Playing with Fire

Month 8 Day 9

1413 Hours

Drake MacGregor

“Where have you been?” Drake asked as Smitty approached the rec room’s drink dispenser.

Smitty didn’t answer until he had a coffee cup in hand and had taken his first gulp. Finally, he turned. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve seen so little of you since we left Yukosk, I was beginning to think you’d jumped ship to hitch-hike back.”

Smitty took the opposite seat of Drake’s table, nearly sat his cup atop Drake’s cards. “In this part of the galaxy? It’d be a century before I saw another ship, and it’d probably be headed the wrong direction.”

Drake smiled. “So you’ve thought about it. Where have you been all day? I’ve been looking for you.”

“Busy. If you had some engineering problem, Lt Harris could have assigned it to somebody.”

Drake sat back, his game of solitaire forgotten. “Is that so? Let me point out that you’ve never made it known that Lt Harris can stand in for you if you’re ‘busy’. Secondly, I think Lt Ramsey - your sr lieutenant on D shift - would have objected, had I gone to Harris. Anyway it wasn’t about engineering; I thought we’d spend some time together, since we both had the day off.”

For once, Smitty didn’t blush over having ‘forgotten’ to take a day off. He finished his coffee. “Sorry. Guess I should have told you I had plans. I have plans for tomorrow, too.”

“So Jane was right.”

“She is the captain.” Smitty glanced up from fussing with his empty cup. “Right about what?”

“She said Mac finished translating that technual S’thyme gave you, so you’d probably spend all your spare time trying to build one of their transporting ray machines.”

“Well, eventually,” Smitty agreed. “First, I have to figure out how to design the various components using our technology.”

“Lucky for you, you’ve got a ready-made helper.”

Smitty stared at him, his eyebrows smashed together. “Who?”

How can he... “Mac!”

The engineer blushed a bit. “Oh. Well, she’s not a trained engineer.”

“Maybe not, but she’s already managed to recreate one of those machines! How can you have forgotten that?”

“You seem to have forgotten that there was a Yukosk engineer in her head at the time.”

Who does he think told me it was mostly Mac putting the thing together? According to Kolla, she was on the verge of panic right up until she saw S’thyme appear and realized that if he touched her, she had no idea what might happen. When one of us touched... them... it was an electrical shock, but with another Yukosk, who knew? Might have been deadly.

“Adams, I don’t want your company. Leave me alone!” Drake looked up, recognizing the angry voice, but Smitty was already staring at the redhead seated at a table in a corner across the room.

“Colleen, dear-“

“Don’t call me that!”

“Which? Colleen? Or Dear?”

“Both!” The chair he was about to sit in slid across the floor, propelled by her foot. “Do not sit down! I don’t want you here! I’m studying!”

“Cross-training? About time. What’s Smythe got you working on? I’d be happy to help you... pull an all-nighter, so to speak.”

Smythe was getting another cup of coffee. Drake started to get up, to go break up the argument, but Smitty headed that way. Good. They’re his subordinates, let him straighten Adams out.

“You can’t help me with this!” she declared, indicating the computer screen in front of her.

Adams turned the screen to face him. “Of course I-“ He stared at the screen all the time that Smitty crossed the room and took a position behind him. “That doesn’t look like Fleet equipment!”

“It’s not Fleet equipment!”

That simple statement cleared the confusion off Smitty’s face. “It’s a Yukoskian transport ray field conductor!”

Mac jerked as her gaze slid past Adams’ face and saw Smitty. She swallowed all her anger; her voice was much quieter when she stated, “Well, they call it a twek, which is a lot shorter. But not easy for us to say correctly, because the ‘tw’ is soft, and the ‘k’ is kind of half-slurred. I think the different wavelengths make all their sounds a bit... weird.”

“Where did you get that?” Smitty asked. “Did Kolla send that to you?”

“Um, no. I... kind of figured it out myself. From that technual I translated. I wish their diagrams made more sense, because I could be totally wrong in what I’ve done in trying to reconfigure a T417.”

“I’ve tried 3 times to follow their instructions for a transport ray fiel- for a twek. Keep getting lost.”

“Me too,” Mac told him. “I finally thought-“

“You reconfigured a T417?” Smitty sat down beside her. “Can you show me?”

