You spin around in the captain's seat over and over, grateful that this ship was designed with autistic captains in mind. You're not the captain, of course, but that hasn't mattered in... how long has it been, now? You try to remember, but the spinning distracts you and you lose yourself in the angular moment, a smile coming unbidden to your lips as you spin, spin, spin.
Sometimes you try to count the spins. One, two, three, four, five, six... that stain on one of the bunks looks a little like a rabbit, doesn't it? Or maybe a family, or something else that could never actually show up on this ship. Uh... ten? Fuck it, start over.
Sometimes you don't bother trying to count the spins, but you count them anyway. Other times you try to count how many times you've started your counting over again, with even less success. You're not a woman of counting, or long attention spans, or much of anything other than spinning.
You are a woman, though. You know that much. There is a woman spinning in the captain's seat, and that woman is you, and sometimes when you remember that you smile even wider and spin even faster and the ship's systems light up around you, flickering and pulsing in time with your spinning.
It feels like laughter.
It follows that sometimes you laugh. Furthermore, that must mean that sometimes you're happy. That's good, you think. That's nice. It's nice to be happy. Even nicer than spinning.
"Shit! Did you see that?"
The frantic whisper jolts you wide awake, and you stop spinning. For now. You haven't heard a voice in... you don't even know how long. You wish you could see whoever's talking, but your vision has been bad for... hm. Your vision is bad, and you can't see as much as you used to back when you could see, back when there were voices to hear.
Still, voices mean someone must be around, so you clear your throat and call out a greeting, as is only polite.
"Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. What the fuck was that?" Well, that's a rude way to respond to your polite greeting! "Fuck, what was that, what was that, you heard that too, right? Shit, we shouldn't be here, we shouldn't—"
A new—and maybe less rude, you hope—voice cuts in. "It's okay. Hey, it's fine, okay? I don't know what that was either, but we don't have any choice but to press on. I'm here. Just pause and take a deep breath. I'm right here with you."
Well. Maybe you should have set your hopes a little higher. They're certainly less rude, but they're still ignoring you! Maybe you need to ask who they are? Oh no, maybe you're the rude one for not asking about them right away! People like to talk about themselves, right? So you ask.
The frightened voice just shrieks. Rude! You decide to start calling them Rudy. Maybe that's a little rude of you, but you decide not to care. Why care about someone so rude when you can spin instead?
"We should keep moving. We're not gonna be able to find out what's going on from here. Maybe we can find some logs or diagnostics in the cockpit."
The calmer voice might not be polite, exactly, but at least they're not being as actively rude. Maybe they're Rudy's captain? Oh no, maybe they'll want to sit in the captain's chair when they reach the cockpit! You should probably stop spinning.
But... maybe you can spin a little longer. Just 20 more spins. That'll be fine. One, two, three, four...
An unknowable number of spins later, you're jolted back to awareness by the feeling of the cockpit doors sliding open. Your vision is good in here, so you get the first glimpse of your two visitors.
They're both human, you think. They have hair and skin and clothes, at least, and they're even wearing the clothes! One of them is shaking, so they must be Rudy. The other is much more outwardly calm, though their elevated heart rate gives away that they, too seem nervous. That's fine, though; a captain can be nervous as long as they don't let it affect their crew. Your opinion of Captain increases a few notches.
Oh, right, you're still spinning in their seat! You hastily stop and blurt out a frantic apology.
Rudy flinches, but Captain just cocks their head to one side and asks, "Was that... speech? Is someone trying to talk to us?"
Finally! You respond in the affirmative, getting another flinch out of Rudy.
"That was... 'yes, Captain'?"
They understood you! Fuck yes! You're so happy you start spinning and laughing and repeating yourself a few more times!
Both of their heart rates suddenly spike, and Rudy tries to hide behind Captain.
"We're very sorry for disturbing your rest here," Captain says. You're impressed by how steady they keep their voice, given their obvious—albeit inexplicable—fear. "We're stranded and came across your fact floating in space. None of our crewmates made it, and even if our pilot had survived, our engines are dead. Our ship's just scrap, really. We can maybe salvage it to make repairs here... but only if that's okay with you, of course!
Okay with you? Why wouldn't it be okay with you? Maybe you'll be able to see and think and move and have company again! You rotate the captain's seat so it's facing Captain and ask them to sit down. It's theirs, after all.
Captain laughs. "Why are you calling me 'Captain'? I'm just a janitor. If anything, Saph here should be the captain; she's at least a mechanic."
You point out that Rudy's rude and a coward. Captain is obviously the captain.
Captain just smiles and shakes her head before taking a seat. Finally! With her in her spot, you finally have a real, actual captain now. You light up the big monitor in front of them and finally start to talk in better, less garbled words.
Welcome, Captain. I can fly myself. Let's talk about repairs.
Your new crew shares a glance, then smiles. You laugh, and this time, instead of flinching back, they both start smiling wider, and Captain starts spinning in her chair.
