Rumors

 Month 14 Day 3

1612 Hours

Bugalu

 Bugalu rang the doorbell for Mac’s living room, and the door opened for him to enter. There was no sign of anybody in the living room. “Mac!” he called out. “Are you up yet?”

There came a grunt from the bedroom. “Ahh, not really.”

“Well, get up and let’s go eat.” Been hearing rumors about Mac, one of which is true, and we need to do something about it. One I hope is true, and one that’s just plain unbelievable. Still, as naive as she is, I’d better check it out.

She appeared in the doorway in a pair of pajamas, her hair mussed, her face white with dark smudges under her eyes. “Rain check?” she asked and yawned. “I only just nodded off an hour or so ago.”

“Get dressed, let’s go eat, then you can come back and sleep. Are you having trouble sleeping again?”

“Not usually,” she answered, and turned back into her bedroom, presumably to get dressed. “Just today,” she called back to him. “Things have happened.”

Like transferring to engineering? “What kind of things?”

“Oh, let’s wait until I get some food in me. Maybe then I can wake up and talk coherently.”

Well, I can’t fault her for that. I’d like some coherent conversation with her. “Well, don’t take too long getting dressed; I’m hungry.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” And before long, she came out of the bedroom in a red shirt and blue slacks. For once, she didn’t have the shirt tucked in. Her hair was still looking messy, but was confined in a mass of curls at the nape of her neck. “Okay, I guess I’m ready,” she said, pulling on her 2nd shoe. “Let’s go.”

They spoke of trivial things until they got their food and found a seat on the edge of the mess hall. Once seated, he lowered his voice. “I’m been hearing rumors about you.”

Mac stirred sugar into her oatmeal, looking thoughtful. “I don’t know if I should say, ‘after all this time?’ or ‘again?’. Because there’s usually always rumors about me.”

“And most of them I ignore, but today’s batch needs some discussion.”

“Well, that can’t be good. Which one is first?”

“That night you were written up, you were seen coming out of my bedroom.”

Her forehead furrowed. “Not exactly a rumor.”

“Yeah, but you know what kind of meaning they’ve attached to it.”

She sighed. “Does this mean we can’t see movies on Fridays?”

“No, but if somebody says something to your face, or you overhear it, you have to have a response ready.”

“I have the truth. I was late reporting for duty, and I stopped by your place to get dressed.”

“It may be the truth, but it hardly sounds innocent. And the more you explain the circumstances, the less innocent it sounds.”

She buttered her toast. “So I can’t tell them the truth? Then what do I say?”

“The only thing I can see is to deny it ever happened. Both of us deny it, if it ever gets mentioned to us. Just flat out deny it.”

“That’s not the truth.”

“The truth doesn’t sound like the truth.”

She frowned. “Alright. But nobody’s ever mentioned it to me, so I doubt I’ll have a chance to deny it. What’s next?” She piled a spoonful of oatmeal on the corner of her toast and bit the corner off, began chewing.

“That you’re transferring to engineering.” He cut a bite off his meatloaf.

“That one’s true, too,” she stated, and then hesitated. “At least, I requested to. I haven’t officially heard whether or not I get to.”

“I got that one from Abdulla, so I would say it’s going through. Congratulations!”

A big grin took over her face. “I’m going to have cake tonight! To celebrate!”

“It came faster even than I imagined. I mean, I knew Ivy’s good at her job, but I didn’t know how much you’d learned on your own.”

“I think I surprised her,” Mac stated in embarrassment.

“Don’t be embarrassed by it. It’s a good thing. Now you have thoroughly upset all your father’s plans for you.”

“Oh. I guess I have, haven’t I?”

“Now, the next rumor I heard is hard even for me to repeat.”

“That sounds ominous.” But she shoved a spoonful of oatmeal in her mouth without concern.

Bugalu looked around, then lowered his voice even more. “Somebody has spread the rumor that you’re pregnant.”

She choked on her oatmeal and hurriedly washed it down with half her glass of juice. She leaned close to him and uttered, “Absolutely not!”

He leaned closer to her, his voice barely a whisper. “Are you sure? I’m no expert, but the symptoms can be—”

“I know the symptoms! I had half a dozen sisters-in-law getting pregnant almost before I knew what the word meant! I don’t have any! And I haven’t done anything to get that way, either!” But as she said this last sentence, her face went pink.

“Maybe we should—”

“Let’s sit here,” a voice said gruffly, and a tray was set on their table next to Mac’s. They looked up in surprise to find Smythe sitting down on the corner next to Mac. Capt Burke and MacGregor took the other 2 sides of the table.

“Good evening, lieutenants,” the captain greeted them. “You don’t mind if we join you, do you?”

But it was too late to do anything but greet the newcomers graciously. “No, of course not,” Bugalu replied. Blast! There goes any chance of a private conversation now. “We were just discussing Mac’s request to transfer to engineering.”

“That’s gone through,” the captain said with a smile at the redhead. “But it’ll take a few days to get the schedules rearranged.”

“I’ve explained it all in an e-message,” Smitty said, and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m surprised you haven’t gotten it yet, since it looks like you haven’t gotten any sleep.” MacGregor was staring in surprise at Smythe’s hand on Mac’s shoulder, but he couldn’t have been any more surprised than Bugalu.

“Not much, not yet,” Mac murmured. “Too excited, I guess. But I tried.”

“She was fascinated with engineering back at the Academy,” Bugsy stated.

“You 2 go back that far, do you?” Smythe asked suspiciously.

“Bugs was my brother’s roommate,” Mac stated. “The 3 of us were nearly inseparable.”

“Is that so?” Smythe asked with a cold grin on his face. Then he reached out for Mac’s hand, brought it up and kissed it. “Just remember, it’s me you’re engaged to.”

“What?” MacGregor exclaimed. “When did that happen?”

“Shortly after she requested a transfer, she agreed to marry him,” Capt Burke stated. “I was a witness.”

Bugsy woodenly turned to Mac. “When were you planning to tell me?”

“I thought it was a dream,” she muttered, and her face went white. She reached up with her other hand and pinched her arm only inches from where Smythe still held her hand. “Ouch! Well, this isn’t a dream.”

“It’s not a dream,” Smythe told her, a bit out of sorts. “You don’t look at all well, Colleen. Perhaps you’d better return to your quarters and get some sleep.”

“Yes, I should,” she agreed, and as he let go of her hand, she got up and left.

“Well, that’s a rumor I hadn’t heard,” Bugalu stated, still stunned.

“It’s not a rumor,” the captain told him. “But it hasn’t gotten around yet. Before now, it’s only been known by Smitty, MacDowell, and myself.”

“And Abdulla,” Smitty added.

“Yes, Abdulla,” the captain agreed.

Black space! Even more reason for me to find a time and place for a serious, private talk with Mac!