SECOND DRAFT: Hard Bank Left

36

Celeste hovered over Graham, pacing back and forth in the tiny hall between the pilotry and the stairs while he sat comfortably in his cushioned green chair. There really was no reason for her to be worrying. Of course there wasn't. Why would there be any reason to fret over him, he was only dislocated and beaten and his memory had been wiped... again. Nope. No reason to freak out. She let out a long flustered, "Heh," that ended in a sort of musical tremor.

"Celeste, stop fussing you're giving me a headache."

Celeste froze, looked at Graham excitedly, and bounced to the entrance of the laundry room. "Oh sir! You do remember me!"

He pointed at the headset and she remembered that it wasn't so much as him remembering her and more that he kept a backup so that he didn't have to. She had been his backup once, and while she didn't enjoy having her entire mind taken over by his consciousness, it frustrated her to no end that he didn't at least leave residuals of his memories in her storage. If nothing else, she'd be the double backup, reminding him of facts and dates and details rather than replacing his entire mind. But he had refused, choosing to rely entirely on that little box close to his chest.

She snuck the box at night, sometimes. Just to talk to him when the other two were sleeping. Neither she nor the box could sleep and so he talked and she listened. She put the box back of course, before either of them woke up. Strange how she delighted in keeping secrets.

Graham rubbed his temples in aggravation.

"Are you okay, sir? Is there anything I can do? Please, don't hesitate to ask. Hey! Watch where you're walking!" Someone... Jarreth, had walked past her without taking into account of how narrow the hall really was. He'd bumped into her without really noticing.

"Celeste," Graham said testily.

"Sorry sir."

~~~

In the pilotry's lower level, Krys sat on the floor, a selection of overlapping maps in front of her. She was calculating wind currents and weather and fuel. She didn't know how much fuel these new engines burned, but they could certainly go faster than their previous engines. From what the gauges could tell her they had used up less fuel than if they had been traveling at sixty kilometers per hour for the same amount of time on only the two engines. So they were more efficient, but without more travel on them she wasn't going to be able to get an accurate read on exactly how much fuel they could afford to burn. And so she'd slowed them to sixty kilometers per hour to get an accurate reading. From there she could chart a course based on necessary refuel.

In the back of her mind she also ran over tables. What she would need money for, how long they could last without. She had quite a bit left in her accounts, even after buying the Ranier property, renovating it, and building the WindSong. They would need those pontoons replaced. The whole way to the Romani camp the ship felt like she was going to fall apart. They had a backup set on layaway, but their usual shop wasn't easy to get to. Then again, if the Keypers were on her that just may be the next place to go: check up on Nathan. So there was that. And then refuel and supplies would need to be taken into account.

If they were going to be at Nathan's for any length of time she may as well have him get them set up with a refitting of crew quarters in the envelope above the green rooms. They'd always had the extra space there, but never really had the need. But there was no way in hell that she was allowing Cadence to sleep in her room. They'd also need a heating system if being out in winter was going to be a continued problem, after all, the cold season didn't really end till mid-May. So there was that too. Doing the math in her head she knew she could cover it, and the installation wouldn't take very long with Cadence and Jarreth onhand. To Nathan's it was, then. At least she had a destination.