The Pike: Ships In The Night (6 page)

I chastised myself for being silly and headed down.  I had a schedule to keep.  I felt like a rat in a maze as I scurried off the ship and headed toward Pike Place Market five blocks north.  I tried to get some light reading in on string theory, but I noted that at three separate junctures, my path seemed to parallel the one taken by the woman with her cane.

As I got off the elevator at the main arcade level of the Market, I saw her arrive at the top of the stairs.  She rested a few seconds, breathing hard, a pained look on her face, then she pushed forward.  I idly wondered if she had always taken the same path as me and I had always just been too absorbed in my books to notice.

We moved on converging tangents.  I was feeling self-aware again, and I felt so awkward.  Part of me felt satisfied when I realized she was indeed heading to the Pike as I was.  So she must be a regular there.  Another part of me was wondering if the yellow blouse I was wearing looked presentable.

She arrived at the outer doors a moment before me.  She shot me a smile that made me aware that I had no idea what to do with my hands.  Did she notice my pant cuffs were rolled up?  Had I always felt like I moved this awkwardly?  She said like someone from one of the mystery thrillers mom insisted on watching, “So, we meet again.”

I glanced up, the heat was rising, and my stomach was fluttering again.  I couldn't afford to be sick.  I couldn't miss any work when we were so close to a breakthrough.  She had opened the door for me and stood there with her arm arching above me.

I squeaked out a thank you and scurried under her arm and down the hallway, past the closed shops to the glass door at the end.  She kept pace with me and reached easily over my head to open the door to the Pike for me.  Again to her, I squeaked, “Thank you,”

I fished out the thermal mug which that really nice girl, Eve, had given me the prior day and I saw the tall woman beside me pull out one of her own.  I admit that I glanced to see her name... Sparky?  Was that even a name?  It was more like a designation.  No, I had enough data to postulate that this was a nickname.  Like when dad called me Imee since my middle name was Imelda.

I started going through all of the female names I could in my head, trying to determine which one could reasonably be shortened to Sparky.  Then paused, I had more important queries that needed resolution first.

There were a couple people in line and the woman moved to a table and sat.  Then I saw Eve looking around the other customers.  The motion made the comparison to a mercat come to mind.  She grinned at me and said, “Just have a seat sweetie.  I know what you need.”  Then she looked back and forth between the woman with the cane and me.

I found myself smiling back.  She was a pleasant person and it sort of made me feel content that she remembered me.  I pulled out my equations and decided to take another stab at them.

I saw Liya and Sparky come into the bakery at the same time.  I was buzzing with excitement when I saw how shy and bashful the Filipino girl was around the ex-firefighter.  It was as cute as sin.  Trust me, I know cute... and sin.

I popped my head back into the kitchen and called out, “Sparky's here Zo.”

She replied from where she was watching Ashley deftly disassembling the evil dishwasher from the seventh ring of hell,  “On it Evie.”

After helping the people at the display case, I motored on over to Liya with a tray containing her unspoken order.  I set a saucer with a cup of coffee and a single cube of sugar on it beside her, as she shuffled her papers around to accommodate it.

I smiled at her and said, “Good morning Ligaya Imelda Hannigan, and how are you doing this morning?”

She blinked at me then smiled almost shyly and said, “I am doing satisfactorily this morning.”  Then after an awkward moment, she added hastily, “Mom tells me that instances like this require reciprocity... umm... I hope your morning has been adequately fulfilling, Eve.”

I couldn't stop the giggle that escaped from my lips as I smiled at the girl.  I could tell she was trying hard to act what she viewed as normal, and it was frigging adorable.  I said as I set another small plate down with her bagel, “I'm doing splendid this morning, thank you for asking.”

Then I nudged my chin to the plate. “Onion bagel, butter, and apricot jam.  Coffee one cube of sugar.”

She smiled at her order then looked up at me then got a panicked expression for a moment as she dug in her shoulder bag and pulled out her thermal mug and held it out to me.  “As stipulated.”

I gave her a little wink and took the mug, noting it was sparkling clean, she had already washed it.  I said as I looked over to Sparky who kept glancing over, “Enjoy your bagel, you only have twenty-three minutes before you have to catch your bus.”

She glanced at her cell by her right hand, smiled, nodded and supplied, “Roughly twenty-two and a half.”

I turned to leave her to her numbers.  The things she had scrawled on those papers were so far beyond anything I could hope to understand.  I set her thermal mug beside its twin on the shelves as Zoey motored out of the kitchen with a tray of food.

I could hear the familiar “zoom” she mumbled whenever she moved quickly.  She had done that all my life, another reason I believe my sister is either an alien sent here to spy upon us common mortals, or just a nutcase.  I vote for nutcase.

