cooler, I noticed Sarah looking at it out of the corner of her eye. “Did you get lunch?” I asked suddenly.
She shook her head, and I saw a scared, unexplainable expression.
“I’m so sorry! I should have realized that you were on the shuttle…and…Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?” I asked.
“Yes, please. If it’s not too much trouble,” she asked timidly.
“Oh, of course, just don’t tell Cookie I didn’t feed you right away. He’d string me up for having you working hungry.” Behind her, I saw Cookie poke his head out of the pantry and nod in the direction of potato-mushroom soup kettle still left on the cook top before he disappeared back into the pantry, closing the door silently behind him. “Would you like some soup? Perhaps a sandwich? Either? Both?” I was falling over myself after being so initially inconsiderate.
“Are we allowed…?” she asked.
“Allowed?” I laughed. “We’re required. Now, what’s your pleasure? I can highly recommend the potato- mushroom soup and Cookie bakes the best bread…This cheese is a bit sharp but I like it a lot…” I found myself blathering away about the food to distract her. There was something wrong, and while I did not know what it was, I knew that a good meal wouldn’t hurt.
I pulled out a stool from the prep table and told her to sit while I checked on the soup. It was still warm but I cranked up the burner a bit anyway. “Would you like a cup of coffee?” I asked. “It’s usually pretty good.”
She nodded shyly and I fetched her a mug from the mess deck. By then the soup was hot enough to eat and I served a bowl for each of us and found the basket of biscuits left from lunch. I saw her eyeing the tray of meats and cheeses as well and I dragged that over to our makeshift picnic on the prep table. She seemed hesitant as if she needed to ask for permission. “Dig in. We’re all family here,” I said as enthusiastically as I could.
She split a biscuit and made a meat and cheese sandwich out of it before diving into the soup. I also took a cup and the potage was very good. I realized that I was hungry myself. Silence settled around us as we each gave our bowls some serious attention. At first she ate slowly and a bit shyly, but as the warm soup, fresh biscuits, and hot coffee worked their magic, she became less reticent. I took a look at her—a really good look—and realized that lunch was not the only meal she had missed recently.
“You can always get something to eat here,” I told her conversationally. “Day or night. You don’t have to wait until meal times. That cooler is for watch standers.” I tossed my head in the direction of the stainless steel door. “There’s always a tray of meats and cheeses there. We usually put out some sweet things, too, like pies and pastries. It’s available all the time.”
She eyed the appliance, looked at me, and said very softly, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” I told her just as softly. After a minute I added, “You’re safe here.” I don’t know why I said it, but I did so while concentrating on scraping the last bit of soup out of my bowl with the end of a biscuit. I popped it into my mouth without looking at her.
We finished our lunch and cleaned off the prep table around 14:30. “Come on. We need to get you settled and your bunk made up.” For the next stan I showed her where to get the linens, how to get a fresh shipsuit, and how to make up the upper bunk without having to crawl all the way up into it to get the corners even. At 15:00 we visited Mr. von Ickles and got her set up with her tablet and credentials, then I gave her a quick tour of the gym and sauna. “When I first arrived, Pip didn’t tell me for weeks that there was a gym here. I didn’t want you to have to find out about it the way I did.”
“This is amazing! I had no idea there would be anything like this aboard.”
“Oh, it’s not all peaches and cream. Wait until we get a suit drill in the middle of the night. That’s never a good way to wake up out of a sound sleep.”
By then it was almost 16:00 and we headed back to the galley to prep for dinner.
“I thought you were leaving the mess deck,” she said as I showed her around the pantries.
“I am. But I have to wait for Pip to come back from liberty. When he does, I can hand the watch over to him and then I’m free to go. It’s okay. Tomorrow, I’ll be in environmental trying to learn what I’m supposed to do down there.”
She nodded. “So in the mean time you’re stuck with me?”
I shook my head. “Nope, it just means for a few more stans I have some clue about how to do stuff. You’re just the icing on the cake,” I said reassuringly.
Cookie bustled in and we started the evening prep. The menu included marinated lamb and some fresh greens from planet-side. I showed Sarah the basic setup for the dinner routine while docked and she took to it right away.
“It won’t be this easy when we get underway,” I told her. “But Pip and Cookie are good to work with.”
To no great surprise, Cookie’s prediction about the dinner turnout proved to be correct. I think half the crew showed up that night.
Chapter 7
ST. CLOUD ORBITAL
2253-FEBRUARY-20
Sarah and I had just finished dinner cleanup when Pip burst into the galley. He skidded to a stop when he saw Sarah. I do not recall ever seeing Pip so surprised before.
“Sarah Krugg, this is Philip Carstairs, but everyone calls him Pip. Pip, this is Sarah Krugg, the new mess deck attendant.”
Pip held out his hand and I took it as a good sign that Sarah did not flinch. We were making progress it seemed. “Hi, Sarah, welcome aboard!”
She gave his hand the press-and-release motion and said, “Yes, I snore, but not too loudly.”
Pip shot a dirty look in my direction but I just continued putting away the broom and pretended not to notice.
“Sarah’s in the bunk over Bev now,” I told him. “Sarah, you should know that this guy is across from you in the other upper.”
A wary expression crossed her face and I mentally kicked myself. “He doesn’t snore—much,” I added.
Pip caught the exchange and I could see he realized things were a bit odd. I gave him a little shrug while Sarah’s attention was on him.
Pip put on his friendliest smile and said, “That’ll work out great. The schmuck that used to have that bunk would snore like a chainsaw. I don’t think I’ve gotten a decent night’s sleep since Neris.” Pip tried to appear innocent.
Sarah’s eyes moved back and forth between us a couple of times and then she seemed to relax a little. She frowned in curiosity. “Whose bunk was it?”
Pip nodded in my direction and winked.
“Oh, is this the bunk with Tabitha on the other side?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, that’s how I know it’s a good bunk. The mattress has hardly any lumps.”
For a heartbeat or two, I was not sure how the conversation was going to go. Sarah just stood there, kind of closed off again. Pip kept looking from me to her and back again, but thankfully, he did not say anything.
Finally, whatever she was thinking sorted itself out and she took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Good,” she pronounced with a little nod of her head.
“How’d it go in the booth, Pip?” I asked to get his attention. “Do you want some supper?”
