by Alan Black
She looked out the window behind her. “I have been informed we will be lifting off right after the …” She checked a small dataport hanging on a chain around her neck. “The Cooperstown.” She pointed at a spaceship across the port.
She looked as if she had something else to say, but she said nothing.
Tasso said, “Um …, Miss?”
Anisa shook her head. “Just Anisa. If we were being formal it would be Señorita Anisa Rojo-Graham, but you can call me Anisa.”
Tasso nodded uncomfortably. The last girl his own age he had talked with ended the conversation by calling him a bastard and walking away. He still wasn’t sure this meeting wouldn’t end the same way once Anisa found out who he really was.
“Anisa?” he asked, “if it is going to be a while before we take off, is there somewhere I can get something to drink and maybe a place to get some food and cook it?”
Anisa slapped her forehead. “Refreshments and restrooms, I knew there was something I was forgetting. Now I have to start all over.” She tapped a few times on her dataport.
“Can’t you tell me? It’s just the three of us here.”
“Yeah, might as well. I screwed the pooch on the speech. I might as well mess it up all the way if I’m going to get a failing grade anyway.”
“You’re getting graded on how well you do?”
Anisa nodded. “Yep, Freddy and I are both on training cruises. We’re on observation deck duty until we get it right, then we move on to another department.”
“I think I’m supposed to be on a training cruise, too. I don’t really know right now. But, if anyone asks, I’ll tell them you did fine.”
Anisa laughed. “Tain’t that easy, greenhorn. La Dueña Dunstan is watching.” She pointed at the ceiling.
“La Dueña Dunstan?” he asked. “Is she in charge? And my name is Tasso Menzies, not Greenhorn.”
Anisa laughed. “La Dueña literally means the owner, but it really means our babysitter, nanny, our nurse, and our chaperone. She is our central computer core and records everything for review by the section hands, foremen, supervisors, and officers in charge.”
Tasso shook his head. “I’m really lost, but I’m also really hungry. So if we have time, please point me in the direction of a kitchen?”
“I already sent Freddy off to get us all something.”
Tasso turned around but the boy was gone. “Really? Is there somewhere I can cook up whatever he brings back, or can he cook?”
“I wouldn’t trust Freddy’s cooking any farther than I can spit upwind in a Texas twister. He’ll grab something already fixed in the galley. I can’t cook either.”
Tasso frowned, “You and your brother can’t cook?”
Anisa shook her head. “No and no. No, he isn’t my brother, he’s a cousin, third cousin actually. And no, I haven’t had galley section training yet, not for cooking anyway. I have done duty washing dishes, bussing tables, and some prep work, but not in the kitchen. Why, can you cook?” Without waiting for a response, she continued. “That’s great. Maybe they’ll start you on galley training first and get that out of the way.” She plopped into the chair next to his. She propped an elbow on the armrest and rested her chin in her hand. She stared into his eyes. “So what can you cook, greenhorn?”
Tasso blushed. He hadn’t been this close to anyone other than his grandfather in years. “Um …, oh. This.” He pulled out his dataport. He called up a picture of a yapikino from a reference text on Saronno fauna and turned the display so she could see the picture. “I had some of this for lunch … um, yesterday. I think that was the last time I ate.”
Anisa made a gagging noise and backed away from the picture on the dataport. “Great guns, greenhorn! What is that thing? You ate that?”
Tasso shrugged. “I hunted it, killed it, skinned it, boiled it up with some potatoes, and yes, I ate it. Why? How else can you eat a yapikino? Besides, it doesn’t taste as bad as it looks.”
Anisa made a gagging noise again. “As bad as it looks? It looks like a radiated mutant zombie rat on steroids. I’m sure our galley can do something better than your last meal.”
Tasso said, “Well, I did boil up some potatoes with it.”
Anisa shook her head, “I’d hope you boiled up some hatch chilies to cover up the taste.”
“I know a hatch is like a doorway on a ship. We had one on our shuttle at home, but what is a chili?”
Anisa said, “What? No. It’s not that kind of a hatch. We had these chilies before we had spaceships. They’re call hatch because … I don’t know where the name comes from. You don’t know what a chili is?”
