Kleppie saw Kavi coming down the hall arm in arm with the pilot, Tellki, talking. The excited feeling that had been fluttering in his stomach since Kavi asked to spend the afternoon with him, sank. He fought back against the bile forming in his stomach.
Tellki was everything Kleppie was not. He was suave, sophisticated, educated, successful. Of course Kavi would like him, not Kleppie. Kleppie swallowed hard, fighting down the jealousy.
When she said she had a special treat for him, what had he thought? That she would say she liked him too? How could he have been so foolish?
When the two reached him, Kavi switched casually to Kleppie's arm. His heart fluttered at the touch. He urged it to be still. It would only hurt more if he let himself believe this touch.
She dragged him down the hall, oblivious to the war going on inside him. "I have been trying to think of some way to say thank you for talking to me, helping me to feel better. I didn't know what to do, though."
They came to one of the regular lifts and slid inside. "Then the other day you said something. I guessed your secret, then," she gave him a mischievous smile.
"Third floor," Tellki told the lift.
"Restricted access, uncertified passenger," the lift said.
"Tellki, pilot, override, civilian tour, code..." Tellki rattled off a series of codes.
Kleppies eyes went wide, everything forgotten in his excitement. He looked at Kavi, his jaw wide. She was grinning from ear to ear. "You have space fever," she whispered. "And somebody owes me favors," she nodded at Tellki.
"Any intelligent person would have space fever," Tellki replied. "Who in their right mind would sit at the bottom of a gravity well when the universe beckons." He stepped outside of the lift and gestured. "Level three," he said. "First stop, flight command deck."
The command deck was a large round room. Rohanna, the chief pilot, sat on a low bench in the center. Her goggles were on and she stared intently at nothing, or nothing they could see. Wires sprouted from her fingers and her hands moved, performing actions in the empty air in front of her. Two more pilots stood, circulating the round room and checking various instruments and displays.
Su'nin, the data officer entered. She held a slate up in Rohanna's periphery vision. It came to life, lines of incomprehensible symbols flowing past. Rohanna made a slight motion to indicate that she had seen the script. Su'nin nodded and retrieved the slate.
"Is there a problem?" Tellki asked quietly as Su'nin made to pass.
She shook her head. "A meteor dinged the supply pod, no more. It's off course. Not much but enough that it will not hit the airlock. Rohanna is correcting our course by a few feet to compensate."
Tellki spoke in a low voice as they watched the others work. "People think we pilots have it easy, aim for the next planet and you're done. But we are constantly busy. In space not only are you in motion, so is everything around you. Space itself presents more than a trifling hazard. Just meters beyond where we stand is instant death. If the hull were breached or any of a dozen systems failed, we would all die instantly. We work in shifts, three on duty at any time, and we work the whole shift as well. Making minor adjustments, monitoring near by objects, tracking the ships systems."
When they were done touring the command center, Tellki took them to one of the airlocks. There he turned the pair over to Luu, second in command to the space walkers, the technicians that did space walks to repair the outside of the ship.
"Can't suit you up or take you out without a lot of training," Luu said. "But we can have some fun anyway." He gestured at three pairs of boots standing in the middle of the empty lock. He led them out and stepped into one set of boots. As Kleppie started to step into the second pair, Luu pointed, "look here, there is a lever. You can work it with your ankle, just a little pressure. It's hard at first, but later it becomes second nature."
He showed Kleppie and Kavi how to buckle the boots and then gestured to a co worker to cut off the artificial gravity. They stood there, waving like fronds in the sea, rooted in place by boots.
"You can activate or deactive the magnetic soles by rocking your ankles," Luu said. He made a motion with his legs and floated up in a graceful arc, floating above them. With another motion he reactivated them and 'fell' upwards, hitting the ceiling with a solid thunk.
"Cool," Kleppie said, making to follow.
He looked over at Kavi. She had one foot floating up, the other still rooted to the ground. "Don't laugh until you've done it," she warned. She wiggled, trying to get the other boot to shut off.
