He glared at her. 'How could you even wonder about that?'
'You're a nice guy, Paul. Sometimes nice guys have a problem with standing up to jerks.'
'I don't.'
'Hey.' Jen came close enough again to squeeze his arm. 'Sorry.'
Paul tamped down his temper. I guess it wasn't all that unreasonable a question. And what right do I have to get bent out of shape while Carl's going through this investigation? 'That's okay. But I don't let people walk all over me, or all over my friends.'
She nodded. 'You already said that. Look-'
Her next words were cut off by the shrill of the bosun's pipe over the ship's general announcing system. 'Attention all hands. Use of fresh water is restricted to essential purposes only until further notice. Ensign Shen, your presence is requested in the After Auxiliary Machinery Room.'
Jen slapped the palm of her hand against her forehead. 'Crap.'
Paul eyed her with concern. 'What happened?'
'What happened is one of my two working osmosis filters must have broken again. Damn. I've got to get down there and try to nursemaid the blinking piece of junk back into shape. Listen, I think you, me and Carl are all off watch after dinner tonight. If I've managed to get this filter mess cleaned up by then, I'll stop by your ensign locker. If you think Carl needs to vent, we'll squeeze it out of him together.'
'Thanks. Even if he doesn't want to vent, I'm sure he'll be happy for the company. Smilin' Sam gets harder to put up with every day.'
'Yeah. Too bad he wasn't the one who got fried on that laser.' Jen grimaced at Paul's expression as she started on her way aft. 'I know, I know. I shouldn't have said that. Bad Jen. Bad girl. Later, Paul.'
'Later. Good luck.'
One of the advantages of investigating an accident on an underway ship was that every witness was easy to find, and with the threat of Commander Herdez' displeasure looming behind Commander Garcia's demands, those witnesses produced their statements in short order. Paul heard that Garcia had also been insisting on reviewing all electrical system records and had caused numerous simulations to be run on possible accident scenarios. Jen Shen had been uncharacteristically supportive of Garcia's push to conclude his investigation as quickly as possible. 'I don't like not being able to trust equipment. If that laser's capable of zapping anyone else working on it, we need to know yesterday.' But Garcia's findings and conclusions, if any, remained a mystery for another twenty-four hours.
'Ensign Sinclair, your presence is requested in the executive officer's stateroom.'
Paul jerked with surprise at the announcement. He'd just left the bridge ten minutes earlier after standing the afternoon watch. Carl, looking like he'd slept even less than usual in the last few days, had relieved him for the two-hour long first dog watch. They hadn't said a word about the accident or the investigation, even though waiting for the results of the investigation was obviously an agony for Carl. Perhaps now that agony would end. Paul only prayed the announcement didn't portend the beginning of another agony.
When he arrived at her stateroom, Herdez held out a data cartridge. 'Commander Garcia has completed his investigation into the death of Petty Officer Davidas.' Nothing in the XO's voice or expression betrayed the results of that investigation. 'Review it to ensure it complies with the requirements of the Judge Advocate General's Manual. I'd like it back as soon as possible.'
Paul took the cartridge gingerly. 'Yes, ma'am.'
'The results of the investigation have not yet been approved by the captain. Do not share them with anyone.'
'Yes, ma'am.'
Paul hastened back to his stateroom and plugged in the cartridge, then read rapidly. I'll skim it first for conclusions and then go back to check all the details against the JAGMAN. Where… where… there. No finding of fault. All parties followed proper procedures. Unavoidable accident. Recommendations to prevent reoccurrence. Whew.
Feeling a weight lifted from his spirit, Paul went back to the beginning of the report and began carefully comparing it to the examples he had and the instructions in the Judge Advocate General's Manual. So engrossed was he that he didn't look up when someone entered, only gradually becoming aware of someone else in the stateroom. 'Carl? Your watch is over? Has it been two hours?'
'Yeah. It was on my end, anyway. What's so interesting?'
Paul hesitated, watching as Carl frowned at his reaction, then gazed worriedly at the display. 'It's Garcia's investigation. He's finished. Herdez gave it to me to review for compliance with legal requirements. The captain hasn't approved the results yet so I'm not supposed to tell anyone about them.'
'Oh.' Carl looked away, the tension in his body obvious.
Hell. I'm not going to do this to him. 'Carl. The report has no finding of fault. It says everybody did what they were supposed to do. The accident was unavoidable using correct procedures.'
'How'd Garcia say it happened?'
Paul indicated the display. 'The virtual circuit tag-out on the system fell through the cracks when the system techs had to do an emergency reboot and the system failed to carry through the temporary file. The physical tag- out didn't work because one of the switches in that junction failed, and the system automatically did a cascading power redistribution that required it to activate that circuit. With the virtual tag-out gone, the system didn't know it wasn't supposed to do that.'
'Sounds sort of stupid to let a system reset switches like that in a non-emergency situation.'
'That's what Garcia said. It was a one-in-a-million combination of events, but it could happen again. He recommends system software be altered to prohibit that kind of stuff without a human review of the action except during an emergency.'
Carl Meadows stared somberly at his desk, then nodded briefly. 'Okay. Thanks.'
'I thought you might be a little happier to hear that news.'
'I am. Really. It's just…' Meadows stared at his hands. 'A sailor died, Paul. A Mark One Mod Zero human being ceased to exist… and it's nobody's fault. Nobody did anything wrong. Nobody caused it directly. Just an accident. Blast it, shouldn't there have to be a reason when somebody dies?'
'Carl, you need to talk to a chaplain about that. The meaning and purpose of life is way beyond my pay grade.'
'Yeah. Not that the Merry Mike rated having a chaplain along on this little pleasure cruise, and I won't spill my guts to any virtual padre on the ship's computer systems.'
'Don't forget Lieutenant Sindh's offer.'
'I haven't. She's a decent person. Maybe I'll take her up on it, now.' Carl rubbed his face wearily. 'Damn, I wish I could get drunk.'
'Drinking never solved anything.'
'So says the youthful ensign. I'm not looking to solve anything, Paul, I just need something that'll help me unwind for one night.' Meadows smiled crookedly. 'Mind you, if I started taking that route to oblivion every night, you'd be right. You ever think about dying in combat, Paul?'
'Uh, sometimes.'
'I know, we're not at war. Officially, anyway. Odds are if anything lethal happens to you or me it'll be an accident. But accidents just happen. You don't deliberately walk into them. Combat's deliberate, putting your life on the line while you think about it. Can you handle that?'
Paul hesitated before replying. 'I hope so.'
'An honest man. Diogenes, where are you? I hope so, too. I was thinking that if this accident was going to happen, then thank God that Davidas didn't have a chance to know it was coming. Thanks for letting me know what Garcia found out, shipmate. If you're done with that report, you'd best get it back to Commander Herdez before she finds out you've been talking to anybody about it.'
'Right.' Paul paused as he started to eject the data cartridge. 'Hang in there, Carl.'
'Hey, I lost a guy. It happens in this line of work. I'll get over it. Mostly.'
'It wasn't your fault. You did everything you should.' Paul pointed to his display. 'That's official, now. You know Garcia wouldn't have cut you any slack.'
'Yeah. I do know that. And it really does mean a lot to know I didn't make it happen by some careless act on
