“Yes, I'm sure there are.” Doctor Dan felt the variable gravity make his steps a trifle unsteady. “Couldn't be helped though. There were some complications.”
“Oh, I hope not.” Doss looked concerned. “We were so concerned when you told us of the attack there.. and you almost injured! Why, what would we do, Daniel? What would we do without you? I can't begin to imagine the magnitude...wait.. where are you going?”
“Randall.” Kurok faced him. “Please shut up.”
“Aid.. “ He stopped. “Daniel! There's no cause to be rude.”
“There's more cause to be rude than you could possibly imagine.” Doctor Dan said. “Feel free to call any amount of meetings tomorrow to catch things up, but right now I'm just go to go to bed. It's been a long, long, day.”
“Oh.” Doss backed off. “I see.. okay, well, of course. You've just finished a long trip. Absolutely we can catch up tomorrow. But..” He eyed the pale haired man in trepidation. “Was it a success, Daniel? I see you didn't bring the unit back with you.”
Pausing in the act of walking away, Dan Kurok turned again and studied him, then smiled briefly. “Yes.”
Doss sighed in relief. “Oh, that's good to hear.” He said, then paused. “That's an interesting jacket, Daniel. Quite attractive.”
Kurok looked down at the Drake's Bay colors decorating his chest and smiled again. “Small reminder of an old friendship.” He turned and started towards the lift tubes, then stopped again and turned. “We'll need to rearrange the budgets,”
“We will?”
“And the production schedules. I'll need to pull programming teams.” Kurok turned a final time and this time kept walking, leaving Doss's sputtering behind him. “Good night, Randall.” He lifted his hand in a wave. “Night all.”
He walked on alone, crossing the rounded corridors, the soft pops and clicks of the station sounding a bit strange. At the end of the passage way he paused, going to the clear wall of a dome and peering out, seeing the sun start to emerge from the far edge of the cloud covered planet beneath him and wishing for a sudden, intense moment, he was under the atmosphere rather than over it.
Then he shook his head, and continued on, reaching the lift tube and stepping into it. He pushed off and up and allowed himself to feel as tired as he was, acknowledging the portion of that which a weariness of the heart, rather than of the body.
Ah well. It would pass.
“Doctor Dan!”
He turned in the tube as he drifted upward, and slowed to let the female bio alt coming up from below catch him up. “Hello, Gigi.” He smiled at the young woman. “How are you?”
“Doctor Dan.. you're back.” Gigi smiled. “We really missed you.”
“Thanks, Gigi. I appreciate that.” He smiled back. “In fact, I have a message from Dev for you. She said to say hello.”
Gigi's eyes brightened “Really? It's good to hear that. How's Dev's assignment?” She asked. “Is she doing well?”
Doctor Dan chuckled. “Gigi, she's doing spectacular. Her assignment absolutely loves her.”
“Thats excellent!” Gigi responded. “We hoped that would be so. It was such an exciting opportunity, the Director said.” She responded. “In fact, he wanted some reports that were due in, so I am on shift late tonight.”
“Yes it is exciting.” He guided her off the tube into the admin section and turned off the corridor to his housing unit. “Goodnight, Gigi.”
“Good night!” Gigi trotted off towards her assigned station.
He reached his door and scanned it open, walking inside as the enviro systems detected is presence and brought up lights and wall screens, tuned habitually to the outside view.
“Home sweet home.” He spoke quietly, hearing an unaccustomed rasp in his voice. “Maybe I should have stayed for that damn party after all.”
He paused and put his bag down on the workdesk with a sigh. Then he eased the jacket off and set it beside the bag, standing there in his tech jumpsuit with his arms folded folded for a few minutes. He nodded to himself and sat down, pulling the keypad over and tapping it, signing in with his credentials and pulling up his template. “Time for a change of scenery I think.”
A moment later the walls faded out, the moving starfield replaced with rough rock walls and the light moderated to a dim blue tint, the gentle whisper of airflow covered with a very light rumble of thunder.
“Mmhm. That's better.” He stood up and caught sight of his reflection. “Wonder how much they'd freak out if I wore these in the lab.” He mused thoughtfully. “Well I suspect we'll be finding out.”
**
It was very late. Dev leaned on her folded arms as she looked out over the sea, feeling the wind ruffle her hair. It had stopped raining, at least for the moment, and the seas were calm and only lightly white capped.
She drew in a deep breath of the salt air and enjoyed the faint spray as it hit her face, leaving a coating of salt on her lips that she tasted. “It's so pretty.”
Jess came over and handed her a glass, already full of the rich, golden honey mead. “So are you.”
“It's very nice of you to say that.” Dev held up her glass, and Jess touched it with her own. She'd learned about this curious habit and felt it was a little strange, though harmless. “And it's true I find you a lot more attractive than the water.”
They both took a sip of the liquor.
“So here we are.” Jess leaned on the rock shelf next to her. “Here's to hoping your second month in service is less insane than your first was.”
“I think the best part of it was meeting you.” Dev said. “Flying the carrier was good too.” She paused again. “And those shrimps we had.”
Jess started laughing. “Glad you've got your priorities straight.”
“And it was awesome rescuing Doctor Dan.” Dev said. 'But you were still the best thing.”
“I feel the same about you.” Jess leaned against the wall, facing her. “Ready for some fish?” She indicated the portable griller behind her. “I know it's late, but it smells good, doesn't it?”
They settled together on the bench with a small tray between them and Dev had to agree that the thing Jess had made smelled very good indeed.
Jess held up a forkful of it and she took it into her mouth, chewing it thoughtfully. It had a slightly spicy and slightly sweet taste, and she licked her lips after she swallowed it. “Thats' very good.”
Jess smiled and took a mouthful for herself. “That makes me a lot happier to hear than getting that damn medal.”
“Why don't you like it?” Dev asked, after a moment of silence. “Everyone seemed to think it was an excellent thing to get.”
Jess offered her more fish. “It sets an expectation.” She said. “Then you always have to live up to it. You always have to be a noble selfless nitwad throwing yourself into a pit on everyone else's behalf all the time.” She swirled her mead in it's glass and took a swallow. “It reduces your options.”
Dev chewed thoughtfully and swallowed. “But Jess.” She said. “ You do that anyway. Put yourself in danger for everyone.”
Jess stared at the fish. “Yeah, I know.” She finally said, in a soft voice. “It's just .. uh.. uncomfortable thinking it's expected of me.”
“I see.” The bio alt bit down on the fork she was using. “I think.”
Jess shook her head. “Never mind, Dev. You're right. It doesn't really matter, I guess.”
Dev reached out and touched her hand. “If it makes you feel more comfortable, I will try to remember to jump into the pit first, all right?” She said, seriously.
One dark eyebrow quirked. “That doesn't make me feel any more comfortable.”
“It doesn't?”
“No!”
“I'm not sure letting you jump into a pit would be correct then, Jess. Can't we jump together?”