something walking around with his memories and everyone else is either with him or on their way.” She hadn't thought of it in simple terms until then. She knew Laura was on the Triton, that Oz and Jason were on their way after abandoning their posts, or at least that's where they'd most likely be going. Hearing it out loud changed everything; “Either with him or on their way,” she repeated quietly.
“You see? The stream is flowing; its waters beckon all those along its banks,” he said with a smile.
“I couldn't have said it better.”
“I had a lot of time,” he added before slurping his coffee. “Wow, you have to pack some of that.”
She nodded and smiled back at him. “Nothings for sure, I have to see what the council's ruling is tomorrow. If we can send a message out to them then we might be able to find out what's going on without leaving, or even help them from here.”
“I'll wait to find out what happens, but I'm going. I don't like how Freeground has changed. My discharge was waiting for me when I arrived, I can't even volunteer as a reserve pilot.”
“Ouch. I'm sorry to hear that.”
“Well, they won't stop me from leaving, I think that's what they'd like anyway. I don't have a restaurant, my sisters are settling elsewhere and I have a ship. Now I just want to see my old friends and be useful, maybe find a fighter and fly for Jonas again, even if his name has changed and he seems a little taller.”
Ayan smiled at him and nodded. “We'll see what the council says tomorrow.”
“I'll wait,” Minh grinned. His expression became a little more serious after a moment and his attention wandered to her futon. “I'm wondering,” he started quietly. “Would you mind if I stayed for the night? On your sofa, I mean.”
He looked more vulnerable in that moment than in the short time she'd known him on the First Light. The affects of being alone for so long were obvious to her for the first time. “It's a futon,” she smiled. “You can stay.”
Shamus Frost
The quiet. That was the unexpected part of late nights on the Triton. It was a twenty four hour ship, but the hallways always seemed emptier at night. Visiting the gunnery deck didn't help, it had a minimum maintenance and alert crew and they were spread across its expansive surface. If he were to stand up from the sofa in the darkened quarters and take a walk up to Gunnery Deck A just then, Frost would most likely find the mechanics working on loader suits, a pair of them were set to overhaul one of the turrets, and the minimal alert crew would be walking the deck looking for divots, loose parts or ammunition.
The chances of an attack where they were was very low. That was the beauty of dead space, even when there was such an amazing view just outside the main view ports of his quarters. The view port wasn't real, it was a high quality low power multi layered screen that showed an up to date vista of what was outside the ship. It even translated spectrums of light that weren't visible to the human eye into something everyone could see. As a result the view of that bright white, yellow and blue nebula, a stellar nursery was what they called it, was incredible and not entirely lost on Shamus. To him it looked like something had exploded, and through the fine glimmering debris a thousand points of light shone. The nebula was really a collection of matter coming together, he had been told, and there wasn't much point in arguing with people who knew better.
He looked away from the simulated window display, it was so convincing he almost forgot he was in the middle of the command deck living section. The futon just below the large simulated window was long enough for three to sit comfortably, there was a coffee table and another loveseat that pulled out into a small bed. Why he'd need so much sitting space he'd never know. He was so used to bunk rooms and shared common spaces it felt like he was taking up too much space.
Stephanie had come from similar experience, and more and more they surprised each other with how their lives followed such close parallels even before signing up on the Samson. Despite the fact that she grew up on a colony and he was from a military family, their experiences in youth were practically the same. Their experiences in space were different, but both had started in the military, crazy for space. Both of them spent time in war, and they had also signed up on more than one ship before the Samson.
To have spent so much time aboard in close quarters and not gotten to really know her didn't surprise him. He knew the laws of strong personalities mixing; it was wise to give them room to breathe. They'd had their arguments while serving on the smaller vessel but they each had their corners. Frost had his place on the bridge while she was tasked with the boarding crew and had a more open, social relationship with them.
On the Triton there was every reason to get closer however, and if he'd known she was interested in him he'd have done something about it much sooner. His luck with women was always mixed. When it came right down to it, he didn't trust them. Every time he did it ended badly. That's what the most recent fight with Stephanie had been about.
He had no idea how it started, what part of the conversation led to them having a serious talk about how he hadn't slept over in the weeks since they got together but the night always ended with him at her place. He'd fall asleep beside her and when she woke up he'd always be gone. A couple hours of shuteye in his own bed before he started the day was all he really wanted, he didn't know why, maybe it was just because he never enjoyed sharing a bunk with anyone before.
Stephanie was a fine woman, better than he'd ever been with, and a sound sleeper. He just wasn't used to staying until morning. No matter what he said about it during their most recent blow up he couldn't make it better, the conversational hole he dug just kept on getting deeper and deeper until he simply stopped talking and snatched her up in his arms. She struggled, still angry at him. She pounded her fists against his shoulders and he just smiled at her. Her gaze avoided his and just like that it was a game, regardless of her frustration with him she was having fun and her avoidance was accompanied by a little smile. Finally she sighed and let him kiss her.
It was hours later and just as always he had snuck off at four in the morning from her bed to venture back to his own quarters just down the hall. He might have a bit of hell on his hands for that later depending on her mood but he was having a restless night himself. This time he could tell her he left for his own quarters so he didn't keep her awake. She still might not believe him, again, depending on her mood, but even if she wanted to have yet another serious talk about it, she was worth it, of that he was absolutely certain.
“Lucky man, I am,” he muttered to himself as he stretched out on the futon. There was a perfectly good bed just in the next room but it was too big to sleep in alone. “Feels like a great big soft floor, that does.”
His command and control unit vibrated mildly and he looked down at it absently. Price was leaving him a message. “Couldn't be more awake,” he grumbled as he accessed it for review.
Frost: I was reviewing the personnel files so I could have a clearer understanding of the maintenance crew when I came across someone who has exactly the same DNA as you do. His file looks like an altered copy. I've also sent a notice to Stephanie. My duty report to Alice and the Captain will mention it as well. I suggest you come to the main security office so your identification can be re-coded before the beginning of your shift.
“I think I'll perform my own little investigation first.” He called up the ship security holodisplay and punched in his identification code. As he expected there were two illuminated paths indicating where on the ship he and his imposter had been throughout the last day. One path led from his quarters to the security office, then the gunnery deck, there was a swirl indicating he had spent his day moving around that space. His night had led him to Stephanie's quarters, the lower observation bay for a couple hours then back up to her quarters.
The other, blue line was telling a different story. It started in the aft berth with the engineering crew and led to the engineering main office for a morning briefing, then into various sections of the ship where there were short reports on memory wipes and software reinstallations being performed on over a dozen cleaning and servicing robots. He'd heard that they were being stripped of any AI's and reset back down to their base programming, he just wasn't aware of where it was being done. “Whoever's usin' my ident's a real busy body.” He muttered as he scrolled through the servicing logs from the day before. “Almost worth just leavin' him alone.”
The blue path showed a clear U shape as the person it represented moved up one side of the robot maintenance bay and down the other through the day then out, to a portside observation lounge he'd never visited. It had been remarked as the Oota Galoona. “Must be a new pub or somethin' opened up. Surprised Steph dinna want to drop in.” The blue marker indicated that whoever had copied and modified his identity was still there.