Adams, realizing he was forgotten, glared at them and stomped out. Yep, Smitty’s up to his eyeballs in that technual. Mac is too, even if she’s not an engineer. She probably remembers enough of it from Kolla to give her an edge on figuring it out.

Disappointed, yet somewhat understanding the other man’s preoccupation with a new technology, Drake gathered together his deck of cards. A glance at Smitty and Mac showed them deep in conversation, the computer screen now facing both of them. Smitty’s right hand was on the back of Mac’s chair, so when he leaned forward to point at the screen, his sleeve caressed her neck and shoulder. Surprised, Drake expected a violent reaction, but she seemed oblivious to it. Lucky for Smitty she’s just as involved in the conversation as he is, or he’d be on the floor.

Drake gave a practiced shuffle to the cards, noticed how loud a noise they made. An hour ago, I couldn’t hear them shuffling among all the general hubbub in here. Now... what hubbub?

A glance around the room showed that half the occupants had left, and the ones still there were quiet, barely whispering to each other as they watched the corner table. More got up and left. What in space?

Drake turned his attention back to that corner. Mac was pointing to the screen, and Smitty took her hand and moved it. Her head turned, she stared at her superior officer with glazed eyes. Uh oh! Wait. She’s not angry. She’s... I haven’t seen that look on her before, but it’s definitely not anger.

Smitty pulled his hand away, turned to look at her, and stopped talking. His hand missed the table, landed on her knee.

No wonder everybody’s leaving. They don’t want to witness something they can’t believe. This is so out-of-character for Smitty. Extremely out of character for Mac. He stiffened as Smitty’s hand traveled up the Gaelunder’s thigh half an inch. Black Space, this will not end well, if somebody doesn’t stop them. And since everybody else has left, that leaves me.

Drake joined them at their table. Neither reacted, so he shuffled his cards as loudly as he could. “The game is Third Man’s Bluff, and the ante is 2 credits. Smitty, how many cards do you need?”

It took a moment, but Smitty finally looked at him. “What?”

“Thought I’d give you something to keep your hands busy.” Smitty jerked his hand away from the redhead’s leg. Drake turned his attention to the still-dazed girl. “Third Man’s Bluff. You in, Mac? If I’d known you weren’t sleeping B shift today, I would have skipped trying to find Smitty and asked you to play some pool.”

“Couldn’t sleep,” she muttered, and looked at him in sudden alarm. “What time is it?”

“It’s, uh, nearly 1500,” Smitty stated.

Mac stood so abruptly, her chair fell over. “I spent the entire shift on this! I promised myself only half an hour! I’ll have to sleep C shift! And I had plans for tonight! What a mess!” She raced out the door.

Drake leaned forward and lowered his voice. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were flirting with her! I’m betting every other person in here thought it!”

Smitty blanched and choked out, “She’s a subordinate.”

“Apparently, a piece of you doesn’t care.” Drake looked around, confirmed the room was empty. “Look, I know it’s against the rules, but it does happen. Just be sure it’s something you both want. And for the same reason! And then be damned careful!”

Smitty shook his head. “It can’t happen.”

Drake considered him for a long moment. “Made any plans for shore leave? Ulseess is only a couple weeks away.”

Smitty nodded distractedly. “There’s an engineering seminar...”

“Why am I not surprised? Well, take some advice and before, after, possibly even during that seminar, look for a way to keep that from happening. If you can.”

“Yes.” Smitty sighed. “What must she be thinking?”

The only thing I know for sure is she’s confused. What advice should I give her?

Lack of Clarity

Month 7 Day 31

0659 Hours

Smitty

“We talked in the messhall, captain,” Smitty stated as they boarded the lift.

“That’s not the place to discuss a crew member’s performance,” she returned as 3 more people lunged to join the crowd already in the lift.

Smitty paused. Did I forget somebody’s performance review? “Who?”

Jane gave him a cold look as the lift let 2 people off, giving the rest of them some breathing space. “Yours, possibly,” she muttered. “I’ve hardly seen you for 2 weeks, and when I have, your mind has been light years away.”

It can’t have been 2 weeks. Can it? “I can explain, captain.”

This glance was colder, and her voice lower. “I’m sure you can. Once we get to a place where we can talk.”

