'You appear to be a little upset.'
'Just a little. I've got a piece of gear called a reverse osmosis device. It makes the water we recycle fit to drink. I've actually got three, but if only two work then eventually we run low on water and everybody gets real unhappy. Ask me how many working reverse osmosis devices I have.'
'Something tells me the answer isn't three.'
'It's not. Oh, I can make the piece of junk work in fits and starts by tweaking stuff and threatening it, but effectively it's broke. But can we report that? Maybe get a new one before we deploy? Heck, no, Ensign Shen! Because we can't deploy with only two working osmosis devices. We gotta have three! And heaven forbid we should upset anyone by telling them we only have two, because that might cause our deployment date to slip and the fleet staff would have a hissy fit.'
Paul knew he shouldn't say it, but he did. 'Two out of three ain't ba-' He ducked as Shen threw the closest available object at him. 'I'm really sorry. That sucks. It doesn't make sense, either. I mean, what happens if one of the two working osmosis devices goes down hard?'
'We head home and pray we make it on time. Like I said, it's stupid.' Shen buried her head in her hands. 'But you have to get used to it. It's all about looking good. And not looking bad. Admitting something is broke looks bad. So everybody pretends everything is fine.' Paul sat silent, at a loss for words, until she raised her head again to regard him. 'Speaking of looking bad, I'm surprised you were in any mood to joke.'
'You mean that exercise message I messed up? I can't believe how many people have heard about that. I'm not happy, but I've got to learn from it and move on. Right?'
She stared at him for a moment. 'Do you want to know what I just overheard Ensign Sam Yarrow discussing with Commander Garcia?' Paul felt his blood chill, but nodded anyway. 'Something along the lines of 'I can't believe Ensign Sinclair thinks you're a hard-ass who's riding him too hard.' Did you say that?'
'No! He did!'
'Yarrow?'
'Yes, Yarrow! He came up and talked all sympathetic and asked me if I thought Garcia was a hard-ass and stuff, and all I did was kinda agree.'
'Uh-huh.' Shen hid her face again. 'Sorry, Paul. I warned you.'
'That slimy bastard! He actually put words in my mouth!'
'Uh-huh. How's the back feel?'
'Like I had ten inches of cold steel between my shoulder blades. I'll kill him! I can't believe he would do something like that.'
'Usually, the victim doesn't know. I just happened to blow past and Yarrow didn't see me until too late. I could tell from the look on his face that he knew I'd tell you. Want some advice?'
Paul sat brooding for a long moment. 'I guess I'd be an idiot to say no, and I already know your opinion of idiots.'
Shen grinned. 'That you do. My advice is, pretend it never happened. Keep Smilin' Sam at arm's length but don't ever let on you found out. That'll get him real nervous, wondering what you're up to. Maybe it'll make him nervous enough to lay off you.'
'Is that what you do? Keep Yarrow nervous by not letting on what you're doing?'
'Me? Hell, no. I told Yarrow if he messed with me again I'd stuff him down the solid waste disposal chute. He's probably still playing games behind my back, but at least he's being cautious about it. You're a little more low key than I am, though, if I read you right.'
'Yeah. I think so.' Just about everybody's more low key than Jen Shen, if I read her right. 'Okay. I'll take your advice. And thanks. What about Garcia? He must be ready to toss me out the nearest airlock.'
'Probably. But he won't, because assaulting a subordinate would look real bad on his record. The best way to handle Garcia is to do the best job you can. If you do good, he'll lay off you. Nothing else will satisfy him except knowing you're not going to make him look bad.'
'There's that phrase again. 'Looking bad.' Jen, I don't get it.'
'What's not to get?'
Paul waved a hand around to encompass the entire ship. 'There seems to be such a mix of people on this ship. I figured the space branch would be, you know, sort of the best and the brightest.'
She laughed sharply. 'Boy, and I thought I was young! You want the run-down Paul? There's basically three kinds of people up here. You represent one of them. You volunteered for duty in space. You're idealistic, hard- charging, ready to conquer the universe for humanity.'
'I'm not that-'
'Hey, I'm using you as an archetype. When you're a symbol of something you can't quibble over details.' Jen leaned back, gazing wistfully out the hatch. 'I used to be like that. Now… I don't know. The second type up here are the Carl Meadows' of the Navy. They're just out to survive. Keep a low profile, get the job done, don't sweat anything that doesn't need sweating.'
'Carl's a real decent guy.'
'I didn't say he wasn't. What I said was he'll never make admiral. Carl knows that. He's not going to kill himself chasing a goal he wouldn't really want if he got there. Look around. He's not the only officer in the wardroom like that.'
'You mean like Commander Sykes, too?'
'Oh, yeah. Suppo's the king of the slackers. If I ever convert to that religion entirely, he's the guy I'll worship.' She sighed. 'Then there's the third group, the unjustly exiled. In their eyes, anyway. They got stuck out here, far from all the plum jobs that just about guarantee promotion, far from all the admirals looking for adoring proteges, far from everything. The only way people hear about what you've done in space is if you screw up big time. And I mean big time.' Jen flashed a smile. 'Messing up an exercise message doesn't make the grade. So these exiles work their butts off, or make their subordinates work their butts off, in hopes they'll grab the golden ring and return home with glory, medals and promotion opportunities galore. In sum, they wanta look good. Problem is, they're not that good to begin with. Which is why they got exiled in the first place.'
'I see. That makes a lot of sense. Garcia's an exile, isn't he?' Jen nodded. 'And so's the Captain.'
'Oh, yeah. Cap'n Pete would sell his mother for a ticket back to fleet staff, where he could impress the admiral with his social banter and devotion to the admiral's well-being.'
Paul smiled ruefully. 'I believe it. But what about the XO? She doesn't seem to fit any of those groups.'
Jen frowned. 'No. She's sort of an idealist, but not in the 'future of humanity in space' sense. For Herdez, it's the Navy. That's what she believes in. She doesn't give a damn what happens to her. She's here because they told her the ship needed a good XO. Don't ask me how I know that. But, fair warning, Paul, she supports the Captain. That's the Navy rule. Don't think because Cap'n Pete is doing something stupid that Herdez will step in and try to stop it. She's the XO, he's the Captain. That sets the rules of the universe as far as she's concerned.'
'Thanks. Warning duly noted.' Paul let his face momentarily sag, once again overwhelmed. 'Man, if I had any idea what I was getting into…'
Shen grinned again. 'Don't let it get to you. Endure. Find some hobby to keep the insanity and the big black outside at bay.'
'What's your hobby?'
'I punch lockers.'
Paul smiled back. 'I'm glad I'm not a locker.' He looked over at his, suddenly concerned again. 'I hope I packed everything right.' In the morning the Michaelson would be maneuvering, and any object not properly fastened down would become a victim of physics.
'I'll check it for you,' Shen offered. She popped his locker, eyeing his gear, her face intent, transformed instantly into an experienced professional. 'Looks good to me. If anything, you overdid some of the tie downs. But better that than underdoing them.' Shen stepped back, glancing questioningly at Paul. 'No pictures?'
'Uh, no. No girlfriend.'
'Too bad. Or maybe good. Shipboard life is hell on relationships, if you haven't already figured that out.'
'I'd guessed. No time for them, right?'
'Right. And if you found any time, you'd be halfway to nowhere when it showed up. You can't even phone home because the distances are so huge light-speed lag makes conversations a pain in the neck, and most of the
