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I took her down to deck berthing and gave her the choice of the bunk over Bev or the one under Pip and she took the upper. We got her duffel stowed, the palm-lock set on her locker, and then I took her to meet Cookie.

When we got to the mess deck, there was not a lot to do. Cookie had taken down the buffet and was just starting to sweep down the mess deck. It was odd, though, because Pip and I usually cleaned off the tables before we swept and swabbed. I could still see empty mugs and the odd dish left out.

“Cookie, I’d like you to meet your new mess attendant, Sarah Krugg.”

Cookie bestowed one of his beatific smiles on her and gave a small bow. “I am delighted to have you join our little family.”

“Thank you very much.”

I could feel her unwinding a little bit for the first time since I had met her.

“Very well, Sarah, no time like the present to get started.” Cookie handed her the broom and dust pan. “Here, we must clean this place up and make it ready for the evening meal. Could you take over while I talk to Mr. Wang?”

She glanced around dubiously and then looked at the broom and dust pan. “Of course, Cookie, but…”

“Yes, Ms. Krugg?”

“Do you have a bucket and a cloth? If I am to do a proper job, I think I’d like to clean the tables, first.”

Cookie smiled and I hid a grin behind a mug of coffee. The method to Cookie’s madness now made sense as I recall his first little test with me regarding making coffee. Sarah was going to do just fine.

“Of course, Sarah.” Cookie turned to me and said, “Ishmael, show your shipmate where she can find the supplies she needs, won’t you?”

I escorted her to the galley and gave her the quick half-cred tour before returning to Cookie. He drew me into a pantry to leave Sarah by herself on the mess deck. “You’re a rascal, Cookie.”

He beamed. “Thank you, Ishmael. I do try.” He turned serious then and asked, “Ishmael, did Sarah, or any of the officers tell you anything about Ms. Krugg’s background, or why she is here?”

“No, Cookie, why do you ask? ”

“She didn’t say anything about where she’s from?”

“We haven’t exactly had a lot of time,” I pointed out.

He looked concerned. “Be kind to her, Ishmael. Unless I’m mistaken, she hasn’t had a lot of kindness in her life. I suspect she may have been beaten recently.”

I was shocked. I had no idea how Cookie could know such a thing just by meeting her, but I had learned long ago that Cookie was always right.

He peeked out to the mess deck then. “Go and show her the ropes. The best thing for her right now is to start getting comfortable with her new surroundings.” He smiled. “Pip is in for an interesting time.”

I slipped out of the pantry and helped Sarah clear the tables. I showed her where to put the dirty dishes and how to load the big san unit. We slipped into an odd kind of rhythm very quickly and as we worked, she seemed to relax so long as I was not standing too close to her and did not move quickly. I wondered about Cookie’s statement about her being beaten. It only took a few ticks and the mess deck was cleaned up and we moved into the galley to give it a quick brush and swab. Cookie had left the tray of meat and cheese out, but as I went to stow it in the cooler, I noticed Sarah looking at it out of the corner of her eye. “Did you get lunch?” I asked suddenly.

She shook her head, and I saw a scared, unexplainable expression.

“I’m so sorry! I should have realized that you were on the shuttle…and…Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?” I asked.

“Yes, please. If it’s not too much trouble,” she asked timidly.

“Oh, of course, just don’t tell Cookie I didn’t feed you right away. He’d string me up for having you working hungry.” Behind her, I saw Cookie poke his head out of the pantry and nod in the direction of the potato-mushroom soup kettle still left on the cook top before he disappeared back into the pantry, closing the door silently behind him. “Would you like some soup? Perhaps a sandwich? Either? Both?” I was falling over myself after being so initially inconsiderate.

“Are we allowed…?” she asked.

“Allowed?” I laughed. “We’re required. Now, what’s your pleasure? I can highly recommend the potato-mushroom soup and Cookie bakes the best bread…This cheese is a bit sharp but I like it a lot…” I found myself blathering away about the food to distract her. There was something wrong, and while I did not know what it was, I knew that a good meal wouldn’t hurt.

