“It also gets you wet.” Jess wiped a bit of spray from her face. “I’m guessing space doesn’t do that.”
Dev held her hand out and watched her skin get coated. “No. You can’t touch space.” She said. “And it can’t touch you. Not like this.”
The air of the world filled her lungs, so much thicker and more vibrant than what she’d been used to and she could feel the salt on her lips and smell the pungent scent of the water. “It makes me feel all over.”
“You like that.” Jess commented.
Dev turned to look at her, with a smile. “Very much. Don’t you?”
Jess smiled in return, looking down at her folded hands on the rail. Then she glanced off across the horizon. “I might learn to.” She said. “C’mon. Let’s go back inside before the storm hits.” She turned and picked up her bundle, keying the airlock with her free hand. “See what other trouble we can get into tonight.”
**
She was going to learn how to swim. Dev felt a bit like bouncing around her quarters, as she waited for Jess to finish her discussion outside.
The halls had started to finally empty out as they walked back but Stephen Bock had caught up with them just outside the operations center and Dev had quickly realized he wanted a private talk with Jess.
In the creche, she’d gotten that a lot Proctors and other instructors always wanted to talk outside their earshot, as though bio alts really didn’t know what was going on.
Dev found that a little funny. New proctors always acted like they were dumb, and though some sets certainly weren’t that sharp, most had average intelligence and knew what was going on around them.
Others, like Dev, were just as intelligent as the teachers instructing them and it was usually a funny moment when the newbies figured it all out.
LIke spelling words they didn’t think the bio alts would understand. LIke they were children or something.
She remembered one of them, a woman who had just come to the creche from one of the science stations. She was teaching a class in how plants grew, and thought she had to explain to them what a pea was
What a pea was. Like they didn’t live on a biologic test station, and had been fed every single variety of pea the ag group could come up with in hopes of developing something they could use downside.
Dev had stood up and recited the entire phylum of them, in alphabetical order. She could still hear her class laughing, there in her head and see the discomfited look on the teacher’s face as she was force to just stand there and listen.
She chuckled, now, and went over to the dispenser for a bottle of water to sip but paused when she saw a light sedately flashing on her pad.
Curious, she went over and sat down, pulling the pad over and keying it on. To her bemused surprise, she found she had a message waiting.
A message? Who would be sending her a message? She touched the surface of the pad and the message opened up.
Dev -
Thanks for your help today! I really appreciated the extra hands! Hope you can come back soon and we can really get into the engines!
Clint.
Dev sat back and folded her arms over her chest, rereading the message a few times. It didn’t seem to really have a purpose, after all, Clint had said the same thing before she’d left that day, So why had he sent it?
Just to be polite? Dev keyed the screen and the data input came up. She replied to the message, deciding a polite gesture certainly warranted an equally polite response.
Hello Clint -
You are most welcome. I am glad we had good results. I look forward to helping again.
Dev
Dev regarded the message, and then sent it, with a little smile. “That’s nice.” She said. “He’s an interesting person.”
Another natural born who treated her almost like one of his own kind.
The inner door popped open and Jess trudged in, rolling her eyes and dropping down into one of the chairs near Dev’s workspace. “What a shoebox full of buttcracks this is sometimes.” She announced, propping her elbow on the chair arm and letting her head rest against her hand.
Dev stopped in mid motion and stared at her, then went immediately back to the pad and started typing on it then stopped again and looked at Jess. “How do you spell that second thing?” She asked, hesitantly. “I think I can guess what a shoebox is.”
Jess chuckled wryly. “Stupid Stephen was trying to convince me to do the intake speech tomorrow night.” She said. “I told him that was his job. I don’t know what got into him.”
Dev folded her hands on the desk. “So, he wanted you to talk to everyone?”
Jess nodded.
The bio alt considered this. “You have a very nice voice.” She concluded. “I’m sure the new people would enjoy it.”
Jess stared at her with her head cocked just slightly to one side. “What?”
“All of those people who are just getting here.” Dev said. “I’m sure it will seem very strange to them, so wouldn’t it be great for them to have someone as experienced and nice as you welcome them?” She watched Jess’s eyes open up a little wider. “I would have liked that.”
“Rather than having someone beheaded as your welcome?” Jess demurred. “Yeah, I guess.” She muttered, her brows contracting. “What the hell would I say.. wait a minute. Did you call me nice?”
“Yes.”
“Me? Nice?” Jess sat up a little.
“Yes.” Dev smiled at the look on her companions face. It was a mixture of embarrassment and uncertainty and she found it sort of endearing. “You’ve been very nice to me, and I wanted to say thank you for that.”
Jess blushed visibly, which was very interesting. “Just trying to help” She muttered, then got up. “Let’s do this pool thing.” She brusquely indicated the door. “Maybe it’ll make my back chill out and I can get a decent night’s sleep.”
“Okay.” Dev got up and joined her and they headed for the door. She was a little puzzled though, since she’d never quite experienced such a discomfited reaction to a compliment before. She reviewed what she’d said, a few times, and decided she couldn’t detect any particular reason her words should have caused Jess distress.
They walked through the central hall now almost peaceful, the few people going in the opposite direction mostly ignoring them. Jess glanced to either side as they turned the corner to the rec area, and cleared her throat “Ops agents aren’t supposed to be nice.”
“Not even to the people they work with?” Dev asked. “Why?”
“Because we’re assholes.”
Dev frowned. ‘Here we go with that ass stuff again.” She sighed. “I think I have to ask Doctor Dan if he has a translation for all of this. I’m not sure why you all find people’s behinds so interesting.”
“Heh heh.” That put a grudging smile on Jess’s face. “We’re just typically nasty tempered people.” She clarified. “You saw us in the bar. We’d go at each other’s throats if house rules let us.”
Dev kept up pace next to her. “Well, okay.” She said. “But Jess, you have been nice to me. Not nasty at all.” She protested. “You’ve been nicer to me than anyone else I’ve ever met.”
Jess remained silent, as they entered the gym.
At this late hour, it was almost empty. There were a few people in the weight bearing area, and one on a treadmill but the rest of the huge space was quiet, and the lights had been dimmed a bit in response to that.
They walked together into the changing room. Jess went to what was, apparently, her locker and opened it, studying the contents with a dour glare.
Dev decided remaining quiet was probably the best thing to do. She opened her locker, then paused.
After a brief moment, they both looked up at each other at the same time.