Summer's End, page 4
There were also limits as to how much power you could push through a particular type of panel and the ones on the Iowa Hill were definitely at the lower end of the price point spectrum. There were of course specialty panels like the “Zero-One” panels that provided no acceleration while providing gravity. After two hundred years, the science behind them, as well as the engineering, was pretty well understood.
For the most part, the rest of the crew didn’t really talk to me at all, just “hello” and not much else. Part of that was probably because of how much time I was spending with Dot learning my job, and part of that was probably because I was new.
Dot had told me that it wasn’t uncommon for people to jump ship at the first port of call.
“Why’s that?” I’d asked.
“Because we’re a tramp spacer, we don’t have a regular route, and we’re socially and economically at the bottom of the barrel. Lots of folks sign on to outfits like ours because they don’t know any better, or because they’re just desperate to get someplace else. Once they realize you’re staying, then they’ll take the time to get to know you.”
I had just nodded in agreement, because I figured she knew what she was talking about. As this was my first trip into real space, and on a real cargo ship, I had no idea at all what to expect. Other than that it was completely different from what I’d been led to believe.
I was allowed onto the bridge, which was nice, because the only windows in the ship where up there. The captain checked me out on the basic systems, then signed me off as a watch-stander, so if someone did need to take a break I could cover for them if no one else was available.
* * *
Four days into our trip, around 4:00 a.m., I was quite suddenly woken up from sleep by an alarm on the engineering panel in my room. It took me a couple minutes to figure out what was wrong as I got dressed. We’d lost a panel.
“Wake up,” Dot’s voice came over the intercom in my room. “We got a panel out.”
“I saw. I’m almost dressed.”
“Meet me at the spares,” she replied and clicked off.
I got my deck shoes on, grabbed my tablet and my tool belt, and made my way back to the spares locker where we kept the extra panels, which was next to the machine shop. When I got there Dot had already gotten the “panel dolly” out and was undoing the dogs holding the eight-foot-by-twenty-four-foot spare that was what the two-twenties attached to. The fifteen hundred’s panels were nine by twenty-six, needing to be larger because they were lower powered.
I helped undo the dogs holding it into place and then the two of us picked it up and set it on the cart. The panel wasn’t all that heavy, maybe eighty pounds. Once we had it secured to the cart, Dot went and got the rigging bag for what we’d need to change it, then the two of us pushed the cart out into the hold.
This was where it got a little tricky. There was a hoist set in the ceiling, and we had to connect the dolly to that and hoist it all the way up. If the panel was one of the lower panels, we’d slide the hoist to either the port or starboard side and lower it all the way down, through a hatch, and into the interdeck space where the panels were located.
But for the upper panels we had to connect it to a second hoist that accessed the center interdeck hatch that led into the upper space.
That took about five minutes as Dot checked everything twice and had me check it all twice as well, while she engaged in some very colorful swearing about the pedigrees of engineers who couldn’t make the second hoist reach down to the floor so that we wouldn’t have to engage in such a senseless transfer.
We then hoisted it up into the interdeck space, moved it out of the way, climbed up there ourselves and moved the panel off to where the bad one was.
The thing that made swapping panels difficult was that the interdeck space that we had to work in was only a meter tall, so getting around inside was already difficult when you were just doing a panel inspection. Disconnecting the graviton feed lines, unbolting the panel, lowering it, moving it, putting the new one in and hooking it all up in such a tight space was both a time-consuming and difficult affair.
It took us an hour and I think I was the one doing most of the swearing. When we were taught how to do this in class, we never had to do it in such a small workspace. While lying on our backs. Using flashlights.
“Okay, let’s get started on rebuilding this,” Dot said as we hauled the bad one into the machine shop.
“Can’t we go back to bed for a few hours first?” I asked and yawned.
“Nope!” she said, sounding a lot more cheerful than I felt. “One of the opposing panels to this one will probably fail in the next twelve hours. They tend to go out in pairs. So we need to get this one done now, and it’s a four-hour job if you know what you’re doing.”
I nodded.
“Now, let’s get this opened up and get started.”
I watched, interested, as she undid the top of the panel. The whole assembly was about ten centimeters thick and I’d never seen the inside of one. I watched carefully as she disassembled the entire thing, pointing out all of the fittings, the control box, everything. The “coil” in it was wrapped around a special board mounted inside and we lifted that out, once everything had been disconnected.
The fault in the coil was obvious, once she pointed it out to me. The coil was a brown ceramic material encased in a clear plastic tube, and was fairly solid.
“So, first we break up the old coil, flush it out of the tube, then we check the tube for leaks, seal any we find, and then refill it with new material.”
I just nodded and helped her break it free of the board it was firmly wrapped around. Then we each grabbed a rubber mallet and worked over the contents of the tube until we could just shake them all out into a bucket.
“Now, if we were desperate, we could just add some solvent to that powder, and remix it, then reuse it. But that’s a messy job. So instead we’ll just bag it and trade it for new stuff.”
