Chameleon Ch 10

“Cerebrus,” Jackson said. “I need you down in the Astrometric lab today.”

“I am asking, sir, if my duties are determined by you or by the engineering staff. Since I spend my off hours in that department, I was under the impression I am part of the engineering staff.”

Jackson hadn’t thought about that before. He frowned.

“I am the CO on Maria Mitchell. Eventually everyone reports to me. You’re in engineering because as a machine that is where you take on your energy and have weekly inspections.” Cerebrus folded his arms behind his back and clasped his hands, something Jackson had never seen him do until that moment. He shifted in his seat a little.

“I would like to request private quarters.”

“Private quarters? What on Earth for?”

“All the other bridge crew have private quarters, yet I am stowed in a cargo bay or charged in engineering. I have no private off time.”

Jackson forced a grin off his face. He leaned on one arm of his chair and looked into the electric blue eyes focused on his own.

“First, Cerebrus, you’re not a bridge officer. Dr. Gregory, who you replaced, may have taken bridge duties but he was not a bridge officer. He was an astronomer mission specialist.

Second, you’re not even an officer. You wouldn’t be entitled to private quarters unless you have gone through officer training and commissioning.

Third, you’re not a crew member. You’re a highly functioning artificial, intelligent life form, but you don’t need food or bathroom facilities, not even sleeping accommodations.

“If you can provide any valid reason for me to provide you with any quarters at all I’m willing to listen.”

“Thank you, Captain. I will research reasons to support my request. Is there anything else?”

“If there was, I’d have told you. Dismissed.” The droid turned and left the bridge via the elevator without additional conversation, and for that, Jackson was grateful. Private quarters for a droid. Cerebrus would be the very last entity to receive a cabin of his own. Jackson brushed the black cloud away from his head.

“Lieutenant, what’s our ETA for Tau Ceti?”

“Still seven weeks and a day, Captain.”

“Seven weeks. Seven long weeks. Mr. Lee, find us a moon or a rogue or a place to take a few days of shore leave. Our supplies are important but not critically urgent. T C D can wait another 50 hours.”

“Anything special, sir?”

“If you can’t find Tahiti I’ll settle for Bali.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Can you watch the store for a little while?”

“I’m glued to the helm.”

The captain didn’t have any patience for sitting on the bridge. He was feeling a need for shore leave more than the rest of the crew. In the mess hall he collected several breakfast goodies in a basket, a fresh carafe of coffee, and headed up to his quarters, which were not private, but he enjoyed the company of his roommates.

“What are you doing here?” Rianya asked when he came in the door. He set the carafe and goodies down and she promptly raided the basket. Zalara shot out of her room and ran to him; he caught her before she could leach onto his leg. She giggled.

“Breakfast.” He hugged her close and slid her to the floor.

“I’ll make some tea.” He watched Rianya walk away and Zalara rifle through the muffins, breads, and pastries until she found something with cherry filling and confiscated it. He threw his jacket across a chair and sank into the overstuffed loveseat in the entertainment area.

“I’ve seen that look.” Rianya brought him a cup of coffee and sat next to him. He realized she struggling more as her shape filled out. All parts of her changed, not just her middle. Her bosom, her hair, and her skin, too.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fat. How about you?”

“Bored. I told Lee to find us a planet for shore leave.”

“I’d like that.”

“How long do you have to go?”

“Still another eight weeks.” She placed her petite hand on her growing bulge.

“Papa!” Zalara sprang onto Tom’s lap in a single bound nearly knocking his coffee out of his hand.

“How old are you now?”

“Almost six!”  He looked at Rianya for a translation.

“Six Earth years.”

“Are you excited about your little sister coming?”

“No.”

“Do you miss Honey?” Rianya asked.

“No. I like being the only one.”

“If we go visit a planet do you want to take Honey for a friend?” Tom asked.

“Maybe. Why come?”

“You used to say she was your new sister.” He chewed on a gooey carrot muffin and broke a nibble off for her.

“She wanted to take you away from me. Now she can have Bailey and Keith. Is better that way.” Just as suddenly as she’d appeared, she hopped off Tom’s lap and ran to her room again.

“Jealousy?” Tom said with surprise on his face. “Were you and your sister like that?”

“I don’t remember. Jealousy between young siblings is not the same as it is for adults. For instance, I’m jealous that you are still doing your job and I’m confined to quarters.”

“That’s not jealousy, that’s envy,” he corrected her. “There’s a difference.” She tilted her head, anticipating an explanation.

