Bechimo
Dock A
“O’Berin in!” Clarence called as they cleared the hatch. “Bechimo, let Captain Theo know I have the light keeper, and we’re in the galley, awaiting her pleasure.”
“Welcome back, Clarence. Light Keeper yos’Phelium, it is an honor.” The voice was mellow and unflustered, in the mode of House to Guest. It might have been the pilot on duty, greeting them from the bridge.
“Thank you. It is an honor to be aboard,” he answered, and followed Clarence down a clean, well-lit corridor, past a number of sealed doors and into a spacious galley. There were stools and tables, a screen set in one wall—blank at the moment—and a counter bearing various drink dispensers. Past that was a corner, beyond which must be the kitchen.
“Pray find a comfortable place,” Clarence said, over his shoulder as he went past the counter. “I will bring refreshments momentarily.”
Jen Sin gazed about him, soothed by the order, by the promise of people made by the grouped tables and chairs. It recalled the back kitchen at Jelaza Kazone, where one might meet a cousin at almost any hour, foraging a snack, preparing a meal, bent over a book, or playing a game of cards.
His breath caught again, and he pushed the memory aside. His host had bade him be comfortable. The least he could do was—
There was motion at the corner of his eye, near floor level.
He turned, carefully, looking down—at an orange-and-white cat, strolling, insouciant, into the galley.
“Now,” he said, recalling Bechimo’s crew list. “Are you Grakow, or are you Paizel?”
“Orange-and-white’s Paizel,” Clarence called from the kitchen. “Striped-and-grey’s Grakow.”
“Paizel, then,” Jen Sin said. “I am pleased to meet you.”
He dropped lightly to one knee, and offered a respectful forefinger. Paizel considered the digit for a long, unblinking moment, then stepped forward for a courteous sniff, followed by a long cheek rub down to the wrist.
“Everything that is gentle,” Jen Sin murmured. “My thanks to you for a graceful greeting.”
Paizel yawned, displaying a wealth of tiny, sharp teeth, and a dainty pink tongue, before strolling away. Jen Sin rose, went to the table nearest the screen, and swung up onto a stool.
“This will get us started.” Clarence appeared, bearing a tray. “Tell me if you are in need of something more substantial.”
He set out a teapot, three cups and three small plates, then two larger plates—one filled with an assortment of small iced cakes, the second holding a quantity of small yellow muffins. Putting the empty tray on the next table, Clarence poured tea into two cups, putting the first by Jen Sin’s hand, and keeping the other for himself as he settled onto a stool.
Jen Sin picked up his cup, and sipped, as common courtesy demanded, and was pleasantly surprised to find proper Liaden tea. He was no pretender to sophistication, now less than ever, and dared not hazard a guess as to the leaf, but—
“The tea is well chosen,” he murmured. “I thank you.”
“Captain Theo’s favored blend,” Clarence answered. He put his cup aside and gestured at the first plate.
“These chernubia are said by Win Ton and Kara of our crew to be much like home. These”—a nod at the second plate—“are maize buttons, a delicacy from the captain’s home.”
“They are beautiful,” Jen Sin said, sincerely. “And you are the baker?”
“Man’s gotta have a hobby or six to keep him sane,” Clarence said in Terran. “Try what you will, but I’ll just say if you want to sample the maize buttons, you’d better do that before the captain gets here and they disappear.”
Jen Sin smiled. “I am fairly warned,” he said, and took one of the yellow muffins onto his plate, and a chernubia iced in blue.
The maize button was surprisingly sweet, slightly gritty, and oddly compelling. Jen Sin sipped his tea and ate the chernubia, which reminded him of endless hours at receptions, being polite to people one scarcely knew.
“You are the master of your hobby, I think,” he said.
Clarence grinned, but shook his head. “With baking, there’s always something else to learn. More tea?”
“Yes, I thank you.”
His cup was scarcely refilled when the mellow voice said, “Captain Waitley is approaching the galley.”
“Well, there,” Clarence said, and filled the third cup before refreshing his own. The sound of brisk footsteps preceded her somewhat down the corridor, and his cousin Theo was with them, wearing ship togs. Her hair was still unruly and unbound, and her pale cheeks showed pink.
“Cousin Jen Sin,” she said in Terran, sounding quite merry. “I see Clarence is taking good care of you.”
“Clarence is taking excellent care of me,” he answered, which was the truth. Recalling his host’s warning, he put another maize button on his plate.
Theo grinned.
“My reputation precedes me,” she said, slipping onto a stool, and picking up the cup that had been poured for her.
She closed her eyes, and breathed in the steam; sipped and sighed.
Putting the cup aside, she transferred a single maize button from the large plate to her small one, and looked to Jen Sin.
“Which language are you most comfortable in?”
It was a courteous question, though it had an unintended point. Of late, his most comfortable language was the Old Universal dialect the Light had taught him prior to his first awakening, that he and Lorith had spoken between themselves for all of their time together.
“In fact, I am not much accustomed to speaking,” he said, which was a gentler truth. “I am well enough in Terran. If you would rather Liaden, I beg you will do as Clarence and I have done, and go no higher than Comrade.” He picked up his teacup and looked at her. “Trade lacks nuance.”
“It does,” she agreed. “Liaden, then. I need the practice.”
She ate her maize button, and put another on her plate.
“I’m glad Clarence brought you in for a snack. I have a concept to put before you.”
He smiled at her. “Clarence brought me in because I have something to ask you,” he said. “Thus far, we are in Balance. What will you ask?”
“When my crew was talking over how best to get needed tasks done, it was mentioned that Seignur Veeoni has ties to the research station. It was thought that they might lend a work boat, if she asked on our behalf. Could you approach her on that topic?”