“What happens if the tube has a leak?” I asked.
“We can patch it, if it’s not too bad, or just replace it. I have a spool of tubing in the supply bin.”
Refilling the tube with the new “paste” turned out to be a difficult job, and once that was done we had to rewrap the tube around the board, secure it, and then the whole thing went into a kiln that Dot had made to bake for several hours, “firing” the paste into ceramic.
While that was going on, we tested the control box and made sure it worked properly and replaced anything that seemed dodgy.
“How long does a panel last?”
Dot shrugged as she put the control box back into its mounts. “If you’re easy on them, they can last a couple of decades, maybe longer. Usually what kills a panel is the ceramic coil cracks, like on this one. Physical shock can do that, so can heavy thermal cycles. That’s why the captain brings us up to full acceleration slowly. It’s also why on the high-gee ships losing a panel can cause the panels around it to fail and set up a distortion in the ship.
“When the lower panel fails next, due to this one’s having failed, we’ll probably see an overload in the control circuit and not a coil fault.”
“Will we still replace the coil in that one?”
“Maybe, depends on how old it is. Now, let’s get some breakfast —or is it lunchtime now? Then we can haul that out of the kiln, reassemble everything, and be ready for the other one to fail.”
* * *
The other panel failed while we were eating dinner and the repair on it was a lot easier, as Dot had predicted. As the coil was only a couple of years old, we didn’t replace it, just the controller. Which we then rebuilt, tested, and put into the spares bin for reuse.
FOUR
Ganymede Orbital Two
Five days later we were docked at Ganymede Two, one of the several dozen artificial satellites that orbited Ganymede. Gany-Two was almost exclusively a transfer point for cargo being shipped down to the surface, or out to the other habitats or planets. Unlike Gany-One, which being the first one built had a lot of people living on it, as well as a lot of industry.
“Come on,” Dot said after we’d secured everything and set the reactors to “banked” —low-power mode. “Put on your thermals and let’s go see about getting you a pressure suit.”
“Thermals?” I asked, surprised.
“Don’t you have any thermal underwear?” she asked, giving me a surprised look.
“Umm, no?” I replied, looking as confused as I felt.
“Well, put on whatever you got that’s warm under your shipsuit and I guess we’ll buy you some of those too.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see.”
Shrugging I went back to my cabin, shucked off my shipsuit, put on my one pair of sweats, then put the shipsuit back on and met her in the hallway.
“I checked with the captain, your shipboard account’s been credited with your pay, so you’re not broke. Now, let’s go do some shopping.”
“How do you access your regular bank account?” I asked as I followed her toward the docking tube. Access to the cargo bay was now sealed as we were docked on the surface of Gany-Two and not in one of the larger bays inside it. So our cargo bay was now in total vacuum. The only way to get to the rear half of the ship currently was through the environmental duct that ran just inside the hull on the top of the ship, and having been in it a few times for inspections, it was pretty cramped.
“The day before we dock, when the captain checks to make sure they have a spot for us, he sends the crew manifest to the station. That gives the local branch of your bank enough time to update your account data. That’s why they ask who you’re banking with when you take the job.”
“Oh!”
“You didn’t fill that part out, did you?” she asked after a few moments of silence.
I could almost hear the smile in her voice as she checked the side access hatch for pressure, then opened it and we entered the docking tube.
“My bank wasn’t on the list of choices,” I said as I closed the hatch behind us.
“Well, I need to stop by my bank, so I guess you can open an account when we get there.”
“Thanks,” I said as we went through the hatch at the other end of the tube. “I really appreciate the help.”
“Just doing my job, you’re a part of the ship’s crew now and you do work for me.”
I looked around as we stepped out into the hallway. It wasn’t exactly dimly lit, but it wasn’t all that much brighter than that. There were pipes and cableways everywhere, the floor of the corridor being the only clear space, and it was covered in scuffs and scratches that showed just how many people and machines had gone through here over the years.
As for the paintjob, I had no idea what the original color must have been, but the current color was a kind of steely gray under about a century’s worth of grime and dust.
“Damn! Don’t they heat this place?” I said and shivered as I felt the cold radiating off the walls.
“Nope. Only the main concourse is heated, and even then it’s not all that warm. Just be happy they keep it above freezing.”
“How old is this place?” I asked as I followed her down the long hallway.
“I think it’s about a hundred and fifty?” she said after thinking about it a minute. “They didn’t start building it until traffic got to be too much for Gany-One and they couldn’t expand it any further. Of course when they started on Gany-Three they had learned their lesson and they built it more like Gany-One. So of course most of the businesses that had come here left, making this even less desirable than it already was.”
“And of course they couldn’t fix it, right?” I asked.
“Wasn’t in the budget and it would disrupt too much trade. It may look like shit and there may a lot of undesirables who call this place home, but more traffic comes through here than one and three combined.”
