The Bright Black Sea (10 page)

'Talley my dear!' exclaimed Riv as he swung on to the
deck from the well, 'My you've grown tall! And what marvelous
legs!' he added as he approached and gave her a hug.

'What did you just say Riv?' exclaimed an outraged
Lilm following her partner up. 'Ignore him Talley, he's grown so
witless and disreputable in his old age.'

'I was merely commenting on her legs as an engineer,
love. They're a mechanical marvel. And she has grown so
tall...'

Min laughed, 'I did seem to grow ten centimeters when
I had these legs made...'

I saw Myes coming out from the bridge, so I stepped
over to Min and said to her, 'I'll leave you to your old shipmates.
See you later.' She nodded and embraced gruff ol'Qilan, 'Uncle
Myes...'

I slipped away to sample the banquet entrees. A
captain's job is never done.

An hour later the Merluns, Anre and Mya, Molaye's
parents, docked their boat on the starboard gangplank. Both Anre
and Mya had sailed aboard the
Lost Star
for many years,
though long before I signed on – Mya as a pilot and Anre as the
electrical engineer aboard. They're regular visitors whenever we're
in Calissant orbit so we had invited them to the banquet. Molaye,
Kie, Illy and I, as well as the hounds, welcomed them aboard and
escorted them up the awning deck.

'I hope our Molaye hasn't been giving you any
trouble,' said Anre as we sampled the appetizers the Drays had set
out.

'Oh, dad!' exclaimed Molaye.'Of course I
haven't.'

'Trouble? Of course not,' I replied. 'Why would
she?'

'See,' said Molaye in mock outrage.

'Oh, we were just curious. We knew Fen could handle
her, but we were curious how well you'd be able to manage her,'
said Mya, ignoring Molaye.

'Oh, he's a mean ogre. A regular drift dragon. I
wouldn't dare step out of line,' protested Molaye, not expecting
anyone to believe that.

Puzzled, I turned to Illy, 'Illy?'

She just laughed, 'She's settled right in, Mya. We
hope to keep her if we can clear this port.'

'Good,' said Mya, adding for my benefit, 'Molaye was
always a daredevil. Anything fast and dangerous appealed to her.
Plus, she has a mind of her own. A sweet girl, but very determined
to get her own way. She was a handful to bring up...'

'Takes after her mother,' added Anre with a
laugh.

'Well, she's been the ideal apprentice. And an
amazing pilot. A natural.'

'Takes after her mother,' muttered Anre again.

'And all her sweet talking comes from you,' replied
Mya.

'It's been a pleasure to oversee her progress,' I
assured them. 'She'll have no problem getting her ticket. And she's
been an ideal shipmate as well, always cheerful, cooperative, and
willing to pitch in anywhere and eager to learn everything. A
valued member of the crew. You can be very proud of her,' I added.
I was very proud of her as well – my first apprentice.

Molaye beamed. 'See.'

'Nevertheless, Wil, if you avoid the beach and sail
with her, keep her on a short leash. I know she has a way with
machines that borders on the uncanny, but don't let her run
wild.'

'Well, we're just an old tramp, as you well know. She
can't run too wild.'

'Aye. But there's still plenty of engine in the old
girl. I'm just saying don't be too indulgent. She seems to have the
same power over people as she has over machines,' said Anre,
drawing her close. 'As well we know. I blush to think of all the
things she talked us into letting her do. Rocket board racing was
the final straw. How she managed to talk us into that I can't say
to this day. All I know is that it scared us more than halfway to
death...'

'Oh, it wasn't that dangerous!' protested Molaye. 'No
one ever got killed.'

'It was the rocket board racing that prompted us to
ask Fen to sign her on,' added Mya. 'We're glad she's settled in,
but don't be fooled, she likely can talk you into anything she
wants should she set her mind to it. She sure did with us.'

'I'll keep that in mind, but I can honestly say the
Molaye you're describing doesn't seem to match my apprentice pilot.
I've stood watch with her for two years now and she's as solid and
safe pilot as I've ever crossed orbit with,' I said. Flashy, yes,
but never beyond her skills.

'See.' she beamed again.

