The End of Lessons, Part 2

 Month 14 Day 3

0810 Hours

Smythe

It must have taken a moment for Colleen to extract herself from the tool locker. But eventually the doorbell rang, pulling him out of his horrified stupor. He told her to enter and swallowed a sudden lump in his throat.

“Sir? You wanted to speak with me?”

“Yes.” She stepped inside and stood beside his desk, a little close for comfort. He was overwhelmed with memories of making out in the jeffries tubes, and his body was eager for a replay. He backed up his chair, but the office was small, and there wasn’t far he could go. “Wilson says she’s taught you all she can teach you.”

Colleen looked disappointed. “I was afraid of that. Came much sooner than I expected.” She gave a deep sigh, her shoulders slumped. “I suppose it’s back to communications for me, then.”

Poor girl is truly disappointed. “Not for another week,” he answered. “To give me time to straighten out the schedule.”

“So, now what do I do with the cross-training I’ve received? Is there any likelihood you’d ever call me down to work a shift or two?”

“What? Well, it doesn’t happen often. It would likely be another epidemic raging through the crew, or some kind of accident or a hostile attack. Something that puts a number of my department out of commission for a while.”

“Oh.” Her chin sank down to her chest, and she seemed on the verge of tears.

“You could always request a transfer,” he heard himself say. What am I doing?

Her head jerked up. “A transfer? You mean an intra-ship transfer? I can do that?”

Now he hesitated, his thoughts scattered. “Well, you can request it. I’d have to find somebody to take your place in communications, at least until we could get a replacement for you. And the Captain would have to approve it.”

“How do I request it?” she demanded with enthusiasm.

“Well, you notify your supervisor, which would be—”

“I want to transfer to engineering,” she blurted out. “Here, on the Fireball. At the earliest opportunity!”

Now I’ve done it. She’s made the request, and I have to consider it, no matter how little I might want it to happen. And to be fair to her, I have to work for its approval. Which is hardly fair to me! He sighed and stood up. “Very well, I’ll speak to Abdulla and the captain, and—”

She surged forward suddenly and kissed him. Surprised, he hesitated only a moment before his resistance melted. His arms went around her to hold her tightly as he returned the kiss with his pent-up fervor.

“Mr Smythe!”

He sprang away as best he could in the small space, knowing even as he did so that it was too late, his base instincts had revealed themselves to... “Captain!”

Capt Burke moved further into the room, allowing the door to close behind her. “I demand you explain yourself!”

How? There is no explanation good enough to forgive my behavior. It was reprehensible. Still, the captain’s expecting me to say something, so I have to try. “We were discussing her cross-training,” he started, and since that didn’t explain such an intimate activity as what they’d been caught in the middle of, he hurriedly went on. “She’s finished it, according to Lt Wilson, and she asked for an intra-ship transfer. To engineering.”

“And you accepted her request, without consulting me?” Burke snapped.

No, that won’t appease the captain at all. If only I had a better reason, but the only thing that might be acceptable is...

“He said he’d consider it,” Colleen stated. She’s trying to get me out of trouble for not consulting the captain. But that only makes our embrace even worse.

“I asked her to marry me,” he blurted out, and hearing himself say it, he felt his face go red in embarrassment. That’s not going to do any good. Colleen will immediately deny that I asked any such thing. He turned to face the young woman, his eyes pleading. If only I could explain to her. There’s some allowances made for people who are actively courting a certain person, as well as for... engaged couples. After a couple weeks—or maybe a month—we could ‘decide’ we weren’t meant for each other, and nothing more would be said. And in the meantime...

But in the meantime, Colleen was breathing hard, her face absolutely white with little flags of red on each cheek. Her eyes were glazed. It was possible she was about to faint. “I accept.”

It was a faint whisper, but the room was so silent, it might as well have been a bellow.

Having seen her coloring, Smitty moved aside and urged her to take his seat. He remembered she was supposedly with child, and wondered if that was the reason for her current coloring. At least this will solve that problem for her. Oh. But only if we go through with it.

“You appear to have surprised her,” Jane muttered.

“Yes,” Smitty agreed. “I suppose I did.”

“Well, I’ll overlook what I seemed to see when I walked in. Although I do hope you 2 can control yourselves from here on out while on duty.”

“Yes, sir,” he agreed. Even on opposing shift, that leaves us 8 hours a day to be together and... get this out of our systems. That will have to be enough.

“Well, I came down here to tell you how well Adams is doing on the communications console on A shift.”

“Ahh... I’d be happy to hear that, captain.”

“He’s struggling. If you plan on leaving him there for any length of time, I suggest a crash course on communications. In fact, since you like your people to be cross-trained, it might not be a bad idea even if he isn’t staying there. Now, in light of MacDowell’s request, give me a plan how you would rearrange your crew members, if that transfer were to go through.”

“Yes, captain. I’ll be leaving things as they are for at least a week.”

“Good to know.” She gave Colleen a long glance. “Why don’t you come up to the bridge and have a talk with Abdulla in my office?”

“Very good, captain. I’ll be up shortly.”

“I suggest you come up now, with me.”

“Of course, captain.” He started forward, paused to look at Colleen, who looked much as before. “Colleen.”

“Yes, Smit?”

“You’re released from duty,” he told her. “I suggest you go home and get some sleep.”

Her eyes snapped back into focus, and her face lost some of its stark coloring. “Sleep at a time like this?”

“Well, try, anyway,” he said.

“Yes, Smit,” she answered, and took a deep, shuddering breath.

He turned to go, knowing that by the time he got back, she’d be gone. He could only hope she got some sleep.