Summer's End, page 26
“Well, you have to have one, don’t you?” Chaz asked.
Chris shook his head. “As the chief engineer and also as one of the ship’s owners, Dave could take that role.”
“But I’m not so sure I want it,” I said with a frown. “Because a lot of extra duties come with that role and I’ve already got a lot on my plate with being the chief engineer.”
“Yes, but we’re only going to add two or three more people,” Chris said. “So I don’t think you’ll be that overwhelmed.”
“A lot of that is going to depend on how good the engineer I hire to be my assistant turns out to be,” I replied.
“How long until we get back home?” Emil asked.
Kacey shook her head. “That’s going to depend on what we find when we get onboard the Iowa Hill. We’ve got a possible contract already lined up, so if the ship’s up to it, we’re going to pick up a cargo on the way home to help cover the cost of this trip.”
“So?”
“Anywhere from a month to a couple of months,” I said. “That’s not a problem, is it?”
She smiled and leaned into Chris. “Oh, not a problem at all . . . ”
There were a couple of snickers at that response, one of which came from me.
“So, Hank, enjoying flying on a Mars Navy ship again?” Kacey asked.
Hank grinned. “I’ve actually been on this class of ship before —not this particular one, though. I’ve spent quite a few hours with Captain Hanson and his brother, Stew, reminiscing about our days in the service.”
“Turns out they crossed paths, more than once,” Chaz said. “When the ships they were on formed up for a mission.”
“I’m just happy we found these guys —or rather, that they found us,” Kacey said. “It might be expensive, but the time we’re saving almost makes up for it.”
I noticed a slight smirk on Hank’s face; I guess he didn’t think it was a coincidence that we’d run into Captain Hanson. On the off chance that he was right, I decided that I’d weld up all those patches we’d discussed before I let any of the Norse Star’s crew aboard to inspect. Last thing I wanted was to lose that ship after all the work it’d taken us to get this far.
“How long do you think it’ll take them to find the Iowa?” Chris asked.
“Not very,” Hank said. “They still have the original detection suite in the ship. When the navy sold it, none of it was classified anymore, so it was just cheaper to leave it in than to rip it out. In fact, Captain Hanson asked if I wouldn’t mind joining them on the bridge tomorrow to help run it.”
* * *
About halfway through the ship’s day on the following day, the captain came over the intercom.
“We’ve got a fix on what we think is your ship. Everybody either find an acceleration couch or get in your beds and secure for maneuvering!”
“Can I stay here?” I asked Beatrice as I was down in Engineering discussing the advantages of different gravity profiles for the different drives. Wilma was off shift, which usually meant she was sleeping.
“Sure, just strap in.”
A couple minutes later, everyone reported in as secure, and Emil reported that both she and the kitchen were secure. I watched on the bridge repeater that Beatrice had in Engineering as the captain spun us to a new heading, fired up the engines to a full gravity for a minute, reoriented us a second time, ran the drive back up to a full gravity for two more minutes, then flipped us and we decelerated the rest of the way.
“Alright, everyone! We should be there in about six hours. You may go about your business.”
I looked at the radar and other detector feeds that Beatrice had up and I really couldn’t see anything more than just a big dot. But the course and speed figures looked to be in the neighborhood of what we’d plotted.
Three hours later, I was up on the bridge looking at a long-range enhanced camera view.
“Yup, that’s our ship!” I said happily.
“Well, she looks to be in one piece,” Captain Hanson said.
“I was allowed to survey the damage before we left. The same shot that killed the fifteen hundred was the one that hulled us and took the air out of the cargo hold. They were either lucky, or really good.”
“Doesn’t much matter, just as long as it gets the job done, right?”
“I’m just happy my old company passed on salvaging it and let me have it.”
“That was a lucky stroke, I’d say.”
I laughed. “No, the lucky stroke was finding out that my then-fiancée’s family was willing to help us raise the one point five million credits that it’s taken us to get to here, and to actually find the ship. Now to get it home and get it earning.”
