“Wow.” I looked around the section area trying to image being in here for twelve stans at a stretch.
As if reading my mind, Brill said, “You don’t have to stay in the section all that time. The ASIC’s don’t run when we’re docked and running on station power, so you won’t have to deal with that every few ticks. Anytime you want to leave, just slave your tablet and the console will relay any problems to you. You still need to do the VSI once per watch, but that’s still less than normal. We just need to time the last one so it occurs within six hours of pullout.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.”
“It’s quiet everywhere on the ship when we’re docked so hanging out here isn’t that big a deal. Just don’t fall asleep. You can do pretty much anything you can do with your tablet in your hand. That rules out sauna and shower, but if you want to go up to the mess deck, or even hang out in berthing, you can do that if you like.”
“So, I can study?”
“Yup. How’s that going?”
“I took a practice test the other day and got an eighty-five, so it’s climbing. I need to go over the thermal conduction and capacity sections again. I keep reversing hot and cold in my head.”
“Remember that we’re not talking about temperature there but energy levels. Takes more going up than coming down. The temperature is an artifact—an indirect measurement—of the energy level in the fluid. All the transfer on conduction and capacity are based directly on energy, not the abstraction that temperature provides.”
“Oh, that’s what that meant,” I said as one rather confusing passage in the material came back to me. “Thanks.”
“So, enough shop talk. What are you gonna do ashore?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “What do watch standers do ashore?”
“Hmm. We’ll have to find something a little more exciting than dinner for this trip to celebrate your new position, won’t we?”
Suddenly, I remembered Bresheu. “Hey, clothes.”
“What?”
“Remember Bresheu gave me a data chip with his initial on it? I’m supposed to find his friend here. What was that name? Some French guy.” I was scrambling through my head trying to replay the conversation with Bresheu. “I’m supposed to have thought about who I am so I can pick out clothes.” The name that Bresheu had given me hung tantalizingly out of reach in the back of my head.
“You can’t go,” Brill said.
“What?”
“Well by yourself that is. We’ll take you.”
“Who’ll take me? What are you talking about?”
“Ishmael Horatio Wang, if you’re gonna go pick out clothes, at a real shop, and spend real credits then you cannot be allowed to go alone.”
“Oh, no? Why not? Is there some Confederation thingy?”
“Um, yeah, that’s it. It’s a Confederation rule. All men have to take at least one woman with them when they shop for clothes.”
“That’s kinda hard on single guys, isn’t it?”
She considered and shook her head. “Not the good ones. The trick for them is figuring out which woman to take.”
“Henri!” I exclaimed.
“Henri?”
“That’s the guy’s name…the one I’m suppose to see. Henri Roo-something.”
“Henri Roubaille?”
“Yeah, that’s it. Henri Roubaille.”
“He gave you an introduction to Henri Roubaille?” she sounded amazed, incredulous.
“Yeah.”
“Oh, we are so going shopping,” she crowed.
“Who we?” I asked beginning to get suspicious.
“Hmm, good question. Who wouldn’t want to go to Chez Henri? Diane will kill me if we don’t take her. Me, of course, you’re not going without me. Oh, and Beverly, if we can swing the watches. Rhon Scham would be good, too, and I owe Jillian a favor for Arghon.”
“Wait! Jillian?” I asked. “The only Jillian I know is the second mate!”
“Yeah, that’s her.”
“You want me to take the second mate with me clothes shopping?”
“This isn’t the mall, stooge! We’re talking about Chez Henri!” she exclaimed with a grin.
“Okay, what is Chez Henri? Why is this such a big deal? It’s just a tailor shop.”
“Oh, no. Not a tailor shop. This is way beyond a tailor shop.”
“If it’s not a tailor shop, what is it?”
She laughed. “You really don’t know?”
“How would I know? My mother bought my last set of civvies. What I know about clothes is that cotton wrinkles easily.”
“Oh, we are gonna have so much fun with you,” she said and I confess, that might have been the first time she really scared me.
***
Docking at a Confederation port did not seem any different from the others. We went to navigation detail just before 15:00. Diane had the afternoon watch so she stayed on duty, but Francis and I had to report just the same.
When we got settled, Brill came out of her office and said, “Okay, people. Time to pick your watches. We should be docked at 18:00 so first section will get the duty. If it’s earlier than 18:00 when we secure the nav detail, whoever picks first watch has to fill in the difference. Agreed?”
Since I did not have a lot of choice, I just nodded. Diane and Francis agreed as well. It did not really matter in the long run.
“Francis?” Brill asked.
“Second,” he said.
“Diane?”
“Third,” she said.
“Okay, Ish, that leaves you with first.”
I just nodded. “Okay, by me.”
“Take the pad and go curl up on the floor of my office,” she told me. “You had the morning watch and you’ll be awake all night. Try to get a little nap in while we’re maneuvering.”
I did not think it was likely that I would sleep, but she closed the door and when I laid down, I nodded off. It was not a sound sleep, but it was probably better than nothing. I had gotten a good sleep the night before so I was not too worried.
Brill opened the door and said, “Ish? Rise and shine.”
I clambered up off the floor, dragged the pad out with me, and threw it in the locker. The chrono said 17:45. “We’re here?” I asked trying to get my brain re-engaged.
“Yup. Just secured from nav detail.”
I yawned and my brain popped a little. I relieved Diane and slaved my tablet to the console. Francis was already gone. Diane and Brill were looking at me in a way that I found a bit disconcerting.
Brill said, “Tomorrow when you get off watch, grab some sleep. We’ll come at 13:00 to take you ashore.”
Diane had a smile that I could only classify as predatory.
“Take me where ashore?” I asked warily.
“To fulfill your promise to Bresheu, of course. To visit Henri Roubaille,” Brill replied. “We’ll want to do it early in our stay so that if he needs to do any adjustments there’ll be time before we have to leave.”
“Now, wait,” I said. “This is all well and good and I appreciate you guys helping me stay out of trouble with the Confederation authorities by shopping with me, but this guy sounds expensive. Can I afford him?”
Diane answered, “I doesn’t cost anything to shop. If he doesn’t have anything you can afford, then you just don’t buy it.”
“True,” I agreed. “That makes a certain amount of sense.” The whole business made me uneasy.
Brill suggested, “Ish, why don’t you go get something to eat. Diane and I will hold down the fort here until you get back.”
“Thanks, I need coffee in the worst way.”
As I headed out the door, Diane asked Brill about the Confederation authorities but I was too groggy to pay attention. Naps do that to me sometimes. I was afraid it might be a long night.