Month 12 Day 13
2122 Hours
Oakhurst
What’s
she studying now? She passed probation. Rumor has it she could pass probation
for engineering, if she wanted. Well, I’ll leave her to her studying.
Tomorrow’s valentine’s day, and if I pay any attention to her, the gossips will
have us paired off in no time. He turned back to watching,
just as one of the technicians died in the game.
“Hello, Mac.”
“Go away, Jones.”
“I’m not here to hassle you. I just
wondered what you’re studying now.”
Mac sighed and leaned back in her chair.
“Well, have a look.”
Jones glanced at the screen, ready to
make some kind of remark, then looked harder. His forehead wrinkled in
confusion. “What is it?”
“You tell me. You’re the engineer.”
But
that doesn’t necessarily mean whatever’s on the screen is part of engineering.
Knowing Mac, it could be any part of the ship. Or part of that Yukosk machine
she’s been working on with Smythe.
More engineers walked over to view the
screen. Once they were there, they couldn’t seem to leave, as they whispered
among themselves about whatever they saw on the screen. She must have something
rarely needing work on that screen, Oakhurst surmised.
“That’s not anything in engineering,”
Adams finally ventured to say.
“It is,” Mac stated calmly.
“No, it’s not,” Adams returned, and
looked around the rec room. “Mr Smythe! Could you come over for a moment?”
Smythe joined the group looking over the
redhead’s shoulder. “Well, that’s not the way you’d normally see it,” he
stated, and sat down next to her. “Do you know what it is, Colleen?”
“Yes,” she answered at once. “It’s a duplex
relay manifold.”
Smythe tried to hide his surprise. “Very
good. But as I said, you’d never see it from this direction.”
“No,” she agreed, “but I was thinking
how much it’s like the Yukoskian part 20911.” She slipped another memory chip
into the viewer’s 2nd port and called up another view. “You see? They even look
alike, sort of. And if you consider the work they do, they kind of do the same
thing, only reversed.”
“Well, there is some slight
resemblance,” Smythe allowed, and turned to face the group behind them. “Go
along, now. We’re discussing Yukosian technology, and I don’t need you getting
it confused with ours.”
The group of engineers left the
vicinity, some looking disappointed, others relieved. Meanwhile the
conversation between Mac and Smythe continued, in somewhat quieter tones. “What
piece is the 20911? I must not have that manual memorized yet, as I don’t
remember that one.”
“Oh, it was one of the first pieces we
put together. It sits in the bottom layer of Joe, long before we started figuring
out what each piece does.”
“Before you started figuring out what each piece does,” Smythe corrected,
and lay a hand on her shoulder, let it slide down her upper arm
Oakhurst stiffened, expecting a violent
reaction from the redhead. He’d seen it before, at least the threat of violence.
But this time... He stared, for she never made a move to strike her superior
officer, nor even to remove his hand. That’s
not like her. This behavior... is just unfathomable.
Then both techs died in their game of
Darznok, producing a technical foul for both of them. Oakhurst turned back to
listen to them grumble as they prepared to continue. Darznok was not an easy
game. Maybe I should have volunteered to
slow it down for them, like Mac did the other night.
It seemed like the rec room was losing
its popularity, with a steady stream of people headed for the door. Oakhurst
watched several leave, wondering what they planned to do that was more
interesting than the games available here. He glanced around the room in confusion.
His gaze finally came back to Mac and Smythe.
Smythe had placed his other hand on
Mac’s knee, and as they continued to talk about... whatever, he hadn’t kept
track of their conversation... that hand began to inch up her leg. And she was
doing nothing to stop it, although a
quiver said she was aware of it.
The entire rec room was nearly empty,
except for him, the Darznok players and a blond flirting with someone in a far
corner. Oakhurst bumped the elbow of one of the Darznok players, who complained,
until his unexpected move won him the battle.
Oakhurst leaned forward and whispered,
“Unless you want to be called on as witnesses, you’d better get out of here.”
One player glanced across the room at
the blond and her lover. “That’s just Monroe. She’s always making out with
someone.”
“I didn’t mean her,” Oakhurst replied
and stood up to leave. The other player stared in shock at the redhead and
Smythe and hurriedly got up, headed for the door. Soon the room would be empty
except for 2 couples at 2 different tables.
Oakhurst almost made it to the door. But
then he stopped, remembering Mac’s normally violent temper. If she reacts to her superior’s transgressions,
she’ll be in trouble. If she’s caught not
reacting, she’ll also be in trouble. As would Mr Smythe, who’s also my superior.
Swallowing his fear, he turned around and walked to their table.
Smythe’s hand had traveled most the way
up her thigh, and his other arm was on Mac’s chair back. There were still a few
inches between their faces, but it was a compromising position for them to be
in. “Mac,” Oakhurst tried to break in.
Smythe didn’t even look around, just
issued a terse, “We’re talking,” and continued. “So, if we’d have taken some of
our common—”
“Mac, how’s your computer doing?”
Oakhurst tried again.
“Fine,” she answered, and a moment
later, she looked away from Smythe to the interrupter. Blushing, she dropped a
hand over Smythe’s to stop it from traveling any further. “Um, why do you ask,
Oaks?”
Anticipating a glare from Smythe,
Oakhurst went on, “I know you keep it busy most all the time. Wondered if your
being here to study meant your computer needed a tune-up.”
Smythe pulled his wayward hand away and
sat up straight, removed his arm from the chair back. His face had gone dusky.
“I believe you told me she was capable of taking care of her own computer,
Oakhurst.” He didn’t sound angry. More confused.
By his own conduct?
“It wasn’t exactly her computer I was
worried about, sir,” Oakhurst confessed.
“Yes,” Smythe acknowledged, and scooted
a little further away from the redhead. “Well, we’ll have to continue this
discussion on Monday, Colleen. When the 4 of us are together.” He pulled both
memory chips from the view screen and handed them to her. “Why don’t you run
along and discuss computers with Oakhurst?”
“I... yes, sir,” she said and stood up.
With a confused look on her face, she headed for the nearest door, not
bothering to see if Oakhurst followed her.
Once in the hallway, Oakhurst stopped and
let her go her own way alone. Well, I got
out of that unscathed, which I wasn’t expecting. It’s kind of like neither one
of them was aware of what was happening.
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