Something about the pattern bothered me, but I couldn't put my finger on what that was. I turned the simulation over to Mr. von Ickles and Mr. Kelley and let them worry about it awhile. In the meantime I set about learning my way around the ship's systems.

Twenty-six days out of Betrus, we jumped into Niol. Any idea I had had that the transition would look differently from the bridge than it felt in the galley was quickly eradicated. Unlike getting underway, transition was as simple as if someone had changed the channel on the holo. One instant we were looking into one corner of the Deep Dark, and the next moment all the stars had moved and where it had been dark before, a brilliant dot of light marked the system's primary. Welcome to Niol.

Chapter Eighteen.

Niol System

2352-July-20

While on morning watch three days after transition, I sat back in my seat on the bridge and took a deep breath. It felt like the first one I'd had since leaving Betrus...o...b..tal. My calendar indicated I had nine days until the next exam period but the opportunity to study had been limited to my off-duty hours. Between building the uh-oh box, wading hip deep in data logs, and working through the timed display, the first three weeks of the voyage had disappeared as if they had been sucked into the Deep Dark. For ten days I had been crawling through the virtual ship on my hands and knees-in some cases it required a literal trip as well. Mr. von Ickles had me tracking data runs to see how the physical components formed the web of information that kept the Lois safe, moving, and on course. He also had me doing the routine data management tasks, like backing up the systems and rotating log files.

The systems were amazing. I never really thought I knew all that much about computers, networks, and the like, but when I tried to talk to people-like Pip or even Brill-their faces would glaze over faster than when Francis started talking about charged particles. Speaking of Francis, he was spending a lot of time lately with Mr. Kelley, Mr. Maxwell, and the captain as I'm sure they were tapping his knowledge of astrophysics to try to explain what had happened to the ship. Trying to make sense of the data model had proved to be quite the puzzle. All of the officers and most of the people in the engineering section were trying to figure it out.

Looking around the bridge, I saw Mr. von Ickles had just finished his last log entry in preparation to turn over the watch to Mr. Maxwell. Noon was quickly approaching and my stomach grumbled at the delay. I stood up, stretched, shook out my legs, and arched my back to get some of the kinks out. I had been so absorbed in the systems work that I had hardly moved, and yet I was soaked in sweat as if I'd run five kilometers. Mr. von Ickles teased me about my ability to get so absorbed. "In the zone," he called it.

While waiting for the watch change, I walked to the front of the bridge and looked out the forward port. The bright spot that had been dead ahead when we jumped in had shifted a bit as we lined up for the spot where Niol would be when we got there in about four weeks. Some of the spots out there were planets and some were stars, but I wasn't a good enough astronomer to tell them apart. Behind me I heard Mr. Maxwell say, "I relieve you, Mr. von Ickles. I have the watch." All around the bridge the rest of first section relayed the same message to their respective counterparts at helm, astrogation, and engineering.

I nodded toward Bev, who looked much better than she had at Betrus. She flashed me a warm smile in return as she settled into her routine at the helm. Mr. von Ickles waited for me at the ladder and I hurried to join him as my stomach gave another growl, reminding me how long it had been since I had eaten. From the sound it made, it could have been January.

Even Mr. von Ickles heard it and he laughed. "You're not eating enough, Mr. w.a.n.g?"

"Doesn't seem possible that I'd be so hungry from just sitting there, but I seem to be burning calories somewhere."

"I'll see about getting you a water-cooled helmet," he said. "To keep your brain from melting."

He peeled off at officer country to go wash up in his stateroom while I continued down to deck berthing. Hungry as I was, I really wanted to at least sluice the sweat off my face and hands before eating, and I got to the mess deck later than the crowd as a result. That worked in my favor because the line was short, and I could load up my plate without feeling guilty about not leaving enough for the people behind me. The menu included steamed fish with a spicy red sauce, rice, and some banapods. Sarah and Pip always had a smile for me as I went through the line but I could not remember the last time I had a good sit-down chat with Pip. We hadn't even had a chance to pick a trade cargo while in Betrus, despite having been there for almost nine full days. Sarah still looked like she fit well in the galley, but Pip looked more out of place every time I saw him.

