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”
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