“What are you doing?”
Kryra whirled around, startled. Recognizing
him, she started to salute him, but he waved it off.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb
you,” Captain Braid apologized. “I thought the viewing deck was… Never mind.”
“No, wait. You don’t have to go. I
was just leaving,” she told him, and moved to walk past the commanding officer,
when he stopped her.
“No. Please. Stay. It’s not often I
get to see another human face among the crew, much less talk to them.”
Something in his voice made her stop. He seemed reluctant for her to go. She
noticed his outer uniform coat was unbuttoned, which told her he either was on
a break, or about to go off-duty. Flashing him a smile, she nodded and returned
to the wall window. He joined her.
“Beautiful view, isn’t it?” he
remarked.
“Yes. It reminds me a lot of home.”
“How so?”
“According to the ship’s computer,
it’s the month of August back on Earth.” She pointed to one of the orbs
circling the planet below. “See that moon? See how Sedra Prime shines on it? If
we were down on the surface of Sedra Four, it would look like a full moon.” She
gave an all-encompassing wave of her arm. “All of them would.”
She sensed the captain coming up
behind her. “I remember seeing our single moon’s phases when I was growing up.
It was one of the reasons why I wanted to join the Galactic Forces,” he
admitted. “I wanted to see the moon close up. Then I wanted to see the other
planets in our solar system. And when I grew tired of seeing the storms on
Jupiter and the rings of Saturn, I wanted to see Andromeda. Then Sirius. Then
Cassiopeia.”
She turned to find him smiling at
her. “And continue onward, farther and farther out into space. To other
galaxies and solar systems.”
“Exactly.”
She returned the smile. “That’s how
I felt, too.”
“You did?”
“Yes. And still do.”
“Exactly.”
They stared out at the magnificent
view for several long and silent minutes, until Braid spoke again. “You said it
was August back on Earth?”
“Yes.”
“A very hot August, I assume.”
“A muggy August, where I’m from,”
Kryra remarked.
“If I remember correctly, all the
full moons had a name, didn’t they?”
“Yes, sir.”
“So the August moon would be…”
“The Sturgeon Moon.”
He turned to give her an astonished
look. “Sturgeon? Like the fish?”
“Yes, sir. In fact, it’s called that
for the fish.”
“Why would they name a moon after a
fish?”
Laughing softly, Kryra shrugged. “I
don’t know. The ship’s computer couldn’t say exactly. Fortunately, there are
other names for it.”
“Other names for the same moon?”
“Yes.”
“That’s interesting. If there are
other names for the same full moon, and all of these moons showed up in August,
what would the others be called?”
She caught the amusement in his
tone. Pointing to the other moons circling the planet, she told him. “That
would be the Green Corn Moon. And that one the Grain Moon. And that little
reddish one I think is the Fruit Moon.”
“How about that one?” He pointed to
an orb barely visible above the planet’s horizon.
“That’s the Barley Moon.”
“Hmm. Those sound like crops. It
makes sense, considering it would be the time of year when the harvesting is
done.”
She glanced over at him. “You sound
nostalgic.”
He crossed his arms over his chest.
“So do you.”
“How long has it been since you were…home?”
Braid bowed his head. “A while. A
long while.”
Taking a deep breath, she took an
at-ease stance. She was comfortable around the man. Always had been, which
puzzled her since most of the crew was split in two other camps—those who
feared him, and those who practically worshipped the ground he walked on. She
fit into neither, but maybe that was because of what she was. She was
accustomed to captains keeping their distance from astrophysicists. As long as
she did her job and did it well, there wasn’t much of a need for him to make
any sort of contact with her.
Which was why this moment in time
was such a rarity.
She gave a sideways glance at the
man less than a meter away from her. He was relatively young to be a captain of
a celestial rigger. Roughly ten years her senior, from what she’d learned. But
he bore the physical and no doubt mental scars of a man who’d earned his place
and this ship.
He caught her studying him, and that
corner of his mouth lifted. “A cred for your thoughts.”
“Sir, you’ve earned your quarters in
order to take a little R and R. Have you thought about going back to Old Earth
for a short vacation?”
“Yes, I have, Doctor. Many times.”
“What’s stopped you?”
He turned to face her directly. “My
parents are gone. I have no other family left there. What would be the point?”
“Memories. Reliving old ones and
making new ones.”
“And how do you propose I make new
ones?”
“Go to places you’ve never been
before. Places you’ve always wanted to see but never had the chance.” She cocked
her head. “How long has it been, Captain?”
“Twenty-eight years. How about you?”
“Sounds like you’re way overdue,”
she told him, deliberately not answering his question.
He wouldn’t let her slide. “How long
has it been for you?” he repeated, but not forcefully. He sounded honestly
interested.
“Eighteen.”
“Sounds like you’re way overdue, as
well.”
“Yes, well, I would, too, but I hate
traveling alone.” It came out before she was aware of her slip, and she
silently cursed herself.
Braid continued to stare at her with
those intense blue-green eyes. She often dreamed of them. Unintentionally, of
course. He cut a demanding figure. Maybe that was why he didn’t intimidate her.
Neither did she get the impression he was trying to.
In fact, if truth be told…
It hit her with a clarity that
almost surprised her. The man was lonely.
Of course he might be, she
told herself. Isn’t that what’s always said? That it’s lonely at the top?
“You hate traveling alone?”
She turned back to the wall window.
“If that’s the case, Doctor, why are
you here?” Once more, she could tell he was toying with her, but in a
good-natured way. “Aren’t you traveling now?”
“This is my job. It’s not the same.”
“With your intelligence and marks,
you could have a job anywhere you wanted,” the captain pointed out. “Yet you
chose to apply to the GF.” His voice dropped. “Because you wanted to see what
was beyond our own galaxy. If that isn’t traveling, what is?”
She almost winced when he pressed
that button. With one short conversation, he now knew more about her than most
of the other crewmembers she’d been in contact with in all the twenty-two
months since she’d first come aboard this ship.
“It’s not the same thing, and you
know it,” she gently retorted, and waited to see what his reaction would be.
Braid chuckled, surprising her
again. “Okay. I get it. Traveling is for pleasure. Going places because it’s
required for your job is another thing. Have I got it right?”
“Yes.” She added a nod.
“But what if you decide to, say,
take in a little sightseeing the next time we dock at a substation planet?”
“I’d rather not, thank you.”
“Oh. All right. I understand.” He
took one more look at the panorama outside the ship, then turned to leave, but
paused to address her. “I need to get back to the bridge. We’ll be arriving at
the Caudulis system by oh-nine-hundred hours. Several of the crew have
requested remote leave, which I plan to grant. You’ve earned enough quarters to
take some time off for yourself.”
He’d noticed?
“Thank you for letting me know, sir.
I’ll keep that in mind.”
“And…I’ve been thinking about maybe hyperjetting
back to Earth for a three-day holiday myself. Do a little…traveling.” He
noticed her wide-eyed expression. “I’d be honored if you’d accompany me. I hate
traveling alone, too.”
She watched him stride toward the
door. When it opened, he stopped one more time.
“Let me know if you change your
mind, Dr. Trevor. By the way, my first name’s Stephen.”
He exited the room, leaving her
astonished and intrigued. Turning around to study the moons below, she wondered
how long she should wait before she let him know she would take him up on his
invitation.
