Added Assignment & Almost Late

Added Assignment

Month 9 Day 17

0658 Hours

Smitty

Bugalu was outraged. “First Ivy dumps me, and now you do, Mac? How could you?”

“But you don’t need me, Bugsy,” Colleen told her erstwhile lover. “And I know now that Smit does.” She turned to put her hand on Smitty’s chest and leaned against him, sending waves of glorious happiness through his body.

“Smitty...”

“Is that what he told you? Better be careful, Mac; I’ve heard Winthrop use that line, too.”

“Smitty?”

“Don’t be insulting, young man,” Smitty told him firmly. “Now, she’s let you know how she feels, and it’s time for you to move on.”

“Smitty!”

Startled, Smitty opened his eyes and looked around in confusion. He was sitting at the desk in his quarters, his head propped up on one hand. Where’s Colleen? And when did the Captain arrive? Hope she didn’t hear that conversation.

“Are you awake now, Smitty?” Jane asked in a more normal tone. “That must have been some dream you were having, with that big smile on your face. Was it about something you read in one of your magazines?”

Dream! Yes, of course that must have been a dream. She may have tried to break off with him, but he’s still hanging on, still insisting on seeing her, to ‘talk things out.’ “No, I... don’t think so,” he answered his boss. He lowered his half-asleep arm, then raised the other hand to massage a crick in his neck. “I’m surprised you got in, captain, I thought I locked my door. Why are you here so late?”

“Being captain has its privileges; when I tell the computer I want in, a simple lock is easy to overcome. And it’s not like it’s the middle of the night; you’ve got about an hour to get ready for work. I hope you can function today, because I’ve got an assignment for you, and I want it done this morning.”

“Tell me what it is, and I’ll get someone started on it right away.”

“No, I want you to do it. I don’t want to risk any further damage to a valuable member of the crew.”

“Damage?”

Jane started pacing across his living room as she explained what she wanted. “A certain young crew member has been working out on weight station C and treadmill C, experiencing her home planet gravity every day, from what I hear. She gets so used to experiencing that ‘extra’ gravity that when she lays down to sleep, the apparent lack of gravity gives her nightmares about falling off a cliff. Since her health would no doubt be effected if she gave up that time in her home world’s gravity, then the obvious answer is to adjust her bed to have the same gravity as her home world.” She stopped pacing and turned to face him. “And nobody understands gravity units like you do.”

“Colleen,” he whispered, and cleared his throat. “You’re talking about Colleen. MacDowell.”

She gave a sharp nod. “When she tried to sleep yesterday, the nightmares were back, worse than ever, after 2 weeks on light-gravity Ulseess.”

2 weeks she spent glued to Bugalu. His mood blackened at the thought, and his mouth thinned as he started using both hands to massage his neck. “Fine, I’ll do it today.”

“At 0800 hours,” Jane instructed. He gave her a confused look at her micro-managing, and she went on. “Her roommate works days, so you can’t do it before 0800. I understand MacDowell goes to bed as soon as she’s off duty, so you can’t wait any longer than 0800, or you’ll wake her. Not that she’d be sleeping well. Besides, it will give you a chance to teach her something.”

So she’s noticed I haven’t made much progress in getting Colleen cross-trained. “Right,” he agreed sourly, and turned off his computer, knowing he didn’t dare start reading again right now. He stood up and stretched, trying to ease sore and stiff muscles. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to shower and get my day started.” He headed for the bedroom without waiting for Jane to leave. She got herself in; she can see herself out.

Almost Late

Month 9 Day 17

0758 Hours

Capt Jane Burke

As the end of the midnight shift ticked down, Jane tried to keep a careful eye on the happenings at the communications console without appearing to be unduly interested. No sense in getting any gossip started about me and some random crew member. Where’s Smitty? I told him 0800, and I meant it.

“I don’t envy you that adventure,” Abdulla told her co-worker. “Just the thought makes me shiver! Cold blanket! If the cold doesn’t suck the life out of you, the weight will squish it out.”

“I understand that thought, but apparently, it was just what-“

“MacDowell!” came a crisp tone from the newly opened lift, and there was Smitty, holding the door open as he glowered at the 2 women at communications. Eager as the A shift was to leave, nobody seemed interested in joining him for a trip down. “Have you been relieved?”

“Yes, sir,” the redhead replied uncertainly. Undoubtedly, she was also put off by his unexplained anger.

“Then come with me,” he instructed. As the young woman entered the lift, Smitty had the audacity to glance at Jane with anger in his eyes.

As the lift door closed, Jane settled back in her command chair and picked an imaginary piece of lint from her uniform slacks. Well, that’s what I get for telling him when and what to teach her. He’ll get over it once he realizes I’m right. By space, she passed probation 3 months ago, and all he’s had done in that time is have her tested in computers. If she were any other communications lieutenant, she’d be half-way to being a full-fledged engineer by now! If he’s not aware of just how badly he’s treating her, by not making an effort to cross-train her, then it’s my duty to point it out to him. In the meantime, he’ll probably take it out on her. Which really will be treating her badly.

That will be something to check on. Later. And discretely, of course. She smoothed her pant leg and her brow and, as she did every morning, calmly asked, “Helm, what’s our course?”