Keepsake

You better now? Want to stand again?"

Mary nodded and supported, guided by Tim, rose shakily to her feet.

Joan’s voice called "There she is....come on Honey lets get you in the shower and dressed..

Well Tim, I’m glad to see you put something on HER, at least."

"Joan...I’m a highly trained medical professional .... your luscious, soft, desirable female bodies...do not effect me in the slightest way!"

"Get out of here lecher. I’ll look after her from here. Hold on...gimmie a kiss first.........there!.........hold that thought"

"Ahh....Err?........Oh yea!.....remember to do a 5 minute, easy workout in the gym before you start checking the ship over . Easy workout! See you two later."

As Joan helped Mary into the shower she whispered. "Men...don’t ya love em ...they get one every morning you know...and after a 8,000 year night ......Well! they’re sure to be pretty frisky..... it’s gonna be some fun!"

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Two hours later Mary was just finishing with the navigation systems when the Captain’s voice came over the intercom.

"Welcome back everyone......Just to let you know. We all made it out of cryosleep. Hopefully at the right place. The ship seems fully operational.......I’m calling a general meeting in one hour, everyone be there. Be ready to give a complete status report on all systems. See you soon."

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Mary finished off the last of the planned checks and made some notes for the meeting. She slipped out of her chair and called.

"Joan. I’m gonna slip down to check on my stuff, see you at the meeting."

" K . Don’t run, I’ve got a couple more planets to check . I’ll get there."

The ship seemed like new as she walked the corridors. Clean, no corrosion , no dust. The floors still sparkled. She read the instrumentation on the door of her private room, making sure everything was okay inside. Then broke the seals and entered. Her room was neat, a small bed, two chairs, a work area, computer and her locker. Working the combination, she opened the door.

There they were...still in their plastic cases ... , her 100 kilos of allotted personal possessions.

Her books.

Her arm reached out to take one but she stopped herself.

No . . . later....first the meeting.

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Joan , hurrying down the corridor , met up with her just as she was entering the meeting room. Mary was about to kid her about running but stopped when she saw the looks on the faces at the table. Something was wrong, very wrong . The three members of the bio team sat glaring at their three counterparts on the engineering team. Even Tim on the bio team was obviously upset and angry.

No one was saying a word and the Captain sat at the end of the table leaning forward, his hands grasped in front of him.

Mary sat at the Captain’s left hand and Joan took her position on the right.

The Captain spoke "Okay team....we’re gonna do this by the book and by the numbers....I am sorry to be arbitrary, but for this meeting ...... We need....no outbursts .... ...no cross table talk.....no interruptions of others .... no emotion.....you are all to keep it professional.... You will all Please address your comments to me only..... ...Navigation report.....Mary."

Puzzled? Mary answered " All navigation systems check out perfect, we are right on course, no errors.