On Again

Month 16 Day 7

2326 Hours

Ivy Wilson

There was something about a woman who only ate oatmeal for breakfast, and not much of that. Half of Mac's bowl of porridge was going to be thrown out. "How are you feeling?" Ivy asked her friend as that woman sipped at her mug of ginger tea. "You've hardly eaten at all."

"Oh. Well, I had a milkshake a little while ago," Mac stated, but Ivy doubted it. As far as she could tell, the redhead was hardly eating anything, these days. But she could only judge from breakfast and dinner, because they didn't take lunch at the same time. Maybe that's when she has her big meal.

They disposed of their trays and headed for engineering. Jamison jumped onto their lift just as the doors were closing. "You guys eat fast," he commented. "Of course, at this time, I'm usually just getting to the mess hall. I'm not used to getting to engineering as early as I'm doing these days."

"Neither are we," Ivy told him. "Five or 10 minutes is all the time it usually takes to be briefed by the shift going off. But in this case, there's so much to do, and Mr Smythe has to see that nothing, not a single thing, gets forgotten."

"He doesn't seem the type to forget things," Jamison stated.

"No, he isn't," Ivy agreed.

"I don't know how he does it," Jamison commented.

"He has an internal checklist," Ivy stated.

"Does he?" Mac asked as the lift came to their deck. "Interesting. I thought I was the only one with something like that."

They got off to walk the few feet to engineering. "Does a person have to be born with one of those?" Jamison asked.

"I don't think so," Mac answered. "I've been developing mine since I was child. So many rules to follow. Or, at least, not get caught ignoring."

"It sounds like a handy thing to have."

"It is," Mac told him. "But it starts getting gnarly when you have several checklists to keep track of."

"I'm not sure I know that word. Gnarly."

"Oh, sorry," Mac answered. "I suppose it's slang, from my home planet. I meant it gets difficult to keep several checklists separate and yet still accessible."

"Well, you would know, Mac," Ivy said, and told Jamison, "She's had as many as 6 projects going at one time. And one of them was learning engineering, which is a very big checklist."

They heard cheers and clapping from deeper in engineering as they entered the lobby. Somebody must have finished repairing another system. They stood outside the office until they saw Mr Smythe and Lt Vojeck approaching. Vojeck held a diagnostic sheet in her hand ,which she gleefully placed on the 'done' stack on the office desk.

Smythe and Vojeck got them caught up on what had been accomplished, then Smythe went on to what he thought should be done next. "We've got a team putting the innards of the north nacelle back together," he reported. "The bulkheads on the starboard nacelle are airtight, but we haven't got a team we can put on those innards. I thought I might call the Fireball and ask that they send 3 or 4 of my people over for a day or 2. I'll check with Mr Facchini after I have supper and see what he thinks. I doubt if any of them would arrive before mid-morning. Lt Zolka's shift. But Mr Facchini appears to be making good progress in his recovery. I'd like to have this ship ready for him when he's released from med bay. So, Wilson, Co- MacDowell, keep that in mind when the newcomers arrive, and try to assign them according to their strengths."

"Yes, sir," they both said, then Mac went on. "I thought I would take the equipment and make sure all the various parts of the ship's core are in peak condition."

"The core?" Smythe repeated, and gave Ivy a questioning glance, which she answered with a tiny nod. Yes, I taught Mac how to do that, or at least, I showed it to her once. Which is usually enough, with her.

"Since we've decided I can't do any work that requires me to lay on my back on the floor, I thought it made sense for me to tackle the core, since there's no floor work to be done at all."

Smythe turned to the St Elmo A shift supervisor. "Jamison, do you have anybody who can assist her?"

"It's a one-person job!" Mac stated with a hint of anger in her voice.

There was a moment of silence in the office. When he spoke again, Smythe seemed to pick his words carefully. "I'd rather not have you too far from engineering proper while I'm off shift. We'll find someone to check the core, but today, perhaps you would remove the new-style power relays from the warp alcove and replace them with old-style relays. Thanks to fabrication, we now have plenty of those. And while you're there, perhaps you could go ahead and check that portion of the system."

"I could assist her, Mr Smythe," Ivy volunteered. "Do the floor work. And that way, people would know where to find us, if they had any questions."

"Good," Smythe declared. "Then it's settled."

"At least I'll be doing something useful," Mac muttered.

Smythe cleared his throat. "I remind you, lieutenant, that you are on light duty, and if you get tired, you're to turn the job over to Wilson and get yourself back to med bay."

"Fine," she agreed. "And if I'm strong enough to get through the entire thing, with Wilson's help, of course, then I'll spend the rest of my time working on paperwork."

"If you're up for it," Smythe restricted slowly, and cleared his throat again. "Now, it's practically midnight. Jamison, please relieve Vojeck, and Wilson, please relieve me. I'd like to have 2 minutes alone with my fiancée."

"You're engaged?" Wilson uttered, and bit it off before she added, "Again?"

"Yes, he answered. "Now, please, people..."

In another moment, the 3 lieutenants who were not engaged left the office and gave each other looks of surprise. As the St Elmo people moved off, Wilson paused to consider what tools she and Mac would need for the warp alcove, and she heard Mac softly say, "I never actually said I'd marry you."

"What? But you have to!" Then Smythe turned and shut the office door and locked it.