Chameleon 2

Perhaps he could conjure an excuse, deny permission for it to board. He never could reconcile whether droids were computers designed to interact with humans, or sentient entities with civil rights. Droids, artificial intelligence tools that looked alive, were an intensely debated issue even in the 22^nd century.

þ

“Rianya, you’re done for today. Get off your feet,” Dr. Adams told her sternly. “I can have Dr. Chandra do that, or Mr. Mills or Nurse Henderson. I have plenty of help.”

“I hate feeling useless. Really, I feel fine. I’m not sick.”

“You had a pretty severe bout and carrying a baby is the most taxing thing your body can do.” Adams crossed the lab and took her hand, leading her from her work station and into the nearest chair. “Look, edema.” She looked at her ankles, lifting her feet up to get a closer look at the puffy zones.

“That not happens to Kinnae women.”

“Your baby is half human. Expect the unexpected.”

Rianya sighed and closed her eyes. A small fire simmered in her chest, fanned by the mother hen of sick bay. She knew her own body for stars sake. Arguing with him would be useless in the end.

“What do you want me to do? I can’t simply sit around all day, and I can’t chase children all day either.”

“Sick bay is not a refuge. I suggest you study for your exams and have a cup of herbal tea in the tranquility of your quarters.” Adams folded his arms across his chest. His oddly pale blue eyes appeared bigger when he wore his nose-frame close-up lenses. Tom had told her that was one of his psychological tools. Choosing to use them instead of having his sight surgically corrected was a way of standing above the crowd, a little non-conforming quirkiness.

“Today,” she relented. “But back home I wouldn’t be sitting around.”

“Different situation on a star ship. Gravity’s different, food’s different, and you had to fight a virulent infection in the last few months. It’s different this time.”

“I’m going, I’m going,” she told him. The concern of everyone on the ship was heartwarming. She wasn’t entirely sure if it was for her, or for the captain’s baby, maybe both, probably both. Thoughts had wandered in and out of her head ever since she learned of the DNA in the mummy.

Rianya stopped in the mess on her way. She was hungry and full at the same time. Looking over the selections laid out for mid-day, the choices ranged from dry biscuits to defrosted-fruit slices of pie. Not able to discern just what the kind of fruit was really sandwiched between the pastries, she put some cheeses and lemon cookies on a plate, then took those with her to the top deck.

One thing for sure, her energy was running low. She prepared hot water for her Costa Rican blended tea, collected a reader, and settled into the overstuffed chair in the great room of their cabin, her snacks on one side, tea on the other, and put her feet on the tall cushion so she could recline and take some weight off her abdomen. She called up her text on terminology, the most difficult thing she’d had to conquer on her journey to a veterinary doctorate.

She managed to have one wedge of cheese and one sip of tea when the intercom whistled.

“Attention, crew, this is the captain. Novissimus is about to come into view from the dark side, and it should be a spectacular view. If you aren’t urgently involved in something, find a window and take a look out the port side.”

Was it worth getting up for? Would five more minutes make a difference? She glanced out the port window of the quarters and the planet was still visible in its entirety, just barely. A golden twinkle near its equator flashed as the station came out of the shadow and into the starlight. A small wave of excitement washed over her shoulder, and yes, it would be worth getting up for.

  

~2~

“It’s a sparkling carousel in space,” Ensign Rougeau, the navigator on duty, almost whispered when the ship had come to within 1000 kilometers of the space station.

“It’s a moon,” Rianya said.

“No, it’s the space station.” Jackson was transfixed on the sight of it, unable to tear his eyes away. The brass music in his mind started to crescendo the closer they crept. It began to take shape, a complete glassine dome on the top, over nearly one hundred acres of garden, orchard, and walking paths, as well as a shallow lake to keep the arboretum as humid as comfortable.

Below the dome, several decks of department and specialty shops, restaurants for any and every taste, art galleries, game parlors, brothels, taverns, travel agencies, tourism outfits, music shops, and of course, guest rooms for the hundreds of tourists, were built around a central core. The uppermost deck, below the arboretum, housed the professional services, such as doctors, barbers, lawyers, managers, the spas, and consignment offices. It was also the Droid Deck, where sales showrooms for such robots held prominent real estate.

The central core served as the shaft for eight elevators running to all but the very lowest decks where station personnel lived and worked, from housekeepers to cooks, window washers, computer repair, and maintenance personnel. Four dock stations protruded near the bottom of the station’s spindle, each with several different airlock and port shapes to accommodate even the oddest ship. Repair bays, traffic control, cargo storage, and shipping services had been located as close as possible to those dock stations.

“What is the top of it?” Rianya asked.

“That’s the heart of the station. It’s a fully contained ecosystem, with recirculated water, artificial rain system, trees, bushes, hydroponic gardens, an orchard… you must see it. Different species come from a dozen light years away to stay here.”

“The colors are amazing.”

