He was quiet for a moment as she put her hands on his large shoulders. “I'm not used ta this, goin' after someone like you and pairin' up. By now I'm usually shaken off an' long gone.”
“I can't seem to shake you,” Stephanie whispered.
Frost turned around and put his hands around her waist. “I'm not right without ye lass.”
She smiled at him and nodded. “I'll give you another chance, just trust me to do what I do best.”
“Aye, luv. I mean; aye, Security Chief Vega,” he said before kissing her.
She kissed him a moment and drew back suddenly. “Oh, God, you need a Denta Tab. Your breath is deadly.”
Shamus laughed and smiled at her toothily. “Haven't been by my quarters yet. Care to come with?”
“I can't, I have to get to the Security Office and you should show up early for duty, spread the news.”
“Spread some punishment 'round, you mean. They'll find out about us soon enough. Rumours get 'round this ship faster than gossip on Stellarnet.”
The pair walked out of the cell, Stephanie making sure to take hold of Frost's hand right in front of the pair of guards on shift. “I thought you'd like to know that the Captain's decided on Burke's punishment.”
“Oh?”
“He's being sent to Altima on Chief Vercelli's recruitment run. They're dropping him off at a charity clinic.”
“That's not much of a punishment.”
“Well, Captain's donating to the clinic, trying to get in their favour so they take our request for a doctor to serve on Triton seriously. Since Burke's injuries are non-critical he'll be waiting for weeks to have body parts regrown and cosmetic procedures done.”
Frost looked around at the brig, all the cells except for his were opaque on the front so he couldn't see who was inside. “Which one is he in?”
“Oh, he's in stasis in medical. Captain put him in personally and told him he'd be dumped in orbit around a sun.”
“And here I was starting to think Captain was goin' soft. Turns out he's just goin' smart.”
Price and Finn watched as Stephanie and Frost came out of the brig and walked down the hall towards the main express car shaft. “You know, it's funny; Frost ended up with the only crew member who could probably kick his butt in a fight,” Finn commented as they took a turn towards the hall leading to the third wormhole generator access point.
“Does it enhance a human's status when they find a powerful mate?” Price asked a matter of factly.
“Not anymore, not that I've seen. Then again, there are a few dozen cultures on any given world, some with mixes of different races. That's not what I meant though. I just find it funny that Steph and Frost are together because they're pretty much equals, all things considered.”
“That's true; in my culture it's popular to try to find a female partner that is greater than yourself.”
“Doesn't that put a lot of pressure on the women?”
“Well, yes, but we generally revere them, and being shape shifters, we concentrate on skills and personality much more than any physical attribute.”
“That makes sense. Is there any attention paid to how well someone can shape shift?”
“Well, yes, there's some, but other redeeming qualities can make up for someone lacking in aptitude,” Price stopped and looked at Finn. “You don't think I lack shape shifting ability, do you?”
Finn looked at him, flushing a little. “No, you're fine.”
“I may not be able to emulate human hair very well, or even maintain a form that is entirely convincing for long, but my speciality has nothing to do with such things.”
“You can change into other things?”
“Well, yes,” Price said, looking irritated. “I'm an abstract.”
“An abstract?”
Price struck a pose with one bent arm outstretched and extended a leg straight out from his hip. In the next instant he became a number of joined shapes and colours, stretching his vacsuit out into unusual hard angles and corners. His head was a collection of oddly joined circles and triangles, some of them mere millimetres in thickness. After a few seconds some of the shapes started turning and changing colours.
“That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen,” Finn boggled.
One of Price's eyes opened, only it was where his shoulder once was. “Thank you, my family always said I was quite proficient, even comical,” the voice came from a mouth Finn couldn't see.
“You do look pretty funny, it's just too amazing to laugh at. How do you keep your balance?”
“I can affect density in some parts of my body.” Agameg began to take regular shape again and after a moment he looked like himself once more. He shot Finn a self satisfied grin.
“Ever hide in plain sight?” Finn asked as they resumed their walk down the hallway.
“Only as a child. Most of us are too shy to play that kind of trick since we'd have to be naked. We might not value the superficial very highly, but most of us are fairly modest.”
“You know, we should talk culture more often, I think I learned more about your people in the last five minutes than I have in the last month. You'd have a blast at Halloween parties.”
“What's a Halloween?”
“Um, well, I don't know why but every year humans used to dress up as different fictional characters and famous people then go out collecting candy and small gifts. A lot of colonies still do it, even if it's just an excuse for a costume party.”
“A costume party, I've seen one in a movie. Yes, that would be fun.”
They arrived at the heavy hatch leading into the center of the main emitter systems that the engineering crew were rebuilding. Both of them sealed their vacsuits and made sure their tool boxes were firmly shut before opening the door.
“I can't wait to get the wormhole generator running again,” Finn said as he stepped through airlock's inner door. “I've never been through one before.”
“It is incredible. You can turn your inertial compensation systems off once you've finished accelerating. There is no turbulence and since there is a directionality to all force in a wormhole any debris or particles is normally drawn out before a vessel even enters. Very smooth travel, quite peaceful,” Price explained as he closed the first hatch behind them and looked over Finn's shoulder at the display showing the status inside.
“Well, the other teams finished all the work around the main chamber. It's about time we start reconnecting leads and checking the primary control systems. I hear a couple astronomers actually want to use the emitters to create micro wormholes so they can see further into the galaxy.”
“I hope Captain gives them the opportunity, I'd love to see the results,” Price said with mild enthusiasm.
“Thank you for coming along to lend a hand, by the way. I know you just finished a shift on the bridge.”
“Don't mention it. I'd rather be here getting a first look at one of the most interesting systems on the ship than in the Oota Galoona or getting extra sleep,” Price paused for a moment, taking a closer look at the display Finn was scrolling through. “Is that reading right?”
“I'm double checking it now but it says there's no pressure or gravity inside. Someone turned all the environmental systems off and opened the main access door.”
“When? Does it say?”
Finn shook his head as he finished rechecking the status of the room beyond the inner door. “Last night. Let's take a look,” he said as he started the decompression sequence inside the airlock.
“I'll send a note to security detailing what we found,” Price said as he highlighted the recording of the conversation he just had with Finn and sent a copy to Stephanie and another to the security office.
The depressurization sequence completed and Finn opened the inner door. The main control room for the primary emitters was lit but cold and empty. A few old parts had drifted up off the deck in the null gravity and the semicircular console in the center of the power management systems crowding it blinked lazily, waiting to be activated by an authorized member of the crew. There was enough space inside the main room for six to eight people. Three crewmen would work the main control station, and the rest would be entrusted with maintaining the delicate systems that transformed raw power from the ship reactors into gravity, energetic mass or other types of energy. The primary purpose of the main emitter was to create wormholes, but it could be reconfigured for other tasks if needed.