“Not gonna sell it?”
“It’s got ten, maybe twelve years left before the SS12G PWRs gotta be replaced. I’m not sure we’d really get all that much for it. But if we turn it into a local trader . . . ” I shrugged. “Who knows? Ten years from now we may have earned enough to put new reactors in it, maybe even have a second ship.”
“That’s pretty optimistic,” Captain Hanson said with a chuckle.
“Well, my personal goal is to get into tuning grav drives for the shipyards and the folks getting rebuilds. This’ll just give me a place to put all that money I’m going to make,” I replied with a grin.
“If you want to do that, why’re you here?”
I shrugged. “Wife’s idea mostly, but it’s a good one. So why not? I need more hours anyway as a ship’s engineer if I want folks to take me seriously. Besides, it’s my first ship, I really don’t want to just let her die, you know?” I said with a crooked smile. I had a feeling that would connect with the captain, because he’d gone out of his way to get this ship, which I now suspected he’d once served on.
“Now that is about as noble a sentiment as a man can have,” he said with a huge grin. “Better start getting your gear ready and suit up. We’ll be there soon enough.”
“Thanks for getting us here,” I said, sticking out my hand. “I’m glad we decided to go with you.”
He smiled and shook hands with me. “I’m glad too. We don’t have anything signed for another month, and it was getting boring sitting around the house.”
I nodded and headed down to my room and got my pressure suit out, then put it on and tested it. Kacey came in while I was finishing up and I unabashedly ogled her while she stripped down and got into hers. We then packed all of our personal belongings into vacuum-proof bags and moved them down to the cargo hatch in the back.
Hank and Chaz were already there, inspecting all of our gear, making sure it was still secure and also making sure they had everything set to unfasten it, get a couple of lines on it, and then winch it over to the Iowa Hill, once we’d gotten the main cargo doors open. Both of them were wearing actual spacesuits, not pressure suits with parkas over them like the rest of us were. As deckhands, they were expected to work in vacuum and had the skills to go with it.
I checked to be sure all of our personal gear was hooked to a line, so it wouldn’t get lost, then looked around the hold.
“Anybody got anything they need to say?” I asked.
“Nope, I’m good!”
“Let’s get this hopping! I want to sleep in my own bed tonight!” Chaz said with a laugh.
“Okay, helmets on, everyone. Hank’ll go through first with Chaz behind him, and they’ll rig the line. I’ll go across next, and the three of us will check everything out. If it looks good, Chaz’ll come back and shepherd the rest of you across. Got it?”
Everyone gave me a thumbs-up and I put my helmet up, turned on the radio, and we all checked in with the bridge one at a time.
“We’re parked about a hundred feet from your ship, Dave. I’ve unlocked the airlock —once you give me the green light, I’ll start pumping down the cargo hold.”
“Understood, Captain. Hank, Chaz, get to it!”
I watched as they cycled through the lock together, then I cycled through behind them. By the time I got out, Hank was standing on the hull of the Iowa Hill, and had a line between the two ships. Chaz showed me how to clip on to it, then we both launched over to it. We then cycled through the rear airlock, and once inside I checked my suit’s indicators.
“Atmosphere is good, temperature is forty degrees Fahrenheit. I guess Environmental is still working.”
“Chaz, why don’t you accompany Dave down to Engineering? I’m going to check Environmental out.”
“Sure thing!”
* * *
Ten minutes later, we were down in Engineering with our helmets off, and I was bringing the fusion reactor online. I’d already started the process to bring both of the SS12G PWRs up.
“Dave, how’s it going in there?” Captain Hanson called to me over my suit radio.
I pulled my helmet up so I could use the microphone.
