Once Upon a Pet Show (A Redpoint One Romance) (14 page)

"You shouldn't be here," Damien said, leaning
forward in his chair. The two bots trailing behind Rachel chirped
their agreement.

"This is why we're doing this, love," Eddie
said. "You aren't ready to come back to work, and they need
help."

"So, we're helping," Daisy said simply. "We
think Izabela would work well in your department. Someone else will
have to train her at first, of course."

Arthur gave his own sigh. "Vasiliy, you are on
plumbing today. Izabela, you're with him. Good luck on your first
day. We'll talk at length later today."

Vasiliy pushed away from the wall he'd been
leaning against and gestured to her. "Back here. We'll get you set
up."

With a relieved smile, the woman walked
quickly towards the back and disappeared into the locker and supply
room. Arthur's attention never deviated from the Naughty Knitter's
Club, a fact that Daisy's fidgeting indicated she'd started
noticing.

"I'm asking you to hold off on any other new
arrivals until after we talk and after the Pet Show," Arthur said.
The words were polite and kind, but the firmness behind them came
through loud and clear. "We are not in a position to properly train
new arrivals with everything else that is happening."

"Or until a few guidelines are established,"
Zane added from behind Arthur.

Velda smiled sweetly, in a manner Damien
didn't trust an inch. Rachel's eye's narrowed at the same smile.
"Of course. Dinner on Friday, then. 7pm, and don't be late, and
that includes you, Zane. We're looking forward to it."

The women left, with Daisy giving them a perky
wave before they disappeared. Rachel watched them the entire way,
saying only once they were gone, "They're up to something
else."

Damien shifted in his seat. Hopefully that
'something else' didn't include messing with his life, or lack of a
love-life. His bot was more than enough of a matchmaker.

"They're always up to something," Arthur said,
letting his arms drop.

"Some things never change," Zane
mumbled.

Arthur turned towards the back of the room
where the rest of the crew stood or leaned against the walls.
"Cody, you have Shay. See if he shows any aptitude in weapon
systems."

"It's about time!" Shay almost shouted, a big
grin on his face.

"The rest of you, keep your eyes out. Report
any unusual circumstance to Ami," Arthur continued as if Shay
hadn't said at thing. He gestured towards Ami, standing quietly to
one side with her regular computer headgear perched over her
head.

"Any luck in tracking the problems?" Rachel
asked, staying by the door.

"None so far, but I have too little
information to spot patterns," Ami said, not the least bit frazzled
to find herself the center of attention. "I'm sure we will
soon."

"Everyone head out. We have a lot of work to
do today." Arthur pointed to the door as his stern gaze settled on
Rachel. "Out. You are still on sick-leave."

Rachel puffed at him, rolling her eyes. "I'm
not here to work. Relax, boss."

Tish ran up to give her a quick hug, trailed
by her three bots. "I have to run for a repair, but I'll come by
later today to say hello properly."

"Tis fine. Go." Rachel continued into the room
with the two bots behind her complaining. She threw her arms around
Zane and gave him a tight hug. The type of hug Damien had dreamed
of giving Vallory the night before. Before he'd chickened out. "I
just came to see a special someone. I haven't seen you in
years!"

Zane hugged her back. "That would be because I
haven't been here in years."

"Far too long." Rachel stepped back, smiling
up into his face. "It's so good to see you. It's been frustrating
being laid up when so much is going on, but I feel better now that
you are here."

Zane let out a frustrated breath. "All of you
so sure I can help with this?"

"Yes," Arthur said simply. "Other than Tish, I
haven't seen anyone have such an instinctive connection to the
station. We're counting on that."

"So are the businesses relying on the pet
show," Damien said as the rest of the crew filtered towards the
door to start their day. Something he should do himself. "Another
hotel struck last night, and today one of the restaurant areas?
It's getting worse."

Rachel leaned back against the railing,
propping her arms back on them, and grinned at Zane. "See? You
can't leave yet. Besides, you haven't seen my new guy, Ignacio.
I've been telling him all about you."

Zane's eyes sharpened as he stared straight at
Rachel. "New guy? Boyfriend?"

"Oh, he's more than a boyfriend now. I even
got a new bot out of the deal," Rachel said, her smile unabated. If
anything it deepened. The new bot hovering nearby chirped, knowing
she was referring to it.

Damien grinned at her as he stepped off the
platform. His bot came out of the back rooms with his cart, ready
for a new day of work. "I think she's hinting."

Arthur leaned against the same railing as
Rachel, only this time with his chest to it and arms crossed over
the top bar. "I think so. Have something you want to tell us,
Rachel?"

Her expression turned innocent. "Tell? What's
to tell? You've known Tish longer. Do you have something to tell
us?"

Now, why did that comment make Arthur tense
like that? And why was Zane even more tense than before, his
attention now turning to Arthur. "You, as well? You are in a
relationship?"

"Tish and I, yes. She's the head of another
department, so don't worry. Not a conflict according to regs,"
Arthur said.

"It's not regulations I'm thinking of." Zane
regarded both Rachel and Arthur with tense eyes, his face solid
panes of muscle. "Keep them away from your bots. I won't say don't
let the station know. It seems to know no matter where you are
inside."

Damien straightened from adjusting the layout
of the tools and supplies inside the cart. Everyone still remaining
in the room froze, all attention on Zane. Even the bots.

Arthur shoved off the railing, turning fully
towards Zane, demanding, "Why?"