The bell above the door tinkled, and I turned to help another customer as Zo dropped off Sparky's bread bowl and newspaper.  I worked on autopilot as I watched Allie and Liya eat their breakfasts.  Each engrossed in the papers in front of them.

It was obvious Liya was attracted to the sexy firefighter, though it didn't look like she realized it.  And Sparky looked so lonely all the time as she kicked back to people watch.  I had to figure out how to get the two talking to each other and let mother nature take the wheel.

I checked the time and looked at the sheets of math all over the brainy girl's table and then grinned.  Zoey was stocking the front case with fresh apple strudel and glanced up at me.  “That's your meddling face again Eve.  No meddling.”

I filled Liya's thermal mug, put it on a tray and headed over.  I placed the tray on the table on top of some of her notes and said, “Here is your caffeine to go lady.  Have a great day.”

She blinked again, I think that was her way of shifting mental gears from her math to social interaction.  She blushed and looked down as she took the mug then fished out exact change and handed it to me as she squeaked out, “Thank you.”

I hid my evil grin as I stepped away with the tray and a couple sheets of her calculations under it.  The young lady gathered her things quickly and headed to the door.  I cocked an eyebrow as I noted Sparky tilting her head and watching her go.  This was going to be easier than I thought, she was watching Ligaya's butt wiggle as she left!

Zoey paused and followed my gaze and then she said, “You have no intention of listening to me, have you.”

I turned to her and asked innocently, “What?”

She rolled her eyes and smiled. “Bitch.”

I nodded. “Learned from the best.”

She exhaled and asked, “What scatterbrained plan do you have to help Cupid along this time, brat?”

I watched the clock and held up a finger.  “Hang on a minute and I'll share my brilliance with those as less fortunate in the smarts department as you.”

She snapped me with her hand towel and then we chuckled and organized the cases.  When there was no way anyone could get to the bus stop in time before it left, I stood and moved the tray sitting on the counter.

I said in mock dismay, “Oh no Zoey, would you look at that?  I must have inadvertently picked up some of Liya's calculations when I picked up the tray.  If only there were some big strong hero around to get these to her before the bus leaves.”

My sister actually snorted at that, and the man in the corner and Allison both looked over at her as she covered her mouth then slapped my shoulder.  She whispered, “That's it?  That's your big plan?”

She exhaled and snatched the papers from my hand, “Give me those.”  Then she started walking toward Sparky.  I muttered as she left, “I thought you said no meddling.”

She winked at me. “I said 'you' shouldn't meddle, Eve.”

It was my turn to snort.  I slapped my hands over my mouth and watched my older sister hijack my matchmaking.  I'd get her for that.

I grinned over to the sisters who were having a snort fest for some reason.  They were always having a good time.  It had to be a sibling thing.  Zoey was heading my way with a serious look on her face.

She stopped in front of me and held up some papers as she said, “Could I impose upon you for a favor Allie?”

I nodded as I studied the redhead's face, there was earnestness there, and a touch of mischief I associated with the sisters.  Zoe handed me the papers which were filled with advanced math and formulae that I could only grasp parts of.  “Did you see that young lady that left a couple minutes ago?  You know the cute Filipino who's butt you were ogling?”

I sputtered out as I blushed, “I wasn't... she... you...”

She continued, ignoring my pathetic attempts to deny being caught, “That was Liya.”

“My inept sister...”  She let her voice rise at the 'inept sister' comment, which only elicited a giggle from said inept pixie.  “Accidentally got these stuck to the bottom of her tray.  They look important.”

Then she continued, “Eve and I are stuck here, would it be too much to ask if you could get these to her?  She catches the number seven bus to the university up on First.”  She had a pleading look on her face that you couldn't turn down if you wanted to.

I smiled and pulled myself to my feet and accepted the papers.  I was glad to be useful for a change and nodded. “You can count on me, Zo.”

She fluttered her eyelashes humorously. “My hero,” Zoey held her hands clasped together over her heart.

I rolled my eyes at her, grabbed my cane and said, “Be right back.  You need to get a refund for your drama classes.”  Then I limped off out the door as she chuckled behind me.

I hustled around the corner of the building and up to First, the city was waking up, but traffic was still light on the streets and the sidewalks.  I turned onto the road and saw that short woman with the cute butt across the street at the end of the block.

I held back a grin as I started down the block.  She had her head buried in another book.  Intelligence is pretty damn sexy.  My leg was aching as I moved along and I had to lean against the wall of the building, then slumped a little when the bus pulled up to the stop, obscuring my view of her.  I growled out, “Shit!”

The bus pulled off, and I saw her absently sit in the back of the bus.  If not for my god damned injuries I could have sprinted to catch her.  I exhaled in frustration and slammed the tip of my cane down onto the sidewalk then hissed and pushed away from the wall and headed back toward the Pike.  At least I knew the woman would be on the ferry later that day, maybe I could get the papers to her then.

