All those deaths… the last note floated out across the bay, serene despite her pain, pulling it out of her. Here, at least, the dead could find peace, knowing someone noticed, someone mourned. She took a deep, unsteady breath. Abe was safe here, “from rock and tempest, fire and foe,” safe in whatever safety death offered, completing his service as he had wished.
She took the flag, when it was boxed and presented, with the dignity Abe deserved.
BOOK TWO
Chapter Five
“Ensign Sassinak requests permission to come aboard, sir.” Coming aboard meant crossing a painted stripe on the deck of the station, but the ritual was the same as ever.
“Permission granted.” The Officer of the Deck, a young man whose reddish skin and ice-blue eyes indicated a Brinanish origin, had one wide gold ring and a narrow one on his sleeve. He returned her salute, and Sass stepped across the stripe. Slung on her shoulder was the pack containing everything she was permitted to take aboard. Her uniforms (mess dress, working dress, seasonal working, and so on) were already aboard, sent ahead from her quarters before her final interview with the Academy Commandant after Abe’s funeral.
Her quarters were minimaclass="underline" one of two female ensigns (there were five ensigns in all), she had one fold-down bunk in their tiny cubicle, one narrow locker for dress uniforms, three drawers, and a storage bin. Sass knew Mira Witsel only slightly; she had been one of Randolph Neil Paraden’s set, a short blonde just over the height limit. Sass hoped she wasn’t as arrogant as the others, but counted on her graduation rank to take care of any problems. With the other ensigns, they shared a small study/lounge (three terminals, a round table, five chairs). Quickly, she stowed her gear and took a glance at herself in the mirror strip next to the door. First impressions… reporting to the captain… she grinned at her reflection. Clean and sharp and probably all too eager… but it was going to be a good voyage… she was sure of it.
“Come in!” Through the open hatch, the captain’s voice sounded stuffy, like someone not quite easy with protocol. Fargeon. Commander Fargeon - she’d practiced that softened g, typical of his homeworld (a French-influenced version of Neo-Gaesh). Sass took a deep breath, and stepped in.
He answered her formal greeting in the same slightly stuffy voice: not hostile, but standoffish. Tall, angular, he leaned across his cluttered desk to shake her hand as if his back hurt him a little. “Sit down. Ensign,” he said, folding himself into his own chair behind his desk, and flicking keys on his desk terminal. “Ah… your record precedes you. Honor graduate.” He looked at her, eyes sharp. “You can’t expect to start on the top here. Ensign.”
“No, sir,” Sassinak sat perfectly still, and he finally nodded.
“Good. That’s a problem with some top graduates, but if you don’t have a swelled head, I don’t see why you should run into difficulties. Let me see - “ He peered at his terminal screen. “Yes. You are the first ensign aboard, good. I’m putting you on third watch now, but that’s not permanent, and it doesn’t mean what it does in the Academy. Starting an honor cadet on the third watch just ensures that everyone gets a fair start.”
And you don’t have to listen to complaints of favoritism, Sassinak thought to herself. She said nothing, just nodded.
“Your first training rotation will be Engineering,” Fargeon went on. “The Exec, Lieutenant Dass, will set up the duty roster. Any questions?”
Sass knew the correct answer was no, but her mind teemed with questions. She forced it back and said “No, sir.”
The captain nodded, and sent her out to meet Lieutenant Dass. Dass, in contrast to his captain, was a wiry compact man whose dark, fine-featured face was made even more memorable by light green eyes.
“Ensign Sassinak,” he drawled, in a tone that reminded her painfully of the senior cadets at the Academy when she’d been a rockhead. “Honor cadet…”
Sassinak met his green gaze, and discovered a glint of mischief in them. “Sir - “ she began, but he interrupted.
“Never mind. Ensign. I’ve seen your record, and I know you can be polite in all circumstances, and probably work quads in your head at the same time. The captain wanted you in Engineering first, because we’ve installed a new environmental homeostasis system and it’s still being tested. You’ll be in charge of that, once you’ve had time to look over the system documentation.” He grinned at her expression: “Don’t look surprised, Ensign: you’re not a cadet in school any more. You’re a Fleet officer. We don’t have room for dead-weights; we have to know right away if you can perform for us. Now. It’s probably going to take you all your off-watch time for several days to work your way through the manuals. Feel free to ask the Engineering Chief anything you need to know, or give me a holler. On watch, you’ll have the usual standing duties, but you can spend part of most watches with the engineering crew.”
“Yes, sir.” Sass’s mind whirled. She was going to be in charge of testing the new system? A system which could kill them all if she made a serious mistake? This time the flash of memory that brought Abe to mind had no pain. He’d told her Fleet would test her limits.
“Your record says you get along with allies?”
Allies was the Fleet term for allied aliens; Sassinak had never heard it used so openly. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. We have a Weft Jig, and several Weft battle crew, and that Weft Ensign: I suppose you knew him at the Academy?” Sassinak nodded. “Oh, and have you ever seen an adult Ssli?”
“No, sir.”
“We’re Ssli-equipped, of course: all medium and heavy cruisers have been for the past two years.” He glanced at the timer. “Come along; we’ve time enough to show you.”
The Ssli habitat was a narrow oval in cross-section: ten meters on the long axis, aligned with the ship’s long axis, and only two meters wide. It extended “upward” from the heavily braced keel through five levels: almost twenty meters. The plumbing that maintained its marine environment took up almost the same cubage.
At the moment, the Ssli had grown only some three meters in diameter from its holdfast, and its fan was still almost circular. Two viewing ports allowed visual inspection of the Ssli’s environment. The Executive Officer’s stubby fingers danced on the keyboard of the terminal outside one viewing port.
“Basic courtesy - always ask before turning on the lights in there.”
Sassinak peered over his shoulder. The screen came up, and displayed both question and answer, the latter affirmative. Dass flipped a toggle, and light glowed in the water inside, illuminating a stunning magenta fan flecked with yellow and white. Sassinak stared. It seemed incredible that this huge, motionless, intricate object could be not only alive, but sentient… sentient enough to pass the FSP entry levels. She could hardly believe that the larval forms she’d seen in the Academy tanks had anything to do with this… this thing.
Somehow the reality was much stranger than just seeing tapes on it. I wonder what it feels like, she thought. How it thinks, and -
“How did they ever figure out…?” she said, before she thought.
“I don’t know, really. Thek discovered them, of course, and maybe they’re more likely to suspect intelligence in something that looks mineral than we are.” Dass looked at her closely. “It bothers some people a lot - how about you?”