Running With Argentine (32 page)

Aboard
the Roosevelt

While the team
had still been gathered together in the ship's hospital, Doctor Amaya had
started throwing around orders…

"I want my patient brought here immediately and placed
in this bed," she said to no one in particular as she pointed her finger
at the open doorway of a private room.

A few of the Petulengro clan scurried off to get him.

"I'll need someone to grab my things on the Pelican and
have them moved here; I found an apartment attached to the hospital. I'll be
using it for my personal quarters."

Argentine was starting to frown when he noticed that the lieutenant
had a small grin on his face.

Yeah
, he thought to himself.
Why fight it?

"Captain?" Sami said from the doorway leading off
from the hospital's main lobby or triage center…

"We need you," she finished as she ducked back out
of the room.

Argentine followed her down a hallway and into a new room
where Paula was engaging with the ship's computer.

Mandi was watching silently.

"How can I help you?" Argentine asked.

"I've mapped Sami's brain patterns and we’re ready to
have her put on the interface and fine tune it. We thought you'd want to be
here for that."

"Really? You've already done that much?"

"It was easy, Captain.” Sami explained. “You just lay
down on one of those tables and let the machine scan you."

"Okay… What's next?"

"Are you ready, dear?" Paula asked.

Sami nodded and put on the tiara…

After a moment her eyes got wide… "Oh wow," she
said.

ΔΔΔ

"Me
next!" Mandi said enthusiastically.

Paula chuckled.

"First, I need to show Sami how to do this. Complicated
orders to the ship require either verbal or typed instructions. But that leaves
us with a problem…"

"I don't speak… whatever language it is that you and
the ship grew up with," Sami finished.

"It's called English; and you're right…"

Paula sighed.

"I had hoped this would be easier, or at least wouldn't
take as long," she said while typing. "I'm going to instruct the
ship’s computer to learn Standard so you folks can communicate…"

She suddenly stopped typing…

"That's odd… The ship already knows Standard…"

The characters on the screen in front of Paula suddenly
switched to a recognizable Standard format.

"Maybe not so odd, Paula," Argentine said gently.
"After all, the ship has been drifting for two hundred years with nothing
better to do than absorb all our communications and entertainment
transmissions… She may know our language better than we do."

Paula chuckled again…

"Well, it certainly makes things easier. I'm going to
need a few minutes to show Sami how to do this.

"Has everyone else found an interface that fits
them?"

Argentine assured her that they had…

"Then in the meantime, Captain, you have some decisions
to make. You need to decide exactly what position you want everyone to hold,
and more importantly, you need to decide who ranks who all the way up and down
the line."

Argentine couldn't help but notice that Mandi's eyes
narrowed slightly at this pronouncement…

"Paula, I understand the necessity of having a captain.
And I can understand that certain specialties, like astrogation, require
special skill sets… But we've always been a little bit more informal than what
you're talking about.

"Can't we just assign a few officers and then designate
everyone else as crew – with equal standing?"

"It doesn't work that way, Captain. Access to various
portions of the ship is granted based upon specialty and rank. You might,
eventually, be able to figure out something for the crew, but your officer
corps will definitely fall into a hierarchy."

Sami was looking uncomfortable and Mandi was
uncharacteristically quiet.

"While the rest of you are doing that," Paula
continued. "I'm going to lay down on one of these beds; I'm extremely
tired…"

For all his lack of actual command experience, Argentine
instinctively knew that this was a leadership decision he needed to get right –
and that it could only happen by consensus…

"Okay," Argentine finally said. "Have
everyone gather in the hospital's lobby.

"We'll figure this out together."

ΔΔΔ

"Get
stuffed!" Barry replied emphatically. "Are you all having a laugh?
I've been on this crew longer than she has… And since when have we started
trusting her anyway?"

"Oh, is the big bad-boy pilot threatened by the likes
of me?" Mandi answered innocently. "I would've thought a brave guy
like you could handle anything…"

"You're absolutely barmy, you know that?" he
responded

Argentine sighed.

Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe it would've been better to
just make the decisions himself…

"For the hundredth time,” she continued. “None of you
would be here without me and I'm not about to let you push me out of the
decision-making."

The specialty assignments had been easy; it was the rank assignments
that were causing all the problems.

Sami was obviously the lead astrogator, just like Barry was
obviously the pilot. The chief would be head of engineering and Dr. Amaya was
really the only one that could fill the lead physician's role.

They weren't sure how the ship would designate its head of
security or combat operations, but whatever the title was everyone accepted it
would go to Lieutenant Stark.

