“Why are you being nice to me?”
“Why did you stick up for me atmy court martial?” The question was out before he realised he’d said it.
McReidy was quiet for a moment. “Because I didn’t think you deserved what they were going to do to you.”
He let the answer pass withoutcomment. It seemed simple enough to be the truth and he didn’t doubt her.
“Finished?” He stood up.
McReidy’s glass was empty; theice cubes had melted to almost nothing, the lemon almost shredded. He took herglass and his mug back to the bar.
“Commander, we don’t often seeyou down here with such lovely company,” the bartender commented. He was analien creature, slightly smaller than John, with a bald head. Two nostrilsprotruded where a nose should have been and no ears were obvious. His smilewas pleasant and civil.
“Jealous, are we?” John joked.
“Of course. Who wouldn’t be?”
“Keep your fingers to yourself,or I’ll break them. All twelve of them.” John turned back to McReidy. Histone was intimidating enough to be a threat.
“Who’s that?” McReidy asked asJohn returned to the table.
“Soghra. He runs this place. Heliterally oozes charm in the presence of an attractive female of almost anyspecies. But be careful. If he kisses your hand, count your fingers.”
McReidy raised an eyebrow inuncertainty.
“Where to now?” John asked.
“I told Steve I’d catch up withhim.”
“Well I better make sure you getthere in one piece or the captain’ll have my guts,” he smiled.
Her smug look indicated she’denjoy seeing that happen.
She caught Soghra’s eye as theywere leaving and smiled politely. The outright flirtatious response he gavemade her squirm visibly.
“No, you did not read himincorrectly,” John whispered as the door closed behind them and they strolleddown the corridor.
* * *
The night shift had been quiet. Since the day shift had taken over, the ship seemed to have twice as manypeople on board. John had been woken by the captain demanding his presence onthe bridge. As he looked at his watch, it took him a minute to focus on thedial. He groaned silently to himself, rolling onto his back and drawing hishands up to his eyes as he saw he still had three hours until he was due backon duty.
He was used to being called uponunexpectedly, although how anyone ever got used to being woken and dragged outof bed at odd hours, he didn’t know. It happened at least once a week. He hadgotten into the habit of shaving before going to bed. He then had a reasonablechance of looking presentable when the intercom blared: “Madison! On thebridge, now!”
“Yes, sir,” he respondedautomatically, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.
He flew out of bed and wasdressed within a minute. Splashing his face with cold water woke him fully. The comb slipped easily through his hair. The collar of his jacket was twistedand he fiddled with it as he raced to the bridge.
As the door opened, John stilledhimself and casually strolled onto the bridge. His manner gave no indicationof the previous hectic minutes. What froze him was the sight of McReidysitting in his usual seat at navigation. He saw red. His temper rose and hecouldn’t hide the angry glare he gave her.
She turned to glance at him.
Whether Decker noticed John’smood or not, he paid it no attention. “I’m going back down. The bridge isyours.”
John didn’t pick the slightirritation in the captain’s voice; his entire focus on McReidy. He moved tothe captain’s chair and sat quietly, sulking.
He tried to busy himself byreading the progress reports. With so little progress being made, it didn’ttake long. No wonder the captain was going back down. Someone had to getthings moving or they’d never leave.
McReidy turned to Hartford atcommunications. John caught her eye and held it momentarily before she turnedher attention fully to Hartford and mumbled something quietly to him.
He leaned forward, she spokeagain, and he nodded an answer.
John wasn’t interested in theirconversation, and he sensed it was just an excuse by McReidy to check out hismood.
She turned back to her consolefor a moment, hit a couple of buttons, then spun her seat around to face him. “All right. What’s wrong?”
“You know very well what’swrong,” he threw back at her.
The crew flinched visibly. Mostof them had seen John’s temper before and knew to keep clear.
“Be reasonable –”
“Why?”
“It was the captain’s idea, notmine.”
John’s eyes never left hers. Their darkness reflected his mood. “You could have said no. You didn’t haveto go along with him.”
“How could I?”
John was silent. Refusing thecaptain’s invitation would be taken as a personal insult; he knew that. Beingangry with McReidy was much easier. He had to live and work with Decker. Thesooner they got away from this mining colony and got McReidy back to a base andoff this ship, the better he would feel.
He wasn’t letting her finish withthe last word. He took a breath, let it rumble around his throat and exhaledbefore opening his mouth. The intercom spoke before he could.
“Landing party to Bismarck!” There was panic in the voice.
“This is Bismarck. Go ahead.” John’s voice was harsh, his eyes remaining on McReidy.
“We’ve had a cave in down here! The whole thing’s come down!”
John’s mood changed. All angerevaporated as concern took over.
“Take it easy, Justin,” John usedthe man’s Christian name to help put him at ease. “Where’s the captain?”
“He’s down there.”
John’s response was immediate. He was on his feet, hitting the intercom and barking orders that could havecome directly from the captain. “Giacomo, Gillespie, on the bridge. Now! Transporter room, get them out of there. Sick bay alert. We could havecasualties.” He was at the door before he spoke to McReidy. “Giacomo’s incharge.”
He didn’t wait for any answers. He arrived in the transporter room expecting to find the captain andengineering team safely on board. He was sadly disappointed.
Rodgers was at the console to theright; a worried look flashed at John as he kept his attention on the switchesin front of him. The transporter pads to the left remained blank. No peoplewere appearing; no familiar humming to indicate that anything was even working.
“I thought I told you to get themout!” John leant over the
