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Somehow I had a hard time imagining how any evening that had Brill, Beverly, and Diane all in the same room could be boring. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the wolf. “I wanted you to have this. A little thank you for going to Henri’s with me.”

“Oh, I should be thanking you,” she said with a hoarse little croak in her throat. She took the small bundle and opened it. The wolf’s eyes seemed to glint even though they were only carved wood. She smiled when she saw it and I could have sworn that her smile matched the expression on the carving in an eerie kind of way. “Wow,” she said, holding it up to the light. “These are amazing, aren’t they?”

I chuckled in the back of my throat. “Not as amazing as the woman holding it,” I said softly.

She looked around the wolf she held in her hand and focused on me. “You’re a pretty smooth talker, Boy toy.” There was not the usual teasing overtone in the way she said it this time, and it caught me in the pit of my stomach. She reached out and cupped a hand behind my neck, pulling my face towards hers. For just an instant, I thought she was going to kiss me, but she tipped her head forward and bumped our foreheads together once gently before releasing me.

“Thank you,” she said. Her breath was a soft caress on my cheek before she withdrew. “Now get your delightful little butt out of here. We’ve gotta go on watch.”

I turned to leave and she gave my butt a playful little spank as I left. It pleased me inordinately for some reason. Kinda friendly—almost.

I went up to the mess deck for coffee before heading back down to environmental. Pip and Cookie were in the final stages of the dinner buffet so I just waved, took my coffee, and left. It smelled like Cookie’s spiced beefalo was on the menu for dinner and the aroma made me drool.

When I stepped through the hatch, Diane looked at the chrono and said, “You’re early.”

“Yeah, a coupla ticks, but I was ready and I wanted to see you.”

“Everything all right?” she asked with real concern in her voice.

“As well as can be expected under the circumstances.”

She gave a weary little smile and patted my arm comfortingly. “I still wanna know what you said to Big B. Whatever it was, it seems to have worked.”

“We had a good time up at the flea market. That helped, too.”

“But she was so miserable all morning.”

“Yeah, I gathered. Do you know why?”

“Well, she didn’t say for sure, but I can guess.”

“Murdock?”

“Partly. She felt like an idiot for setting you up like that. How did you spot it?”

“I heard you on the mess deck and I kinda expected it after that day at Henri’s. Even if I hadn’t heard the name, I’d have known who the plumber was by the way you and Bev were acting.”

She looked a little embarrassed. “I’m usually not that bad, but that person pulls my chain every time I think of her.”

“It wasn’t really about Murdock, though, was it?”

She shook her head. “No, it was that you went after Alvarez right after.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. I wanna come back to that in a tick or two but can I ask you about going up to Henri’s? We haven’t really talked about that afternoon much and I need a little reality check.”

“Sure, Ish. Ask me anything you want.”

“Oh, don’t tempt me with that one,” I told her with a smile.

She laughed.

“Okay, did something happen that day?”

“What do you mean, happen?”

“I’m gonna tell you what I felt like and you tell me if I’m off base compared to how you saw it, okay?”

“Sounds fair, go ahead.”

“The four of us bonded in some really odd—but really nice—way. I don’t know if it was the march up there, the march down, you guys watching me change my clothes, or that I really liked having you watch me. Maybe it was I just felt so protected by the three of you. That would be okay if I were the only one who felt it. So, with that big buildup, my question to you is—”

“Yes, I did, and still do,” she interrupted. “I don’t know what, why, or how but we had something when we came down on the elevator that we did not have going up.” She was looking at me intently. “Is that what you mean?”

“Exactly. I didn’t know I was lacking it, but now that I have it, I never want to lose it, and I don’t even have a name for it.”

“Yes!” She almost shouted.

“Well, that’s what I told Brill. Along with the reason why I went for Alvarez.”

“Oh, my.”

“You were grinning when you saw Alvarez lead me off the floor,” I observed.

“Yes, I was.”

“What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking,
you dog
and I was so happy for you.”

“And you were a little sad, too?”

She shrugged. “Life on the
Lois
demands some sacrifices.” She looked at me shyly—which was shocking enough—but then asked, “You won’t laugh?”

“Well I can’t promise that, but I’ll try not to.”

“That day, back when you were working in the mess and you came and we changed out the algae matrices…?” she said, letting the statement trail off suggestively.

“Oh, gods, you’re kidding?” I told her.

“Nope. You looked so damn good.” She sighed and shrugged helplessly.

“Yeah. Which is what you were telling me with the ‘understand what it means to be a spacer’ stuff?”

She nodded. “Different ships have different cultures. It’s strange. Gregor did not like it here because of that. I’ve been on those ships before. There are some advantages, but I didn’t like being a bunk-bunny.”

I chuckled. “I can’t picture you as a bunk-bunny.”

“Yeah, well, lots of men—and not a few women—seem to think I’m attractive. I found it too distracting for comfort. Saying no isn’t easy on a ship like that,” she said this last part while looking off to the side in a kind of distaste—almost like she wanted to spit. “So, yeah, I was a little sad that I couldn’t have you, but I was glad for you that you were leaving with Alvarez. She’s something else.”

“Okay, so why do you think I went after Alvarez?”

“To show us you didn’t need us interfering with your love life.”

“That’s what Brill thought, too.”

“It’s not?”

“Nope. What I told Brill was that if I couldn’t have one of you three, then I wanted to get as close as I could get. There were only two other women in the bar that I was remotely interested in beside you three.”

“You think I’m in the same league as Brill and Bev?”

“What you think you’re better?” I teased her.

“No! Ya jerk. Brill has so damn much class it hurts me to look at her sometimes, and Bev has so much raw sensual confidence that I could almost go for her myself. You’d put me in that same group?”

