Our story thus far: The Terran Confederation starship Hawking has arrived at the nearest classical black hole to Earth, about 2800 light years away. There was an incident when they arrived, and now…
The last excerpt was at https://mrw.5-cent.us/?p=396 , and the series begins at https://mrw.5-cent.us/?p=387
11,000 Years, #3
A week later, Phelan was standing at Ruth’s door, asking in mesh for her attention. He felt her come down from deep mesh, and smiled as the slender woman opened the door. “Eaten lately?” he said, looking down at the warmer container of food he held.
She looked aside for a second, and realized that she hadn’t eaten all day. Shamefacedly, she asked “How did you know?”
He smiled warmly. “I am the captain. I see all, I know all.” She swept her hand by his face with a mock slap. “And Ken was checking the med scans, and complained to me that he didn’t like you in deep mesh so long.”
She led him into her cabin, and cleared her work table. “I’m not comfortable with the ship’s med sensors recording everyone at that level.”
He shrugged. “We all agreed to it, given the length of this trip, and that it is a research vessel,” he said, opening the container and bringing out the food, tortillas in a keeper, carne guisada and refried beans. “Hope you like my choices.”
She sighed, sitting and looking at the food. “Looks good. How are things going for you?”
“Other than scanning for infalling rocks and radiation flares, it’s just stationkeeping, but the research staff…. I had to ask the Nigerians to calm down yesterday.”
“Oh? The five of them usually hang around together when they’re off shift.”
“Yeah, and it wasn’t an issue on the voyage out, but maybe the intensity and the hours everyone’s putting in now is bringing it out. Seems one’s a religious Muslim, and another a devout Catholic, while the other three are pretty secular, and they keep getting into arguments over religion. The odd thing to me is that it seems to be the Catholic and the Muslim against the rest.”
Ruth nodded as she ate. “My grandmother was the last one in my family who was a practicing Catholic.” She paused, and Phelan could see she was drawing up old memories. “I remember her apartment, with the candles and incense. She was an art historian, whose specialty was religious iconography.”
“My family hasn’t been very religious for a long time, though one side was Pagan.”
“Any particular kind?”
“Gaean, I think. Very pro-ecology, and for the shrinking of the population of Terra. They were very politically active during the formation of the Terran Confederation and after, hoping it would mean fewer wars, better education, and population decrease.”
“I certainly won’t say that they were wrong. The population’s slowly going down, and not through war and disasters. Of course, the development of the grav drive helped, too.”
As they ate, he looked at her strong, lived-in face, eyes that could smile. A century before, she might have been in her very late thirties, now, he knew she was perhaps ten years younger than his late sixties. Again, though, he found himself with the same internal conflict he always had when he was with Ruth. He was the captain of the mission, and personally responsible for all on board, including her. At the end of the day, this meant to him that she was effectively under his command, and something more than friendship was not acceptable, ethically or morally. Yet at the same time, he enjoyed being with her. As usual, he decided it was too much to worry about, and wound up the conversation by asking, “Will we see you in the refectory more often, or will I have to sic Guoli on you?”
“I’ll try to be good, but no promises.”
“I suppose that’ll have to do.” He collected the warmer and the plates, and said “Good night, and try to get some sleep.”
She smiled at him. “I said I’d try, but there’s so much work. Besides, I got plenty of sleep on the voyage out.”
After he left, Ruth stared at the closed door, muttering to herself, “That was amazingly frustrating. If he wasn’t so tight in mesh that I had a clue how he felt about me….” She finally shook her head, and went back to work.
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