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of ways, I suppose it was, just not the kind I was used to. There didn’t appear to be anything in the logs and there was no maintenance scheduled so the only thing I had to look forward to was my VSI walk through.
    That wasn’t the longest watch I ever stood. It’s hard to find a longer watch than the twelve hour overnight port-duty watches. But it was close. My mind kept trying to tell me it would be okay, but my gut kept reminding me of what it was like on a company planet with no job, no resources, and no friends.
    Brill stayed in her office all afternoon. I didn’t dare get too close. Not that I was afraid of her. I was more afraid of myself. I didn’t know what I’d do, and I didn’t want to break down into pitiful sobs. It occurred to me that she might be feeling the same way. More than once during that afternoon I found my own whelkie—a dolphin—in my hands with my thumb stroking the smooth, oiled wood.
    What worried me most was that I hadn’t heard from the captain. I liked and respected her a lot. On the one hand, she knew I was on watch and would be unlikely to summon me in the middle of it. On the other, I doubted she had answers for me yet. All I could do was trust Lois and pay attention to my current duties.
    My watch eventually ended. Francis showed up a few minutes early, a very unusual thing for him to do. “It’s all over the ship,” he said. “Raw deal, Ish.”
    “It’s just one hand and the game isn’t over yet,” I told him with what I hoped was more assurance than I really felt.
    “She still in there?” he asked, nodding at the office.
    “Been there all afternoon. Unless she slipped out while I was on VSI.”
    He sighed and I think I did too.
    When he took the watch I headed out to get cleaned up for dinner. I didn’t even make it out of the hatch before the captain’s summons hit my tablet. I stopped for a tick in berthing to splash some water on my face and wash the cruft off my hands. I straightened my shipsuit and wished that I had gotten my lucky stone back from Brill in Dunsany. I let out a small laugh and went to see what the captain had to say.
    When I entered the cabin, the senior officers were with her—Mr. Maxwell, the First Mate; Mr. Cotton, the Cargo Chief; and Mr. Kelley, the Engineering First Officer. They looked calm, cool, and collected, which I didn’t take as a good sign. These people were pros had dealt with crew changes for longer than I had been alive. I couldn’t imagine I was the first junior crewman to get bumped off a ship. Just the thought put a lump in my gut, but I stood braced at attention as best as I could.
    “Relax, Mr. Wang,” the captain said. “I know you’re just getting off watch but I wanted you to know what we do. You’re going to be mobbed when you leave here and I want you as informed as you can be.”
    “Thank you, Captain,” I said.
    “First, I assume you already know that you’re getting bumped from the environmental section?” she said it like she wanted confirmation, but only as a formality.
    “Yes, sar,” I said. “I’ve been informed.”
    “Second, I hope you understand that I’m not pleased with this unwarranted interference with the smooth operation of my vessel, but that I have a duty to the owners.”
    “Yes, sar, I understand completely, sar.” The hell of it was, I did. It was rock and hard place time. Nobody liked it but getting squished periodically was part of a rating’s job.
    “Third, I need to tell you that your contract with Federated Freight permits them to put you ashore at half pay if no alternate berth is available. If an alternate berth is located on any other Federated Freight ship, but you refuse to take that position, as is your right, you’ll receive no pay.”
    “Thank you, Captain,” I said. “I wasn’t aware of that, but I appreciate the warning. Will that provision be a problem?”
    “We’re still looking into that,” she said. “At the moment, no. There are presently only