Chapter 18
Drifting spellbound and weightless
Fred stares out at the ship’s staggered sail array from a darkened observation
portal near one of the Flying Jib’s three main rigging anchors.
Dense plumes of monofilament disappear out toward the many distant and
seemingly unrelated micro-mylar mirrors straining wide against the thin
solar gale. Behind him the vaulted spindle bay hums and whines.
"Such delicate beauty you are." Fred
whispers at the distant scatter of sails. "You fleeting bits of bursting
bubble."
"So, how come you never talk to me
like that?"
Suddenly startled adrift by September's
giggled voice Fred's fingers graze past their expected hold to send him
to tumbling. Reaching out the young woman quickly tap Fred's drifting foot
across toward the the portal's edge.
"Hey, sorry. I guess I should have
knocked."
"Tem, I’ll bet you caused your poor
mother no end of grief before she finally convinced TransOrbital to take
you away." Fred’s tease twists the corners of his mouth.
"I’ll have you know, my mother is
very proud of me." September huffs back with fainted indignation.
"Relieved to have you safely tucked
away in orbit seems more likely." With a slippered big-toe Fred grabs onto
a strap hold at the dome's edge and slowly arcs himself around into a two-footed
anchor against the glass bubble's structural support. "Although you do
seem to possess one or two somewhat redeeming characteristics."
"Pipe down, steerage." September giggles.
"I can have you spaced at a moments notice, you know."
The sparing match had started soon
after Fred got involved at the Learning Center. When Blade first persuaded
him to help work off some of her patent-participation at the Center, Fred
had felt just a bit taken advantage of. And in truth, he probably was.
But as it turns out, Fred actually enjoys spending some of his copious
off-time at the Learning Center. Growing up he had been big-brother to
his own younger brother and sisters and cousins, and even the neighborhood
kids. And as Fred's love of explanation has been very well established,
he fit right in. Even the Center's chief instructor has commented
on Fred's popularity among both students and instructors. And spending
time at the Learning Center has also allowed Fred to make several personal
contacts among the ship’s crew and passengers. People that grunt-traffic
like himself would usually never meet. Not the least of which would be
Ensign September Lee.
"So is this interruption personal
or merely coincidental?" Fred quips. September smiles back, her loose blonde
curls framing softness around her young beautiful face.
"Merely coincidental. I’m making site
checks on the forward telescopes. There’s supposed to be a debris field
drifting across our orbit, so all regular crews are at station. I volunteered
to help out with some of the housekeeping and… What are you grinning at?"
September squints a sudden challenge across at Fred.
"You." Fred's laugh holds a note of
honest appreciation. "The day we both met you were standing out in a corridor
playing ship’s steward. Then for almost a year now I’ve watched you play
schoolmarm to a dozen kids. And, more than once I’ve seen you totally bury
an entire table of space-techies in astrophysics while simultaneously drinking
us all under the table. And now, here I find you out here running around
a maintenance bay with a torque-driver like some knuckle dragging spindlerigger.
What don’t you do, little girl?"
"You, Mister Davis. I don't do you."
September grins back, the slightly lurid case of her large pale blue eyes
letting his know that she is anything but a little girl. "But then,
you've never asked."
"I, uh…" Suddenly Fred's words refuse
to form, his mouth hangs agape as his toes slowly loose their grip.
"Sorry, Fredy." Flashing him a small
sweet smile September glances away, graciously saving Fred from further
attempt at vocalization. "It’s just so rare that I meet a truly shy man
these days that I just can’t help but occasionally test the phenomenon.
It's the scientist in me."
"I’m not really that shy."
Fred's protest sounds even more adolescent than he feels. "I do fairly
well in front of people."
"Oh yah. You do fine whenever we all
go out for drinks, or at the Center when you’re up in front of the kids.
But when you’re
alone with someone, like right now here with me,
then you get all shy. And it's not just me, I've watched other girl's flirt
with you too."
At first September's matter-of-fact
smile forces Fred's glance away, but after a moment he looks back up to
hold her gaze.
"Don’t worry. Your secret's safe with
me."
"So, ah…" Fred mumbles, desperately
wanting a change of subject. "I was thinking about Martian birthdays."
"And?" September launches herself
across the observation blister with a quick toe nudge, giggling to herself
at Fred’s obvious denial evasion. With her head tossed back September
arcs her body around and grabs hold of an anchor, pivoting herself to a
stop just over the first in a series of access panels set into the ship's
forward shield. Pulling two retracting anchor straps out from her equipment
belt, September clips herself down and begins deactivating the telescope's
hatch lock. Outside under a set of opened heat-shield panels a small array
of sixteen one-meter refracting telescopes collectively strain out at the
mostly empty darkness.
"I thought it might be nice to start
incorporating Martian birthdays into the Center's event schedule. The kids’ll
love it. It’ll be like getting an extra birthday every two years."
"Sounds like a good idea." September
glances up at Fred from the telescope's exposed innards. "I’ll submit it
for curriculum review. They should go for it. Psych is always looking to
boost personal esteem factors. Especially in the first four levels."
"And." Fred’s smile grows sheepish.
"It just so happens that Roselene’s second Martian birthday is coming up
soon and I was thinking about throwing her a small ‘personal esteem celebration’."
"How soon is soon?"
"This Thursday."
"Three days? That’s not much time."
September closes the telescopes’ access panel moving on to reclamp herself
at the next. "You thinking about using one of the recrooms?"
"I had something a bit more modest
in mind."
"You weren’t thinking about having
it in your cabin, were you?"
"Well… possibly, for one brief instant
of insanity. But, apparently I should reconsider?" Fred smiles across at
September slowly shaking a frown down at her task.
