Progenitor - Michael Jan Friedman [17]
“And he wanted to do it as soon as possible.”
Finally, the security officer began to show signs of concern. “As soon as possible? You mean he’s in a hurry?”
“So it would seem.”
Joseph grunted. “Are you saying Kastiigan is . . . suicidal?”
Vigo shook his hairless, blue head. “I don’t think so. I just think he’s got a warped sense of duty.”
Joseph looked at him with a hint of suspicion in his expression. “Then why are you so shaken up?”
The weapons officer frowned again. “On Pandril, we don’t speak of . . .the sort of event Kastiigan is contemplating. It’s considered bad luck. Tempting fate, a human would say.”
The security chief seemed to see the entire picture now. “He’s giving you the heebie-jeebies.”
“That would be another way of putting it.”
“So what are you going to do? Try to avoid Kastiigan?”
“As much as I can,” Vigo told him.
“It’s a big ship,” Joseph said, “but it’s not that big. You’re going to run into him sooner or later.”
“I thought you might suggest a way for me to avoid doing so.”
The security officer considered the question for a while. Then he said, “You could find out what shift he’s working and work a different one. But that’s not going to work all the time.”
“I know,” said Vigo, who had already discarded that option on his own. “As the senior weapons officer, I have to be available when the captain wants me to be available.”
Joseph gave it some more thought. “Well,” he said finally, “you could try talking to him. You could let him know that all his talk of dying is disturbing you.”
That had occurred to Vigo as well. He had rejected it because he was a Pandrilite—because his people weren’t the kind to impose their values on others. But maybe it was time to break with tradition.
“Perhaps I will do that,” he told Joseph. “Thank you.”
“Hey,” said the security officer, “I’m glad to help. Let me know how it goes, will you?”
Vigo agreed that he would do that.
As Dikembe Ulelo waited for a turbolift on Deck 10, his hands locked behind his back, he considered the contents of the subspace mail he had read to that point.
Commander Wu had been offered a position on another vessel. Lt. Iulus’s sister had given birth to a girl. And Ensign Montenegro’s father had survived a serious illness.
None of this news succeeded in moving the comm officer to any great degree. However, he filed it all away in his mind, knowing he might need to draw on it sometime.
“Dikembe?” someone said, intruding on his thoughts.
Ulelo turned and saw a woman approaching him. A crewman in the science section, judging by her uniform.
But she didn’t look at all familiar to him. And judging by the pucker in the woman’s brow, she wasn’t entirely certain that he looked familiar to her.
Ulelo’s first impulse was to leave the vicinity. To escape. But how could he do that? The Stargazer wasn’t so big a place that he could lose himself once he had been identified.
Eventually, the woman would find him. Better to face her now, the comm officer told himself, than have to explain his abrupt departure at some later date.
The woman’s expression of uncertainty became a smile as she came closer. “It is you,” she said.
“Yes,” Ulelo responded, not knowing what else to say.
“What are you doing here on the Stargazer?” she asked. “I thought you were still working for Lovejoy on the Copernicus.”
The comm officer frowned. Lovejoy was his former captain, the Copernicus his previous assignment.
The woman tilted her head playfully as she regarded him. “What’s the matter?” she said. “Cat got your tongue?”
His frown deepened. Apparently, she had met him prior to his coming to the Stargazer. It was evident from her tone and choice of references. But he still didn’t have a clue as to who she was.
Before he could consider the wisdom of saying so, it came out. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but I don’t know who you are.”
The woman’s smile faded a bit. “Since when did you become such a joker, Dikembe?”
Ulelo had no choice but to remain steadfast in his position. “I’m not joking. If we’ve met before, I don’t recall