'Laying in the drifts, Wil. She's just laying in the
drifts,' said Anre with a wink.

'Well, we have Kie her to keep her steady. You won't
find a more solid, level headed young man in all the Nebula,' I
said.

'And I'll bet she twists you around her little
finger,' Anre said to Kie.

Kie just blushed.

And he seems to like it, I thought, but decided not
to say it out loud. Instead I said, 'In any event, I don't think
she can get into too much trouble as a pilot of an old tramp
freighter. And I assure you, I'll have her on the carpet if she
tries to fly one of the ship's boats like I know she can. I still
remember Miccall's speech word for word and I'm looking forward to
reciting it to some other poor young pilot.'

'I can remember it too,' laughed Mya. 'Used
variations of it all the time bringing up Molaye, for all the good
it did. Good luck, Wil.'

The Drays went all out for the feast. We'd been
planning it since Pinelea, so dishes that could not be properly
prepared in free fall had been made when we were under power. The
rest of them now in orbit. There were four Mycolmtreian and half a
dozen other favorite entrees, some of them rather challenging to
eat in free fall. (Loose components tended to be rather evasive in
free fall and libel to escape their serving dishes to float about,
especially later in the meal. But we had the dogs.) But all was
well worth the challenge. I contributed a small case of Mistwine,
famous for quickly creating a mellow mood and that carried us
through the meal in fairly sedate order. After the dinner proper,
the party moved to the awning deck, decorated with an elegantly
patterned awning and floating lanterns. Since this was officially a
celebration of having survived a voyage under my command, I took a
certain amount of slander from my nominal subordinates and gave a
short speech and our musically inclined shipmates put on little
performances before things became rather jovial.

I'd decided my best policy was to let Min hang with
the old gang, so I spent only as much time with her as I felt
politeness required. She didn't seem to mind. I was happy to see
her laughing and clearly enjoying herself as the party went on and
it took just a little arm twisting by Riv and Illy, to get her to
stay in one of our guest cabins and make a night of it. I knew she
was attached to the
Lost Star
of her youth, but it wouldn't
hurt to form a bond with the present ship and company as well, a
bonding that was well underway when I left the crew to their
carouse around the middle of the fifth watch. I may not be very
captain like, but I do carry a residue of authority. So to give
them the fling they deserved, I made a point of bowing out long
before the party drew to a close sometime in the first watch.

Early in the second watch, the Merluns with Molaye
and Kie looking only half dead sailed for Yendora for a few days of
leave at home before returning to Port Prime and their board exams.
I wished them the best of luck to their grim nods.

Sometime later Min found me in the ship's office
completing my accounts for paying off the crew. Our conversation
was sparse, polite but wary, perhaps due to the lingering effects
of the party on her part and my determination not to undo any good
will it may have instilled. I sent her off to the
Silvery
Moon
with a large packet of leftovers.

The rest of Fifthday (we keep Primecentra time aboard
ship, it being our home port), was spent raising the nearly dead,
paying them off and getting them down to Calissant under Illy's
watchful eye. She took them down in the longboat directly to the
new beach-combing spaceer rendezvous of Port Braque-nela. Only Dyn
and I, with Astro, Orbit, Ginger and an unknown number of other
cats and bachelor birds remained onboard by the end of the day. Dyn
never left the ship if he could help it, and I've never spent
enough time on Calissant to have any attachments to anybody or any
thing, so I was content to watch the ship with Dyn.

We kept busy on Sixthday cleaning Miccall's quarters.
It had remained vacant the whole voyage as Dyn slowly cleared it of
Miccall's possessions, giving away his treasures to crew members
with special requests, packing the rest in boxes that joined all
the other remnants of past shipmates in the strongroom of no. 4
hold. We sealed the quarters in a closed environmental loop,
cranked up its circulating fans as I, in a light space suit power
cleaned the suite, creating a thick mist of detergent droplets as I
scrubbed seventy years of gaspeleaf pipe smoke film off the
bulkheads, ceiling and deck. This yellow mist and several rinses
were sucked out in a little hurricane and air dried before the loop
was opened. And with that, the last of Captain Miccall faded to
memory.

