around a little. I remembered my first time on the docks and how different everything seemed. There was a lot going on as all the cargo men performed their synchronized dance of moving items to and from various places.
“You okay?” I asked her softly.
“Yes,” she said a bit unsteadily. “I think so. But it’s all going so fast.”
“I know exactly what you mean. It’ll be okay. It wasn’t all that long ago that I came aboard for the first time. Did you get the
“Yeah, is that normal?”
“I have no idea, but I got one, too. It’s the only thing I remember about my interview with her.”
“Is everything as bad as she said?” Sarah asked, letting a bit of her fear show for the first time.
“Not even close.” I laughed. “Not even close.”
By then we had made it to the lock, and Bev was still on duty. “Bev, meet Sarah Krugg. Sarah, this is Beverly Arith. She’s not as scary as she appears.”
“Hey!” Bev protested. “Who you calling scary?” She smiled at Sarah and held out a hand. Again, I thought Sarah flinched and Bev shot me a quick glance like she had seen something, too. “Welcome aboard, Sarah. This ignoramus hasn’t been telling you lies about us already, has he?”
Sarah did the press-and-release handshake again and smiled tentatively. “No, actually, he’s been very considerate.”
“Ish, Mr. Maxwell wants to see her in the office right away, but when you take her down to berthing why don’t you put her in the bunk above mine?”
“Would you like an upper bunk?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I never slept in a bunk before.”
“Uppers are easier to get out of,” I told her. “But harder to get into.”
She smiled a bit coldly. “That sounds fine.”
Bev nodded deliberately at me. “Ish? Mr. Maxwell is waiting…”
I was not really sure what was going on there, but I led the way into the ship. I lowered my voice a bit, “Mr. Maxwell is a little scary. But he’s really good at his job. Don’t let the robot-act scare ya.”
“The what?”
“Never mind. You’ll see what I mean.”
We made it to the office and I straightened my shipsuit. “You ready?” I whispered.
Sarah took a deep breath and let it out slowly before nodding shortly.
I knocked and heard Mr. Maxwell say, “Come.”
I swung the door open and led Sarah into the office. “Attendant Wang reporting with Attendant Sarah Krugg as ordered, sar.”
Mr. Maxwell did his best robot impersonation as he swiveled his gaze to Sarah and said, “Welcome aboard, Ms. Krugg. Mr. Wang will get you settled in deck berthing and introduce you to the rest of the mess staff.”
I recognized the command and said, “Aye, aye, sar.”
“Do you have any questions for me, Ms. Krugg?” Mr. Maxwell asked.
She shook her head and said, “No, sar. Not at this time, sar.”
He turned to me then and went on, “Mr. Wang. As of this moment you are promoted to engineman and will assume your duties in the environmental section of engineering when Mr. Carstairs returns from liberty.”
“Yes, sar. Thank you, sar.”
He looked at both of us and nodded. “Dismissed.”
I led the way out and closed the door behind Sarah. She started to speak, but I raised a hand to stop her. Again the deja vu was thick as I remember the exact same thing occurring six months earlier but then I played the part of the greenie and Pip was my guide. After a couple of turns down the passageway, I stopped and muttered the same words Pip had given me, “That went well.”
Sarah had an
“Yeah. I know. But there really is no good way to prepare anyone for their first meeting with Mr. Maxwell. Trust me, it gets easier over time and like I said he’s very good. You’ll see.”
I could tell I had not convinced her, but she seemed willing to let it go for now. Instead, she took a different tack and asked, “You just got a promotion?”
“Yup,” I told her.
“How long have you been aboard?”
“I was a quarter share greenie like you last September.”
“And you already got promoted?”
“Yeah, it’s been an interesting six months.”
“What did you do before?”
“Same as you. You’re getting my old job. I was a mess deck attendant.” I checked the chrono and saw that it was 13:30. “Come on. Let’s get your gear stowed and go help Cookie clean up after lunch. Once that’s done we can get you settled in proper.”
I took her down to deck berthing and gave her the choice of the bunk over Bev or the one under Pip and she took the upper. We got her duffel stowed, the palm-lock set on her locker, and then I took her to meet Cookie.
When we got to the mess deck, there was not a lot to do. Cookie had taken down the buffet and was just starting to sweep down the mess deck. It was odd, though, because Pip and I usually cleaned off the tables before we swept and swabbed. I could still see empty mugs and the odd dish left out.
“Cookie, I’d like you to meet your new mess attendant, Sarah Krugg.”
Cookie bestowed one of his beatific smiles on her and gave a small bow. “I am delighted to have you join our little family.”
“Thank you very much.”
I could feel her unwinding a little bit for the first time since I had met her.
“Very well, Sarah, no time like the present to get started.” Cookie handed her the broom and dust pan. “Here, we must clean this place up and make it ready for the evening meal. Could you take over while I talk to Mr. Wang?”
She glanced around dubiously and then looked at the broom and dust pan. “Of course, Cookie, but…”
“Yes, Ms. Krugg?”
“Do you have a bucket and a cloth? If I am to do a proper job, I think I’d like to clean the tables, first.”
Cookie smiled and I hid a grin behind a mug of coffee. The method to Cookie’s madness now made sense as I recall his first little test with me regarding making coffee. Sarah was going to do just fine.
“Of course, Sarah.” Cookie turned to me and said, “Ishmael, show your shipmate where she can find the supplies she needs, won’t you?”
I escorted her to the galley and gave her the quick half-cred tour before returning to Cookie. He drew me into a pantry to leave Sarah by herself on the mess deck. “You’re a rascal, Cookie.”
He beamed. “Thank you, Ishmael. I do try.” He turned serious then and asked, “Ishmael, did Sarah, or any of the officers tell you anything about Ms. Krugg’s background, or why she is here?”
“No, Cookie, why do you ask? ”
“She didn’t say anything about where she’s from?”
“We haven’t exactly had a lot of time,” I pointed out.
He looked concerned. “Be kind to her, Ishmael. Unless I’m mistaken, she hasn’t had a lot of kindness in her life. I suspect she may have been beaten recently.”
I was shocked. I had no idea how Cookie could know such a thing just by meeting her, but I had learned long ago that Cookie was always right.
He peeked out to the mess deck then. “Go and show her the ropes. The best thing for her right now is to start getting comfortable with her new surroundings.” He smiled. “Pip is in for an interesting time.”
I slipped out of the pantry and helped Sarah clear the tables. I showed her where to put the dirty dishes and how to load the big san unit. We slipped into an odd kind of rhythm very quickly and as we worked, she seemed to relax so long as I was not standing too close to her and did not move quickly. I wondered about Cookie’s statement about her being beaten. It only took a few ticks and the mess deck was cleaned up and we moved into the galley to give it a quick brush and swab. Cookie had left the tray of meat and cheese out, but as I went to stow it in the
