Shalia's Diary #5

by Tracy St. John

  My face warmed. I’ve been up front with Tep about my recreational activities with the baby’s welfare in mind. It doesn’t mean I’m not embarrassed to have him know about what I’m doing. He figured out who I do it with during my stay in Medical while I recovered from my breakdown.

  I waved him off grumpily. “I’ll tell them myself. For heaven’s sake, you’re not telling all you know to my dad, are you? I’ll never be able to face Nayun if he knows half of what I’ve shared with you and Feru.”

  Tep chuckled. “I do not share such information with Dr. Nayun. All he hears from me is how you’re doing physically. He won’t be too happy to know about this development. I’ll make sure to tell him that as long as we keep tabs on it, you and the baby will be okay.”

  “That’s good to know,” I said. “Lying around for a week is going to be a drag though.”

  Tep gave me a narrowed-eye look. “You will do it, though. You are going to get some decent sleep. I think I will inform Liaison Betra about my orders after all.”

  “Damned paternal Kalquorians,” I muttered as he helped me off the examination table. “I’ve already got three dads, you know.”

  He grinned, the expression softening the sharp planes of his face. “You need at least three fathers, Matara. I’ve never known anyone who gets in half the trouble you do. Take your medicine and get in bed. I’ll check on you in a couple of days.”

  I thought I’d stop by and let Candy and Katrina know I was to be out of commission for the next few days. However, Tep wasted no time in letting Betra know my condition. I no sooner stepped off the lift that opened to the Matara area of the ship when I was greeted by my liaison.

  “Here you are,” Betra greeted me. He had a big smile, apparently in a better mood even though Oses had sent him off with the twin boners this morning. Maybe he gave himself a hand, ha-ha.

  “Here I am,” I sighed, knowing he was there to shepherd me straight to my quarters. Sometimes I fight with Betra just because I want to assert myself. Sometimes I do it to get a rise out of him. Once in a great while I argue because I feel it actually is necessary. Sometimes I irritate him just because I’m me.

  Yet I knew I wasn’t going to get my way this time. There would be no side trip to talk to Candy and Katrina. Betra was going to make sure I went straight to my room like a good little girl. After the night and morning he’d had, I didn’t want to butt heads. So I simply smiled and let him escort me to my rooms.

  I’m on bed rest but I’m no invalid, not by any means. Still Betra was his Imdiko self, insisting on helping me undress, putting a nightie on me, tucking me into bed, reminding me to lie on my left side so all the important blood vessels weren’t having any undue pressure put on them, getting me water and snacks and my handheld for my bedside table.

  “Are you going to sleep?” my nursemaid asked.

  “Tep says to take the sedative early enough to log in at least 10 hours,” I said. “I’ve got a little while before I need to do that.”

  Betra nodded. “I’ll remind you. Do you still want me here tonight?”

  “Of course. Now that I’m stuck in bed, I need company.” And protection, I thought. The ghost was still at large and I worried about it showing up. If it does while I’m alone, Tep can cram his bed rest up his butt. I’m going to be running like an Olympic athlete in that case.

  Betra promised to stop in every couple of hours until his shift was done. He says he’s going to bring me something special for dinner to make up for the irritation of being stuck in bed. He’s so sweet. Oses better not give him shit tonight.

  Speaking of Big, Bad, and Yummy, I need to leave him a message about what’s happening. My dads too, so Nayun doesn’t freak out when Tep tells him I’m not doing perfectly well. Plus Candy and Katrina. They might want to come keep me company.

  A vacation in bed. Maybe it won’t be so bad, especially if Betra dotes on me. At least now I’m in the frame of mind to enjoy being waited on.

  April 16

  This has been one of the most boring weeks of my life. At least bed rest turned the trick ... my blood pressure is back in the normal range. I’m still to take it easy, but my sedative dosage is reduced and I can get out of bed.

  Tep is an evil creature. He said the meds would give me 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep at a time. Ha! Try 12 hours. Then when I’d finally wake up, I was dopey and out of it for another 2. I swear it felt as if by the time I had any real energy, it was time to take another dose again. That doctor of mine is a fiend to keep me down like that. When I complained, he only smiled.

  At least I was too knocked out to have nightmares. That more than anything else made the drugs worthwhile. Who knows, maybe the hypertension was brought on partly because I was too afraid to sleep most of the time. I finally got some proper rest.

  Candy and Katrina were sweet enough to keep me company a lot of the time when I was awake. Renovations to our dance club have begun. The gals tell me everyone is really excited about it, including the Kalquorians. Those boys may not dance, but they love to see us do it. Many have volunteered their time when they aren’t working to help make the club a reality. Katrina got the liquor store on board to agree to stock and run the bar area of our little place. They’ll take care of the rationing protocols as dictated by the fleet.

