while I cut the hair, and then after while I collect it.  We don’t want any of it to not be properly collected.  Ok?”

“Ok,” I responded, my voice sounding small and shy, ironically making me feel even more embarrassed.

The barber finally began to work on my hair.  He started by just gathering most of it in the back.  I felt the cold metal blades of the scissors on the back of my neck. 

Shhhhhrunch, ssssiirrrunch,   shhhhhrrrrrunch,  ssshhhhhhnap.

I felt the cut ends of my hair brushing against my neck, as I watched the barber lift the bundle of long tresses over my shoulder and drop the soft dark locks into my lap.  I wanted to slip my hands out from under the cape and feel it, and feel what my suddenly short hair felt like, but I sat stiffly so not to risk spilling the hair.  

I felt the barber comb the hair up from the side of my head.  He clamped a bunch of my hair between his fingers, he raised the open blades to the gap between his fingers and my head, then he began to cut off most of the length.

 Hissssllick. Sssshnip, ssssshhhnip, ssssnap

The barder carefully dropped the tufts of hair he’d cut towards the bowl part of the cape covering me.  I watched as the brown hair slid down.  Then looked up at the mirror, the hacked off mess with one side like an uneven bob and the other with a chunk that only half covered my ear, gave me little clue what I would look like once this was done.

Then the barber was combing more of my hair up into his fingers.  I listened to the sharp blades slicing through the strands next to my ear.  The barber dropped more tufts of my hair into my lap.  

The barber worked at a steady rhythm harvesting the hair, not cutting it to the finished length yet.  He was cutting it just a little messily to a slightly shorter length than Jackson had started with.  The pile in my lap steadily grew, with the barber constantly dropping in tufts of hair.  I tried to guess how much it weighed, but it was hard to tell how much of the slight weight was from hair and how much was the cape, especially since I wasn’t supposed to move.

With my hair all cut to just slightly shorter than Jackson’s had been, The barber slowed down.  As he combed the hair on the top of my head up to be clamped between his fingers.  He was more careful as he snipped it down to about five or six centimeters.  The tufts he dropped into my lap were smaller than before.

I watch in the mirror as the haircut began to switch from a simple harvest, to being about what the barber was going to be leaving behind on my head.  After a last drop of very short tufts into the bowl, the barber looked intently at my reflection as he ran his fingers through my hair, and seemed to be considering how it moved and looked.

The barber began to comb through my hair, no longer using the comb simply to lift the hair, but beginning to use it to smooth the hair into a style.  He combed the short hair down over my forehead, and over my eyebrows.  Then he began to snip.

Shnip, schnip, shnip, shnip, shhhhnip, shnip, shnip, shhnip, shnip, shnip.

I closed my eyes as the hair began to fall on my cheeks and nose.  I felt the points of the scissors travel along in a line the prescribed centimeter above my eyebrows.  The barber combed it down a few times, going back and snipping slightly more, I assume getting hairs that had escaped the first pass.  When the snipping stopped, I kept my eyes closed against the little prickles of hair I could feel in my eyelashes.

“Hold still,” the barber instructed me, “and keep your eyes closed.”

Then I felt the fluffy brush begin to sweep the hair downward off my face towards the cape.   Once the top of my face was fully cleared, I tentatively opened my eyes.  I watched the barber use the fluffy brush to sweep not just my face and neck, but to then make sure all the cut off hair went down into the funnel area.  Though it was obvious he wasn’t planning to fully ignore the aesthetic aspects of my haircut, he also wasn’t going to focus so much on the aesthetics that he wouldn’t be careful to not waste any of the hair.

All the cut off hair safely swept into the bowl, the barber went back to cutting my hair.  He combed the short bangs upward along and trapped the hair between his fingers again.  This time instead of using his finger to hold the hair he was cutting off, he began to trim off the ends of my hair that stuck out above his fingers.  The loose hair rained down.  

