Zoe's Tale (Old Man's War, #4)(77)

"All right," I said. "But if Magdy turns into all tentacles, I'm leaving. There are some things I don't need to see."

Enzo laughed. "Fair enough," he said, and I snuggled into him a little. This new boyfriend thing was turning out just fine.

We spent some more time celebrating with our friends and their families. Then, after things had settled down enough, we followed Magdy and Gretchen through the Magellan and toward the crew observation lounge. I thought sneaking into the crew area might be a problem; not only was it easy, but a crew member coming out of an entrance held it open for us.

"Security is not a huge issue here on the Magellan," Gretchen said, back to me and Enzo, then looked down at our clasped hands and smiled at me. She was evil, sure, but she was also happy for me.

The observation lounge was where it was advertised to be, but alas for Magdy's nefarious plans, it was not empty as promised; four Magellan crew members sat at a table, intent in a conversation. I glanced over to Magdy, who looked like he had just swallowed a fork. I found this rather amusing myself. Poor, poor Magdy. Frustration became him.

"Look," Enzo said, and still holding my hand, guided me to a huge observation window. Roanoke filled the view, gorgeously green, fully illuminated with her sun behind us, more breathtaking in person than she was on the monitors. Seeing something with your own eyes makes a difference.

It was the most beautiful thing I think I'd ever seen. Roanoke. Our world.

"Wrong place," I heard, barely, from the conversation at the table to the left of me.

I glanced over at the table. The four Magellan crew there were so engaged in their conversation and so closed in to each other that it looked like most of their bodies were actually on the table rather than in their seats. One of the crew was sitting with his back to me, but I could see the other three, two men and a woman. The expression on their faces was grim.

I have a habit of listening in to other people's conversations. It's not a bad habit unless you get caught. The way not to get caught is to make sure it looks like your attention is somewhere else. I dropped my hand from Enzo's and took a step toward the observation lounge window. This got me closer to the table while at the same time keeping Enzo from whispering sweet nothings in my ear. I kept myself visually intent on Roanoke.

"You don't just miss," one of the crew members was saying. "And the captain sure as hell doesn't. He could put the Magellan in orbit around a pebble if he wanted to."

The crew member with his back to me said something low, which I couldn't hear.

"That's crap," said the first crew member. "How many ships have actually gone missing in the last twenty years? In the last fifty? No one gets lost anymore."

"What are you thinking?"

I jumped, which made Enzo jump. "Sorry," he said, as I turned to give him an exasperated look. I put a finger to my lips to shush him, and then motioned with my eyes at the table now behind me. Enzo glanced behind me and saw the table. What? he mouthed. I shook my head a tiny bit to tell him he shouldn't distract me anymore. He gave me a strange look. I took his hand again to let him know I wasn't upset with him, but then focused my attention back to the table.

" - calm. We don't know anything yet," said another voice, this one belonging (I think) to the woman. "Who else knows about this?"

Another mutter from the crew member facing away from me.

"Good. We need to keep it that way," she said. "I'll clamp down on things in my department if I hear anything, but it only works if we all do it."

"It won't stop the crew from talking," said someone else.

"No, but it'll slow down the rumors, and that's good enough until we know what's really happened," the woman said.

Yet another mutter.

"Well, if it's true, then we have bigger problems, don't we?" said the woman, and all the strain she was experiencing was suddenly clear in her voice. I shuddered a little; Enzo felt it through my hand and looked at me, concerned. I gave him a serious hug. It meant losing the rest of the conversational thread, but at the moment, it's what I wanted. Priorities change.

There was the sound of chairs pushing back. I turned and the crew members - it was pretty clear they were actually officers - were already heading toward the door. I broke away from Enzo to get the attention of the one closest to me, the one who had had his back to me earlier. I tapped him on the shoulder; he turned and seemed very surprised to see me.

"Who are you?" he said.

"Has something happened to the Magellan?" I asked. The best way to learn stuff is not to get distracted, for example, by questions relating to one's identity.

The man actually scowled, which is something I'd read about but had never actually seen someone do, until now. "You were listening to our conversation."

"Is the ship lost?" I asked. "Do we know where we are? Is something wrong with the ship?"

He took a step back, like the questions were actually hitting him. I should have taken a step forward and pressed him.

I didn't. He regained his footing and looked past me to Enzo and Gretchen and Magdy, who were all looking at us. Then he realized who we were, and straightened up. "You kids aren't supposed to be here. Get out, or I'll have ship's security throw you out. Get back to your families." He turned to go.