Diplomatic Playtime

First mate Nem Torihan had smuggled weapons through various solar systems. She had advised a captain when he had wanted to torture prisoners, so that he never crossed that line. Nem had even helped draft a constitution of the galaxies, that was the blueprint for future articles. None of this, however, seemed to matter for this mission.

"Refugee children are on the planet of Trappist 1," the transmission read from a charity organization. "Their home planets were blown up by a supernova. You need to collect toys and medicinal supplies for them. A shipment in the Gamma Nebula port will come in, of toys from various planets."

That had seemed simple enough. Nem just had to advise her captain to make a detour to the Gamma Nebula port, so that he stopped for supplies. There had been an alien waiting with a sign and a large box in the port, so that they didn't have to waste countless nits searching and shaking down corrupt officials. The box was labeled with hazard stickers and a giant warning to not open it. Nem read the script with mild trepidation.

The crew was curious. They had never seen such warnings on a box of toys and medicine. Nem told them that while it was all right to scan the box to identify the items within, they would not break the seals. There were countless horror tales of crews who had opened shipments, and were lucky if they were only eaten by the things within. The unlucky ones faced court-martialing, and no jury would be sympathetic to a crew that stole from refugees. 

Nem got the handheld scanners and passed them around to the crew, hoping to kill time while they were waiting for permission to depart. The crew, including Bathes Midden and Logos Lon, had eyed what was within using the tiny devices. They were the size of their appendages, with bright blue lights that touched the box. 

"A hemogoblin!" Bathes exclaimed. "I haven't seen those since I was a hairsplit."

Nem frowned at Bathes. A hemogoblin was a common enough toy, a red blob that had tiny round ears and fake teeth. It supposedly shrunk small enough to enter your cuts, and eat you up from the inside out. For some reason kids loved these. 

"There's a game of Black Hole Stretch," Jat Urr said. "I don't know, these games don't seem appropriate for children that have been traumatized." 

Nem took the scanner from Jat and checked. Her pupils shrunk. Black Hole Stretch was about navigating an unprotected being through such a hole, with minimum damage. The game peeked out innocently through the scanner, but the others didn't. There was a spiked mace, a model of a star that showed its life stages, and a plushie of an aquamarine space beast so large that a crew could die traversing from one end to the other.

"We have to deliver it," she said. "Even if the captain doesn't care, the officials will."

"Shouldn't they get more than this?" Bathes asked. "These are all games about monsters and surviving disasters. If I just lost my home, most of my family and my old life, I wouldn't want reminders of all the ways we can die in outer space." 

Nem scratched her neck. She had to admit that her crewmates have a point. Once her captain had found her as a hairsplit, orphaned in a port. She wouldn't have wanted a game about stretching your body through a black hole.

"We can't open the box," she warned. "They'll know if the seal was broken."

"We can add another shipment," Logos pointed out. "Create a new box. Surely that isn't against protocol. The port has plenty of trading venues that ought to have better toys."

"How many nits do we have?" Nem asked. She checked her timepiece. 

"About twenty. We'd only be able to hit the nearest stalls," Bathes said.

"Right." Nem pulled up a map of the port. "Two of us need to stay on the ship, at least. The others won't be back until they've warmed their bellies with flask. Bathes, Logos, how do you feel about shopping in the Mim and Hazel stalls for toys?"

Logos and Bathes looked at each other. They exchanged a look. 

"Can we get compensation on our paycheck?" Logos asked.

"I'll discuss it with the captain," Nem said. "Now, off with you. There's no time to waste! And don't forget to get a contained that can survive a time jump!"

The two left, each jumping from the ship to the port floor without using the stairs. Bathes took a left, while Logos took a right. Each had a piercing on their neck that would serve as a communicator.

Nem studied the map. Then she rescanned the box. It brought up memories. The captain had given her a blaster, said it wasn't a toy, and showed her how to levitate tiny meteorites to shoot at them. It helped her pass the time. But she had missed soft things you could hold at night. When a space blanket was to be thrown out, she had saved it from the compactor 

She thought about a memory of a toy she had left behind, perhaps of a doll with long hair and painted eyes. But that toy was lost to the galaxies, and was fading from her mind. 

"Bathes, get a toy for yourself, Logo and something for me," she spoke into her neck communicator. 

"Are you sure?" Bathes asked with amusement. "Aren't we too old for that sort of thing?"

"Believe me, I am," Nem said. "That's an order from your first mate."