of when I stepped off the shuttle to find Pip waiting for me back on Neris. I looked around and realized that I was standing in about the same spot as he had been. It felt weird to have the boot on the other foot, as it were.
I did not wait long before I heard the docking clamps latch and the lock started to cycle. I wiped my palms nervously on the sides of my shipsuit and watched as about a dozen people exited the lock and peeled off in both directions down the passage. When the throng cleared a bit, I picked out the green and gold of Federated Freight and saw Sarah Krugg for the first time.
Chapter 6
ST. CLOUD ORBITAL
2352-FEBRUARY-20
She was not exactly what I expected. I easily recognized the new shipsuit and lost look, neither of which were a surprise. But I had been expecting a girl or at least a young woman. Sarah Krugg appeared to be nearly as old as my mother had been.
She spotted my matching suit and eyed me warily. We met in the middle of the passage. “You must be Ms. Krugg,” I said fatuously. “Call me…err…that is…my name is Ishmael Wang. The first mate sent me to meet you.”
I held out my hand and I thought I saw her flinch, but it was gone so fast I could not be sure. She studied my hand for a moment before gripping it briefly but firmly in her own dry palm. In that split second before she let go, I could feel the calluses on her palm and along her fingers. I tried a welcoming smile and hoped it was working. She seemed very closed off.
“Hello Mr. Wang,” she said.
Standing next to her, she came up to my nose and had to tilt her head slightly to look me in the eyes. Her hair was longer than I was used to seeing after so many months aboard—almost to her shoulders—and it had a peculiar bleached appearance to it, like it had started life as a soft brown but had been burned almost white in broad streaks. Looking into her brown eyes, I realized that she was not as old as I had thought at first, and I wondered briefly what kind of life she must have had to age this way. She seemed—bruised in a way that showed in her eyes.
I started talking quickly to cover my awkwardness, “You can call me Ish, Ms. Krugg. We don’t stand on ceremony much around here. Is it okay if I call you Sarah?”
She nodded uncertainly and shifted her duffel.
“Okay then, Sarah, let’s get you introduced to Lois and the rest of the crew. Everybody’s quite anxious to meet you.” I started down the passageway with a little nod. “It’s just this way and not very far. You’ll be working with Cookie and Pip. They’re both really nice.” I realized I was babbling and stopped myself to ask the first question I could think of. “Do you snore?”
“Snore?” she asked incredulously.
“Yeah. It seems to be the first question everybody asks a new bunkie.”
She looked down and then quietly said, “Um…yes actually, I’ve been told that I do. Will that be a problem? I don’t think I do it very loudly.”
I glanced over my shoulder and whispered, “I wouldn’t worry about it. Tabitha snores, too. But I actually found it kind of comforting in an odd sorta way.”
“Tabitha?” she asked.
“Yeah, Tabitha Rondita sleeps on the other side of the partition that I used to use before my transfer to engineering berthing. You’ll meet her. She’s nice, too.”
We had entered the commercial docks by then and I slowed a bit so Sarah could catch her breath and look around a little. I remembered my first time on the docks and how different everything seemed. There was a lot going on as all the cargo men performed their synchronized dance of moving items to and from various places.
“You okay?” I asked her softly.
“Yes,” she said a bit unsteadily. “I think so. But it’s all going so fast.”
“I know exactly what you mean. It’ll be okay. It wasn’t all that long ago that I came aboard for the first time. Did you get the your ass is mine speech from the captain?”
“Yeah, is that
I did not wait long before I heard the docking clamps latch and the lock started to cycle. I wiped my palms nervously on the sides of my shipsuit and watched as about a dozen people exited the lock and peeled off in both directions down the passage. When the throng cleared a bit, I picked out the green and gold of Federated Freight and saw Sarah Krugg for the first time.
Chapter 6
ST. CLOUD ORBITAL
2352-FEBRUARY-20
She was not exactly what I expected. I easily recognized the new shipsuit and lost look, neither of which were a surprise. But I had been expecting a girl or at least a young woman. Sarah Krugg appeared to be nearly as old as my mother had been.
She spotted my matching suit and eyed me warily. We met in the middle of the passage. “You must be Ms. Krugg,” I said fatuously. “Call me…err…that is…my name is Ishmael Wang. The first mate sent me to meet you.”
I held out my hand and I thought I saw her flinch, but it was gone so fast I could not be sure. She studied my hand for a moment before gripping it briefly but firmly in her own dry palm. In that split second before she let go, I could feel the calluses on her palm and along her fingers. I tried a welcoming smile and hoped it was working. She seemed very closed off.
“Hello Mr. Wang,” she said.
Standing next to her, she came up to my nose and had to tilt her head slightly to look me in the eyes. Her hair was longer than I was used to seeing after so many months aboard—almost to her shoulders—and it had a peculiar bleached appearance to it, like it had started life as a soft brown but had been burned almost white in broad streaks. Looking into her brown eyes, I realized that she was not as old as I had thought at first, and I wondered briefly what kind of life she must have had to age this way. She seemed—bruised in a way that showed in her eyes.
I started talking quickly to cover my awkwardness, “You can call me Ish, Ms. Krugg. We don’t stand on ceremony much around here. Is it okay if I call you Sarah?”
She nodded uncertainly and shifted her duffel.
“Okay then, Sarah, let’s get you introduced to Lois and the rest of the crew. Everybody’s quite anxious to meet you.” I started down the passageway with a little nod. “It’s just this way and not very far. You’ll be working with Cookie and Pip. They’re both really nice.” I realized I was babbling and stopped myself to ask the first question I could think of. “Do you snore?”
“Snore?” she asked incredulously.
“Yeah. It seems to be the first question everybody asks a new bunkie.”
She looked down and then quietly said, “Um…yes actually, I’ve been told that I do. Will that be a problem? I don’t think I do it very loudly.”
I glanced over my shoulder and whispered, “I wouldn’t worry about it. Tabitha snores, too. But I actually found it kind of comforting in an odd sorta way.”
“Tabitha?” she asked.
“Yeah, Tabitha Rondita sleeps on the other side of the partition that I used to use before my transfer to engineering berthing. You’ll meet her. She’s nice, too.”
We had entered the commercial docks by then and I slowed a bit so Sarah could catch her breath and look around a little. I remembered my first time on the docks and how different everything seemed. There was a lot going on as all the cargo men performed their synchronized dance of moving items to and from various places.
“You okay?” I asked her softly.
“Yes,” she said a bit unsteadily. “I think so. But it’s all going so fast.”
“I know exactly what you mean. It’ll be okay. It wasn’t all that long ago that I came aboard for the first time. Did you get the your ass is mine speech from the captain?”
“Yeah, is that
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