"I was thinking this was better than that last hide-and-ambush game we played in the simulator room." Tress gestured around at the narrow winding path through a tunnel of flowering vines.
"Because
it's real." Jayna nodded and grinned.
"Because
nobody is going to jump out of hiding and scream at us."
"And
try to pick us up and carry us away," Dafna added, laughing.
They came out of the tunnel then, into an area that was clear all the way up to the domed ceiling of the arboretum. Starlight shone down on them, with streaks of light coming from the right. Tress thought about the map of Sheffroab Station, and decided that light came from the Fleet docks, where ships were repaired or upgraded or expanded. The Defender was going through that right now.
Her father growled a lot more lately, ever since they got their orders to come to Sheffroab. Being Chief Engineer, Jasper Lore was the highest authority. Everything had to pass his inspection, and he needed to understand everything before it was added to or done to the ship. At the same time, she had seen him just sit and grin and rub his hands together and sometimes even laugh as he read through the hundreds of screens worth of specifications and descriptions. Tress thought he was excited, and maybe even having fun -- but he growled so much more lately. She planned to ask her mother, after thinking about the puzzle for a few days, but today Treinna was busy preparing to welcome a new crewmember. Lt. Kewsaq was a linguist and would be in Treinna's department and under her command. One of the ship's counselors could have handled the task of greeting the new linguist and her younger brother, getting them settled in their quarters, and taking them through orientation. Treinna didn't want to do it that way. She even told Tress that the Defender was family, and that meant everyone who joined the crew had to be treated like newly discovered distant relatives, from the day they reported for duty.
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