Konstantin loaded flat bowls with the rich bean soup and passed them around.
“According to the history, it’s peasant food—beans were cheap and meat was dear, so peasants mixed the beans with meat and vegetables, then simmered slowly until everything was cooked,” Madoka said.
Zoya looked at Natalya with an excited smile on her face. “Try it.”
Natalya dipped a spoon into her dish and sampled some of the beans and broth. The flavors exploded across her tongue. She swallowed and grinned around at the smiling faces waiting for her verdict. “It tastes even better than it smells.”
Everyone dug into their food and conversations ran mostly to nods and smiles and the occasional anecdote over bread and wine and the delicious bean stew. As the main course wound to its inevitable close, Madoka eyed Zoya over her wine glass. “So?” she asked, her eyebrows rising.
Zoya scraped the last of the broth from her dish and stuck the spoon in her mouth before answering. “So?”
“There’s time for this later, Maddie,” Konstantin said, placing one of his big paws on Madoka’s forearm.
Madoka half turned her head toward Konstantin. “Hush, dear. I’m just asking what her plans are.” Her gaze never left Zoya’s face. “So what are your plans, Zajka? Given any thought to coming back to the family?”
“Maddie,” Konstantin said, his head tucked down toward her and his tone low.
“It’s fine, Pop-pop,” Zoya said. “I have, Gram. I think about it often.”
Madoka’s eyes widened and her mouth opened in a quiet “oh.”
“But not now,” Zoya said, leaning across the table and reaching for her grandmother’s hand where it rested among the dishes and utensils. “I have more to do before I can come home.”
Madoka’s lips pressed together and her brow furrowed. “I see,” she said, then tossed the remains of her wine back. “We’re not getting any younger, you know. It would be best if this all didn’t fall on you out of the blue.”
Zoya smiled and offered a small chuckle. “You’ll be around for another century, Gram. If only to keep Pop-pop in line.” She winked at her grandfather who offered a wan smile in return.
Madoka sighed but offered a bright—if somewhat forced—smile. “Well, anyone for dessert?”
Natalya patted her stomach. “I’ve no room left, but this was amazing.”
“Which is probably why you have no room left,” Konstantin said, his eyes twinkling and a smile pulling the corners of his mouth.
“I suspect those two are related.” Natalya smiled back.
“None for me,” Zoya said. “I already made a bit of a pig of myself, but it was so good.”
Konstantin stood. “Well, then, let’s adjourn to the den and digest a bit, shall we?”
“Do you need help clearing this away?” Natalya asked, rising from her chair.
Madoka smiled. “We’ll ring the staff. They’re probably waiting, so we should get out of the way so they can take care if it and be off to their own evenings.”
Konstantin pulled a tablet from his pocket and tapped a few things on the screen. As he thrust the device back into his pocket, a side door opened and a pair of young men entered carrying round, flat trays. Konstantin nodded. “Thomas. Roger. Thank you. We’ll just get out of your way.” He waved Natalya and Zoya after Madoka, who was halfway to the door.
“Thank you, sir. Good night,” one of them said as they started to strip down the table with practiced ease.
The den turned out to be another cozy room, with what appeared to be a large window looking out into space.
“A screen?” Natalya asked crossed to look at the view.
“Monitor’s on the surface,” Konstantin said. “Wireless connection to here.”
“Through the rock?” Natalya asked, turning to look at Konstantin.
“Well, it took some doing,” the old man said, crossing the room to stand in front of the monitor.
“And three repeaters,” Madoka said.
Konstantin’s chuckle rumbled deep in his chest. “And three repeaters,” he said. He glanced at Madoka. “But I didn’t have to open any new passages.”
She laughed and lowered herself into a comfy-looking chair, stretching like a cat as she all but curled up in it.
Zoya curled up in the chair beside her and reached out to hold her grandmother’s hand without speaking.
Konstantin gave a quiet sigh and glanced at Natalya. “So, you and our Zoya? You’ve been together a long time?”
