Hiro walked in, still maddeningly chipper. “Hello, Dr. Glass. Mind if I take a look at myself?”
“I’m not sure that’s the healthiest thing in the world, Hiro,” Joanna said, laying the latest testing samples out on her counter.
“Well, no, the healthiest thing would be for me to have a hearty breakfast and go for a run on the treadmill,” Hiro said. “Also not have the stress of being on board with a killer. But I can’t do those things. The printer is nearly ready to go, speaking of breakfast. Maria has already named it and is challenging it for dominance. I can get you tickets to the bout, if you like. Now, you tell me the wisdom of fighting with a machine, with a killer loose on the ship.” His voice had a conversational tone that sounded like he really was talking about sports instead of their lives.
“Remember what I said about keeping your coping mechanism away from my earshot?” she asked. She waved at the five bagged bodies in the corner. “Go ahead. Yours is the one in the middle.”
The ship had no morgue because each body was supposed to be recycled after death. Another oversight. She would need to remove them before they broke down any more. She was done examining, but she had to hold on to them for Wolfgang’s curiosity. And if the crew wanted to look at their bodies, they might find a clue that could help them solve this.
At least Hiro looking at his dead clone worried her far less than the captain’s obsessive study of her own did, although that could be because his body was already dead.
He walked over to it and unzipped it, staring at his naked self.
“I’m just trying to figure out why I did it,” Hiro said, looking closely at his clone’s neck.
“Someone else could have hanged you, Hiro. Although there are no defensive wounds. Wolfgang and I are working on the time line today,” Joanna said, turning on her scanner. “But don’t worry, we’ll figure it out eventually.”
“Where is that ray of sunshine?” Hiro asked. “I thought he was helping you with these poison hunts.”
“He dropped the food printer in here and left. I think he is checking on Paul and the captain. I need to talk to him soon, though. Why do you need him?” she asked.
“I definitely don’t,” Hiro said. “Just curious where everyone was. We’re supposed to keep track, right?”
“In theory. Does this mean you left Maria alone?”
“Nah, she’s with the printer. That thing looks like it could protect any of us in a fight, provided Maria can get it on our side. Which is questionable right now, honestly,” he said.
Joanna glared at him.
He dropped his pleasant demeanor. “Fine. I had to go check on the nav system. I figured I would drop by to say hello to myself. I’ll head back to check on her.”
“How is the nav system?” she asked as he turned to go.
“The same,” he said. “Still slowing down. Still turning starboard.”
“That means nothing in space.”
“Fine, back toward Earth. I didn’t want to bore you with astronavigation numbers but if you really want…” He let his voice hang there, probably expecting her rapid refusal.
“I promise if I figure anything out about your death, I’ll let you know,” she said, motioning him out the door.
“Thanks, Doc.”
She watched him go, smiling slightly. She was glad they had Hiro on board. Irreverent and disrespectful at times, but he was a breath of fresh air they needed.
Her scanner beeped, indicating it had finally warmed up. She started feeding it samples, noting the numbers of each sample on her tablet.
“Hello, Dr. Glass,” IAN said, making her jump. “I’m sorry, did I startle you?”
“A bit. It’s going to take some getting used to. What do you need, IAN?”
“I wanted to know how you were doing, and if you needed anything.”
“I need my medical logs, IAN. Aside from that, things seem to be working fine.”
“I don’t have your medical logs but I can make backups of what you are recording now.”
Joanna considered saying no, but nodded. She was still keeping physical notes just in case of another data loss. “Thank you.”
She pinged the kitchen, and Maria answered, sounding annoyed. “It’s not done yet, Doctor.”
“I wasn’t calling you about that. You’ll be glad to know that the food printer is completely broken.”
“Why would that make me happy?”
“Because that means you haven’t been wasting your time with the new one. How is that going, anyway?”
Maria sighed loudly. “Nearly there. I have to run several test dishes before we can eat. But we’re close. I will have IAN tell everyone when I can finally print.”
“Are you going to your rooms to get those backups you said you had?”
“I guess I should do that. Instructions say I don’t need to do that, but I like redundant systems.”
“I want to make sure there’s no more poison traces in your room,” Joanna said. “Let me know as soon as you are free.” She was about to sever the connection, but remembered something. “So is Hiro there with you yet?”
“No, he left here a little bit ago to go check on the helm,” Maria said.
“Hell,” Joanna said. “Keep an eye out for him. He came by here, and now he’s supposed to be heading your way.”
“Sure, okay,” Maria said, more distracted than before, and the com switched off.
Joanna sighed. She’d had worries about the wisdom of a six-person crew. It had seemed efficient, but when a catastrophe of this level happened, they were in real trouble. They needed more people.
Or fewer, depending on how many of those people could be trusted completely.
Hemlock. Maria was right, that was a strange poison. She looked up information on her tablet, and read up on the deadly plant. Its leaves were deadly in small doses and could be disguised as other herbs.
She needed more tea. Prepared to brave the wrath of Hurricane Maria, she headed to the kitchen.
“Captain, where did you see action?” Joanna asked.
She and Katrina sat at the table farthest away from where Maria was testing the food printer. Hiro sat on the counter, keeping her company while trying to stay out of her way. The captain had come in to take a break, looking hopefully at the printer.
“I was in the Mexican army, the first clone in the world to make general,” she said, spinning her own empty mug on its edge. “I saw action in the American water wars, mainly. Lost a leg during a laser strike to our camp.”
Joanna had been in Washington, DC, during the water wars, remembering how it had split the West, how the new civil war (no one called it that, but everyone knew that’s what it was when Nevada Governor Andrew Teal took command of the Nevada Army Reserve and sent them, all too willing, to invade California to fight for the dwindling water supply) had caused a lot of strife in the capital.
“I remember the wars,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t last much longer, so I got better with the next life. Benefits of cloning, you know,” Katrina said.
Joanna pinged Wolfgang. “What is it, Doctor?” he answered.
“We need to get back on the job. Let’s finish that time line so I can have my clean medbay back.”