The down side of being late to lunch was finding a place to sit. I lucked out and spotted an empty spot beside Brill, who sat with Diane and Francis. I made a beeline for it. CC was not there, so I figured he must have the watch.

"Hi!" I said as I plopped down, after getting no response, and seeing their faces, I added, "What's wrong?"

Diane said, "Guess."

"One letter, repeated?" I asked.

They nodded glumly.

Brill said, "Give us some good news? Do you know if we can fire him?"

I shrugged. "I haven't heard anything. There should be some information waiting for us in Niol when we pick up the beacon."

Francis asked, "What's the word on the electrical failures?"

"Well, it wasn't the EMP-the charged particle field part-that blew out the systems like we thought. n.o.body has any more ideas now than when we were at Betrus. Less really, because then we thought we knew why and how. Now we have tons of data that disputes our original theory, but none of it makes any sense."

Brill said, "It's been driving Fred Kelley crazy. The power team is tearing the ship apart trying to solve the mystery."

Diane asked, "So, you're adjusting to life on the bridge?"

I snorted. "As much as can be expected, I suppose. I'm not sure why I'm up there, to tell you the truth. I could work anywhere that there's a console."

Francis said, "Mr. von Ickles is too smart to let you float around loose. He wants to keep you where he can see you."

We all laughed. "I'm actually glad to be there. It's not like I have a lot of interaction with the gang on watch up there, but Mr. von Ickles keeps me on my toes. I suspect watch might be pretty nasty if I were back in the auxiliary bridge all the time."

"A lot like being down in environmental, huh?" Diane teased.

"Well, not quite that bad," I said.

"Sludge monkey!" she said, and grinned.

We all fell quiet then. I was eating and they were all picking at the remains of their lunches. n.o.body was in any hurry to get up.

"So, what's up with CC?" I asked at last.

Brill said, "Same old tricks. We got on him for not doing maintenance but logging it was done, so now he's back to not doing it. I've written him up, docked his pay, everything short of taking him by the hand-"

"Or ear!" Diane broke in.

Brill chuckled. "Or ear and dragging him to do the work. I'm at my wit's end. I can't punish him any more than I have, other than putting him ash.o.r.e. He seems totally impervious to any threat or disciplinary action. We can't flog him." She shrugged. "Even Mr. Kelley doesn't know what to do."

"Do we need to find a spanner?" I asked.

Brill snorted. "You know, when you said that back on Betrus I thought you were way off base, but having tried to deal with this chuckle-head for the last month, I'm a lot closer to dropping him out a airlock that I ever thought I could be."

"Well, let me go see what I can uncover," I said.

We drifted our separate ways after lunch. Brill wanted to check in on CC and Diane tagged along. Francis and I headed toward berthing. I was pretty sure I'd see him later in the afternoon in the gym. I headed for my bunk and started reviewing the Cargoman and Messman practice exams again. I had not been giving them a lot of attention but after a couple of stans I was back in the groove again. I dropped a calendar note to Mr. von Ickles to reserve a seat for my last two full share exams for the next cycle.

The chrono said 15:00 so I had three stans before I needed to get back on watch. I set my tablet to wake me at 16:30 and lay on my bunk to grab some sleep while I could. I left enough time to get in a run and a sauna before watch.

When I headed up the ladder to the bridge at 17:45, it was the first time since Betrus that I didn't have a list of tasks waiting for me. I felt loose and alert from my run and sauna-almost relaxed. I sat down at the console and started running through the system inventories. Status was good, no backups were scheduled, and the log file rollover would happen automatically after midnight. I just needed to snag them in the morning and burn them to a cube for archiving.

I found myself looking at the time delayed graphic showing the cascade of sparks starting in the stern, running in a stream to the bow and then cascading back again. I could not shake the feeling that there was something there, but I just couldn't see it.

Mr. von Ickles saw the display and came to look over my shoulder. "Maddening, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yes, sar, it is. I'm missing something. I just don't know what that something is."

