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  Each tower was configured differently depending on the need. Large sections of warehousing was left without gravity or atmosphere for long term storage.

  Stone was assigned to tower three. The tower could have complete gravity and atmosphere or not, depending on what was being stored. The gravity grid was laid out so that ‘down’ was in the direction of the hull and ‘up’ was toward the center of the tube. The warehouse spaces inside tower three were sectioned, looking like dozens of tubes nested inside each other. The value of the cargo increased closer to the center of the tube.

  Stone’s station was at the bottom very near the hanger end. It was not the most glamorous job in the navy, but it was one he had done repeatedly on the Golden Boulder as part of his family’s commercial freight business.

  On the Periodontitis, the procurement department would purchase required items and arrange for the product to be delivered to navy dockyards. Receiving personnel verified each order with what was being delivered and arranged for the product to be shuttled to the appropriate warehouse. Traffic personnel verified deliveries were going to the correct warehouse and moved the items to the warehouse hatch. Stone’ crew verified that what was being shuttled in was where it was supposed to be, and put it on the correct shelf until someone needed it. When someone asked for the product, his crew pulled it out of stock, and upon verification of the right form, gave the product to the requisitioner.

  The difference in handling cargo for the navy and for commercial ships was that on commercial ships all of the functions were performed by the same people instead of using a different group for each task. Stone had grown up putting boxes on the proper shelf.

  For the thousandth time Stone asked himself why time in the Empire’s navy was supposed to help him in later life on a family freighter. He already knew how to put boxes on the shelf. He already knew how to take boxes off the shelf. He even knew how to get yelled at. His Aunt Ruth made Vaarhoo look like a rank amateur.

  Stone suddenly realized he had fuzzed out while Vaarhoo was ranting. He had no idea what Vaarhoo had been saying. It did not matter. The whole counseling session would be recorded and placed in his file so he and any future supervisors or promotion board could review it at any time.

  “Do you understand me, Midshipman Stone?” Vaarhoo shouted.

  Stone knew he had not been listening close enough to know the topic he was supposed to understand, but he also knew there was only one answer. “Yes, sir. I understand.”

  “Good. Now get out of my office,” Vaarhoo snarled.

  Stone spun on his heel as he was taught in basic training and marched from the lieutenant’s office. He checked the time on his personal assistant. Ship time said it was lunch time. He decided it might be a good time to grab what his stomach told him would be a midnight snack.

  Stone stopped at a cluster of elevators. One deck up was the procurement department. His finger almost pushed the up button to call for an elevator. He had been intending to stop by and present his regards to First Lieutenant Aldamani. He had promised the lieutenant’s parents back on Lazzaroni Station that he would look up their son. Good manners and navy protocol dictated that he make the effort to meet the man, as he had made contact, however slight, with the man’s family. The navy protocol guides also stated that the lower ranking officer should make every effort to present themselves when it was reasonable to assume the senior officer would be present. Whether the lower ranking officer was snubbed and ignored was entirely at the discretion of the senior officer.

  So far, Stone had managed to justify to himself about each and every visit he neglected. Once again, he decided, since it was the middle of the first watch he could assume that Aldamani was at lunch. It was not very likely he would find the man in his office, so he was free to bypass the meeting again.

  He pushed the down button to call for an elevator. He knew there was an officer’s wardroom just one deck down. Normally, Stone ate in the midshipman’s recreation area near his bunk. He was not really hungry since it was the middle of his sleep cycle. He had discovered the officer’s wardroom near Lieutenant Vaarhoo’s office served ice cream. The mid-rec area did not. Ice cream always went down easily after having to get up in the middle of a sleep cycle to get counseled by his supervisor.

  Stone breathed a sigh of relief at not having to face Aldamani. He knew why he was avoiding the man. He was not having very good luck meeting any officer on board the Ol’ Toothless. He was either studiously ignored by other officers, or as in the case of his direct supervisor, it seemed that no matter what he did, he was wrong. He knew he had already put off contacting Aldamani longer than good manners would allow. The navy didn’t say how long you could take to meet a higher ranking officer, just that you did it.

