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  “Well, nothing against officers, Captain, but I’m more concerned that I’ll get tired of being out here and I’ll have spent the time and money to get qualified for a job I might not like in the long run.”

  She sat back in her chair and looked at me hard. “I think I see, Mr. Wang. So, how will you address this uncertainty? How certain will you need to be?”

  “Well, Captain, I have a contract that expires in something over a stanyer. If I’m still having as much fun then as I am now, then I’ll feel a lot better about trying to scrape up the necessary creds to attend.”

  “I think you would qualify for financial aid, Mr. Wang,” she said with a grin. “If you have any further thoughts on the academy, would you share them with me?”

  “Of course, Captain, but I hardly think I’m going to come to any world-shaking decisions in the next couple of days,” I said with probably more bitterness than I intended.

  She smiled at me and said, “Thank you, Mr. Wang. Dismissed.”

  I stood to leave and she said quietly, “Have faith for just a couple more days, Ishmael.”

  “Of course, Captain. I know I’m in no immediate danger.”

  She threw back her head and laughed loudly as I closed the door behind me.

  She was definitely up to something. I was not sure what, but I did trust her. I just hoped she could pull off whatever it was. We had to be close now or she wouldn’t have posted the pull out schedule. That reminded me of another problem and I headed down to environmental to check on Diane.

  When I got there, she had her head in the back of number four scrubber. I tried to shuffle my feet and make noise so I wouldn’t startle her but it wasn’t enough.

  “Having problems?” I asked.

  She jumped and banged her head. “Sludge monkey!” she said with her head still in the scrubber.

  “I’m sorry! I tried to make enough noise that you’d hear me.”

  She pulled her head of the scrubber and rubbed the front where she’d bumped it. “Are you, lost little boy?” she asked with a wicked grin.

  “Yeah, I think so.” I grinned back. “You going to take me to your house and feed me candy?”

  “Honey,” she said with a wink, “if I ever get the chance to take you to my house, it ain’t gonna be to feed ya candy!” She laughed. “What’s up?” she asked more seriously, reaching back into the scrubber.

  “Audrey Moore docked this morning. They have an EV3 slot open.”

  “Another one?”

  “Same one. Gregor got arrested for fighting in Dunsany.”

  “Figures. You gonna apply?” Her voice echoed from inside the scrubber case.

  “I’m trying to give the captain a chance to keep me aboard.”

  “Time’s running out, Ish,” she said, backing out of the scrubber. “Bastard,” she spit.

  “Who? Me?”

  “No, CC. Look at this.” She held up the swab she had used on the field collection plate.

  “Ick, looks like it needs cleaning.”

  “Colby claims he took care of it.”

  “What?”

  “This was scheduled for his watch last night. He said it was done, but this is what I found on the collector plate.”

  “Back up. Last I heard he wasn’t doing the maintenance at all.”

  “Yes, but I wouldn’t let him get away with that and told Brill. She had a little talk with him and the upshot is that he hasn’t passed off any maintenance for me to do, but he said he performed scheduled maintenance on the field collection plate on the number four scrubber and when I checked this is what I found.”

  “Maybe he got the numbers wrong?”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” she said, and bolted off to look.

  I followed along behind and peered in as we checked them out, one-by-one. None of them looked like they’d been cleaned as recently as the previous watch, even if it was late in the day.

  “Bastard,” Diane repeated. “Now what?”

  “You find Brill and tell her. I need to see a man about a bag of sneaky, I think.”

  “A what?”

  “Nothing,” I said. “I need a little more information and I think I know who to ask.” I pulled out my tablet and bipped Mr. von Ickles.

  The reply came almost instantly. “Ship’s office.”

  David ben Dour had the messenger duty and was sitting in the office with Mr. von Ickles when I got there. “Excuse me, sar, but could I have a little talk with you about a personal matter?”

  David was a good guy and took the cue. “I’ll just go grab some coffee. Maybe see how Rhon’s doing.”

