Nick felt that his improved intellect was counteracted by the emotional turmoil he was feeling. Brian had been surprised at the news, but mostly by the way Nick and Maggie had managed to get together despite a serious lack of planning and coordination. When asked to be Nick's best man, he smiled wryly.
"Yeah, of course I will, Nick! But, I've got like, nothing to work with in terms of a bachelor party."
Nick laughed, then sighed. "I don't need one."
"Of course you need one!"
"Do you want to explain that to Maggie? There are like five human won on board and Maggie's already jealous of at least two of them. Seriously, let's skip that part."
"How soon is the wedding?"
"Maggie's going to pick the date. I'm thinking it'll be early July, right before we leave for Ooafa."
"What else does a best man have to do?"
"Um...he gives a toast, hangs onto the rings...I don't know what else. If you ask Maggie, I'm sure she can give you a list of tasks. Just don't ask right away, she's doing like a million things..." Nick trailed off, listening. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"A really high-pitched sound..." Nick frowned.
"Uh, dude, we're on a spaceship. Strange whistling sounds are bad," Brian pointed out nervously.
"Petra, what made that noise just now?"
"Which noise, Nick?"
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"It was really high-pitched, about fifteen seconds ago maybe?"
"Vanessa Harburg made the noise," Petra reported.
The two friends looked at each other a mont, and then Brian started laughing. "Maggie called Ness and told her you guys are getting married, and she almost went ultrasonic, is that what you're telling ?" He laughed for a few more monts. "I gotta call her and tell her that she squealed so loud that we could hear it in space."
Brian shook his head and got quiet for a mont. "Congratulations, man. To both of you. What are you going to do now?"
Nick shrugged. "I guess I'll try taking this higher intelligence for a spin and check over the production schedules, maybe have another look at things I put off until later because they were too difficult, or I was too busy." He sighed. "How are things going for you?"
"Pretty well. Not as good as you, obviously, but pretty well." Brian sounded satisfied, not quite smug.
"Jillian hasn't decided you're a creep or anything?"
"I took your advice and stuck to physics. I an, yeah, she's a total knockout, but she's probably been told that a million tis, so I kept my trap shut about it. Grad school was hell for her. And she's really sharp. We actually talked about Arrurran mathematics for a while, and I summarized what I've learned so far."
Nick gave his friend a warning look. "You didn't mansplain at her, did you?"
"Hell, no! She's just eager to pick my brains for stuff she wants to know."
"Good. Yeah, she's really talented at her job, and seems nice, from what I can tell."
"She thought I was cool for working on space portals to try to rescue you."
He smiled. "Glad to be your accidental wingman again."
Brian sobered. "Hey, did you catch that bit on Improper Attitudes about you?"
Nick soured. "Hard to miss, it's replaying like mad."
"Any interest in pulling a practical joke on the whole world?"
Nick's eyes widened. "NO! Brian that is the—!" He broke off as Brian stopped being able to hide his smile.
"Gotcha."
Nick nodded in acknowledgent. "You got . But hey, did you see the docuntary they did on you?"
"Yeah, right."
"No, really. It's a five-part series, one episode for each mber of the Apocalypse Team."
"Uh-huh. You're just trying to get back."
Nick tried to keep his grin hidden. Brian eyed him for a several monts, then called, "Petra?"
"Yes, Brian?"
"Is there really a docuntary about ?"
"Yes, Brian."
"Petra, has Jillian seen it?" Nick asked. Brian's eyes widened in alarm.
"She is watching it now, Nick."
A few monts later, Nick was rubbing his ear canal and Maggie was texting, Did you just hear sothing?
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