* * *
When we got to the concourse, we had to go through another airlock, but this one I think was more for keeping the heat in than anything else. It was noticeably warmer, though definitely not as warm as we kept it onboard the Iowa.
The first thing I noticed were the people; there were quite a few here. The area also was a lot cleaner, brighter, and better cared for. The next thing I noticed was that there were a lot of women, and even a fair number of men, who were scantily clad and obviously looking for “dates.”
“Okay, bank first, I need money and you need an account. Then we’ll get you a pressure suit. After that, thermals and a few other things.”
I nodded and followed her over to the bank and tried not to stare at any of the women “working the street.” Some of them were pretty hot and I hadn’t had a girlfriend in months.
“You can visit the hooks after we’re done,” Dot teased.
“I’m just window shopping,” I said with an embarrassed smile. “I’m sure I can’t afford any of that.”
“Well, if you do decide you want some, don’t mind me, but check with Parks first, he knows who’s safe and who to avoid.”
“Chief Parks? Really?”
“Yup, once the ship’s unloaded he’ll definitely be sampling their wares. Pam’s a bit of a party girl too, once she’s off ship.”
“Really? Whenever I see her, she’s always so serious.”
Dot snorted. “Trust me; if you weren’t on crew, a fine young man like you? She’d have jumped your bones, I’m sure.”
I rolled my eyes at that. They’d warned us in school about shipboard romances and all of that. “I think two couples onboard the ship are probably enough. It’s bad enough when Hank and Chaz have had an argument, I don’t think I even want to be on the same ship when the captain and his wife have a fight.”
“They don’t,” she said, leading me inside.
“Sure they don’t.”
“You’ll see. Now, go over there and talk to the nice man about opening an account.”
I rolled my eyes again. Sometimes Dot reminded me of my mom, even if she wasn’t old enough.
Opening an account wasn’t really all that hard, Dot confirmed my employment and they had my employer information on file. When I left I had more cash in my pocket than I think I’d ever had there before, and while my bank balance wasn’t very big, at least I didn’t have tuition to pay anymore. Just regular payments on my loan, which I took a few extra minutes to set up before we left.
Next we went and I got fitted for a pressure suit. That took most of what I had in the bank. Then while we were waiting for them to make it, Dot took me to a clothing store, where the first thing I bought was some thermal underwear.
“Okay, now, let’s try on some of these parkas and winter pants,” Dot told me after I’d got the thermals.
“Why? We live on a spaceship.”
“Poor man’s space suit,” she said, smiling at me.
“Huh?”
“You put these on over your pressure suit. The fabric’s tough enough that it won’t rip or tear, and it conforms to your body to trap the heat. Plus it’s got built-in heating and cooling in that little unit on the back. Add a good pair of boots and gloves and you can EVA for up to an hour without a problem.”
I looked at her, and then at all the arctic gear. “You know, I’d been wondering why they had this here.”
She nodded, grinning at me. “Most spacers rarely need a space suit, so they just buy this in case of emergencies. Also this packs up a lot smaller than a suit does.”
It didn’t take long to find a set to fit me, then after paying for it we went back to the place I’d bought the pressure suit. They’d finished making one for me, or rather their machine in the back had. So I stripped down and put it on and they tested everything to check it. Then I tried on the arctic gear I bought to make sure that fit, in case I had to return anything before we left.
At least I got to put my new thermals on under my shipsuit when I got out of the pressure suit so I wouldn’t freeze on the walk back to the ship.
“Any idea how long we’ll be here?” I asked on the return trip. I had my hands full, as the pressure suit had both a helmet and a small backpack that were all housed in a special hard-shell carrier that contained their battery chargers. Not to mention the bag with my arctic gear on top of all that.
“Seventy-two hours, more or less. Takes about eighteen hours to unload the ship here, then they have to put together the new cargo, make sure it’s weighed and balanced, and then another twenty or so to load it.”
“I’m trying to think of what to do tonight, seeing as I’m just about broke after this,” I said, hefting the shopping goods a little.
“Is that a friend of yours up ahead?” Dot asked.
“All my friends are back on Earth,” I replied and shifted my load so I could look down the corridor. I could see there was a man striding rather purposefully this way. “Maybe he’s just walking from another ship?”
“No, he was waiting by the access way. He didn’t start walking until he saw us.”
“Maybe he’s a friend of yours, then.”
“I don’t have any friends,” Dot replied.
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I kept my mouth shut and watched as we drew closer. I noticed he was looking straight at me, and as he came close I stopped and looked at him, turning to face him as Dot passed behind me.
“Dave?” he asked.
“No,” I replied.
He smiled and pulled out a gun.
“Sorry about your friend,” he said as he pointed it at me.
I immediately tried to duck behind the heavy case I was carrying and dodge to the side as I heard two quick shots, neither of which was very loud.
“Are you okay?” Dot asked from behind me as I heard something collapse onto the floor.
I dropped the stuff I was carrying and sure enough, the guy was on the floor with a red spot on his forehead that was quickly growing. I looked down at myself.