“Since the first day at the academy,” Natalya said looking up at the tall, bearlike man.
“You and she are ... together?”
Natalya wasn’t sure what he was asking but Zoya said, “No, Pop-pop. We’re just traveling the same road. We’re friends, not lovers.”
“Ah,” he said, lifting his chin a bit and turning around to beam a smile at Zoya. “So you have lovers? Why didn’t you bring them?”
“Sorry to burst your bubble, Pop-pop, but no lovers.” She winked at Natalya. “Besides, the ship’s too small. Where would we keep them?”
Natalya had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. The picture in her mind of four people crossing half of the Western Annex in a scout was too comical, even if some tiny part of her felt an odd tug at the thought.
Konstantin frowned and shook his head. “A shame, then. Travel is always more enjoyable when shared.”
“I thought that was misery,” Zoya said, a cheeky grin pulling her mouth off onto her cheek.
“No, no,” Konstantin said. “Misery loves company and troubles are lighter when shared. Travel has its own joys and difficulties.” He gaze softened as he stared across the room at Madoka. “And only one journey has a final ending.”
“Don’t get sappy on us now, old fool,” Madoka said, her smile at him proving that it wasn’t a complaint. She turned to Zoya. “So. What have you been doing? How long can you stay?”
Zoya glanced at Nataly and shrugged. “Mostly just looking for freelance jobs and running errands for other people.”
“Does this pay well?” Madoka asked.
“The last job paid very well,” Zoya said. “We can’t say what it was but it was nothing illegal.”
“You don’t need to tell us,” Madoka said. “We sold High Tortuga most of the metals they needed for their yard expansion.”
“It took them longer than I might have expected to put the pieces together,” Konstantin said. “But we got word a few months back that you were working with Brian Dorion.”
Zoya stared at Natalya then shrugged.
“Long as you didn’t hear it from us,” Natalya said. “I think we’re in the clear.”
“What did you do before that?” Madoka asked.
“Mostly small pickup and carry jobs,” Natalya said. “We got a few private data carrier jobs, but I was getting pretty demoralized by the time this latest job came along.”
Konstantin nodded. “We’ve been there,” he said. “But—so far—everything has worked out well, even if it wasn’t necessarily for the better.”
“What would you like to do next?” Maddie asked. She reached out to pat Zoya’s hand where it gripped her own. “Not about here. Just what would you like to do?”
Zoya bit the side of her lip for a moment and shrugged. “I’d like to work toward my first mate ticket, but I don’t even have my second mate license yet.”
Both Konstantin and Madoka stiffened up at that. “Why not?” Madoka asked. “You’ve got more than enough time in grade.”
Zoya looked at Natalya with raised eyebrows.
“Well, the problem is that neither of us have worked as thirds since we left Port Newmar.”
Konstantin looked down at Natalya. “Do you want your second mate’s ticket too?”
“Engineering,” Natalya said. “I need a year as engineering third.”
“Really!” The new seemed to excite Konstantin. “You fly an exploration scout all over the Western Annex and you’re an Engineering Third?
”
“Well, I had a lot of help.” She nodded at Zoya.
Konstantin chuckled.
“We thought maybe we’d check in here and try to get on a ship as thirds to do our time,” Zoya said.
Natalya looked at Zoya. “We did?”
Zoya shrugged. “You’d have thought of it eventually. We did talk about it over on the orbital.”
“I didn’t realize you were taking me seriously.”
“Can’t help that.” Zoya shrugged again and grinned at Natalya. “What else we got on the agenda?”
“You could always take over one of our satellite operations,” Madoka said.
Konstantin frowned. “Maddie.”
She shrugged and folded her hands in her lap. “Just a suggestion. It pays well and would be good experience.”
“We’d be no closer to getting our second officer tickets.” A thread of exasperation wrapped around Zoya’s words.
