Chapter 23: Kyle

Kyle stalks through the corridors, murmured depreciations of his father's moral character spouting quietly from his mouth as spots and enters his old man's office. The Austere decor and lack of ornamentation offends Kyle's aesthetic tastes and he turns his back on the room. Aiming for the comm unit he pipes in Elise's quarters.

"Hello?" Her sweetly lilting voice pipes throughout the office.

"Hi Elise, It's Kyle. I'm sorry I had to back out of my time with you three today. But no one ignores a call to go see the Captain. Especially not us lowly passengers."

"Oh not to worry Kyle. I understand." Her voice cuts off suddenly as he hears a high pitched squeak as if from a distance.

"Kyle! Kyle! Kyle!" Kyle laughs as he recognises Jeremiah's childish voice. He can almost see Elise's eye's rolling in his mind.

"Hello tyke." He responds. "Are you behaving for Elise?"

"Yeaaaaaah. Are you gonna come play wif me more?" He asks innocently, neatly avoiding Kyle's question.

"I can't kid, I've got to work now. But if you behave I'll ask Elise if she'll let me come play with you another day. You'll have to be good though Jeremiah." He grins as Elise speaks.

"He can't see you silly boy. You have to answer him, not just bob your head excitedly." The note of laughing exasperation in her voice makes Kyle's grin wider.

"I'll be good! Pwomise!" He hears Jeremiah yell.

"Okay scamp, go play while the grownups talk please." Elise responds.

"Kaaaaaaay."

"So, we're grownups now are we?" Kyle asks, his face starting to hurt as he continues grinning.

"Well in comparison to that scamp we sure are!" She responds, trying for haughty, but coming out as a little disappointed.

"Still wanna be a little kid huh? Yeah, me too. Those were some sweet ass fun times."

"No, I think it's more like I'd not mind going back to the sweet, unknowing, innocent me of a couple weeks ago. I miss them so much Kyle."

"Me too. Well, maybe not my father so much. He was a serious pain in my backside among other things, but I still loved the old codger. Damn we're getting maudlin girl."

A slight tinkling laughing sounds out of the speaker. "You're right, we are. So, what did our vaunted Captain want with you? And did I hear you say work?"

"Ah yes, about that. With my father gone, the only other person available with any kind of in depth knowledge of his work is.."

"You?"

"Smart girl." He grins in response. "So yeah, fraid I'm gonna be holed up reading boring ass documents for the near future. I'll try and schedule some off time when I can. but, for now I'm afraid little Jeremiah is going to have to do without his human monkey swing."

"I'm sure he'll survive. I'll just have to distract him... Somehow." She laughs. A wailing cry starts up and she sighs. "Lilla's awake, I've got to go. Chat soon."

The comm system dies just as his door chimes. "Enter." He says as he works his way towards the desk chair. "Oh hey Melissa. oh crap, should I be calling you Lieutenant or something?"

Laughing as she enters, Melissa shakes her head. "God no, please don't. I don't think I could handle having someone I used to babysit calling me Lieutenant. Melissa's fine Kyle."

"Alright then, sit, let's find out what the fucks going on." Waving to the carafe  in her hands he grins. "Glad someone in here has their head on straight!"

Melissa grins and grabs a couple mugs. "I figured you'd forget to bring something, we're gonna be here hours you realize?" She passes him a mug of hot coffee and sits. A slight groan escaping her. "God, that feels good. I've been up and down checking every system known to man and God and I can't figure where the glitch is coming from. Everything's working perfect."

"What exactly is going wrong then? How's the system malfunctioning?" Sipping the coffee, he leans back. "What would father do if he were here?"

She laughs. "Tell me to do exactly what I've been doing!" Shrugging, she reaches down and sets a heavy bag on the desk. "Every note and file on the comm system I have."

Groaning, Kyle reaches for the bag, dumping the files on the desk. "This is going to take days!"

"Welcome to my world!"