Marco Petulengro had volunteered to be ship's purser and,
even though that felt a little like giving a thief the keys to the safe, since
all the positions were only temporary it was fine.

"Remember everyone, we’re only taking on these positions
long enough to sell the ship, or get a reward, or whatever… Don't let the
titles go to your head."

Mandi had no problem accepting the position of ship’s
communications officer and, of course, he would be the ship's captain.

So no one had a problem with their specialties; but they
were running into major problems when it came to who outranked who.

Finally, the lieutenant jumped in to help make sense of
things…

"Okay, at the moment Sami carries the highest rank. So,
in reality, hers is the only opinion that counts…"

That shut everyone up fast.

"Sami, who do you want to captain the ship?"

"Without hesitation she said, "I want the captain
to be Captain."

"Okay. I believe the Captain should have the right to
pick his second in command. We don't want a divided leadership group – can
everyone agree on that?"

Everyone, some reluctantly, agreed…

"Captain, who's going…"

"The chief will be second," Argentine said
quickly. This was a no-brainer in his book.

"Captain, do you care if the crew picks the number
three?"

Argentine thought for a moment. "Lieutenant, are you
sure you don't want that spot? I would think you've earned it."

"Like I've said before, I'm just along for the ride
until we can cash out."

The crew then voted to make the lieutenant number three…

Sami, Barry, Dr. Amaya and Mandi were all given the next
equal rank, and Marco Petulengro would get whatever was the Roosevelt's
equivalent of a noncommissioned officer's status.

Once they'd gotten that settled, Argentine suggested that
they get the process started. He walked with Sami back to the neural mapping
room.

Paula was still asleep in one of the bed like tables.
Argentine hated to disturb her but he thought it wise that she monitor Sami her
first time directly interacting with the ship.

He was somewhat lost in his own thoughts when he heard
Sami's increasingly anxious voice, "Paula? Paula! Captain, she won't wake
up!"

Argentine quickly moved to Paula's side and ascertained the
problem…

She was dead.

Aboard
the Roosevelt

They carried
Paula's body back to her own cabin and laid her out on the bed.

The rest of them claimed nearby cabins for themselves and
settled in for the night. It'd been a long day and Argentine wanted everyone
fresh for what was probably going to be a long tomorrow.

Dr. Amaya had insisted on staying behind in her new hospital
apartment. She'd declared that she'd been alone most of her life and that she'd
be fine. Besides, she had a little more exploring to do and didn't want to have
to walk all the way back when she was done.

He wasn't going to argue.

As a matter of fact, he was too tired to even think.

He set on the side of the bed, in the cabin he'd chosen, and
rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. As incredible as it was
discovering this ship, he still felt uneasy.

Why couldn't he just be joyful,
he asked himself.
They were very close to accomplishing what they'd set out to do – the reward
for this ship would be astronomical. Gathering a nest egg like that was
something he'd assumed would take years.

He laid flat on the bed and closed his eyes…

The Roosevelt was ten times more incredible than he’d ever
imagined. Which meant his mountain cabin was that much closer to being a
reality.

They just had to negotiate a buyer…

To do that, they'd first either have to keep her location
secret or learn how to operate and defend her. Probably both…

To do that, he was going to have to get accepted by the ship
as her commander and start figuring out how she worked…

To do that, he was going to have to keep his team happy and
lead them…

Argentine fell into a deep sleep that was only interrupted
by the weird dream of a sixteen-year-old girl dancing at the foot of his bed…

ΔΔΔ

Dr. Amaya
wasn't the only one that had stayed back at the hospital.

Lieutenant Stark had surprised her after everyone else had
left…

"Why are you here?" she’d said with some concern.

The lieutenant held his hands up chest high and said,
"I'll leave if you want me to. I just thought it would be nice to talk for
little bit first."

"Yeah, about what?"

The lieutenant let out a heavy breath…

"Are you always so distrusting and… Hard?"

"If you’d grown up the way I had you wouldn't be so
trusting yourself," she retorted quickly.

After a moment he relented, "Yes, I guess I can
understand that. I really can. I actually had a good childhood, but once I
entered the Navy… Everything got very real, very fast."

"So what is it you really want?" she asked again.

"I honestly don't know," he admitted. He surprised
himself with the answer, but it was true…

"Don't take this wrong, but I think I see a little of
myself in you."

She raised an eyebrow at that…

"We're both survivors," he explained. "I
don't know what you've been through, and you don't know what I've been through,
but I think it's pretty obvious we’ve both been through a lot. I don't know if
that makes any difference, but… I want you to know I appreciate how you took
care of Gossip. At the time, I didn't realize how much danger I was putting you
in, but you didn't hesitate… He wouldn't be alive without you and that says a
lot for you in my book."