The barber kept working his way back over the top of my head, matching the length of my hair to the length of the bangs he had started with.  He paused frequently to comb the loose hair that had fallen on the top of my head, and direct the snippets to the funnel.   

After the barber had cut the hair from the top of my head all the way to the back, he went back to the front and held the hair out again at a slightly different angle, a little more to the side.  He trimmed just a slight amount off, as he methodically worked front to back again.  This time, most of the hair fell to the side toward my shoulder.  The barber still paused occasionally to sweep the hair towards the funnel, but no longer had to comb it off the top of my head.

He repeated the pattern several times, till he finally was holding my hair pretty much parallel to my shoulders.  He gave my hair a final comb through, and my shoulders a very thorough sweep, and then he put the scissors down on the counter, next to the charging pad.   

The barber picked up the clippers then, and began tapping the screen.  I watched nervously, knowing how they could reduce hair to stubble like they had on Jackson, but of course they could also just cut it short, like Captain Reyes’ hair.  I listened to the whirring as the clippers adjusted to whatever the barber had tapped into the screen.

“Ok, I know I told you not move earlier,”  the barber said as he walked back behind me with the clippers, “but let me move your head, ok.”

Then I felt his hand guide my head downward, tilting it so that my chin nearly touched my collar bone.   Then I heard him turn the clippers on.  I felt the clippers on my neck, vibrating slightly, then he pushed them up and into the short hair.

Humm-buzzzzzzzzzzzz.

As the clippers worked upward, the comb scraped down till they met and the clippers left my scalp.

Buzzzwoot

I felt the sprinkle of soft hair fall on my neck.  Then the clippers were back on my neck again, as the barber buzzed another path up through the hair on the back of my head.

The barber worked swiftly as I looked down at the bowl full of my hair.   I felt the barber carefully steering the clippers around my ears.  

“Hold still,” the barber told me as he turned off the clippers.  

I felt the soft brush again sweeping the clipping forward.  The hair fell lightly to my shoulders, and then slid down the front of the cape towards the funnel. 

I heard the barber tap the screen and the clippers whirring into a new setting.  The barber turn them back on, and started cutting more of my hair he worked mostly at the bottom, occasionally carefully tilting my head slightly differently, and sweeping the cut off hair toward the funnel every time he paused to adjust the clippers.

When he finally allowed me to look up at the mirror again, I was mildly surprised at how much the simple haircut made me look a bit like a little boy.  I found myself wishing I had something that made me look at least a little more feminine.  Long hair had been my main feminine marker since I’d had a choice in the matter.   Jewelry, pretty clothing, make-up, and stuff were expensive, long hair had been cheap.

The barber didn’t seem to be trying to make the haircut more masculine, he was softening it with some weird toothy shears.   He would close the special scissors and no hair would fall at first, but then he would run the comb through a bunch of hair would be stuck in it.  He still carefully collected the cut hair, but seemed to be most focused on sculpting the short hair to lay softly, but there just wasn’t a ton of length to work with.  The brief four centimeters of hair at the top lay simply close to my head, while the even shorter hair that tapered down to my ears stood up very slightly.  

I sat patiently as the barber did finishing touches I only sort of understood.   When he finally started shaving my neckline, I contemplated how the very short bangs rested against my forehead, going just slightly off to the left away from the natural side parting on the right.

Though the barber seemed to be finished with my haircut, he wasn’t holding up the mirror to show me the back, instead he was carefully sweeping every tiny scrap of hair into the funnel of the cape.  I watched anxiously, impatient to get a good look at myself without the stupid cape, curious as to how many grams of hair I’d be paid for.  The barber detached the bowl section from the cape finally, and placed it on a scale, he added the very small amount of hair that had somehow made it to the drop cloth onto the scale.

“One-hundred-eighty-two grams.”  He announced, then looked at me.  “Let me get that cape off you before I do the calculation.”

As he began to take the weird cape off, I requested, “Can I see the back?”

“Of course.”  He went and got the small mirror.