Tasso shook his head.
“You really are a greenhorn, aren’t you?” Before he could answer, she continued. “So, you have some experience on spaceships? Is that where you know about hatches?”
Tasso said, “No. We have a small farm shuttle. We don’t take it out of the atmosphere. Can I ask you a question?”
Anisa nodded. “Sure. That’s what I’m here for.”
“I thought spaceships were made out of steel, but the floors and walls aren’t metal.”
Anisa laughed. “They are metal, of a sort, but they aren’t steel. Most ships, especially those owned by the Rojo’s, are all a blend of titanium and ceramics. Steel becomes too brittle after extended periods in deep space. And we don’t have floors and walls. We have decks and bulkheads. They’re configured to look like something other than naked metal.”
“Why would you bother to make the titanium and ceramics look any different than they normally would?”
She pointed at the back door, ignoring his question. “Freddy is back from the kitchen. I hope they had something good.”
The boy slid to a stop in front of the pair. “Hold this, Anisa,” he said. He dropped a box in her lap before she could answer. He grabbed a nearby table and dragged it over to them.
Tasso watched the boy set the table, check its position, jostle it a bit, and flip a switch under the tabletop. He gave the table a quick hip-check, but it didn’t move. He took the box from Anisa and placed it on the table.
Freddy grinned, and with a flourish, he pointed at the box. “Ta da! We lucked out. They had tacos.” He sat in the chair next to Tasso. The pair had him bracketed.
Anisa laughed, “Great! I was afraid this close to take off all we were going to get would be leftover rice and refried beans from last night’s barbeque on Deck Double-C.” She pushed a tab on the box and it folded out of the way.
Anisa and Freddy each grabbed one of the three plates. Both tilted their heads sideways taking huge crunchy bites of tacos. They were halfway through their first taco before Tasso picked up his plate and looked at it in confusion.
He’d never seen such a thing. The taco was a weird U shaped hard … thing … shell and stuffed inside was some kind of something Tasso assumed was meat. He recognized lettuce and tomatoes because he grew them in their gardens. There was some kind of yellow spongy stuff sprinkled on top, with a red liquid poured over the whole thing. It leaked juice onto the plate.
Tasso was hungry enough to try anything, but he was also parched. He tried to balance the plate on one knee as he reached for a drink, but gave up trying as a futile exercise. He decided to eat first and then drink.
Freddy grinned, “I grabbed the last three Sola Colas in the cooler. They still hadn’t restocked from last night. I had my hands on a couple of Bright Star Beers, but La Dueña Dunstan caught me.”
Anisa frowned, “La Dueña Dunstan is gonna report you for trying to sneak beers.”
Freddy shrugged, “Yeah, so what? What are they gonna do? Stick me on observation deck duty?”
Anisa jabbed the end of her taco at the boy. “They could send you back down to waste management training.”
Freddy laughed, “Been there and done that twice. Mom won’t go for a third time.”
Anisa shook her head. “Being the captain’s grandson is only going to get you so far.”
Tasso
took the point in the conversation to take a bite of the taco. He imitated Anisa. He leaned forward and held the taco at a slight angle over the plate, allowing the juice to drip down onto the plate. He tilted his head to the side and took a big bite.
An explosion of flavors blasted his mouth. He wasn’t sure what kind of meat was in the taco, but he knew the filling wasn’t yapikino. The meat was a sweet without any gristle and a little spicy on his tongue. The meat was still warm and the lettuce and tomato were cold, giving him an odd sensation of both hot and cold in the same bite. He still didn’t know what the yellow spongy stuff was, but it blended well with everything else.
Tasso froze. His mouth was on fire and he could feel his tongue starting to swell up. He tried to spit the taco out, but it refused to leave his mouth. His eyes began to water and he tried to chew, but couldn’t bite down without the fire spreading. He was sure his teeth were beginning to sweat. He tried to swallow, but he’d taken too big a bite.
Anisa pointed at the window. “Look, the Cooperstown in lifting off. Great! We shouldn’t be far behind.”