"How many others you thinking about
inviting?" September asks with a resigned sigh.
"Just the three kids in her class
group." Fred pauses to let September digest the list. "And you."
"Well, that will be intimate. Why
me?"
"Official sanction. We'll naturally
have the party up on the publics, but I still don’t want to cause any of
the other parents concern. You being there will make everyone feel a lot
more comfortable."
"Including Roselene’s mother?"
"Huh?" Fred’s brow knits in confusion.
"What’s Blade got to do with it?"
"Any doubts about you being truly
male have forever been dispelled." September mumbles into the telescope's
interior, her display contacts automatically overlaying the archive data
from both the instrument's remote and local readouts. "You’re about as
dense as dirt."
"If you’re going to insult me, would
you please tell me what you’re insulting me about."
"Have you even discussed this party
with Roselene’s mother?" September sighs as she watches Fred’s head twist
a slow negative reply. "Fredy, this Martian birthday idea of yours is really
sweet, and you’ve got my full support on it, but only if you talk
to your cabin-mate about this before you start inviting people. You really
should have been discussing this with her from the very beginning. Roselene
is
her child, you know."
"I know, I know, but it’s not always
that easy." Fred glances away looking somewhat embarrassed. "Blade occasionally
gets a bit task-oriented, and if I don’t have you onboard beforehand, I’ll
never get this party thing off the ground."
"You sound a little less than delighted
with your cabin-mate." Re-securing the access panel of another completed
telescope September moves on to the next. Glancing over her shoulder she
finds Fred snickering to himself.
"Don’t misunderstand me, Tem." Fred
starts then pauses, his mind a blurred circle orbiting a single thought:
Talking
to one woman I finds attractive about another woman I also finds
attractive is suicidally idiotic. But even with this thought at the
core of his mind Fred finds himself listening helplessly as his mouth rambles
on. "Blade is… I mean… I really like Blade. I respect her a lot. She’s
one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. I'm not sure I could have
done some of the things she's put up with to get herself and Rosy out to
Mars. Hell, just growing up Blade went through more shit than most adults."
"You’ve known her for that long?"
September's tone reflects more than just a hint of curious. "Roselene’s
guardianship records make it look like you guys met just before leaving
Earth."
"I’ve known her since she was about
a year old, but we never knew each other well until this trip. We’d see
each other maybe once a year at family potlucks and weddings. We’re just
second cousins, you know. We barely made the match for genetic-family status
by two percent. Technically speaking we’re still eligible for marriage."
"Only technically?" Again a hint of
jealousy slips into September's voice. She hopes Fred doesn’t notice, but
then, he is a man. Detecting feminine subtleties isn’t exactly their forte.
"Well, she and I… well we…" Fred’s
face twists up as if suddenly filled with a dull pain. "For me Blade has
been a real enigma. Even though our family relationship has always been
distant, Blade’s still Family to me; and she has been since forever. That
makes me very protective of her. But exactly because our relationship has
always been so distant, I’d be lying to said that I've always thought of
her as a little sister. A certain Fourth of July and one or two wedding
receptions jump to mind as possible exceptions.
"But on the other hand." Fred senses
September's growing discomfort, but can't quite discerning its cause. "Considering
the rather strict travel agreement between us I believe my dear cousin
would neither appreciate nor tolerate even the most minor deviation from
my proscribes list of acceptable emotions, and any and all displays thereof.
Besides, I’m not blind. I've seen how she looks at John."
"Ahh." Opening the next access panel
September's smile takes a slight rebound. "And, do I detect a hint of jealousy
concerning the good Lieutenant Forrest?"
"Ha!" Fred blurts out through a wide
grin. "If it weren’t for John I think Blade and Rosy would have killed
me months ago. Hell, he’s the only thing standing between me and a self-imposed
vacuum shower. Besides, I can still kick his ass in chess."
"I suppose you’ve known him for a
long time too, then." September pulls herself down onto the next row and
opens the first in that bank of telescopes.
"Not really. Before coming aboard
I’d seen John maybe once a few years back at a wedding reception."
"He the one who convince you to immigrate
out?"
"No." Fred laughs. "If I remember
correct, that night John was most interested in convincing my cousin Alexandria
to go down to Costa Rica with him for the weekend."
"So, I take it Lieutenant Forrest
will also be at this party?" September looks up at Fred before pulling
herself over to the next telescope.
"He’s family." Fred nods. "His absence
would be unacceptable."
"My, my, this will be cozy."
September's shaking head sends short tendrils of blonde curls out into
the weightlessness.
"He’s out there right now, you know;
with a rigging crew." Fred points out into the infinite black beyond the
bubbled glass dome. "Over there somewhere to starboard working on the Eastern
Jib."
"Now you sound envious?" September
laughs.
"Oh yah. It’s hard to be jealous of
John about Blade, but EVAs are different. Right now I’d almost give up
my berthing for some time outside."
"You are a strange man, Fred Davis;
but I think I like you."
"You know, as much as I appreciate
the sentiment, I really wish women would stop saying that to me."
As she continues to work her task
September occationally stops to watch Fred stare out at the sails, his
mind's eye racing far ahead, hanging him suspended as the flickering reflection
of Sol’s shattered proton gale ripple the mirror's gigantic arched bowl.
"So," September closes the array's
final access panel. "You got any current plans?"
"Just hanging here staring out at
the sails. Why?"
"Think you could stare at the sails
from the observation bubble over on the starboard spectroscopes?"
"Sure." Fred nods a distracted smile
out at the starry void. "Lead the way."
Looks like I’ll have to. September
nods to herself.
Chapter 19
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