“So far, so good. We got breathable air. It’s a little cold, but I’m bringing both reactors and the APU up online. Should have full power in a couple of hours. We’re going to check the bridge next. Hank’s doing an inspection in the back and unless he tells me otherwise, I think we’ll be able to open the cargo doors and start shipping our cargo in an hour.”
I turned to Chaz. “Go bring the rest of our crew over.”
“Let me check in with Hank first.”
“Hank’s checking our battle damage —if you want to talk to him, I’d suggest touching helmets and not using the radio.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll explain it to you later if he doesn’t. Just don’t talk about it to anyone, especially not off this ship.”
Chaz nodded. “Got it,” he said and left me as I went up to the bridge.
Using the codes I’d gotten off Steve Roy after that party, I logged into the main system on the bridge and started changing all the admin passwords. I also locked out all of the old crew, except for Chaz, Hank, and myself. Then I created new accounts for Chris, Kacey, and Emil. I’d share the admin and root passwords with Chris once he was over here, but not before.
I went and checked the freezers in the kitchen next. Everything in the refrigerators had gone bad, so those would have to be emptied out and cleaned. But the stuff in the freezers still looked good.
Then I went out onto the cargo dock to check on Hank. As I’d expected, he was artfully cutting holes in the two catwalks that had been pierced by the “shell” that had hit us.
I got his attention and we touched helmets so we could talk to each other.
“Almost done? I want to open the cargo bay so we can start shipping gear soon.”
“Yeah, this is the last of it. I already put a bunch of dents in the ceiling.”
“What, no hole?”
“It only made it that far because the catwalk floors are grills instead of solid plate,” he said with a chuckle.
“I’ll call you when it’s safe over the ship’s com.”
“How’s Environmental look?”
“All of the matrices are dead, but we got stuff to restart ’em. Until then the carbon scrubbers will keep us alive.”
“Got it. I sent Chaz to get everyone else. They’re probably making their way through the airlock by now.”
“So, what’s our next step?”
“After we get everything moved over, we need to slap a patch on the outside hull, to deal with that hole. I can do a temporary in here while you and Chaz deal with that. I’d like to get an atmosphere back in the hold as soon as possible, so I can change out that drive. That’s not something I want to do in a pressure suit if I don’t have to.”
“Got it,” Hank said and, moving away from me, he started packing up the cutting torch, moving to secure it out of sight of the cargo doors as I went back up to the bridge.
Kacey, Chris, and Emil were already up there, helmets off, by the time I made it back.
“We’re ready to open the doors, Dave,” Hank called over the ship’s comm.
“Okay, let me warn Hanson.” I pulled my helmet up and commed Captain Hanson.
“We’re going to open up the cargo doors. Any side in particular you want to use?”
“Port’s good,” he replied.
“Got it,” I said and went over to the controls and, unlocking the port side, I set them to open.
“Okay, that’s done,” Kacey said, looking up from the main console she was working at. “Chris, you are now officially logged onboard as the captain of the Iowa Hill. I’ve got your passwords for you. The ship is now officially under your command.”
Chris smiled. “Great! Now, Dave, I want the full tour.” He then reached over and hit the “all hands” button on the comm unit.
“All hands! Captain Chris Doyle is now in command of the Iowa Hill, effective this day, twelfth of August, at thirteen twenty-five, Ceres. Hank, let me know when you’re ready to start shipping cargo. You can coordinate that without my help, I’m sure.”
“Copy that, Captain!” Hank called back.
“Now, let’s inspect my new command. Feel free to join us, girls.”
I spent the next four hours giving Chris a much more detailed tour of the ship than I’d expected to. By the time we were finished, Hank and Chaz had shifted all the cargo and were working on the patch on the hull. Kacey was still with us, but Emil was up in the kitchen seeing what she could make out of what was in the freezers for us to eat.
“I still want to run a drive test and a grav panel test before we pull out the bad drive,” Chris said as we finished up in Environmental. “I want to be sure we have some level of drive as soon as possible.”
