Month 11 Day 3
1030 Hours
Smitty
Smitty left the lift and headed for the brig. I wonder... Maybe the suggestion was a tacit
effort to let me avoid Colleen? In this case, it won’t work. It’s not fair to
wake up Wilson just because I don’t want to see a particular person. I just
won’t look at her. Or talk to her.
She knows I don’t approve of her fighting, so not talking to her shouldn’t be
too hard to do. I’ll just go in, put this in the bed, and then leave again.
Nothing to it.
I hope.
There were 2 guards at the door to the brig. They both moved
to stop him, but it was Ingersol who spoke. “Sorry, sir, no visitors allowed at
this time.”
“I’m not a visitor, I’ve come to put variable gravity on the
bed, so the prisoner can sleep.”
The 2 guards looked at each other. “Well, it’s been suggested
that we keep men away from her until she’s calmed down.”
“You’ve been given a suggestion,
you say. But I have orders from the captain to get this installed.”
“Well, perhaps Harris or one of the other female engineers--“
Again with the ‘let
Harris do it’! “Harris is busy, and in any case isn’t
trained on how to do it. There’s very few people who can do a proper job with
variable gravity. Otherwise, it would be available everywhere. Any other
questions, Ensign?”
“No, sir.”
Smitty walked in and straight over to the command post, where
Ensign Hernandez stood watch. “Okay, Ensign, I’m here to make modifications to
the prisoner’s bed. Open up and let me in.”
“I’m sorry, sir, Lt Tall Bear gave me orders not to let men
in.”
“And I have orders from the captain to get this done. Do you
want to call the captain and confirm that with her?”
“No, sir, I’ll let you in.”
“Good.” He walked toward the cell, extremely aware that
Colleen was standing in front of the bed, her green eyes large as she watched
him approach. With only a few feet between him and the force field, she and her
blanket skittered to the farthest corner. It rather looked like she was trying
to press herself into as small a package as she could, or possibly through the
wall and into the next holding cell. Smitty pulled his gaze away from her as
the force field crackled shut behind him and got to work on the bed.
“Mr Smythe, what are you doing?”
He looked up to see Beth standing near Colleen, her hand
lightly resting on the girl’s shoulder. “Adding variable gravity to the bed,”
he answered, and returned to his work. “Captain’s orders.”
“Oh.” He could hear Beth whispering to Colleen, trying to
keep her calm. “He’s just going to be here for a few minutes, Mac. Just take
some deep breaths... He won’t be here long. Take another deep breath. You’re
doing well.”
Smitty stopped listening, concentrated on getting done as
quickly as possible. And of course, the unit didn’t want to cooperate. It took
him far longer to get things installed than it should have, but eventually he
stood up. “Okay. Computer, activate gravity on holding cell 1 bed to Gaelund
standard.” He held a hand over the bed, felt it being pulled just a little more
than normal. “Okay, I’m done.” Without any conscious direction, his gaze
wandered over to Beth and Colleen. Mostly Colleen. “I could have let you do it
yourself, but regulations say that a prisoner cannot make adjustments to her
holding cell.” Green eyes got even larger, if that was possible, but otherwise,
she made no response. “Okay, ensign, let me out.”
The force field crackled, he stepped out, and the field
crackled once more. He stepped over to the security command board, and toggled
a connection to the captain. “Smitty to Capt Burke.”
“Yes, Smitty.”
“The modification to the bed in holding cell 1 has been
completed.”
“Thank you, Smitty. Burke out.”
“You lay down and try to sleep,” Beth told the redhead. “I’ll
be here if you need me.” She turned to face the force field, her hands full of
scraps of material. “Hernandez, let me out, please.” In a moment, she was out,
walking toward the table at the side.
“What’s that?” Smitty asked, indicating the cloth remnants
Beth carried.
“Mac’s uniform,” Beth answered. “What’s left of it.”
“They had just
gotten her changed when you walked in,” Hernandez stated softly.
If I’d been just a
minute earlier. Well, that would have been embarrassing. Although, I assume the
field on her cell would have been fuzzed so that nothing really could have been
seen. He finally looked at the other 2 holding cells, realized there
were no other prisoners. “Where’s her opponent?”
“Still in sick bay,” Beth told him, as she sorted the cloth
into various piles. “I understand she managed to knock him out.”
Smitty sighed and muttered, “I told her to keep her temper
under control.” He turned to leave.
“Mr Smythe!” Temple called after him. He turned to face her,
and she went on. “If you are thinking this was a one-sided fight, I would like
to disabuse you of that notion. It was a mutual endeavor, each trying to get
the other to do something they didn’t want to do. If you could see Mac’s
bruises, you’d see she took quite a beating. I only hope she gave as good as
she got.” She turned back to her work. “Hernandez, I think that’s part of her
uniform shorts, not the tunic.”
Smitty, chastised, turned back for the door, then took a good
look at the one piece of Colleen he could see; her face. One eye socket was
beginning to darken, and the opposite cheek was already bruised. Her upper lip
was torn. It had definitely not been a one-sided fight. And then he saw the
glistening of tears before she rolled over and faced the wall.
Shakened, Smitty stepped into the hall and turned to face
Ingersol. “I suppose Winthrop is investigating what happened?”
“Sir, Winthrop is in sick bay. Tall Bear is conducting the
investigation.”
Smitty nodded slowly and headed back to engineering, feeling
sick to his stomach. Mac’s opponent is in
sick bay. Winthrop is in sick bay. Tall Bear is conducting the investigation,
which implies that Winthrop is either incapacitated or... or involved in the mayhem.
And if Winthrop is involved...
He found himself disagreeing with Beth. If Winthrop was
involved, then he hoped Colleen had inflicted far worse than what she had
endured.
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