They were getting closer to Arroxan Prime. If he didn’t do something, they’d arrive and things and people would still be confusing.
He needed to talk to someone. He wanted that someone to be Riina.
He went back to the Earth data he’d downloaded. Surely there was something in there about how to talk to a woman who used to be your friend and was now giving off strange vibes?
This wasn’t the first time the team had viewed the data that Dr. Walker had sent from Arroxan Prime. Rinna wondered if everyone else was as confused as she was. It didn’t help reminding herself she wasn’t a geologist. She was an astrophysicist. And a scientist. That should help with comprehension.
Only it didn’t.
“If we can solve the problem planet-wide, it might be possible for us to get in and get out without widening our first contact exposure,” she said, into the silence that had followed the viewing.
“Are we sure we’ve received all the data available?” Veirn asked the question, its voice coming from the speaker system.
Shouldn’t Veirn know the answer to that question? Rinna frowned.
“Are you showing gaps in the data, Veirn?” she asked.
“It is possible that gaps occurred while Dr. Walker’s suit was recording events,” the AI said, rather than giving a direct answer.
“I’m having a little trouble with the geology,” Riina confessed.
“There’s a lot of anomalous data,” Lt. Dish said.
They all turned to look at her. This was the first time she’d done more than supply snacks to eat during the viewings.
“Anomalous?” Tim asked the question, which was a relief.
Riina was tired of being the only one who wasn’t sure what was going on.
“Well, Dr. Walker himself makes several comments about the geology on Arroxan Prime being different from Earth geology. He doesn’t seem to be sure what he’s seeing and experiencing.”
“You are familiar with Earth geology?” Riina asked.
Lt. Dish blinked a couple of times and then nodded. Riina had the sense that the lieutenant was surprised Riina didn’t know this.
“It wasn’t in the file I received from the general,” Riina said, trying not to sound defensive. She already had, she’d had to face, issues with the young woman. She was so…lovely. It shouldn’t be annoying that even the robot, Trac, tended to watch her when she was in the room. Certainly, the captain and Tim also appeared to have trouble keeping their eyes off her.
She knew from something she’d overheard that “dish” was an Earth term for very nice looking, and that the Lieutenant was appropriately named. Lovely Dish.
“It’s like her parents knew, even when she was a baby,” one Earth woman had said. “If she wasn’t so nice, I’d hate her, but you can’t.”
“No,” her companion had said, followed by a sigh that seemed to Riina to indicate regret.
They wanted to hate her but couldn’t. There seemed to be more there to understand about Earth culture, but over the few days of their journey, Riina did get the part of wanting to hate Lt. Dish. And not quite managing it. She found it much harder to like her.
“Interesting,” Lt. Dish said, her head tipped to one side so that strands of her blonde hair dangled against the perfect curve of her cheek.
It took a moment for Riina to connect the lieutenant’s statement with hers. Right. It was interesting that General Halliwell hadn’t fully disclosed Lt. Dish’s credentials.
“Can you think of a reason why the general didn’t want us to know you had geologic knowledge?
“No.” Lt. Dish shook her head, making random strands of her hair appear to dance.
It was really annoying. And kind of endearing, but mostly annoying.
No, what was really annoying was the look in Tim and the captain’s eyes as they watched Lt. Dish.
She wanted to blame Lt. Dish for the reason they weren’t making much progress in figuring out just what had happened during Dr. Walker’s time beneath the surface of Arroxan Prime, but the captain had no reason to know any of this stuff.