  When he’d gone, Mr. von Ickles asked, “What is it, Mr. Wang? How can I help?”

  “Well, sar, it’s the new guy. He’s causing some problems down in environmental and I need some advice. Maybe I need somebody with some specialized training in sneakiness to help me.”

  He grinned at that and said, “Pull up a chair.”

  I gave him the two tick recap of the situation that I’d observed in environmental and concluded with, “and I don’t think this is the first time he’s had a problem.”

  “You’re not just trying to discredit him so we dump him, are you?”

  “No, sar. Lois wants him aboard.”

  He blinked at me. “Lois wants him aboard,” he repeated.

  “Yes, sar. We have to keep him from killing anybody or getting killed himself.”

  He paused and looked hard at me for about half a tick. “Finish your story,” he said at last.

  I told him what CC had told me about his last ship and how he had been injured and left behind.

  Mr. von Ickles eyes narrowed about half way through and I could see he was tracking the same rabbit I was. When I got done, he sat for two heart beats and said, “You don’t think he slipped.”

  I shook my head. “No, sar, I don’t. Head trauma, concussion, he probably doesn’t remember much. If they were careful, he might not have seen it coming. So when he came to and found he was lying in a pool of water from the drippy scrubber with a head ache, he might have just assumed he slipped.” I shrugged. “Solicitous shipmates take you to the hospital and leave you there.”

  He chewed on that mentally for a bit before focusing back on me. “So? Why isn’t this Brill’s discipline problem? And what kind of sneaky were you thinking about?”

  “How desperate would they have had to been to clock him in the head with a spanner?”

  “Assuming it was a spanner, but I take your meaning. You’re thinking that they’d tried all the normal kinds of things and he was still putting them at risk to the point where they were willing to physically harm him?”

  “Before he killed them, yes, sar.”

  “Why not just fire him?”

  “I don’t know, sar. That’s one of two things we need to find out.”

  “What’s the other?”

  “Whether or not we’re right about it being the crew.”

  He looked startled at that, but nodded. “Okay, but why bring this to me. Why not Mr. Kelley?”

  “We will need to eventually, and the captain, too, but I need help getting the ducks lined up here, so that I’m not accused of trying to discredit him so I can keep my job.”

  “Ah, that’s the kind of sneaky you need.”

  “I think so, sar. Have I missed anything?”

  “I don’t think so, Mr. Wang. Why do you ask?”

  “Well, with our lives on the line, I think I’d like to have a second set of eyes,” I told him with a grin.

  “Why, Mr. Wang,” he said with mock surprise, “you were listening.”

  We settled down to strategies and tactics then. I was gratified to notice the pile of unopened computer parts till tucked away in the office, but I focused on the task at hand. In less than half a stan, we had ironed out the list of questions we needed answered and I left him to start tracking them down.

  As I was leaving the office, he said, “You know the Audrey has a berth?”

&nbs
p; “Yes, sar, but I don’t believe I’ll be applying for it any time soon.”

  “No? Why not?”

  “I never developed a taste for bunk-bunny.”

  He was chuckling into his tablet when I closed the door.

  The afternoon was gone by that time and I had duty in the morning, but the ship was leaving the day after so I had to hurry. I headed back to environmental to see if Brill and Diane wanted to go out to eat. It would be one of our last opportunities on Betrus. I was pretty sure I would be leaving with them, but I was not above playing the pity card to get two good-looking women to dine with me. I would have asked Beverly too, but I hadn’t seen her in days and when I checked she wasn’t aboard.

  When I got to environmental, Brill and Diane were still discussing CC. Brill was saying, “But if he says he did it and he didn’t that’s falsifying logs.”

  “True, but what are we going to do about it?” Diane asked.

  “Document, document, document,” Brill replied. “And in the mean time, we need to figure out what’s his story.”

  “Well, I heard one version from him,” I told them. “I’m trying to confirm it.”

