Middleton had suspected that Fei Long’s mischief extended beyond peeping on his fellow crewmates, but even he was surprised that the young man had managed to penetrate the armory without being discovered. The security protocols surrounding the armory were every bit as tight as those in Engineering or the bridge.
“And the other breach?” the Captain asked unflinchingly.
Fei Long leaned forward and made an extravagant show of bringing his right arm forward across his knees, which seemed an odd gesture to Middleton. “Someone has uploaded a virus into your secondary computer system which is periodically downloading sensitive information from your primaries,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Someone?” Middleton cocked an eyebrow accusingly.
Fei Long shook his head. “I assure you it was not I, Captain. The perpetrator – or perpetrators – are…” he hesitated before sitting upright. “Do you have an ink pen?” he asked casually.
“How do I know you’re not lying?” Middleton asked abruptly, ignoring the boy’s query. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t toss you in the box down there,” he jerked his thumb toward the maximum security cell, which was little more than a dark, three meter by three meter vault with atmo-cycling.
Fei Long nodded quickly as he reached his thumb up into his mouth and checked the security camera positioned across from his cell – as well as the one inside his cell – before biting his thumb and causing it to bleed. “I believe you are an intelligent man, Captain,” he said as he carefully dabbed a few drops of blood onto the wrist of his other arm, “and that you therefore already know of what I am about to write.” He traced what appeared to be letters across the inside of his forearm, careful to keep it from the view of the cameras, before finishing and gesturing for Middleton to lean down a few inches.
With the bars between them and Fei Long’s person having been thoroughly – and almost certainly, uncomfortably – searched following his arrest, Middleton knew there was no danger so he leaned forward and read the word scrawled quite clearly on the young man’s arm. He allowed his eyebrows to rise slightly in surprise, since the last thing he had expected was to have this particular topic broached during the interrogation.
Having read the word, Captain Middleton leaned back in his chair. As he did so, Fei Long scrubbed the blood from his forearm using dab of saliva before rendering the word completely illegible. “If I have incorrectly identified your attackers,” Fei Long said with a respectful bow of his head, “then I will tell you that, before I was incarcerated unjustly—by my own countrymen, of course,” he added hastily, “since my current imprisonment aboard this ship is absolutely justified—a device was implanted within my skull which renders my verbal expression of a known falsehood quite fatal. This device may also be activated remotely, using a certain signal and frequency which I am more than happy to provide.”
“There was no such device reported during your medical examination,” Middleton rejected, assuming this was some sort of diversionary tactic. Although, considering what Fei Long apparently knew of their current situation, it did seem rather less likely that he would be lying.
“Your wife likely did not know how to look for it,” the young man said graciously. “It is organic in nature, and would show as little more than a small blood clot on routine scans.”
Middleton leaned forward and shook his head. “You’re not exactly helping your case here, Mr. Fei. Even if I believed you have a kill pill implanted somewhere on your person, those are reserved for short-term use while transporting only the most dangerous criminals.” The Captain stood from his chair and looked down at the young man, a mixture of curiosity and trepidation warring for control of his thoughts. “I’m going to have Doctor Middleton – who is not my wife,” he said pointedly, “conduct a more thorough examination. If she doesn’t find a kill pill, I’m going to lock you in the max-sec box until we can take you back to your world – assuming, in the meantime, you don’t give me cause to have you executed in accordance with the military code.”
Fei Long lowered himself to his knees and clasped his hands before himself in the same fashion Lu Bu and Kong Rong had done. “I eagerly await our third visit, Captain,” he said respectfully as he bowed his head.
The Captain looked down at him in concealed puzzlement for a moment before turning and leaving the brig.
Chapter XVI: Breaking Bread
Lu Bu was still fuming about her being prevented from participating in the daily drills conducted by Sergeant Walter Joneson, but she had managed to rein in her temper enough that she could make her way down the corridor toward sickbay.
It had been three days since her injury, and already her shoulder felt as good as it had prior to the injury. Her entire life had been spent in strenuous physical activity, so she had a multitude of minor aches here and there but such was to be expected of any worthwhile warrior.
A pair of crewmembers—both women, and both nearly a head shorter than Lu Bu—passed by and she inclined her head respectfully after recognizing their insignia showed them to be petty officers assigned to Environmental. As a recruit, Lu Bu was lower in station than anyone else aboard the Pride of Prometheus, so she made her obeisance whenever she understood that protocol demanded. But she would only do so after confirming that the recipients were worthy of such a display.
The women nodded curtly, but as they rounded the corner behind her she could hear them whispering to each other—whispering about her.
Such had been commonplace on her home world, but she had thought that the people serving in the Multi-Sector Patrol Fleet would have behaved differently. She had truly believed that the bigotry she had encountered in her young life had been the product of her world’s culture.
But it seemed that wherever she went, people behaved the same and treated her as an outsider—or worse, like some sort of freak who should be pitied.
That thought nearly brought tears to her eyes—tears of anger, not sorrow—but she successfully fought against them as she finally arrived at the main door to sickbay.
