Well, Houk and the captain would be in the same boat. And by the time the others came out of freeze she should be looking reasonably ordinary. Come to think of it. at that time they'd likely go through the same ordeal. Her chuckle died quickly; the misery she d endured wasn╒t funny at all.
She dressed. Time to go topside and see what the captain was doing. Entering Control she found Katmai Delarov in the pilot's seat, wearing no more hair than a hardboiled egg, and said, "Morning, skipper. I see the radiation hit us about the same."
Looking around, Delarov said, "Seems so. Not permanent, though, I understand. Funny how we all put so much importance on that non-essential protein fiber; women, anyway." She cleared her throat. "Do you happen to know how long-?"
"Not me. Before we get anywhere near Goal Star, though, I'd think." Delarov hadn't faked any eyebrows yet. Lisele decided to suggest the idea-but later, not just now!
"Yes. Well, being recovered from that ghastly bout of radiation sickness, I count this a small price. Now sit down, and see what you think about this most recent parcel of data."
As Lisele moved to comply, something caught her notice. Delarov's jade disc earrings had been replaced. Now the woman, in her left lobe, wore three small gems that formed
41
an equilateral triangle, point down: ruby-red forward, emerald-green aft, and below, the sparkling brilliant blue-white of diamond.
Lisele's staring must have been obvious; the captain touched that lobe and said, "A few extra ornaments, in compensation." She turned her head, revealing that on her other ear the pattern was reversed, the triangle pointing up with a diamond at the top, green at front and red behind. "Do you like it?"
"Sure. Seems like an awful lot of piercing, but the way it all looks, I expect it's worth it." Lisele's own earlobes were still intact; she was in no hurry to change that status. But it was interesting to see the configuration Delarov had chosen. Well, enough talk of appearances: Lisele took her seat, saying, "New data, you mentioned? Okay, let me look, now."
The main thing was that Tinhead thought Goal Star had at least one huge, non-habitable planet. What else the computer's guess might mean, neither Delarov nor Lisele could predict. Over the next few days they took more observations and readouts, but at such a distance, decreasing but still vast, Goal Star wasn't telling anybody very much. Mei Lu-teng's estimate still stood as anyone's best guess: another twenty weeks, now, until that stellar system could be reached.
From here, only the star itself was visible. Odds were that it had more planets than just the big one hypothesized by Tinhead, but odds didn't always pay off.
And with a weak Drive, the decel for that rendezvous was going to take some careful figuring and a lot of luck.
One thing that annoyed Lisele was that deWayne Houk still had his pale, scarcely-noticeable hair. Hindsight showed that during the ship's worst radiation exposure, the man's duty station had been shielded by the bulk of the Drive itself. So he'd had a great deal less sickness and no depilation at all.
And to top it off, she thought, instead of keeping his hair stubble-short he was now letting it grow. Just to show us he can do it and we can't!
She knew her unvoiced complaint was irrational: maybe he just didn't have time, or someone else usually did his barbering for him. But the fact was, she didn't like the man anyway, so nearly everything he did got on her nerves.
Delarov had been right about Houk's ability to impro-
42
vise. Within days he'd programmed circuits to allow him to do most of his monitoring and adjustment functions from Control. So that Lisele had more of his company than she really wanted, which would have been practically none.
When all three were present he was polite enough. But once the ship's affairs settled into reasonable order, the captain had rescinded the business of sleeping near their watch-posts; now she went to her own digs, and Lisele to hers. And when Lisele and the Drive Chief were alone in Control, Houk s talk became more and more insinuating.
"It must get lonesome, a young woman like you, with your handsome fella down there in a tank, cold as a ship's outside. Really lonesome, I guess."
Unwilling to look into his probing stare, she said, "Not especially." The screens showed no need for possible action on her part, and the galley terminal was set on permanent monitor, anyway. So she said, "Excuse me. Galley break," and left.
The only way three people could run the ship and keep fed, without a mess piling up, was by taking turns on joint meals: both preparation and cleanup. And handling individual snacks the same say. Never leave the galley any way but neat. In this matter, Lisele had to admit, Houk did pull his own weight.
