by Nathan Lowel
“What did I tell him?”
“Slow down and enjoy the ride. He took it to heart. He’s doing well over on the Lois. He’s still on the mess deck and doing great things for the ship. He credits you for his turn around.”
She raised her glass in a vague toast. “Well, ya never know where the seeds will sprout, do you? Thanks for telling me. Is that why you asked me to dance?”
“No, I asked you to dance because even from across the room I could tell you needed to get out there and shake those hips, and none of the guys you were with seemed to notice.”
“What made you think I’d go?”
“I didn’t. But I was pretty sure you weren’t going to ask me.”
She laughed at that. “Well, that’s probably true. Although, give me some credit. I did notice that you disposed of Murdock pretty quickly.”
“You’re a good person. You look out for your own.”
“And she is one of mine after all, eh? You didn’t like her?”
“I told you. I came to meet a fascinating woman. Murdock just wasn’t that interesting. There’s more to life than cleavage.”
“Most guys don’t share that particular view.” She scowled into her glass as she spoke.
“I’m not most guys.”
She looked up and considered me then with a speculative light in her eyes. “I can see that.”
We sat there quietly sipping and looking at each other for a while. “Are you always this quiet?” she asked.
“Are you?”
“No! Usually I chatter away a meter a minute.”
I shrugged. “I thought we were communicating pretty well, actually. Am I boring you?”
She shook her head. “Not yet.”
“Let me know when I am and I’ll go.”
“Just like that? I say, okay, you’re boring me. And you leave.”
I gave a little shrug. “Of course. What else?”
“What if I bore you? Will you tell me to leave?”
“I doubt that you could bore me. I don’t even know you yet.”
“Damn you are good. Classical training?”
“Mom was an ancient literature professor. I grew up on the classics.”
“You’re kidding!”
I shook my head. “Nope. Melville and Forester were her specialty areas, but I grew up with Shakespeare. What about you?”
“The only classics I ever got were at the academy, and there wasn’t much there.”
That last part sounded a bit bitter, so I did not push it. I steered the conversation a bit. “Where’d you get your philosophical outlook to enjoy the ride?”
She looked a little embarrassed. “Fortune cookie.”
It was so unexpected I laughed. “Okay, you got me with that one.”
“No, seriously. It was near the end of my last year at the academy and a bunch of us went out to dinner one night to an oriental restaurant down by the docks in Port Newmar. The whole evening we had this discussion about berths and ships. You know, where there were openings and who was going where—that kind of thing. We drank a lot of beer and no small amount of sake. I kept saying how much I wanted to be done with the academy and get onto a ship. Like getting onto a ship was going to be some kind of answer. Like by being there would mean I had have arrived, you know?”
“Oh, yeah. I know very well.” I just wanted her to keep talking. I did not care what she said.
“We got the fortune cookies and mine said, ‘Life is the only journey with a final destination.’”
“That must have made quite an impression.”
“Well, I’m still using it five years later, but at the time, I think the beer and sake were contributing factors.” She swirled the cubes in her glass for a few heartbeats before arching an eyebrow in my direction. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Where did you get that jacket? It’s spectacular.”
“I got it here on the orbital the other day. Chez Henri’s up on eleven.”
She snorted in disbelief. “You were not at Chez Henri.”
“What do you wanna bet.”
“If you were at Chez Henri, I’ll give you a night you’ll never forget,” she said with a smoldering look that I think she practiced in the mirror because it was very, very effective.
“No bet.”
“Ha, I knew it!”
“No, you misunderstand. You’ve already given me that. You’ll need to do better.”
She stopped and laughed. “Damn, you are good.”
“What’ll it take to convince you? And what are the stakes?”
“My gods. You were!”
I held open the jacket so she could see the label on the inside lining.
“That doesn’t prove anything,” she said, but I could tell she was not disputing my claim, just the evidence.
I finished my drink and put the empty glass on the table without speaking.
“You were!”
“Yeah. You know Brill? Brilliantine Smith?” I asked.
“Your boss? Of course.”
“She was there with me. She insisted on going.”
“No!”
“I took Beverly and Diane, too.”
“Beverly? Black leather, buzz cut Beverly?”
“Hey, that’s my shipmate you’re talking about.”
“And Diane Ardele? Works with you in environmental? Petite little mink?”
“Minx is more accurate, but yeah, that’s her.”
“You took three women to Chez Henri?”
“Well, Ms. Avril was busy and couldn’t go with us or there’d have been four.”
“You’re kidding!”
“I am not kidding. It wasn’t even my idea. When Brill heard I had an introduction to Henry Roubaille, she insisted. I thought we were going to have half the ship up there watching me change clothes.”
“You had an introduction?”
I gave a half shrug. “I think that’s about the only way you can see him. His receptionist is a real pro.”
“Where’d you get an invitation?”
“Bresheu on St. Cloud gave it to me.”
“You’re kidding!”
