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4
"What was that all about?"Brinley set down her mug and flipped her plait over her shoulder.
"What was what about?" I sipped my coffee with its not-quite milk and wrinkled my nose. The more I drank, the more I could taste it. I shouldn't be drinking caffeine this close to bedtime anyway, but I hoped to bump into Danec, Brinley or even Commander J'avet. What can I say, I'm a glutton for punishment.
"The drill." She flopped into a chair and pulled her plait back to the front of her shoulder. "I got to the hangar, but it was over before we could even step foot on the shuttle. It was almost as though…"
"Someone just wanted to interrupt things?" I suggested. For some reason, my mind went to J'avet. I dismissed the thought immediately. For one thing, why would he bother? For another, he undoubtedly had better things to do with his time.
I shrugged. "Maybe it's just a thing they do in the IF. Get everyone to jump up to see how fast they can get to their stations."
Brinley snapped her fingers. "That's probably it. I wonder how we did."
I remembered how slow Danec and I had been, and grimaced. "I would expect they'll test us all again soon." Next time we wouldn't let anyone else down.
Brinley placed her elbow on the table and leaned her head on her fist. "At least life won't be boring."
"That's true," I agreed, "but I hope they don't decide to run drills in the middle of the night."
I've done my share of night shifts, like any other nurse, but I hadn't slept much the night before. We'd had to turn up at the launch site yesterday morning. They'd put us through a health test and information sessions about what to expect on the shuttle and on Agus. We'd each had an individual assessment of our mental health as well. Most people saw a psychologist these days, for one thing or another, and no one so much as blinked. Mental health doesn't have the stigma it once did.
After the interviews, we were housed in a long building, with a small room each. A handful of couples shared, or people who were friends already. The rest of us had a room to ourselves. Of course, the rooms were uncomfortable and sterile and the thrum of air conditioning kept me awake half the night. The couple in the next room kept me awake for the other half. Whoever 'babe' and sweet cheeks' were, they were vigorous and energetic. Lucky them.
"So, how was your date?" Brinley gave me a sly smile.
"Short and sweet," I said ruefully. Much like my last sexual encounter. "He just wants to be friends. I guess that's for the best. We'll both be busy for a long time." I debated whether or not I should mention the commander, when the man himself strode past. My eyes locked on him so hard I wasn't sure I could look away if I wanted to. Damn, the guy would make any woman wet.
Shit. He turned and his gaze fell on me. I would have called it smouldering, until he curled his lip at me.
Asshole.
"Who is that?" Brinley whispered loudly.
"No one," I replied firmly. I looked away and picked up my cup as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. I wanted to look back and see if he'd gone, but I didn't dare.
"No one is hot," Brinley said.
"I think he thinks he is." I sipped my coffee and tucked a stray curl behind my ear. It popped straight back out again.
I heard someone laugh and thought it came from J'avet's direction, but I ignored it.
"He either doesn't like humans or he doesn't like me," I said. Either way, I had no time for him, even if I could imagine his hands on my—
No, I told myself. Leave the attraction to jerks behind on Earth, where it belongs.
There, that was great advice I gave myself. I should start one of those blogs where people ask for advice on their love lives. Oh, who was I kidding? I'd make theirs worse and get tossed out an airlock.
"Jerks are everywhere," Brinley said with a nod.
"Yeah, all over the galaxy," I agreed. Our galaxy at least.
I finished my coffee and stretched my arms over my head. "I might turn in. We have a big day ahead of us."
"Right. Assuming the ship is on time, it should dock around nine am, station time," Brinley said. "It'll be refuelled, cleaned, and ready to head back by two pm."
I was expected to board shortly after docking, to help clean the infirmary and to get my rosters. This was no free trip across the galaxy here. I was expected to work, as least as much as I could with unfamiliar species, for full shifts.
A flutter of nerves tickled the inside of my belly. Not the kind I felt when I spoke to Danec. Those were the size of Earth. This was the size of the moon. Maybe two moons. The possibility of messing up too badly was minimal, I would be watched closely every shift, but I was still going to be on an alien spaceship, headed for a whole new planet. It was the adventure of a lifetime, but it was terrifying.
