The Tornado Sojourns – Chapter 12 – Planning for the Future

It had been an uneventful voyage and they were making excellent time, thanks to Pulsat and Vanzyl’s repairs and maintenance of the Plasma Turbine Pyroclast Engines which had never run so well all the time she had been on board.

In fact things were going so smoothly Merionwen had plenty of time to think about the future.

She was enjoying having a full complement of crew aboard the Tornado for the first time in 5 years and during the quiet moments she had pondered the possibility of making it permanent.

It was feasible, the Skeets where after all ship less and homeless and with Zerrad well on the way to a full recovery they would need to remedy both of those situations so she thought she would offer them the opportunity to sign on with the Tornado, providing Shiyne and Malena were in agreement before she spoke to the Skeets.

As Malena had finally declared her love for Zerrad she was certain sure she would have no objections as she liked one brother and loved the other but she still needed to ask Shiyne and as she was her Navigator she would have to work closely with whoever occupied the Pilot and Co-pilot seat so she had to be in full agreement.

So she chose to broach the subject when Merri and Shiyne were alone together in the cockpit on the late watch.

“So we’ll be at Delta 500 in less than two days” Merri said

“Yes we’ve made great time” Shiyne agreed but Merri struggled to find the words that would steer her to the question she wanted to ask.   

Shiyne was a telepath and could easily have read Merri’s thoughts but the reason their friendship had endured for so long was she didn’t use telepathy on her friends.

Because of Merri’s inability to find the words she needed, a prolonged silence ensued and finally it was Shiyne who broke it.

“What’s going to happen when we get there?”

“What do you mean?” Merri retorted

“The Skeets and the Healer” Shiyne elaborated “Are we just going to dump them off with the cargo”

“Do you think we shouldn’t?” Merri asked

“Lyris and Zerrad have lost everything, could we not keep them on?” Shiyne asked

“I was going to ask you that” Merri remarked

“Well it’s alright with me” Shiyne said

Merri was relieved to say the least that she was in complete agreement regarding the Skeets so that just left The Healer to discuss.

He was a traveller so to her mind there was no reason why he couldn’t travel with them and there was no doubt having a Healer aboard full time would be a definite plus but she didn’t know how Shiyne would feel about that.

“What about Terrell?” she asked

“What about him?” Shiyne asked suspiciously

“Do you think he would stay on?”

“I think so” she replied vaguely “I mean he might”

“You mean you don’t know?” Merri asked with surprise

“No I don’t” She admitted “I’m having trouble reading him”

“What?” Merri retorted

“But you’ve spent long enough in sickbay or at the mess table with him since we left Alwi to have got in his head countless times”

“I know” she agreed

“You could read him before we left” Merri pointed out

“I know but now I can’t” she admitted

“Do you mean that he’s blocking you?” Merri asked

“No, definitely not” Shiyne responded adamantly “I just can’t read him”

“But…” Merri began and then she remembered a conversation she had with her friend shortly after she joined the crew, when she mentioned that Vann telepaths could not read someone that they loved.

“You love him!” Merri exclaimed

“Nonsense” Shiyne said “I like him that’s all”

“You love him, that’s why you can’t read him anymore” Merri pointed out

“The Vann can’t read the one they love, you told me that”

She did indeed say that, she remembered the conversation well, but she was just passing on what she had been told, Shiyne had never been in love so she had no personal experience of it but she couldn’t argue with the logic, and the thought that he would be getting off at Delta 500 and she would not see him again had left her with an uneasy and unfamiliar feeling.  

“I do love him don’t I?” she said

“Yes” Merri agreed “So why are you still here?”

 

Terrell was not looking forward to the Tornado reaching their destination for a variety of reasons, the primary one being Shiyne, who was completely bald, had cerise coloured skin and purple eyes and when he first saw her he thought she was the most beautiful and striking looking woman he had ever seen, but since being aboard the ship he had found that there was so much more to her than mere beauty and he had fallen for the girl totally.

It was the first time since he had lost his wife that he had even looked at another woman let alone dare to have feeling for one, but he was a realist it was never going anywhere, he knew she was way out of his league but that didn’t stop him from dreaming.

 

Malena had got to know Terrell very well while she was holding vigil at Zerrad’s bedside and as her heart had been opened to love she was sensitive to its presence and she knew there were embers of love between him and Shiyne so she decided to blow on them.

“If you hurry you’ll catch her in the mess room” she said

“Catch who?” he asked

“Our pretty navigator, you know the one you can’t take your eyes off” Malena said

“I think you’re imagining it” he answered as he left the sickbay

“I think you’re besotted” she shouted after him and he was about to unleash a witty retort in response but he was suddenly knocked sideways into the wall.

“Sorry” she said “I wasn’t looking where I was going”

Terrell turned around to face his assailant

“That’s…” he began but that was all he could say as he gazed upon the smiling face of the beautiful Shiyne.

Neither of them knew quite how long they stood there staring at each other or how long they would have continued to stare had Shiyne not broken the spell by kissing him which he reciprocated and the kiss also suspended their concept of time.

And while they embraced in the corridor leading to the sickbay Lyris passed them unnoticed on his way to visit his brother

“This is becoming a bit of a habit” Lyris said to himself “there must be something in the food”