Chapter 27

Doc settles Cali into the chair, and after arranging her just so, he closes the lid and watches the readout, which is accompanied by an audible report, in the same voice as Tyche. Doc realizes with a slight head tilt that it doesn't seem to have Tyche's essence in it. "Preliminary diagnosis confirmed. Leg fractured cleanly. Assessing further injuries."

They wait a few moments while the screen showed various bodily systems as the pod scans through them. Then, finally, it announces the final prognosis, "Minimal laceration, multiple contusions, one femur fracture. Pod time, five days, 12 hours. Plus or minus 6 hours."

Doc turns to Rory. "Well, that's that then. I'll report the results to the captain. You go rest." He takes another look at her and reaches over to activate the other Med Pod. "Actually, I want to have you checked out as well. You could feel fine, but have something internal."

Rory sighs and enters the pod. As it closes around her, she steels herself. Although not quite claustrophobic, being from the wide-open skies of Cat's Eye, she can't help but be a little nervous in such a confined space. To take her mind off of it, she thinks about the way to repair the cargo connection. She hadn't gone through too many scenarios before the pod beeps and the lid rises.

"Several lacerations, multiple contusions. Injuries are minimal. Med Pod not needed."

Doc smiles and helps her out. "Well, that's a relief. Not only because it's nice not to be hurt, but we will definitely need your help to fix the ship. Med Pod or no, though, I'm ordering you to go rest. I'll let you know when you can return to active duty."

"Alright, Doc, I get it. I'll go lay down. But you can't order me not to think on repairs." She smiles as she heads to her quarters.

#

"So the first thing you'll need to do is..." Rory groans in frustration, "I can go and do this. It's easy."

"Yeah, well, Doc said you're to rest, so that's what you'll do. I know you're frustrated because it's already been a day, but he wants to be extra sure that you're good to go. Besides, should something happen to Adair and I, someone needs to know how the ship works, right?" Brigit smiles to show that she doesn't think that is likely to happen.

"Fine, fine, I'll stay behind, but I won't be happy about it."

"Fair enough," Brigit nods. "You were saying.."

"I could explain it all to you now, but I think I'm just going to talk you through it. I'll head up to the bridge. Check in after you've gone through and tethered to each other and the ship." Rory says, as she turns and heads for the bridge.

It surprises her to find The Maiden on the bridge, and Rory pauses. Taking a deep breath, she strides over to the Captain's chair. She feels odd sitting in it, but she needs the central vantage point.

"Tyche, can you put up on the main screen a feed from both Brigit and Adair's helmets, the corridor leading to the hole, and I believe there is a camera on the outside facing the hole for when attaching the cargo pod." Rory waits as the images come online and nods as Tyche arranges them in an ideal configuration, showing the Captain's feed center and largest.

The Maiden watches Rory and when there is just some waiting time, as the two cycle through the airlock, she inquires, "You don't seem to appreciate me being here, do you?"

Rory jumps and turns, having forgotten that The Maiden is there. "I don't know what you mean."

"I'm very perceptive, but even if I weren't, I would see that you leave when I show up. For instance, when you came on the bridge, you almost left when you saw me here. So, tell me, have I offended you in some way?"

Before Rory can answer The Maiden, the captain's voice comes through the feed, "Okay, we're here." Now she speaks to Adair, who is holding a mid-sized red box in the middle of the hole. They have both tethered after coming through the airlock and Adair checks the tether with their other hand when the captain says. "Hold it there. Yes, just like that."

Rory instructs, "Okay, now take a corner tab. Yeah, exactly. Pull it to the edge. It should attach to the ship. Exactly. Now do the same for the other four corners."

As they watch the Captain work, Rory says without looking back, "You didn't offend me. I was worried about offending you."

The Maiden starts to speak, but the Captain breaks in, "Okay I've done the corners, and I see there are tabs on the sides now. I take it I do those?"

"Exactly. Good work so far." Rory keeps watching the Captain work.

"Why would you offend me?" The Maiden asks in a moment of quiet.

"You know my history, don't you?" Rory asks.

"Well, yeah, but I don't see how your exemplary school record would offend me." The maiden responds, genuinely confused.

"Okay, we've strung all eight lines." The Captain says, "I take it I now hit the pulsing red button?"

"Yup, and I would stand back. It's not crazy dangerous, but it's better to be safe." Rory responds and watches the Captain press the button and the feed expanded as the captain steps back. The box opens and a large, very realistic-looking spider crawls out and starts spinning a web, joining the eight strands into a very real-looking web.

"Rory, is that a real spider?" The Captain asks in awe.

"Of course not. There isn't any air. Did you not read how emergi-seal works?" Rory chides in a friendly way.

"I'm sure I skimmed it." The Captain whispers as she watches it work.

After the spider creates the web, it appears to jettison a bunch of eggs, which explode into a mist and then both spider and mist disappear.

"It's done?" The Captain asks.

Rory answers as they watch. "Nope, now it's all converted into nano-bots. The nano-machines will finish the web and make it a flat wall almost as strong as the hull of a normal ship. Not our ship, of course, as it's up-armored."

"Now what?" The Captain asks.

"Hold one moment. It should finish right about ... now." As Rory says the last, the box's button turns green and falls to the floor.

"That's it. Tyche, bring up environmental systems in that sector."

Her and the maiden watch as the screen added an overlay of a readout of the gasses in that area, as soon as it ticked into the safe area, Rory lets them know, "Captain, if you don't want to wait in the airlock you can wait in there for a few moments, gasses are good, but it'll need to warm up a bit before you can take your helmets off."

