“It’s still an unpleasant job for two,” I countered. “Three would make it faster.”
Gloria nodded. “Three would at that.”
I called Katherine up to the bridge to take over for me. I think she’d deduced what was happening. For that matter, she might have devised the whole thing. Regardless, she gave me an encouraging smile as I left to join Gloria and Alex by the conversion manifold access port.
At first, the work was awkward, but Gloria and Alex were joking before long, and then Gloria and I at least fell into our long-honed coordination. And with three people, the job was a lot smoother than it had ever been with just the two of us. I suppose that might been what made the next conversation possible.
The fact we were all neck deep in engine parts and didn’t have to look at one another ma