“Jealousy is you don’t want me to have my job and you want it. Envy is you wish you were working instead of sitting, but you’re okay if I go to work.” Rianya only looked at the ceiling, then focused sideways on Tom.

“Everyone is busy, doing things. I am losing my mind. It’s hard to read English, much harder than speaking. I can’t enjoy a story when it’s a struggle to understand it. Zalara is reading stories to me.”

“She needs an audience. Can’t you just sit back and enjoy the down time?” He found fished another eat-treat in the basket and refilled his coffee.

“Can you?”

“I’ll see if Adams can find you something to do. Maybe you can take over the hydroponics and poultry work from Harchett.”

“That’s not exactly medicine. I’m a doctor, not a gardener. Maybe you would like to take it easy and clean the fusion chamber?”

Tom stopped trying to think of what to say and made an effort, and it was an effort, to listen to what she’d said. He wasn’t much of a listener, at least he didn’t think so. Mostly he was the one who did the thinking, ordering, and following up, but not so much listening.

“You are absolutely right. I will talk with him now. Why don’t you come?” Rianya looked toward Zalara’s room. “She can come, too.”

Zalara shot through the doors of sick bay first and stopped short when she saw Honey sitting on a table. She turned back to her father. He bent down to her head.

“Be the generous person and say hello. What if she was hurt, and all you had to do was say hello to fix her?” He almost saw the light bulb blink on over her head. She skipped off and began a conversation with the older, blonde girl.

“What did you say?” Rianya asked.

“Hey, what are you two doing here?” Dr. Adams said, walking toward them. Tom looked at Rianya but said nothing.

“I need something to do. I’m a doctor and I’m not sick.”

“Wow. I think I might have something right up your street.” He motioned for them to follow him into the lab. “I was thinking about putting you on this assignment before, well…”

She scowled and folded her arms above her belly. Tom could see her jaw tighten. After so many years together, he could almost read her as well as she could read him.

“Bailey asked me, when we left Novissimus, about something they do there, a proprietary method they have of producing eggs and hens, with virtually no roosters. It’s a genetic thing they do.”

“Why would they want to do that?”

“Same reason we want to do it here. Roosters are tough eating unless they’re castrated, and I don’t have the skill for that. You could probably learn it easier than I.”

“What does genetics have to do with it?”

“They’ve come up with a way to replenish their stock with a perfect ratio of hens to roos. They have a pretty big set up, we don’t need anything near that complex. We’re not feeding five thousand people every day.”

“Doc.”

“Right, okay. We eat the eggs, and we incubate some as replacements for the birds we end up eating. But we would rather have a choice to raise hens. They make eggs and they can be dinner. Roos can only be dinner.”

“If we eliminate the roos all the eggs will be females,” Rianya said.

“Better than that, we won’t have to wait until they hatch. We can eat as many male eggs as we get, and the incubator won’t waste half the electricity and half the space on poultry we don’t want.”

“What difference does it make?” Tom asked.

“Our dear Bailey put a scrive to it and it’s like the hydroponics. She and Harchett came up with a way to grow only female squash. They only need one male to a hundred females.”

“That’s why we’ve seen so much zucchini on the table the last few weeks,” Tom said, grinning.

“Tom, food is critical, it’s at least as important as all the computers around here,” Rianya reminded him.

“I’m not laughing,” he insisted. “I haven’t had to pay attention to food for a few years now. But you’re right.”

“All Earth farms have a veterinarian or two on call for the livestock. We have chickens.”

“It sounds like a challenge,” Rianya said. “If we could have bred only girl birds, shoals, well, that would have been a huge change in our village.”

“I don’t have the free time to do the research, but you’re good at that, and, well, what better way to put a veterinarian to good use on a starship?”

“I think I’d like to do this,” she said to both men. Her eyes brightened, her arms unfolded, and a sweet pink blush rose in her face.

“And I can keep an eye on your condition better with you here.”

“I told you he’d have something,” Tom said, tipping his head at the doctor while his eyes locked with hers.

“What about them?” she said, focusing on the two youngest crew members.

“I think it’s time they start earning their keep,” Adams said. Tom was about to object to his daughter having a job but Rianya agreed with Adams before he opened his mouth.

“I have plenty for them to do. Bailey too,” he told them. Tom looked from one to the other, shrugged and smiled.

“What are you waiting for? Get a move on. I’ll be on the bridge.”