Month 14 Day 24
1608 Hours
Della Harris
"Wearing what?" Mac turned
from returning her red curls into a tight top-knot. It never seemed to stay
tidy for a full shift. She glanced down at her attire. "Oh, no, we're not
seeing each other tonight." She tried to pull her top-knot even tighter.
"You're not? This will be the first
night you aren't since you got engaged."
"Umm. Yeah, I guess. Pretty
much."
"You two haven't fought over
something, have you?" They haven't
even gotten married yet!
Mac gave her a funny look. "No.
He's got his bachelor party to be at tonight."
Oh,
right, he's got to get that slipped in somewhere. It's only a couple days until
the wedding. "Speaking of parties, when are you having your bachelorette
party? Will I be invited?"
Mac tossed her engineering uniform down
the laundry chute and sat on her bed to put on a pair of socks and tie-down
shoes. "I told Yellow Dog not to plan one for me. I can get drunk anytime,
I don't need an impending marriage as an excuse. And none of the other
activities she suggested held any interest for me. So, no there won't be a bachelorette
party. But if there were, then yes, you would have been invited."
This
just doesn't sound right. "Is something wrong,
Mac? You don't seem to be getting into the joyously anticipatory mood that most
brides experience. I heard you haven't even gone to Fabrication to order a
wedding dress."
"I plan to wear my usual
uniform," Mac answered.
That
definitely is not right! "You're kidding!"
"Why would you think that?"
"Mac, you've barely invited anybody
to the ceremony! You won't have a special dress to commemorate the day. You're
not having a party! What are you doing?"
The redhead tied her 2nd shoe and looked
up. "I'm getting married. All that other stuff you mentioned is nonsense,
it isn't necessary. Or wanted, in our case. We both want a simple, small wedding
ceremony." She skewed her mouth to one side for a moment. "Is that so
awful?"
Della bounced down on her own bed. I've heard of people who want a tiny, simple
ceremony and nothing else. I always thought they were nuts. "My family
always has a big wedding, with 5 or 6 bridesmaids and a couple hundred guests.
It's what I always expected for myself, if I ever get married."
"We have that kind on Gaelunde,
too," Mac told her. "Fathers are usually very happy to get their
daughters safely married off, so they put up with the expense and all the traditional
nonsense. I expect my father would insist on a big wedding with all the trimmings,
if he were here to give me away. Since he's not, and I don't care about any of
that, I choose not to bother with it."
"And Mr Smythe is okay with
that?"
"He encourages me to think small.
After all, if we did invite a couple hundred people to witness the ceremony,
that would require more than a full shift of people to be there. It would almost
be 2 full shifts. Between that and those who were sleeping, there would hardly
be anybody left to man the ship."
"I think you're exaggerating."
The redhead canted her head to one side
for a second, and decided, "Not by much." She stood up.
"So, what are you planning to do tonight? Go to the gym and catch up on your
weight lifting?"
Mac smiled patiently. "Weight
lifting isn't something you can give up for a couple weeks and then do a
double- or triple-dose in one evening. No, I got some information from Oaks the
other day, and I plan to do some research."
Instead
of having a party? "You're always working on some
sort of research. What is it this time?"
"Oh, I haven't been keeping up with
my various projects very well this past couple weeks. I hope things settle down
after we get married so I can get back to them. But tonight's research... is personal."
She headed for the door to leave.
"You can do it here," Della
offered. "Just let me change for my date, and I'll get out of your way."
"That's okay. My computer is
working on my regular projects. Besides, I'm not sure a personal computer has
the power I'll need. Oaks is letting me use his office. And since I think
that's who your date is with, I'd better go get situated so he can get ready
for you. Have fun." Then she waved good-bye and was out the door, and Della
was alone.
That
girl is something else. She works as Smythe's protégé, has 3 or 4 career projects
she's working on, spends all her off-duty time with Smythe planning their
wedding, when she isn't sleeping. And now she's starting a personal project
that requires a more powerful computer? I can't hope to keep up with that. I
don't even want to keep up with
that. Sometimes I regret ever letting Smythe see what I was capable of, because
now he expects that much of me, all the time!
Wait,
the real question is, when did she find the time to work out a deal with Oakhurst?
Smythe's got her on a very short leash, these days.
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