Kleppie tried a couple of times before the boots let go. At least, they both let go at once. Kavi had gotten hers off and floated up, but then she wasn't pointed straight when she reactivated them and was now straddling both the ceiling and one wall, laughing almost hysterically.
Kleppie spun weightless and then rocked his ankles, keeping his legs together. He hit the ceiling with a thud next to Luu.
"Good job," Luu said. "Now let's walk over and help that poor girl out, shall we."
When they had freed Kavi from her predicament Luu showed them several other maneuvers. When they were done he said to Kleppie, "I think you have the instincts for a walker." To Kavi he added, "You, should maybe stay a healer."
Kavi stuck her tongue out at him.
######
Dan walked down the hall with Bakala, talking. He wore his flame shirt and a pair of blue, civil service slacks. He carried a small sack of fresh produce, which he intended to use to make his bunkmates a treat for their supper. He was not supposed to be in this part of the ship, but Dan found he didn't care. He was apart, the rules didn't really apply to him, did they?
They'd sent him to the far hydroponics room this morning. It was on the consortium side. He figured he was working for them, so he could go where he wanted, right? Maybe that convenient thinking.
Bakala paused at the corner, giving Dan a doleful expression. "I guess I should get to my side," he said.
Dan nearly laughed at his expression, so like Aloka's. "Are you going to miss me for the next twelve hours?"
Bakala blushed and scuffed his foot. "Naw... maybe a little," he admitted.
"I will miss you too," Dan said, leaning in and kissing him.
Bakala smiled as he returned the kiss. "Well, then until tomorrow."
"Parting is such sweet sorrow," Dan quipped.
Dan turned down the American's corridor and found three men watching him closely. They had obviously heard or possible saw most of the exchange and clearly they didn't approve.
"Is there a problem?" Dan demanded.
"Going native, are we, Oleson?" one asked.
He held his hands out to show his shirt. "I suppose I am. I've been working their side of the ship, so when in Rome..."
"Not that. Gone gay for one their men," another muttered, his voice hostile.
"Oh that," he replied sarcasm dripping from his tongue. He stomped up until he was nose to nose with the man. Expecting Dan to be intimidated or ashamed, the man was clearly startled and stepped back, sweat standing out on his brow. "No, I didn't go gay. I was born gay. Have been my whole life. That I finally found a man worth being out for and he's a member of the consortium? I guess that's fate." He rounded on the others. "Oh, and you should consider yourself lucky that I am dressed this way, and off duty. Because I am still your superior officer and if any of you ever address me in that tone when I'm on duty, I will have you in pt, doing sit ups until you puke. Then I'll make you clean it up and do a few more. Understand?"
He glared until they all snapped salutes and said, "Sir, yes, sir."
He raged to himself as he stomped off, but by the time he reached the lift, his heart lightened. This is what he'd always feared about being out, that people would say something or treat him different. Now that it had happened, he knew he could deal with it, if he had to.
######
Lannister could hear the murmur of voices coming down the hall from the forward bay. The voices sounded peaceful. Maybe Fox had the right of it, better the crew finds ways to enjoy themselves in the evenings other than moping.
He rounded the corner to find himself face to face with Cheyenne. She snapped a salute. "Captain on deck," she said and the voices froze.
"At ease," he said, loud enough for all to hear. "You're off duty and so am I."
The crowd returned to it's talking. Lannister looked around.
"Casino night," Cheyenne informed him. She extended a small box.
He took it and inspected it. It was filled with blocks covered in gold foil.
"They're chocolate bars. Bakala, the quartermaster, found them in his storeroom and donated them to the cause," Cheyenne explained.
"What do I do with them?" he asked.
"They're the stakes for tonight," she said. "We recruited Runningbear and some of his buddies in munitions to run American style games on that side, poker, craps, you name it. Daksha and some of her crew are running consortium games of chance over there. Best part of candy stakes? You get to keep your winnings."
"Well, I suppose I should give it a try," he replied, hefting his box and eyeing the craps table. "For the sake of morale."
This is the end of Episode Six: Are there Closets in Space. Two more remain. Coming next time, The End of Quarantine. Don't forget to vote and comment if you are enjoying the story.