The muscles in Zane's corded throat worked,
before he bit out, "Because the station believes it now owns you.
It will not share you with anyone else. Haven't you notice no one
here is married?"

"One of our new hires is. There have been no
issues," Arthur responded.

Zane shrugged, turning away, his back muscles
as tense as the rest of him, showing through his tight shirt.
"Ignore my warning, if you like. It drove off the woman I love, and
I'm not the first it's done it to. It's why I left. The station
will not control my life."

Zane's words haunted Damien for the rest of
the day. His mood must have rubbed off on his bot, because even its
noises were subdued. It didn't help his mood any. With all the
problems on the station lately, it was a worry he didn't need or
want.

The station jealous of the maintenance crew
having personal lives? A person in their lives to love? A
family?

He'd never put together the lack of couples in
the department to such a thing before. And yet, there it was. One
newbie married, but all of those who had been in the department for
more than three or more years? Not a married person among the
bunch, including him.

He flexed his shoulders as he worked a new
filter into one of the life-support nodes. With an additional
shove, it slipped into place. His bot helped anchor it before they
shut the access panel and tested the new installation.

Now that he thought about it, Zane did leave
abruptly. Arthur rose to the occasion of his advancement to the
position, but they'd all wondered what happened. Now they knew. By
the end of the day, the truth of it would filter down to the entire
maintenance crew on all shifts and at the secondary maintenance
platform.

Would more stories surface? Somehow he knew
they would. Not because gossip liked to travel, but because deep
down in his bones, he knew Zane told a truth.

The controls indicated the filter was working.
Damien stepped back and watched his bot move down the wall to the
floor, tucking its arms into the hatch at the front of its
body.

Truth, and yet…

"You really like Vallory, don't you." He
didn't phrase it as a question. His bot answered with a happy
chirp, reaffirming what he'd observed. "So, what happened with
Zane?"

An unhappy short whistle answered the
question. This was one of those times he really wished the station
and its bots would learn their language. It was certainly smart
enough, wasn't it?

Did the sound mean there was something wrong
with the woman Zane had been attracted to? Up to something, like
the newbie they'd had when Tish arrived who turned out to be
working with the pirates? Did she lie about why she was leaving
Zane? Some other issue? Something Zane wasn't saying? Something
with the station or its bots?

What was the rest of the story?

Too little information to figure it all out,
and he had no one to ask who would know more. In the meantime,
gossip and rumor would fill in the gaps. He knew how that worked,
even if he didn't like it. It went against what he preferred. Give
him the straight-up truth.

Especially in this time of unusual station
events.

He heard several calls go back and forth
between the maintenance crew and Ami as he worked, moving from one
trouble spot to the next to make repairs. Ami always answered
quickly, and in a few questions she nailed the nature of the
problem. She was good, displaying an almost instinctive knowledge
for the station when it came to locations and what division the
problem was coming from. He had a feeling that if she ever wanted a
job in the maintenance department, the station would welcome
her.

The computer group would not. He'd heard they
had as much trouble as the maintenance division in finding the
right sort of person to work with the odd systems of Redpoint
One.

"Last one of the day," Damien said as he
closed up a ventilation shaft, overseeing the final cleaning of it
by a small army of bots. To Ami, he said, "Clean down here, and I
hate to say it, but the stink didn't come from this
shaft."

Ami sighed into the channel. "I'm not
surprised. I don't know how, but I believe the smell is coming from
higher in the system. For whatever reason, it shunts off into
different directions each time."

"Any clues as to source?" Damien asked,
checking the results of the air tests one last time.

"Nope. Do you? You're the life-support
guru."

Damien gave a heavy sigh himself, one he kept
off the channel. Turning it back on, he answered, "No idea yet.
I'll keep looking."

Shutting down the channel, he looked down at
his bot. "We need to take the time one of these mornings to trace a
few lines. The repairs will have to wait."

One eyestalk bent over to look back at him as
it put things away. A chirp and it concentrated on its business,
settling back in front of the cart and grabbing the handle. Ready
to go to the next job.

But, Damien meant it. That was the last repair
and check of the day. Time to go off-shift before something else
happened to put him into overtime. Not that working overtime had
helped with the station system failures. Every night he went to bed
frustrated.

"Come on." He headed down the corridor, intent
on getting to the maintenance platform as fast as
possible.

He couldn't really blame the station for all
his frustrations. Another warred for supremacy, and all of it was
compacted in a nicely formed female body with curly auburn hair and
a sprinkling of freckles. He'd found himself dreaming of her laugh
and their walk. The daubpups had made their way into his dream,
too, but at that point the dreams turned strange.

Vallory. The woman his body and heart wanted,
but his mind reminded him he could not have. Not unless he was
willing to give up the rest of his life.

Was that what happened to Zane? Did the
station really drive him off?

Too many unanswered questions.

As he reached a transit platform, his
communicator beeped. He recognized the name. Oh great. Did
something else happen at the pet show? Vallory calling from the Bed
and Breakfast to plead for more help?

If she did, he knew he would head straight
there. Despite his worries and knowing he needed to distance
himself. Despite all the reasons he should pull back. He wouldn't
be able to help himself, and he couldn't figure out why, or even if
it was a good thing or not.

Which set the logical side of his mind warring
with the rest of himself. With the war raging hard and fast, he
opened the connection.

"Okay, Mr. Fixit, time to pay up," Velda's
irate voice said.

"For the room? The hotel is paying all
expenses for their displaced guests," Damien said.

"No, not for that. Don't you think I would
know how that works? Of course I do. How many years have I run this
place?"