Tasso tried to look at the Cooperstown through the veil of tears streaming out of his eyes, but he could barely see. He grabbed a drink and took a mouthful of the liquid. Whatever was in the drink wasn’t water! Freddy called it Sola Cola. It did little to ease the burning sensation in his mouth. Instead, it began to fizz and fill his mouth, puffing out his cheeks. He tried to swallow, but a huge chunk of taco shell threatened to block his throat. Instead of going down his throat, the drink bubbled up and out through his nose. It took some of the burning taco heat with it.
He leaned over his plate, regardless of any expected embarrassment, opened his mouth, and let the whole mass plop back onto the plate. He coughed and sputtered trying to clear his airway.
Freddy laughed.
Anisa started to laugh, but Tasso’s face was turning beet red. He was breathing, but was only able to take a raspy breath between coughs. She slapped an icon on her dataport and pointed a finger at Freddy, “Get a water bottle now!” She shouted at the ceiling. “Observation deck! Medical emergency! Choking victim, barely breathing! Repeat! Observation deck! Medical emergency! Choking—” She continued to repeat and shout the same phrase again and again.
Tasso put his head between his knees. He willed his lungs to pull in cooling air. He wasn’t sure which hurt worse, the burning heat, the bubbles up his nose, or his embarrassment at having to spit out his lunch in front of a pretty girl.
The burning heat won the contest. He tried to scrape the heat away from his tongue with his fingers. He wondered why anyone would eat a taco and even if you could get used to the taste, why would you leave it in its shell? At least, when he ate a yapikino, he skinned it first.
Suddenly large hands slapped his seatbelt release, grabbed his shoulders, and pulled him upright. Huge muscled arms wrapped around his chest. He was lifted bodily off the chair and held in the air.
Tasso’s eyes cleared as a woman stepped into his line of vision. She raised his arms over his head. The movement brought a whoosh of air into his lungs. The woman shook her head. The arms around his chest released him. Tasso dropped back into the chair.
The woman pointed a medical scanner at Tasso. She was quick, but did a thorough scan of his chest, neck, and face. She pulled a small book from the bag at her side and ripped a corner off a page. The small square easily popped out of the book with perforated edges. She held the paper out to Tasso. “Put this tab on your tongue. Let it melt there.”
Tasso hesitated.
She said, “You can do it or I’ll have Otto do it for you. Come on. I don’t have time for this tomfoolery.”
Tasso put the paper on his tongue. It immediately began to melt and cool his mouth. “Thank you,” he managed to croak.
The woman pointed at her dataport. “I’m Doctor Valenzuela and this is Otto, my personal physician’s assistant. I don’t have you listed as a passenger, señor.”
Tasso nodded, “I’m here for a training cruise, I think. Sorry, I’m Tasso Menzies, ma’am.”
“Not ma’am. You can call me Doctor. You are from …?” She let the question hang in the air.
Tasso pointed out the window and realized the planet was no longer there. The view was blackness. He stared at the window.
“You’re from Saronno?” Valenzuela prompted.
Tasso nodded. “Yes, Doctor. Born and raised.”
Valenzuela shook her head and checked her dataport. “It’s the Italian compact? No, discovered by the Italian compact, but it is a Scottish and Irish settlement, right? You probably never had anything spicier than a shepherd’s pie.” She turned on Anisa. “You fed tacos with hot sauce to a greenhorn?”
Anisa said, “But the taco wasn’t hot, Doc. Honest. And it was all the galley had.”
Valenzuela said, “He should have gone without until we ran a complete scan on him.”
“But he was hungry,” Anisa said. “He said he hasn’t eaten since lunch yesterday.”
Tasso said, “I’m right here. I can speak for myself.” Tasso was able to breathe and he decided Anisa and Freddy hadn’t deliberately tried to poison him. “I did ask for something to eat. I guess I’m not used to the same kind of food you eat.”
Valenzuela ignored Tasso and spoke to the girl. “Lunch yesterday? I’m sorry, Anisa, but your charge still isn’t going to be able to eat for at least another six hours. The tab I gave him will give him stomach cramps and vomiting if he even tries to drink water.”
“But—” Anisa started.
“But nothing,” Valenzuela interrupted. “He’ll be a lot worse off than he is now. He’s a little dehydrated now according to my scanner, but it’s not medically threatening.”