I nodded. “I was already planning on doing just that. Let me get the temp patch put in the cargo hold, so we can get atmosphere in there for when Edgar or Stew want to come over and take a look.”
Chris gave me a scowl. “Why would they want to do that?”
“Because the official story is that this ship was hit with a shot from a rail gun that took out the grav drive and hulled the ship,” Kacey said, “and we have to make sure it looks like that’s what happened.”
“Wasn’t it?”
“That’s the official story, so yes.”
“What happens if it’s not?”
“Don’t even think of it,” I said with a sigh.
“Okay, but once we’re underway, an explanation is due, okay?”
I smiled. “Oh trust me, you’re gonna get all the explaining you’ll ever want to hear.”
Putting my helmet back on, I went out into the cargo hold and started on a temporary patch on the bottom floor. I had to do one on the inside deck, then a second one on the inside portion of the hull. That one would be pretty simple, seeing as Hank and Chaz were now welding the new patch into place. But I had to get down there with the grinding wheel and make sure I removed all telltale traces of the blast, the edges of which were bent out and should be bent in.
I started with the floor of the cargo area, that being the easiest to see, and the easiest to deal with as it was bent away from me. But I still had to get some good grind marks around it to make it look like I’d “fixed it” before I went any further.
Then I went to the area between the hulls and dealt with that. That took a bit longer as there was a panel that had taken a direct hit. I unbolted it and moved it out of the way for now. I’d have to get Chaz down here with to help me swap it out later, before we did the drive test.
I was just finishing up the first patch weld when the doors closed and air started pumping into the cargo deck. Once I saw we had atmosphere, I went and checked the safety interlocks on all the doors, the purpose of which was to ensure that the cargo bay door locks couldn’t be undone when there was atmosphere inside the bay.
Which made me realize why they’d used a powerful enough device to not only destroy the drive, but to cut through the hull and depressurize the bay. When there was no air in here, you could operate the doors from outside. Assuming that there was no one on the bridge to stop you, of course.
“Cargo bay has atmosphere again and is secure,” I called over my suit radio, and then went over to the hatch that led to Engineering to repeat that over the ship’s internal comm.
“Hey, Dave, care to show us around the Iowa Hill?” Captain Hanson called over my suit radio.
“If it’s okay with our captain, sure! Love to show you around. Hey, think you could ask Beatrice or Wilma to come over too?”
“Probably, what’s up?”
“Well, these Siz-gees only have ten years or so left, and they’ve been telling me that I could probably fit an old pair of fusion ones in here to take their place. So I figured I’d let one of ’em look around and tell me whether or not they’ll actually fit.”
“Ah, got it. Let me raise Chris, and if he’s okay with it, we’ll be right over.”
“Great!”
I hustled my ass down between the hull and deck space and slapped those last two patches on as fast as I could. I only needed one, but the second one would help hide the truth, should anyone ever come down here to inspect.
I was just crawling out of the area when I heard Beatrice calling my name.
“Down here, Bea!” I yelled. “Just finishing up the last patch. Don’t want to have to worry about any pinhole leaks!”
I hauled my gear up and left it on the deck for now, and made my way over to the central catwalk, then climbed up to the mid-deck where she was.
“Come on, let me show you my new domain!” I said with a chuckle and led her off to the engineering deck.
“Wow, been a long time since I’ve seen one of these!” she said, looking around, once we’d gotten inside.
“I just can’t believe I actually own it now,” I said, shaking my head. “Two years ago I was just some kid who’d just gotten out of engineering school. Now I own a spaceship. That’s just weird.”
“Have you given any thoughts as to what you’re going to do with that old Muller?” she asked, looking over at me.
I shrugged. “I don’t know, sell it for scrap?”
She shook her head and smiled at me. “I saw all the damage that shell did to your ship. Honestly, why you’d want to haul back something that couldn’t be fixed is beyond me. Probably just best if you dumped it out here in the depths of space, right?”