  “The slipped on the leaky scrubber tale?” Brill asked.

  “Yeah, that’s the one.”

  “You don’t think it’s true?”

  “I think he may well think it’s true, but I’m not sure he knows.”

  “How could he not know?” Diane asked.

  “If somebody hits you from behind with a big wrench, and you wake up having people telling you that you slipped and fell, what would you think?”

  “What?” Brill asked.

  I shrugged. “It’s possible that they were at the end of their collective ropes with him. Either afraid that he was putting the ship in danger or just tired of cleaning up his messes.”

  They both gaped at me. “Do you think somebody would try to hurt him?” Brill asked.

  “Would you, if you thought he was putting the ship in danger?” I asked.

  “Why not just fire him?” Diane asked.

  “I don’t know, but that’s an interesting question, isn’t it? Are there any big-wigs named Colby in Federated Freight?”

  They both shrugged.

  “Well, the ship is getting under way in less than two days and this may be the last chance we can go out to dinner together for a long time. You guys in?”

  “Oh my,” Diane said. “It is.”

  Brill took a deep breath and said, “Yes, let’s do.”

  “Okay, main lock at 18:30? Is that enough time to get yourself together, Di?”

  “Yup, should be, but…”

  “I know,” I said. “But we are going to go have some fun and as for the rest, we just need to trust Lois.”

  “Trust Lois? To do what?” Diane asked.

  I just smiled. “Whatever needs doing and to let us know if there’s something we need to do for her.” I waved as I headed for berthing to wash up and change.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Betrus Orbital

  352-June-17

  When Sean woke me for watch, I managed not to scrape my knee getting out of the bunk. I had a hard time believing that it would be my last full day aboard the Lois. It just didn’t seem possible—even as I showered and cleaned my teeth. I even said to the face in the mirror, “I can’t leave. I’m not done here, yet.” He didn’t look like he believed me and I had a sudden pang over the yet part. It was the first time that I really thought that I might be put ashore. The realization that I had not been aboard a year just compounded the off balance feeling.

  I contemplated the idea that we may have had just one too many glasses of wine over dinner. I made a mental note to ask Fong if he had any incriminating evidence of our return when I relieved him. In the mean time, I finished zipping into my shipsuit and fetched some sustenance from the galley. I didn’t eat much as I wasn’t hungry, but the coffee tasted good. Pip had taken my advice on the number two urn, and the pastry had a different texture. I suspected that Sarah had been busy.

  Fong just shook his head and laughed. “You looked perfectly sober and relaxed coming back in.”

  “How much do you want for the digitals?” I asked him with a grin.

  “Seriously, I didn’t take any digitals,” he insisted.

  “Okay, video?”

  He shook his head. “Sorry, if I had any salacious evidence of misconduct between you and any member of the crew, I could get big creds, but I’m doomed to remain a poverty-stricken spacer of uncertain provenance.”

  “Who would be bidding?”

  “Almost any of the women aboard. Rhon’s been capturing the lock pickups just on the odd chance,” he said with a laugh.

  “You are kidding, right?”

  “Yes,” he said with a smug grin, “but I had you going, didn’t I?”

  “Yeah, you got me.”

  We shared a laugh and he headed into the ship. He was a nice guy. I hoped I wasn’t going to be put in the position of having to miss him.

  About half a stan later, Mr. von Ickles ambled out to the watch stander station. “Good morning, Mr. Wang. Are you enjoying your last gangway watch?”

  “Oh yes, sar. A regular laugh riot, sar.”

  “The Boulton is en route to Umber, but I’ve got a query at the orbital there. It’ll hold until she makes contact. We should have a reply by the time we hit Niol. I talked to Mr. Maxwell and he’s contacted the station medical for an update on Mr. Colby’s medical records for our files. Those we should have any minute now. No word yet on why he might have high level protection, but if what you suspect is right, we’ll have enough documentation by the time we get to Niol to take action and find out for ourselves.”

  “You keep saying we, Mr. von Ickles.”