Now she fixed herself a lunch from the frozen stores, made enough coffee that she could take some up to Houk, and sat. Eating, and enjoying relief from the man's company.
Eventually, with reluctance, she took the coffee pot upship to Control. Setting it down where Houk could pour for himself, or not. He said, "Thanks, Moray. Now what I was saying-"
She might have known he wouldn't let it drop. "I thought we settled that. I'm not lonesome."
His eyebrows-a scraggly pair, but maybe better than pencil marks-rose, then came down again. "Ah-I see. Well, I suppose that's fine, for women who take to each other in such fashion."
At first she didn't catch his meaning. When she did, she had to laugh. Because obviously he thought he was insulting her, her and the captain both. Lisele didn't know about the captain's tastes, one way or the other. And didn't care; they were none of her business. For herself, she could have strong
43
feelings toward a man or woman, either one. With women, there was nothing physical about those feelings. Had there been, she supposed she d accept the fact as just one more aspect of herself.
Now, though. If Houk could ad-lib, so could she. "In such fashion? Your guess is wrong. If you don't believe me, try that last remark on the skipper. And to set things perfectly straight, Chief Houk, I don't take to you in any fashion at all."
"Hey, now, you don't have to get unpleasant about it."
Maybe a little easier, yes. So, "All I meant was, propositioning me would be a waste of your time." She felt she should add, "Nothing personal," but that would be a lie so she didn't. As Tregare said, save lying for when you need it.
The intercom sounded. "Captain here, Moray. I'll be up to relieve you on sked."
"Right enough. There's coffee." Delarov signed off. Lisele turned to deWayne Houk. "If you want to ask your skipper the same questions you asked me, I'll go below, out of your way." Seeing how he avoided looking straight at her, Lisele knew she had him on the run. So she added, "Or you might want to visit your own duty station. You've been away from there so much, lately, maybe the place could use some dusting."
"Yes, of course. Good suggestion." As Houk stood, his look said that if he hadn't been her enemy before, he was now.
But it also told her that at least she had that enemy's respect. Whether the changes would work for or against her, she'd have to wait and see.
Over the next few days Houk did keep his distance; during Lisele's watches he came up to Control only rarely. His stays were brief, and his talk restricted to the line of business. How he behaved when the captain was on duty, Lisele had no idea and didn't feel like asking. If Delarov had any grounds for complaint she didn't mention them.
Nearly three weeks after Lisele had her joust with the Drive Chief, he entered Control just as she was relieving the skipper at watch. The man looked worried. "Efficiency's dropping, captain. Nielson Cube, I mean. After the accident to the Drive-" He gave Lisele a disapproving look. "-we
44
could manage forty-five percent of redline max force, accel or decel. It's down to forty-three now, and still losing."
Katinai Delarov said, "What's your extrapolation, Chief? Is the rate of loss increasing? If so, how fast?"
Houk shook his head. "That kind of math? Not my strong point; for that you'd need Darwin Pope." Sulkily he added, "Maybe you should put me down and get him up. As things are, I might as well be froze as the way I am!"
Now his look at Lisele was a positive glare. Why? she wondered. If he was peeved about having no bedmate, why not at Delarov also? Then she realized: he hadn't dared to approach the skipper, so all his resentment was focused on herself, for not acceding.
None of that was important now. Thinking fast, Lisele said, "You may have a good thought there, Chief." And before Delarov could protest, "You'd want to rouse the First Hat. Better that she go through the sickness now, out here where we don't need her to work, than when we get to Goal Star. After she's past it she can wake Pope-give him and the Chief, here, some time to talk things over. And then see that Houk goes into freeze safely, before she puts herself back in."
Houk's look lost its rancor. "Captain, in a way I hate to have to say this. But I think she's right."
VIII
Mei Lu-teng, before the inevitable bout of illness hit, constantly asked questions to bring herself up to date. She agreed with the others' planning, and was apologetic when pain and nausea forced her out of active participation.
