Linesman [02] Alliance by S. K. Dunstall

Author:S. K. Dunstall [Dunstall, S. K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780698187672
Goodreads: 25716622
Publisher: Ace
Published: 2016-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

* * *

AFTERWARD, Ean went to the fresher, but he couldn’t clean Vega’s “monster” accusation from his memory.

He eavesdropped unashamedly on the lines.

Vega called Helmo and said she couldn’t make dinner. Helmo fixed her with a stare Abram would have been proud of, and said, “Captain’s orders.”

“I outrank you.”

“On my ship, I outrank everyone unless it’s to do with the welfare of Crown Princess Michelle. I will see you at dinner, Commodore.”

Afterward, he listened in on Helmo, in Michelle and Abram’s workroom—where Ean would normally have gone but he didn’t feel it was appropriate right now. Helmo sat on Ean’s couch. No one sat on Abram’s couch.

Michelle was fresh from a shower, too. Ean could see it in the way the hair curled damply around her face.

“Vega is right when she says you are personally involved. She thinks that is coloring your judgment.”

Ean had never heard Helmo speak so bluntly to Michelle.

“Do you think it is?” Michelle asked.

“Not in how important Lambert is. Just in the way you deal with it. He scares people. He scares me sometimes, and after today’s demonstration, he scares me more than he used to.”

Helmo had suggested Ean use life support. Had he simply not realized the effect it would have.

“He doesn’t scare me,” Michelle said.

“He should.”

“But—”

Helmo spoke over the top of her. “Recognize that other people feel differently. You have succeeded today in showing Vega why she should protect Lambert. Or destroy him. Now that you have shown her he’s a ticking bomb, tonight you have to convince her that he’s your bomb, and you control what sets him off.” Helmo stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve a dinner party to prepare for.”

Ean waited until Helmo had gone before he entered the workroom.

Michelle looked up and smiled wryly. Her dimple showed. “My bomb,” she said.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”

“Lines are lines, Ean. That’s what they do.”

Some lines should learn human manners. It wasn’t polite to eavesdrop.

“Besides, I’d only have to explain it to you if you hadn’t.” Michelle crossed her arms across her chest, almost defensively. “Eventually all level-five linesmen will be able to listen in, I suppose.”

Listening in to the ship was more an overall thing, much like what he’d had to do earlier to take down the lines. “Line five can only listen on comms.” He thought about what he could do with a comms. “I think a level-five linesman can move comms from one channel to another. Divert it, multiply it, or even make their own connections. But they still need something to get the messages, something for it to come out on.”

“That’s a relief,” Michelle said. “One of you is enough for the moment.” She grimaced. “I’m sorry I put you through that. Especially since it didn’t have the desired result.”

“It’s fine. I’ve a thick skin.” After learning what the other high-level linesmen thought about him, Ean should be inured to people thinking he was a freak. Vega wasn’t much different. He leaned over and gave Michelle an awkward hug.

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