The higher echelons and KGB all felt that 'Serenity Street' and the loose morals and dubious pseudo-science of the West were pitfalls best avoided. The esper gifts were some unfair advantage the west tried to use to undermine the rightful sovereignty of the Russian people.
The lower echelon grunt workers on the other hand, had an entirely different take when in private.
"That's it?" asked one of those clustered in front of a window.
"That must be it," said another. "Huh. The Lunarians finally gonna go to that colony. Hope the censors don't block it all."
"I get the feeling of danger," said the single Intuitive among their number. Everyone else kept quiet about that presence - as she had already kept them alive on three separate occasions. "Great danger."
Everyone else on board knew Ludmilla had been exposed to the "decadent Western propaganda and mind control experiment" while a child in East Germany. Everyone else on board knew that when she felt there was a danger - there most likely was. The single time she'd been wrong was when it had turned out to be a small spider in the set of replaced pipes. They'd also discovered that she'd had nightmares about bugs for over five years now.
Ludmilla shuddered and pointed. "That way. Great danger. Big problems. Bugs."
Sergei Sunnavuvich, a captain who preferred to be called "Captain Sergei" for some reason, sited along that arm. "That would be in the direction of deep space. I don't think there's anything out there."
The shuttle going from Moon to Babylon was still followed by a few, but a number of the crew were now pondering whatever Ludmilla was reacting to.
"Maybe a meteorite or something?" asked one of those distracted from the shuttle.
"That wouldn't explain the 'bugs' would it?" asked one of the others. "Though considering 'Milla's fear of bugs it could just be a metaphor of some kind."
Ludmilla's eyes were wide and staring. Captain Sergei could see the way the pupils had shrunk to pinprick size, and knew that whatever was happening - this was one of her Sights - and a pretty strong one from the way the stale sweat smell was radiating off the young woman.
"Captain!" said the comm officer, one of those paying attention to neither Ludmilla nor shuttle. "We've got a communique from Moscow. New orders."
"New orders?" asked Captain Sergei with a frown. "We've got a full load of H-3, it makes the ship wallow like a drunk pig. What's more important than getting this back to Earth?"
"We're to parallel that Chinese ship that went through this morning," said the comm officer. "Dump the H-3 if necessary."
Captain Sergei looked at the scribbled down decoded message, then at Ludmilla, then at the porthole. For the first time in his long life, he gave serious thought to defecting to the West. On the other hand, if he and his ship defected - what would happen to the family members back in Russia?
"We can't jettison cargo here," reasoned Captain Sergei aloud. "It will only foul the space lanes near Babylon. Therefore we will travel along the flight path Moscow has dictated and then jettison along the way. That way we can also pick up the cargo again after this 'side trip' is over."
The navigator nodded, his poker face in place. "Of course, this will take a little extra time to accomplish."
"We're in space, so 'safety first' and all that," reminded Captain Sergei.
Cadet Kaname Chidori was actually glad of her job right now. Concentrating on the job meant not having to think about OTHER things.
Except that she occasionally heard the Captain's voice on the intercom. Which frequently brought a flash-picture to her mind of a room she wasn't familiar with where Tessa was giving orders and looking over flashing screens.
Except that occasionally the Power Loader she was operating would move to where she got a clear line-of-sight of Launch Bay #2 where several of the humanoid shapes of the battle mecha were sitting in their cradles ready to be launched at a moment's notice.
This connection between us will fade within a few days as long as we don't do anything to reinforce it came a voice that wasn't her own along with a faint odor of honeysuckle. Which couldn't have actually been there on any part of the ship as only neutral-scents were tolerated. Perfume on a space station was forbidden. Though there was talk about how the air filtration system should be able to handle it.
Kaname nodded in response to that. She also tried not to think about one Sosuke Sagara, about the tangle of limbs, about the slight scent of...
Please, Miss Chidori, can you not go there?
Kaname tried NOT to think about that and concentrate on the task at hand.
Meanwhile:
(Posted Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:37)
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