I laughed. “That’s what Brill said about you two, but don’t tell her I told you.”

“She doesn’t think she’s in the same league as us? Good gods! She’s what I’d like to be if I grow up!”

“So, that’s why Alvarez. She’s in the same class, but unlike you, she’s not on the
Lois
.”

“Wait, you think Bev, Brill and I, are in the same class as Alvarez?”

“Well, not exactly, but she’s close,” I told her with a grin.

“I still can’t believe you thought you could pull it off.”

“I didn’t think I would.”

“But you went anyway.”

I shrugged. “One in a million is a lot better odds than zero.”

“Gods, you must have been out of your mind walking across that floor to her like that. What were you thinking?”

“Don’t laugh?”

“No promises. I have a feeling it’s going to be funny.”

“I was thinking two things. First, the worst she can do is say no.”

“And?”

“I’m wearing Henri Roubaille.”

She fought it valiantly—I had to give her credit—but in the end she lost it and dissolved into giggles.

“Yeah, yeah, big joke, but while you’re done laughing your cute little butt off, think about this.”

I paused for her to get her giggles under control a bit. “It worked.”

“I know. That’s why I’m laughing!”

I loved to hear her laugh—even if it was at me.

“Anyway. I came to relieve you and to give you this.” I held out the small package.

She opened it curiously and when she saw it, I thought she might puddle up. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed. “This is a whelkie, right?”

“Yeah. I got it on St. Cloud. When I was going through my things earlier, I saw this one and thought of you. So I wanted you to have it.”

“Thank you!” she said with feeling. She held it up close to her face and stroked an index finger along its head and back, patting it the way one might pat a real fox, if one could actually pat a real fox. For a heartbeat, I thought she might kiss it the way Alvarez had kissed the dolphin earlier in the day.

Remembering that episode gave me a pang of a completely other sort that was centered somewhat lower on my torso, and I could not help but grin a little at the small jab of remembered pleasure.

“This reminds me of Brill’s,” she said, looking up.

“Yeah, Brill has a heron. They’re from the same guy.”

“You gave it to her?” she asked, but she had an expression that said she knew the answer already.

“Yeah, funny story. We saw this booth but neither of us bought anything. Later we both snuck back to it alone and bought whelkies for each other. Over dinner, I reached to give her the heron just as she was handing me the one she’d gotten for me.”

“You have one, too?”

I reached into the pocket of my shipsuit and pulled out the dolphin, holding it up so the section overheads glinted off the polished wood. The way the light slipped across it almost made it look like it was swimming.

“Oh, it’s lovely. Can I touch it?”

“Sure.” I held my hand out.

She reached out and stroked it a couple of times with just the tip of one finger along the back and dorsal in a gesture vaguely similar to the way Alvarez had.

“It’s so smooth. The wood almost feels soft,” she said dreamily. “You know Brill carries hers with her, too?”

“Does she? I knew she used to, but I didn’t know she still did.”

I looked at the chrono and saw 17:44 click over to 17:45. “You ready to hand over the watch?”

“Mr. Wang, all ops normal. No maintenance was scheduled or performed. You have the watch.”

“Ms. Ardele, I relieve you. I have the watch.”

She slipped her tablet into the holster and grabbed her coffee cup, still holding her whelkie in her other hand. As she slipped past me, she gave me a little peck on the cheek. “Thank you for the fox.”

“You’re welcome. Sarah says they have to find their true owners. The fishermen along the south coast there think they’re magical in some way,” I said as I settled into the seat and scanned the readouts once quickly.

“Maybe they are.” She regarded hers carefully once more.

I shrugged. “Maybe,” I told her idly as I finished my scan through the various status readouts. “Or maybe we just believe in the magic. Maybe we just let the icon represent the ideal which gives us a physical manifestation of an intangible.”

She laughed her bubbly laugh. “I don’t even know what you just said.”

I had to replay the sound of my voice in my ears to remember, then I laughed, too. “Sorry, one of the themes that Mom was always talking about. How ideas are often represented by objects.”

She held up her fox and let the light wash over it. “What do you think these are representations of?”

“Dunno. Maybe we apply a personal meaning to each one. That the meanings you and I apply aren’t the same as Sarah applies to hers.”

“You gave Sarah one?” she asked, surprised.

“No, she got one from her village shaman. A raven. The differences in style are obvious, but the representation is spectacular in its own way.”

“You gave one to Bev, though, didn’t you?” It was a statement more than question.

“Yeah, just now.”

“What’s hers?”

“A wolf.”

“Yes, that is fitting.”

She headed back toward the hatch. “Well, I’m off. I wanna grab some dinner and a nap before I head out.”

“Hot date?”

“Well, I can hope.” She grinned wickedly. “I can hope.”

“Good hunting! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” I said, inadvertently repeating the little catch phrase my mom and I shared when one of us had gone out.

She laughed and stopped with her hand on the hatch. “What wouldn’t you do?”

The events of the previous day spooled out delightfully in my brain, and I laughed. “Apparently not much!”

“Good for you,” she said. She started out again but stopped once more and asked, “What did you give Alvarez?”

“A falcon.”

She nodded. “Good choice.”

With a final little wave, she slipped out of the hatch, and I settled down to review the logs and check the maintenance schedule.

Chapter 24

DUNSANY ROADS ORBITAL
2352-APRIL-18

At about 18:30, I slaved my tablet to the console and headed up to the mess deck. Pip waited for me with a big grin on his face. It did not seem possible that he would be so pleased just because of the digitals I sent him. I loaded up a plate with Cookie’s spicy beefalo and rice. There were some green beans, too, and I added a big pile of them. My body musta been telling me it needed the vitamins or something. I thought Pip was gonna turn himself inside out before I made it over to him.