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“THIS IS hopeless!”
“Or perhaps it’s you that’s hopeless.”
“Belay that XO or I’ll have you up on a charge.”
Lena was expecting the bridge of a starship to be less, well, shouty than this.
The room was made of the same beautiful opal, touchable surfaces, the temperature was cool but refreshingly so, even the smell was not what she’d have expected from a star ship. Living room, maybe? Clean but not clinical, gentle, sweet smells, but nothing too strong. Three people shouted at each other in front of the massive bank of what Lena assumed were control panels. The smooth featureless curve of a screen faced them and the blank, white upward-facing control surface sat beneath, equally flat and uniform.
There were two very tall officers arguing with a small woman with both an ISRO patch and more stripes than the two officers.
“Captain, I’ve been trying for six days. There’s power there for sure, but when we try to sustain a reaction in the engines, it turns over and then fizzles out. I’ve field-stripped everything I can, cleaned everything and run every diagnostic test that there is.” Lena liked the engineer as soon as she saw her. She was tall with ginger braided hair tied up to her head and running down behind her in a plait which swayed in front of the word McGregor on her baggy white coveralls. “Dinnae touch that!”
The engineer’s slight Glaswegian lilt seemed fiercer when it was aimed at Lena. She didn’t even realise she’d been running a finger along the console. It was smooth, but not cold to the touch. Lena felt McGregor staring at her till she removed the offending hand. She grinned weakly, then mouthed “sorry”.
McGregor snapped her head back to the argument.
“We need some progress here, Jenny.” The ISRO officer had her hands on her hips.
“Aye and you’d be getting more if that streak of pish didnae shout so much at my engineers that they run off the ship.”
“I’m sorry, but if your cadets cannot handle discipline, they shouldn’t be in the Navy.”
McGregor barked.
“That’s enough, you two. I’m in charge on this ship.”
“Yes cap’n,” said McGregor.
“Only commander,” reminded the tall man with a smile.
The shorter woman scowled back, “And why, Lieutenant, is there a child on my bridge?”
They all turned towards Lena. She took a reflexive step backwards, then stopped against the console. Gripping the edge, she put forward what she thought was her most innocent smile. It didn’t seem like it was working as the expressions froze on everyone’s faces. Lena hoped they wouldn’t shout at her the way they’d been going at each other. But they were looking right through her. She turned her head slowly, eyes as far round as they could turn in their sockets. The console was lit up and the whole wall above it was showing the view into space. She unwound the rest of her body, a slow-motion pirouette—it was so beautiful. Space was spread out before them sparkling, like how Lena imagined the connections inside her mind. She’d travelled on short space trips before, a lot for someone her age with an academic mother and an uncle in the Navy, but all the commercial ships weren’t hugely big on windows. Cheaper to build safe than pretty. Portholes were small and people who got access to them paid more for the privilege. But this? She could imagine everywhere.
“What ha... ve... yo... u-?” A voice stretched out from behind her, but never finished. She blacked out.