I pulled out a stool from the prep table and told her to sit while I checked on the soup. It was still warm but I cranked up the burner a bit anyway. “Would you like a cup of coffee?” I asked. “It’s usually pretty good.”

She nodded shyly and I fetched her a mug from the mess deck. By then the soup was hot enough to eat and I served a bowl for each of us and found the basket of biscuits left from lunch. I saw her eyeing the tray of meats and cheeses as well and I dragged that over to our makeshift picnic on the prep table. She seemed hesitant as if she needed to ask for permission. “Dig in. We’re all family here,” I said as enthusiastically as I could.

She split a biscuit and made a meat and cheese sandwich out of it before diving into the soup. I also took a cup and the potage was very good. I realized that I was hungry myself. Silence settled around us as we each gave our bowls some serious attention. At first she ate slowly and a bit shyly, but as the warm soup, fresh biscuits, and hot coffee worked their magic, she became less reticent. I took a look at her—a really good look—and realized that lunch was not the only meal she had missed recently.

“You can always get something to eat here,” I told her conversationally. “Day or night. You don’t have to wait until meal times. That cooler is for watch standers.” I tossed my head in the direction of the stainless steel door. “There’s always a tray of meats and cheeses there. We usually put out some sweet things, too, like pies and pastries. It’s available all the time.”

She eyed the appliance, looked at me, and said very softly, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I told her just as softly. After a minute I added, “You’re safe here.” I don’t know why I said it, but I did so while concentrating on scraping the last bit of soup out of my bowl with the end of a biscuit. I popped it into my mouth without looking at her.

We finished our lunch and cleaned off the prep table around 14:30. “Come on. We need to get you settled and your bunk made up.” For the next stan I showed her where to get the linens, how to get a fresh shipsuit, and how to make up the upper bunk without having to crawl all the way up into it to get the corners even. At 15:00 we visited Mr. von Ickles and got her set up with her tablet and credentials, then I gave her a quick tour of the gym and sauna. “When I first arrived, Pip didn’t tell me for weeks that there was a gym here. I didn’t want you to have to find out about it the way I did.”

“This is amazing! I had no idea there would be anything like this aboard.”

“Oh, it’s not all peaches and cream. Wait until we get a suit drill in the middle of the night. That’s never a good way to wake up out of a sound sleep.”

By then it was almost 16:00 and we headed back to the galley to prep for dinner.

“I thought you were leaving the mess deck,” she said as I showed her around the pantries.

“I am. But I have to wait for Pip to come back from liberty. When he does, I can hand the watch over to him and then I’m free to go. It’s okay. Tomorrow, I’ll be in environmental trying to learn what I’m supposed to do down there.”

She nodded. “So in the mean time you’re stuck with me?”

I shook my head. “Nope, it just means for a few more stans I have some clue about how to do stuff. You’re just the icing on the cake,” I said reassuringly.

Cookie bustled in and we started the evening prep. The menu included marinated lamb and some fresh greens from planet-side. I showed Sarah the basic setup for the dinner routine while docked and she took to it right away.

“It won’t be this easy when we get underway,” I told her. “But Pip and Cookie are good to work with.”

To no great surprise, Cookie’s prediction about the dinner turnout proved to be correct. I think half the crew showed up that night.

Chapter 7

ST. CLOUD ORBITAL
2253-FEBRUARY-20

Sarah and I had just finished dinner cleanup when Pip burst into the galley. He skidded to a stop when he saw Sarah. I do not recall ever seeing Pip so surprised before.

“Sarah Krugg, this is Philip Carstairs, but everyone calls him Pip. Pip, this is Sarah Krugg, the new mess deck attendant.”

Pip held out his hand and I took it as a good sign that Sarah did not flinch. We were making progress it seemed. “Hi, Sarah, welcome aboard!”

