their past experiences in space had taken place over the weeks of training, and there was a deep simpatico forming between them.
The rest of the bridge crew were getting accustomed to each other as well. Chemistry was important, and through no obvious intent the night shift was mostly crewed by non-humans. A nafalli was the head pilot, there was another on the engineering desk and all told there were five issyrians on the bridge. No one thought it was a prejudiced method of operations, in fact, it was comforting having so many people on duty on the command deck that shared an immediate commonality.
At first he had the same problems with command that he had always had. Telling people what to do, how to do it was not something he was comfortable with. Panloo, the night helmswoman and a tall, motherly nafalli was the first to tell him that it was his job, it was all right for him to give her orders. His second in command at tactical; Oilimae, was quite used to taking his orders, so there was no problem there, and over the time the crew spent on training and forming ship routines he had a long time to get used to the fit of the command chair.
Not much happened outside of testing systems as they came online or running drills and simulations so he had a great deal of time to learn. The detail and scope of his investigations into the workings of the various systems on board the ship were beyond the scope of what Alice or anyone else demanded or expected.
He never ran out of things to investigate, to learn from the Triton. It was a ship with history, personality and advanced, interesting systems. When Stephanie cleared him to view the growing pile of personnel files that had been generated by the new Intelligence Department he had discovered a fresh dilemma. As Alice's first in command she had entrusted him with viewing the files and flagging anything of interest, though he was sure she would be just as surprised at his most recent finding as he was.
After some consideration he didn't voice his concern, instead he started viewing the collected data promising himself that he wouldn't reveal any details to anyone not in need of the information. That's why, when he ran across a strange crew file with a DNA profile matching someone else and a picture that wasn't on any of the security feeds, he grew suspicious but wasn't quite sure who to tell. He was taking the night shift on his own, without Alice anywhere near the bridge for the second time since they'd taken the Triton. The standing order was to wake her, the department Chiefs or Captain Valance if anything urgent came up.
I'll continue my own investigation. I don't want to present them with just a suspicion. He sucked his lip up against his hidden upper teeth and let it go, making a soft smuck sound. It was something he did unconsciously when he was in deep thought, and after doing it a third time Panloo set the autopilot and locked the controls before turning and smiling at Agameg.
He looked back at her and blinked one big dark eye at a time.
“Has something come up?” she looked quite different in her black vacsuit uniform. It was fitted very loosely as to not irritate her white fur, and it had a wider than normal neck opening. He was used to seeing her without a vacsuit after several days on the bridge sporting her lovely, thick white fur so seeing her in black took some getting used to.
Price quietly nodded to the seat at his right and she eagerly complied, moving to a seat beside him. “What could be so interesting at four in the morning?” she asked in a low whisper. She peered at him expectantly.
“I think I've found a fake crew member, or at least one who required identification aboard but didn't want to be honest about who they are.”
“That's unusual, wouldn't Intelligence have picked it up?”
“They are under trained. Testing and training puzzles are unpopular programs, no one does them unless they have to.”
“Except for you,” she smiled.
“I only try to learn so I can understand how to best direct the ship,” he shrugged. “Besides, I like a few puzzles in the morning.”
“I think you know more about this ship than anyone but the Captain and First Officer. You should spend more time relaxing, taking a look at what's happening in the observation lounges and the Botanical Gallery.”
“I will, as soon as I have an understanding.”
“An understanding?”
Agameg smiled at her, realizing just then how ambitious what he was about to say was. “Of how everything works.”
“That could take a while,” she snuffled. “Who do you think wanted to have a fake identification on board?”
Agameg turned the privacy blinder off so she could see the holographic head shot from where she was sitting. “I don't know, but I'm wondering if you have seen this person on the observation decks or anywhere else?”
She looked at the image carefully and shook her head; “No, he doesn't look like anyone I've seen. Whose DNA is that?”
“It says it matches Frost's. There's only a little background information here. It says he comes from the Lena Palus moon and was one of the Regent Galactic crew that was kept on after Captain took the ship from Wheeler.”
“What level of clearance does he have?”
“Very high, the same as Frost's.”
“That would make sense I guess, since clearance is set to people's DNA,” Panloo whispered.
“I can't find any more information on who might have made this entry, only that it was viewed for eight seconds just yesterday. Fred Mendel from Stephanie's team. The file before and after were also viewed for short periods of time. The chances are that he was looking for something else.”
“They were taking final images of people yesterday, maybe he was making sure everyone had one on file? I don't think he would need extra identification.”
“You're right. I can't think of a reason why he'd want another ID, especially using Frost's DNA.”
“What are you going to do?” Panloo asked.
Agameg pressed his upper lip against his teeth a few more times as he pondered. “I'm going to send a notice to Frost and flag this identification for Stephanie and her team in the morning. I think it's important that Frost knows his ID might have been duplicated and set to another image. I don't think there's a real need to wake the Captain or Alice. What do you think?”
“I think you're right. Between Stephanie and Frost this'll get taken care of quickly, especially since they'll probably get the news together.”
“Oh?” Agameg tilted his head quizzically.
“You didn't hear? They're together now, I saw them leave the lower observation by the pilot's berth last night. They looked very close.”
“Why am I always the last? I'll have to remember to congratulate them,” he shook his head. “Frost and Stephanie, so unexpected.”
Peering Into Eternity
The cool wind gently urged her to make a decision. Move closer to the balcony edge or back into the apartment behind her. Standing right in the middle of the semicircular balcony didn't seem good enough, it was like a half step, almost progress.
Nevertheless, she remained there, trying not to look down, to focus on the distant horizon where a new green and brown jungle crept across the dark ground towards the growing townships around Freedom Tower. She was over twenty storeys up, and if she stepped up to the railing, looked down, she knew nothing would happen. Some hidden hand wouldn't pull her over the edge, she wouldn't lose her balance and fall over the rail, and no one would push her. None of those things mattered, rational thinking couldn't cure her of the fear that gripped her whenever she even thought of getting closer to that edge.
The breeze was nice though, feeling like she was part of the fresh planet the Freeground Nation was settling on. The cuffs of her beige drawstring pants and knee length shirt flapped as the wind picked up a little. Slitted up the sides to her waist, there was more than enough room for the air to surge up her back and chill her through the