When she didn't immediately respond he said, "I didn't
mean to be bothering you. I can leave now…"

It was the doctors turn to surprise herself…

"No," she said quickly. "You can stay… For a
while. Tell me what you meant by saying you could tell I'd been through a
lot…"

"Well, I really don't want to be giving offense…"

"I think we're both beyond that, don't you?" she
responded.

"Yeah, maybe… I just don't think either one of our
secrets are going to be easy…"

She tilted her head to show impatience…

"You're a drug addict," he blurted out.

After a quick moment she responded, "Do you want a gold
star for figuring that out?"

"It's just that in my profession, I'm trained to be
observant. I notice things…"

"Well, if you wouldn’t have left my personal bag back
on Trinity there wouldn't have been anything to notice," she said stiffly.

They were now both sitting in front of one of the consoles
and lieutenant again raised his hands…

"I'm not trying to judge. I'm just making an
observation."

She remained silent.

"Okay, I'll admit it. I'm curious. You're obviously
bright, you have high principles or you wouldn't of helped save my crewman's
life… I don't get it.

"You're a Doctor, so you have to understand all about
addiction…"

She was leaning back in her chair and was surprisingly
relaxed with the conversation. This was a subject she never discussed with anyone.
It was also none of this man's business, but at least there was an honesty in
his straightforwardness. And he
had
taken her off Trinity…

"So, you want to know why I use drugs?"

He nodded.

"Okay, I'll tell you."

And she did…

ΔΔΔ

Argentine
didn't want to transfer all of the food stocks off of the Pelican until they'd
figured out where their semi-permanent quarters were going to be.

The area they were bunking down in now wasn't especially
close to anything they'd so far discovered, and with Paula's passing… Well,
there didn't seem to be any reason to stay.

For breakfast they ate what was left of the rations they’d
brought over the night before. This elicited a few grumbles from Mandi, and
Argentine realized this was the first time he had ever heard Barry take her
side on anything.

The doctor was already up and about by the time they'd made
their way back to the hospital section.

The plan was to get the senior officers interfaced with the
system and then to spend the day carefully exploring their command and control
abilities.

The rest of the crew would continue searching the ship.

The first thing Doctor Amaya greeted them with was, "I
found the morgue. Or, at least I think it's a morgue. I'd have thought it would
be larger for a ship this size, but it will work well enough."

When nobody said anything she said, "Hey! You can't
just leave Paula's body in her room! Somebody needs to go get her."

Argentine looked at Nicu…

"Yes, Captain!" He said with one of those funny
salutes he'd seen his father use. "I will take care of it!"

"You're going to need that," the doctor said,
pointing to a body bag that was draped over a console.

Nicu grabbed it and a friend, and they raced out of the
room.

"Okay everyone, let's get the show on the road,"
Argentine said while rubbing his hands together.

The core officer group walked into the neural mapping room.

"Okay, Captain. I need your interface."

Argentine handed Sami the golden circlet and walked over to
the bed.

"Go ahead and lie down," she said. "I'll try
to be quick, but I've never done this before."

Both the chief and Argentine started speaking at the same
time…

"Don't worry about how long it takes," Argentine
said. "Just get it right."

She nodded and turned back to the console.

In a surprisingly short amount of time she said, "Okay,
that's it. I've got the data."

"We’re done?" he asked. "I didn't feel a
thing."

She motioned him back over and held the golden circlet out
in front of her. When he reached for it, she pulled it back…

"No," she giggled. "I want to be the one to
crown you."

With a smile, Argentine knelt down in front of her.

She placed the tiara on his head and said… "I don't
really know what to say, so… Consider yourself crowned."

He stood back up still with a smile on his face and heard
Sami suggest that he take a seat.

He was glad he’d listened…

In a moment, his mind… Expanded, kind of. There was really
no other way to explain it. He
knew
that he knew so many things about
this ship, but when he tried to remember something specific… The knowledge
evaded him.

He distantly heard Sami say, "Something's wrong."

The chief stepped forward and quickly pulled the tiara from
Argentine's head.

"I can't get the ship to accept you as Captain,"
Sami said. "I don't understand. I'm doing exactly what Paula showed me to
do, and it's the same thing she did with me…"

"Are you sure?" Argentine heard himself ask.
"Maybe we should try it again?"

Sami was shaking her head…

"The ship is being very clear… I'm sorry. But the
Roosevelt just won't accept you as its Captain…"