“Sure,” he said, and went and got the kit she had given him. When he reached the corridor, Tiar had shed the contamination gear, and there was still a great banging and clattering coming from the closed door of the cabin next door.
“Stsho passenger,” Tiar said. “Important deal. Got to change the color, change the sleeping arrangements…”
It must be an important passenger, for sure. He followed Tiar past that area, and into the main downside corridor, and to a door there, which Tiar opened.
He truthfully had expected more of a cabin. At least a cot. It did have more to look at. And a blast cushion, with a swing track against the after wall. Otherwise it was a kind of a—laundry, he supposed. Or bath. There were facilities. That was about all. Bare conduits. Water-pipes. Whatever.
“Gods,” Tiar said, and pulled his shoulder down. “Watch your head.”
“It’s all right.” He was used to being tall, on ships built for women.
“There’s blankets,” Tiar said. She opened the wall locker and there certainly were, the whole ship’s supply, it must be. “I’ll get you a reader and some tapes. Gods, I’m sorry about this.”
“It’s all right,” he said. “It really is.”
Tiar stood looking at him, and finally shook her head. “The captain’s got a lot on her mind. She honestly does. You don’t understand.”
“Ker Tiar, I understand.”
“Then / don’t,” Tiar snapped. And went and locked him in.
The blast cushion was one of those arrangements that let down and changed angles, according to which axis the ship might move, one of those emergency station affairs that you had to have in every corridor, in case. So he pulled it into level with the deck as was, and got himself a couple of blankets to prop himself with, and one to throw over him, because the thermostat must have only just been reset, and breath frosted. He was not actually uncomfortable once he settled down with the blanket over him. There was more to look at, all the lockers and pipes and such. He could keep his mind busy figuring out all those. He supposed he could warm me compartment up faster by showering, but it might not warm it that much, and he was not sure they were through coming and going in here. So he sat and tried to read the locker labels from here, hearing the thumping still going on that meant they were redoing things for the stsho.
Stsho wouldn’t like to meet him at all. People wouldn’t, everywhere he went. That was the biggest shock he had had when he got beyond Anuurn’s atmosphere, that it was the same Out There as it was at home, that no matter what Pyanfar Chanur said and no matter how you really acted, nobody waited to find out if you were the way they thought, they were just afraid. Even Hilfy Chanur didn’t know what to do with him. And he was glad to hear from ker Tiar that things were going on that didn’t give the captain time to consider his case. That was reasonable. He could understand that. He really could. It was just so important to him, and he told himself that Hilfy Chanur wouldn’t really sweep him aside without listening, he just had to be patient and quiet and prove his case by that. If he was patient and quiet they would notice. If he cooperated they would be appreciative. Ker Tiar had noticed.
But he waited and he waited, and the thumping and the carrying of things down the corridor went on, but Tiar didn’t bring the books. She didn’t even bring lunch. It would be easy at this point to feel really sorry for himself, but that got no points, either.
Just be patient when you wanted people to notice you. That was what his mother had always told him.
(But she always noticed his sisters, who weren’t. She always gave his sisters what they wanted. Which was natural, he supposed. Daughters stayed with the clan, and sons went away and didn’t come back unless they were attacking the lord of the clan or stealing something. So it was good advice, the Be Patient thing, because he hadn’t attacked his father; and he hadn’t come back and stolen the livestock. His sisters had thought enough of him to talk him onto an offworld shuttle, which had led to everything hopeful in his life. He just wished patience got better results in the universe outside. Because nobody had ever taught him any other way to be. Just crazy mad. Or patient.)
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