Aftermath

Month 10 Day 25

1959 Hours

MacGregor

The door opened and Bugalu greeted him in surprise. “Doc!”

Drake heard a soft cough from inside. “I was hoping to discuss, uh... family matters.”

Bugalu sighed. “Well, come on in, we were already discussing Mac.”

We? Drake stepped inside and found Takor and the captain already seated in Bugalu’s living room. Jane doesn’t seem drunk. Maybe she’s over that mood. “I’m a little surprised to see you here, Jane.”

“My reflections were interrupted by the news that MacDowell’s roommate had planned a party tonight, which would not fit with MacDowell being confined. I came to ask Bugalu to offer his quarters for the party - or something - in order to avoid any more trouble landing on his adopted sister. Only to find - once he got home - that it was too late.”

Drake sat on the other end of the sofa, while Bugalu brought the chair from the desk for himself. “Seems to me your Chief Engineer has gone a tad overboard.” Drake frowned. “But I’m not exactly impartial about Mac.”

“Seems like nobody is,” Jane observed. “Tell me what he’s done.”

“You heard him confine Mac to her quarters,” Drake began.

“You think that was out of line?” Jane queried.

“No, not if she’s guilty of disobeying orders.”

“Exactly what order did she allegedly disobey?” Jane wondered. “Originally.”

“A couple months back, she used an anti-grav unit to pull the old bucket of water over the door trick on me,” Drake explained.

Jane rolled her eyes. “How did she manage that?” Bugalu was grinning. Takor was... probably confused.

“I don’t really know. When Smitty took it apart, the only part that seemed to be anything was an anti-grav unit. Very ingenious, I thought, but Smitty ordered her not to do it again, not to tell anybody how to do it, and so on. I think he was afraid there’s be an epidemic of that particular joke.”

“Yes, practical jokes get out of hand so easily,” Jane muttered.

“So tonight, when he saw those mistletoe units she’d built--“

“Mac didn’t build those,” Bugalu interrupted.

“Lt MacDowell is, in my estimation, quite capable of--“ Takor began.

“Capable, yes!” Bugalu agreed. “But did she do it? No.” He began ticking items off on his fingers. “First, she was ordered not to by Mr Smythe. She doesn’t want him mad at her. Secondly, she couldn’t have done it. I just confirmed that she’s been working in fabrication to get a discount on the gifts she’d ordered. For the past week or so, she’s spent half her sleep time and her days off there. With all the other things she’s working on, that doesn’t leave her any time for making mistletoe units. Third, when she first saw them, her mouth dropped open in fascinated admiration, so she wasn’t already familiar with them.”

“Fascinated admiration?” Jane repeated.

The helmsman nodded. “She loves figuring out how things work. I think that’s the best part of communications for her.”

“Sounds like she might be happier in engineering proper,” Jane suggested.

Mac and Smitty in the same field? It’d be bedlam.

“Her father wouldn’t allow it, when she first signed up. She figures it’s too late, now, but she’s working her way through all the engineering books in the library, and she loves working on that Yukosk machine with Abdulla and Ivy.”

“I see.”

Bugs returned to his list. “And finally, if she had made the mistletoe units, she would have found a way for them to not wander over her. Instead, she was caught under them. Twice. Mac did not build them.”

“Why did she not tell Mr Smythe that?” Takor asked.

“He didn’t give her a chance,” Jane stated. “Anyway, he probably wouldn’t have believed her. He seems determined to think the worst of her.” She took a breath. “Okay, he didn’t bother to get his facts straight. What else?”

“Uhh, since she was confined, I made him go with me when I went to deliver her present, and there was this party--“

“Harris’ party,” Jane agreed. “Go on.”

“He told Harris to move the party or Mac would go to the brig,” Drake explained. “Those are the obvious choices. Under those circumstances, I probably would have said the same, but I wouldn’t have been so... angry when I said it.”

“He’s got a short fuse around MacDowell,” the captain stated. “Unfortunate, but it happens. Is that all?”

“Not quite,” Drake drawled. “He was angry about the party, but what really set him off was Mac and Bugalu kissing.”

