Metal Boxes (42 page)

He stood and brushed lunch crumbs from the front of his uniform. It was a simple plain
midshipman’s work utility uniform. He glanced at the crowd. There was a knot of midshipmen in the crowd. They were dressed just as he was except for the small collar patch indicating his captaincy. The last time he had approached such a knot of midshipmen, they had dispersed with such swiftness he was sure he must have smelled bad. He had left them alone ever since.

He tossed the remains of his lunch into a trash chute next to the bench
and gestured to his escort. The navy guard turned and trotted to the corridor opening leading to the cross tunnel between towers. Stone was sure the way the person ran it was female, but the escorts stayed sealed up these days and had become little more than anonymous combat suits.

As soon as the
navy guard waved the all clear he started toward the tunnel. He hesitated slightly as he stepped out from under the tree’s canopy. He was working hard not to do that, but sometimes the openness of the tower startled him. He looked up. If he concentrated he could imagine the other side of the tower. He told himself it was just like being in a room, a big room, a very, very big room.

He shook himself and moved toward the tunnel. He did
not call the drascos. He did not have to call them. As usual, they got to the tunnel well ahead of him. They scattered the crowd gathered in the little park area as they rushed between them to reach him before he was out of sight.

“Where to, Captain?” It was the voice of his
navy escort coming from his ear bud.

Stone shrugged
. He was aware that the navy security person was not watching him and could not see the motion. The marine escort behind him was probably walking backwards and could not see him either. If the drascos had not been watching him, he would have thought he had become invisible. Some days it was like Jay and Peebee were the only creatures on the ship that would look him squarely in the eye.

“Let’s head up to the bridge conference room, please.”

“Aye, aye, Captain, the bridge conference room.”

The conference room was crowded when he got there
, buzzing with excitement. The crowd squeezed back to make room for him. Then it squeezed even farther to make room for the drascos. The last time he had tried to leave Jay and Peebee in the atrium they tried to tear the hatch off the bulkhead to get to him. It was an unspoken agreement among everyone present that making room for Stone’s pets was preferable to having two angry and upset drascos running loose in the atrium.

Jay and Peebee liked Hammer
mill’s company more than anyone other than Stone. Hammermill often suited up to wrestle with the drascos, rolling on the deck with them, roughing them up in a way that was not possible without such protective gear. But neither drasco would allow even Hammermill to distract them from being close to Stone.

Stone watched Commander Melendez laughing and slapping officers on the back.

Stone smiled lightly. He was having difficulty generating enthusiasm for much of anything these past few days. He was becoming increasingly lonely, though he was never left alone. Even at night the drascos slept almost on top of him trying to be close. He was also feeling increasingly useless.

Melendez was managing the ship and crew with confidence and skill far beyond Stone’s wildest imagination.
The commander had turned control of the first watch bridge crew permanently over to Light Commander Gubicza, leaving the first officer free to wander the ship and talk to officers and enlisted personnel at random.

Stone thought back to a few nights ago. After a particularly late meeting he found himself alone with Melendez.

“You know, Captain,” Melendez had said. “I am more familiar with the Ol’ Toothless and how she works than I was in the previous two years I have been aboard. Did you know there is a galley down below that makes ice cream out of goat’s milk? I tried it. It was disgusting, but it does have a fascinating flavor.”

Stone smiled
. He remembered his first taste of goat ice cream. He would have mentioned that he had been there and tried that, but in spite of the late hour, the commander was wound up and excited about something.

“Something else
, Captain, I wouldn’t have believed it, but I even look forward to the meetings with Maggot and his E.M.I.S. crew. They are civilians, but I respect their dedication and commitment to their tasks.”

Stone
had nodded as that seemed to be all Melendez required of him.

“I am much more comfortable in the meetings with the various
security details we have set up. I can see why we have such divergent sets of security as they work to secure such divergent areas. Oh, by the way, Lieutenant Vedrian decided to pull the security detail from Commander Wright. Maggot assured her he had cleaned her staff out of any criminal involvement. After all, her staff is by far the smallest of any tower and it is harder to bring in a fake cow than a fake shipping container.”

Stone laughed, “I can imagine that even I could spot a fake cow.”

Melendez laughed heartily and then quieted. “Please take this as a compliment and in the spirit it was given, but you may be the most enjoyable captain I have ever served under and it may be because you don’t know what you are doing. It leaves me able to move about and run the ship without the burden of appearing aloof and apart like a captain. You are really getting the hang of that haunted captain look, Mister Stone.”

“Thank you, Commander. It is not as hard a look to come by as one would imagine.”

Melendez said thoughtfully, “The one really big fly in the ointment is the arrests under the E.M.I.S. orders. I wonder if I would have taken these so hard a month ago. Now I feel like each arrest is like a stab in my back. These are my people who have betrayed not just the Emperor and the navy, but me.”

An exceptionally loud voice brought Stone back to the present.

“Captain!” Melendez shouted over the din. He had spotted Stone coming into the bridge conference room. “Goobie figured it out!”

“Good for Goobie
! What is ‘it’, Commander?” Stone shouted back.

“That ‘it’ Captain
, is the question of the day, the week and the month. Your question from day one; can we hijack the IFF on Hyrocanian mines,” Melendez laughed. “Goobie figured it out.”

Goobie laughed, “I can’t take all the credit. I’ve been playing ‘Iron Commander’ for days on end, trying to figure out how your cousin beat you. I found a
spacer third class in tower four on the third watch who kicked my rear end for three days in a row until she showed me how to manipulate the signal. We rotated it against the Hyrocanian signals until we found a match and with a little twisting and prodding we managed to pervert and hijack the signal. We not only can shut off their IFF, but we can turn their own mines back on them.”

