Asleep at the wheel

It seems that we've come across some sort of circle, being back to the way things were some months ago. Back down to just two. I can't say that I much miss The Roller, but for the time spent with Caban. Oberon is a bigger ship, more empty space and systems harder to run with only two pairs of hands.
I woke this morning to Caban's frantic voice in my ear, and when I blearily opened my eyes his panicked look brought me instantly awake. I found myself in the pilot's seat with a terrible bend in my neck and Caban's hands on my shoulders.
"She's gone!" he said. I paused a moment before asking if he was sure. He nodded, eyes wide with frustration. "I searched everywhere, and when I got to the bay, Roller was scraped right out of it. She cut the sensors so we didn't hear anything. Sabotaged the ship, the rusty bitch, and left us to shake!"
The pain in his voice was real--he had not expected such a betrayl from her. From anyone, for that matter, but not from someone who had managed to work herself so far into his life. Maybe there was something more between them than I had expected, the way she was so proudly, almost jealously, defensive of him...had something happened? No, I can't speculate.
I'm surprised too, while I've seen countless men and women slip away, double cross, set others up and let them down...each time it is a shock. I've done it more times than I care to relate. Ironic that the one man I swore to stay with until the end left me so alone. An accidental betrayl, really. Maybe I didn't suspect Ice because she had always suspected me. Just because she somehow knew something about my past, she thinks she can make a draw on my future?
She'd been suspicious lately, with this quick new deal that brought us off course, we didn't question it. Something was wrong with it but I kept my mouth shut. I've had enough captains tell me I'm a nag or a worrier or a mutineer just becuse I let them know that something isn't right, but hadn't offered proof. Never mind what they said when I turned out to be right. In this life we've got to hold with what information tells us. Had a captain who screamed at me for bothering him with details, so I docked out that night. His ship exploded a day later.

Good Runners pay attention, bad Runners pay.

"Do you think she'll come back?" Caban asked me.
"We've got a job to do." I replied, and started programming in the jump to Target City. He looked at me with reproach.
"That's heartless, Scout."
"So is stealing our ship and putting us at risk." He nodded, ignoring the 'our' I hadn't meant to say, but still looked concerned. Curse the man for always making me consider things again. He was worried whether we'd be able to pull of the job, concerned about his effectiveness as a captain. And more than that, he was afraid for Ice, afraid that his talk of hiring a crew had set her away.
"Caban," I said, "Ice knows what she's doing, she always makes her own decisions for her own good reasons. If she wants to come back, she will, and she knows how to find us. If she doesn't, then don't think she hasn't thought it through being the best decision. She'll be fine."
The man nodded thoughtfully, then smiled as he always does, and said, "And so will we."
"Of course." His good cheer is more than blind optimism.

So Caban proceeded to promote me to First Mate, a rank I've not had in some time. Its back to the two of us clanking around on this big ship, maybe we'll hire up some hands to help with the Hadrian's Point run, or maybe we won't.
We're back on course, but its a new course.