“You’ve got to stop saying that.” I stood and held out my hand. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
She put her hand in mine, and I pulled her to her feet. I led her back to where Brill was still sitting, but she had moved to my old seat beside Al. Brill got a really funny grin on her face and Al gave me a big wink and raised her glass in my direction.
“You know these women, I think?” I said to Alvarez.
“Hi, Brill, Al,” she said.
“Hey, AA.” Al saluted with her glass.
“Hi. Alicia,” Brill said. “How’s it going?”
“Great! This one is something, huh?” She nodded in my direction.
Al spoke up before Brill could answer, “Hell, I’ve only known him for two stans and I know that!”
“You have no idea, Alicia.”
“Settle a bet for me, B?” she said.
“Sure, if I can.”
“Where’d he get this jacket?”
“Chez Henri up on eleven, why? He got the whole outfit there the other day. Bev and Diane and I went with him.”
“Jillian was too busy?”
“I think she’s slit her wrists by now, but yeah. She had the duty.”
“How did he get into Henri’s?”
“We were on St. Cloud and he got an introduction from Bresheu.”
“The Bresheu?” she asked.
Brill shrugged. “Is there more than one?”
“Why did Bresheu give him an introduction?”
Brill was grinning by this time. “Because the jacket he tried on there didn’t fit and we didn’t have time for it to be tailored before we shipped out.”
Alicia started laughing. “This is all true, isn’t it?”
“Oh, yes. Did he tell you his rating?”
“Engineman, isn’t it?”
“Well, yeah, but he’s also rated as Ordinary Spacer, Cargo Handler, and Food Handler. In a few weeks he’ll be spec two environmental as well.” She said it with a certain amount of pride.
Alicia looked at me with a speculative look in her eye. “You looking for a new berth?”
Brill said, “Hey, no poaching. He’s mine!”
I found I quite liked the way she said, “He’s mine.”
Alicia giggled and gripped my hand a little more firmly. The temperature rose in the bar by about ten degrees Celsius with that giggle. She looked back at Brill then. “Okay, can I borrow him for a few stans, then? I’ll bring him back, I promise.”
“Okay,” Brill replied warily, “but don’t break him. I need him on watch tomorrow night.”
I confess, it felt a little odd, being bargained over like that, but the comment that Diane had made at dinner about what it means to be a spacer hit hard just then. Something must have shown on my face, because Brill asked me, “You okay, Ish?”
“It just struck me what you said earlier about civilians.”
She nodded knowingly, even a bit sadly. “Have fun, Ish.”
Bless her heart.
“Don’t wait up,” I said and let the fascinating Alicia Alvarez lead me out of the bar.
Chapter 20
DUNSANY ROADS ORBITAL
2352-APRIL-17
Alicia Alvarez led me out of Jump! and straight to the lift. I found it quite pleasant, walking along hand in hand. I enjoyed the looks the other spacers gave us and I think Alicia did, too. She had a little smile on her face as we threaded our way through the clots of people flowing erratically through the promenade.
“You don’t have to do this, you know,” we both said at once and laughed.
“Okay, you first,” she told me.
“You’ve already given me a night I’ll never forget. It was a sucker bet.”
“You think I’m paying off a bet?” she asked gently as we waited for the lift and she looked up at me.
“No,” I said just as gently. “Now, your turn.”
“You don’t seem quite as sure of yourself as you did earlier.”
“It’s a cultural thing. I’m still adjusting to life aboard I think.”
“A case of be careful what you wish for?” she suggested.
The lift arrived then and we got on with a rowdy group who rode up two levels and then fell off at the docks. She punched number seven and we kept riding up.
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. You’re a fascinating and stunning woman. I don’t know you except remotely because of Pip.”
“Of all the women in that bar, you picked me because of Pip?” she asked with a little grin. “Why pick any? I’m sure you could have attracted some all by yourself.”
“Murdock was a set up,” I told her.
The lift stopped on level seven, and we stepped off, strolling along the curved passage, still hand in hand. I had no idea where we were going or even if we were going anywhere at all, but her hand felt nice in mine and that was enough.
“What?” Her brow furrowed into a quizzical scowl.
“Murdock was a setup. She was supposed to latch onto me and take me out for a spin.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I overheard more of a conversation than I was supposed to. Some people who care about me very deeply were trying to take care of me in a way they couldn’t.”
“You mean Brill set you up to get you laid?”
“Yep, I think so. She knew Murdock from when she was aboard the Lois. I can see why Murdock didn’t fit there. I think that’s why Mr. Maxwell was willing to trade her for Pip.”
Her mouth twisted into a wry grin. “I’m not sure she fits on the Duchamp either, but you didn’t hear it from me.”
“Anyway, Brill was pretty sure that if Murdock got anywhere near me, she’d latch onto the fresh meat. And she did.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Diane and Bev were livid about it, but Brill is a powerful force in her own right. I think that by the time Diane and Bev found out, it was a done deal and the meet-up at Jump! was only a matter of timing.”
“And you got pissed because they set you up? Is that why you unloaded Murdock?”
