Coffee Cup Dreams (A Redpoint One Romance)

by Marlow, J. A.

  "It sounded like it," Mr. Getty said, striding towards another door.

  A comment that didn't inspire much confidence in her. She followed him, asking, "Do they ever talk? So you know for sure?"

  "No, the noises you heard is how they communicate. It's up to you to decipher them," he said as he disappeared into one of the rooms.

  "Rather odd robots," Tish said as she caught up with him, comparing them to the one house robot Maria used to help keep the house clean from the ravages of three little boys.

  "We don't call them 'robots,' and in fact they won't respond to the word. Use 'bots' instead." He stopped in the middle of a long room with lockers on one side and bins and cabinets on the others extending from floor to ceiling. He pointed to one locker. "That one is yours. I suggest you take off as much as possible and put it inside for safe keeping. Things tend to go astray while on duty."

  Take off as much as possible? She blushed, hoping he didn't mean clothes. She didn't really have anything to put in it, but in the end put in her jacket and the keys to her luggage. A thumbprint on the front locked it tight for her.

  She turned to find a tool belt extended towards her, a smaller version of the one Mr. Getty wore. "Your work belt. I loaded it for you. I'll show you how to do it yourself later."

  Tish took it and wrapped it around her waist, having to hook it on the tightest setting for it to stay on her hips. "I'm official, I have tools!"

  A ghost of a smile flashed across his face. "Yes, you're official. In a moment you'll be even more so. Are you ready?"

  All the doubts rose back up. "We're going out now?"

  "To a job, yes." He led her out of the room and back the way they'd come to the transit platform.

  Only a car no longer sat waiting for them. A small bubble pod with seats in the enclosed front and an open flat area in the back sat in its place. With a bot already in the back, watching them approach with its two eyestalks.

  "A maintenance travel pod. I see my companion has anticipated me again," Mr. Getty said with a short laugh and a smile that transformed the angled planes of his face into something that took her breath away.

  Tish forced herself to break her gaze away, looking to the bot in the back of the pod only to find it staring at her. Her mind flashed again on a scene of the movie, of the robotics of an alien space station going berserk.

  And it didn't feel right. The robot appeared curious but nothing about it seemed threatening. It waited patiently while Mr. Getty checked the tools in the back of the pod.

  Nothing threatening at all. In fact, they were rather cute with their small heads and eyestalks, and the larger rounded main body. Like a big white ladybug.

  "Ready?" Mr. Getty asked, standing next to the open door at the front of the pod.

  She slipped into the front-facing bench seat. "Thank you, Mr. Getty."

  "Call me Arthur. We don't go on formality around here," he said. "We work too closely together for that."

  Tish nodded, not surprised. He didn't seem like the type who would insist on formality. Not like some of her former bosses who preferred the employees always be reminded who was in charge by how they addressed him.

  "Sector 1157." His shoulder brushed against her as he settled into the bench seat next to her while the pod surged forward. "I want to apologize."

  Tish started, turning her attention away from the small tube the pod was heading into. "What?"

  "You're new and usually I would not ask that you come on such a repair for the first several weeks."

  "This is an emergency?" she guessed.

  He nodded. "We need to track this problem down and fast. Otherwise we're looking at a large-scale evacuation of the sector. I would prefer not to do that."

  Which brought to mind all the horror stories of living in a space-based environment. Stories she didn't need to bring to mind, but that she had to face head-on if she was going to be a maintenance technician.

  Which she should focus on. Really, she should. She might be going into a dangerous situation.

  But, the heat coming off him, the feel of where his arm brushed hers. Going down that avenue of thought was just as disturbing, even if for entirely different reasons.

  "Okay, what am I doing? Following and watching?" She asked, getting rather furious at herself.

  "And asking questions. Ask all you want."

  With his voice softer and his face not so tense, she felt better about it than at first. While she hoped the situation on the station, of being so short handed, had been the reason for his anger early on, she couldn't shake what he'd said about his brother.

