Page 129 of Every Almost

Charlie walked in and Reyna watched her entire body settle into instinct. She watched as her posture shifted and her eyes went sharp. Her hands, which had been at her sides, rose slightly, as Charlie began running her fingers against the nearest metal surface, as though she was reading all the data the room held within its walls.

"Captain." The voice came from behind a console bank on the far side. A man stood, straightened to his full height, which was considerable, and walked toward them. "I wasn't expecting you."

"Cael Rask, this is Charlie Wickett," Reyna said, indicating to Cael and Charlie respectively. "Charlie, Cael is the Chief Engineer here on the Emberkind." Charlie dropped her hands and turned from Reyna to Cael with wide eyes.

"No kidding."

"And Cael, Charlie arrived aboard the Emberkind just last week."

"The human." Cael's gaze moved to Charlie and stayed there.

"Cael has been the Emberkind's Chief Engineer for twelve years," Reyna began. "I hired him during a troublesome year on the Emberkind and we necessitated the need to fill critical roles after losing the original captain."

"Something you'd be familiar with, Ms. Wickett," Cael added, lifting his chin to Charlie. "A PERS accident."

Reyna saw Charlie turn fully towards her before she spoke. "You lost your captain in a PERS accident?"

Her voice was quiet and remorseful, but kind. Always kind. Reyna was beginning to understand kindness to be a fundamental core trait of Charlie Wickett.

"A tale for another time," Reyna said, looking into Charlie's eyes to communicate her true promise to that before turning back to Cael. Charlie nodded gently so only Reyna could see.

"Well then, yes, Cael, I guess I do have something similar there," Charlie said. "It's very nice to meet you, either way," Charlie extended her hand. The handshake again. Cael looked at it, then at Reyna.

"It's an Earth greeting," Reyna said. "You take her hand and shake it."

Cael did, perfunctorily, taking her hand with barely a touch and as brief as he could manage, with the clear intention of putting it down as soon as possible.

"Welcome aboard," he said flatly.

Reyna watched Charlie register the dismissal but immediately move on.

Fast learner.

Charlie walked away from where she and Cael stood, moving to look at the engine housing. She watched as she raised her hand and stop just short of touching it.

Reyna could almost feel Charlie's want to feel the engine here, in its home, where it lives and breathes and moves. If she didn't know any better, she would think she could see the energy between the engine of her ship and Charlie's fingers, pulling towards each other like magnets.

Then, Charlie did make contact against the metal, and it felt as though the ship breathed deeply. Charlie's palm was flat, her fingers spread, her eyes closed. She was listening to those machines, touching the metal as though it were speaking to her. And perhaps it was. Charlie seemed to listen through her fingertips, her strong hands working across the housing as if it were telling her where to go, what to find, and any assortment of other pieces of data only Charlie could hear.

Reyna had watched Cael work in this room for twelve years, and she had never once seen him register with the engines like Charlie was doing right now, directly in front of both of them.

Seconds passed and Charlie continued to move around the housing, hand trailing, head tilted. Cael watched from where he stood next to Reyna with an expression that hovered between boredom and territorial awareness.

It was then that Maren arrived at a station nearby, her violet-gray eyes noticing Charlie and starting to track her with an expression of curious interest and notability.

Suddenly, all eyes turned to Charlie as she stopped. Reyna watched her pull her hand away from the housing, look at it, and then look at the console nearest to her. Before she could register, Charlie turned to her and set her eyes on Reyna.

"Your engine configuration is suboptimal."

The room went still.

"I'm sorry?" Reyna asked with a scoff.

Cael straightened. "Excuse me?"

"The engines," Charlie said.

But Reyna noticed Charlie wasn't looking at Cael. She was looking right at Reyna.