Another stop disgorged most of the remaining people, but 2 lieutenants accompanied them to the bridge, where the lift opened onto bedlam.

“Mac, what did you say to Oakhurst last night?” Bugalu asked from the helm.

Evans stopped arguing with Abdulla to face the newcomers and blurted, “Captain, she was late to her station!”

“I’ll handle this!” Abdulla hissed at him, and faced them, suddenly calm. “Mr Smythe, Lt MacDowell is my subordinate, so it should be me who investigates her failure and decide what her consequences should be.”

True, but Colleen’s assigned to Evans’ bridge, and he’s charged with keeping the midnighters in line. I hate turf wars like this.

Jane didn’t have any misgivings about wading into the middle of this mess. “Mr Evans, make yourself clear. You only have one female assigned to the midnight bridge, but there are a number of females on the day bridge, so which female do you mean?” Abdulla hid her surprise better than Evans.

“Ah... M- Lt MacDowell was 15 minutes late, captain.”

“9,” Abdulla corrected. “I checked the record!”

Evans glared at the day shift officer. “When she did arrive, she was still putting her hair up in a, a half-hearted bun.” Jane considered Colleen’s red hair, and he added, “She fixed it during her lunch break.”

“I see,” Jane stated. “MacDowell, did you oversleep?”

“No, captain.”

“Get engrossed by a project?”

“Not one of mine,” Colleen stated.

“Somebody else’s project?”

Her green gaze looked at him, slid to the captain, then the floor. “I don’t know,” she whispered.

“What were you doing?” Jane asked, and Smitty could hear a touch of testiness in her voice.

“Talking.”

“Who with?”

“Lt Oakhurst.”

“Rags?” Abdulla turned to Smitty. “I thought Negron was testing her.”

“Oakhurst is one of yours?” Jane asked, also turning to him. “What’s she being tested on?”

“Ah... computers. Negron was supposed to test and train her, but made a mess of it, so I handed it to Oakhurst.”

“I see.” Before she turned away, Jane’s eyes told him they would speak of this again. “Surely Lt Oakhurst didn’t make you late for duty.”

Colleen raised her head. “Not on purpose. I’m sure it wasn’t on purpose. We were talking, studied some schematics. He pulled up a program and told me there was a bug in it he couldn’t find. I didn’t really believe him, but I found 2. And one I wasn’t sure was a bug, but it didn’t feel right. Couldn’t tell him about that one, because a man said he was reporting in. That’s when I saw the time and raced-“ She sighed. “But I was late.”

Smitty stared at her. “You ran from engineering to the bridge in 9 minutes?”

“With a stop at her quarters, too, most likely,” Jane added. “If she wasn’t in uniform.”

“Of course,” Smitty agreed, but the thought only made it harder to believe.

“It... wasn’t quite midnight when I left engineering,” Colleen corrected.

“Jane leaned back on her heels, her eyes on the ceiling as she thought. “Mr Evans, I assume you bring this to my attention because MacDowell has a habit of being late.”

Evans’ cheeks turned ruddy. “I didn’t say that, captain.”

“Not yet a habit, then. How often has she been late during the last 6 months?”

Abdulla waited for his response. If she doesn’t like his answer, she’ll dig through the records for proof. Because I’m sure she’s kept an eye on those records all along.

Evans’ mouth worked a bit, and then he stated, “This was her first time.”

“Her fir-“ Jane took a sharp breath, her mood changing. “Why mention it? I would expect you to reprimand her and be done with it.”

“I did! I mean, I would have, but she refused to tell me why she was late!”

“Not important when it’s her first tardiness in 7, almost 8 months! If it became a habit, then you might dig into the excuses! You are relieved, Mr Evans. You may leave the bridge.”

“Yes, captain. Thank you, captain.”

As the midnight helmsman left, his face red, Jane held up her hand to hold the 2 communications officers in place. “Mr Bugalu, did you ask MacDowell something about Lt Oakhurst?”

“Yes, captain, I did,” the helmsman replied.

“Did it have any bearing on her being late?”

“I... didn’t know,” he returned. “I spoke out of surprise.”

“That she spent time with Mr Oakhurst last night?”

“No, captain, I was there when he asked her to finish her test.”

“What was your surprise, that made you speak of it?”