  It sounded as if Neil pulled strings with his brother to get her the job. While she'd needed to leave Earth right away, she would have preferred getting the job on her own merits. If previous training hadn't been needed, well, she could qualify for that all by herself!

  And wow, did she not have training or experience, she reminded herself as she stood in front of a wide wall of pipes, wires, and cables weaving in and out of a wall with angled protruding boxes. They joined two other men in front of it, with introductions quickly made, and for a moment all of them looked up at the wall. She couldn't see anything leaking, leaving her no clue what held their attention.

  Damien Lysander pointed out one junction. "Past this it's fine, but I haven't been able to trace it up to this system."

  "Bots giving any clue?" Arthur asked.

  "Bots have been useless, like usual," the man on the other side of Damien said, glaring at one of the bots running past them.

  "Ricardo, they are not useless," Damien said with a shake of his head.

  "The bots don't know where the problem is?" Tish asked. The ones she could see certainly were busy enough. They looked like they knew what they were doing, like the ones running along a big pipe near the tall ceiling.

  "This system isn't native to the space station. We humans installed it to make the station more comfortable for us. Sometimes the bots pick up on the problems of human-built systems, sometimes they don't," Damien said, casting her an appreciative glance. "I see we have a new trainee."

  A glance that usually would have made her blush considering how handsome he was. Short sleeves and well-worn pants fit snugly over a well built and muscled body. Thick dark brown short hair spiked at the top, unusual green eyes. But oddly, she didn't feel anything by it. She much preferred Arthur's lanky frame to Damien's more compact build.

  "Brand new from Earth," Arthur said, continuing to study the jumble on the wall.

  Tish returned her gaze to it helplessly, knowing she would never have a chance of understanding how it all worked. The more she studied it, the more nervous she became about her choice to come to the station.

  "I don't see how we have any choice. We start tracing the lines one by one and hope we're dealing with an easily dealt-with coolant leak and not a blockage. How long do we have before sector life-support failure?" Arthur asked.

  "Maybe till tomorrow morning," Damien said with a shrug. "If the problem gets worse, sooner. You'll be the first to know."

  "Simon and Rachel already working on other areas of the system? Good." Arthur turned a speculative look on her. "Ready to get dirty?"

  The wall didn't inspire any confidence, but she nodded.

  Ricardo gave her a hard half-grin. "Good luck on your first day. Most don't survive it."

  "Ricardo, the south line," Damien said curtly, pointing down one of the corridors. "Watch the connections between levels."

  "I know what to do," Ricardo said with a scowl, moving towards one of the maintenance corridors. A black and white bot trailed off after him.

  Damien turned back to Arthur, nodding in the other direction. "Can you take the north-west lines?"

  "You got it. Let me know if you have any further problems with your apprentice."

  Damien's frown deepened. "He has potential if he would stop with the attitude. I'll deal with it."

  Arthur nodded, gesturing to Tish for her to follow him. As they mo
ved out of the area and into the smaller maintenance corridors he said back to her, "Attitude means a lot more with this job than with most."

  "Yes sir," Tish said quietly.

  No attitude, watch, listen, and ask questions. She ducked under a bundle of low pipes, wonder how anyone found their way around if nothing was ever marked.

  Why did such simple things feel so overwhelming?

  CHAPTER FIVE

  TISH DID HER best to study their twists and turns, but she couldn't find any rhyme or reason to them. A few minutes in and she felt like they were going in circles, yet the differences in the patterns of pipes told her the feeling was wrong.

  She made sure to keep Arthur in sight at all times. If she lost him now, she might be lost in the belly of the station forever. "How can you know what direction you are heading? What is north, what's south?"

  "Entrance into the transit hyperspace radiation tube is south. Exit is north. Or did you not see that part of the station before docking?"

