Month 7 Day 18
0817 Hours
Della Harris
Della stopped just before her body slammed against her living
room door. Yep, it’s locked. Without
moving away, she pressed her finger against the id pad. The door slid open. Inside,
she sat on the edge of the closest desk. “Told you it was off.”
Nagging Negron walked to Mac’s desk and touched the console. That
computer screen lit up, showing squiggles moving randomly, first one
highlighted and then another. Occasionally, a squiggle disappeared, but the
screen got no less crowded. “What’s this?” Negron demanded.
“How should I know?” She tried to watch the display, but her
vision blurred. She closed her eyes.
“What did you tell it to do?”
She opened her eyes. “Nothing!”
“Quiet!” Smythe directed loud enough to get their attention.
With a glance toward the bedroom, he lowered his voice more. “Negron, that’s
her roommate’s computer.”
Negron compared the serial number on the console to the
information on his e-pad. “No, this one is assigned to Harris.”
Smythe’s eyes showed confusion, but Della understood the
problem, now. “Originally. When my former roommate left, I switched to the other
desk. Didn’t think about it. Is there somebody I should inform about the bed,
closet and dresser, too?”
“That explains it,” Smythe told Negron. “It’s not Harris’
problem. Let’s go.”
“I’ll correct the records,” Negron stated. “But the computer
is on, no one using it, and I don’t know what it’s doing!” He touched several
keys, which set off a loud alarm.
Through that noise, Della somehow heard a grunt, a thud, a
2nd thud, and cursing in a language she didn’t know, but had heard before. She
headed for the bedroom.
“Shut it off!” Smythe roared.
“That’s what I was trying to do!” Negron returned.
“I meant the noise! Turn off the noise!”
“Mac, are you okay?” Della knelt to help the redhead get untangled
from the bedding on the floor.
Her roommate sat blinking amid the blankets. “You’re home?
Did I oversleep?” She cocked her head to one side, her eyes almost closed.
“What’s that noise?”
“Your computer. I’m not really here. Negron said I’d left my
computer on, but it isn’t. But yours is. He tried to turn it off.”
Mac managed to climb to her feet. “Have to kill that.” The
stubborn redhead aimed for the living room. Della followed, ready to catch her
if she toppled.
Negron had sat down, was punching more keys while Smythe
glowered at him. Despite the apparent uncertainty of her gait, Mac said,
“Move,” and slid Negron and chair aside. Slim fingers punched 2 keys, and the alarm
died. Mac’s shoulders relaxed and her head slumped forward, red curls hiding
her face. “Okay, fewer decibels. Head’s ringing.”
Negron gave Mac a shocked look, her short stature and
well-filled pajamas sending conflicting messages. “Don’t leave your computer
working!”
“Why?” Mac bent over to punch more keys.
“You aren’t supposed to leave your computer running when you
aren’t around,” Negron repeated.
Mac’s head rolled to look at him through long locks of bright
red curls. “Says who?”
“Common procedure-“
“If that’s a common procedure, it’s a stupid one. I don’t twiddle
my thumbs every time I start a diagnostic on the communications console.
There’s other things to check, so I do. Sitting and waiting is a waste of
time.”
“You’re the new communications lieutenant,” Negron realized.
After a shocked - or confused - moment, Mac asked, “I’ve been
here over 6 months. Where have you been?”
Negron’s mouth thinned. “This isn’t about me. Common
procedure is to turn your computer off when you aren’t using it. For instance,
before going to bed.”
“Again, that’s stupid. I can’t stay awake 24 hours a day - I
have, and got into hot water - but a computer can. So it’s doing the drudge
work of my projects while I -“
“You shouldn’t use a Fleet computer for personal projects!”
Since when?
“Hold on.” Della jumped at her superior’s voice. I forgot he was here. Mac whirled in surprise, and Smythe took her
shoulder to steady her. He stared at the computer specialist. “Negron, what do you do on the computer in your quarters?”
“Well, I - Pretty much like Harris said, emails, magazines,
stuff like that.”
“Does that include personal mail from off-ship? Are the
magazines from off-ship or the ship’s library?”
Negron faltered. “I see your point, Mr Smythe.”
“I hope so. Because my next question was going to be about the
gaming programs I’ve seen advertised in various magazines, the ones that have
your name attached to them. Worked on those on your assigned personal computer?”
Negron paled, and his voice was soft when he answered. “Yes,
sir.”
“Don’t tell others they can’t do personal projects. Especially
if their project is a favor for a superior officer.”
“Well, one of them,” Mac muttered. Smythe’s fingers tightened
on her shoulder, and she caught her breath. “That’ll bruise,” Mac breathed, and
Smythe hurriedly let go.
“What do you mean, one
of your projects?”
Mac gingerly raised her arm to push her hair back. “I already
had -“ She stopped when he grabbed her lower arm.
There was a smear on Mac’s palm. “Stand still,” Smythe
ordered, and parted her hair carefully. “Not a big gash, but scalp wounds tend
to bleed, I believe. How did you cut you head if you were asleep?”
“Probably when she was startled awake and fell out of bed,”
Della offered. “She lands with her head near her nightstand, and could have
banged against it.”
Smythe stared in concern. “She has a habit of falling out of
bed?”
“It happens,” Mac confirmed. She stepped away from Smythe and
let her hair hide the injury again. She
doesn’t want people to know she has trouble sleeping. “Especially when an
alarm goes off.”
Smythe sent a glare at Negron. “Harris, take her to sick bay before
you return to duty.”
“It’s nothing.” Mac headed for the bedroom.
“I said go to sick bay!”