I shook my head. “A couple of days ago, I probably would have been. This is going to sound strange, but something happened up at Henri Roubaille’s—some kind of odd bonding. The whole thing was surreal. I think we became friends. Not just shipmates, but real friends.”
“You think? Isn’t that something you know?”
“Probably for most people, but I’m handicapped in that way.”
She gave me a crooked grin. “I dunno, Ish. You look pretty healthy to me.”
I laughed. “Yeah, physically. But I wasn’t kidding about my mother the lit professor. We lived in the university enclave on Neris almost all my life. Just mom and me. I wasn’t just an only child, but I was also an outsider in my peer group.”
“Have you always talked like that?”
“Yeah, pretty much as long as I can remember. Why else do you think I was the outsider in my peer group?” I teased her.
“Point taken.” She released my hand then and took my arm. It felt nice.
“Anyway, the nearest thing I remember to having a friend was Angela Markova about a lifetime ago. She left when her father went to work for another company.”
“Oh, my. Please pardon this next question…”
“No, I’m not a virgin,” I said with a crooked grin.
“Whew, I’m feeling guilty enough about cradle robbing without having to deal with that, too,” she said teasingly.
“I said I didn’t have friends. I knew a lot of kids. Some girls are turned on by brains—even some of the pretty and popular ones. They just wouldn’t talk to me when anybody else was around. I haven’t been a virgin since I was fourteen. I don’t even remember her name.”
“Good grief!”
“So, the upshot is, I’ve read about best friends. I know the idea of the boon companion. I’ve just never had one. It’s kinda weird.”
She looked me in the face. “You’re serious.”
“Very. Being aboard the Lois has almost been like being pulled out of solitary confinement. I mean, I had a life but it was just me and my mother and her occasional lovers. Life in the enclave was intellectually stimulating but emotionally bankrupt.”
“You seem pretty well adjusted,” she commented.
“Thanks. I’m very aware that my youth, while odd, carried a lot of advantages that many people never had. I was never hungry or beaten. We always had a roof over our heads and something interesting to do. I hear horror stories of people who grow up hungry, hurt, and abused, and I feel really lucky. My only problem is I never had a friend.”
“So you think that you and Brill and the others are friends now?”
“Yeah.” I paused and took a slow breath while I thought about it. “Something like that. And I think they see me as a bit of a shy backwater nerd who needed a little help in making a sexual connection. And I think they thought it should happen before we get underway again.”
“Why would they think that?”
“This is the first time I’ve been off the ship past 22:00 since I came aboard last September. They know I haven’t been sleeping with anybody on board and they know I haven’t had any opportunities in port. Pip got injured at my first port of call and I never even got off the ship for over three months. When I did, it was just to go out to dinner so I could have a meal I didn’t have to clean up after.”
“Yet you still seem relatively sane. I’m impressed.”
“Yeah, well, that’s open to debate,” I said with a grin.
“And you think they set up Murdock?”
“Oh, I know they set up Murdock. That’s a given. And I’m pretty sure they did it because they thought I needed it and Murdock was a sure bet. Distasteful, but certain. I think Brill provided the opp
ortunity but left the outcome up to me. Murdock was there, she was available, and if I wanted it, I could have it.” I shrugged.
“And you didn’t want it?”
“Of course, I want it. I’m as healthy as anybody. I just didn’t want it with her.”
“Well, then why me?”
“Because you were the sexiest woman in the room and just watching you was driving me crazy.”
“And because you figured if you could get me, you’d prove to Brill and the others that you didn’t need their help.”
I shrugged. “Well, perhaps as a side benefit, but that wasn’t the main reason. I’ve been looking forward to tonight, to the possibilities, ever since the other day in Chez Henri. I really didn’t think I would wind up with you on my arm like this. I was prepared for you to cut me off at the knees.”
“Well, then why?”
We stopped and I turned to her. “I’ve been cut off at the knees before. It’s not that bad. And there was the possibility of something magical happening.” I took her face gently in my hands and moved close to hers, feeling her breath on my skin. I smiled but did not kiss her. Instead, I turned back and tucked her arm back under mine and started walking.
“You bastard!” she said with a shaky laugh.
“So? I found you fascinating, sexy, powerful, and beautiful—not necessarily in that order, and I thought I’d like to leave the bar with you at the end of the night. Is that so bad?”
“Thought? Past tense?”
“Semantic trap. I thought that then because it is in the past. That has nothing to do with the way I feel about you right now.”
“And how do you feel about me?”
“You are a fascinating, sexy, powerful, beautiful woman, and I’m enjoying every instant I’m with you. Now it’s your turn to be on the hot seat. How do you feel about me? Why did you let a common engineman dance with you?”
“Oh, that’s easy…because you asked, and very nicely, I might add. And you should probably know that you are not a common engineman.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because a common engineman wouldn’t go to a bar wearing Henri Roubaille.”
“Okay, you got me there. But why cradle robbing? You got a thing for young stuff?”
“Truthfully, I was just dancing until we sat to talk. I had no intention of leaving so early with anybody when we sat down.”