  His mother would skin him alive if she heard of him deliberately being rude to a fellow officer. Dad would not care, but Mom always got a bug up about such things. Still, Stone could not imagine how his mother would ever hear about First Lieutenant Aldamani.

  The down elevator doors popped open. There were a couple of people exiting on his deck so Stone stepped back and to the side, as regulations dictated. Both were officers, but the man outranked the woman, so Stone looked the man in the eyes and nodded his head, also exactly as regulations dictated. Both of the officers had animals of some sort on leads, ropes, leashes or whatever the things were called. He did not recognize the animals. Stone backed up another step to give the creatures room to get past him.

  Stone spoke to the lieutenant, again precisely as regulations dictated. “Good morning, sir.” The smile Stone wore was also regulation issue.

  The man almost walked past as if completely ignoring Stone. Then he stopped and spun back around. “Midshipman Stone?” he asked.

  Stone froze in mid-step, the elevator doors closing in his face. He quickly choked down his apprehension at being called by name and his disappointment at barely missing the escape for ice cream. He smartly snapped to attention, performed an about face and spoke in a clear, firm but pleasant voice trying to do everything as regulations dictated. Or rather, that was his intention. He barely stopped his eyes from rolling and he stumbled over his own feet as he turned around.

  His voice took the opportunity to break as he stammered. “Yes, sir, I am Midshipman Blackmon Stone, third watch warehouse three-whiskey.”

  “Third watch, huh?” The lieutenant grinned. “You must feel like it is the middle of the night.”

  “Yes sir. It does seem that way,” Stone nodded. Stone glanced at the man’s nametag. “Oh, Lieutenant Aldamani, I have been meaning to call. I did meet your parents on Lazzaroni Station, sir.”

  “Yes, you are that Mister Stone,” the lieutenant smiled. “That must be why your name sounded familiar to me. They did mention you had done them a favor. It seems you single-handedly backed off a gaggle of marine officers?”

  “Not really backed them off, sir.” Stone smiled back at the man. “I just gave them an amusing moment and they decided not to pound me to a puddle. Sir, I am sorry for not dropping by sooner, but-.”

  Aldamani waived a dismissive hand. “Pish! I’ve been busy myself. Think nothing of it. Even in the best of positions this ship takes some getting used to. And if I had to work third watch again, I would be grumpy as an old bear.”

  “Yes sir, a ship this size does take some getting used to. But, the position is fine and the hours aren’t as bad as they sound.”

  “Ah, youth! Mister Stone, I am glad you are taking it well. I hear you have Second Lieutenant Vaarhoo as your supervisor. I know he can come across as a bit of a hard nose, but I hear good things about you from him. You’re doing a good job; keep at it.”

  The lieutenant’s beast was held loosely by a cord tied around the neck. It stretched the length of the cord and sniffed at Stone’s crotch. It pulled at the cord and jumped up at Stone. The lieutenant held the creature back not more than a hair’s breadth from Stone.

  The woman with the lieutenant stifled a laugh, covering h
er mouth. She leaned down and patted the creature sitting at her feet. The woman’s creature was sitting as if nothing was going on, but Aldamani’s creature kept straining to get at Stone.

  Stone wanted to back up, but he had already backed against the bulkhead. He was not sure he could even win a fight with this creature. It seemed to be all teeth, claws and hair.

  “I can see the Admiral likes you,” Aldamani grinned.

  Stone looked confused. “Sir? I didn’t even know the admiral knew I was on board.”

  The woman laughed. She did not even try to cover her amusement.

  “Not that admiral, Mister Stone. This one,” Aldamani said with a grin. He pointed at the creature still straining to get at Stone. “He seems to like you.”

  “Sir, I don’t know how he could,” Stone said, shaking his head. “He still looks like he is trying to get his first bite to taste.”

  Aldamani’s grin widened. “Well, he has been known to bite. All dogs do, no matter what their owners say.” He glanced at the woman. “Isn’t that right, Sheila?”

