Mitchell's Revenge
U.S.E. shipyard, off EQ2

Two days later the repairs to Mitchell’s Revenge and the Guardian Angel were going well. The Guardian Angel looked as if it were parked in a demolition zone. Wrecked parts were piled in a bin for recycling as the ship’s surface was cleaned of broken antennae and coms dishes.

The hull needed reinforcing after the collision with the wall, but all the internal wiring seemed to have retained its integrity. Rufus and Bolter grappled with how to repair the ruined external fittings with help from Lauri and two of his techs. Lauri realised just how brilliant Bolter was as he worked to reconstruct the Angel with the parts and materials at hand.

Tim and Sibil arrived at the shipyard for a forty eight hour stay. Jake hurried to greet them. He was shocked when he saw them both. His father looked so old, and Sibil was painfully thin.

“I’m so glad to see you!” he said as he met them in the docking bay. Jake hugged them one after the other. He thought Sibil might break in half if he squeezed her too hard.

“Good to see you son,” said Tim, unable to keep the tiredness from his voice. “We’ve had no further contact with the IGM about Anja, but Sibil received a strange communiqué before we came up here. Are you any good at cryptic messages?”

Jake shook his head. “I’m not, but I know someone who is. And she just happens to be here at the shipyard. Let’s get to the boardroom so we can talk properly. Flex McElroy wants to talk to you too.”

As Jake led them though the shipyard he pinged Flex, Lou and Lucy, asking that they meet them in the boardroom. Lucy was already waiting for them when they arrived. She shook hands with Tim and hugged Sibil close.

“We will find her,” Lucy whispered as she released Sibil. She nodded, trying not to cry.

“It’s been just awful,” she said. Tim squeezed her arm gently.

“And you’ve been incredibly brave,” he said, smiling at her. “We have to believe she’s OK. Tell Lucy about the message you got.”

Sibil sat at the table. Lucy sat next to her as Flex and Lou walked into the room. Jake made introductions. Lou sat on the other side of Sibil and watched her closely as she told them the story.

“The message arrived just before we came up here,” she said. “It was addressed to me at my studio in Covington. I’m a designer, not a costumier, so it’s very strange.”

“So, what did it say?” asked Lucy impatiently. Lou frowned at her.

“It was a request for a ballroom dancing costume,” replied Sibil. “And I’ve never made a ballroom dancing costume in my life. I don’t know the first thing about it.”

“Grabb does!” exclaimed Lou. “He’ll know what it means. Let’s get him along here.” She pinged Grabb through her head set and asked him to come to the boardroom.

“Who’s Grabb?” asked Sibil. Lucy and Lou chuckled.

“You’ll see in a minute!” said Lou. “He’s a crewmate of mine. He was an intergalactic ballroom dancing competitor when he was younger.”

Sibil shook her head in disbelief. “You mean to tell me that such a thing exists?”

“It certainly does,” said Lou. “And he’s actually rather good at it! I saw him dance with Natasha Orlov in the ballroom on Tiberion.”

“There’s a ballroom on Tiberion?” asked Sibil. She shook her head. “This just gets stranger and stranger.”

Grabb appeared in the doorway. He was wearing faded denim jeans and a soft blue shirt with a pale pink silk tie. A beautifully made leather belt and shoes finished the outfit. He stopped to survey the room. He bowed elaborately to the women seated at the table.

“Ladies,” he said. “What a pleasure. And who is this?” He walked towards Sibil and put his hand forward as if to shake hands. She put her hand in his and he pulled it towards him, bowed his head and kissed the back of it. Sibil laughed at him.

“I’m Sibil Stern,” she said. “And this is my husband Tim.” She gestured towards Tim who was standing with Jake and Flex at the end of the room. Flex had a wry smile on his face as he watched the exchange between Grabb and the three women. Grabb walked to the end of the room and shook hands with Tim. He nodded to Jake and Flex.

“A pleasure to meet you too,” he said. He turned back to the women. “Now, what can I do for you?”

“Sibil is a fashion designer,” explained Lucy. “She’s just received a request for a ballroom dancing costume. She’s never made one, and knows nothing about making costumes like that. Lou thought you might be able to explain what the message means.”