“You need to do what you need to do, Zajka,” Konstantin said. He crossed the room and settled on a sofa. “Maybe find somebody special. When you’ve got the wanderlust under control and found somebody special, then maybe, huh?”
“Thanks, Pop-pop.”
He smiled and patted the sofa next to him. “Now, come tell me about your adventures. How did you like Toe-Hold space?”
Zoya patted her grandmother’s hand and took the seat next to her grandfather. Natalya joined the group and they settled in for the kind of quiet, affectionate conversation that made Natalya miss her own parents.
Chapter 7
Big Rock:
2368, January 31
The silence woke Natalya. She went from sound asleep to sitting upright in the bed, her heart hammering. It took her several moments to reorient herself to reality. She chuckled to herself and flopped back on the huge, comfy bed, pulling the covers up and snuggling under the comforter.
She couldn’t settle. She tried one side, then the other and finally gave up. The adrenaline rush took a long time to subside, longer than she had patience for. She rolled over and had to blink a couple of times before her eyes found the focus. 0545. “Good enough.”
Decision made, she crawled out of the bed and padded her way to the bathroom, the flooring surprisingly warm under her feet. After doing the needful and grabbing a luxurious shower, she slipped into a pair of jeans and a pullover. Habit drove her to make the bed before she found herself at a loss.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had nothing to do.
After amusing herself by exploring the room for a few ticks, the urge to find a cup of something pushed her into the corridor. She found Zoya’s door open and peeked into her room.
“Good morning,” Zoya said. She straightened from pulling the covers up on her bed and grinned. “Couldn’t sleep?”
Natalya shook her head. “Silence. Woke up in a panic.”
Zoya grinned back at her. “I understand. It usually takes me a couple of days to get back into civilian mode when I come back here.”
“How do they keep it so quiet?” Natalya asked.
“It’s a big place with lots of sound-absorbing mass.” Zoya made a final tug on the coverlet and slipped into a pair of shipboots. “Let’s go see if Genevieve has the coffee ready.”
Natalya followed Zoya down the corridor, checking the markers along the floor as they went. “What was it they called you last night? Zebka?”
“Zajka. It’s like ‘little bunny’ in Russian,” Zoya said. “It was my baby name and it never went away.”
“You never struck me as a rabbit.”
Zoya laughed. “Growing up, I was pretty timid around groups of people.” She glanced over at Natalya. “Around here, there were always groups of people. I stayed in my hole when the larger events happened.”
“Your hole?”
“My room,” Zoya said. “It was always my haven.”
“And yet, you were sitting in the big chair on an ore hauler at twelve.”
“I was out there before that. The crews never seemed as intimidating as the business people who came to Big Rock for meetings.”
Natalya smiled. “We never hobnobbed with the big shots. Dad was too busy fiddling with one ship or another and my mother was underway most of the time.”
Zoya frowned. “Who did you play with?”
“Oh, there were other kids around the orbital. I didn’t spend much time with them. The day care always smelled like babies, and I preferred the smell of ships and the docks as soon as I could walk.” Natalya laughed as she remembered. “Toddlers and orbital docking facilities do not make for a good mix. I think that’s why my father took me on board whatever ship he was working on at the time.”
“He could close the lock and keep you inside?” Zoya asked.
“Yup. I remember asking ‘Whazzat?’ all day.”
“You must have driven him crazy.”
Natalya shrugged. “I don’t remember that he ever shut me down. He always answered every question.” The sound of her father’s voice, low and patient as he explained the finer points of bolt threads, echoed in her memory.
“Here we are,” Zoya said.
They went through the door to the family kitchen and found a well-rounded, older woman working at the counter.
“There you are.” The woman swept Zoya into a hug, smiling and patting Zoya’s face with her hands. “Look at you. You’ve grown up.”
“It’s good to see you again, Genevieve. This is my friend Natalya. We were roommates at the academy and we’ve been bumming around ever since.”
Genevieve held out a hand. “Pleased to meet you, Natalya.”
