Decker nodded. “Barrett was myfriend.”
“Yes, sir.”
Decker’s jaw clenched and hiseyes began to mist. He made an effort to cough and clear this throat. “Damndust gets into everything… Get back to work.”
“Yes, sir.”
* * *
As soon as his shift was over,John went straight to the quarters McReidy had been given. He would have likedto have freshened up first, but he didn’t particularly want another lecturefrom the captain about punctuality. A quick rake of his fingers through hishair would have to suffice. He beeped his arrival, and quickly straightenedhis jacket as he waited for McReidy to answer.
The door opened. McReidy hadleft her long, dark hair loose. It bounced around her shoulders, glistening inthe light. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes seemed almost pleased to seehim. His throat went dry momentarily.
“Shall we go?” he asked, tryingto keep the mood light as he stepped clear of the doorway.
“Apparently, you should have donethis last night,” she smiled, putting him on the spot.
His lip twisted slightly. “Thatwould not have been a good idea.”
“No, it wouldn’t,” she agreed,walking beside him.
“Where to first?”
“It’s your ship. Where do yousuggest?”
“You’ve already seen the bridge. I assume Kat gave you the tour of sick bay?”
“Which is why you left me to anurse last night.” The tone was polite, the look she gave him wasn’t.
“I would be remiss in my dutiesif I didn’t.”
“Damn doctor wouldn’t let me outuntil he’d given me a once over,” she ground out softly.
“And?”
She hesitated, then sighed. “Acouple of bumps and bruises and some pretty high stress levels that he wants tokeep an eye on. Is that what you wanted to know?”
He shrugged lightly. “Steve andSam would have got the same going over.”
The atmosphere tensed in thesilence as they kept moving.
“So, we have the usual areas.” John stopped at the cargo bay and opened the door. “We are a transport, so thecargo bay’s massive.”
“You’re not kidding!” Shewandered inside, staring at the vast space. “You could put a whole ship inhere.”
“Generally not. We usually havetwo bays, but with what we had to cart out here, we had to take out thedivider. You can just make out where the floor’s capped.”
McReidy lowered her gaze to thefloor, not seeing it at first. The capping levelled out the floor so it lookedlike a single sheet; smooth and easy to move equipment across. The walls andthe ceiling had slight ridges, giving away where temporary walls could be.
“We can also section off forsmaller supplies or stuff that needs to be isolated or quarantined,” Johncontinued.
“Basketball ring?” she pointed.
He nodded. “There’s a built inprogram that allows us enough room for up to six, but we’ve only got one goal. I tried for full size. The system blew a circuit, the bay doors flew open andwe lost five tonnes of grain that was supposed to go to a farming colony. Decker was not impressed.”
“I don’t think he would havebeen.”
“I thought I was going to have topay for it out of my own pocket, but the captain put it down as anunforeseeable accident. Insurance covered the costs.”
“And you?”
A wry smile hit his face. “We’renot going there.”
They continued the tour; nothingMcReidy wasn’t familiar with though in different proportions from the explorerMagellan. They renewed acquaintances in sick bay. Even in the few minutes ofsociality, the doctor didn’t miss the opportunity for a visual assessment ofMcReidy.
A few more areas before Johnannounced, “This is the end of your tour.”
The windows along one side of theroom looked out into space; a bar lined the left hand wall. From somewhere,soft music was playing. It was one of the few places on the ship that had acompletely social atmosphere.
“Nice,” McReidy approved as shelooked around.
They sat at a table near awindow. With the ship in orbit, the stars appeared stationary. John had thecoffee he believed he deserved. McReidy sipped a glass of ice water through astraw. A sprig of lemon floated about the surface.
“One of your ideas?” she asked.
“No, the captain’s actually. Weall need a place to unwind. You can open it into the dining room, but it justkeeps it separate from those who just want to eat.”
“I suppose you don’t want to comeacross last night’s drunks while you’re eating breakfast,” her eyebrows raisedin hint of a smile.
“Exactly.”
“So tell me,” he changed thesubject. “What do you think of our captain?”
“Off the record?” she asked,unsure how to take the question.
“In here, always.”
“I think he’s a sweetie.”
John choked on his coffee. “Idon’t think the crew would tend to agree with you,” he told her as he reachedfor a serviette and began mopping the sprayed coffee from the table.
“That’s because they work forhim. But I get a different impression from you.”
He immediately found himself onthe defensive. “Like what?”
“I think you actually like him.”
“I’ve seen worse.” There was anawkward moment of silence. John dropped the coffee-soaked serviette to oneside and leaned back in his chair, taking another sip from his mug. “What wasMagellan doing this far out?”
“Looking for time zero.” Asimple enough answer to the question that had puzzled mankind for centuries.
“Oh,” John answered quietly.
“Captain Barrett thought that thefurther out we were, the more we could look back. There’s a lot lessbackground radiation out there. We started getting clearer pictures. At firstI doubted it, but Cobe actually works. We got down to ten to the minus thirtiethof a second! It was incredible.”
“What happened?”
“The system overloaded when wetried to match it with local and supercluster galaxies. They’re basically allalike. Just at different stages of evolution.” She paused for breath. “Youreally are interested, aren’t you?”
“I spent three years onMagellan. Perfecting Cobe was always one of Barrett’s dreams. To find thecause of the big bang and the creation of the universe. The deeper out intospace you look, the further back in time you see. Theoretically, at infinitedistance, you will see time zero.”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“I think it will remain anunproven theory.”
The silence enveloped themagain. McReidy closed her fist around the straw and stabbed the lemon againstthe bottom of the glass.
“Can I ask you something?”
John didn’t answer. His darkeyes invited the question she
