Coffee Cup Dreams (A Redpoint One Romance) (13 page)

Tish stared at him, working to comprehend the
words. "You mean I still have a job?"

Arthur frowned. "Of course you do. Is that a
problem?"

"No, of course not!" Tish said with a big
grin, almost bouncing in excitement. She stopped and composed
herself. "Thank you for a second chance."

"There was no question about you staying, if
you so choose." He pointed a finger at her. "Medical bay, now. No
side-trips."

She suppressed the urge to salute, settling on
nodding up and down.

Arthur rewarded her with a grim smile. As the
hatched closed he added, "Stay out of trouble."

The pod rose up off the platform and turned to
fly out the opening. Tish looked around, finding herself alone. No
people and no bots in sight.

She missed her three bots. She hoped they were
okay and weren't affected by the horrible smoke. Or if that smoke
had erupted into fire.

She shook herself. The bots could take care of
themselves. They knew the station better than she did. Plus, they'd
purposely stayed behind. That must mean something.

Tish turned towards the main door at the back
of the platform. A bench to the left lay littered with tools. She
laughed to herself. Two benches. One at a height for humans, a
lower one that must be for the bots.

Through the door lay a corridor with many
doors lining the walls. The first two led into storage units while
the third was locked. Leaving the doors alone, she followed the
curving corridor.

At the end of the corridor sat the maintenance
platform, with the locker room on the right and the break-room on
the left. She moved into the break-room and washed her hands and
lower arms. While she was at it, she emptied the pot of cold
coffee. Someone else must have made it, as it smelled nothing like
Damien's brew. She would have to see about making her own if she
came through the maintenance platform during the day.

And she had another morning. A grin escaped
and she allowed herself a little hop up the step to the central
control of the platform. Now to find her way to the medical
bay.

"I should stay and help with the remaining
repairs," a loud voice echoed down one of the halls leading to the
maintenance platform.

Damien emerged, sporting a grumpy expression.
He ran a hand through his hair, making it spike even more. "I am
the trainer, and I say you will remain here for the rest of your
shift. Refill the utility belts, clean the break-room, whatever.
The Boss and I will be back in a few hours."

"We need to install a new valve," Ricardo
said, trailing behind him. "Give me a stupid bot and I'll do
it."

Damien went straight to one of the control
panels. He pointed to the break-room without looking up, "Go, now.
I have work to do."

"So do I. It's my job as well," Ricardo said.
Damien didn't respond. Ricardo glared daggers at his
back.

He stalked towards the break-room, coming to a
stop in front of Tish, his black eyes sweeping her from head to
foot. "And you are?"

She bristled, disliking him even more than the
day before. First he didn't pay attention to the bots, and now he
didn't even recognize her face? "Tish. We met
yesterday."

"Right, the other newbie. Welcome to the
insanity." He glanced towards Damien. "Where is everyone? I could
go with another trainer."

Damien might have his back to them, but Tish
could see him tense. She quickly answered, "Busy with repairs to
close a hull breach."

He sneered at her. "Like you would know. And
what did you fall into? You stink."

"At least I listen to bots," Tish shot back.
She bit her tongue, glancing at Damien. Not a good thing to say in
front of a trainer.

Damien straightened up. "Break-room.
Now."

Damien's voice didn't rise, but hard force
filled it. The same kind of strength she'd heard in Arthur's voice.
Ricardo rolled his eyes, taking his time to walk in the direction
of the break-room.

Damien watched him go, saying nothing. Tish
stood silently, wondering if he would mind her asking for his help.
Probably would. If he was having to fix the mess with the valve and
repair the life-support systems from yesterday's failure, then he
wouldn't have much time.

"You're helping with the hull breach?" Damien
asked once Ricardo disappeared.

"Yes sir, and got into a bit of a mess with a
computer relay. My bots are still working on it. I couldn't breathe
anymore," Tish said with a shrug.

"My bots?" Damien parroted with a half
smile.

Tish gulped, realizing she'd done it again.
"Sorry, sir, the station bots."

He turned back towards the console, his hands
busy on the surface. "No apology necessary. It's a good sign you
said it in such a manner."

His face might look hard, but the man's voice
sounded nice. She took a chance and asked, "Do you know where the
medical bay is? Arthur said I was to go straight there."

Damien snapped up erect, giving her his full
attention. "What's wrong?"

"Smoke inhalation. That's all," she said
quickly.

"Not 'that's all.' Smoke can be dangerous." A
bot with a hollowed out space in its back appeared from one of the
halls. Damien gestured towards her as he stepped off the platform.
"Come with me. I'll drop you off on the way back."

Damien scooped a box out of the back of the
bot as he passed. She heard a crash from the direction of the
break-room. As Damien didn't pause to investigate, Tish ignored it
and followed.

The medical bay sat directly off a main
transit platform allowing them to arrive faster than she expected.
Two large waiting rooms on either side of the entrance of the
medical bay were filled with people. But, upon hearing she was a
part of the maintenance crew, she was ushered right in.