She gave his hand the press-and-release motion and said, “Yes, I snore, but not too loudly.”

Pip shot a dirty look in my direction but I just continued putting away the broom and pretended not to notice.

“Sarah’s in the bunk over Bev now,” I told him. “Sarah, you should know that this guy is across from you in the other upper.”

A wary expression crossed her face and I mentally kicked myself. “He doesn’t snore—much,” I added.

Pip caught the exchange and I could see he realized things were a bit odd. I gave him a little shrug while Sarah’s attention was on him.

Pip put on his friendliest smile and said, “That’ll work out great. The schmuck that used to have that bunk would snore like a chainsaw. I don’t think I’ve gotten a decent night’s sleep since Neris.” Pip tried to appear innocent.

Sarah’s eyes moved back and forth between us a couple of times and then she seemed to relax a little. She frowned in curiosity. “Whose bunk was it?”

Pip nodded in my direction and winked.

“Oh, is this the bunk with Tabitha on the other side?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, that’s how I know it’s a good bunk. The mattress has hardly any lumps.”

For a heartbeat or two, I was not sure how the conversation was going to go. Sarah just stood there, kind of closed off again. Pip kept looking from me to her and back again, but thankfully, he did not say anything.

Finally, whatever she was thinking sorted itself out and she took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Good,” she pronounced with a little nod of her head.

“How’d it go in the booth, Pip?” I asked to get his attention. “Do you want some supper?”

“Yeah, I could use a sandwich or something. It’s been a long time since lunch. And we have some stuff to take care of yet.”

I pulled out the meat and cheese tray and said to Sarah, “There’s some darberry pie in here, if you’re interested. If you leave it, Pip will just eat it.”

Pip came and glanced over my shoulder. “There’s enough for both of us. Don’t be chintzy with Cookie’s pies, Ish.”

“Well, if you’re sure it’s not a problem…” Sarah began.

I pulled food out of the cooler, and Pip started making a sandwich while I rummaged up a couple of plates for pie. “So, you were going to tell me about the booth, Pip?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said with a mouth full of sandwich. “I sold another fifty of the stones this morning before I packed them away. Biddy was doing well with the consignments. We should have a settlement for the co-op by tomorrow. We dragged the grav-pallet back and started stowing stuff, but you won’t believe how much twenty kilos of yarn really is.”

I slid a plate with a big wedge of pie on it over to Sarah while he was talking. “Eat up, Sarah,” I told her. “Pip will go on like this for some time.”

She smiled shyly and started eating while Pip picked up the story.

“I talked to the dye people, and they were nice. I do see what you mean about the packets of dye though. I bought about a dozen each of black, red, and purple. They were cheap and massed almost nothing. Maybe they’ll sell or maybe next trip we’ll pick up some uncolored yarn and do it ourselves.”

I went and got coffee for Sarah, Pip, and myself and slid the mugs onto the counter.

“Did you get any more of those statues?” I asked.

“No, I never found the guy, but I did come across Bresheu. That really was something to see.”

“Did you buy anything?” I asked curiously.

“Nope. I looked through the racks for a while, but nothing grabbed me. It did seem like good quality, though.”

He finished his sandwich, made short work of the pie, and washed it all down with the coffee. “So, Sarah,” he said while nodding toward me, “how’s he been treating you?”

She lowered her eyes and said, “It’s been a very good afternoon.”

“I even showed her the gym,” I told him. “She won’t have to discover it on her own—in four or five weeks!”

“You’re not going to let me live that down, are you?”

“Never.”

We both laughed and Sarah looked uncertain, but she did not flinch.

Clean up only took a few ticks and we headed back to berthing. “Sarah, you lead. That way you can make sure you know the way,” I told her encouragingly.

The trip was not a complicated path, but I was not sure how much attention she had paid when I first brought her aboard. Apparently, it was enough because she made straight to berthing and right into the proper quad. What I do not think she had counted on was Bev standing there in her ship-tee and shorts.