“Goooood morning good morning!” Helio said brightly into the microphone on their headset, their voice crackling over the intercoms in every room of the ship. “It’s time to get your cute little booties up. I’ll give you all a moment to stretch out those glutes before we start the morning announcements.” Helio put their feet up onto the console and wiggled their toes, marveling at their own handiwork in the form of sloppily and hastily painted magenta nail polish. They leaned back in the mounted chair and stretched their arms above their head with a groan. Helio then lazily sat back up and began fiddling with the dials to pull up the log and reports the ship had generated for that day.

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Vesper sat up in bed and reached over to pick up the cup of water sitting on the bedside table. He blinked a couple of times and smiled as he looked out the window to see a bright blue sky. Vesper swung his legs out from under the covers, a teal linen duvet with golden leaves embroidered along the edges, and strolled over to see what fresh sights the ship had to offer. He peered through the circular triple-paned glass and saw the stretches of ocean miles below, fluffy white clouds with the bright morning light illuminating them.

After downing the entire glass of water, Vesper set it on the nightstand and jumped back onto the bed. “Delta…” he cooed. “Wakey wakey!” Delta opened one eye to look at his partner, grumbled, and then turned away burrowing into the blankets.

“Well, that’s no way to start a morning!” Vesper said, pulling away the blankets and revealing Delta’s muscular arms before delicately placing little kisses all over his face and neck, and arms. Delta turned back and smiled devilishly before pulling Vesper in for a kiss.

“Alright, let’s get up,” Delta sighed. He went to sit up but instead pulled Vesper into a bear hug. “Actually five more minutes, ok?”

Mimi had already been awake for an hour or so when Helio’s message fizzled through the speakers. Her roommate always managed to wake her up with the noise as they scrambled to get ready and deliver the morning announcements on time. Mimi didn’t mind so much though. She used the time to enjoy the sunrise and to journal. She got into the shower and made the water scalding hot; no one else was awake yet, so the hot water was all hers to hog. She lathered her tan skin and brown curly hair with flower potions and serums and breathed in the scents, lavishing in every moment. Mimi stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel before sitting down at her vanity, or rather the standard desk that came with the room which she had transformed into a vanity replete with mirrors and lights and small bottles and tubes and boxes of cosmetics.

Helio’s voice entered the bedroom through the speaker again. “Today is the 21st day of the 5th month; the 133rd day of the year 497. The time is 02:22. Today we will arrive at Calendula. The local forecast is medium-warm — like 60 degrees — and partly cloudy today. It’s gonna be a bit nippy tonight though. Today’s agenda includes a visit to the Night Market this evening. Please report to the bridge by 04:30. Ok, see you all soon! Love ya mean it! Kisses!”

Mimi poured some oil out of a long emerald-colored glass bottle with round ridges that smelled of moss and earth, rubbing it into her skin. She pulled on a burnt orange knit cropped jumper over a gray linen tank top with some matching linen pants. She slid her feet into black leather sandals before sitting back down at the vanity and painting a line of black along her lash line and applying some orange blush to her cheeks and lips. Satisfied, she stood and walked out of the room and down the hall to join her roommate, Helio.

Juniper stared blankly into her cup of tea, the green leaves swirling around at the bottom. She blinked herself back into full consciousness and put the cup down on her desk. Half-dazed, she picked up the small gold mister from the ground, filled it with water, sprinkled in a pink crystalline powder, gave it a swirl, and began to pump away at the mechanism. Water sprayed in a fine mist from the nozzle, Juniper guiding the cloud of dew onto the shrine of plants underneath the circular window. One pink flower looked up at her and smiled. Juniper winked back.

She whipped around to the mirror, stared at the green overalls, nodded at herself in approval, pulled the wooden pin from the loose bun on her head, and gave her head a shake; long white hair cascaded down around her face. She reached up and braided it into one long plait down the back of her head that reached down to her waist. She spun around, the braid continuing to spin around her neck like a snake about to throttle its victim. She spun the other direction, her arms out to give her momentum.

Juniper gave herself one more shake all over her body and said to herself, “Common, birdie, today’s gonna be a good one.”

Salem promptly woke up with the first announcement. Deep amber eyes opening wide, they sat up, swung their legs out of bed, and raised their hands high over their head. They rose and then dove down stretching out their spine and back muscles. Reaching for the nightstand, they grabbed a prepared glass of water and downed it swiftly. They quickly made their bed with precision before turning about-face and walking into the washroom. A brief scalding hot shower later, Salem returned and donned their black linen wide-legged pants and matching cross-body muscle wrap-tank top and moved over to the counter by the window.

Salem flipped the switch on the already full kettle which began to whir to life. They opened the lid of a small black ceramic jar and grasped the small wooden spoon that fit perfectly into a notch in the lid. They scooped exactly ten beans — five red, three black, and two white — from the jar into a stone mortar. Grabbing the matching pestle, they quietly but firmly ground the beans into a fine paste which they deposited into a copper vessel that stood on legs with a spout coming from the bottom. By the time the transfer was complete, the kettle came to a rolling boil, which Salem then poured into the copper dispenser.

While the morning brew’s ingredients steeped, Salem took a moment to gaze out the window at the clouds below. They picked up a small notebook from the desk and noted the date, time, and scientific names of each formation they saw that morning. Satisfied with their documentation and sure that the brew was ready, they grabbed two mugs from the counter — one black and one white — and poured out the red clear liquid from the spout.

Walking across the room, they sat down on the foot of the other bed in the room where their roommate lay still asleep. Fig had a slender pale face and long blonde hair that lay scattered about the pillow. Mug in hand, Salem gave Fig a gentle nudge on the foot that was poking out of the covers.

“Time to wake up, Fig,” Salem said. Fig slowly blinked her crystalline blue eyes open, rubbing them and yawning. She took the mug Salem held out and put it to her lips, drinking deeply from it before letting out a big sigh.

“Ok, I'll meet you on the deck in a bit. Thanks for the morning brew, roomie!”

“Any time,” Salem responded. They walked to the door, mug in hand, and exited with a small smile of satisfaction on their face, their boots tapping on the metal floors as they made their way to meet Helio and the rest of the crew for the morning announcements.

Next Time on Salvagers

Meet the rest of the Dynamos as they assemble on the bridge to plan their visit to the Night Market.

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