"Niles is a friendly dog, but he's smart too. I'm sure if he thought you were in trouble he'd come to your aid. Wouldn't you, boy?" she said as she rubbed Niles affectionately. "It's true your blindness presents some challenges for self-defense, and you may not be able to do all the things I'll teach, but I'm sure you can benefit from at least some of the things I'll cover, and maybe we can come up with a few things especially for you. Your cane, for instance. Do you ever carry it when Niles is with you? Maybe you should; it would make a great weapon."
She petted Niles a little more, then stood when Megan found her arm. "So you met Daddy? I hope he didn't bore you with a bunch of stories about my childhood!" she laughed. "He's doing great. He always stays so calm and collected, even in a situation like this. I'm doing OK too. I've been volunteering a lot. I'm going to help out with security, plus I'll be teaching these self-defense lessons," she said.
"You're right, it is frustrating not knowing what time it is. You know, there must be someone on this ship who can figure out a way to track time. Some brainy engineer-type person who could rig something up to sound a horn at regular intervals, or something like that. Hmmm. I think after this class I'll put a post on the journal system and see if we can't get that resolved."