“But you didn’t. Doc won’t bring it up, the rest of us will be fine, and you’ll be fine too, eventually.”
“I have stay here two weeks. How I to explain that?” she moaned. She and Tom sat on the sofa, the day over, the child asleep in sick bay, dinner done and the lights low. He reached around her and rocked her just a bit. “I just want do thing helpful. What I going do with Zalara?”
“Cat can come and get her from sick bay in the mornings and I’ll ask Bailey or Anne to take your afternoon time with them.”
“I not have made such mistake before.”
“It’s okay, everyone makes mistakes. I’ve even been known to make one now and then,” Tom said. He wore a poker face until she finally broke a smile.
“When you go to Cinco?”
“When you calm down.”
“I is calm.” Tom tenderly poked her in the ribs with his elbow. “I am calm.
“I’d kiss you but I don’t want to risk getting the plague, you understand.”
“Don’t tease me. I feel bad enough.”
“Anything else you need? I should get down to the decon and get back to what I was doing. Adams said it will be a long session.”
“I’m sorry,” Rianya said with her voice quivering.
“Oh, don’t cry, Love. My guess is we’ll be all done on the planet while you’re up here on vacation.” She sighed and stood up.
“You better go. I don’t want to make you sick.”
“I’ll call you every day, make sure Adams is taking good care of you.” Tom touched her cheek and turned to go. He stopped at the door and turned back. “I still love you.”
“And I you,” she said. “See you in two weeks.”
~~~
After a night in sick bay Jackson spent the day in the doyen’s office hammering on the plan, sorting out the officers and crew to take on the landing party. Of course, the doctors, engineers, and security would go. He defined who was responsible for what part of the mission – the vaccines, the administration, the storage and dispensing, who were the leaders and who would meet with the Cinconians and where.
He put portable readers together for each team member, and tasked the crew members remaining on board that would pick up the responsibilities of those on the landing party. He decided what overnight portable gear they’d need, and who would load the shuttle. Jackson wished he’d put more thought into this on the way, but it probably wouldn’t have helped. Visiting the Cinconians on the planet crystalized what his team could do for them and what they would need to do for themselves to stop the plague.
When he finally looked up it was after 18:00. His coffee carafe was empty, his stomach rumbled a reminder, and he yawned while rubbing sand out of his eyes. Jackson groaned out of his chair and stretched to reach the intercom.
“Rianya,” sounded from the small box.
“Hey, how are you? Switch to visual.” A live image appeared on the ten-centimeter monitor next to the speaker.
“I’m the same as yesterday. What have you been up to all day?”
“Work. You look good,” he said. “I missed you last night. I hate sleeping without you.”
“You look like you need some coffee. How’s Zalara?”
“I’ve been locked up in here all day, but this morning she wanted to come with me, then go to you, heal you empathically, you know, her usual self. Not showing any signs of infection.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Rianya said. “I feel helpless; I wish I could help.”
“Do your best to relax and enjoy the break. Think about where we’ll be soon, on Beta Hydri Four.” She nodded. “I’m going for some coffee and dinner. Has someone brought you dinner?”
“No, I haven’t asked. I’m not very hungry.”
“I’ll bring you something later.”
Tom finished his project but had no place to go. He looked around the office and sat back in his chair, realizing it would be several days on the planet before he was back. It would be prudent to double check.
He had the computer start some music to distract him from where he really wanted to be and stacked up the readers to distribute in the morning. He glanced at the wall chronometer that displayed 19:41 in bright green block numbers.
The office door opened suddenly and Tom almost jumped from the surprise. He turned quickly; it was Anne Wallace.
“Captain! I didn’t expect you here,” she said.
“It’s alright, come in,” he told her. “I shouldn’t really be here.” He looked at the books on the shelf and touched both of his final choices, Verne and Twain, as if that could help him decide, perhaps.
“I can come back, sir.”
“Anne, I thought you had a day shift.”