"They'll take good care of you," Damien said,
settling the box against a hip. "If you aren't given any specific
orders, take the rest of the day off and report back to work
tomorrow morning."

Tish nodded and watched him walk away,
wondering if she would be able to find her way back. Fortunately
for her, Damien's request for her to return to work the next
morning mirrored Arthur's. Another reinforcement she was still
doing well.

Doctor Ambrose walked into her cubicle a few
minutes after Tish arrived. The woman made quick work of the
physical, including a scan of her lungs.

"You're fine. A little irritation, but it
should be gone tomorrow," Dr. Ambrose said with a smile. "Rest
tonight and tomorrow you are cleared to work. Come back if you have
any breathing problems."

And that was it. Tish stood on the transit
platform contemplating how to get back. A small maintenance pod
stopped behind the larger car quickly filling up with passengers.
Two men in expensive-looking dark suits tried to push past her to
get in but a loud computer voice announced, "For maintenance
personnel only."

The two men jumped back. With her face red,
Tish climbed in. The men glared at her before rushing to board the
larger car.

As the door slid shut, Tish looked over the
controls, only there were no controls to use to drive. She licked
her lips. "Main maintenance platform?"

The travel pod slid forward, moving around the
larger car to take the lead into the fast-travel of the tube. The
end of the short ride lifted her spirits considerably. She
recognized the platform. Good, she didn't get lost getting back to
home-base.

She was well, uninjured, and still had a job.
Her mind turned to getting rid of the smoke stink rising up from
her clothes, skin, and hair. Finding a computer terminal at the
entrance into the maintenance platform she said, "I need to find my
room. How do I get there?"

A beep at her feet announce the arrival of the
tiny bot with the blinking light on its back.

"Don't count on lasting long." Tish's head
jerked up. Ricardo stood on the other side of the raised center of
the maintenance room with his arms crossed over his chest. "No one
lasts long around here."

"I will. I like working here," Tish
said.

"No one lasts. The station doesn't let
them."

"Tell that to the regular maintenance crew,"
Tish said back.

He dropped his arms and started walking
towards her, skirting around the raised platform. "Then explain the
missing maintenance crew?"

Tish took a step backwards.
"Missing?"

He shook his head at her. "You really don't
know? Haven't you noticed how strange this station is? Some who go
in don't come out."

Just like in the movie, and she wasn't willing
to think about it. Nearly asphyxiating on smoke aside, the station
just couldn't be that way. The thought didn't feel
right.

A sense of revulsion welled up in her. The man
was the last one she wanted to talk to. "Good night."

She stepped briskly after the patiently
waiting bot, walking fast.

"Watch your back," Ricardo shouted after
her.

She ignored him, continuing her pace away from
him. The bot mirrored her pace, darting down a side corridor, and
then another. Only when they got into an elevator did she look
back. No Ricardo following her. Just as well. Another comment from
him and she would be taking it up with Arthur and Damien. Maybe
even Rachel.

Just what was he trying to prove with all that
talk, anyway? Missing crew, as if the station swallowed them alive?
If he was going to lose his job the rest of them should go
screaming from the station, too?

CHAPTER TWELVE

ARTHUR STRETCHED, TRYING to work a kink out of his left
shoulder. Holding two modules in place at the same time while the
bots worked at all the attachments had taken its toll. A scratch
along the same arm would need to be tended to when he had a free
moment.

Then came the problem of Ricardo. He'd guessed
when the man arrived that he wouldn't work out, but went ahead with
an apprenticeship. After all, now many times had he been wrong when
it came to whom the Station would accept?

But, not only was his guess correct, but so
had been his thought that the man would not go quietly. Another
correct instinct. Ricardo swore he would take up the dismissal with
Director Stemski himself.

Let him. Director Stemski would back Arthur,
not someone who couldn't be trusted to listen to the bots when they
started sounding alarms.

Now for the last part of the job before
getting a bit of sleep himself. Damien assured him Tish went to the
medical bay as requested, and came out with a clean bill of health
to return to work after a night of rest, but Arthur wanted to see
her for himself to be sure.

To be sure of her recovery, he told himself.
To be sure she still wanted to stay. But another side mocked him,
telling him that the real reason was that he only wanted to see if
she still had her hair down.

His black and white bot twittered as it ran
down the hall in front of him to the regular technician apartments.
Past the walls needing a good cleaning and overhead lighting covers
needing replacements. A bit of repainting might not be a bad idea,
either. Another thing to do. Upgrade the accommodations.

Once they caught up on the regular maintenance
they would have a bit of time to work on the infrastructure around
the maintenance platform. Having larger living quarters might be an
additional draw to hire new technicians.

If they ever got caught up with the regular
maintenance. Keeping up on a station as large as Redpoint One would
always be a challenge, but lately it seemed repair emergencies were
occurring at an ever-increasing rate.

There had to be a reason for it.

He stopped in front of apartment number 26.
His bot, realizing Arthur was no longer behind him, spun a few
times in a circle before coming back to him. He pressed the door
chime.

No one answered, so he pressed again. By the
third time he began to worry.