II
Buck and Wilma are sitting in Admiral Asimov's office waiting when he comes bustling in.
"Sorry I am late, the lift stopped at just about every location on its own." He said.
Wilma and Buck looked at each other.
"That's what we want to see you about. All of the odd happenings around here." Said Wilma.
"Yea we figure that there have been a number of missing items especially food disks and clothing. The doors to the equipment room, the navigation room and the hanger bay have been found left open. But I don't believe in ghosts, someone is doing these things," said Buck
"Okay but who?"
"Well according to our ship management system there are 3 more people on board than the ship's crew lists."
"How the devil does it know that?" asked Buck
"It's complicated, based on the amount of oxygen consumed and CO2 produced…." Wilma started to say but she was interrupted by Asimov
"So, what you are saying that we have 3 stowaways."
"Exactly. And we know at least one of their names" replied Buck. "Marilyn Monroe. She joined me on my last surface survey and was pretty useless. Her name does not appear on the crew manifest and Dr Goodfellow doesn't know who she is"
"That doesn't surprise me," said Asimov
"Yea I know but neither does anybody else in that department. A couple of people have seen her wandering through but that's all," said Buck
"I was in contact with New Chicago. Apparently, she was attached to a supporting concern for the Defense Directorate. She didn't actually work for Defense. I am told she has basically disappeared; she hasn't been taking her food disk allotments or appearing for her assignments since the last time the Searcher was in Earth orbit for restock."
"So, we don't really know much about what is going on other than there appears to be 3 additional people on board one of which is this woman. We have no idea how they got on board or why."
"That about sums it up," said Buck
"But there hasn't been any real damage done to the ship or the crew correct." Said Asimov
"Correct so far other than crew members missing food and clothing. Of course the fact that the equipment and navigation rooms along with the hanger bay have had unauthorized access is a cause for concern" said Wilma.
"Well at this point, then I am not overly concerned as long as there are no untoward incidents, but I am very curious to know exactly what and why this is going on. I am sure I can leave it in your capable hands" Asimov said.
It was a week or so later that Buck stopped into Wilma's cabin. He was on his way to the launch bay for a recon mission, but he hadn't seen Wilma for a couple of days. Their duty schedules had been shuffled due to an illness.
"Hey there" he said as he greeted Wilma. She had just returned from the bridge at the end of her shift and was tired.
"Hey there yourself. You off to launch bay?" Buck nodded. "I wish we could spend more time together; the duty schedule issues should be resolved shortly and there won't be as many double shifts to cover once Officer Hardy is out of sick
Wilma reached up to take the braid out of her hair, but Buck came over to help. "Here let me do that" he said.
"Thank you I am a bit tired" she told him
"You don't use the hairdresser on board very often, do you?" he asked
"Well, no, I guess I spent so much time in Military and Defense positions that I learned to be self-sufficient. Why?"
"I bet our Miss Monroe uses the service" he said
Wilma turned back to face him, a broad smile on her face. "Brilliant idea! I will try to find out" she told him.
Wilma walked along the corridor deep in the Searcher's crew area. It was fairly late and there were few crew members around. She reached the door to the hair salon for the use of the crew and entered.
"Well hello Officer Derring, we don't see you here very often. What can I do for you today?" she was greeted to the attendant, the only person in the room.
Wilma held up a broken hairbrush. "I was wondering if you had a replacement for this." She said.
"I am not sure; I will be happy to check in the back for you" he told her
"Would you please I really appreciate that; I prefer this style" Wilma replied
The attendant took the brush with a smile and retreated to a storeroom in the back. As soon as he was out of sight Wilma moved around to the reception desk and reviewed to information on the system. By the time the attendant returned, holding up a new brush Wilma had returned to the other side of the reception desk.
"Thank you so much I really appreciate it" she told him
"You are very welcome and stop by anytime."
A few days later Marilyn Monroe was walking along the same corridor towards the salon when Wilma rounded the corner just beyond the doorway.
"Well Miss Monroe we've been looking for you" she said
Monroe saw Wilma and turned to head back in the direction she came but her path was blocked by Buck.
"No, no, no. We would like to speak with about something so come along quietly" he told her as he reached out and took her arm.