Bugalu cleared his throat, stood to face her. “When I signed in at my post, I received a message from Lt Oakhurst in which he apologized for having Mac -Dowell break our date yesterday.”

“Oh.” Jane dismissed the distraction. “Smythe, MacDowell, my office.”

Now what? She dismissed Evans’ complaint. He followed the women into the captain’s office, but when Jane stood behind her desk, Colleen didn’t sit. Smitty took a position next to his subordinate. Jane’s attention shifted from Colleen to Smitty and back again, as if she didn’t know which of them to start with.

“Oakhurst should have started the test early enough to get done before your shift began,” Jane stated.

“I didn’t think it would take that long,” Colleen answered. “He approached me in the rec room just after C shift started.”

Jane turned to him. “8 hours?”

“I’ve never taken that long, not in 1... sitting. But Oakhurst, uh, hasn’t had as much practice.”

Jane considered him for a moment. “I thought you conduct the tests.”

Smitty tried not to blush. “Somehow, that didn’t work, in this case. Besides, it’s good the seniors get some practice at it.”

“Perhaps Oakhurst isn’t ready, if his tests last so long.”

“I don’t-“ Colleen started.

“Wait your turn.”

“Yes, captain.”

“Originally, Negron was testing MacDowell. Negron’s not a senior.”

“They - Colleen and Negron - had a disagreement about computers. I thought if he tested her, it might assuage his opinion of her.”

“Instead, he botched the job, and you turned it over to Oakhurst.” She sat down, but neither of them followed suit. “When?”

“What?”

“When did you give the assignment to Oakhurst?” she asked impatiently.

“Ahh, yesterday morning.”

“I suppose we should give him points for wanting to get it done, and for not waking her up to do it.”

“I... believe he was asleep on B shift,” Smitty stated.

Jane looked up in surprise. “Asleep. What shift is he on?”

“D shift,” Colleen stated, and hurriedly lowered her burning face. “Sorry, captain.”

Jane didn’t take exception to the interruption, this time. “Smitty, if you’re going to have other people test her, make sure they understand they can’t make her late for duty.” She abruptly turned her attention to the girl. “He’s not expecting to continue the test today, is he?”

Colleen didn’t answer. Smitty’s hand twitched at his side. Green eyes glanced up, and she realized the question had been directed at her. “I- I don’t know. Nothing was said, but I... was in a hurry.”

Jane sighed. “I instructed Lt MacDowell not to get so caught up in her projects - one of which is for you, after all - that she has no social life. Now she not only was late, she broke a date, and that isn’t fair.” She reached to turn on her computer. “Can’t imagine why he felt the need to move so quickly.”

“I- I did tell him not to take 12 days,” Smitty admitted.

“Where did 12 days come into this?”

“Negron took that long to turn in his report.”

“How long was the test Negron gave you?”

“Ahhh, 5 meetings. None of them more than an hour,” Colleen stated.

“Smitty, I understand your desire to have good people on your team, but part of your job is to prepare them for the next step in their career. If they can’t test someone and turn in the results within acceptable parameters, then somebody is not doing his best for them.”

How did Colleen being late become a back mark against me? Not that Jane’s wrong. I get so comfortable with my team, I forget to teach them the non-engineering aspects of the next job they’ll someday have. “Yes, captain. I understand.”

“Good. You’re dismissed.” Jane was working on her computer, sorting email, probably. Colleen had disappeared. He looked around the office in confusion. “She left while you were mulling over what I said,” Jane stated.

“I see.” He didn’t understand how the girl could have left without him realizing it, but she had, and her absence left a twisted ache in his chest that reminded him, somehow, of his first year at the Academy. He started for the door and then paused. “What did you want to talk about? Before that hullabaloo on the bridge?”

Jane looked up from her screen. “If you’d heard anything from MacDowell about that technual she’s translating for you.”

He gave her a broad smile. “She sends me an update every morning. A few words haven’t yet been translated, but the schematics are starting to make sense.”

“If you’re going to try building one of their transporter ray machines, don’t do it in engineering. Find an empty room.”

“I’ll look,” he agreed, and left.