With that final task done, Dyn vanished. As our
environmental engineer, much of his work lies between the outer and
inner hull, and being pretty much a recluse at the best of times,
his disappearance was not surprising, though it left only Astro and
Orbit to keep me company while Ginger, who had us as her only prey,
stalked us at every turn. They were a frail shield against
loneliness, worry and the subtle eeriness of the crew-less ship. To
keep it all at bay, I kept busy, no project too trivial to escape
the attention of Captain Litang.

The
Ghost
, up from PortPrime appeared within
the
Lost Star
's alert range late in the third watch on
Firstday.

'Anyone home?' asked Tallith Min, her voice from the
com implant in my ear.

I opened the link. 'Hello Min. I'll meet you on the
port gangplank. I'm in the garden, so you may arrive before I do.
Astro and Orbit will do the honors.

'Astro and Orbit will suit me fine.'

Moss gardens are rare in tramp ships. Most tramps
rely on culture vats and synth-galleys to supplement food purchased
from planet-side caterers. We mostly use our culture vat and
synth-galleys for faux grains and meats. All our fruits, vegetables
and the great variety of mushrooms essential to Mycolmtre cuisine
are grow in a three-deck tall climate controlled garden attached to
the galley. The plants grow on adjustable shelves in artificial
'moss' which anchors them and delivers water and nutrients. It
demands a great deal of attention, individual plants must be hand
tended, bound, pruned and harvested in order to thrive both in free
fall and under acceleration, but we're devoted to our stomachs and
we diligently tended the garden.

Though we had picked the garden clean, there was
still work to do. I was attending to our vinelina beans' vines,
attached to an articulated arm that kept me in place over the
plants. I had to extract myself from the stack, and pass through an
'air lock' to strip off the light anti-contamination suit before
exiting the garden.

Min, dressed stylishly as usual in black and white,
was already on the sunlit landing stage fending off the sloppy
tongues of our official greeters when I arrived.

'Welcome aboard,' I called out, hurrying to save her
from the very lonesome delegation.

'Captain,' she said with a rather wary nod, dodging
the kisses of the bounding dogs.

'Down you blasted hounds,' I said, snagging their
collars to keep them on the deck. 'I'm afraid we're starved for
company... I'm as happy to see you as they are, but far more
inhibited...''

'Right,' She muttered, giving me a look that I'd come
to translate as “tramp spaceers...” She dried her face with her
sleeve. 'It's been less two days and I thought Dyn was also
aboard.'

'It's still lonely. Dyn's a fine shipmate, but iffy
as company. He usually keeps to himself somewhere between the
hulls. So it's only the hounds and an occasional cat to keep me
company – makes the ship seem very big and rather eerie.'

'Haven't seen Glen Colin about, have you?' That, with
what may have been a fleeting smile.

'No – we stay clear of the engine room – it's
downright spooky. Still, I might've welcomed his company, though I
much prefer yours,' I added and realized I was once more sailing
near the edge.

'I'm flattered.' She didn't even try to make it sound
sincere.

The vulnerable Min glimpsed for that second on the
roof seemed destined to haunt my dealings with her every time we're
together. We both were well aware of that moment. It seemed
pointless to pretend I'd not seen the pain and loneliness she
hides. Still, a spaceer is, almost by definition, someone who's
going away so what could not be undone, would soon be gone. Sooner,
if Min had her way.

So Neb may care, I decided. 'Hardly flattery. You're
far more pleasing company than a drunken ghost. Am I right, lads?'
This to Astro and Orbit at my side. They barked their agreement.
'We all agree. All the more because I hadn't expected to hear from
you until tomorrow at the earliest. Bringing good news I hope?'

She gave me an exasperated look, but got on to
business, 'As a matter of fact, I am. It's all so very strange –
inexplicable. I called the Ministry this afternoon and managed to
reach one of Bangtonre's aides, who believed that they were close
to finishing the documents. In the meanwhile, I could do as I
pleased with the
Lost Star
. I've no idea what documents he
was talking about. Too stunned to ask. I was still trying to take
it in, when he signed off. But if I heard right, it seems I've been
given a free hand...'

'You did it!'