Illiya - Taylor Neeran Chronicles #1

Chapter 3 - Bridges

Approach

Half an hour later, mother and daughter floated in the small kitchen, eating from vacuum-sealed foil dinner packets. They had invited Henry to join them, but he had gracefully declined, taking his food packets away to eat in his quarters. Taylor floated up-side down as she ate, which was beginning to annoy her mother, especially as her other hand held the cat against her chest.

"Would you put down the cat and straighten up, please?" said Susan as she closed the valve on the empty packet. "I want to talk to your head, not your feet."

"There's no 'up' in free-fall, Mum, and she doesn't shed, no germs in the food or anything," said Taylor as she pushed away from the floor, starting a slow spin. She hooked her toes against the edge of the table to stop her movement, leaving her looking downward at her mother.

"Would you get down here-oh, never mind," said Susan as she pushed down on the floor with her toes and stretched out her athletic frame. She caught a hand grip on the ceiling, and pushed back a bit so that her head was level with Taylor's. "You're not making this easy."

Taylor smiled. "Sorry. I don't get much zero-G time at school, that's reserved mostly for seniors. It's a special kind of freedom getting to choose which way is up."

Susan sighed and reached out to stroke Squilm, who closed her eyes and purred contentedly. "Well, that's fine, another benefit for you in coming along on this trip with your mother. Now that we still have a bit of time alone and we're finally talking, tell me everything. What have you been up to since I saw you last? Tell me how things are going at university."

"You talked to my dean, you should have a pretty fair idea of how I'm doing with my third year classes."

"He was pretty happy with how you're progressing with your courses and your grades. But I wanted to know how you are doing - how are you enjoying the university experience, are you making good friends, that kind of thing."

Taylor crumpled the foil packet and tucked a few wayward strands of hair behind her left ear. "It's really more of a technical college."

"It's called Ganymede U," Susan pointed out. "Your father and I went there too, remember."

Taylor nodded. "It's okay, and it's got all the classes I want, so that's good. But it is quite specialised, there aren't as many general degrees as most universities on Earth. There's talk of reclassifying it as a technical college."

Susan smiled. "People have been spreading that rumour for years, but I don't think that's likely to happen, not with students and faculty from fifty systems filling its halls. It's recognised as the best school for spacers in the Orion Spur. I think the stunning view of Jupiter right out the window helps as well. I strained my neck looking up through the skylight for most of my advanced chemistry classes."

Taylor smiled and scratched Squilm behind the ears. "Yeah, it's a great view, and a good school. I'm pretty happy with my course selection, and there are some great professors. My xenobiology class is led by an Arcturan."

Susan whistled. "So old blue-scales is still there teaching?"

Taylor frowned. "Professor Xintic is one of my best teachers, Mum."

"Sorry, of course. He was when I was there about twenty three years ago, it's just that he was a bit strange."

"Just because he can go outside on the surface of Ganymede without a suit doesn't make him strange."

"You can't do that," Susan shook her head. "And don't you ever try. There was a student who was having a deep conversation with professor Xintic and walked right into the airlock with him. Before the professor realised what was happening, it was too late."