  The gals have kept me up to date on reports of the strange shadow being seen from time to time in the hallway that runs right outside our quarters. Candy attempted another exorcism two nights ago. This time she had about half a dozen helpers besides Katrina. The shadow hasn’t been seen since. They’re hopeful our wandering spirit has been evicted at long last.

  I was hopeful too. Then I found evidence this morning that something is still amiss.

  I was still groggy enough as I readied for my appointment with Dr. Tep. Betra had to help me pull myself together. I’d been in my bed for days, and the doc had been making house calls to keep it that way. This was the first time I was going to Medical since he made me a useless, mostly-unconscious lump a week ago. My hair screamed to be washed and combed for a change.

  As Betra helped me to the shower, I frowned at the stall. “Have you been using this?” I asked him.

  “What, your shower? No, I’ve been getting cleaned up in my own quarters. Why?”

  “Someone’s hair has gotten on my soap.” I pulled the long, wiry black strand from the scented bar I love to use. It smells of lemongrass. I wiped out the ship’s stores of the stuff weeks ago, buying the entire stock they’d taken from Earth. The guys say now that they can smell me instead of that now-gone pregnancy scent, they love the aroma. I do too; that’s why I took the whole darn supply of two cartons.

  Betra took the soap from me for an appreciative sniff before putting it back. “That’s funny. I never come in here. I’ve never seen Oses use your facility either, though it is a possibility.” He took the hair from me and looked at it. “It probably floated around in your quarters, having decided it no longer liked being on one of our heads.”

  We dismissed the occurrence, not thinking twice about it. Betra helped me get cleaned up and we went back into the bedroom to get me dressed.

  Then the second weird thing happened. “I want the teal blouse with the silver embellishments,” I told Betra as he opened my closet.

  “What’s teal?”

  “Blue-green.”

  “Why didn’t you just say blue-green then?”

  “Because it’s teal. There’s a word for it, you big goof.”

  Betra rummaged around the clothes hanging in midair between the wall panel and the cavity where they are usually kept. “I don’t see anything teal, Shalia. Or blue-green.”

  I huffed. “It should be right there. It’s the blouse that’s all drapey ... fine, I’ll find it.”

  But I didn’t find it. One of my favorite pieces had gone missing. But that wasn’t all.

  Betra picked up something that fell from a skirt that was hanging amongst the other clothes. This skirt had some metal studs
that outlined the pockets. Apparently, it had snagged someone else’s clothing, because Betra held up a red bit of material.

  “I hung that skirt up myself yesterday,” he said. “This wasn’t on it; I would have noticed.”

  I snickered, ready to tease. “Why are you hanging up my clothes? Do you like to dress up and feel pretty when no one else is looking, Betra?”

  He rolled his eyes at me. “Your laundry came back four days ago. I got tired of looking at it lying on the lounger and put it away while you slept.”

  “What is it you found?” I asked, coming close to look.

  “Part of an insignia from someone’s uniform. I recognize the material.”

  I got a creepy feeling. “Could it have come from a combat soldier’s uniform?” I had visions of the ghost of Nobek Frin hiding in my closet, waiting for me to open it so he could spring on me and enact some kind of revenge for his death.

  Betra looked at me. He frowned hard, as if he was turning something over in his mind. Finally he said, “It does match up with that sort of badge.”

  I tried not to let my voice quaver. “You haven’t seen anything strange while I’ve been doing my coma bit, have you?”

  Betra shook his head. “No. Nothing has woken me during your bed rest.”

  “And Oses? He hasn’t seen anything when he’s been able to spend the night?”

  “He’s said nothing. He’s only been here three nights anyway. He’s been doing doubles much of the time, like last night.” Betra’s gaze had gone distant.

  “Then where did this come from?” I wanted to know.

  “That’s a good question.” Betra drew himself up. He had a determined look on his face, as if he’d come to some momentous decision. Then he smiled at me. “Pick out another blouse to wear, Shalia. You’re going to be late to see Dr. Tep, and I’ve got some duties to attend to.”

  I wanted to fret over the mysterious scrap of clothing some more, but Betra shushed me and made me get dressed. He even fixed my hair and encouraged me to put on a little makeup. “I’ve noticed how it seems to pick your spirits up when you do all that,” he said in an overly cheerful voice.