As I looked at the reflection of the back of my head, I raised my hand up to feel the velvety pelt that he had left on my nape.  The neckline was pretty nice, it seemed to mostly just be a cleaned up version of my natural neckline, which was fairly gender neutral.  The very short hair velvety went up fairly high, before it gradually became the four centimeters of the top.

I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about it as I stared and petted it.  It was the most effort anyone had ever put into my appearance, but it wasn’t like that had been the real goal of the haircut, it had been about enforcing a new rule, and harvesting valuable elements.  I didn’t like the lack of femininity, but it did look more polished and mature then the old fashioned braids had.  I was sure my head was going to be a lot less sweaty after a work shift too.

“Now you look like a real crewman, Susan.”  Nguyen told me enthusiastically.

I smiled shyly, at what I knew was meant to be a compliment, but felt a little like she was saying I looked like a man, even though everyone seemed to treat crewman as a gender neutral title.

“Very cute,”  Horowitz assured me.

“Nice and professional,” Reyes observed.

I stood up, still looking at the mirror trying to get used to the reflection of the figure that looked back at me, as the barber loaded a card up with the promised price for the hair that sat on the scale.  It didn’t help that I was rather slender, not completely flat chested, but not so curvy that it was obvious. I definitely felt like I could pass for a teen boy if I tried.

“Here you go,”  the barber said, handing me the filled card.

I looked down at the number on the faintly glowing read out.  “Pp 582.40” I stared down at it feeling a little overwhelmed.  I couldn’t remember the exact exchange rate from when the barber had discussed it with Jackson, but figure it must be close to four-hundred stellar credits.  Captain Reyes had been right when she said that even if I had been staying on Wolf-Cee, I might have just been willing to cut my hair anyway.

“It’s your turn Veronica,” Reyes told her.  

Veronica pouted, but got up and went over to the barber chair, as I returned to my seat, still feeling slightly dazed. 

“How do you want it cut?”  The barber asked her as he took out a regular fresh cape.

“I want to see options.”  Veronica told him with annoyance.

“Photos?”  The barber clarified and pointed to the screen with prices, “photo consultation is five pups extra.”

“It’s included with my appointments at my regular salon on Earth,”  Veronica complained.  “And they give me a glass of wine.”

“What does your salon on Earth charge for a haircut?”  The barber asked, almost hiding the sarcasm.

“Twelve-hundred stellar credits,” Veronica informed him impatiently, without seeming to see a point to the question.

“Well, then at twenty pups for the haircut and photo consultation, you are quite a bit ahead.”

“Fine whatever.”  Veronica grumbled  “I’ll pay for the consultation.”

“Excellent,” the barber said.  “Now look straight at the mirror so it can capture your image, and try to stop pouting and smile.  The AI should just take a moment to render several options that meet crew standard length.”

 

——————————- Pod Ready —————————–

As Veronica reluctantly sat at the edge of the barber’s chair, looking at and rejecting style options he showed her on a tablet, I looked down at the card that displayed my unexpected windfall.  It wasn’t that I had never had that much money before, but it had always had a purpose.  Paychecks were always just barely enough to cover any past due bills and rent.  I’d see the numbers on the paystub, but it was out of the bank before I had time to log into my bank account.  This, this was just money I could do whatever I wanted with.

“You should enjoy at least some of that here,”  Reyes told me.  “The exchange rate isn’t really favorable, and the banks take a hefty chunk.  Here, it is more than enough to have a really good night out, maybe even go down planet and see the sights with plenty left over.  You could even pick up a souvenir as long as it doesn’t weigh more than the one-hundred’n-eighty grams you are leaving here.”

“Susan has to come back to the ship with me,”  Veronica insisted. 

“Why?” Reyes challenged her.

“I…uh….I.. need her help to get ready for my next shift… it’s in two hours.”

Reyes breathed in deeply, then let out a slow angry breath.  “Forget crew standard.  I need her hair short enough that I can put her into a sleeper pod safely if I have to.”