“That’s Omicron’s red light going through the polarized prisms and reflecting out the other side. 

“Captain, I have the docking stations manager hailing.”

“Put him on.”

“This is Tazz Tee, Novissimus dock manager. Science Ship Maria Mitchell, we have you on scanners. Proceed to Dock Station Four, Earth hatch, and wait for tug service.”

“Aye, Novissimus. Understood. Captain Thomas Jackson, commanding S. S. Maria Mitchell, out.” He rose from his seat with deliberate leisure, wanting to keep his excitement inside, away from the crew. “Chief Petty Officer Watson, the science team will disembark first while our crew prepare for security and closed stations. Please let them know. Have a station steward at the dock to take them to the administrative offices.

“And advise the station security that we have a non-violent prisoner to be transferred from our brig to theirs.”

“Aye, Captain.”

“Lieutenant Lee, put the helm on neutral so the station can extend the dock to us. Notify the engine room they can power down, close the hydrogen vents, and secure the reactor.”

“Aye, Captain.”

“Ensign Rougeau, I’m putting you in charge of the communications retrofit. Follow up with the station master for our order and once it’s complete, you can take shore leave.” Jackson looked from one to the other. “Lee, I’d like you to oversee the acquisition of our new Astronomite. Once that’s completed, you can also take shore leave.” Their faces fell. “You thought I forgot about that little incident on the bridge?” Jackson rubbed his jaw with one hand to remind them.

“No, sir; no, Captain.”

He turned and asked Rianya to accompany him off the bridge with a glance. She stepped lively to keep up with his giraffe’s stride into the elevator.

“Dr. Adams is going to ensure Scott is moved to the infirmary,” he told her. “I’ll contact his wife, and then Honey’s next of kin.”

“What about Vaughn and the ship?”

“No need to move them. The less they’re disturbed the better.” The cube stopped promptly at the officers’ deck just below the bridge. He stepped off but she hesitated.

“I was going to catch the girls but I could use some sleep.”

“I can do that too. I’d like them to stay aboard until we disembark.”

“No argument from me. Rosalyn has them in the rec room.”

Jackson ushered Rianya to the first cabin, the Captain’s Quarters. Inside he led her to the bedroom. When he’d set her up with pillows and blankets, he made her a fresh cup of tea, then left her to rest. The station would be there when she was ready. He’d been there a few times, and had been impatient to share its beauty with her and Zalara, and Honey.

He set about preparing the leave roster, fresh Columbian brew and Cuban cane elixir within reach, and breathed easily and deeply. He savored a rare blanket of calm elation. It was time to wrap up the mission, and head for home.

þ

“Hello Mellie,

“I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to communicate with you before too much information gets out. I know Space Admin contacted you about Scott’s accident and condition. I wanted to give you an update.

“I told him about your message, by the way. He regretted his decision to come along, but I appreciate his, and your sacrifice. He’s been invaluable to me, not just as a friend, but as a loyal companion and explorer. But you know that.

“His prognosis is fair to good.” 
           Tom exaggerated a bit there, employing a little positive thinking. 
“Doc tells me he’s going to come out, when he is ready, but he will need therapy to get back to normal. Therapy as in physical, speech, higher education. Some of that will take place here on Novissimus, and I want to encourage you to make the trip out here to be with him.

“If ever there was a time when he needed you, Mel, this is it. He needs an anchor, a reason to keep going. You won’t hear this from anyone but me, and I wish I didn’t have to tell you, but he has been depressed for some time, the last several months.”

Jackson stopped recording, sat back, and considered what he couldn’t say, and what he should. The how of the accident, she already knew. The cause of his depression, no, that would remain between the two of them. The quiet of the infirmary offered his brain a chance to hear itself, something that didn’t happen often. He glanced at his friend, looking asleep, shut off like a switch, breathing, warm, but unable to join the party.

“Mel, he loves you to death, and he’s been missing you terribly. I will not ask him to accompany me on any deep space missions from here on. I think he needs to be grounded, at home with you. I have no doubt he will recover and excel in the next stage of his career.

“If you need anything, anything at all, I want you to let me know. I mean that with all sincerity. Scott is like a brother to me, and I’m here with him now. If you send a voice message, I’ll play it, a video message, as soon as he opens his eyes, I’ll play that, too. In the meantime, you know how to find me.

“Take care of yourself now, Tom.”

“Captain Jackson?” He looked up. “Sir, there’s really nothing you can do for him here.” Scott’s assigned nurse was more cordial than most, and she was human, which he appreciated. It made communications vastly easier without translators and ethnic customs in the way. He was unaccustomed to female nurses, however. Usually they became doctors, but she seemed to have a better than average compassion to skills ratio than most. He stood up and put the data chip in his pocket.

“We’ve been friends longer than he’s been married. I like him to know I’m here.”

“If he wakes, I’ll contact you right away.”