  “I don’t know whatever you mean, Lieutenant. Dorothy hasn’t ever bitten any one.” Sheila patted the creature at her feet.

  Aldamani amended, “Yet.” He yanked the creature’s cord gently and called to the creature. “Admiral.” The creature immediately stopped pawing in Stone’s direction, sat on it’s hind quarters, raised up it’s front legs and waved one paw in the direction of it’s fangs in a bizarre attempt at a salute. It dropped back to all fours and looked up at the lieutenant. “Good boy. Midshipman Stone, may I introduce you to Admiral Fatbelly Stinkybottom?”

  At the word admiral, the creature again rose up and presented his imitation salute.

  Stone did not know what else to do, so he returned the salute with his best parade ground manners. “Good to meet you, sir.” He looked at the lieutenant, “Sir, may I ask a question?”

  “Of course, Midshipman, that is the only way we learn.”

  “What is it?” He pointed at Admiral Fatbelly Stinkybottom.

  “First, Mister Stone, ‘it’ is a ‘he’,” the lieutenant had not lost his grin. “Old Fatty here is a beagle. That is one of the last pure Earth breed dogs known.”

  “Thank you, sir. So, it is some kind of dog. That is good to know,” Stone replied with a nod.

  “Of course it is a dog, Mister Stone,” Sheila snorted. “What did you think he was, a Sarcasian Canruth? How do they let some of these people into midshipman’s school?”

  Aldamani waved her down, “Enough, Ensign. Different folks have different upbringings from different cultures on different planets.”

  “No offense, Mister Stone. I just haven’t ever heard of a planet that didn’t have dogs of some sort,” Sheila said.

  “So, Mister Stone, how about it? Didn’t they have dogs on the planet you come from?” Aldamani asked.

  “Sirs,” Stone replied to both officers. “I didn’t grow up on a planet. I grew up on a ship and Grandpa said pets were just a waste of air, space and time. Grandma said pets always require cleaning up after. So, we didn’t have pets of any kind.”

  “But there are dogs all over this ship and on every station I have ever been on,” Sheila replied. “Surely there are dog owners near your quarters, Mister Stone.”

  Aldamani nodded, “Yes, but Sheila, you must have forgotten that it is kind of an unwritten rule that midshipmen try to limit themselves to smaller pets that demand less attention than dogs. Isn’t that right, Stone?”

  Stone limited himself to a quick “Yes sir.” He didn’t want to mention his only attempt at a pet since coming on board the ship. He had splurged as a present for himself on his sixteenth birthday. He had gotten a small fish at a station pet shop, but it had gone belly-up before the required permits from the Periodontitis were approved.

  “Remember Sheila: fish, birds, tribbles, small rodents and the like?” Aldamani asked the ensign. “If you think about it, Fatty and Dorothy have to be taken to the dog park in tower one or the small park up on deck forty-seven, at least twice a day to run around and do their business. Plus, we have to feed them a couple of times a day, give them baths, brush their coats and what not. That certainly would take away from a midshipman’s study time.”

  “That’s right, sir,” Sheila agreed. “I guess I have had Dorothy so long I forgot, plus she is such a sweetie the extra time just flies by. Still, Mister Stone, surely you have seen dogs before.”

  “Yes, Ensign,” Stone nodded. “But I guess all I have seen are the small fuzzy things in pet shops and the huge guard dogs around shipyards. I didn’t know they had an in between stage like this. When do they grow to be big and mean?”

  Aldamani laughed outright. “Mister Stone. You are a hoot. We are really going to have to get together sometime. These two beagles are as big as they are going to get. Look up dogs in your personal assistant database, okay? Not a command study subject, but someday you might get promoted beyond midshipman and you are going to want to get a good pet. Dogs are good pets. They come in lots of sizes, shapes and colors.”

  “Yes sir. I will certainly look them up,” Stone replied. Silently he agreed with Grandpa. Even if he was authorized to have a pet, that did not mean he had to get one. From the sound of it, they were certainly time consuming and expensive.