“WHAT NO!!” Veronica screamed as she jumped out of the barber chair.  “I’m not letting you shave my head!” 

“Fine,” Reyes said calmly.  “You can wait for the next ship heading for Nu’tucky.  I have to warn you though, if I issue you a refund, I have to put in a reason, and I will be completely honest in that report.  Every SPS captain will be able to see that report, and there isn’t a captain in the fleet who is going to let you board as anything other than a sleeper anyway, so result will be the same, you’ll just waste a couple of months here on Wolf-Cee first.”

“Really?”  Veronica looked around to see if anyone else in the shop would refute what Reyes claimed.  I shrugged, Nguyen was trying to stifle a chuckle, Horowitz rolled his eyes like it was obvious.  Veronica turned to the barber, waiting for the neutral party to respond.  The barber nodded slightly confirming what Reyes said was true.  “I don’t want to be pumped full of drugs with a shaved head.”

“You have three options Veronica.  You agree to a haircut short enough it’s safe to go in a pod, and you can continue.  I will only actually put you in a pod if you don’t show up prepared to work, if you do show up, and do work your shifts without giving anyone a hard time, I will let you stay awake. Or, you can live out the rest of your life here on Wolf-Cee.  It’s a pretty nice place, though I know you have plans on Nu’tucky.   Or, you can wait two months for the next scheduled ship, and get your head shaved then, and definitely be pumped full of drugs.  What’s it going to be?”

“If you are going to let me stay awake,” Veronica argued, “why should I have to get my head shaved?”

“So that I can put you in a pod if you don’t follow the stipulations set out in the passenger contract you signed.”  Reyes explained.  “I have zero faith in you actually showing up, but I am willing to give you a chance to prove me wrong.  So I will let you stay awake, but I’m only letting you back on the ship if I can easily put you in a pod.”

“Susan, please convince her not to,” Veronica begged me.

I wrinkled my brow with no idea what I could possibly say to convince Captains Reyes to change her mind.

“Don’t waste your time saying anything Susan, it’s not going to make me change my mind.” Reyes ordered me, “And Veronica, if you ask her to again, I will get you banned from traveling with SPS completely for harassing other passengers.”

Veronica looked between me and Reyes angrily.  I gave an apologetic frown, since I didn’t feel like I could actually do anything.

“Are you going to sit down and let the barber do what he needs to for me to allow you to board the ship and continue to Nu’tucky?” Reyes asked Veronica.  “Or are you staying here on Wolf-Cee to wait for the next ship?  If you are staying here on Wolf-Cee, please stop taking up the barber’s time.”

Veronica looked around, with a glimmer of hope, like she thought one of us might give her another option.  I just shrunk down, knowing she expected me to do something even though I didn’t know what I could do.  I shook my head and silently mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

“My fiancé is going to sue you and SPS.”  Veronica loudly complained, but sat down in the barber chair.

“I’ll take my chances,” Reyes dismissed the threat, almost sounding amused by it.

With Veronica back in his seat, the barber put the cape on her with the warriness of someone handling a wild animal.  He went over to his counter, and picked up the clippers from the charging pad, and tapped the screen.  He obviously was a little nervous as he cautiously went behind Veronica who was sulking angrily.   

“Point five millimeter?”  The barber confirmed.

“That’s good enough,” Reyes said.  “It doesn’t have to be a totally clean shave.”

Very similar to the way he had with Jackson, the barber lifted the hair right at the front up and off Veronica’s forehead.  He pressed the button that started the clippers.  He held the locks up slightly as he placed the the humming blades just in front of Veronica’s hairline.   Very slowly, the barber pulled the clippers back into Veronica’s long hair.

Hmmmmmm, buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt

He only pulled back as far as the comb was holding the locks up, stopping at the point where Veronica’s long lock hung freely still.  The barber lifted the comb filled with the blonde tresses with just a centimeter or so of brown roots away from Veronica’s head, revealing the patch of bare scalp, with just a faint shadow of stubble.  

