“So you’re the one who’sspreading it around.”
“I’m fine.” John was unable toconvince either of them.
“No, you’re not. Dunlop to sickbay,” he called over his communicator. “Kat, can you bring my bag to thebridge?” He turned his attention back to John. “No wonder you’ve beenavoiding me.”
“It’s just the flu.”
“Right,” the doctor disagreed. “In a sterile environment where the flu virus doesn’t exist. How long have youbeen like this?”
“I told you I’m –”
A glare cut him off inmidsentence.
“I don’t know, a few days.”
“Headaches? Insomnia? Restlessness? Lethargy?”
John nodded to each symptom. Histemples pounded, the pulse in his throat raced as Dunlop checked it. His eyeswere almost opaque – probably as hard to see into, as they were to see out of.
Kat wasted no time in carryingout Dunlop’s request. As she looked around the bridge for the doctor, McReidypointed her to the office.
“In there.”
“Thanks,” she smiled.
Kat stopped in her tracks andgasped when she saw John. “You look awful!”
“Always a pleasure to see youtoo, Kat.”
“Is it the same as the others?”she asked the doctor.
“Yes.”
Kat stepped forward and gaveDunlop his bag. As he dived into it, John turned away and screwed up hiseyes. He knew he had no say in anything now. He waited for the words he knewwere coming: “This won’t hurt a bit.”
“That’s what you said last time,”John retorted.
“And I was right. It didn’t hurtme one bit. Now stop your complaining. That’s a nasty bug you picked up, butit’s not completely resistant.”
John didn’t want to look, butthere was nothing wrong with his hearing. Nor his nervous system as the hypofound its mark. A jab that was slightly more forceful than necessary.
“Now, I am ordering you to bed tosleep this off.”
“But –”
“No buts. They,” he inclined hishead towards the office door, “can manage perfectly well without you. If youhad come to see me in the first place, you could have saved us both a lot oftrouble. I still need you down in sick bay by the end of the week for yourcheckup.”
John nodded slowly. He knewthere was no way out of it.
“Do you think you can get to yourquarters or should I ask someone to escort you?” Dunlop knew John wouldresist.
“I can get there on my own,” Johnsulked.
“Then get going. That sedativewill kick in in about five minutes. Then you won’t be going anywhere exceptout cold.”
John took the hint. He gave noone a reason as he put McReidy in charge. It wasn’t too hard to guess. As adoctor, Dunlop was the only one on board who could legally order John around. What could be hidden from the crew could not escape the eagle eye of themedical expert.
* * *
When John returned to the bridgea few days later, it was with the doctor’s blessing. He still had a couple ofminor symptoms that would brush off in a day or so. His medical checkuprevealed no problems. His blood pressure and stress levels were at an all timelow. It was amazing the affect an enforced rest could have.
Via the intercom, Kowalski was inthe middle of an argument with Gillespie. Whatever compromise was offered, theengineer refused.
“Commander’s back. You can talkto him,” Gillespie leaned back in his seat and folded his arms across hischest.
“Mister Kowalski, what seems tobe the problem?” John asked as he settled into his chair. If day one was goingto start like this, his headache would be back before lunch.
Kowalski reeled off a list everycomplaint possible. A couple of other engineers spoke over the top of him,adding their own grievances to the list, including a few personal opinions thatprobably should have remained unsaid.
John tried to ease the situationbefore it got worse. “All right, enough. From all of you. I can’t hearmyself think.”
The intercom was silent.
“Kowalski, what’s up with you? You’re nearly as grumpy as –” He spotted McReidy before he mentioned hername. The look she gave him warned him not to. “You’re not normally thisupset.”
The mumbled background commentswere not clearly audible, but the intent was obvious.
“Gillespie, get down toengineering and sort this out before they kill each other,” John ordered. Hereally didn’t feel like breaking up fights at the moment. “I thought Kowalskiwas all right after shore leave.”
“He was,” McReidy answered. “Then yesterday, he just snapped. He got into a fight with Case… It’s justnot like him.”
* * *
Giacomo turned up for work thenext morning with a black eye. He wouldn’t say how he got it, but he did havea tendency to settle arguments with his fists.
McReidy had other thoughts on thematter. It made her think of the unsettling conversation with the girls theprevious night. Especially when she looked at his hands. They showed no signthat he might have struck back.
McReidy had intended on spendinga pleasant evening with the girls in the bar. Catching up on gossip, eventhough a lot of it wasn’t true, was always an interesting experience. Especially when Helen was there. She tended to overexaggerate the truth and mostof what she said was based on rumour.
No one ever believed a word shesaid, and it would have been quite easy to laugh it off had she not been soserious. No one wanted to hurt her feelings and nothing she said was everhurtful or malicious.
Spending so much time with themen, McReidy knew their imaginations could be just as active as the women’s.
Lorraine was letting of steamabout Kowalski. He had been arguing with everyone, nothing was done to hissatisfaction, and when he was reminded that he was not chief engineer, he flewinto a rage and took a swing at the unlucky person who had mentioned it.
“What happened when Gillespie gotdown there?” McReidy asked. Gillespie hadn’t been forthcoming when he returnedto the bridge.
“It didn’t last that long,” Lorraine answered. “Red punched his lights out.”
McReidy flinched as shevisualised Kowalski being flattened by Red. The size difference alone wasenough to make Kowalski back down under normal circumstances.
With the break of a few secondssilence for impact, Helen was underway. Her topic of choice was Tan. Thetight red curls bounced around as her head moved whenever she spoke.
“He’s kinda sweet,” she smiled. “I