Tasso saw Maria rush into the room, as the medical people rushed out. She shouted across the observation deck, “Anisa, what are you doing with my trainee?”
Freddy shouted back with a laugh, “It’s already on the net, Maria. Greenhorn can’t hold down a taco.”
Anisa said, “Lo siento … I am sorry. I guess I didn’t think and he didn’t say anything until it was too late. Maria, if you’re here to collect him, I have to inform you that medical said he can’t have anything to eat or drink for six hours.” She turned to her young cousin, “Freddy, get his bag for him.” She turned her back on Tasso and began cleaning up the mess.
Maria grabbed Tasso by the arm, steering him out of the room. “Come on, greenhorn. We got things to do and I should already be off duty.” She only slowed to grab Tasso’s bag from Freddy.
Tasso wanted to shout that his name was Tasso Menzies, not Greenhorn. He was sure they had him mixed up with someone else. Maria hustled him out of the room before he could speak.
“Wait,” he said. “I should thank Anisa for helping me.”
Maria shook her head and kept walking. “Thank her? That little stunt of hers is going to set her training back another month. Having to call in medical to the observation deck is not a good thing.”
“But it wasn’t her fault—”
“And that little pistol Freddy didn’t help her by putting the whole thing on the net. She’s going to take a serious hurrah over this. She probably won’t want to hear from you ever again.”
Tasso didn’t know what a hurrah was, but he was sure a serious one sounded bad. He wasn’t off to a good start on this spaceship. Moreover, he was still hungry and it didn’t look like he was going to get anything to eat or drink anytime soon. Well, this wasn’t the first meal he’d ever missed.
Maria said, “Our first stop should be medical, but Valenzuela just saw you.” She checked her dataport and said, “Nope. We still have orders in the system for you to get a full physical. Okay, reverse directions. We have to go the other way. I’ll drop you off at medial for a full poking and prodding.”
CHAPTER 9
TASSO GRITTED his teeth and clamped his jaw shut. His stomach rumbled and his mouth was dry. Doctor Valenzuela and her assistant, Otto, ignored his ple
as for a small drink of water. She set a timer on his dataport to count down until he had medical clearance to eat or drink.
He was in some kind of open-backed dress-like thing. No matter how he tried to close the Velcro tabs, they wouldn’t stay closed. The task was tenuous. So far, he’d managed to keep his back to the doctor. The room wasn’t actually cold, it just felt that way. There was no breeze in the room, but no matter what direction he turned, he felt a draft up his backside.
Doctor Valenzuela asked about medical records from his primary physician. He had all of his records on his dataport. He showed her the scans from their portable medical unit. There were only three, one from his birth, one from a case of colic at eleven months old, and the last one a year ago. His grandfather thought he’d had appendicitis. It turned out to be trapped gas. The doctor made tsking noises when Tasso explained his grandmother midwifed his mother and he’d never seen a doctor before. Grandpa always said if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.
Valenzuela took his dataport away with his bag and the rest of his clothes. He was used to the bag disappearing. It seemed to return on its own. He hoped his clothes and the dataport came back as readily. His grandfather’s shotgun was still in the bag. He didn’t think he would need it anytime soon.
Tasso knew clean when he saw it, however this room was beyond clean. Grandpa had a rule that if anything wasn’t in use, the thing was to be put back in its place. Whatever tool, shoe, spoon or thing-a-ma-bob was, it had to be easy to find and ready to use when needed. A shovel had to have the dirt cleaned off and the blade sharpened before it went back to the tool room in the barn. They washed and put away dinner plates right after every meal. The shuttle had to be refueled and washed before locking down after each use. Everything in this room was ready for use. Everything was within easy reach for the doctor and her assistant. Everything was beyond clean, the room and everything in it was sterilized.
Tasso recognized the medical scanners in the room. They were all similar to the small hand-held unit back home. His little scanner still hung on its peg where he would find it the next time he needed it. He’d wiped it down, checked its power node, and reset the diagnostic screens to zero after it’d declared Grandpa dead. The small screen read ‘stroke’ and blanked to clear as he hung it on the peg. He didn’t understand why anyone would sterilize a medical scanner, it never needed to touch the patient.