"Hey, Kleppie," Hornbeck called as Kleppie came down the hall. "You missed class."
"Wasn't feeling well," Kleppie lied.
"What you got for us?" Hornbeck barreled on.
Kleppie shrugged. "Nothing."
"You're a bad liar, Kleppie. You get cold feet?"
Kleppie froze. Hornbeck and a couple others were blocking the way ahead.
"The room? What was in the room? And you left with that healer. Something she had to show you in her quarters. What'd she show you? Her penis?"
That made Kleppie mad. "Shut up! she's a nice person. You don't have to go be that way."
"I hear some of them are like that," a voice muttered towards the back to crowd.
"Some of them are like that back home, too. Don't mean you gotta be a redneck about it. Besides just cuz some are don't mean she is."
"I think Kleppie's got a girlfriend," someone joked.
Kleppie glared at the crowd.
"Enough," Hornbeck hollered. "I don't care what she is or isn't. And I don't care what you gotta do to get on her good side. I just want to know what you've discovered."
"The room, it's the manufacturing room for their medical gel. If you expand the map far enough you'll see. About a dozen different pipes lead in, each carrying some necessary ingredient. Put all the little labels together and they blot out the room's title. That's all. Nothing secret."
"And when you went to her room? What was it she showed you?"
"It doesn't matter," Kleppie said. "Cuz I'm not giving it to you. I am done being a spy."
"Whoa, it's not that easy. What about your country, man? Do you love your country?"
"Of course, you know I do," Kleppie said.
"Your country needs you," Hornbeck said. "We need... anything we can get. Some tiny little detail that might give our boys a tiny little advantage."
"I don't care," Kleppie said. "They saved our lives and, and she trusted me. They are friendly. We shouldn't just mistrust them."
"Is that what you think?" Hornbeck said. He produced a small, vicious looking knife. Kleppie stared at it, unsure if he was being threatened with it or shown it. He felt threatened. "See this," Hornbeck growled. "This is what those friendly Others of yours have hidden all over this ship. In case we get out of line, I assume."
"Where?"
"One of the exercise rooms," Hornbeck replied, "and there's lot more. Who knows how many other hidden cabinets there are, or what's inside. Still think they are friends?"
Kleppie licked his lips nervously. He steeled himself. "Yes. Yes, I do. I think, I think we should ask them to explain before we assume anything. They've done nothing. Besides, it's not like a gun or a space blaster. Just a knife. Why would that be the big secret?"
"I didn't say it was the big secret, just a secret. They've got more, mark my words."
"Doesn't matter, I'm not spying anymore. I don't think they're enemies."
Hornbeck shook his head. "You ain't the sharpest tool, Kleppie. It doesn't matter what you think. We know she gave you something. You can hand it over peacefully or we can go tear your bunk apart until we find whatever it is."
"Or you could just leave him alone," Fox said as he stepped out of the door behind Kleppie's back. Nara was with him.
"The turncoat been listening in," Hornbeck growled.
"You know what you said about Kleppie, could go for you as well, not the sharpest tool," Fox mimicked. Hornbeck bristled. "But at least Kleppie got his heart in the right place."
"What do you know about that, wearing their uniform. Traitor."
Fox shrugged. "Lot of people back on the rez said the same thing about me wearing your uniform. But my dad he taught me, man's got have his own sense of right and wrong. Spying on people who are trying to help you doesn't strike me as right."
"What about this?" Hornbeck demanded, brandishing the knife.
Nara moved so fast, she was barely a blur. She had him in an armlock, shoving him against the wall and pulling the blade from his hands. She met his stare. He blinked. She let him go. "Practice blades stay in the practice room," she said. She twirled the knife with a professional grace. "And never practice with sharp blades without notifying the healers first, just in case."
"Practice room?"
"They do martial arts, too," Fox snapped. "God, Hornbeck, you are so quick to see them as enemies you don't even stop to think. Nara and I have been training together for more than a week. You guys want to come some time, just say the word."
"So you gonna turn us in?" someone asked.
Fox shook his head. "Nara and I are on a very specific assignment from Captain Lannister. He doesn't want anyone in trouble. He doesn't want Officer Sutton or command involved if he can help it. He understands what you're all trying to do, but there are political ramifications if something goes wrong. It could hurt our nation's chance at peace, heck it could ruin our chances of getting back home. So from now on, you have suspicions, you think you've found something out, you come to me. If there is something to them, I'll make sure the Captain hears straight away. But no more unauthorized snooping, okay?"
The men grumbled but nodded.
After the men had left, Fox turned to Kleppie. "So what exactly did she give you anyway?"
Kleppie glanced nervously at Nara before answering. "I don't want to get her into trouble. I don't think she thought it was something private."
"It's okay," Nara said. "You won't get her into trouble."
"It's a data cube. Specs for this ship, or one like it. I asked something about anti-gravity or the engines or something. She thought it was just curiosity so she gave the readouts to look at. Honestly, I only looked at them when she showed me and I couldn't make any sense of them."
Nara snorted. "I couldn't either. You'd have to have advanced tech training, I would think. I am surprised if Kavi had a clue."
"She said she studied physics before she went into healing," Kleppie explained, feeling he needed to defend her intelligence somehow.
"I didn't mean anything," Nara said.
"Fox, sir, for what its' worth, I just talked to Officer Walker about this. She suggested I tell Dan, Officer Oleson. I was looking for him. I was planning on coming clean."
"I believe you," Fox said. "Let's go find him."
They found Dan in their quarters, taking a late afternoon nap. Kleppie rescued the data cube from where he'd hidden it. Then he told Dan everything.
Dan listened carefully and then agreed with what Cheyenne had said. "I think you need to do what you think is right," he said. "But I agree, you shouldn't betray a trust. And Lannister definitely doesn't want trouble." He gave a sidelong look at Fox. "I suggest we tell the Captain just that, that there hasn't been any trouble."
Fox nodded. "I was thinking as much."
Nara picked up the cube and inspected it as she talked. "You are all right. But these other men, they are right, too. It's not fair. There is so much you don't understand about us, so many things we have that you don't. I can imagine how that would feel.
"You've got to understand how the data system works. We take it such for granted, that things are just known. Secrecy, the words is so archaic it barely translates. We don't keep information from each other, because it's just there, in the system." She handed the cube to Fox. "Keep it. Give it to your command when you get home. I don't know how much they will be able to comprehend, but it's only fair."