“Pretty much,” she said a bit wistfully.
“Well, I better get on with being a spacer then, I suppose. I need to get some stuff from my locker and head up to the flea market. Who’s up there today?”
“I think it’s Rhon’s day to manage.”
“Thanks, Sandy.”
“You done good, Ish. Tough as it is,” she told me.
Down in the berthing area, I pulled out the small bag of whelkies, intending to take them to the flea. I took the bag around to my bunk and started going through them, trying to remember what I had picked out. I opened the first one. It was a wolf in a pre-pounce pose, knees bent, head up with a kind of playful/predatory smile, haunches gathered. I wrapped it back up and tied the string carefully around it.
The second was a fox, sitting upright with ears up and tail wrapped around its paws in front. I re-wrapped that one as well.
The third was a peregrine falcon. It was in flight, wings swept back, talons ready, head and neck fully extended, eyes focused ahead—fiercely sleek and beautiful. The deep purple heart seemed to pulse in the berthing overheads. I re-wrapped it carefully, tying the red string snugly around the bit of cloth. I put the wolf and fox back in the bag and stowed it back in my locker. I slipped the falcon in my jacket and headed off the ship. I went to the
“I have a delivery for Alvarez, second mate?”
“I’ll take it.”
I pulled the small bundle out of my pocket and handed it to him.
“That’s it?” he asked.
“Yup.”
“Do I need to sign for it?”
I shook my head. “Just see that she gets it.”
“Sure thing.” He shrugged, made a note on his tablet, and went back through the lock.
I headed back to the ship. I needed to find somebody to go shopping with.
Sandy was still on duty and just laughed at my coming and going. “Can’t make up your mind?”
“Ah, you know what it’s like when you’re running errands. You always get halfway and find you forgot something. Is anybody around?”
“Besides the watch section, you mean?”
“Yeah, I need to find somebody to go shopping with me.”
She laughed out loud at that one. “Good luck! I don’t know who’s awake. Anybody with the duty is on it, almost anybody who had the mid is sleeping. Why don’t you get a nap? You’ve got the night watch tonight, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Listen to yer Aunt Sandy. Grab a nap now, the midwatch will be getting up at noon, most of them, at least. Grab some lunch and go up this afternoon.”
“Good advice, Aunt Sandy,” I told her with a grin. “Besides, better deals in the afternoon.”
She laughed. “Oh, Ish, humor me? I gotta ask?”
“Ask,” I said with a shrug. “I seem to be the primary entertainment these days.”
“Well, that’s not new. You and Pip have been the prime entertainment on this ship for months now. But would you have gone?”
“Where?”
“Would you have gone with Al?”
I shrugged and told her, “A gentleman doesn’t tell.”
“Damn, you are good,” she told me.
I winced a little, but I waved and headed for my bunk. She made good sense and I was a bit tired.
I woke around 12:30 and grabbed a quick shower before zipping up a shipsuit. There was still time for lunch and I hustled up to the mess deck. Pip was on duty and I waved to him. In typical in-port fashion, only a few bedraggled watch standers, like me, were eating. Lunch was soup, salad, and sandwiches. It was a chicken soup and very spicy. We must have gotten the new stores shipments in. I took my bowl of soup and some of Sarah’s biscuits to a table and sat down.
Pip joined me, teasing, “You don’t speak to your old friends now?”
“Hey!” I smiled. “How goes it?” I tried the soup and it was absolutely wonderful.
“You had quite a night, I hear.”
“Oh, you know, a few drinks, a little dancing,” I told him with a grin. “I ran into your old shipmate, Alvarez,” I said nonchalantly.
“So I heard. You just getting back?”
“Naw, I been back awhile. Grabbed a nap. I’ve got the watch tonight.”
“Good thing, from what I hear.”
“Why? What’d you hear?”
“Some guy at Jump! took offense at you walking out with his girl.”
“What? That’s crazy.”
“Well, he was drunk. Maybe he won’t remember.”
“What happened?”
“The story going around is that he started to get hot and was about to head out after you.”
“I never saw him,” I said.
“Not surprising. Al decked him. Kicked him under a table and left him there to sleep it off.”
“Al decked him?”
“You cut a pretty wide swath, my friend.”
“Hey, Al is a very cool woman.”
“Oh, I’ve met Al. A few months back in a bar on Gugara actually.”
“And?” I asked. If I had been even half thinking, I never would have asked. As soon as I said it, I knew I was going to regret it.
“Well,” he said with a good-natured grin, “she didn’t offer to take me home.”
“You’re loving this, aren’t ya?”
“Yup. You can say that again.”
I chuckled and ate my soup.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
“Yeah, but thanks for asking.”
He wrinkled his nose in a
“It’s going to be an interesting trip to Betrus, isn’t it?”
“A week after pullout, almost everybody will have forgotten.”
“Almost?” I asked.
“Yeah. Almost,” he said quietly. “Well, I gotta get back to work. You heading up to the flea this afternoon?”
“If I can find somebody to go with.”
“Good hunting. Find us something good!” He stood and headed back into the galley to start the after lunch cleanup. It was 13:00.
I headed down to the environmental section to see if Brill was in her office. Diane had the watch and was sitting with her feet propped up on the console. “Hey! The prodigal son returns. Welcome home!”
