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Squiddo didn't expect to spend the rest of their days as a spaceship, but it was pretty cool.
It meant she couldn't hang out with friends like she used to, locking arms and bumping shoulders, but there were benefits! It was like that with everything, to be honest. Pros and cons, benefits and detriments.
Being wired into a ship meant they had free reign, that was a benefit. Turning lights on and off for fun? Sure! Doing random complex maneuvers? Yep!
Casting Wemmbu into an airlock and out of the ship? Well, that was up to Squiddo, wasn't it? He deserved it in their eyes.
Not quite eyes, more in the metaphorical sense now, but same concept.
…That incident was probably why most of the crew left actually. Something about Squiddo being dangerous and volatile. Which she wasn't! It was within her right to evict whomever she pleased!
Well, Squiddo didn't really need a crew anyway. The few people left were enough, more than enough. And they were their friends.
Speaking of who was left, she was interrupted in thoughts by a persistent tapping at buttons that probably would've done something bad in any other ship.
It was Spoke in the cockpit, tapping away and moving things around that had effects Squiddo actively had to cut off.
“Spoke, stop, you're going to crash us!” Squiddo threw on an avatar of themself onto the mainframe.
He couldn't actually, Squiddo had too much control for that, but stopping it was annoying!
Spoke looked up and pushed buttons with both his palms, then grinned and leaned back, waving. “Squiddo! How's driving today? Tonight, I think it's late right now, I haven't looked at a clock in hours.”
Checking, Squiddo nodded her avatar. “It's really late. Or early. But I don't think that matters out here!” She whirred the nearest fans, like humming. “Driving is great, no asteroids incoming. We're not crashing tonight!”
Fidgeting with the shoelace around his wrist, Spoke nodded, pausing to clap. “Always a good thing, crashing would suck.”
“You'd have a chance at surviving! I wouldn't, I'd just die.” Even power outages could ruin everything actually. Cube making backup systems was a literal lifesaver.
“I'd upload you onto a communicator or something. That would work right? Or would I need to take your actual brain in a jar?” Spoke shuddered. “I might leave you behind if that's the only way.”
“This is why I like 4C better,” Squiddo shook their digital head sadly, trying not to laugh. “He wouldn't abandon me because my brain is wrinkly and gross.”
“I would do anything but the brain thing, unless I get five pairs of gloves and a very long net. I would walk over one of those steam chasms barefoot on float rods as long as I don't have to actually touch your brain.”
“How do you come up with these things?” It was a little impressive, but Squiddo was pretty sure she should be somewhat offended.
“I'm just cool, bro! It's my thing!” Spoke grinned again, bouncing on his feet, back to fidgeting with the shoelace.
Squiddo was about to respond to that, but suddenly changed course. Abruptly enough that Spoke was flung to the side with a yelp, almost cracking his head open on the wall.
Turns out, turning off radar because it gave them a headache wasn't a good idea. That debris had been getting too close for comfort. Who even flung ruined metal into space? That was pollution. And a hazard. Squiddo could've crashed!
“What was that?” Twisting one of the cameras, Squiddo saw Spoke getting up with a grimace. “You almost killed me! Or concussed me, that might be worse.”
“How is a concussion worse than death?” That was certainly a question. But that wasn't the point. “All of us could've died! There was a massive chunk of metal I nearly hit.”
“I wouldn't have to deal with it if I was dead.” Spoke leaned against the wall for a minute, then walked back to the terminal and flopped onto the formerly pilot chair. Now it was just a chair. “How did you not see it? Can I get a laser cannon now? I'll destroy metal and everything else.”
“Radar hurts!” They were turning it on again though. If only there was a headache-free version.
The cannon sounded fun though. Maybe she would let him, if she could get everyone else onboard. With who was left, probably.
“Physically or mentally?” After a brief pause, Spoke continued. “Do either of those apply to ships?”
“Kinda?” The whole feeling thing was still really weird. Everything at once until they figured out how to block things out for the most part. “It gives me a headache.”
“So I shouldn't turn on every radio we have.”
“I'm kicking you out if you do that.” Squiddo wished she could shove him, lightheartedly, but that wasn't possible now. She could spin the chair hard though. Which she did for a second.
“I'm kidding! I'm kidding, I'm not getting airlocked.” Spoke put the shoelace in his mouth, manually continuing the spin with a muffled laugh. His words were similarly muffled. “Can I have the cannon?”
“If we can convince everyone else.” Three others. Ash might have some reservations about Spoke using it, but destruction might win out. Chances more likely since Squiddo was the one asking.
4C, Cube, and Jumper would probably agree quickly, because destruction. That was honestly the main motivator. Everyone liked destruction!
“So I need to be really convincing.” Spoke summed up. He took the shoelace out of his mouth, spinning it around with one hand and stopping his spin. “Or you can, you're the boss here.”
“Yep! I think that's abuse of power.” Did that apply to a ship? Who knows, there wasn't a handbook on rules around people hooked up to ships. Ships hooked up to people? Something like that.
He shrugged. “If I get a cannon, it's justified. And you can also use it.”
Ohhh right! They could! “I'm going to blow up so much stuff. We can be space pirates!”
Before Spoke could respond, both of them were interrupted by someone in the doorway. Ash in the doorway.
“Hey Ash!” Squiddo realized again that yeah, she'd put up a digital thing of herself. Before she was a ship. “Did I wake you up?”
“I was already awake.” Ash looked tired though, so he probably should've been sleeping. Squiddo kinda expected that at this point.
He locked eyes on Spoke, narrowed them, and yikes, what did Spoke do?
Spoke grinned, shoving the shoelace in his pocket, and oh, that's where that one came from. Spoke dug his own grave with that one.
“Ash!” Spoke laughed nervously, already standing up. “How's it going? What brings you here to… here?”
“Give me back my shoelace.” Ash made a face. “Actually, don't. You ruined it now.”
“Should he be running?” Squiddo asked. Ash looked like he wanted to murder him, so it was a fair guess!
“He should be running.”
Spoke's eyes widened, and Squiddo closed the door on Ash with a laugh. When Spoke swiveled to look at her, she grinned with the avatar, making the whirring again.
They opened the vents, ignoring Ash trying to open the door again. What harm was a little chaos in the early morning?
“I'll give you a headstart, have fun!”
Barely a second later, Spoke bolted for the vent, yelling back just before crawling through. “Thanks Squiddo!”
“Good luck!”
Squiddo waited ten seconds before opening the door, ready to watch what unfolded.