Veronica sat stone faced looking straight ahead at the mirror as the barber shook the wavy hair out of his comb to the floor.  For the sweeper robot to take to be recycled.

The barber combed up more of the silky length next to the bald patch, and placed the humming clippers back on her forehead.  He pulled the clippers back following the curve of her head.  He paused steering the clippers briefly leaving them poised and waiting above Veronica’s head as he shook more of her long hair from the comb.  

He shifted his position, slightly, stepping on the long golden strands scattered on the floor.  He combed up a third section of hair, and buzzed it down to the same half millimeter of brown stubble.

Over and over, the barber combed up the hair from the top of Veronica’s head lifting it for the clippers to glide under, shearing it away to stubble.  He swiftly dumped the hair to the growing pile on the floor, I suspected would nearly overwhelm the sweeper robot when he was done. 

In just a couple of minutes the top of Veronica’s head was fully bare with the long hair just hanging from the back and sides of her head, making her look just a bit like a man who was going bald.  Soon though, the illusion started to be erased as the barber continued without pausing.  He lifted the hair of Veronica’s left side burn and temple up, so he could run the humming clipper up in front of Veronica’s ear.  He pulled the clipper blades up along Veronica’s hairline, up past her temple until the newly shaved strip met up with the previously shaved top.  The barber swiftly dumped the hair from the comb into Veronica’s caped lap.

With the front of Veronica’s ear exposed, the barber started just pulling the clipper back through the hair just below the already shaved top that hung down, allowing it to just slide down freely.  Some of the bright locks draped over Veronica’s shoulder, others slid forward into her lap.  The barber simply ignored the falling hair, bringing the clippers back to the front to shave the next path just below the previous one, this time slowing just slightly as he steered the clipper around the curve of the top of Veronica’s ear.

He kept buzzing away letting the long locks slide down to the cape and then down to the floor.  He guided the clippers carefully around Veronica’s ear, putting the gold and diamond earrings that adorned it on full display.  

Once the left side of Veronica’s head was bare, the barber repeated the sequence, first buzzing off her sideburn and the hair along her hairline, then back over her ear and around it.  Veronica looked better with her head balanced again, and no longer looking like a balding man.

The barber moved onto the little bit of hair that still hung off the back of Veronica’s head much like a tail.  The barber continued back from the right side he’d just finished and used his comb push the long hair up slightly and to the side, the pressure also pushing Veronica’s head down, so she was looking at the pool of hair that she’d spent so much money on in the past.  The barber pushed the clippers through the last of Veronica’s hair finishing the removal of any hair that could be a problem in a pod.   

The barber turned off the humming clippers and returned them to the charging pad.  He picked up the littler ones he used to shave clean hairlines.   Veronica though, was getting up and taking off the cape.

“You don’t want a clean hairline?”  The barber asked.  “It will look nicer.”

Veronica just gave the barber a dirty look, then turned to me.  “Susan, please just take me back to our cabin.”

“Pay the barber,”  Reyes reminded her.

“Are you joking?” Veronica practically growled.

“Just pay him,”  Reyes said impatiently.

“Fine,”  Veronica took out a card, tapped it to her watch and handed it over.  “Susan, let’s go.”

“Susan doesn’t have any shifts to make up, she can relax and enjoy a little shore leave.”  Reyes said getting up.  “I will take you back to the ship and make sure you are ready for your shift.”

“I don’t mind taking Veronica back,” I claimed just a little unenthusiastically.  “I promised to take care of her.”

“I’ll take very good care of Veronica.  I want to supervise Veronica’s next shift personally anyway,”  Reyes said in a slightly threatening tone.  “She’ll be fine.”

“You’re not going to put her in suspended animation?”

“I promise I won’t toss her in a pod while you are off ship.”  Reyes said with a hint of disappointment.  “So you can relax and enjoy yourself.   Horowitz, Nguyen, do me a favor.  When you’re done here, take Susan around.  Make sure she has a good time, ok?”