Jane blinked and turned to her helmsman. “You didn’t tell me you were kissing MacDowell. Is there anything else you left out?”

Bugalu grimaced. “Mac was under the mistletoe, and she didn’t want to kiss Ferguson. If I hadn’t, Ferguson might have insisted, and she would have hit him - her nerves were pretty frayed by then - ” He sighed. “It seemed the... prudent... choice, at the time.”

“It didn’t look like a brotherly kiss,” Drake stated.

Bugs shrugged, trying not to look guilty. “I’m not entirely immune to her.”

“Who aboard is?” Jane quipped.

Bugs shrugged. “Doc, I’ve known her 7... no, 8 years, and that’s only the 4th kiss we’ve shared. I’ve gotten 4 kisses from other women within 2 hours of meeting.”

“That’s why you said ‘four’ at the end of the kiss,” MacGregor stated, and shifted his position. “Still, how many others have gotten even 1 kiss from her?”

“Tall Bear and Smitty,” Jane answered, and urged the conversation onward. “So, Smitty objected to her being kissed while confined--“

“More like he objected to her being kissed. Period,” Drake corrected. “He acted... well, jealous, especially the way he assumed they were headed for bed.” Jane gave a questioning look to Bugalu, who shook his head. Drake went on. “When he heard Bugalu was there at Della’s invitation, he stipulated that Harris could not have visitors during Mac’s confinement, either.”

“Which could be construed as punishing both of them for MacDowell’s transgression,” Jane stated. “Alleged transgression.”

“He also ordered Bugalu not to speak to Mac during discipline,” Drake finished.

“Not to--“ Jane was surprised. “Why not?”

Drake shrugged. “Cutting the competition? The longer she’s aboard, the more... jealous... he acts. And if that’s true, he’s in a hopeless case, because she’s a subordinate, and he won’t date her, no matter how much he might want to.”

“Similar to Sir Lancelot’s conundrum,” Jane commented thoughtfully. “And that didn’t end well.” Jane grunted. “Makes me wonder if it’s a good idea to keep her aboard.”

“Now, just a minute, Jane!” Drake protested.

“Look at it this way, Duck.” She’s got half my senior officers and my entire bridge crew at odds. The whole crew, really. Never before have I known 1 person who could stand an entire ship on its head!”

“Captain,” Takor began.

Jane held up a hand to stop it. “On the other hand, she seems to have some qualities of a good officer. And choosing to transfer her off because of her... appearance... is illegal, not to mention just plain wrong. I’ll speak with Smitty, see if I can’t get him to go easier on her... in the future. But I won’t countermand his orders at this time. They stand.”

“But if she didn’t do it--“ Drake protested.

“We can’t prove that she didn’t,” Jane retorted, and turned to the helmsman. “No offense, Bugalu.”

Bugalu nodded. “Belief isn’t the same as proof.”

“And discipline isn’t always fair,” Jane stated. She stood up. “I wish we could have avoided this additional trouble between those 2, but we didn’t. And now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got a bottle of wine I wanted to try this evening. Good night.” Takor got up to leave, also, and Drake wasn’t far behind them.

But Drake paused as he approached the doorway and turned back to Bugalu. “Four kisses? Were they all like tonight’s?”

Bugalu shook his head. “The first 2 almost missed my mouth, and lasted about a nano-second. One when I graduated from the Academy, one when I shipped out a couple days later. Frankly, I hope there aren’t any more of them coming up. I like her fine as a sister.”

“I understand,” Drake said, and wondered if he really did as he headed for his own quarters.

Second Thoughts

Month 10 Day 25

1812 Hours

MacGregor

Drake stared regretfully at the last 2 bites of his pumpkin pie and decided he could not finish it. The cooks outdid themselves. “I won’t need to eat for a week,” he stated.

“Yes,” Smitty agreed, and pushed the remnants of his pie away too. He did reach, however, for his glass of eggnog.

“That stuff’s pretty potent,” Jane commented, probably trying to hint that the engineer should slow down on his intake of the stuff. “The kick is hidden by the other flavors, but I’ve only had one glass, and I already feel tipsy.”

