The Apprentice Starship Engineer: Book One The Link by Daniel Hanks Page A

dimension where physical laws are different. Others propose that you’d be destroyed by the warp fields. Several probes were sent through and never returned. We don’t know what would happen to you.”
    A plate of food emerged from the professor’s head. I stopped the program and thanked Kathy for the food. She sat next to me on the couch, watching me as I ate. Between bites I complimented her on the food. As I took the last mouthful she reached over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I looked back at her in a state of shock. She took my head in her hands and kissed my nose, then took my plate and retreated into the kitchen.
    Shocked, I walked toward the kitchen. She met me at the door. She grabbed my ears and gave me another kiss on the lips. She wrapped her arms around me and put her head on my chest. My heart hammered, and I had a hard time catching my breath.
    Holding me tight, she said, “I’m too old for you! You should go now. I should have never kissed you.” She pushed me away and hung her head. “Go. Please leave.”
    I ran my hand through her hair and down her neck. She quivered at my touch as my thumb brushed her ear.
    She grabbed my arm with both hands. “No, don’t touch me. You must go now.” She pushed me out her door and then closed it behind me.
    Outside, I gasped for air as my head spun. What had just happened? Did that just happen to me? What the hell? I turned and stomped my way to my room. I thought about what Sibyl had said. A lucky girl will scoop you up. Ha, I didn’t want to be scooped up. I don’t need a girl in my life, I thought. I slipped off into a troubled sleep and was still pissed off when I got up, but lost steam as I finished my shower. Hell, I thought, I don’t know how I feel about Kathy.
    * * * *
    I stopped at the cafeteria and grabbed a few donuts and a thermos of coffee. To hell with Kathy and her rules. I entered the shop and saw Jack and Bob. “You both look like hell. Are we still go on this spacewalk today?” I asked.
    “Screw you.” Bob snarled.
    “Captain wants to have a get together before we start, so play your parts as the highly-motivated maintenance crew of the Armstrong ,” Jack said, picking up his notepad.
    We followed Jack, eating our donuts and sipping coffee into a transport. Sandra was there. She smiled at me, then scowled at my donut and stole my coffee.
    “Big pow wow at the captain’s this morning. Are you going?” Sandra asked.
    “Guess so.”
    I took my coffee back and had a sip. Sandra eyed my cup so I passed it back. We rode on in silence. As we stepped out into the royal hall, Jack complained about what a waste it was.
    Stella Sterling stood by a door. She moved forward to meet us. “Shit, Jack, could you’ve at least shaved.”
    “Captain isn’t my kind of girl. I’m not shaving for her.”
    “Okay, everyone, inside. Move it,” Stella said with a sigh.
    We sauntered in, making no movement that might appear as if we were in a hurry. I stopped at the coffee pot and filled my cup before taking a seat next to Sandra. As Doc Weston a powerfully built man who looked like he lived in a gym and TJ arrived along with some security personnel. Ron Thompson and several other ship’s officers entered and found chairs at the table. Ron nodded to me. After a few minutes, Captain Ramon entered the room, taking a position at the end of the table.
    “Thank you for coming. We’ve been experiencing an anomaly with the bender ring, and will be performing adjustments. I’ve been assured it can be done safely and successfully. I’ll let Jack explain it.” She nodded at Jack.
    “Thank you, captain. For the last three weeks, navigation has been noticing we’re using more adjustment to keep on course. We checked into it and found many of our tachyon emitters were at or near their adjustment limit. If we stepped out of warp now, our computers wouldn’t control the emitters and open a warp bubble. The only way to align the emitters is while we’re in