“That is very good news,
Commander Gubicza,” Stone said. “I hope you gave credit to the spacer third class for her help in your reports.”

Goobie laughed. “Credit? I am going to marry her and let her have my children. A woman that talented
is sure to make me rich and will give me children who are smart enough to take care of me in my old age.”

Stone was
not sure whether the man was joking or not.

Melendez said, “The
first watch bridge crew has run dozens of simulations using every Hyrocanian signal in our database. They are sure it works.”

“That is outstanding news, Commander. Everyone involved deserves more thanks tha
n I can give them.”

“You deserve credit too, Mister Stone
,” Melendez said. “This was your idea from the beginning. You started the ball rolling. Still, there is one minor problem for the engineers. The interference signal must come from within a few thousand kilometers of the broadcasting Hyrocanian ship.”

“Oooo
h,” Stone moaned. “That doesn’t sound like fun duty at all. I think I would rather go back to third watch warehouse three whiskey.”

“
It is practically in the enemy’s laps, but they will lick the problem, Mister Stone,” Melendez laughed. “The engineers are saying it should only take a few weeks and they can rig up a signal relay probe that we can shoot into the area.”

“Weeks?” Stone said. “We only have days until we jump into a combat zone.”

“Weeks, Captain,” Melendez replied. “Navigation tells me we only have twenty-two hours until we jump back to normal space. Plus, the odds are very high against us meeting any Hyrocanian fleet. Besides, we wouldn’t be the test crew anyway. Navy research and development will work all of the bugs out of the signals and the probe relay. The Admiralty will plan its use and, if we implement it right, we can bring the Hyrocanians to their knees in one fell swoop.”

“Still, we have reason to celebrate.” Stone said. “With only twenty-two hours to normal space jump we don’t have much time to party. We may have to hold off partying until we leave the combat zone.”

“Of course, Captain,” Melendez grinned. “I swear Mister Stone, you think more and more like a real captain every day.”

“Thank you, Commander, I think
,” Stone grinned back. “By the way, how are the fleet supply bundles for load out going? Can you get them finished in time?”

Melendez laughed
, “We are done now. Once the crews got the idea behind what we were doing they jumped into it with a will. Um…you may owe a couple a crews a keg party as a reward for their work.”

“I think I can afford a few kegs.”

“Oh no, Mister Stone. I am buying the kegs. I just let them think it came from the captain. I hope you don’t mind. It carries more significance that way.”

“Whatever you think best, Commander
,” Stone said. “Who am I to argue with success?”

Melendez looked at Stone carefully and lowered his voice. “Then don’t argue with me now, Mister Stone. We are more prepared for a combat insertion than
I ever have ever seen on this ship. We are ready and we have very little to do between now and the jump. So, you go relax: watch a vid, read a book, write a letter, eat some ice cream, take a long shower, get some sleep. No work between now and 0700 hours tomorrow. Do you understand me, Mister?”

Stone nodded
, “Yes, Commander: ice cream, shower, book and bed.”

“Good, then you get out of here and let us celebrate with Goobie. No offense, but
a captain can be a downer on a good party.”

Stone wandered down to the galley
that served goat’s milk ice cream. He hoped to run into Commander Wright or her crew. He hoped against hope that if he ran into them he would also run into Allie. The dining area was almost empty when he walked in. What few diners were there finished quickly and left as soon as they realized the captain, his security team and his drascos had invaded their quiet facility.

Stone sighed
, grabbing some ice cream and wandered to a table. After his third spoonful he tossed bowl onto the table with the single scoop of ice cream half eaten. As much as he hated to admit it he was coming to the point where he agreed with Grandpa that ice cream lost its flavor after the third spoonful. Still, this batch seemed to be flavorless from the start.

He stared into the distance for a while, not actually thinking of anything except home and how comfortable it would be to go back to a time when no one expected anything of him and strangers did
not run away when he walked into the room. It took him a while to realize there was a petty officer standing at attention waiting to be recognized.

“I am sorry, Petty Officer
,” Stone said. “My mind was elsewhere.”

“
Sir, I am sure that the captain has many things on his mind. I am sorry to interrupt,” she said.

“That is fine, Petty Officer. It is a welcome interruption
,” He almost corrected the woman about calling him ‘sir’. His rank demanded that he be addressed as mister. His station meant that he should be called captain. When he saw the earnestness on her face he forgot the correction.

“Well,
sir. A lot of us been studying your drascos. I mean as much as we can. You know Commander Wright? Well, yes you do, anyway, she comes in here a lot. She says that Jay and Peebee breath carbon dioxide and breath out oxygen, right?”

Stone nodded. “That is correct, Petty Officer.
It is just the opposite of human lungs.”

“And she says they eat plants that are rich in carbon dioxide, too. So a couple of us got together and built this generator thing.” She gestured at a crude contraption on the
deck at her feet. “It puts out carbon dioxide, and see, if you put vegetables in there it will infuse the CO
2
into the vegetables. Do you think they would like that?”

Stone looked at the generator. He thought it looked like the remains of a
deck buffer. His security team had swept the room before he came in, so he doubted it was dangerous. “Petty Officer, turn it on and let’s see how it works.”

The woman grinned and waved a couple
of stewards over. Each carried a huge tray of fresh vegetables. The Petty Officer dumped one tray into a hopper and pushed a button. She put the other tray on a nearby table.