Diane was waiting at the ladder. “You think she’s going to ream him out?”
I shrugged. “She didn’t say much to you. The infraction isn’t worth a reaming. If he’d just left you out of it, I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it. I’m partially to blame as well. I should have noticed. I’ve been pretty disoriented what with changing sections and trying to get used to watch standing and all.”
“Well, what’s done is done. Let’s get some lunch.” As she turned, she asked, “Did you mean what you said about two brilliant women?”
I chuckled. “Yeah, of course.”
“You couldn’t have said beautiful women?”
“Well, that part seemed obvious.”
She stopped ahead of me on the ladder and looked back. “Really? You think I’m as pretty as Brill?”
“Honestly? I think you are both amazing on so many levels that being gorgeous doesn’t even compete with the rest.”
“Damn, you’re good! Do you think that stuff up on the fly?”
“No, I have a team of writers who think it up for me and communicate via an implant in my ear. Now, do ya think you could move it? I’m getting hungry.” I laughed.
She laughed, too, and continued up the ladder.
“And, Diane?”
She looked back again.
“Don’t be too mad at him. He didn’t mean any harm.”
She gave a little I heard you but I’m not sure what I think about it yet shrug and scampered up the ladder.
When we got to the mess deck, we found a table and saved a seat for Brill. Cookie had, indeed, prepared lamb with some green beans and potatoes. The succulent meat was delicately seasoned with just salt, pepper, and a trace of garlic. It was utterly delightful and I ate every bite. Brill showed up about ten ticks later and took the seat we had saved for her.
“I gotta give ya credit, Ish,” she said as she sat. “The section has been plenty lively since you joined us.”
I blushed. “I’m sorry. I really only want to do a good job.”
She grinned and winked at Diane. “It’s okay. We were getting into a rut. This has bounced us out of it pretty well. Now, about that exam…” She pulled out her tablet and pulled up a quiz and started asking me questions.
Diane offered encouragement in the beginning, but the longer it went on she ended up just sitting and watching. Her head bobbed back and forth from me to Brill and back again, like she was watching some kind of tennis match.
Finally, Brill came to the end and grinned. “Seventy-eight!” she said triumphantly.
“Yeah, but what test?” I asked her.
“Spec two.”
“But I haven’t studied spec two,” I protested.
She wagged her eyebrows at me. “Think of how well you’ll do once you have.”
Diane’s eyes went wide. “That was amazing.”
“Okay, Ish,” Brill said, “you’re on midwatch tonight and then afternoon tomorrow, right?”
I was so in the groove as Rhon had called it, that I just nodded. I did not even need to look any more.
“Hit the tablet on spec two tonight. Pay attention to the sections on water purification and distillation—those were the questions you did the worst on. I’ll work with you tomorrow afternoon and we’ll see where we are after that.” Her tablet bipped and she headed out. “Time to get back to work.”
Diane and I were off duty, so we sat there for a while. “You were amazing,” she said.
I shrugged. “I guess I picked up more than I thought.”
“You decided not to go for the spec one? I thought Brill said she thought you could pass it.”
“She was being overly optimistic. I’ve been wading through the material, but I really don’t have the math background to understand a lot of what I read. I picked up pieces based on the context, but that’s one of the reasons I got so frustrated. I’d been studying for over a month and I just could not get my arms around it.”
“You seemed to have picked up enough, though.”
“Maybe.”
She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Okay.” I grinned. “Yes, I seem to have picked up a lot. The theory and background I could follow in the lessons. It was when they got into the explanatory math and science that I got lost.”
“Well, you got a month of watches to get it together. You can almost pass it now. You’re going to out rate me soon!”
We split up then and I stuck my head in the galley to see Pip and Sarah. “Would you guys have a few ticks around 14:00 to get together in deck berthing?” I asked.
“Yup,” Pip said. “Is this about your little project?”
“Yeah, I need to line up one more player, but if you two can be there, I think we can get a jump on Dunsany.”
“I’ll be there,” Sarah said with a smile.
I waved and went off in search of Sean.