“No.” Sassinak shook her head, still staring through the viewing port. “It’s beautiful, but hard to realize it’s sentient. But why not, after all? How do you communicate with it?”
“The usual. Biocomp interface… look, there’s the leads.” He pointed, and Sassinak could see the carefully shielded wires that linked the Ssli to the computer terminal. “Want an introduction?”
When she nodded, he tapped in her ID code, asked her favorite name-form, and then officer crew: general access.
“That gives it access to the general information in your file. Nothing classified, just what any other officer would be able to find out about you. Age, class rank, sex, general appearance, planet of origin, that kind of thing. If you want to share more, you can offer additional access, either by giving it the information directly, or by opening segments of your file. Now you come up here, and be ready to answer.”
On the screen before her, a greeting already topped the space. “Welcome, Ensign Sassinak; my name in Fleet is Hssrho. Have been installed here thirty standard months; you will not remember, but you met me in larval stage in your second year at the Academy.”
Sassinak remembered her first introduction to larval Ssli, in the alien communications lab, but she’d never expected to meet the same individual in sessile form. And she hadn’t remembered that name. Quickly she tapped in a greeting, and apologies for her forgetfulness.
“Never mind… we take new names when we unite with a ship. You could not know. But I remember the cadet who apologized for bumping into my tank.”
From the Ssli, Lieutenant Dass led her through a tangle of passages into the Engineering section. Sassinak tried to pay attention to the route, but had to keep ducking under this, and stepping over that. She began to wonder if he was taking a roundabout and difficult way on purpose.
“In case you think I’m leading you by the back alleys,” he said over his shoulder, “all this junk is the redundancy we get from having two environmental systems, not just one. As soon as you’ve got the new one tuned up to Erling’s satisfaction - he’s the Engineering Chief - we can start dismantling some of this. Most of it’s testing gear anyway.”
Even after the study of ship types at the Academy, Sass found it took awhile to learn the geography of the big ship. Cruiser architecture was determined by the requirement that the ships not only mount large weapons for battles in space or against planets, but also carry troops and their support equipment, and be able to land them. Cruisers often operated alone, and thus needed a greater variety of weaponry and equipment than any one ship in a battle group. But to retain the ability to land on planet in many situations, and maneuver (if somewhat clumsily) in atmosphere, cruiser design had settled on a basic ovoid shape. Thanks to the invention of efficient internal artificial gravity, the ships no longer had to spin to produce a pseudo-gravity. The “egg” could be sliced longitudinally into decks much easier to use and build.
In their first few days, all the new ensigns took a required tour of each deck, from the narrow silent passages of Data Deck, where there was little to see but arrays of computer components, to the organized confusion of Flight Two, with the orbital shuttles, drone and manned space fighters, aircraft, and their attendant equipment, all the way down to the lowest level of Environmental, where the great plumbing systems that kept the ship functioning murmured to themselves between throbbing pump stations. Main Deck, with the bridge, nearly centered the ship, as the bridge sector centered Main Deck. Aft of the bridge was Officers’ Country, with the higher ranking officers nearer the bridge (and in larger quarters), and the ensigns tucked into their niches near the aft cargo lift that ran vertically through all decks. Lest they think this a handy arrangement, they were reminded that regulations forbade the use of the cargo lift for personnel only: they were supposed to keep fit by running up and down the ladders between decks. Main Deck also held all the administrative offices needed. Between Data Deck and Environmental was Crew, or Troop Deck, which had, in addition to crew quarters, recreation facilities, and mess, the sick bay and medical laboratory. When the ship landed on planet, a ramp opening from Troop Deck offered access to the planet’s surface.
Yet nothing, they were warned, was excess: nothing was mere decoration. Every pipe, every fitting, every electrical line, had its function, and the interruption of a single function could mean the life of the ship in a crisis. So, too, all the petty regulations: the timing of shower privileges, the spacing of the exercise machines in the gyms. It was hard for Sass to believe, but with the stern eye of a senior officer on them all, she nodded with the rest.
Shipboard duty had none of the exotic feel the ensigns had hoped for, once they knew their way around the ship. Mira, away from the social climbers at the Academy, turned out to be a warm, enthusiastic girl, willing to be friends with anyone. Her father, a wealthy merchant captain, had set her sights on a career in space. She frankly admired Sassinak for being “really strong.” To Sassinak’s surprise, when it came to working out in the gym, Mira was a lot tougher than she seemed.
“We weren’t supposed to show it off,” said Mira, when Sassinak commented on this. “Mother wanted us to be ladies, not just spacer girls - she said we’d have a lot more fun that way. And then in Neil’s bunch at the Academy…” She looked sideways at Sassinak who suddenly realized that Mira really did want to be friends. “They always said there’s no use exceeding requirements, ‘cause the Wefts’ll get all the medals anyway. And Neil - Mother - sent me a whole long tape about it when she found out he was in the same class. She’d have eaten me alive if I’d made an enemy of him without cause.” She patted Sassinak on the shoulder, as if she weren’t a decimeter shorter. “Sorry, but you weren’t cause enough, and it was clear you could deck Neil any time you wanted to.”
“You’re - “ Sass couldn’t think of a good term, and shook her head. Mira grinned. “I’m a typical ambitious, underbred and overfed merchanter brat, who’ll never make admiral but plans to spend a long and pleasurable career in Fleet. Incidentally serving FSP quite loyally, since I really do believe it does a lot of good, but not ever rising to flag rank and not really wanting it. Deficient in ambition, that’s what they’d grade me.”
“Not deficient in anything else,” said Sassinak. She caught the wink that Mira tipped her and grinned back. “You devious little stinker - I’ll bet you’re a good friend, at that.”
“I try to be.” Mira’s voice was suddenly demure, almost dripping honey. “When I have the chance. And when I like someone.”
Sassinak thought better of asking, but Mira volunteered.
“I like you, Sass… now. You were pretty stiff in the Academy, and yes, I know you had reasons. But I’d like to be friends, if you would, and I mean friends like my people mean it: fair dealing, back-to-back in a row with outsiders, but if I think you’re wrong I’ll say it to your face.”
“Whoosh. You can speak plain.” Sassinak smiled and held out her hand. “Yes, Mira; I’d like that. ‘S long as I get to tellyou.”
And after that she enjoyed the little free time she had to share impressions with Mira. Meals in the officers’ mess were not as formal as those in the Academy, but they knew better than to put themselves forward. For the first month, Sassinak was on third shift rotation, which meant that she ate with other third shift officers; the captain usually kept a first-shift schedule. From what Mira told her, she wasn’t missing much. When she rotated to first-shift watch, and Communications as her primary duty, she found that Mira was right.