"Well, if you knew, then it wouldn't be missing would it?" he asked with a grin.

"Speaking of maddening," I said without turning my head. "Our friend in environmental is being resistant to efforts to modify his behavior to something approaching adequate."

"I've heard that as well. There's a lot of discussion in various places, but so far n.o.body has got any ideas. We're still weeks from getting the orbital beacon so all we can do is keep an eye on him."

"There wasn't anything in the medical records?" I asked.

"Nothing d.a.m.ning. Blunt trauma to the back of the head."

"He's not responding to any of the normal disciplinary actions. Are there any abnormal techniques you can think of?" I asked.

"Nothing that won't get us fired. He may be immune, although we haven't established that yet," Mr. von Ickles observed. "On the other hand, we are not."

"Well, I know one crewman who can't be fired."

"Besides our friend?" he asked. "Who?"

"Lois," I said.

He stood there silently mulling that over for a couple of ticks while we watched the looping graphic. "How does that help us?"

"I don't know, but if normal methods don't work, maybe we need to try magic."

"Mr. w.a.n.g, you may be more devious than even Mr. Maxwell," he said.

"Thank you, Mr. von Ickles. I'll take that as a compliment."

"It is, Mr. w.a.n.g. It is." He sighed. "Now if you can use your magic to figure out what caused that," he said, pointing to the cycling display. "I'll believe you're more devious than the captain."

"Why would that be devious, sar?"

"Because every attempt at logical explanations has failed. The answer has to be something either heinously devious or pathetically simple."

"Well, when it comes to simple, I'm your man, sar," I a.s.sured him.

He snorted. "You are many things, Mr. w.a.n.g, but simple is hardly one of them." He clapped me on the shoulder and went back to astrogation to check our position.

Lois? I thought. What are you playing at?

Chapter Nineteen.

Niol System

2352-July-30

We were still over two weeks out of Niol when the next round of exams came up. Mr. von Ickles had been teasing me unmercifully for the whole week prior, but on the mid-watch before my steward exam he offered to let me have some time off to study. I didn't need it, so I went back to working through the systems inventories and thinking about the system failure.

Trying to unravel the mystery made me think about some detective guy mom had always talked about, Hemlock something. He had use a phrase that went something like, "When you've ruled out the probable, then the improbable, no matter how impossible, is the only solution left." I remembered reading his stories, but I preferred Shakespeare, who had more s.e.x. Hemlock just had a violin, a sidekick named Watson, and his disguises. I remembered one story where he even posed as a woman. Well, Shakespeare did that a lot, too, and suddenly it came to me. I knew how we could make an impression on Mr. Charles Colby. I spent the rest of the watch making notes on my tablet.

As we were heading down the ladder from the bridge, Mr. von Ickles asked, "Last minute studying?"

"I had a breakthrough on one of two problems," I said.

"Do I want to know?"

"If you don't mind, sar, I think you'd prefer to have the ability to deny any knowledge."

"I appreciate that, Mr. w.a.n.g," he said with a smile. "And now that we've established that you've refused to tell me your plans, perhaps you might fill me in on some of the details I'm not supposed to know?"

I went over the basic concept I had come up with. He actually offered some enhancements that I wouldn't have considered. In the end he said, "You may be the most deviously disturbed individual I have ever met, Mr. w.a.n.g. It's an honor to know you."

"Thank you, Mr. von Ickles. I do try. And may I say, sar, you're no slouch yourself."

"You're very welcome. And may I add how pleased I am to have you on my watch?"

"Because of my skill and native wit, sar?"

"No, Mr. w.a.n.g, because I feel the sudden need to keep you under close observation."

"Thank you again, sar."

"You're quite welcome, Mr. w.a.n.g. Carry on."

"Yes, sar. Thank you, sar. I'll see you in the office after breakfast, sar."

I hurried off to the mess deck and managed to pull Brill aside.

"I'm ready to kill him myself," she said without preamble.

"If you do that, you'll have to stand his watch," I said.