A Brother's Debt by Karl Jones Page B

galley. Opening the cupboards he began to empty them of the supplies he had bought. In his eagerness to leave Jum Palt and begin his journey he had shoved things away in the first empty space he found. Now he had the leisure to do so he wanted to organise his supplies, so when he wanted something he would actually be able to find it. When he finished that job he made himself a snack.
    While he ate Step considered what he should do with his time. It wasn’t so much what he should do that he was thinking about, it was where to start. He had already decided he was going to use the journey to Barth to sort out the ship, what he could of it at least.
    Mentally he listed the areas of the ship and ranked them in order of importance, which proved not to be all that difficult when he thought about it. The bridge and the engine room were obviously the most important areas of the ship, and the ones he had to sort first, while the cabins could definitely wait. The galley would have to be done after the bridge and engine room, unless he wanted to risk the supplies he had bought becoming ruined and put himself in danger of food poisoning. That led to the small med bay being the fourth item on his list.
    He didn’t anticipate becoming ill or injured during the course of his week long flight, but it was a possibility, and he would need to be able to use the med bay if he did.
    Satisfied he had come up with a plan of action that would keep him occupied for pretty much his entire journey Step finished his food. As he put the dishes away after cleaning them he wondered when his brother had become so lazy and slovenly. He remembered that Andrei had never been the neatest of people, but he had kept his things reasonably clean, even if he didn’t put them away carefully.
    Pushing thoughts of his brother from his mind, Andrei was dead, and dwelling on him wouldn’t help his current situation, Step returned to the bridge. Automatically he ran his eyes over the computer readouts, just to check everything was still alright. It was a habit he had learned in the navy, and one he had no intention of breaking just because his time in the navy had come to an end.
    When he had assured himself that all systems were running normally Step began a search of the computer. Though he wasn’t sure his brother’s taste would prove to be the same as his own, he was fairly confident that somewhere in the computer he would find a collection of musical recordings. It was almost inconceivable that Andrei would have spent any length of time travelling between solar systems without something to break the silence.
    He soon discovered he was right when his instructions prompted the computer to display a list of all the audio and visual files in its drives. The list continued for quite some time, and as he scrolled through it Step saw his brother had kept himself occupied during his lonely travels with everything from music, to films, to serialised shows, and even a few books. There was more than enough to keep him occupied as well, once he finished the chores he had assigned himself.
    Since there was so much to choose from, and he didn’t have a clue where to start, Step instructed the computer to play the music files in a random order. He then settled back as the first notes filled the bridge and let his eyes wander around him while he decided on the best place to start his program of cleaning and maintenance.

 
    Chapter Fourteen
     
     
     
    With a sigh of relief Step cut the power to the engine and undid the safety straps that had kept him in place during his descent through the atmosphere of Barth. Though he had landed with greater skill than seven days previously, the muscles in his arms ached from the effort it had taken to keep Gambler’s Luck steady and on course through the storm that was sweeping across the coast of Barth’s northern landmass.
    While the ache in his arms slowly faded away Step requested refuelling and a top up of his water tank. The tank