Smitty sighed and regretfully set his glass down. “You’re right, of course. I just thought it would be a shame to waste it.”

Jane relented. “Well, take it to your quarters,” she suggested.

That brought a big grin to Smitty’s face. “I believe I will. That certainly won’t be a hardship.”

“No.” Jane smirked. “I didn’t think it would be.” She paused for half a heartbeat before adding, “And it looked like you needed it, after that kiss from MacDowell.” Smitty’s face fell abruptly, and just as abruptly tried to look blank. He reached for his glass again, but stopped. Jane went on ruthlessly. “She’s got guts,” she stated. “Blasted if I’d be inclined to kiss a superior who had just bawled me out and confined me to my room. Mistletoe or not.”

What is she up to? If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was trying to play matchmaker. And come to think of it, this isn’t the first time I’ve had that thought. About this particular pair of people. “If it had been me in Smitty’s place,” Drake stated, “I would have grabbed hold and given her a proper kiss.”

Smitty gave him a calculating stare. “I’ve no doubt you would,” he bit out. “And already have.”

Drake gave him a startled look. Is he jealous? Maybe Jane has reason to try to push them together.

“This has been a pleasant encounter,” Takor stated. “The food was most succulent. Please explain the next step of this activity.”

“For me, this is usually the end of this particular human tradition,” Jane explained. “Some of the crew may extend the merriment by hosting or attending a party. Unfortunately, I find this is about all the Christmas merriment I can stand, for the food brings to mind the holidays of my childhood, and that makes me... sad that I haven’t done a better job of staying in touch with my family. So I generally call it a night and retire to my quarters right about now.”

“I had heard that this holiday - or some of the holidays incorporated into this shipboard season - are usually a time of family celebration. Therefore I wondered why humans continue the tradition when you have no family with you.”

“Well, humans learn childhood traditions with family members, but when they go out into the world, on their own, they often substitute friends for family and in the process, develop new traditions,” Drake explained. “Some people - like the captain - have an emotional response to the holidays that seems counter to the holiday spirit. It’s a normal response for those people, as long as it doesn’t drag on too long.”

“If it starts dragging, I know where sick bay is,” Jane told him, and stood up. “Gentlemen, Takor, I thank you again for your gifts. They are appreciated. I hope you all enjoy my gifts to you. Now let’s get this table cleaned off, and then I’ll take my leave of you. Before my mood spreads to any of you.”

They all stood and began to gather together dirty dishes and utensils, trying to keep their presents from winding up on a tray and then in the kitchen. Since Drake still had Mac’s gift - still dressed in wrapping paper - in among his unwrapped goodies, and which he was trying to keep the others from noticing, he took a bit longer to make sure it was tucked away and unnoticeable. He felt a hand on his shoulder and quickly glanced overhead. Nope, no mistletoe this time. The hand belonged to Yellow Dog, who began helping him stack his plates on his tray. “You brought us food to begin with. You don’t need to clean up after us, too,” he stated, and glimpsed her raising her hand, felt her touch in his hair. “What was that?” he asked, completely confused.

She leaned forward and kissed him, her hands on his shoulders. After his initial surprise, he pulled her closer, wanting to prolong the activity he had thought about so often over the past 10 months. When he finally let go, her arms were around his neck, and he saw a flame of passion in her dark eyes. “Now, that I could get used to,” he drawled quietly, surprised at how husky his voice was.

She gave him a satisfied smile, plucked a bit of mistletoe from his hair, and left. What do I make of that? Is she interested? Teasing? What?

The others returned from disposing of their dirty dishes and began to collect their gifts from the table. “Did you see that?” Jane quietly asked Smitty. “I could hardly have been surprised if you had reacted similarly, Smitty. With MacDowell.”

Smitty gave her an indignant look. “If she wore a different color uniform-!”

Jane broke in. “I didn’t see any uniform.” She shook her head. “Too late now, of course. Don’t forget the eggnog, Smitty. At least you don’t have to get up in the morning, since you’re off duty tomorrow.” She turned to go, sighed and turned back. “You should be careful what you wish for, Smitty. The new uniforms start with the new year, and as usual, the change will start with the higher officers. So get yourselves appointments with the ship’s tailor at your very first opportunity. Good night.” And this time, she did walk off.