Entering the ship’s medical station, she saw Doctor Middleton standing beside the same boy from the shuttle ride which had brought her to the Pride of Prometheus. They made eye contact and the boy smiled at her as he spoke to the doctor, and Lu Bu noticed the two Lancers stationed nearby with their eyes pinned on the young man. Only after a second glance did Lu Bu realize the boy was wearing what looked like thick, metal gauntlets which were obviously some kind of elaborate handcuffs.
It seemed the boy had just exited one of the many pieces of scanning equipment found in the ship’s sickbay, which was as well-appointed as any hospital Lu Bu had ever visited.
She ignored the boy’s expression and strode purposefully toward the doctor, who she greeted after coming to a halt at a respectful distance, “I was wondering,” she began, and though she tried to do so she was unable to completely ignore the boy sitting on the sliding cot connected to the scanning device. Jutting her chin out, she continued, “I was wondering if Doctor Middleton has time for our meal?”
The doctor looked up over her glasses and nodded. “I’ll just be a few minutes here.”
Lu Bu nodded. “I will wait,” she said, making her way to a nearby chair and sitting as gently in it as she could manage. Finesse and delicacy had never been strong points for her; she was just as likely to smash a mirror in anger as to check herself with it.
These thoughts only served to remind her how very unlike these other women she was. The doctor, with her pristine lab coat and perfectly arranged hair, conducted herself with a degree of composure which Lu Bu knew she would never exude.
“It is good to hear you using first person pronouns,” the boy said in a raised, but measured, tone in Confederation Standard. “May I assume you have selected a name for yourself?”
Lu Bu narrowed her eyes and did her best to pointedly ignore the boy while stealing occasional glances from the corner of her eye. His face was pleasant enough in appearance, and he was of
medium build for her world—which was to say he stood several inches shorter than her.
But his height was the least of his physical shortcomings; he seemed to have little, or no, regard for his own physical fitness. A sixteen year old boy should have wiry muscles, but this boy’s arms lacked definition. Thankfully he was not overweight, but it was painfully obvious that he had little athletic ability—and even less desire to remedy that particular flaw.
The boy sighed. “I suppose your reluctance to speak with me is to be expected,” he continued in Confederation Standard. “I am a prisoner, after all,” he added with a pointed look at the Lancers.
Lu Bu snorted derisively. “You left our home world with clean start,” she said evenly, “but you are only criminal. One cannot fight one’s nature.”
The boy raised an eyebrow in amusement. “A strange sentiment to hear you express,” he quipped, and Lu Bu realized her faux pas as soon as he had rebuked her. Here she was, casting aspersion on another based on their past, rather than their present. “In any event, you are likely more correct than you know,” he sighed. “I am what I am and it seems nothing can change that.”
“Enough chatter,” the nearest Lancer snapped, prompting the boy to raise his hands compliantly and bow his head. The Lancer gave Lu Bu a reprimanding look, and she felt herself redden beneath his gaze.
Doctor Middleton returned bearing a data slate and gestured for the boy to take a seat on a nearby bed. He complied, and after a moment the doctor turned to the Lancers while pointing at the boy’s encased hands. “Your Captain has ordered me to perform a full physical and psychological profile on this man,” she said pointedly. “It will be nearly impossible for him to answer the standardized PSI battery with these on.”
“Sorry, Doctor,” the first Lancer shook his head, “I have my orders from the Sergeant: the prisoner is to be treated as an imminent danger to the ship. The cuffs have to stay.”
Doctor Middleton shook her head and rubbed the bridge of her nose, prompting Lu Bu to wonder why the older woman wore glasses at all. There were no vision impairments which were better treated with glasses than via state-of-the-art microsurgery—at least, none which she knew of.
“There is more than one way to contain a threat, mister,” she said irritably as she pointed to a nearby window. “The hyperbaric chamber is completely isolated from the ship’s systems, and can be flooded with anesthetic gas if he becomes combative or self-destructive. I will have one of my assistants monitor him, and we will assume full responsibility if he misbehaves.” The Lancer looked hesitant, but the doctor placed a hand on her hip and shook her head condescendingly. “Or do I need to call the Captain and see if he approves?”
The Lancer, still clearly torn, shook his head as he motioned for his partner to approach. The other Lancer pressed a sequence of buttons built into the gauntlets’ wrists and the portions covering the boy’s hands withdrew into the wrist sections, and Lu Bu found herself wincing at the sight of the boy’s fingers. They were slender and decidedly less than masculine in her view, and she heard herself snort faintly under her breath.
“You have my thanks, Doctor,” the boy said, accepting the slate and glancing at it before sighing.
“That test should take you a few hours to complete,” Doctor Middleton said, gesturing for the boy to enter the hyperbaric chamber. He did so with a gracious nod, and after he was inside she closed the hatch behind him. There was just enough room for him to sit up inside the cylindrical, pod-like device, and he leaned against the curved window as his fingers began to fly over the slate with a speed and grace which Lu Bu had never possessed.
The doctor went to one of her subordinates and exchanged a few words before turning and gesturing toward Lu Bu. “Shall we?”
Lu Bu nodded, and after leaving sickbay they headed down to the crew’s mess. A few minutes later, they each had a platter of food, which they took to one of the corner sections and sat down.