  He turned down a branch from the main tunnel, studying the walls and ceilings as he did. All of which looked the same to her. What was he looking for? "Yes, I was in the cockpit. Saw all of it, including the pirate chase."

  "Right, you mentioned that. The east-west parameter is more difficult, but is aligned with the main bridge of the station. You'll get used to it as time goes on."

  "Map?" She asked as they turned again.

  "A map won't help. Too complex, and some of the corridors change with time."

  Like in the movie. Changing behind people, trapping them with nowhere to escape. Drat, she really regretted watching the thing. Why couldn't she have gone to see a children's movie?

  "Are you claustrophobic?" He asked.

  She started. "No, not that I know of."

  He ran a finger along a ridged black and gray pipe as it turned into a smaller corridor, one not much taller than her. One that looked to her to be nothing more than a cubby-hole.

  "This could be one of the problem areas. Take the flashlight and follow it through. You're smaller so you'll fit easier. If the access corridor branches, stay to the left. Look for any breakage, leaks, or spills." He pointed down the corridor they'd been following. "I'll track another supply pipe and meet you where they meet."

  And with that he left.

  She sighed. Fine. She could do this. Follow a silly pipe and stay in the main corridor. Look for anything dripping. No problem.

  Crawl-space, really. Barely enough room for her to slip through sideways. The flashlight in her hand cast more than enough light for her to see the pipe and find her way in the small space.

  The pipe stood out from the others. First, it was always on the surface. Second, it had a distinctly different appearance than the rest of the piping. Third, it didn't feel like it belonged.

  It made her wonder about the station. What kind of life-support system did it have before humans came? Was it still active? And the big question no scientist had yet been able to answer: what did the aliens who built the station look like?

  She was guessing they'd been a really small species, if the corridor she inched down was any indication. No wonder Arthur sent her in. Not only was it narrow, but the ceiling came down so low that some of the pipes and conduits brushed the top of her head. Someone as tall and big as Arthur wouldn't have a chance of getting through the narrow points.

  A small white shape zoomed pass her at eye-level making her jump with a sharp squeeek.

  "Okay in there?" Arthur asked, his voice echoing down the small corridor from somewhere in front of her.

  "I'm fine. No leaks yet," Tish shouted back, realizing what she'd seen. Just in time for another miniature bot to race past her, the body not much longer then her thumb. Still the same shape as the bigger bots, but so small.

  And cute.

  She couldn't help grinning as she continued tracing the path of the pipe. The small size made her itch for a little bit of paint to paint them with the pattern of a ladybug. It would be perfect for their size.

  Okay, no threatening bots waiting in the shadows just waiting for the right moment to attack and swarm over her. She really shouldn't have gone to watch the movie with friends.

  Bright pinpricks of lights from the miniature bot eyestalks bounced up and down above her from the ceiling. A chorus of tinny calls echoed down the corridor.

  She stopped to shine a light at them. "What are you doing up there?"

  A drop hit the top of the flashlight. Tish jumped back, angling the beam along the ceiling, looking for where the fluid might be coming from. The side of the pipe she was tracing was wet, but on one side, not the bottom as she would have expected. Angling the light better, she found a small patch of moisture glistened from the light-gray pipes of the station.

  No, not pipes. It was a conduit. The moisture must be coming from further up.

  Another miniature bot raced by, joining the other group of small bots. As one they gathered together to arrow further down the corridor.

  "Hey, come back here," Tish said before she realized what she'd done.

  The bots paused on their journey, turning around to look back at her. She gestured upwards. "There is a leak. We need to fix it before it eats through the power conduit and life-support pipe."

  Three of the bots altered course, heading towards the problem area. Two more bots joined the first before she realized what she'd said.

  Eat through the power conduit? The pipe wasn't marked. How could she have known the pipe was a conduit?

  Just then the flashlight blinked out accompanied by a sizzling noise.

