Part 30 (1/2)
”What should I do now?”
He had been studying her. She could tell that he, too, was moved by Fiona's message, but his expression changed immediately.
”What should you do?” Tee repeated quizzically. ”I am not in charge of your life. You must decide.”
Lunzie rubbed her temples. ”For the first time in my life, I haven't got an immediate goal to work toward. I've left school. Fiona's given up on me. Who could blame her? But it leaves me adrift.”
Tee's face softened. ”I'm sorry. You must feel terrible.”
Lunzie wrinkled her forehead, thinking deeply. ”I should, you know. But I don't. I'm grieved, certainly, but I don't feel as devastated as I ... think that I should.”
”You should go and see your grandchildren. Did you hear? They want to see you.”
”Tee, how will I get there now?” Lunzie asked in a small voice. ”Where is the Ban Sidhe Ban Sidhe dropping us?” dropping us?”
”We are waiting for orders. As soon as I know, you will know.”
Captain Aelock had already received the Ban Sidhe's Ban Sidhe's flight orders, and was happy to share the details with Lunzie. ”We've been transferred to the Central Sector for the duration, Lunzie. Partly because of the Admiral's influence but also because it is convenient to our mission, we're going to Alpha Centauri, then toward Sol. Would you mind if we set you down there? It'll be our first port of call.” flight orders, and was happy to share the details with Lunzie. ”We've been transferred to the Central Sector for the duration, Lunzie. Partly because of the Admiral's influence but also because it is convenient to our mission, we're going to Alpha Centauri, then toward Sol. Would you mind if we set you down there? It'll be our first port of call.”
Lunzie's eyes shone with grat.i.tude. ”Thank you, sir. It takes a great load off my mind. I must admit I've been worrying about it.”
”Worry no longer. The Admiral was quite insistent that you should have whatever you needed. He's very impressed with your skill, claims you saved his life. You can a.s.sist our medical officers while we're en route. 'No idle hands' is our motto.”
”So I've heard.”
”With all the Destiny refugees aboard, things will be somewhat cramped, but I have discretion with regard to officers. You and Sharu will share a cabin in officer country. If there are any problems,” Aelock smiled down on her paternally, ”my door is always open.”
”I was never so glad in my life to see anything as this destroyer popping out of warp just as we rounded the dark side of the planet,” Sharu said, sipping fresh juice the next morning at mess with a tableful of the Ban Sidhe's Ban Sidhe's junior officers. Lunzie sat between the First Mate and Captain Wynline. Tee was on duty that s.h.i.+ft. ”We had a magnesium bonfire all ready to go behind the quartz observation desk port. I lit it and jumped back, and it roared up into silver flames like a nova. The s.h.i.+p was sunk into the gravity well of the planet and was following its...o...b..t instead of staying stationary. Because Carson's Giant spins so fast, our window of opportunity was very small. Our signal had to be dramatic.” junior officers. Lunzie sat between the First Mate and Captain Wynline. Tee was on duty that s.h.i.+ft. ”We had a magnesium bonfire all ready to go behind the quartz observation desk port. I lit it and jumped back, and it roared up into silver flames like a nova. The s.h.i.+p was sunk into the gravity well of the planet and was following its...o...b..t instead of staying stationary. Because Carson's Giant spins so fast, our window of opportunity was very small. Our signal had to be dramatic.”
”Magnesium?” declared Ensign Riaman. ”No wonder that deck was slagged. It was probably red hot for hours afterward.”
”It was. I got b.u.ms on my arms and face. They're only just healing now,” Sharu said, displaying her wrists. ”See?”
”It was worth it,” Captain Wynline said positively. ”It worked, didn't it? You saw it.”
”We certainly did,” added Lieutenant Naomi, a blond woman in her early thirties. ”A tiny spark on the planet's surface where nothing should have been. You were lucky.”
”Oh, I know,” Sharu acknowledged. ”There has never been a prettier sight than that of your s.h.i.+p homing in on us. We have seen so many s.h.i.+ps go by without seeing us. We did everything but jump up and down and wave our arms to get their attention. We were very lucky that you were looking the right way at the right time.”
”We could have been planet pirates,” Ensign Tob suggested.
He was shouted down by his fellows. ”Shut up, Tob.”
”Who'd be stupid enough to mistake us for them?”
”It'd be an insult to the Fleet.”
”You were wounded when the s.h.i.+p was first evacuated,” Ensign Riaman asked Lunzie, who was spreading jam on a slice of toast. ”Was it a shock to wake up and find you had been in cold sleep?”
”Not really. I've been in cold sleep before,” Lunzie explained.
”Really? For what? An experiment? An operation?” Riaman asked eagerly. ”My aunt was put in cryo sleep for two years until a replacement for a b.u.m heart valve could be grown. My family has a rare antibody system. She couldn't take a transplant.”