  “Do I?” he said with a smirk. “I mean the ship, of course.”

  “Of course, sar, easily misunderstood, sar.”

  “You instincts are right, though,” he said. “Something’s not right there. We just need to find out what.”

  “I appreciate the information, sar. Thank you.”

  He winked and headed back into the ship.

  The shift continued with the usual comings and goings. I even saw Beverly crawling back aboard—mid morning. She looked terrible.

  “Are you all right?” I asked.

  “No!” she snapped. “You cannot leave the ship yet. I’m not done with you.” Without further explanation, she stumbled down the passageway toward the berthing area.

  I sighed. I hoped all this was moot. Even with all the reassurance from the various indicators, I still had no job and, according to the existing scenario, I would be leaving the ship in the morning. I sighed again and bipped Art for another coffee.

  When Rhon relieved me that night she looked subdued. She thought I was leaving. She did all but throw her arms around me and sob. I told her I would see her in the morning.

  Mr. Maxwell met me at the head of the passage and said, “Expect a summons to the captain’s cabin around 09:00, Mr. Wang. You’re at liberty, but please be aboard no later than 08:30.”

  “Aye, aye, sar,” I said.

  He nodded then and ambled back up the passage and climbed the ladder to officer country.

  Whatever they were planning, I would know in a few stans. In the meantime, dinner sang its siren song as the aroma of spiced beefalo wafted all the way out from the galley and I followed the call.

  For a last night in port, it was pretty busy on the mess deck. I heard several people making plans for going out later so it was not turning into one of those hunker down and wait it out nights. I contemplated the possibility of heading to Infinity myself. If the hints were real, then I could expect something odd to happen in the morning and I would be leaving on the Lois. One more night out before heading into the Deep Dark sounded good. As I filled my plate, I looked around for somebody to go with.

  “Hey, Ish!” Pip said. “Fancy a bit of a boy’s night out? Last night in port, you know.”

&nbs
p; “Just what I was thinking,” I told him. “You have any ideas?”

  “Several, but they’ll have to keep until later.” He clapped me on the shoulder and scurried back to the kitchen.

  I found a seat with Brill, Francis, and Diane. “Are you saving this for CC?” I asked with a grin.

  “Short-timers can sit here, I guess,” Francis said with a smile. I plunked myself down.

  “Where is he, anyway?” I asked.

  “Getting changed for liberty. He has some goodbyes to say, apparently,” Brill said, her face deadpan.

  “Thanks for dinner last night, guys,” I said to Diane and Brill. “It meant a lot.”

  Francis turned to me and lowered his voice. “Are you really leaving?” he asked.

  “Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t think so, but I have no job at the moment. I’m on liberty until 08:30 and I have to be ready to meet with the captain at 09:00.”

  “Cutting it a little close, aren’t they?” he asked.

  “Not if they’re planning on leaving me here.”

  He frowned in thought. “True.”

  I turned to Brill and Diane then. “How’d golden boy do on watch today?”

  “No maintenance scheduled for today,” Diane said. “So no new evidence.”

  “Well, I guess all you can do is keep an eye on him.”

  They nodded and we all dug into dinner. The beefalo was delicious and Cookie even came out of the galley to say hi.

  “So, have you any news for us, Ishmael?” he asked.

  “Sorry, Cookie. I think I’ll be finding out in the morning just before pull out.”

  “Sarah thinks that Lois isn’t done with you, and I believe she is right. So, what would you like for dinner tomorrow night?” he asked.

  “Tomorrow night you’ll be underway, Cookie,” I pointed out.

  “Exactly, so what would you like?” His grin lit up the table.

  “You know that chicken with cream sauce you make with the pasta and vegetables?”

  “Indeed,” he said, “that’s what we’ll have for dinner tomorrow night, then.” He clapped me on the shoulder, “Have fun with Pip tonight, but stay out of trouble!” He shook a warning finger at me and headed back to the galley.