“Duck…again,” Doctor Middleton said sourly as she ran her fork through the thigh section of her portion. “I’m glad for the fresh protein, but a little variety would be nice.”
Lu Bu cocked her head slightly, knowing that on her world duck was one of the finer native protein sources. “Duck is very healthy; it is sign of much respect that you are supplied with so much from my home world.”
Doctor Middleton sighed. “I suppose you’re right,” she agreed as she took a bite.
The two women sat in silence for several minutes as they consumed their meal. When she was nearly half finished, Lu Bu asked, “What is ‘standardized PSI battery’?”
The doctor looked up in confusion for a moment before realization dawned. “PSI stands for ‘Psychological, Social and Intellectual.’ It’s a comprehensive test designed to get an idea of how his mind works.”
Lu Bu nodded knowingly. “On my world we have like this, it is man-da-to-ry,” she sounded the word out slowly, feeling herself flush with embarrassment as she did so.
The doctor shook her head adamantly. “That was perfect, Bu,” she said firmly.
“Thank you,” Lu Bu muttered graciously. “Why you no use his records from my world?” she asked after collecting herself.
The doctor made as if to answer before hesitating. “They were…lost somewhere between your government and here,” she explained, clearly hiding something.
Lu Bu was unconvinced but she also had no desire to linger on the subjects of the boy or her home world’s government, so she merely nodded as if satisfied. Silence hung between them as they continued their meal for several more minutes until they had finished their meal.
Looking down at her shoulder pointedly, Lu Bu said, “My arm is better, Doctor. You are very skilled.”
Doctor Middleton drank the last contents of her cup before shaking her head. “Your arm isn’t quite healed yet,” she chided, “but even I am surprised at how fast your body heals. It’s really quite remarkable…I just wish it hadn’t been injured in the first place.”
Lu Bu shook her head defiantly. “It was this one’s fault,” she said quickly. “Sergeant Walter Joneson ordered Lu Bu to stand down and she disobeyed; punishment was necessary.”
Doctor Middleton gave Lu Bu a look which had far too much pity in it for her liking. “Bu,” she said gently, further raising Lu Bu’s ire by treating her like some kind of frail child, “you don’t deserve to get hurt like that, no matter what they tell you.”
Lu Bu took a deep, cleansing breath before leaning forward and searching for the proper words. “In my world,” Bu began after thinking of an appropriate example, “before one is finished with medical studies, one must subject one’s self to deadly disease and experience real treatment—as unidentified patient.”
The doctor sighed. “I’ve heard of these types of practices,” she said bitterly. “I find them barbaric, to be honest.”
“Why?” Lu Bu asked with honest curiosity. “If one not understand something, how can one…” she searched for the word, “how can doctor treat suffering if doctor not know suffering?”
“Even if I concede that point,” Doctor Middleton said, “what does that have to do with you getting abused by men like Walter Joneson?”
“This one—“ Lu Bu began.
“No,” the doctor interrupted pointedly, “it’s ‘I’.”
Flushing from the collar up, Lu Bu nodded shortly. “I was disrespectful and disobedient. How can team function without respect, and how can I become team member if I not understand respect?”
Doctor Middleton looked about to argue, but just then a short, balding man who Lu Bu recognized as Chief Engineer Alfred Garibaldi strode into the mess hall and clapped his hands together in obvious anticipation. “All right, what have we got here—“ he began boisterously but stopped short as he approached the serving line. “Aww, c’mon guys,” he groaned, “duck again?!”
“Be grateful for the fresh protein while we’ve got it, Chief,” said the man behind the counter. “Supply’s not likely to
last more than another week, then it’s back to the standard rations.”
“I hate duck, guys; the things give me the green creepers,” he quipped before leaning in conspiratorially and someone with average hearing would have been unable to distinguish his words from Lu Bu’s location. But her hearing, like so many other physical attributes she possessed, was far superior to what most considered ‘normal.’ “Haven’t you guys got some pasta or something back there?”
“Sorry, Chief,” the server replied firmly.
The Chief sighed, “What I wouldn’t give for some of grandpa’s bagna càuda right now.” With that, he accepted the platter and made his way to the opposite end of the mess hall, where he was thankfully quiet.
“I understand that we’re different, Bu,” Doctor Middleton said after she, too, took note of the Chief’s obnoxious entrance, “but I want you to understand that you should be treated like everyone else.”
Lu Bu cocked her head in surprise. “Lu Bu…I,” she corrected, “am not like ‘everyone else’.”
“I don’t believe that for a second,” the doctor retorted with a hard edge to her voice that Lu Bu had never heard from the woman. “Everyone has different gifts and abilities, but those gifts shouldn’t define who we are if we don’t want them to.”
Lu Bu wanted to retort, but she was simply unable to find the right words—which only served to increase her frustration as she warped and bent her thin, metal platter between her thick, powerful fingers.
Clearly seeing her frustration, Doctor Middleton held up a hand. “I’m sorry if I offended you, Bu,” she said as she withdrew a data slate from her pocket and slid it across the table, “maybe you’d be interested in this?”
No Middle Ground Page 15