“I did sir, I hope you don’t mind, but I find it easier to work in the evening.” The captain considered the unauthorized change in the duty roster.
“How are you cleaning officers’ quarters while they’re occupied?” He stopped puzzling over the books and faced her squarely. “I was missing my afternoon coffee.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I asked Zoe to take care of that.”
“It’s your assignment; shift changes are supposed to be approved by me,” he stated. She didn’t seem particularly concerned about his questions and set her robot vacuum on the floor, touching the top of it to turn it on. The appliance started to whine loudly. Jackson clenched his jaw at the annoying thing and tried to ignore it. He wasn’t going to be driven out of his own office by the lowest ranked member of the entire crew.
“Captain, can I ask you, there’re a lot of rumors about the plague on the ship. Dr. Adams has us all on a daily antibiotic.”
“Dr. Adams is in charge of medical issues aboard the Maria Mitchell, crewman, but you don’t have anything to worry about.” Tom stood back in front of the bookshelf and decided on Twain, pulling it off the shelf and setting it down with the electronic readers. Trying to ignore Anne he went back to his desk and opened a com channel to engineering.
“Quixote.”
“It’s Jackson. Can you tell me the last time you calibrated the accelerator?”
“Spacedock. We must be certain we’ll have 100 consecutive hours of downtime.”
“Now would be a good time. We’re going to stay in orbit at least that long,” he said. “What method are you using?”
“I always calibrate with a fast neutron irradiation of poly-tetra-fluoride and lead. It’s straightforward and reliable.”
“Good. I want you to start in the morning-” Tom jumped a quarter meter when he felt hands on shoulders. “Jackson out,” and he slammed the intercom button. He looked up and turned back effectively torqueing her hands away.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” Anne said. “I just need to get in here,” and she nodded toward the shelving area above his monitor. He shoved away from the desk and stood up.
“Anne, come back at another time. I can’t work with you hovering around like this. And take that raucous thing out of here as well,” Tom said and pointed directly at the robot as it rolled under a cabinet.
“I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she said. She took a step closer to him and reached for something on that shelf, innocently enough, but she didn’t stop her vacuum or pick up her supplies. “Sir, you look like you could use a break,” she said.
“Not your concern. You can spend a week in here starting tomorrow, but right now I need my office.” She’s the admiral’s daughter; I can’t toss her out on her ear, much as she deserved it – he closed his eyes when realized what was happening, again. He marched to the door and opened it, wide. “You can’t be in here when I’m in here.” The office intercom chirped.
“Tom?” Rianya. He waved at Anne to shoo her out the door and crossed the room.
“Hi, Rianya,” he answered. Anne still hadn’t left.
“What’s that noise?”
Tom picked up the robot and searched for an OFF switch. Anne reached across the captain’s chest and touched a spot on the opposite side of the vacuum. As soon as it stopped he shunted the machine into her arms and pushed both away from him.
“Nothing now. What’s up?” he called over his shoulder.
“Doesn’t your monitor work?” With only his eyes Tom shot Anne an unmistakable warning to leave his office, which she finally acknowledged and departed, taking the robot with her.
“Sure,” Tom said touching another button. Rianya’s face appeared and Tom sat back in his chair in front of the image capture lens.
“I just wanted to say goodnight. I'm not hungry, and I’m going to go to bed early, try and get a little extra sleep.” He caught his breath finally and nodded. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m getting tired, I’m just finishing up. Going to be a long day tomorrow, I should get down to sick bay and get to sleep as well.”
“Well, goodnight, Mylan.” She kissed her fingers and held them up as if maybe she could pass them through the monitor somehow and he could pick them up. He did the same and the monitor went dark.
What in hell was that? Tom sank into his chair with a huff and felt a ball of anger ricochet in his gut. That girl was less than half his age and she was coming on to him! He was certain of it. Ten years ago, he might have missed Anne’s clues but ego aside, that girl was getting to be a problem.
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