Cast another, longing look at the computer. Looked at the door. Edged closer, then flipped it on just to see what program would come up.
Screen showed: MES>94.
He hit 01, keyed: Your message software’s a dinosaur. I could access. I didn’t. T. Hawkins.
Austin had a lot else on his mind. The whole ship rang with urgency. Stupid to do. Distracting to Austin. To… God knew who… but, dammit, things were happening up there he didn’t have a clue to judge. He had skills he wasn’t using. Somebody was after them, and he had to sit down here, being shot at, keeping pans from falling out of cabinets, getting rumors from the walk-ins… his stomach was in a knot.
It might make Austin know he restrained himself. Might get him at least access physically where he could access electronically. Software was a dinosaur. God knew what other was.
But, damn, no, ship was at risk. Wasn’t a time for personal stuff. He ran a delete. Flipped the switch. Killed it.
Could be the militia after them. And here he was. Wrong side of Marie’s quarrel. Wrong side of everything.
The ship was growing so quiet. He’d never heard anything the like on Sprite before they went to jump. On Sprite there were so many Family, there were so many kids running up and down, people yelling information at each other. Here… just quiet. Somebody walked outside the partition that divided the galley from general passage. Somebody shouted, far off in the ring. Somewhere, sounding sections away, a cart rattled. He made himself move away from the console, get to work, the last few table-seat units to fold up, thunderous, appalling crashes in the silence.
Jamal came back, started running checks on the cabinets. “You’re L14.”
“Yes.”
“Left your stuff there. Trank and all. You ever get sheets?”
“I… no. I didn’t. “ Sheets were the farthest thing from his mind. “I can do without. It’s all right. “ In the crisis at hand, he regretted his protestations to Saby about his own quarters. Didn’t want to be alone. Desperately didn’t want to be alone, but he’d taken that position… didn’t see how to talk to her now.
“Freeze your ass off,” Jamal said. “I tossed some blankets in. Put your trank on the bunk. Sheets are down in Medical, you got to do that yourself.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yeah, well, it’s a crazy trip. Hope we see the other side of it.”
Cart rattled and thumped somewhere, growing closer. Tink coming back, he thought, and Jamal said, “We’re shut down here. You want to go get those sheets? I’ll sign you out.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Thanks. “ Jamal was down furnishing his quarters while he was sneaking access on the galley computer. Didn’t make him feel better. He went for the exit toward lower main, dodged Tink and the inbound cart.
“We done?” Tink asked cheerfully.
“Seems so,” he said. He tried cheerfulness. It didn’t take.
But Tink bumped him on the arm with a tattooed fist. “Hey. We’re all right. Seen us sail through the damnedest stuff. Pieces rattling off the hull. We come through. We always come through. Can’t scratch this ship.”
“You been aboard that long?”
“Oh, yeah,” Tink said. “You just belt in good. Hear? Hope you secured those cabinets, or we’ll have pans clear to Engineering.”
He laughed a little. He truly wanted to laugh. “Yeah,” he said. It made him feel better as he went his way down to Medical. Check out the sheets, yeah, pillow, too, got the blankets, already, sir, no problem, got the trank, yeah, I’m on the roster, I’m on galley duty, Jamal said he saw to it.
He got the sheets, he went to lonely L14 and checked out the accommodation. It wasn’t quite a closet. It had plumbing. He remembered what Austin said about turning the water on. He tried it and it was off. But the outbound pipe needed shutting. He got down to locate it, found the cutoff labeled, and turned it.
The first of the acceleration warnings sounded, then. He banged his head on the cabinet getting out, his heart going like a hammer. He heard Christian’s voice, at least he thought it was Christian: “We’ll clear Pell slow zones in ten minutes. At that time we’ll start our acceleration toward departure. We’re releasing non-ops personnel to quarters to secure premises. Please secure all pipes and unplug all but emergency equipment. Area chiefs please check compliance and all vacant compartments. As you are aware, we have a follower. We do not know the ship’s intentions, but we are on condition red alert. Double check all secure latches, secure all non-essential items.”
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