Free The Stars Blue Yonder by Sandra McDonald Page A

wearing her dinner uniform. She looked surprised to see Myell standing there.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” she asked.
    Osherman rose from the table. “Lieutenant Scott, you’re just in time. Will you keep the children company? The sergeant and I were about to take a walk.”
    Jodenny looked uncertain. “A walk?”
    Hadley said, “I’m not supposed to let him out, sir.”
    â€œIt’s all right. I’ll authorize it. Commander Delaney won’t mind.”
    Hadley started to object again, but Osherman was already steering Myell into the passageway.
    Myell shrugged off the guiding hand and headed for the nearest ladder. The rungs were cool and sturdy under his fingers. He climbed down with no destination in mind. The galley on D-deck was busy with crowds, and he ducked away. The gym on E-deck was also teeming with sailors. Wasn’t there any place on the entire damned ship where a man could be alone in his thoughts, and breathe without sucking in someone else’s body odor, sweat, fear? He pushed open a hatch and stepped into the ship’s library, which was a curved dark room with individual reading booths. A vidded expanse of stars stretched from the carpeted deck to domed overhead.
    â€œWhat’s wrong, Sergeant?” Osherman asked, following him inside.
    â€œChief,” he corrected. “Or maybe not. It doesn’t matter, does it?”
    â€œWhy don’t you come sit down for a moment?”
    â€œI’m not having a nervous breakdown,” Myell said, though maybe he was. He paced toward the shelves and then away again, his hands fisted. Fight or flight. He told himself there was no reason to panic but reason couldn’t belt back the hammering of his heart or the tightness in his lungs. “I’m not claustrophobic.”
    Osherman sat on a padded chair. “Wouldn’t matter. There’s nothing wrong with a healthy fear of enclosed spaces.”
    â€œYou’re just saying that.”
    â€œLet’s just say I never plan to go spelunking. God’s honest truth.”
    Myell scrubbed the side of his head. He needed a haircut. He needed a lot of things. He felt like he was going to vomit up those mushroom raviolis. “You lie all the time.”
    â€œPart of my job,” Osherman said.
    Myell pressed his face against the vid screen, glad for the coolness. He closed his eyes. “You won’t remember any of this. The next time we meet, you’ll have to be convinced all over again. All of you, convinced.”
    â€œSounds wearisome.”
    â€œYou have no idea.”
    â€œWell, then,” Osherman said. “I know an excellent remedy. How about a beer or two?”
    Myell opened his eyes. “Christ, yes.”
    â€œCome on. I know just the place.”
    â€œIt’s bedtime,” Jodenny announced.
    Kyle said, “I don’t want to.”
    Twig added, “We should wait up for them.”
    â€œBed,” Jodenny insisted. The two of them had dark circles under their eyes and had been yawning steadily for the last half hour. “Wash up, brush your teeth, and look in the closet for something to sleep in.”
    Kyle said, “You’re bossy, just like she is.”
    â€œBed,” Jodenny repeated.
    The kids’ room had two single beds in it. Once cleaned up andchanged into pajamas, Kyle jumped onto his mattress and began punching his pillow into submission. Twig wanted someone to tuck her in. Jodenny pulled back the covers, helped her get settled, and adjusted the blankets and sheets accordingly. She almost smoothed Twig’s bangs back from her eyes, but settled instead for fluffing the pillow.
    Twig yawned and said, “I want my mom. She’s going to be worried.”
    â€œI’m sure she is,” Jodenny said.
    â€œYou didn’t have a mom.”
    Jodenny blinked. “Of course I did. She and my father died when I was very little.”
    From the other bed