The Impressionist

Chapter 8

As they made their way to the galley, Connor gave her a mini-tour of the ship. She politely pretended that she hadn’t already memorized the layout from the few times that she had studied the schematics of the vessel. He stopped and introduced her to several members of his crew and pointed out some of the high-tech machinery than they ran. Everything was state of the art. Jen was properly impressed.

He avoided the topic of her capture and, to her relief, asked her no personal questions about herself. He was being the consummate host. The stopped in the galley and Jen almost swooned as the smell of food hit her.

“You must be hungry,” he observed. “How long has it been since you last ate?”

“I don’t know,” she snapped suddenly. “How long was I out for?” She was annoyed at her obvious inability to hide her each and every reaction from him.

“Which time?” he said pleasantly, almost laughing at her crankiness.

“Excuse me? Do you have the nerve to be teasing me about how much time I have spent unwillingly and unconscious on your ship?” The words, which were meant to be stinging and cold, just didn’t come out right as Jen began to see the humor in her situation. She couldn’t actually complain as she was right where she wanted to be, off that little backworld colony. But he wouldn’t know that.

She felt Connor’s hand on her elbow as he led her to a table and guided her into her seat.

“I haven’t eaten all day myself,” he told her. “And you have been out for most of the day, both incidents combined,” he continued with only a hint of humor. “Just relax here for a moment. Let me take care of everything so we can have a well-deserved leisurely meal.”

She watched him walk away from the table to the kitchen where the cooks were bustling. Some that smelled really good was wafting her way and making her stomach growl. She studied the crew that were scattered throughout the room. Everyone looked happy, companionable, and relaxed… not your usual ship ambiance. Usually close confinement, tight deadlines, and long shift made people argumentative and hostile. She pursed her lips as she tried to figure out what was making the difference.

Connor placed her meal in front of her. Jen stared wide-eyed at the huge pile of food.

“I wasn’t sure what you would like, so I put a little bit of everything on there.”

Normally, Jen wasn’t a big eater. But she was so hungry. Without so much as looking at him, she dug into the meal. Neither of them spoke while they ate, but she could feel him looking at her. She ignored him and picked through, finding the healthiest options on the plate. She was shocked at the amounts of fresh vegetables available. That was not typical on long distance cruising ships. When she started to slow down, she saw him motion someone over to the table. They place a plate with four chocolate-dipped strawberries in from on them. Even though she wasn’t very hungry any more, she stared longingly at them.

“Go ahead,” he smiled. “Try one! These are my personal favorite dessert!” He picked one strawberry up by the green leaves and bit the strawberry in half.

She was salivating just watching. Strawberries, like most fresh fruits, were a treat saved for the elite. She had tried a few different fruits over her years, but had only had strawberries once before. She picked one up as if it were the most precious thing in the galaxy and nibbled a little piece off the end, being sure to get both chocolate and berry in the bite. She chewed slowly and savored the flavor. Who knew if she would ever get this treat again. When she finished her second one, she became aware that he was watching her again.

“I’m glad that you like them!” he teased her jovially. “Now, are you ready?”

“Ready for what?”

“Ready for the grand finale, of course! You still haven’t seen the bridge.” He stood, patiently waiting for her.

Jen reluctantly pushed back her chair. She followed him as they exited the galley and into the maze of hallways and elevators to reach the bridge. Once again, Jen automatically registered the voice command and security code that Connor used at the doorway to enter the bridge. Someone had obviously been busy changing the simple commands and voice recognition access to a complex numbered code. The look he gave her made Jen certain that the code would be changed once she was no longer around to hear it.

Jen looked around curiously as the formal, “Captain on the bridge,” was announced and acknowledged. Edin, who had been in the Captain’s chair, stood up sharply at attention. Scanning the room, every person has their eyes on the door, standing in deference to Connor as he entered the room. Jen was a little awed by the respect that was being shown to Connor. People didn’t follow traditional ships protocol very often these days.

A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. The lanky youth that had run her down in the shuttle bay was on the bridge as well. He, apparently, recognized who she was because he gave her an embarrassed nod before looking away. From the looks of the disassembled panel in front of him, he was doing some sort of systems check. Jen would bet credits that it had something to do with voice command access here on the ship due to her recent unauthorized access of the inner ship. Connor led her to the command center where Edin stood waiting for them.

