KINAVERAL HUNG MIDDLING big in the central screen. Khat had filed her approach with Central, done her system checks and finally leaned back in the pilot's chair, exhaling with a will.
Cris looked up from the mate's board with a half-grin and a nod. "Two to six, Central will argue the path."
Khat laughed. "I look a fool, do I, coz? Of course Central will argue the path. I once had a fast-look at a Lane Controller's manual. First page, Lesson One, writ out in letters as high as my hand was, 'Always Dispute the Filed Approach.'"
Cris' smile widened to a grin. "First lesson, you say? There was pages after that?"
"Some few," Khat allowed, straight-faced; "some few. Mind, the next six after was blank, so the student could practice writing out the rule."
"Well, it being so large and important a rule. . . " Cris began, before the intercom bell cut him short.
He spun back to his board and slapped the toggle. "Mate."
"First Mate," Iza Gobelyn's voice came out of the speaker, gritty with more than 'com buzz. "I'm looking for the approach stats."
"Captain," Cris said, even-voiced. "We're on the wait for Central's aye."
There was a short, sizzling pause.
"As soon as we're cleared, I'll have those stats," Iza snapped.
"Yes, Captain, "Cris murmured, but he might just as easily said nothing; Iza had already signed off.
Cris sighed, sharp and exasperated. Khat echoed him, softer.
"I thought she'd lighten, once Jeth was gone," she said.
Cris shook his head, staring down at his board.
"It ain't Jethri being gone so much as Arin," he muttered. "She's gotten harder, every Standard since he died."
Khat thought about that, staring at Kinaveral, hanging in the center screen. "There's a lot more years ahead, and Arin in none of them," she said, eventually.
Cris didn't answer that—or, say, he answered by not answering, which was Cris' way.
Instead, he said, "I got a reply on that franchise job. They want me to stop by their office, dirtside, take the test. If that's a go, it'll mean a temp berth for the next ten months, Standard."
Khat nodded, her eyes still on Kinaveral. "Paitor figures to pick up some training or consulting at Terratrade," she said. "Me, I'll file with Central as a freewing."
"Sensible. The rest sticking to dirt?"
She laughed. "Now, how likely is that? Might take a few port cycles til they get tired of breathing dust, but you know they'll be looking for space work, too."
"Huh," Cris said, fiddling with a setting on his board. "Iza?"
Khat shrugged. "Way I heard it, she was staying dirtside, with the Market." She held up a hand. "Paitor did try to talk her out of it. Pointed out that Seeli's able. Iza wasn't having any. She's the captain, the job's hers, and by all the ghosts of space, she'll do it."
"Huh," Cris said again—and seemed on the edge of saying something more when the comm screen came live with Central's request that Gobelyn's Market amend her filed approach.