Questions

Month 7 Day 30

1619 Hours

Lt Ragamuffin Oakhurst

Lt ‘Rags’ Oakhurst glanced around the rec room, gave a more intense look at the female using a computer in a corner. Yikes. Della was right about MacDowell’s hair color. That has got to be her. Looks like she’s busy, but Smythe wants this done.

When he approached, the redhead actually had 2 computer screens facing her. One held a schematic diagram that didn’t look complete, and which he couldn’t identify. The other screen showed what appeared to be random groups of words and symbols connected by lines. Sitting next to MacDowell was a dusky-skinned yeoman. “Mind if I join you?” Oakhurst asked.

The yeoman turned her head to look him over, muttered, “Lit.”

MacDowell glanced at his sleeve. “Comp spec.” Sounds like they have a private language. The redhead sighed. “I’m busy, Negron. Go away.”

“I’m not Negron.” Oakhurst waited, but she seemed absorbed in her 2 screens.

A man paused to look at the 2 screens over the redhead’s shoulder. “Working on your projects?”

“One of them.”

“Isn’t this movie night?”

“Give me a minute to see if this makes sense.”

The dark man sat opposite her, gave Rags a look-over. “Oakhurst, isn’t it?” As Rags nodded, the other man offered his hand. “Bugalu,” he identified himself. “Sit down. Otherwise, she’ll refuse to acknowledge you.”

Rags hesitated, but pulled out the final chair and sat as the redhead absently stated, “No, I won’t.”

“You already are,” Bugalu told her. “It’s rude.”

She briefly stuck out her tongue at Bugalu and inched closer to the screens. “Are you here to test me, Lt... ah, not Negron?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then what do you want?”

This isn’t going the way I expected. But when Smythe wants something done, a smart person does it. “I’m trying to figure out what Lt Negron’s report means.”

Red placed a finger on one screen and turned green eyes his way. “So he turned it in. How did you get it?”

“Mr Smythe kicked it to me. I’m the senior ‘comp spec’.”

Her mouth thinned, and her eyes flashed. Both hands balled on the tabletop as she turned to Bugalu. “He could have asked me himself! Why didn’t he-“

Bugalu shushed her. “Think about how well you answer questions for him.”

The anger drained from her face. She realized her finger no longer pointed to either computer screen. She spouted unintelligible whispers.

“Watch your language!” Bugalu told her. She broke off her tirade and gave him a quizzical look. “I listened to Gaelunde cursing for 2 years before you got to the academy.”

She smiled. “Of course. All my brothers are cursers. I sure didn’t learn it from ma!” She looked at her computer screens again and gave a sad sigh. “Guess I’m done; I don’t remember where I was. But it looked logical. I think.” Now she turned her attention to Rags. “Well, Oak, what do you want to know?”

Nobody shortens my last name. They find my first name too comical, and I can’t blame them. “How much computer training did you get at the academy?”

“The usual for communications.”

“You didn’t take any computer courses as electives?”

“No.”

Rags frowned. That confirms her record. Negron thinks she cheated somehow. But cheating isn’t easy. “What about high school?”

The yeoman yawned. “Dog’s right,” Bugalu stated. “You’re not asking the right questions. Let me. Mac, what did you study on your own at the academy?”

“Languages,” she answered.

“Sure. But as Matt and I neared graduation, you said human languages were too much alike.”

“Of course. They all get used by humans.”

“So, after that, what did you study?”

The redhead shot a glance toward Rags, and her face went pink. “Computer languages.”

Now it gets interesting. “Which ones?” Rags asked. The redhead rattled off several translation programs, a number of decoding programs and a few general purpose programs. “You seem to have programs confused with languages, but you studied all that in 2 years? Um, 18 months?”

“I didn’t go home after my freshman/sophomore summer, so it was 26 months.”

“24,” Bugalu corrected. “The academy uses Earth years.”

“Right. Short on gravity, short years.”

“Were the programs harder than human languages?”

The question surprised her. “No. They were created by humans for machines that can’t actually think. Well, compared to humans. They got boring pretty quickly.”

“Then what did you study?” Bugalu asked.

Startled green eyes flashed at the dark man as Red’s tongue nervously moistened her lips. For a moment, she seemed unable to speak, then her eyes darted all around them, she leaned far over the desk and as her face went red, she whispered, “Engineering!”