  Aldamani nodded. “Mister Stone, you just let me know if there is anything I can do for you. We are late for a meeting, so you had best scoot off to wherever you were headed.”

  Stone watched the officers walk away and pressed the down button again. He was puzzled over his first encounter with a reasonably pleasant, superior officer. Not to mention now he had to find out what the heck an ‘old bear’ was and why they are grumpy!

  He was still puzzling over his first encounter with a reasonably, pleasant superior officer when, just a few steps from the officer’s wardroom, he walked into a bulkhead. He was mildly shocked to realize that it was not a bulkhead, just an unusually large and unmoving human being.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “Damn,” Stone stammered and glanced up into the face of First Lieutenant Vedrian. “Oh, sorry, Lieutenant.”

  The woman laughed. “Sorry for what? Saying ‘damn’? Mister Stone, I hear worse than that during prayer time before breakfast. You are surely not sorry about bumping into me, because I didn’t even know you had done that until you spoke. A little bit of a man like you don’t hardly register on my bump-o-meter.”

  “Man?” Stone asked in surprise. “Thank you, Lieutenant. I think that is the first time anyone has called me that, even if it was prefaced with ‘a little bit’.”

  “Man is what I said and I said what I meant, Mister Stone,” Vedrian said with a twinkle in her eyes. “You don’t live with Momma no more, do you?”

  “No, sir.”

  “You are making your own way in the universe, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, sir. Well…me and the entire Emperor’s navy, anyway.”

  “Close enough. You earned legal adult status when you joined the navy, so it is up to you to succeed or fail. You pee standing up, don’t you?”

  “Most of the time, sir.”

  “You got me there,” Vedrian laughed. “Besides, I done it that way myself a few times, so I guess that isn’t much of a standard for being a man. But then, I have been accused of not having very high standards anyway. So, in my book, you are a man, a bit young for an old grunt like me, but a man none-the-less and as such, you don’t have to apologize for accidently bumping into me…unless you did it on purpose to get my attention?”

  “No, sir. I mean yes, sir. I guess I mean that I apologize for the interruption.”

  Vedrian laughed again.

  Stone found the hearty laugh quite appealing for some reason. It certainly wasn’t a girlish giggle or any sort of dainty twitter. It was a laugh of open amusement.

  Vedrian said, “You can’t interrupt me, Mister Stone, ‘cuz I wasn’t doing nothin’. I was just headin’ into this officer’s mess to stoke th
e internal fires after a couple of hours locked in a small room with a gaggle of office weenies. Hey! Why don’t you join me for lunch? I am supposed to meet some friends here, but we can always make room for the man that made Hellboy back down on Lazzaroni Station.”

  She laughed again. “I owe you anyway. That story has gotten me more than my fair share of free drinks at the bar.”

  Stone bowed at the waist as he mother had taught him. “Sir, if it would not seem too forward, I am sure the lieutenant’s beauty and grace won her far more drinks than a story about me ever would. However, as honored as I would be to join you for lunch, I am on third watch, so this is like the middle of the night for me. I was just going to drop in for a snack before going back to bed.”

  “What? Sorry, I quit listening,” Vedrian said with a wide grin. “You lost me after ‘grace and beauty’. As a ranking officer, I am going to make it an order, Mister Stone. You will join me, even if you only sit and watch while I fuel up.”

  “Lieutenant Vedrian, I had ice cream in mind and I couldn’t think of a more pleasant way to miss a few hours sleep than to eat ice cream with a pretty woman…marine or not.”

  “‘Pretty!’ Well, crap. Just a few seconds ago I was ‘beauty and grace’. Now I just get ‘pretty’?”

  Stone stammered a bit, not knowing how to respond. Dad and Grandpa had tried to tutor him in how to speak to women, but it did not appear they had expected him to run into someone like Vedrian.

  “Just kiddin’, Mister Stone,” she winked slyly. “I’ll take it either way and not even consider how full of it you really are. You do run a smooth line, even if you are easy to knock off track. One thing before we go in here. You gotta start callin’ me Allie.”