"I'm nervous. Do I look nervous? I look nervous, don't I."
"No need to be nervous. " Phineas flicked his eyes up from the monitor to the Captain. "They don't bite."
Still she bounced on her heels like an impatient child waiting for a surprise, hair over one shoulder in its long tail twisting it with both hands. "I'm just excited!"
With a hydraulic hiss the doors opened and the voices carried to them, a man and a woman. They stopped in the doorway still wearing the residual smiles of laughter. The woman had skin so fair it seemed her bright red curls drew all the other color from her and she pressed her hands to freckled cheeks at the sight of the Captain, her russet eyes warm.
"My stars and garters!" Then rushing forward took the Captain's hands. "You must be Captain Frost! I've heard so much about you!" She was sweet and touchy feely like an aunt or grandma even though she didn't look to be any older than the Captain. There was a slight brogue to her voice.
Phineas couldn't help but smile at them. "May I present Dr. Alice Byrne, first of many bioengineers who will be on our team to revive the Hope colonists."
Dr. Byrne jerked her head to the statuesque dark skinned man beside her. "That's Liam. He fetches the coffee."
She laughed as Liam shook his head. He stood a head taller than all of them with his fists in his pockets withdrawing one to take the Captain's offered hand which he shook gently.
"Actually, '' he corrected loudly "I'm Dr. Liam Richards and I'm also going to help Dr. Welles melt the popsicles." His voice was low, pleasant with an accent the Captain could not place. He kept holding her hand and a mischievous glint was in his green eyes. "Why Phineas, you sly dog. You know what they say about pretty young things."
Byrne's jaw dropped and her hands were on her hips as she turned to Phineas in mock scandal.
Phineas however ignored these sallies and instead said "Please do not refer to the process as 'melting the popsicles' however close to the truth it is."
Richards shoved his hands back in his pockets. "Oh just a bit of levity won't hurt you, Phin."
"I'm the best popsicle,"said the Captain.
"Yes yes you are special and great and all the wonderful things are you." Phineas conceded.
"Was that so hard?"
Phineas set to work like a man possessed. With the resources at hand at long last he set to his task immediately. He worked well into the mornings and was still at it when Byrne or Richards were still shaking off sleep. The caffeinoids would do him in someday, they warned. They were likely to but until then, Phineas had his work.
In pairs, in groups. Then his knowledge sufficiently passed on entire teams were devoted to reviving the colonists. In months the Hope was overflowing with people. The Captain sent a plaque bearing the names of the original Hope crew placed in the docking bay so everyone coming and going might see and remember. Every time Phineas looked at it it strengthened his resolve.
He didn't see her much but now that things were well in hand and he wasn't needed so much maybe he could find the time to study that tactical time dilation. Maybe he'd even sleep.
Once when he was headed back to his lab on pain of having his caffenoids cut off by his concerned staff for some actual sleep, Phineas saw the Captain and one of the dock workers scratching their heads in confusion over a delivery while the other vessel's ship hands unloaded the seemingly endless crates.
"Look, it's all paid for just sign the damn form." The stevedore said in that 'for the hundredth time' tone.
"This is insane, are you sure there hasn't been a mistake? " Going over her own datapad the Captain did a quick number crunch. "Okay math not my strong suit but even this is a huge fuck up for me." Then she saw him. "Dr. Welles." She gestured to the other ship. "Did you order more stuff and forget to tell me? Did you tell Richards and he forgot to tell me? I'll tan his hide."
"No no, no mistake." Phineas assured her and waved for her to follow. She trotted after him.
"This is a goddamn logistical nightmare, I just do what you tell me." The Captain panted, swallowing.
He waved away her disgrace."I have been busy these past few months. If you're free might you be able to swing by the lab? I'd like to run a few tests."
She chuckled dryly " 'Hi Kenna, how are you? Catch any good serials lately?" "
Ouch.
"We can have pleasantries soon, I promise."
"Oh there's this old serial I wanted to watch. Do you want to watch it with me?'
Phineas groaned. "I might not be able to stay awake for it."
"This one will keep you on the edge of your seat. It's an old show called Game of Thrones. I'll warn you it's violent and there's...some nudity."
"I'll watch through my fingers. How can I resist?" He rolled his eyes. "Don't you have anything better to do than watch aetherwave with grouchy old men?"
The last time he set foot on the Unreliable was that awful day he escaped from Tartarus.
ADA's omniscient voice floated to them. "Welcome back, Captain. I see you have company. Shall I hide your racy romance novels?"
"I don't read racy romance novels." The Captain said more to herself than anyone else.
"Hello, ADA." Phineas greeted. Hawthorne mentioned ADA a few times. Well he boasted about her probably expecting Phineas to be interested. He was in truth but didn't want to feed the smuggler's ego. The AI's sass on the other hand, he could do without.
"Ah, Dr. Welles. Pleasure to have you aboard again. Escape another prison?"
Phineas' smile tightened a bit. "In a manner of speaking. Would you take us back to my orbital lab?"
"With pleasure. See Captain, I think you could benefit from learning from ' good manners."