As I made my way back, I took a good look at the papers.  Wow, I mean just wow.  I could grasp some of it.  I was always good at math, and I took a physics course, Introduction To String Theory in college.  I wound up dropping the class when I found I was in over my head.  So I recognized some of what I was looking at, but this was way beyond the things we studied in class.

I glanced down the road in the direction the bus had gone and smiled, she was a quantum physicist.  What had Zoey called her?  Liya?  Liya was a quantum physicist.  Big things come in small packages.

I entered the Pike a minute later and Eve called out, “Sir Lancelot returneth.”

I shook my head and held up the papers.  “I just missed her.  The bus beat me.  I know what ferry she rides, I can get them to her tonight, or if she's a regular, you can just hold them until tomorrow.”

Eve looked downcast. I know, I had let her and myself down.  She said wistfully, “I know those have something to do with her work at the University.  It's important stuff.”  She looked at the kitchen door then out the windows and said, “Maybe Zoey will be ok for a bit if I run off to the University to get these to Liya.”

She reached for the papers, and I pulled them back, maybe I could still be useful.  I shook my head. “No, you don't need to do that.  I can get these to her.”

Eve beamed a thousand watt smile at me. “Would you?  You're awesome Sparky.  All we know is that her name is Ligaya Hannigan, and she works at the University.  If you can't find her then at least, you know what ferry she rides.”

She poured some coffee in one of my thermal mugs and handed it over.  She nudged her chin toward the door,. “Go be a hero.”

I blushed a little and started to turn, then turned back with my brow furrowed.  “Hannigan?  Really?  I didn't expect that.”

She nodded and grinned. “Me either.”  The bell over the door tinkled, and she fluttered her fingers toward me, not looking concerned in any way shape nor form anymore.  “Now shoo lady, I got customers.”

I headed to the door, squinting one eye and glanced back at her.  She was grinning like a shark.  Why the hell did I feel like I had just been played?

I checked the time.  I still had plenty of time before my PT appointment.  I should be able to find a quantum physicist in a haystack before I had to be there.  I made my way to the bus stop as I stowed the papers in my shoulder bag.  Then I smiled when I remembered the cute way Liya had brushed her hair out of her face when I almost squashed her on the ferry that morning.

***

When I arrived at the University of Washington campus, it brought my college days to mind.  The place hadn't changed much in the four years since I graduated.  The only thing that looked different is that all the students converging on the buildings looked so much younger than when I had gone here.  They all looked like kids.

I chuckled, they weren't much younger than me, and I bet they will think the same of the new students after they had been out in the real world a few years.  It is all about perspective I would imagine.

I got a couple appraising looks from some of the 'kids' as I made my way to the main office.  I did my best not to grin.  It seems I still had it, even with the damn cane.  I know it sounds egotistical and self-absorbed, but it boosted my morale a bit.  I had a bit more spring in my step as I entered the administration building.

I paused to rest my leg as I leaned against a wall in the corridor before pushing off and entering the admissions office.  There wasn't anyone at the main desk, but I could hear voices in the cubical farm.  I reached out and knocked on the counter with the head of my cane, then lowered it and leaned lazily on it as heads rose up over the cubicles.  It reminded me of prairie dogs popping their heads up, and it was all I could do to stop from chuckling at the sight.

I turned back to a familiar voice behind me, “As I live and breathe.  Allison Fraiser in the flesh.”  I smiled at Tonya Evans, the admissions manager for UW.  I may or may not have had a rendezvous with her at the Ballyhoo Club a time or two while I went here.  But as it is against policy for staff to date students, you can't prove a thing.

I dipped my head in greeting, a little jealous of her flawless dark chocolate complexion, and replied, “Hi Tonya.”

She paused and looked at the cane and said in a faraway voice, “I had heard.”  She looked downcast, she knew how hard I had been working in the fire academy while attending classes here.  It was sort of my dream, and now...

I exhaled and just said, “Yeah.”

She stepped up to me and gave me a quick hug and stepped back with a grin as she appraised me, head to toe.  Then said as she slipped through the walkthrough on the counter and stepped around to face me,  “Looking sharp, lady.  I see that it takes more than a building falling on you to stop you.”

It sure feels like it stopped me.

I just shrugged and blushed at the playful black woman.  She had a little extra baby fat that always looked so good on her.  Tonya leaned forward almost cutely, an almost hopeful look on her face that made me feel a little guilty. “So what brings you here today Allie?”

Ok, I was blushing then.  I explained as I dug around in my shoulder bag, pulling out the handwritten equations, “I'm looking for a student... or professor... goes by Ligaya Hannigan?  She left some papers behind in a cafe this morning.  They look important.”