“Sure thing, cap’n.”  Nguyen, who had climbed into the barber chair as we were talking, said.  “It will be fun.”

  I watched Veronica reluctantly walk off, complaining to Reyes.  I was a little torn between feeling guilty and feeling relieved.  I looked at Horowitz, who  smiled back at me as Nguyen told the barber about how she wanted a low fade, two centimeters off the top, and her black roots to be blue like the ends.  I looked down at the card with the money that I could do whatever I felt like with.

“Can we go somewhere I can get my ears pierced?”  I asked Horowitz.

“Yeah, sure.”  He smiled.  “I know a place.  It’s near a great little taco place we can get a bite at after.”

I smiled as the barber began to push the buzzing clippers up the back of Nguyen’s head, cutting her blue hair that she was willing to pay extra to keep blue shorter than mine.   I would have the earrings I bought today long after the hair I’d had cut off grew back if I didn’t have to hock them for something.

 

————————————- Nu’tucky ———————————

I was watching Veronica’s pod being unloaded with the rest of the cargo destined for Nu’tucky, when I felt a tap on my shoulder.  I turned to see Captain Reyes standing there.  I assumed to say goodbye and wish me luck.

“Susan,” Reyes began.  “We’re going to be docked here at Nu’tucky for fifty-two hours.  That’s enough time for you to make sure Veronica makes it down planet and wakes up.  Plus you can try to convince them that you earned whatever fee you were promised even though Veronica is arriving in a sleeper pod.  After that, I’m guessing that the job you had lined up here probably sucked, and if Veronica gets a say in it, there’s a decent chance the offer is going to be rescinded anyway.  I know you were very loyal and did your best to keep me from tossing Veronica in the pod, honestly, I would have a lot sooner if you weren’t trying so hard to prevent it, but she’s probably not going to believe you did enough.

“Anyway, getting to my point,” Reyes continued.  “You have enough time to finish your current job and get back here if you want to continue working aboard ship instead of being stuck on this shitty planet applying for mining jobs you aren’t qualified for.”

“That’s really nice of you not to just be glad to see me gone, considering I was on your ship under false pretenses,”  I said,  “but I can’t even come close to affording a sleeper ticket, nevermind a working passenger ticket.”

“I meant as a full member of the crew,” Reyes clarified patiently.  “One of my current crewman’s contract is up, and he’s not renewing.  He’s going to be leaving us in just a couple of stops.  I can’t offer you his position, but there will be a domino effect of promotions, leaving an opening for an entry level crewman.”

“Thanks, but I don’t have the required degree from an accredited institution.”  I told her, disappointed that I couldn’t just say yes.  “I looked up the requirements back on Earth.  Even tried applying and was automatically rejected.”

“Don’t worry about that,”  Reyes assured me.  “The education requirements can be waived out here in the colonies.  Since there aren’t many accredited institutions out here, relevant work or life experience can be substituted for a degree.  Especially if you will commit to going through a few of the physics, math, mechanics, and such tutorials available in the ship’s library.”

“You can do that?”  I asked, feeling like the offer was too good to be true.  “I mean I’m from Earth, it’s not like I went to school out here.”

“Yeah, I can do that,”  Reyes assured me.  “It’s at the discretion of the captain, and I’ve seen how hard you work.   So what do you say?”

“Yes,”  I said as I struggled to accept that it was real and not do something unprofessional like jump for joy and hug Captain Reyes.  “I’ll be back as soon as Veronica is awake and settled.”

“Just don’t be late.  And try to squeeze in a haircut, if you have time,”  Reyes suggested.  “You’re a bit over crew standard, and it’s six weeks to our next stop.”

“Sure thing cap’n,” I said, brushing my hand up through the bangs that had started brushing my eyebrows.  I had planned to grow it out, but plans change, sometimes for the better.