What is it about new uniforms that Smitty should have been careful wishing for?

Christmas Day

Month 10 Day 25

1705 Hours

MacGregor

It had become traditional, on the day designated as ‘Christmas’ on the Fireball, for Captain Burke and her few selected friends to gather in the gaily decorated messhall at 1715 Hours, to exchange token gifts before they filled plates from the wonderful buffet laid out across the entire side of the room and shared the bottle of wine that Smitty inevitably gave Jane on this occasion.

Over the years, Drake had come to the conclusion that they arrived late for this meal because Jane used that last-minute hour to finally wrap their presents, but of course, he couldn’t prove that. And he inevitably arrived a little early, usually because he was hungry. But this time, he had an extra gift to give, and he had hoped he could hand it off without anybody making too big a deal out of it.

When he arrived, he had found Bugalu and his friends sitting at 2 tables pushed together, unopened gifts gathered in the middle as they joked and laughed over their meals. He had thought it would be simple enough for him to reach out and drop a small package in among the rest of them on his way to the table set aside for the captain, but before he could do that, Mac had greeted him very enthusiastically, leaving the others to also notice and greet him. Even Beth had wished him a rather chilly ‘Merry Christmas’. So with all this attention on him, he had decided to find Mac later and give her the present. Best not to set any tongues wagging.

Now Drake sat as his stomach began to growl, impatiently drumming his fingertips on the table as he waited for the others to finally arrive. Well, here we go again. Another bottle of scotch from Smitty. Unimaginative, but at least it’s something I like. He grinned at the gaily wrapped present on the table in front of him that bore Smitty’s name. It looks very similar to the one I wrapped for Mac. Wouldn’t it be a shame if I’d wrapped them and then accidentally got the wrong names on these particular two gifts? I’ll have to be suitably chagrined when he opens it. Wish I could suggest he make the exchange himself.

Warm lips pressed the corner of his mouth. “Merry Christmas, doctor.”

“What?” He turned to see a familiar blond bending over him. “Monroe, I don’t-“

“You’re under the mistletoe, doctor,” the woman explained, and moved off.

Mistletoe over the captain’s table? That’s got to be a mix-up. He glanced up. I’ve been sitting here for 5 minutes or more. You’d think someone - else - would have- His eyes grew large as he saw the sprig of greenery attached to an antigravity unit, wandering around the room at just below ceiling level. Well, what do you know? Now, who could have dreamed up... Mac! Who else? Just one more example of that infamous imagination of hers. The same brain that Smitty thinks doesn’t know a thing.

“Here already, Duck?” Jane asked, sliding into one of the empty chairs. “Was that a nurse kissing you?”

“The mistletoe was over me,” he explained.

Trying not to frown, she glanced overhead. “I don’t see any mistletoe.”

“It moves around,” he explained, searching the upper reaches of the messhall. “There it is, wandering towards the kitchen.”

Jane glanced in that direction. “How does it move around like that?”

“I’m not an engineer,” Drake returned. “Ask Smitty. Or better yet, Mac. I suspect she’s the one who came up with them.”

Takor appeared at the side of the table, its arms full of several items wrapped in colorful paper and bows. “Please assist. I fear I may drop some of them.” Jane and Drake carefully helped it deposit the gifts onto the table with the others and it sat down in relief. “I hope I have chosen appropriate gifts. I did have assistance from my yeoman. She was particularly helpful in the wrapping stage.”

“I’m sure whatever you give us will be fine,” Jane told him. “Now, as soon as Smitty gets here, we can get this thing started. I’m especially hungry tonight, and can’t wait to get started on that turkey.”

“Sorry I’m late,” Smitty stated as he slid into the remaining empty seat. He started to hand Jane a package, looked at it closely, and gave it to Drake instead, then gave the other similar-sized package to Jane. The final package was flat and a bit floppy as he handed it to Takor. “I hope you all like them.”

