Day 2 - Last Night Turns Into Day

Their engineer stopped in briefly, brewed himself a fresh pot of strong coffee and proceeded to take it all with him on his way back to the engine room. There departure time was moved up and that meant whatever preparations were left to be done would have to be done in less time. The galley was clearing out quickly and given the next morning’s early start Riley had assigned them it was probably for the best. Whatever plans Jacy had for cheering up her fellow deckhands went bust. Vas and Dillon had both wandered off to be alone with their thoughts. The scars on Dillon’s wrist were troubling and his being alone with his thoughts was questionably a bad decision, but Jacy was in no position to push him further. She’d pushed him for information and he’d given it, but it still felt like he was being vague. In many ways that one was more fragile than Jacy and that was saying something. She would of course check in with her tall sugarbear in the morning, but for now Vas was on his own too. She didn’t know much about this Henry Freeman other than he’d been raised around the local Abbey’s Shepards, but didn’t seem to have any of their religious vibes to him. Jacy hadn’t really had much chance to speak with him and even though he was right there in the galley she just didn’t have the jump in her to start up that conversation again. Besides, he was speaking with another of their spiritual type passengers, though Jacy wasn’t sure she’d ever caught her name. She was a pretty woman with a kind face and hard eyes. The orange shaw on her shoulders looked familiar, like Jacy should recognize it from somewhere, but that too escaped her. Let those two talk and enjoy the galley without the nosey crew around. Jacy got up from the table, placed her cup in the sink and stashed the bottle of whiskey in a cabinet. She bid the others a quiet good night and set her boots to walking.

Dimitri was being Dimitri, talking and singing to himself as he brewed up god knew what. He may very well have told them all, but Jacy hadn’t caught it. For all she knew it was an explosive concoction that would kill them all in their sleep. But being part of a crew meant you had to be willing to get blown up in your sleep when someone else had a serious lapse in judgement, right? No, that didn’t sound right. Someone should probably check in on that big guy. Someone other than Jacy. Of course, they may just get stabbed in their sleep by little Shanky. That horrifying thought actually brought a smile to Jacy’s face. There were probably worse ways to go. Certainly better ways, but probably worse. Haddie hadn’t stabbed her brother Gill to death so maybe they would be safe for another night. Captain trusted them both enough to remain on board so that would have to suffice. She wondered about the Captain, picturing him lying in his bed in nothing but his boots and a Stetson. But did he sleep alone? Did Riley stop by his cabin when everyone else was still? The two of them certainly bantered like they’d knocked boots once or twice. Riley was a tough woman, but plenty of men liked that. Plenty of women liked that too.

Without realizing it, Jacy had taken the longer way past the Galley and was at the passenger quarters. She did still have Samson Merchant’s IdentCard and to her knowledge the only other passengers were in the galley right now so she tapped lightly on each of the doors until she found one occupied. Doctor Merchant cracked the door, they exchanged a few hushed greetings then the door opened further and Jacy slipped inside. Merchant peered up and down the hall before shutting the door. What those two discussed or indeed whether they did much talking at all is a story for another day and not necessarily the next day. Come morning, 5AM to be precise, Jacy was waking up in her own bunk and the Doctor’s IdentCard was discreetly returned to him, its temporary absence never even noticed.

She sat up and scratched her pale scalp then ran her hands through her hair, smelling the tips. A shower was definitely in order because all deckhand waifs like to start their day off clean. Jacy packed away her boots from the night before, carefully folded the clothes she’d worn and set them aside to be washed then stripped out of her sleepwear, what little of it there was, and laid it across the bed. She grabbed a towel and her toiletry bag, but stood eyeing her tiny cubicle shower. The day before it had been scalding hot and Jacy was not a hot shower kind of girl. She also didn’t like showering alone, but she never liked being alone. She opened the hatch to that immobile shuttle in which she’d taken up shop and stepped out into the hall, full nude. She had the decency to wrap the towel around her as she came down the half flight of stairs to the galley and passed through to the communal showers.