“I understand that you two have met?” Connor said to Edin.

Edin looked Jen up and down. “Yes,” she said baldly.

Jen studied her expression. She was surprised and hiding annoyance. Edin was probably shocked that Connor had brought her to the bridge. Perhaps she was equally shocked that Jen was even allowed to be conscious, much less touring the ship.

Connor introduced her to each member of the command crew, from the highest rank to the lowest. He was still following strict protocol, yet somehow, his familiarity with each of them gave her a clue that off of the bridge, they were all friends. Most of them were eyeing her with a wary look, and other were noticeably uncomfortable having her on the bridge.

Connor stopped briefly in front of Derek during the introductions. The young man blushed furiously once again. Jen found herself drawn to him. He apologized again for the incident in the shuttleport, which seemed like ages ago to Jen.

She smiled warmly at him and said, “I’m none to worse for it, I assure you. But if you keep on practicing, I’m sure you could get as good as the Captain here at concussing your victims.”

Derek laughed self-consciously, while Connor furrowed his brow in what looked like guilt. Ha, she thought to herself, I get double points for that one!

Derek smiled at her and, for the first time, didn’t have that guilt-ridden weight in his eyes. Jen felt happy that she’d had the chance to ease his mind a little. He was obviously someone who took himself very seriously.

Once she had met them all, Edin walked over to join her and Connor.

“So, are you gonna tell us who you really are?” she asked bluntly.

“Ummm…” Jen was confused at the sudden attack.  Connor had made this seem like a friendly little tour, and now she wasn’t so sure.

Connor silenced Edin with a sharp glance. He continued for her in a much more gentle tone. “What Ed and I would like to know, Jen, is how you gained access to the interior of the ship. You must realize how dangerous it is for everyone on this ship to have an ‘unknown entity’ running amuck in and around the very sensitive equipment and systems in there. It is a huge security risk and we need to keep that from happening again… with anyone, not just you, in the future.”

Yes, Jen knew exactly how dangerous it was. “I… uh… I used to work for Shurok,” she told them honestly. That did nothing to ease the worry in their faces.

“Then what were you doing on Taget Five?” Edin demanded, still on the offensive. “There is not a Shurok operation there, and no other ship building or design centers. Nothing on that colony lends itself to that kind of work.”

“There are no vacation facilities there either,” Connor added. “And… I did hear you use my voice, my exact voice, didn’t I Jen?”

Jen looked at Connor, and then at Edin, both unfamiliar faces with no history behind them, at least no history that Jen knew of anyway. She couldn’t help herself. Jen started to smile at the absurdity of the whole damn situation. It was like an abstract painting where there was a deep hidden meaning, like when someone would just throw paint at a canvas and everyone was supposed to know what it meant. She shouldn’t have, but she started to look around the bridge at each crew member and the feeling compounded itself until it was bursting out of her uncontrollably. A giggle escaped her, like a surprise burp, then another, and soon she was laughing, a big booming belly laugh.

She looked at Connor and Edin and their serious, concerned faces, and still, she couldn’t stop. Jen couldn’t remember ever being so completely out of control, and somehow, that also seemed hilarious as well!

“Stop that!” Edin yelled after another moment or two.

She grabbed Jen’s arm and shook it helplessly. She went to slap Jen across the face and Jen blocked her easily. Jen laughed even harder. She wasn’t certain that she could remain standing. She was bent over, holding her stomach, which was starting to hurt from the effort. This was all like a strange dream.

Jen could see that Edin’s face was filled with anger, but when she looked up at Connor, she could see his lips starting to quake as he held in his own laughter. If he was the picture of control, Jen was the opposite. Predictability, or something close to it, was the norm in her world. This just wasn’t real to her anymore. As hard as she had been laughing, something shifted inside of her and she was now crying. She sobbed with the same crazed imbalance that had made her giddy only a moment before. She sat down on the floor, beyond caring what these confusing, complete strangers, thought of her. She knew nothing about them. In a way, they were invisible.