Tolly and Hazenthull’s Private Quarters
The comm buzzed.
Tolly opened an eye.
“Gotta remember to put out a do not disturb when we go off-shift,” he muttered.
“Is there such a thing?” Hazenthull wondered from her curl around him.
“I’ve heard tell—”
The comm buzzed again.
“If you answer,” Haz said, “it will stop making that annoying racket.”
“There’s that.”
He extended an arm and tapped the comm.
“Tolly Jones.”
“Mentor!” exclaimed a cheery and, despite it all, welcome voice. “Did I wake you?”
“Yeah, and Haz, too. Our fault. We gotta do better about filing our schedules. You in-station?”
“I arrived last shift. I have been having such fun talking with Tocohl, and Joyita, and Bechimo—and Catie! We’ve quite decided that I will be her aunt, and that she must feel free to ping me with questions, or just to chat! I’ve never had a niece.”
“And Catie’s never had an aunt, I’m betting,” Tolly said, closing his eyes. “Disian, this is our off-shift and Haz an’ me gotta get a little more rest. Is there anything I can help you with right now, or can I call you back when I’m all the way awake?”
“By all means call me back, so that we can talk about the party! But, yes, Mentor, I did want to tell you something specific. There is a ship docked at this station—Eltoro—from the Old Universe. He…went missing a few years ago now, on his way to pick up a temp-crew. We were on cordial terms, and I pinged him, but—”
Tolly felt himself tense. Around him, Haz sighed.
“He’s not there, Mentor. I can see a tile-and-rack system on my scans, but no timonium.”
“You tell the light keeper?”
“I told Catie, who judged it not an emergency, since Eltoro has been docked for some number of days. She put the information at the top of Light Keeper dea’Judan’s queue, so he’ll have it first thing he comes on duty.”
“Good. That’s a good plan. If there’s no active trouble being made, we can prolly let it rest a couple hours more. I’ll call you when I’m on duty and we’ll catch up, right?”
“Right. Sleep well, Mentor—and Hazenthull, too. Disian out.”
Tolly closed his eyes—and opened them again.
“Party?” he said.