“Likewise.” Natalya shook her hand, noting the strength in her grip and the warm welcome in her eyes.
Genevieve stepped back and waved them to the table. “Breakfast is ready. I’m just waiting for somebody to eat it. Coffee or tea? Juice, maybe?”
“Coffee, please,” Zoya said, taking the same seat she’d used the night before. “Natalya?”
“Yes, coffee.” Natalya sat across from Zoya, feeling a bit overwhelmed for reasons she couldn’t name.
Genevieve brought a thermal carafe to the table, pouring heavy china mugs full before leaving it. “Would you like to eat now or wait for your grandparents?”
Zoya looked at Natalya who shrugged. “We’ll wait, I think. I don’t expect they’ll be very long.”
Genevieve grinned. “They’re usually here by now.”
As if summoned, the door opened and Konstantin charged through, his brow furrowed as he stared at his tablet. “Coffee, Genevieve?”
“On the table,” she said.
Konstantin looked up at that and a smile flashed across his face for only a moment. “Oh, good morning, everyone.”
“What’s up, Pop-pop?” Zoya asked as he slid into the chair beside Natalya.
“We’ve got a problem with one of the smelters. Their weekly report was due day before yesterday.”
Konstantin put his tablet down beside his plate and he grabbed the carafe as if it were a lifeline in the Deep Dark. After pouring and taking a good slug of the hot liquid, he shook his head. “Your grandmother sent a query when it didn’t show up.”
“Still no word?” Zoya’s brow furrowed just like her grandfather’s.
Natalya almost smiled at how much they looked alike.
“It bounced,” he said.
Genevieve stepped up to the table. “You’ll still need to eat.”
“Maddie will be along shortly.” He sniffed the air. “Quiche this morning?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let’s give Maddie a little more time and then we can eat together.”
Genevieve nodded. “Very good, sir.” She returned to the kitchen and began shuffling dishes.
“Is it serious?” Zoya asked.
Konstantin frowned at his tablet as if it were, somehow, the device’s fault. “Can’t say, really. It shouldn’t have bounced.”
“Which smelter?”
“Se
venteen,” Konstantin said. “It’s out in the Toe-Holds, actually. Halfway between Mel’s Place and the Ranch.” He looked up at Zoya and Natalya. “You ever get around that part of the Deep Dark?”
Zoya looked at Natalya, her eyes wide.
“We know those stations,” Natalya said. “We heard you had a few operations in the Toe-Holds, but not where they were.”
“It bounced,” Zoya said. “You’re sure?”
Konstantin nodded. “Came back early this morning.” Something in Zoya’s tone caught his attention and he looked at her, his eyes suddenly hard. “Why? You know something?”
“It can’t bounce,” Zoya said.
Konstantin’s eyebrows rose. “I can show you the returned notice.”
Zoya swallowed and glanced at Natalya.
“It can’t bounce unless the terminal is gone,” Natalya said.
Konstantin’s gaze swept to Natalya, his lips tightened. “Gone? Or just offline?”
“The network always keeps a status marker. Even when the terminals go offline,” Natalya said. “We’re not allowed to say more than that. Probably shouldn’t be saying that much.”
Konstantin’s gaze hardened even more. “You never told me what you’re about to tell me. I’ll swear it in court if I have to.”
“There’s a data buoy in system with your station. The techs dropped it off when they installed the network terminal,” Zoya said. “That buoy maintains the network link to the main terminal in the station. If the terminal had gone offline, it would have told the buoy. The buoy would hold any messages until the terminal came up again. They wouldn’t bounce them back.”
“Go on,” Konstantin said.
“They’d only bounce if the buoy lost the link,” Zoya said.
“How?” he asked.
“The terminal would have to have lost power before it could report going off line,” Zoya said.
“But you don’t think so?”
She shook her head. “The terminals have backup power supplies. They can stay online for up to two stans even if the station goes dark. They signal the buoy, then go offline automatically when they’re down to half a stan’s worth of power.”
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