She’d had so much fun with Clint. He had the same enthusiasm for the machinery as she did and it was really enjoyable sharing that while at the same time getting important things done to get their carrier back together.
She’d learned a lot from him, too. Pieces and bits that programming left out, and additional understanding that let her put parts of what she had together better. All good, and they’d made some progress on the engines, too.
She went into the sanitary unit, and once inside stripped out of her jumpsuit. Clint had suggested she ask for the kind of work coverall he used, which had more pockets in better places for all the adjustment tools and was a tougher fabric.
Dev flexed her hands, noting she’d gotten a few cuts and scuffs on them from the work, but the discomfort wasn’t significant and she divested herself of her underclothes and started the water running.
She had to laugh a bit. Everywhere her jumpsuit wasn’t, she was covered in dirt and grunge, and it was very nice to get under the warm water and scrub. She had no idea in the world what she would have done up in the crèche. The amount of rad it would have taken to get this off her skin – boy that would have hurt.
This was much nicer. She happily squeezed some of the .. yes, Jess had said it was soap – onto the cloth and rubbed it all over her, then washed her hair and stood for a minute just letting the shower thrum against her skin.
She felt her stomach growl, and shut the water off, stepping out and grabbing a towel to dry herself off with. Then she paused and considered how natural it was starting to feel to be here, which in itself didn’t seem natural because she’d only been here a few days.
But she did feel that way. She put her suit and underthings into the laundry basket and wrapped the towel around her, walking out into the room and crossing to her uniform case. She opened it and then paused, faced with a small surprise.
Along with the standard jumpsuits and her pilot ones, now there were a few others, one in a deep blue and another in purple that seemed very casual. She pulled aside the regular ones exposing the blue one and touched the fabric, which was very soft.
“Hm.” Dev put on a pair of dry underclothes and studied the blue suit, liking the feel against her skin very much. “Wonder where this came from?” Was it another thing from Bain, she pondered. Or maybe just something that came as part of her job? Maybe it was something she would need on the mission.
Of course. Dev took out one of her regular off duty suits and slipped into it, fastening the catches and transferring her insignia to the collar. She went back into the sanitary unit and picked up her comb, raking it through her hair to order it.
She was just finishing when she heard the inner door open, feeling a funny little prickle down her spine as she looked in the mirror and Jess appeared in it, leaning against the edge of the entrance. “Hello.”
“Finished wrenching for the day?” Jess inquired.
Dev turned and put the comb down. “Yes. I really liked it.” She admitted. “Is that wrong?” She watched Jess’s face, noting anew it’s distinctive shape and the piercing quality of her eyes. “I didn’t meant to be incorrect.”
“You weren’t.” Jess’s eyes shifted and met hers. “You’re a tech. Some techs just want to drive and do mods. Some like to wrench. It’s all right.” She said. “Want to do dinner? I got stuck in comp pulling tracking data. I just got back.”
“Me too.” Dev said. “I’d love to go. It’s been a long time since breakfast.”
“It has. C”mon.” Jess turned and led the way through her quarters to the outer door, which she palmed open. “Any good news on the old bus?”
“Yes.” Dev said. “I think we did good work today. “
They walked along the corridor, which seemed a lot busier than Dev remembered it. There were a lot of people clustered in groups and passing them.
“Peh.” Jess angled towards the wall to avoid a group of talking men. “Mess is going to be a damn circus.”
“What’s a circus?” Dev asked promptly. “I”ve never heard of that.”
“What’s a circus.” Jess mused, as they turned down the hall and paused, spotting a big crowd outside the mess hall. “In the old days, they used to travel around and put up tents, where you could go to see performing animals, and clowns, and trapeze artists.” She glanced at Dev, who was staring at her in fascinated incomprehension. “I”ll show you on scan later.”
They squeezed past the crowd and entered the mess, only to pull up short again. Every table was taken, and more had been shoved in until it was packed with bodies.
“Oh no.” Jess turned and went over to the food service are. “I vote we get a bag meal and go sit on the porch.”
“Okay.” Dev went right along with it, having no real desire to squeeze in with the crowd. She took the wrapped package the Ceebee handed her and followed Jess out the door again, pressing back against the wall as a half dozen men in fancy looking suits pushed past them.
She saw Jess’s eyes narrow, but the agent merely edged past them and headed down to the lifts. Dev kept close after her, and shortly they were going down to the lower corridors. When the lift stopped and they stepped out, they were alone.
“What a nuthouse.” Jess grumbled. “I hate these damned ceremonies. Everyone and their mother’s asshole shows up for them.” She strode down the hall and the air got damp and salty as they made their way to the lock and went inside. “Weather’s broken for a while. We can get some air.”
Dev waited, holding her package, as the lock cycled and the outer door opened, giving them access to the small platform overlooking the sea.
Unlike the previous time, the winds were quiet and the sea below them was only rustling with a dim roar, not the fierce crashing Dev had heard the last time Jess had brought her here. She sat down on the bench next to the agent and started unwrapping her meal.
The air smelled wet and salty, but she liked it. She could almost feel the rasp of the air against her skin as a physical thing, and as she took in a lungful of air, it occurred to her that the real thing felt very different than the manufactured air she’d become used to in the crèche.
That never smelled like anything. This she could taste on her tongue and as she took a bite of the roll that was in the package it enhanced the flavor of it. She peered at the item curiously as she chewed. “This is interesting.” She said, after a minute.
“Seaweed roll.” Jess answered, a little indistinctly due to her mouthful. She swallowed and regarded hers. “They take the little stuff they catch in the seine nets – the krill and tiny shrimps and all, and mix it with some water grain and wrap it in leaf weed.”
“I like it.”
“Me too.” Jess smiled briefly. “But you seem to like everything.”
Dev leaned back against the wall, extending her legs out and crossing them at the ankles. “Well.” She chewed thoughtfully. “Nothings really been bad yet. I like some things more than other things, but I haven’t gotten anything yet that made me just stop.”
“Did you up there?” Jess leaned her elbows on her knees, her back to sore to press against the wall.
“Yes.” Her companion said. “There was a kind of fruit once, and I just got a smell of it and it made me sick.”
“Huh.”
“They stopped making the fruit.” Dev continued. “They tried all that stuff on us.”
Jess’s jaws moved stolidly, ingesting the roll. The pain was killing her appetite but she knew she had to get something inside her before she took more drugs for it. She’d found that out the hard way. And she did like the things, the spicy taste and crunch of the grains appealed to her.
Maybe a good night’s sleep would help. She finished the first roll and took out the second one. There was also some rice cakes inside, and a tube of water and at the bottom a piece of sweet dough to finish with.