Observations & Worried Friends

Observations

Month 8 Day 20

1903 Hours

Jane Burke

This should do us all some good. We don’t spend much time together except for work. Why not? Nothing in common? I’m not proposing we become inseparable. Takor wants to learn about humans. And we might learn more about his people. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

Jane glanced around as she crossed the main rec room and noticed a certain redhead sitting with several friends in a corner. I told her to spend time with friends, not be a recluse. Maybe I should follow my own advice. It sounded pretty good.

Duck looked up from studiously chalking the tip of a pool cue as she approached. “You do realize this is one of the most popular activities on the ship, don’t you? There’s already been 3 groups wanting this table.”

“Once in a while, rank has to have some privilege, not just responsibilities. As soon as the others arrive, we can start.”

“What others?”

“Smitty and Takor. We’ll play as teams.”

“When did Takor learn to play?”

“He’s about to. Here they are. Good evening, gentlemen. We’re going to teach Takor the human game of pool. He’s on your team, Smitty. Help it locate a cue.”

“Is this not a game played in water?” Takor asked.

“Afraid not,” Duck answered. “We don’t play many games in water.”

“I forgot. You have no gills.”

“That would make water games easier,” Jane said. “We can break out some breathing apparatus some day and give it a try. For tonight, let’s try this. Takor, I put you on Smitty’s team because you both speak the same language.”

“Do we not all speak English?”

“Yes, that one, too. But I meant math. Pool is a game of angles and vectors. Smitty, give him a basic rundown of the objectives of the game.”

As Smitty started, Jane noticed Duck’s attention was aimed across the room, where MacDowell was hurriedly making an exit from her group of friends. The redhead practically ran out, tossing a quick look at the pool tables as she left.

“I bet he doesn’t even realize what he’s done,” Duck muttered.

“Who’s done what?” Jane asked.

“Ah... Do you want to break, or shall I?”

“Go ahead,” she told him, and he walked off. MacDowell looked in our direction as she left. Duck wasn’t talking about me, and I assume not about himself. Technically, Takor isn’t male, though many of the crew refer to it that way. Smitty? Again? Wonder if I dare ask how her cross-training is coming.

Worried Friends

Month 8 Day 20

1912 Hours

Tall Bear

Bear watched Mac hurriedly leave, saw her glance at the pool tables. He noted every person in that area. “Bugalu, what’s her problem?” He realized he had interrupted someone. “Sorry, Temple. But Mac’s acting strange, and I’m worried about her.”

Abdulla sighed. “So other people have noticed, too.”

“I’ve noticed,” Temple stated. “But it seems random. Sudden bouts of nervousness that sets her shaking so hard… Or her mind goes blank and she doesn’t even remember she was talking, let alone what she was saying. Now this. So, Bugsy, what’s going on?”

Bugalu frowned at the coffee cup in front of him. “I don’t know. She won’t talk to me about it.”

“If she won’t talk to you...” Capac began.

“Yeah, how can the rest of us have any hope?” Della took over.

“There must be a pattern to it,” Bugalu stated. “She’s nervous at the end of her shift, for one thing.”

“I’m not surprised,” Bear stated.

“Wait,” Abdulla said. “Evans and Adams used to make her angry, not nervous. And Hauser said she gets jumpy just minutes before the end of shift, as if changing shift has her worried.”

“You know about Evans and Adams, then,” Bear confirmed.

“Of course. I thought she’d ask for help long before now, but until she does, there’s not much I can do.”

“She probably won’t ask,” Bugalu stated. “Usually when she protested that kind of attention at the academy, she was the one who got in trouble.”

Temple rolled her eyes. “Why don’t decent men ever stand up for a woman who’s sexually bullied?”

“I don’t know,” Abdulla agreed. “I’ll talk to some of the others on A shift bridge. Maybe if they spoke up…”

“I’m not sure they would,” Della chimed in. “Evans doesn’t just bully women; he has the entire A shift bridge crew cowed. They don’t like it, don’t like him, but he has more rank than they do.”

“Not by much,” Bear stated. “If several spoke up together…”

“Della, isn’t this when you leave for a date?” Capac asked.

“Not tonight,” she answered simply. “I’ve been taking notes every time it isn’t Adams doing the stuff he should be doing in A shift engineering. I haven’t done anything with it yet because, the last week or so, Smythe has hardly poked his nose into engineering! I don’t want him to mistake my notes as a rebuke of his… preoccupation. I’d rather not wind up back on his bad side.”

“I hear he’s working on a Yukosk transporter, now that the technical manual has been translated,” Temple stated.

“Ivy confirms that. Some evenings, he comes back to engineering for her help with a particular passage. Since she’s worked on a kind-of hybrid of it before.”

“Ivy still talks to you, after you monopolized LaPour for so long?” Bugalu asked.

“She can have him, if she still wants him. I tried to tell her he wasn’t really serious. Since I had no trouble pulling him away, she finally saw I was right. I hated to do it, but… she deserves better.”

“I think I’m insulted,” Abdulla stated. “I worked on that hybrid machinery, too, but he’s never asked me to help.”

“Because technically, you’re not an engineer,” Bear pointed out. “Smythe puts people in a category. Think of it as he’s looking for a tool. A particular tool; a particular engineering… screwdriver. If he can’t find one, if they’re all busy, or broken, then he might get the work done with a communications screwdriver. But it isn’t what he’s looking for.”

“I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t like being thought of as a tool.”

“It’s not a conscious thought,” Della explained.

Bear turned his head before the approaching woman could touch his shoulder. “I see you, YD. No coup this time.” The AmerInd woman smiled and drifted off.

“Wait,” Capac stated. “Wasn’t Mac doing something with Yellow Dog tonight?”

“You have a poor ear for lies,” Bugalu told him. “She gave us 6 reasons for leaving, and none of them were true.”

Abdulla asked, “Did one of us say or do something…?”

“Did you touch her, Capac?” Bugalu asked.

“She was on the opposite side of the table!” Capac reminded him. “The most I could have tried was to kick her, and I wouldn’t have known who I was kicking.”

“Bear? You sat next to her.”

“I know better. No, not even accidentally. But, I felt she didn’t want to sit over here. That she preferred facing the wall.”

“She’s that way at supper, too,” Temple agreed. “Well, breakfast for her and TB. We have to sit along a wall, and she sits facing the wall. Like she doesn’t want to see what’s behind her.”

“Did somebody come in just before she decided to leave?” Della asked.

They’re all looking at me. Makes sense; I’m facing the door, and I notice what goes on around me. “Yes,” Bear said softly. “A couple of fabrication guys joined that card game by the snack dispenser. And the group at pool table B.” Bear looked elsewhere for a time, sure that everyone else at his table had turned to see who was at pool table B.

“She likes Takor,” Della stated.

“And D- McGregor, also,” Temple added.

“Smythe,” Abdulla groaned. “I thought she’d get past that problem – whatever it was – once she passed probation!”

Bugalu turned back, and Bear caught his eye. The helmsman gave a slight shake of his head, looking troubled and thoughtful at the same time. That look says there’s probably trouble ahead. Wish I knew what kind.