Free Morning Song: A Seeders Universe Novel by Dean Wesley Smith Page A

decontamination,” Fisher said.
    “We agree from here,” Chairman Ray said.
    “A clean ship that has warmed up the place and turned on the lights,” Fisher said.
    “Seems we have some exploring to do,” Roscoe said.
    And after being out there in that huge space, that idea actually excited him for the first time.

 
     
     
     
    SEVENTEEN
     
     
    ONE HOUR AFTER the big ship dropped back out of trans-tunnel flight and they lost communications with Chairman Ray because of the ship’s shields, Maria found herself sitting beside Roscoe in the kitchen of Fisher’s ship.
    He had on a tight black shirt and black slacks with the same wide belt buckle he always wore. His long brown hair was pulled tight behind his head. For the first time since they had been inside the big ship, he had no rifle with him.
    She wanted to just touch the muscles that were clear under the tight black shirt, but she didn’t. Instead she let her leg sort of rest casually against his under the table. Being this close to him made her feel so much better in so many ways she wasn’t sure she understood just yet.
    Fisher and Callie were both there as well. All of them were sipping on containers of water and she had one in front of her as well, but hadn’t touched it. Besides sitting so close to Roscoe, she was so excited about going out and exploring Morning Song , she almost couldn’t sit still.
    Fisher looked at her. “Do you have opinions of the most important areas to explore first?”
    “Command Center, of course,” Maria said. “We need to get control of this ship in some fashion or another and that has to be priority.”
    Beside her, she could see Roscoe nodding in agreement.
    Fisher looked around at his wife, then back at Maria. “You won’t get any disagreement on that at all. Second most important?”
    Maria just shook her head. She wanted to see the entire ship, but she knew they had to prioritize right now. “Engines, then secondary control rooms, then living areas, then those big ships on that docking bay. We really need to see how they are outfitted and if they can function after all this time. On second thought, those should be right after the engine room.”
    Fisher looked at Roscoe. “Your list?”
    Roscoe looked at Maria. “I can’t disagree with that list at all.”
    Callie agreed and so did Fisher.
    “So there are fifteen of us,” Fisher said. “How would you suggest we split up or should we?”
    Maria looked at Roscoe who nodded for her to go ahead.
    “My suggestion,” Maria said. “One from each team remain here on the ship running scans ahead of the three groups that are out. Three groups out at a time, four members in each exploring group. We need at least one member from each of our teams in each group.”
    “That feels right,” Roscoe said.
    Fisher turned to his wife. “Would you mind remaining on board this first time? I need someone in command here who knows how to fly The Lady.”
    “I was going to suggest that,” she said.
    Fisher turned to Maria again. “Who on your team knows the most about the Command Centers of older Seeder ships?”
    “Hudson,” she said, without hesitation.
    Hudson was one of her youngest at three hundred years, but looked far older than he should because of his long black beard and shaggy hair. He had made it his passion to study and fly in reality and in simulations all old Seeder ships she could get him near. He could take apart old Command Centers with his eyes closed.
    “So the three of us and Hudson head to the Command Center,” Fisher said.
    “Jonas could take a team to engineering,” Roscoe said. “His passion is engines of all types.”
    Fisher nodded. “Two of my team are engineers as well. Perfect.”
    They spent the next half hour detailing out who would go first and so on. They decided that Maria had been right and the third most important place to explore was the big ships on the hanger deck.
    Then there was nothing else to talk about.
    Maria was almost