It was not a large ship, but she studied everything closely, especially the control board. She began familiarizing herself with the ship---and in turn with its owner---at the helm. The large main compartment in the fore of the ship housed the controls, the access to main power and computer systems, the chronometer and its power system, the communication and data terminals, as well as the sensors and auxiliary apparatus specific to mineral surveys and mapping.

In short, she thought to herself, this is an old style ship with all the guts in the giant fore compartment and all the noisy hardware and cargo in the extreme aft of the ship. This main compartment was spacious, allowing free movement for as many as three crewmen at various stations. She had asked him if the third billet would be filled. No, he had replied, two people can handle the job. Two people on a three man rig also meant more living space per person inside the ship. It was a common practice to outfit a ship with a smaller crew than it had been built for. But depending on the work, ships this size frequently had a full crew.

The next compartment Sien went into was what Jason had called the exercise room. It had originally been outfitted as the third billet. Practically all the "comforts of home" had been stripped from the bulkheads and stored in a locker. The fittings, she noticed, were intact and all accounted for in case he should ever decide to convert back to sleeping quarters. Each room on ships of this size, age, and type was outfitted with a light, compact individual exerciser. This compartment contained three of these units, two apparently pulled from the other quarters and installed here in a makeshift, but satisfactory manner.

The bulkheads of the exercise room were decorated with images of people, places, ships. Sien studied these carefully. This was a history of the ship, a personal history by and about the people who owned her. There were a few of The Chameleon when it was new and presumably the man who owned her first. But by far the largest portion of images were from the period after Martin purchased it. Jason had only mentioned Martin briefly, but there was something about the way he said it, the look on his face, that made her want to know more about this man. Jason's secrets. Sien smiled as she looked over the various images.