The mode was Comrade, and the accent acceptable. But Theo had spoken true, Jen Sin thought; she needed practice.
He sipped tea.
“That is an excellent notion, Cousin, I thank you. I will approach the researcher.”
“It is not my notion. You may thank Stost, when next you see him.”
“I shall make it an object,” he assured her.
Theo put another maize button on her plate.
“Now, you,” she said.
“As I think on it,” he confessed, “I find that I have two topics. The first is that our cousin Gordy, Trader Arbuthnot, has pod space available and proposes to provide the station with necessities and comforts, if only we will send him a list. I have the task in hand, and wonder if there is something you may require, a-ship, or would wish to see on-station.”
Theo sat up straight.
“We should have gone to Edmonton Beacon, after all!” she said, in sharp Terran. “Jen Sin, I’m sorry. We did talk about it, but decided not to!”
“Certainly, the captain decides the ship’s necessities,” he murmured, which was nothing more than a play for time, while he tried to parse what Edmonton Beacon should have to do with Tinsori Light.
“I have been studying the new maps, but am not yet fluent. Edmonton Beacon, I do not—no, I do recall! Did they indeed build that?”
“Not only the Beacon, but six sister stations,” Clarence told him, in Comrade. “Of varying degrees of repute.”
“The point is,” Theo interrupted, still speaking Terran, “we could’ve diverted, and brought you supplies! Shan told us to come quick, so we went with that. But he might’ve expected—”
“Theo,” the mellow voice said, soothingly, from a ceiling speaker, “we brought other necessities. It is why the master trader sent us quickly.”
“What necessities?” she demanded.
“Ourselves,” the voice answered. “The crew, the cats, the norbear ambassador, the Tree—”
“Bechimo,” another voice said. Jen Sin glanced to one side, and saw that the screen was now active, showing a person in a leather jacket much like his own in style. Seeing he was observed, the pilot grinned and inclined his head. “Myself, and Spiral Dance. Good shift to you, Light Keeper. I am Comm Officer Joyita. You—are not surprised.”
“I did speak to Tocohl—or she to me,” Jen Sin said. “She is grateful to you and to Bechimo for your assistance.”
“We’re pleased to share our expertise,” Joyita said.
“A functioning station can only benefit all,” Bechimo added.
“I wonder,” Joyita said, “if I might ask a question.”
Jen Sin looked to him. “Ask.”
“Thank you. I’ve been speaking with Seignur Veeoni regarding station architecture. She tells me that the question of whether the station will be designed for sentience is not hers to make, but sits with Delm Korval.”
Jen Sin spun the stool in order to face Joyita more fully.
“Tocohl has stated her intention to administer the station.”
“Tocohl was not designed to be a station,” Bechimo said. “We don’t doubt that she is perfectly capable of administering the station—as you are, Light Keeper. But, she cannot be Station—no more than you can.”
He considered that.
“There will be an interface, is that your meaning?”
Joyita smiled. “Exactly.”
“So the question arises—which is more efficient: a capable administrator, at a small distance, or one who is the system.” He reached for his cup, weighing light keeper’s melant’i, estimating its limits. The decision could be made to fit within his honor, and done was done. He was startled, on examining the question, to find a decided preference for sentience—which reminded him that his judgment regarding such things was compromised.
He looked to Joyita.
“Seignur Veeoni is correct—the decision lies with Korval. I will put it before the delm.”
Joyita inclined his head.
“Thank you, Light Keeper.”
The phrase was in Terran, and he went into that language for the proper response.
“You are welcome. Thank you for bringing the matter to my attention.”
He turned back to Theo, who was pouring herself more tea. There was a maize button on her plate.
“Do I hear that you have a Tree onboard?” Jen Sin asked.
She nodded. “It gave me the pod for you.”
“You may be interested to know,” Clarence added, in Comrade, “that the Tree we have onboard was originally on Spiral Dance, lashed to the copilot’s chair.”
Jen Sin stared.
“That Tree?”
“Exactly that Tree,” Clarence assured him, and turned to Theo, shifting into Terran. “Pilot Jen Sin would like a tour of Spiral Dance. Told him that was the captain’s decision.”
“Of course he can have a tour,” Theo said. “Though the best guides would be Chernak and Stost.”
She looked at Jen Sin. “They’re contemporaries,” she explained.
He did not blink, though perhaps his fingers tightened slightly around the cup. Captain Theo, he reminded himself, was prone to unlikely events.
He drank off what was left of his tea.
“I would welcome such experts as my guides,” he said, calmly.
“We’ll make sure it happens. Is there anything else we can—”
She turned her head.
The creature entering the galley with a rolling gait was not a cat.
“Hevelin,” Theo said, her tone equal parts fondness and resignation.
“This is the norbear ambassador?” Jen Sin asked.
“That’s right. Don’t let him bully you.”
The norbear came directly to the table, and Theo bent down to lift him into her lap.
“I saved half a maize button for you,” she said, putting the bit into the questing hand-paw.
Jen Sin received the impression that half a button was the least she could do, with echoes of fondness and resignation. Despite the comment, the treat was quickly gone, and Jen Sin found himself the object of study.
He had no direct experience of norbears. Still, it behooved a light keeper to be courteous to an ambassador. He inclined his head.
“Ambassador Hevelin, I am honored.”
The norbear leaned forward, and Theo put her hand around his paunch to steady him as he extended a paw and gently patted Jen Sin on the wrist. He received the impression of greenery, and a breeze sweetened by flowers. A safe bower, protected by wise and loving elders…
He felt tears start, and blinked them away, took a breath—
“Light Keeper, Tocohl calls,” Joyita said. “Ships are entering Tinsori space. They request docking.”