She cocked her head and grinned. “Oh, Doctor Hannigan?  Our cute little walking brain?”

Doctor?  She looked like she was only twenty-two or three at the most.  I just nodded, and she tilted her head the other way, and her grin became a smile.  Instead of taking the papers from me she said as she rummaged through the drawers of the counter, “She's probably frantic by now then.  Her numbers are everything to her.”

She slid a visitors badge on a lanyard to me with a clipboard. “I tell you what, I wouldn't be able to get these to her until my break, why don't you slide over to the physics building and give them to her yourself?”

I looked back at the door then her again and then nodded and signed the visitor's log and picked up the badge.  I looked at it a moment then up at her and asked, “Doctor?”

She nodded, pleased with herself as she said with a touch of pride, “Two Ph.D's by the age of eighteen.  She's here on a research grant.  The University of Washington is leading at the forefront of research into quantum computing thanks to her and her team.  I don't doubt for a moment that they're going to wow the science world with their research soon.”

My mind skipped and replayed the fact that the cute Filipino girl had two Ph.D's before she could even drink.  I recategorized her from run of the mill genius to Wile E. Coyote super genius.  I caught myself smiling, then held the badge up.  “Where can I find her?”  I slid the lanyard over my head and pulled my black hair back to fall behind me so the lanyard could settle.

She pointed to the south.  “You know the physics building.  Basement, room B007.”  Then she waggled a finger when I started to open my mouth. “No James Bond jokes!”

I snapped my mouth shut and grinned.

I saluted with the head of the cane to my forehead and started to turn.  Tonya said with an odd tone in her voice, “It's good to see that things weren't as bad as the news reported.”

I swallowed and nodded as my pulse started racing, and sweat started beading on my forehead.

I hobbled out quickly as my breathing started coming in fast, short breaths.  I pushed into the restroom as the flames licked up in my eyes.  I stumbled into a stall and fumbled with the lock.  I could feel the flames licking at my body again.  I finally slammed the slider home and fell back to sit on the toilet seat as I frantically rubbed my eyes, panic filling me.

I relived the accident.  I was pinned and couldn't breathe.  My mask was laying a few feet away, just out of reach... then just as quickly as it had come...  I was sitting in the bathroom stall just panting, catching my breath.  I looked around, the flames were gone.  I took two deep calming breaths and let them out then stood and made my way out to the sinks.  I hung my cane on the counter and turned on a faucet and cupped my hands.  Splashing cold water on my face and washing away the sweat that smelled like panic.

Whoa, what the hell was that?  I hadn't flashed back in months.  I swallowed and dried my face with paper towels.  Took another deep breath then put on my aloof grin as I straightened the hem of my shirt.  I grabbed my cane and headed out to find a brainiac cutie.

By the time I had reached the physics building and made my way to the basement, I was full on humming the James Bond theme song as I hunted for 007.  At the end of the hall, I found a lab that had a piece of tape over the room number.  In blocky black letters, Heisenberg Squad was written on it.

There was a biometric plate on the wall, and I tried the door, but it was locked so I knocked.  A few seconds later, a heavyset young man with mousy brown hair that was combed impeccably in a part to the side answered.  He squinted up at me, his eyes looked huge through the glasses he wore that were at least a quarter inch thick.

His eyes went wide, and the poor boy blushed profusely as he asked, “Y-yes?”

I gave the poor man a reassuring smile and asked, “I'm looking for Ligaya Hannigan, is she here?”

He just blinked at me, stunned as he got even redder, then he looked at his feet.  Are all scientists shy and bashful like this?  Then he nodded for an inordinate amount of time as he seemed to be gathering his wits about him and he called out.  “Schrodie, there's a... a GIRL... here to see you.”

I heard a familiar voice approaching, she sounded more sure of herself than the few shy words I have heard her speak. “What are you talking about Lenny?  Why would a girl be...”

She stopped behind him, and all that confidence I had just heard seemed to melt away as she stopped talking and looked down as she tucked some of her long wavy black hair behind her ear.  She said in a squeak, “It's you.”

I nodded and agreed with her observation, “It's me.”

Then she looked at Lenny and grabbed his arm and dragged him back.  “I've got this Len, can you go check my phase shift calculations for Hachi?”  The young man nodded absently, retreating into the room beyond, his eyes locked on me the whole time, I tried not to smile as he almost tripped on some equipment.

Then the girl was speaking down at her hands as she wrung her fingers.  “Sorry about that, the boys don't get much interaction with girls.  Well, that is an invalid postulation that they don't interact with girls since I'm sort of... well I mean...”  She trailed off like she was trying to solve the most complex problem of her life.