Rags sat back in surprise, though he wasn’t sure if his surprise was at her admission or at her obvious nervousness in making that admission.

Bugalu shook his head. “Should have changed your field your first semester.”

“You know I couldn’t!” she declared.

“He was light-years away. He couldn’t have kept you from doing it.”

“Except he did!” she hissed.

“Brain-washed,” Bugalu stated.

MacDowell seemed ready to give another hot retort, but hesitated a long moment. “Maybe.”

“Don’t let him win.”

“That’s not as easy as you make it sound!”

“You’ll be cross-trained. Just... let it happen. I bet he never wanted you to be a bad employee.”

“Pa never expected me to be an employee! And when I did enlist, he expected me home as soon as my first tour was over!”

“You’re still here.”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, gave her dark friend a tremulous smile. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good,” the yeoman grunted, and touched the redhead’s shoulder.

Red turned back to Rags. “What else, Oak?”

Rags hesitated before offering, “I do answer to ‘lieutenant’.”

“So do I. So does Bugs and others in this room,” MacDowell returned. “Think how confusing that could get. The truth is, I was concentrating when you arrived, and I didn’t catch your name. Thought it started with ‘Oak’ or ‘Oats’. ‘Oak’ seemed more likely.”

“Watch out,” Bugalu warned. “She shortens everybody’s name.”

“I’m used to being called ‘Rags’. One more won’t make a difference.”

“I’m not ‘everybody’,” she told him. “To me, you’re ‘Oak’. Unless the situation is formal. Any more questions?”

“Sounds like all you did at the academy was study. First, languages, then computers-“

“Computer languages,” she corrected. “Yes, I did study. A lot.”

“Did you test out of any courses?”

She nodded. “Several languages.”

“Computer languages?”

Now she frowned. “No. Professor Ingalls thought communications people only needed to use a keyboard. When I asked to test for a computer language, he refused. I never asked again.”

“Negron gave you 3 tests. Did those tests cover all you know about computers and their languages?”

She crossed her arms and leaned on the desk, deep in thought. “I don’t think my knowledge is that organized. Plus, each time I answered a question, he got more upset. No idea why.” She paused, her lower lip caught between her teeth, and lowered her gaze to the desk. “As far as I know, I flunked.”

Flunked? She did better than Negron when he came aboard. And he’s a comp spec. Names isn’t all she shortens, I guess. “You revealed a lot of knowledge. Negron... was supposed to figure out how much you have, and I’m not sure he did. Do you mind if I finish the job?”

She searched his face for a moment. “Are you going to get irritated as I answer questions?”

Rags shook his head. “I like meeting people whose eyes don’t glaze over as soon as I open my mouth.”

Bugalu snorted. “Mac’s are more likely to glow with interest and she’ll dig for more details.”

She turned to the helmsman. “That’s a strange thing to say.”

“No, it’s not. Matt said you were always watching your brothers, pestering them with questions.”

“Well, yeah. I hated being the baby. They could all do things that - supposedly - I couldn’t do.”

“And every time Kevin... Keith? tore into a broken instrument -“

“Karl,” she corrected. “Karl was always cracking open something electrical. And when he wasn’t looking, I’d put it back together.”

Self taught. Some say that’s the best way. “Look, Mr Smythe wants this report back, finished, so would it be possible for you to come to my office now?”

“Well...” She looked to her 2 friends. The yeoman waved her away.

“We can see the movie tomorrow,” Bugalu told her. “I haven’t even ordered the pizza yet.”

“Okay.” She stood up. Rags stood also. She turned one computer to face the yeoman and the other one off. “Engineering?”

Did she just break a date? He realized she was asking about his office location. “Yes.”

She started off, and he adjusted his stride to her pace. She gave him a quick glance. “You’re the senior, but you work C shift?”

“D,” he corrected. “Lets me keep an eye on the others. If I’m handed a problem that the shift specialist has already worked on 3 times, someone’s irritated and won’t be shy about giving me an earful.”

“That’s an interesting way to do it.”

Rags chuckled. “Some say it’s devious. Now, would you prefer I open a test and ask you the questions, or do you just want to talk about computers and programs for a while?”

She looked at him in surprise. “I prefer the latter, but would that be sufficient?”

“Let’s give it a try. Sometimes it works better than questions and answers.”