”No, nothing like that,” Lunzie said. ”My family is disgustingly ordinary when it comes to organ or anti- body compatibility. I was in another s.p.a.ce wreck once, on the way to take a job on a mining platform for the Descartes Company.”
To her surprise, the young ensign goggled at her and hastily went back to his meal. She looked around at the others seated at the table. A couple of them stared at her, and quickly looked away. The rest were paying deep attention to their breakfasts. Dismayed and confused, she bent to her meal.
”Jonah,” she heard someone whisper. ”She must be a Jonah.” Out of the comer of her eye, Lunzie tried to spot the speaker. Jonah? What was that?
”Lunzie,” Sharu said, speaking to break the silence. ”Our personal belongings are being brought aboard in the next few hours. Would you care to come with me and help me sort out the valuables that were left in the purser's safe? We'll package up what we aren't claiming for s.h.i.+pment to their owners when we make orbit again.”
”Of course, Sharu. I'll go get freshened up, and wait for you.” Hoping she didn't sound as uncomfortable as she felt, Lunzie blotted her lips with her napkin and hurried toward the door.
”Bad luck comes in threes,” a voice said behind her as she went out of the door, but when she turned, no one was looking at her.
”It's my fault. I should have warned you to keep quiet about the other wreck,” Sharu apologised when she and Lunzie were alone. Before them were dozens of sealed boxes from the purser's strongroom and a hundred empty security cartons for s.h.i.+pping. ”I've been in the Fleet so I remember what it was like. One s.p.a.ce accident is within the realm of possibility. Two looks like disastrously bad luck. No one's more superst.i.tious than a sailor.”
”Sharu, what is a Jonah?”
”You heard that? Jonah was a character in the Old Earth Bible. Whenever he sailed on a s.h.i.+p, it ran into technical difficulties. Some sank. Some were becalmed. One of the sailors decided Jonah had offended Yahweh, their G.o.d, so he was being visited with bad luck that was endangering the whole s.h.i.+p. They threw him overboard into the sea to save themselves. He was swallowed by a sea leviathan.”
”Ulp!” Lunzie swallowed nervously, pouring a string of priceless glow pearls into a bubblepack envelope. ”But they wouldn't throw me overboard? s.p.a.ce me?”
”I doubt it,” Sharu frowned as she sorted jewelry. ”But they won't go out of their way to rub elbows with you, either. Don't mention it again, and maybe it'll pa.s.s.” Lunzie put the bubblepack into a carton and sealed it, labelling the carton Fragile - Do Not Expose To Extremes of Temperature, which made her think of Illin Romsey, the Descartes crystal miner who rescued her, and the Thek that accompanied him. She hadn't thought of that Thek in months. It was still a mystery to Lunzie why a Thek should take an interest in her.
”Of course, Sharu. I never knowingly stick my head into a lion's mouth. You can't tell when it might sneeze.”
Among the jewels and other fragile valuables, she found her translucent hologram of Fiona. Lunzie was shocked to find that she was now used to the image of the grown woman Fiona, and this dear, smiling child was a stranger, a long-ago memory. With deliberate care, she sealed it in a bubblepack and put it aside.
Three days later, Lunzie waited outside the bridge until the silver door slid noiselessly aside into its niche. Captain Aelock had left word for her in her cabin that he wished to speak with her. Before she stepped over the threshold, she heard her name, and stopped.
”. . . She'll bring bad luck to the s.h.i.+p, sir. We ought to put her planetside long before Alpha Centauri. We might never make it if we don't.” The voice was Ensign Riaman's. The young officer had been ignoring her pointedly at mealtimes and muttering behind her back when they pa.s.sed in the corridors.
”Nonsense,” Captain Aelock snapped. It sounded as though this was the end of a lengthy argument, and his patience had been worn thin. ”Besides, we've got orders, and we will obey them. You don't have to a.s.sociate with her if she makes you nervous, but for myself I find her charming company. Is that all?”
”Yes, sir,” Riaman replied in a submissive murmur that did nothing to disguise his resentment. ”Dismiss, then.”
Riaman threw the captain a snappy salute, but by then Aelock had already turned back toward the viewscreen. Smarting from the reproach, the ensign marched off the bridge past Lunzie, who had decided that she'd rather be obvious than be caught eavesdropping. When their eyes met, he turned scarlet to his collar, and shot out of the room as if he'd been launched. Lunzie straightened her shoulders defiantly and approached the captain. He met her with a friendly smile, and offered her a seat near the command chair in the rear center of the bridge.
”This Jonah nonsense is a lot of s.p.a.cedust, of course,” Aelock told Lunzie firmly. ”You're to pay no attention to it.”