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Cloud three months before. She came aboard with visible bruises on her face and arm and some not so obvious ones as well. Pip found her a bit disconcerting because she claimed to be the daughter of a South Coast shaman. Personally, I thought if there is such a thing as a shaman’s gift or power—whatever you wanted to call it—I really believed she might have it. There was too much we really didn’t understand in the universe for me to say it didn’t exist or wasn’t possible. She certainly had the magic touch with biscuits. Cookies biscuits were good, but not even he could match her results. I wondered if that bothered him, or if he saw it as a challenge.
    Seeing them working together, I also wondered if maybe Cookie wasn’t a bit of a shaman himself. Specialist First Chef Ralf al-M’liki from the M’bele sector was the undisputed king of the galley, but also a bit strange. It was nothing you could put your finger on, and in a good way, but there was no getting around that he knew things others did not. I always chalked it up to intuition and good observational skills, but whatever it was, I saw that same mysterious quality in Sarah. Together they were amazing.
    Pip stood next to Sarah at the serving line and he flashed his trademark grin at me. “Hey, Ish, we need to talk. Meet me here at 14:00?”
    “You bet.” Whatever Pip had in mind was usually distracting and often humorous.
    “Thanks. Now move along. People are trying to get fed here.” He waved his serving spoon.
    As I surveyed the crowded mess deck for an empty seat, I realized how much I missed him. When I had worked on the mess deck, Pip and I were joined at the hip. Now we had to make a special effort. It wasn’t because he was all that busy, but because I was now on the watch stander merry-go-round. Opening that door started me thinking of other people I missed, like Alvarez, the Second Mate from the Duchamp . Talk about a long distance non-relationship. About a hundred billion kilometers separated the Lois from the Duchamp , which was over in the Bink system. I would occasionally bury my face in my civilian jacket she had worn just to catch her scent. Gods, but I could be such an idiot.
    I settled at a table to eat my lunch, plagued by the same set of questions that was supposed to be puddled in the back of my head, ripening. Who am I? What did I want?
    “You seem even more distracted than normal, Ish,” Sandy Belterson said from across the table. Specialist Three (Astrogation) Sandra “Sandy” Belterson was what my mother would have called “a peach.” She had been on brow watch that first day when Pip picked me up at the shuttle and as such was the first person I had met on the ship.
    “Hi, Sandy. You might say that. Things have been a bit weird this trip.”
    She laughed. “They’ve always been weird, Ish. You’re just starting to notice.”
    I had to admit there was probably more to that than I wanted to believe.
    “So? Tell yer Aunt Sandy. What’s on your mind?”
    “Well, I’ve been taking stock of where I am and where I’m going. Just coming out here on the ship was a big step and I’ve learned so much.” I sighed and ate some of the lamb and pasta. It was scrumptious.
    “So, what’s the problem?”
    “Mr. von Ickles asked me to consider the academy.”
    “At Port Newmar?”
    I grabbed another bite before continuing. Garlic laced the rich lamb and I was hungrier than I thought. Watch standing will do that.
    “Yeah, and when I mentioned it to Brill she’s been persnickety ever since.”
    I saw a twinkle in her eye that made me think she was enjoying my discomfort too much.
    “Am I entertaining you?” I asked.
    “Yes, actually. Men can be pretty dense sometimes. Let me ask you, how would you feel if Brill left the ship?”
    “Devastated, of course.”
    “Well, you think she doesn’t feel the same way?”
    I had to digest that along with the lamb for a tick. “Okay, point taken. But she’s the one who prompted me