Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1)(58)

Boll, Syra, Capt: How do you know that?

Grant, Kady, Civ: It’s a mystery.

Boll, Syra, Capt: No, seriously, how do you know that? That information was restricted.

Grant, Kady, Civ: I hacked into your secure comms channel and listened to you talking it out with AIDAN.

Grant, Kady, Civ: So here’s the thing, Captain.

Grant, Kady, Civ: You really shouldn’t leave the Alexander. There are people we can rescue on there. You just have to hold your nerve.

Boll, Syra, Capt: Look, I know we’ve all got people we care about over there, but I hope you’ll understand that when I make a decision about what to do, it won’t be in consultation with a teenaged refugee.

Grant, Kady, Civ: Does my refugee status have a particular bearing on the situation, Captain? Or my age, come to that?

Boll, Syra, Capt: Only in that I consider both to be good indicators you don’t have the command experience necessary to advise me. Now, how did you get into my quarters?

Grant, Kady, Civ: Same way I heard you talking to AIDAN. Portal security is one of the first things I learned. Doors, comm channels, those things are the building blocks.

Boll, Syra, Capt: Listen, Miss … ?

Grant, Kady, Civ: Grant. Kady Eleanora Grant.

Boll, Syra, Capt: I know it’s hard—

Grant, Kady, Civ: You have no idea.

Boll, Syra, Capt: We all have people on the Alexander.

Grant, Kady, Civ: I don’t have people. I have a person. The only one I have left, since you forced my mother across to the Copernicus. And I’m not okay with leaving him. There’s still time.

Boll, Syra, Capt: Did you seriously hack the security on my door?

Boll, Syra, Capt: I didn’t know we had anyone left who could do that.

Boll, Syra, Capt: Report to neurogramming within thirty minutes, Miss Grant. We need your skills.

Grant, Kady, Civ: To help you leave the Alexander for dead?

Boll, Syra, Capt: To help keep the people of the Hypatia alive.

Boll, Syra, Capt: Including you, which I suspect is what the person you have on the Alexander would want.

Grant, Kady, Civ: If you think I’m going to help you abandon them, you’re dusted. Please, just think about this. We can do more than sit here scared. We have skills on board.

Boll, Syra, Capt: Miss Grant, I’m sorry. Now, I’m due on the bridge, so if you don’t vacate my quarters in the next thirty seconds, I’ll regretfully summon security.

Grant, Kady, Civ: You remember later that I asked, Captain.

Boll, Syra, Capt: I’ll tell neurogramming to expect you in thirty minutes.

RADIO MESSAGE: COMMAND CHANNEL HYPATIA

Participants: Syra Boll, Captain, Hypatia (Acting)

Mikael “Chatter” Carlin, 2nd Lieutenant, Alexander

Date: 07/30/75

Timestamp: 15:34

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Hello?

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Oh Captain, my Captain?

Boll, S, Capt: I read you, Lieutenant Carlin. But I’m not your captain. Over.

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: How you figure? I’m currently sunning myself aboard your luxurious vessel. Taking in the sights and sounds of Hypatia Hangar Bay Number Two. Ah, bliss.

Boll, S, Capt: It’s not really my vessel. I’m not really a captain at all. I’m only sitting in this chair because the real captain of this ship is lying in the morgue. Over.

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Yeah. I heard about that.

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: And look, I’m real sorry. But you saved our asses. We’d be bingo fuel and drifting black by now if it weren’t for you. So I’d sure as hell salute as you walked past.

Boll, S, Capt: Well, I appreciate that. But I’m still not your captain, Lieutenant. Over.

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Well, if we’re getting technical, I’m not really a lieutenant. I mean, I never went to officer school or anything. I’ve only got the stripes because flying a loader on Kerenza somehow made me qualified to fly a Cyclone up here.

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: So you can call me Mikael.

Boll, S, Capt: That’s not entirely appropriate, Lieutenant.

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Fuck appropriate.

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Your name is Syra, right?

Boll, S, Capt: Correct.

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: You have a nice voice, Syra. Real … I dunno …

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Musical, maybe.

Boll, S, Capt: Well, I appreciate that too, Lieutenant.

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Shucks, ma’am. ’Tweren’t nuthin.’ Sorry if I’m talking too much, by the way. I do that a little when I’m nervous. That’s how I got landed with a callsign like “Chatter.”

Boll, S, Capt: It’s fine, Lieutenant. We’re all a little nervous.

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: I heard that.

Boll, S, Capt: Did you have time to read much poetry driving that loader on Kerenza?

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Um, say again?

Boll, S, Capt: “O Captain! My Captain!” That’s one of my favorite poems.

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: … That’s from a poem?

Boll, S, Capt: Yes. Walt Whitman wrote it. You didn’t know that?

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: Oh. Right. I think I saw it in an old movie once. I dunno.

Boll, S, Capt: Ah. I see.

Carlin, M, 2nd Lt: What’s it about? The poem?

Boll, S, Capt: An old Terran president. But really, it’s about the price of victory. People dying before they get to enjoy the peace they fight so hard for, but fighting all the same.