“I’m sure we will,” Burke stated. “And I guess that means we’re starting, so first, let’s sort out which presents belong to whom.”

While they were doing that, someone started placing small plates of various appetizers on their table, and Drake looked up. “Yellow Dog! What’s this?”

She smiled, said, “Noel,” and placed a bottle of eggnog on the table.

“Thank you,” Smitty told her with a grin as he munched a celery stick and reached for the eggnog. “But you needn’t have.”

“You aren’t a servant,” Jane pointed out.

“Yes,” she agreed, and accepted a small package from Takor.

“Wait.” Takor picked up another package and held it out to her. “For Mac.”

The NAmerInd conversationally repeated, “Mac,” and half-way across the room, the redhead looked up. After a quick search through the packages on their double table, Mac trotted over and presented one to the Sciss.

“I’m so happy you decided to give me a gift, Takor. I know I’ll like it. I tried my best to create a family spiral for you that you could put on your wall. For decoration. But 3-d items work best in... well, in 3-d. I hope you like it anyway. Good night, sirs, and... Merry Christmas.” She took the gift Takor offered her and the 2 ladies went back to rejoin their friends.

“A family spiral?” Jane asked her science officer.

“I believe a human would call it a family tree.”

“This is nice,” Smitty stated. “Very tasty.” A smudge of white on his upper lip showed that he had taken a healthy swig of eggnog from the glassful that he had poured himself.

“We’d better get these presents opened,” Drake suggested. “So Smitty can get some food in his stomach along with that eggnog.”

Meeting of Minds

Month 9 Day 30

1759 Hours

Smitty

Smitty was sitting quietly at the far end of the table when Wilson entered Meeting room 4C. He almost didn’t recognize her, since she wore civies and not her uniform. She smiled at him as she started laying the drawings out on the table. “It’s not just the 3 of us, Mr Smythe. Mac also invited Abdulla and Takor.”

“I can understand Abdulla, but why-“ He stopped talking when the door opened and the other 3 attendees came in.

“-but I never realized just how complicated the subject matter is,” Colleen was saying. “Seems like I just get started on it, and poof! My time is up, and I need to get to my station. Or go to bed.”

“I bet I know what you’ll be doing tonight,” Abdulla stated with a grin.

“You know it. Just like I did last night. Hi, Ivy! You beat us here! I knew I was dawdling over my dessert too long.”

“You should not take responsibility when it is not yours,” Takor told the redhead. “I had 2 desserts and had to stop by sick bay for medication.”

“But you’re okay, right?” Ivy asked it.

“I feel well, thank you,” the Scissan replied.

Meanwhile, the redhead had picked up one of the schematic drawings. “These are fantastic. So much detail. Let me get them in the right order.” She spent a few minutes rearranging the papers, placing 3 down each side of the table and then one at right angles, straddling the end of the lines.

“Where shall we begin with this... explanation?” Abdulla wondered.

Colleen opened her mouth and then stopped for a long moment. “Wow,” she finally stated. “This is not going to be easy. I mean, we used pieces of our - human - technology. We had to, it was all we had available. But the changes we made to them were so drastic, it really ceased being human technology. Yet it really wasn’t Yukosk technology, either.”

She started pointing at different items on the papers as she went on. “Look, we had 3 B units, 4 C units, 5 E units, a couple Hs and 1 X. And an R. And yet the 8 of them all had to work together to get the job done. And none of them really did the job the same way Yukosk technology would have done it.”

“That’s 16 units, not 8,” Wilson stated.

“Oh, sorry. The units worked in pairs. So, 8 pairs of units.”

“Okay, so they aren’t or weren’t any longer normal human technology,” Abdulla summed up. “Nor were they really Yukosk. What were they supposed to do? And obviously did, since you aren’t still 2 people in one body.”

“They were meant to coax the electrical charge that represented Kolla’s body out of the console and direct it to... to coalesce into her body inside the circle of wires. If we could manage that, Kolla was absolutely certain that her... Yeniqesh - her mind, soul, I’m not sure which, exactly - would leave my body to inhabit her own.”

