The door to the bridge opened and Nafti came in, wearing a battered environmental suit.
“You were wrong to trust those bots,” Nafti was saying. He tapped on his suit. “You should be wearing one of these. You should go through the decontamination just like that woman did.”
Yu didn’t say anything. He had to concentrate on getting the medical lab back on line. Whatever the hell that woman was doing—good or bad—it worried him.
He was hoping it was just the new medical personas causing a glitch in the system, but if that was the case, so far he couldn’t find it.
“You’re not listening!” Nafti said.
Yu sighed. He hadn’t been listening. But he lied. “I am listening. You don’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand?”
“That you’re a hypochondriac.”
“What?”
“You got a headache when she started pounding. Then the canny woman mentions contaminants, which all ships have, and you go off the deep end. You put on that suit, which, by the way, looks like it might have some integrity issues, and you go all over the ship looking for contamination, forgetting that the suit is probably contaminated from its contact with the hold.”
Nafti looked down. The suit creaked as he did so, and Yu saw a rip along the neck.
“I did carry the wrong cargo in the hold,” Yu said, “and I clearly didn’t double-check whether or not the bots were full. I thought they worked. Obviously they didn’t. But the ship is fine or we wouldn’t have been allowed in and out of the ports, especially the ports in the Earth Alliance.”
Which wasn’t really true. He had dozens of ways to make sure his ship wasn’t thoroughly inspected.
“Honestly?” Nafti sounded vulnerable.
“Yes, honestly,” Yu said. “Remember that the holds have their own environmental systems. I showed you that when I hired you years ago. You asked about it.”
Nafti reached up and removed the helmet. His face was covered with beads of sweat and his skin was red. Obviously the suit’s environmental system hadn’t worked properly either.
Yu tapped a few areas on the security monitor, trying to get access to the medical lab.
“I did ask, didn’t I?” Nafti said.
“Yes,” Yu said.
“I’m not a hypochondriac,” Nafti said.
“Then what are you?”
“A worrier.”
“What would you have done if this entire ship were contaminated and I refused to pay for your medical help?” Yu asked.
“It’s not, right?” Nafti asked.
Yu ran his hand along the security board. “What did I just say?”
“You said it wasn’t.”
“Then maybe you should believe me,” Yu said, “and stop thinking about the authorities.”
“I wasn’t,” Nafti said.
“Deny that you would demand a full decontamination of the ship when we got to the next port,” Yu said.
“It was only sensible if the ship’s contaminated.”
Yu leaned forward. “Think, you dumbass. What happens when you get a full decon?”
“The ship gets inspected…” Nafti’s voice trailed off. “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. Do you know how many unapproved systems I have on this ship?”
“Is that why you’ve never had an inspection?”
“What do you think?” Yu snapped.
Nafti wiped at his face with his gloved hand. “Sorry.”
“You should be,” Yu said. “When I hired you, I demanded your full trust. You violated that today.”
“I got scared.”
“I know.” Yu double-checked the security board a final time. “Take off the suit.”
“I’m not sure I should.”
“It’s got a rip in the back. It never worked right. We’ve got to destroy the thing.”
Nafti reached around back, then stuck a gloved finger inside the rip and started. Apparently, he had touched his own skin. He cursed.
“Next time, let me do the thinking, okay?” Yu said. “I didn’t hire you to think.”
Nafti unhooked the front of the suit. The fasteners still worked. They opened themselves quickly once he started the sequence.
“Sorry,” Nafti said again.
He stepped out of the suit and left it in a pile near the navigation controls.
“I need you to get back to work,” Yu said.
“Can I go to my quarters first? I’d like to change.”
And he’d probably shower and linger, making sure he hadn’t contracted anything from the flawed suit.