  She dropped the flashlight and backed away. Away from the drip and the puddle that must be on the floor. She hoped the bots could handle whatever substance was leaking and eating through the pipes, because she wasn't about to take the chance of it hitting her skin.

  "Did something fall?" Arthur called out.

  "Yes, my flashlight," Tish said. "Something is leaking in here. The bots are looking at it and I'm going back the way I came."

  "I'll meet you there."

  A small bot broke away from the others and zipped to the other side of her, a small bright light emerging from the top of its shell. With its light, she moved back the way she'd come.

  And the only silly thing Tish could think of was: she hoped they didn't make her pay for the flashlight.

  ***

  Arthur rushed back the way he'd come. The sound of something metal hitting the floor hadn't been his only clue something had gone wrong. The smaller repair-bots rushing into the small access corridor had been the big tip-off.

  The idea of a new trainee on her first day on the job gave him shivers. There were too many small things to pay attention to, small clues the station and bots gave that a new person would be oblivious to.

  Reaching the entry, he aimed the beam of his flashlight inside. He could see her inching her way towards him, blinking in the bright light of the flashlight, with the ridiculous holographic hair ties giving little swirls of light to mark her location. He altered the beam towards her feet.

  The fact he could see her grinning assured him she was unhurt. "What did you see?"

  "A clear liquid dripping. It hit my flashlight and ate through it."

  Which explained her dropping it. Wonderful, she runs into something dangerous the first time out. "Did any of it get on you?"

  "No. I caught a few of the bots as they were going by. They're looking at it. I think the fluid is eating through other pipes."

  Arthur studied the nearby pipes in the dimly-lit maintenance corridor, identifying all he could. So many systems routed through the area that the fluid could be any number of things. He would need Damien and Rachel's help at least. And Simon. He seemed to have an instinct towards anything hazardous on the station.

  Too many people here who wouldn't be repairing other areas of the station. Not good.

  Even one more person would be a help. With that in mind he turned his focus back to Tish Douglas. She'd encountered
something dangerous and yet kept her cool. Well, at least there hadn't been any screaming or crying. Instead, she'd done the smartest thing. Dropped the contaminated flashlight and headed back the way she'd come.

  Only, she wasn't progressing towards him as fast as he thought she would.

  "Are you okay?" He asked.

  He saw her take a deep breath before turning her head towards him. "This is so embarrassing. I'm stuck."

  "Stuck?" Arthur echoed, trying to muffle a laugh.

  "Yes, stuck," she said with a frustrated huff. "Something on my back."

  "Hold on, I'm coming."

  Easier said than done. The corridor wasn't built for someone of his size. He had to twist and strain to work his way back towards her, bumping his head on the low ceiling several times.

  "Stop wiggling. You could make it worse," he said, noting the way she was moving. Noting and feeling the reaction.

  "And what if you get stuck, too?" She asked, glaring at him.

  "Then I'll send my bot for help." A bot he realized hadn't followed him back. Who knew where the thing had gone. Sometimes they had minds of their own.

  He reached her, having to duck down under a lower part of the ceiling. With one hand he reached behind her back, feeling for where the catch might be. But trying to find the problem and keeping a handle on the flashlight was too much.

  "Here, take this," he said, pushing the flashlight into her hand.

  She tried to angle it around to shine behind her, but only succeeded in twisting just enough for her breasts to brush against his arm.

  "Stay still," he said far more sharply than he meant to. Pushing aside the feel of the contact, he purposely relaxed his voice. "You'll make it worse."

  Then he realized what he'd said, and hoped she wouldn't misconstrue it.

  "Just trying to help," she said in a small voice, but she'd stopped moving.

  "For future reference, a simple shirt with no collar is best to come to work in. Less chance of it catching on something."

  With his back braced against one wall of the access corridor he was able to swing his shoulders around so he could reach around her from both directions. He started from the top of her shirt at the soft skin of the nape and worked his way down. Past her shoulders and the soft bulge of…