The Captain looks over to Adair and they both shrug. "Waiting here, waiting there, either doesn't matter."

"Well, since you're waiting, would you mind doing a quick tactile examination of the seal?" Rory asks.

The Captain responds with an, "Aye, aye, Cap," and Rory can hear the smile as the Captain feels around the seal.

"Seems to be intact and," The Captain knocks lightly on the seal, "seems pretty strong."

"Thanks Captain." Rory then looks at the environmental readouts and smiles. "You can take off your vac-suits now. If you want to leave them there, I'll pick them up and put them in environmental for resetting before use again."

#

Doc is chopping vegetables for dinner. The heep steak in the marinating drawer as he finishes the vegetables. He looks up and notices Brigit sitting at the table. She hasn't moved in over 10 minutes. He cleans the knife, dries it, and puts it away. He isn't so fastidious in everyday life, but he is meticulous with the tools of his profession. Throwing the towel over his shoulder, he walks over to Brigit to check on her.

As Doc approaches the table, Brigit doesn't move at all. He wonders where she is. Watching for a moment, he can see her breathing. "Captain. We're on a ship floating through space, and you're somewhere else. Where are you?" Not getting a response, he waves his hands in front of her face.

"Hello. Captain."

"Huh, what? Oh, sorry Doc, were you saying something?" Brigit says in a daze.

"I just pointed out that we are here, on a spaceship, flying through space, and you are elsewhere. Where is more fantastical than this?"

She says with a tired smile. "Oh, well, I'm worried about Cali, and well, I'm worried that I'm worried about Cali."

Doc takes a seat before asking, "Okay, okay, you're going to have to back up a bit because that makes little sense."

"Oh, well, I was worried about the entire crew obviously before this, but well, you know about Cali and me?" At his nod, she says, "Well, she has a habit of getting hurt, and I'm taking it kinda hard. I'm worried that being personally involved will affect my judgment. Does that make sense?"

Doc nods. "Yeah, I think I see where you're coming from. But how do you think you would feel if anything were to happen to anyone on the crew? Rhetorical question. My point is that I don't think your caring for Cali diminishes your care and your worry for the rest of the crew."

Brigit thinks for a moment and then says with a smile. "I think you have a good point there. But I think I will always worry that I'm letting my personal feelings affect my judgment."

Doc gets up to go back to preparing the meal and says with a smile, "Well, I'm fairly certain that you don't have to worry about that. From what I know of you and your history and the excellent training The Accord provides, you'll make the right decisions. And, my last word on this is a compliment. The fact that you are worried about this means that you are and will be an outstanding leader."

As he walks away, she traces her fingers over the smooth gray countertop, unable to help but smile at the compliment Doc gave her. Then, getting up, she takes in the whole dining area's stark shades of gray and makes a mental note to get some items to brighten the place up a bit.

#

Several days later, Tyche breaks into a rare nap that Brigit is taking before shift change on the bridge. "Captain, the Med Pod is about ready. I thought you might want to be the first one she sees after coming out."

"Thanks, Tyche, I do, in fact, want that. How much time do I have?"

"About 10 minutes, Captain, though; the rest of the crew will find out in about 5 minutes." Tyche gives a little chuckle as the Captain stands up, throwing her soft plaid covers off and rushing to the bathroom. Tyche cut the com to give Brigit some privacy, but not before giving a little chuckle at her rushing, noticing the blush before focusing elsewhere on the ship.

Brigit can't help but smile at the image that caused Tyche to laugh. Then, while brushing her teeth, she marvels again at the AI doing things like thinking about her wanting to be first and chuckling. It didn't take long to get ready. She would have liked to have done more, but didn't have time. Her hair in a simple ponytail, dressed in the casual officer's dress augmented with the ship's colors of orange and navy, she heads to the Med Pod.

She gets there at the same time as Doc. Of course, Tyche notified him first, after Brigit. He is nice enough to stay off to the side unless Cali or the Med-Pod needs him. She stands there straight and formal, wondering what she will say as the Med Pod opens. Cali sits up and groggily puts her feet on the floor. Before she can even register that Brigit is there, and indeed before Brigit knows what she is doing, Brigit is on her knees, kneeling next to the Med Pod and pulling Cali down into her arms. "Why do you insist on getting hurt so much?!" Hugging her tight, she whispers, so soft that Cali almost didn't hear it, "You had me worried."

Cali smiles and hugged Brigit back. "I'll try to remember that next time we lose gravity.."

Brigit leans back and looks at Cali. "You lost gravity?!"

"You didn't know?" Cali answers with a question before continuing, "Hmm, it happened so fast, with everything else going on, it probably didn't make it to the top of the alerts before it was gone. Basically, something hit us, and the ship lurched, and in that moment of lurching, the grav plating failed. The combination of loss of gravity and lurching of the ship threw Rory into the air, and had I not already been holding on; I would have been as well. Without really thinking, I knew the ship would soon restore gravity, so I pushed off the wall in Rory's direction. I managed just to get myself under her right before gravity returned. And a good thing, since she was upside down. Unfortunately, I was so focused on catching her that I didn't get my legs set to meet the deck correctly."

Doc walks over as Cali finishes her story. She takes a deep breath and then yawns. "Captain, she still needs rest. After I check the vitals, would you mind escorting her to her quarters?"

Brigit nods as he goes about checking this and that on the monitors and graphs. "Okay, you're cleared, Cali." Then, to Brigit, he adds, "I'll clear her for shifts in a few days; until then, help her rest, okay?"

Brigit nods and helped Cali out, not really supporting her weight, just being there in case Cali needs her.