“That seems quite a... happenstance hope,” Takor stated.

“They have a saying,” Colleen stated, and recited several words of Yukosk. “Roughly, it means the mind and body belong together. Or recognize each other. It didn’t make sense to me at the time, but they apparently had some accidents in the early stages of development where the mind and body did not arrive at the same place at the same time. Sometimes it meant death, but other times, they were able to reunite them, supposedly because they got the 2 pieces of a person in the same place. Once they achieved that, the 2 pieces bonded together.”

“That sounds very similar to what you and Kolla managed,” Wilson said.

“It was the end result we were hoping for. What we built is like half of the receiving end of their transportation beam, but built of scraps of technology that never was intended for that. She said she needed these units - pairs of units - to disburse the electrical charge into the air in a certain way. I tried, I found units that could be cannibalized, rebuilt to do that. But to actually explain what we did and why it worked... Frankly, I think it would be easier to take the manual I translated for Smit and try to build the complete transportation beam machine from scratch.”

Colleen had said it as if she wasn’t aware of Smitty’s presence in the room. Moving nothing but her eyes, Wilson gave him a side-long glance, and he gave her a tiny nod of agreement. “Do you want to?” Wilson asked the redhead.

“Do I want to what?”

“Build a - what did you call it? - a transportation beam machine from scratch.”

Colleen abruptly sat down, her face white. “Absolutely. But I’m not qualified.”

“You translated the manual,” Abdulla pointed out. “You built this contraption, and it worked.”

“I definitely had help.”

“You wouldn’t be doing it alone,” Abdulla stated.

The girl seemed torn in 2 directions. “Umm, I should learn my energeering.”

“Pick up the pace with your studies,” Wilson told her. “Meanwhile, I’ll see about getting permission, find a place for us to work and borrow that manual.”

“I have a copy of the manual,” Colleen stated.

“Good. But it was a gift to Smythe, so I should still ask.”

“If you need help with your studies, let me know,” Abdulla volunteered.

“Do you think the captain would let me study on duty? Again?”

“Can’t hurt to ask. Anyway, this looks like a long-term project,” Abdulla stated. “I can’t see burning ourselves out on it. But we should work on it as consistently as possible. So... next Monday evening?”

“Sounds good to me,” Wilson stated with a grin.

“Me too,” Colleen agreed.

“I would like to consult on this endeavor,” Takor decided.

“Great,” Abdulla exclaimed. “Then until further notice, let’s plan to continue meeting on Monday evenings, okay?”

They all agreed to that. Wilson began gathering the hand-drawn schematics and rolling them together.

“Abie, if you are volunteering to help me learn engineering, what do you think I should study first? Ivy suggested grav units.”

“That’s as good a place as any. Don’t try spreading yourself too thin, Mac. Too many subjects at the same time can lead to confusion. I’m surprised you didn’t have that happen when you studied so many languages at the Academy.”

“Aren’t you already working on several projects? Still?” Wilson asked. “You finished translating a technical manual, but you’ve taken up studying grav units and now, helping to build a piece of alien technology from scratch.”

“But now I can sleep, and that makes all the difference! Anyway... I’m so far behind.”

“Nonsense,” Abdulla returned. “You’ve taken a different path than most of us took to prove ourselves, but yours was a tougher path. Give yourself credit for what you’ve accomplished.”

As a group, they all headed for the doorway. As they left the room, the redhead quietly said, “Good night, Smit.”

Stunned, Smitty sat unmoving for a moment. She knew I was here. And her mind wasn’t a complete blank, despite my presence. That realization filled him with warmth, until, That excuse for staying away from her won’t work anymore. The pit of his stomach suddenly went very cold.

The Self-Invitation / The Other Self-Invitation

The Self-Invitation

Month 9 Day 24

1538 Hours

Smitty

Smitty gave a heavy sigh, rubbed his aching eyes, turned the computer file back to the beginning of this section and then began reading it once again. He was surprised when his office door opened and looked up, half inclined to snap at whoever had dared to break his concentration.

Then he saw it was Wilson. “Oh, sorry, Mr Smythe. Harris said you were in here, but I thought she was joking, since this is your day off.”

