Connection - 34

~1035

“Janna, do you have some time to talk? And I mean like, a lot of time. And energy. And open-mindedness.” Everen was poking her head into the infirmary, where Janna was sitting at her desk, scratching numbers on a tablet as usual.

Janna looked up at Everen, looked down at her work, wrote a few more things, and then switched off her tablet. With a sigh in her voice, she said, “Sure Everen, what is it?”

“You don’t sound prepared for what I’m about to tell you.” But Everen slid all the way into the room, anyway, closing the door behind her. “Does this door lock?”

“Does the door to the emergency medical center—open 24 hours a day in case there’s an emergency—lock?” Janna reiterated dryly.

Everen strode further into the room. “Right, dumb question. Help me drag one of the beds over in front of the door.” She began pulling at one of the hospital beds.

Unruffled, Janna said, “Everen, if you’re suffering from paranoia, I want you to know that you’re not the only one, and that there are people who can help you, but I’m not one of them. We have a whole team of psychologists who have been helping a lot of people recently with paranoia. They have practice. Would you like me to walk you over?”

“I know where the psychology department is,” Everen said, turning to roll her eyes at Janna. “And I’m not being paranoid.” She paused a moment, considering. “Okay, maybe I am being a little bit paranoid, but when you hear what I have to tell you, you will be too. There’s no way that this room could be bugged or anything, right?”

“Everen. We wear communicators with us at all times. There’s no need to bug the room.”

Everen stared down at the communicator band on her wrist as if she’d never noticed it before. “We gotta take these off and put them somewhere they can’t hear us.”

Janna sighed. “If I do that, will you finally tell me what’s going on?”

Everen nodded.

“Fine. Give me yours.” She slipped off her own communicator and made a beckoning motion with an open hand. Everen gratefully plopped her wristband into it. Janna walked over to the wall and pressed on a certain point. A drawer popped out, and she dumped both communicators into it. She shut the drawer with a click, and it once again seemed like no more than a part of the wall. “Now what is this about?”

“You must promise to speak of this to no one,” Everen said. She boosted herself up so she could sit on the edge of the hospital bed.

Janna rolled her eyes, but when Everen gave her a hard look she said, “Fine, fine. I promise.”

Everen studied her for a moment, then nodded. “Alright. You know how I can speak telepathically with my sister? Well, it turns out, that there are some other beings that use the same… let’s call it a frequency, to communicate. And they just so happen to live on the planet we are headed to.” Everen began to explain how she’d first talked to the motes.

Janna listened quietly, even when it seemed like any normal person would butt in and demand to know why she hadn’t immediately told the captain. She listened all the way through to the end, when the motes had revealed that the captain was the murderer. When it was clear that Everen was done, Janna said, “Wow, okay. You’re lucky I trust you to not be crazy, otherwise, I’d definitely think you’d lost it. But if there’s one thing I’m not surprised about, it’s that the captain is behind this.”

Everen gaped. “What? Why would you suspect her?”

“She’s been suspicious to me for a while, but what am I supposed to do? Accuse her?” Janna threw her hands into the air. “And then when the murders started happening, I got even more suspicious. But I would be next! What was I supposed to do?” she repeated.

“I’ve never once suspected her,” Kerra said, furrowing her brow. “What made you suspicious?”

“She talks like she’s always going to be in control. She’s always paying attention to the meetings about how society is going to run on the planet when she should really be more concerned with the science behind getting the ship to land safely, you know, the stuff I’m doing. I think she has a mind to make herself queen or something,” Janna grumbled.

“What? How have I never noticed this?”

“Tell me, what do you think of our dear captain?”

“She’s successfully gotten us this far, she runs a tight ship that works together in a manner tha-”

“No,” Janna snapped. “Don’t tell me what she’s done. You know some of the awful things she’s done now. Tell me about her personality. What she’s like.”

Everen thought for a moment, and then shrugged. “I don’t know. She’s always seemed really busy. She seems no-nonsense and distant. All work and no play. I haven’t really gotten to know her all that well. She mostly just uses me to send and receive messages from Earth.”

“Exactly!” Janna nearly shouted, startling Everen into glancing at the door to see if someone had been listening. “You may not know her, but she knows you. She knows that you are perceptive, especially when it comes to people. She’s afraid of you, Everen. Afraid you’ll see her for what she really is, a slippery, conniving, little-” she bit off the end of the sentence. Taking a calming breath, she began again, “She avoids you, Everen. And that more than anything is what started to tip me off. Who would avoid you when you’re so charming, enthusiastic, and fun to be around?” Janna blushed a little, as if she hadn’t realized what she was saying.

“Aww, you think I’m charming?” Everen teased.

“I’m very lucky that you’ve taken a shining to me. I don’t know why you would, since I’m probably the most boring person on this ship, but I’m thankful.” Janna’s face was very red now. “Anyway,” she continued, sounding flustered, “what I’m saying is that… I believe you.”