  I was still a little too dull-witted at the time to realize he was distracting me. When my appointment with Tep was done, Katrina came to fetch me in Betra’s stead. I had planned on grilling him a little more about the whole uniform scrap thing, so it was hard not to pout a little. However, between the encouraging medical report and the fact I was now able to join my friends at lunch, I was in too good a mood to let it bother me much.

  Betra is due off his shift in a few minutes though. I have the feeling that bit of a soldier’s insignia means something important to him. I have every intention of finding out what it is when he gets off work.

  April 17

  Betra and I caught a ghost. The mysterious haunting is over.

  Betra was late showing up at my quarters last night. I’d gotten the crazy idea he was avoiding me because he somehow knew I was going to interrogate him. The moment he stepped in my sitting room, I bombarded him with questions: “Where have you been? Why are you late? What do you know about that scrap of material you found? Does it belong to the ghost? Why aren’t you telling me anything?”

  He stared at me like I’d been yelling at him in Tragoom. Then he put his hands on my shoulders and eased me towards my lounger. “Why are you so upset? What’s happened?”

  “What’s happened?” I could have cheerfully strangled the big lug. “You tell me! You found that bit of someone’s insignia and then became all mysterious and shit. You’ve been out of your office for most of the day. What’s going on?”

  Betra took a breath and nodded. “What’s been going on. That’s an excellent question, Shalia. I believe that tonight we will have our answer.”

  “Really?” I stopped acting like a nag in my excitement. “You know who the ghost is?”

  “I think so.” A shadow of worry crossed Betra’s face. “Only it’s no ghost. The person who has been stalking you is flesh and blood and very much alive.”

  My heart nearly jumped out of my chest at his words. “Tell me,” I begged.

  The Imdiko considered. “We’ve got other things to do first. Get your stuff together to spend the night with me. For my plan to work, we need to move fast. Dinner has already begun.”

  “Dinner?” I was completely flummoxed. “What does dinner have to do with anything?”

  Betra shooed me towards my bedroom. “Almost everyone will be in the dining hall. The security guards switch out about now too. We may be able to get from here to my quarters with no one seeing us. Get a move on, Shalia. Figure out what you want so I can pack it.”

  He was a man on a mission, and I could tell I wasn’t going to get anything out of him until I did what he wanted. So we packed me a little overnight bag. Betra already knew a lot of what I would choose to bring, so it was done pretty quickly.

  Minutes after his arrival, Betra poked his head out of my door to check and see if anyone roamed the hall. The coast was clear, so we hightailed it to his quarters. He gave the surveillance vid monitor a little scowl as we went, and I wondered what the problem was. I was even more confused when I heard him mutter, “Well, there’s no help for it.”

  We met no one on our way to Betra’s quarters. I guess we timed it just right on the guard change. Security in the Matara area had been enhanced since our ghost had started roaming about. Still, for those few seconds we were in the hall, no one was around.

  Betra grinned at me once we were in his quarters, looking like he’d won a victory. “Great. I think everything should work out if I’m right about what is going on.”

  “Have you informed Oses?” I asked. “Is he part of this?”

  Betra shook his head as he set my bag on the bed. “Oses is working another double. Don’t worry, Shalia, I’ve got this handled. I think.”

  I folded my arms over my chest. “Enough of this nonsense, already. What is it that you think you know?”

  “Sit down and I’ll tell you.” He handed me a takeout container. “Eat your dinner while I talk.”

  I perched on his bed, opening the container. I didn’t remember Betra promising me a special meal until just then. Even though we ended up eating in his room, my liaison made good on that promise. Ronka strips roasted to perfection, the most tender, flakiest pilchok ever to grace a tray, and chocolate cake with fudge and nuts were my reward.

  It’s just too bad that Betra’s news was so shocking that I barely tasted any of it.

  I stared at Betra after he told me all he’d done that day and what he’d discovered. I wanted to say it wasn’t possible. Hell, I wanted to scream that it wasn’t possible. Yet except for a few little details, it all made sense. In the end, I had to admit Betra was probably right.

  “How bad is this going to be?” I asked him.

  He shrugged. “It all depends on who has to get involved in the matter. I want to keep it as quiet as possible, at least for now. The biggest thing is to find out why this is happening. Once we know that, we can go from there.”

  I set my dinner aside, half-eaten. My appetite was gone.

  We had a long wait. Betra cleaned up after our meal, insisting I lie down and take it easy. “You’re off bed rest, but it could be late before he shows up ... if he shows up,” he told me.

  “I’m sure he will,” I said. “If you’re right about all of this, we can pretty much count on it.”

  “At any rate, you’ll wake up when the shouting starts. Feel free to sleep if you like.”