“I needed someplace I could concentrate,” he stated.

“And then I come in and interrupt you. My sincerest apologies for that. But as long as you are here, I’d like to borrow those schematics Abdulla and I drew of the Colleen/Kolla contraption.”

He turned away from the screen completely, his brows furrowed. “Why? Without knowing a lot more about it, it doesn’t make much sense.”

She moved forward and sat down in the chair facing his desk. “I know, but next Monday evening, Mac- Lt MacDowell - is going over them with me and try to explain it.”

Now his brows rose in surprise. “She thinks she can remember?”

“She sounded pretty confident. So, do you mind if I take them to our meeting?”

“Next Monday? You aren’t asking to take them now?”

Wilson smiled. “They don’t do me any good until I can pick Mac’s brain. Anyway, I have to see which briefing room we can use that evening. She wants a long table so we have plenty of room to work.”

“Well, let me look,” he volunteered, and changed the screen on his computer. “Next Monday, C shift... Well, there’s at least 3 available. Some of the others probably will be too, since they still haven’t been confirmed. Ah, here we go. Room 4C. Nice long table. Good lighting for that kind of work. Two computer consoles, in case we need to look something up.” He tapped a few keys. “There. I’ve booked it for the entire evening. Um, for you.”

She moved her gaze to the middle distance. Yes, she’s smart enough, knows me well enough to know what I’m doing. Still, she went ahead and asked. “Would you like to join us for this meeting, Mr Smythe?”

He gave her a slow smile. “Thank you, Wilson. I would like to, yes.” He let the smile falter a bit. “And if she still has that old trouble of... of not being able to think around me, then I’ll bow out and let you two get on with it. If that happens, perhaps you could brief me on what’s said. At a later date.”

She gave a small sigh of relief. “Well, I don’t have any problem working around you, and it’s about time she got used to it.” She stood up and straightened her uniform. “Thank you, Mr Smythe. I’ll let you get back to your... manual. Oh, and she’s asked me to help her with her engineering studies. Is there anything you’d like me to guide her towards first?”

He felt his face go red. “Gravity units. I didn’t give as thorough an explanation as I should have.”

“Then I’ll make that suggestion.”

After Wilson left, Smitty sighed and shut off his computer console. While it was true he’d been reading a manual, it was a Yukosk manual, and no matter how hard he tried, it simply didn’t make sense. He glanced at the chronometer and stood up. Time to meet Jane and Drake for supper. They’ve no doubt been wondering where I’ve been ‘hiding’ all day.

The Other Self-Invitation

Month 9 Day 25

0759 Hours

Abdulla

Abdulla relieved Mac and paid no attention to where the girl went. But it was only a moment later when she heard Takor, at the science console next to hers, ask, “...anything I should bring to this... event?”

“Just yourself,” Mac’s voice answered. “It’s not a party or anything like that. It’s a meeting. For the purpose of exchanging information on something of mutual interest.”

“I cannot say that engineering is a strong interest of mine,” Takor returned.

“Too bad, because I think it would be nice to have you there. This bit of engineering involves some biochemistry, which neither Kolla nor I know a lot about. I thought that aspect might have some interest for you. And with any luck, maybe you know enough biochemistry to explain why the whole thing worked, because neither of us was sure it would.”

“Perhaps one of the doctors-“

“I thought about it,” Mac stated. “But they don’t know anything about electronics or physics, and they’re likely to get bogged down trying to make sense of those aspects. As a science officer, I thought you might have a smattering of understanding of all those things.”

“Smattering?” it repeated in confusion.

“In this case, it means a small amount.”

“Then you are right, I do have some smatterings of knowledge in all these fields. Very well, I will be there.”

“Great! It may not be a party, but I think it’ll be fun!”

Abdulla caught the redhead’s arm as she walked past on her way to the lift. “What was that all about?”

“Ivy and I are getting together Monday evening to go through the Kolla/Colleen Contraption, as she called it.”

“Great! Send me the details so I can be there too.”

Mac grinned. “I was going to do that as soon as I got to my room.” And then she was gone.