Mac stopped, walked back. Gave Smythe a glare as good as any
of his. “Mr Smythe, I assume you have never exchanged punches with a Gaelunder,
because if you had, you would know how dense our bones are. No damage was done
to my skull. It’s far too hard. There’s no blood running down my face, so I’m
not bleeding much. In addition, I’m under orders to get my sleep, which won’t happen if I report to sick bay
for every bump.” She stopped
talking, and confusion overtook her face. “Della, why are you... all... here?”
“Negron... the one who set off your alarm. Kept saying my
computer was on. I told him it wasn’t. Mr Smythe came to see we didn’t wake
you.”
Mac gave a half-smile to her superior. “Did that work?”
“I never intended to wake anyone!” Negron protested.
Mac faced him. “And yet, here I stand, not asleep! Look, my computer was fine, despite my not sitting and
waiting with baited breath. Which I can’t
do, because I expect this grunge work to take a week. Roughly.”
Negron stared, aghast at the idea of a computer being
unattended that length of time.
Smythe politely asked, “Colleen, please explain what your
computer is doing.”
The redhead eyed him uncertainly. Afraid he’s hatched some nefarious plot. I think he’s realized his
first impression was wrong. In which case, she’s now misjudging him.
Mac explained. “I slapped together a translator and a
decoding program, fed in 2 known examples of Yukosk writing and their English
counterparts, tossed in my limited Yukosk vocabulary, and later added the
manual you wanted translated, Mr Smythe.”
“You modified programs?” Negron demanded. “You can’t just
slap them together!”
Mac gave him a sour look. “True, I didn’t take programming
classes at the Academy, but... Computers use a language, right? A non-human
language. Something I did learn
about. And, those 2 programs - translator and decoding - are quite similar. So
merging them was pretty easy.”
“What else is your computer doing?” Smythe asked before
Negron could argue. “You mentioned other projects.”
“I was working on them when you added the translation...
request,” Mac answered. “Now it saves its work in 3 different files - an
Yukoskian / English dictionary, a list of grammar rules for the Yukosk
language, and the translation of your tech manual. Right now, there isn’t much else
involved. It won’t completely translate your manual, but it will do some of it.”
Smythe stood quietly, absorbed in his thoughts. “You’re consulting
with Kolla on words you aren’t sure of?”
“Well, she knows Yukosk better than I do. She’s working on
her version of the same projects. Except for the manual translation.”
“I think she’s had that added, too,” Smythe stated.
“Different technual, though.”
Negron asked, “Which programs? I imagine TRN102, and maybe
DEC315 for decoding?”
Mac hesitated before answering. “I know TRN102, of course,
but TRN108 has fewer assumptions that a new language will have some resemblance
to Earth languages. Still, 108 works best with spoken language, so I used TRN108b,
for written language. And no doubt DEC315 is good, but DEC18 was the standard
of its day, and uses the same base language as TRN108b, so they were easier to
blend.”
“Code. They use the same code,” Negron corrected absently as
he made notes on his pad. “I don’t think you should continue until I-“
Smythe cleared his throat loudly. “How long has your blended
code been working on this project? Projects?”
“Since 3 hours after we left Yukosk.”
He blinked, the only indication he was surprised. “It was
already working when I gave you the tech chip?”
“Yes. I just added the chip to the mix before I went to bed.”
Negron was suspicious. “It works on its own, around the
clock?”
“Not completely. I check on it. Supply an answer, if I can,
make suggestions, if I’m not sure. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know what to ask Kolla
every night.”
The chilly look Smythe gave Negron would have shut up anyone
in regular engineering. “Why set an alarm?”
Mac’s cheeks went pink. “I’m impatient. I don’t want it to
sit idle while I sleep just because it’s not sure if it’s found a new verb form...
or something. A lot of things it notes as questionable, and keeps going. But if
it gets too many unknowns, it can’t go on.”
Who can argue with that?
She definitely has a brain, and uses it. Even reaches outside her own field, if
needed. I could learn a lot from her.
“Mr Negron, keep an eye on this computer, if you feel you
must. Colleen chose good programs, and the results look believable. The
computer hasn’t melted, and she checks on it, so don’t mess with it.”
“I’ll just see what’s-“
“No!” Wow. Both at once. I understand why she’s eager to squash that idea. He must really want that tech manual,
as fast as he can get it.
“She hasn’t been approved to modify, let alone merge,
computer programs!” Negron complained.
Smythe sighed and gave the redhead a calculating look. “Test
her,” he finally stated. “See where she stands with her computer skills. Then
fill any gaps she has until she can pass that test. She’s due for
cross-training. Computers are a good place to start.”
Most of us don’t get
cross-trained in computers unless we ask
for it. But am I surprised? Mac isn’t like the rest of us, although I think she
wants to ‘fit in’.
“Are we done?” Mac stifled a huge yawn. “I didn’t get enough
sleep.”
“Since it’s barely 0900 now, I’m not sure how you were asleep
when we arrived,” Smythe blurted.
“Falling asleep is easy,” Mac returned. She usually follows that with a muttered, ‘Staying asleep isn’t.’ Glad
I don’t have her sleeping problem, whatever it is.
“Good. Test her, Negron. Let me know the results. Sorry we woke
you, Colleen. It wasn’t our intention. Let’s go, people.”
Della followed him out as Mac headed for the bedroom. When
the door closed behind them, Smythe said, “Harris, go to sick bay, see if
someone can look in on her head gash. I assume she’s locked the door again.”
“Yes, sir,” she agreed, and peeled away from the group. A couple jeffries tubes will be more direct
than the lift.