Grabb sat down on the opposite side of the table.

“What did the message say?” he asked. “And who is it from?”

“Someone called Elena Zeitsev,” replied Sibil. “It came from somewhere in the Laika system. We haven’t been able to pinpoint exactly where. There’s a list of numbers, which could possibly be measurements, and then it says program as follows, and gives a sequence of code. It’s on my handipalm, here.” She slid the unit across the table for Grabb to read.

Grabb studied figures on the handipalm.

“It’s definitely a set of measurements. In sequence you’ve got what the ballroom costumiers always need. Waist, hips, chest, neck, arms, shoulder width and height. And it has to be a girl’s measurements because of the programming request that follows.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Lucy.

“For intergalactic ballroom dancing competition the girls wear elaborate costumes. Usually a dress of some kind. For ballroom it always has a long, full skirt. For Latin it could be a short dress, or sometimes trousers or a fitted suit. This request is for a ballroom dress.”

“Go on,” said Sibil, fascinated now by what she was hearing. “What do you mean by the programming request?”

“OK,” said Grabb, “I’ll try to explain as best I can. Costuming has changed a lot since I was a competitor. Nowadays the base costume is a tight fitting lycra suit. Both male and female partners wear this base suit. It has lightweight flexi-cable inside the fabric that contains the holographic instructions for the outer costume.”

All three women were screwing up their faces now, trying to understand what Grabb was getting at.

“So,” he continued, “The programming goes into the suit. When the dancer activates the suit, a holographic projection surrounds them, creating the outer costume. So the girls look like they are wearing a long, floaty, sequinned gown, and the boys look like they are wearing a tail suit. Lou saw me wearing a real one on Tiberion.” He grinned at her across the table.

“The projection moves with and around the dancers, making them look as if they are moving as one. Sometimes they have lights in the skirts and patterns that chase across them as they move. It’s very distracting for the male partner, who has to lead the dance and navigate the floor, in and around the other couples. It’s harder than it was when I was competing because of the technology. The advantage is that there is almost no weight in the suit. So you can move much more freely. ”

“So what kind of pattern is this then?” asked Sibil.

“I don’t know,” replied Grabb. “You need a special design reader to understand it. You haven’t got that application on your handipalm.”

“Let me see,” said Lucy, reaching for Sibil’s unit. Grabb slid the handipalm back across the table. She picked it up and held it flat on her hand with her right thumb pressed against the face of the unit. She watched as the programming came to life on the screen. Lou watched in amazement.

“What are you doing?” asked Sibil, stretching to see. Lucy chuckled.

“Just another little trick I picked up after my accident,” she said. “Here.” She placed the unit on the table in front of Sibil. She watched the pattern forming across the screen and gasped as she recognised it.

“Fireflies,” she said. She looked at Lucy. “That’s you on the pylon course. Back when you were racing. That’s how it looked from EQ2. Anja and I used to stand on the balcony and watch you whenever you raced.” Tears began to trickle down her cheeks as she looked at the pattern dancing in front of her.

“That’s what I thought too,” said Lucy. “So it’s possible that Anja’s alive. Jake, what were the names of the female crew on the Zond? Was there an Elena Zeitsev?”

Jake screwed up his face as he thought about the crew manifest that he’d glanced so briefly at.

“Yes, I think so,” he said. “There was a Nadezhda and an Elena, from memory. And we know that Yuri Orlov is based in the Laika system.”

“Elena Zeitsev,” mused Lucy. “Could she be sending us a message about Anja? If she has, she’s taken a huge risk. If the IGM find out they’ll kill her.”

“I’d say so,” said Lou. “The only sense I get from all of you is that the pattern’s so specific. Could it refer to anything else?”

“I don’t think so,” replied Sibil. “The way the lights move is just like a pilot on the pylon course. Anja used to call them her fireflies. But why would she send me a message about a ballroom costume?”

“Because there’s an intergalactic ballroom dancing Championship scheduled to take place on Tiberion in about six months’ time,” said Grabb. “Who is Anja anyway?”

“Tactless as always,” muttered Lou as Sibil burst into tears.