Bettina laughed. “No, she won a one month vacation courtesy of the Yrdens. The first two days she spent on FTL-1. Now she’s coming over to Venture to see how we live life on a starship. She might go over to Haida Gwaii for a tour; we plan on sending her on a small trip as well – out to Saturn with our scout ship to see the rings of Saturn close up, and then to Io Station, where the scoutship will pick up a couple of FTL crew that we have out there. Then the whole lot will come back here.”
“Wow! And she won this on The Lottery?”
“Yes.”
Angela furrowed her brow. “Why do we give out prizes on The Lottery? What do we get out of it?”
Bettina smiled broadly, and Angela wondered why. It seemed as if she had made the captain proud of her or something, what with the look that she gave her temporary employee.
“I like that you said ‘we’, Angela. And I’ve heard nothing but good about you from the other crewmembers. Keep it up, and when your contract ends with us, we’ll see if we can’t get you to sign another.”
Angela’s eyes went wide as she considered that. Then she wouldn’t have to quit her pilot training in a year, wouldn’t have to lose the new friends she had made.
“I think I’d like that,” she said. “A lot.” She looked at her cart. “I’d better get back to work. And I’ll get right on that suite for Ms White.”
“Hold on,” Bettina’s voice stopped her. “I haven’t told you your job yet.”
“Um, to get the room ready?”
Bettina gave her of those smiles that she cherished. “Yes, that, but that’s only a small part of it. I want you to be our representative to Ms White. Take care of her. Show her around. Be her friend.”
“Um, okay. I guess I can do that.”
“And, next week, I want you to go accompany her out to Saturn and Io. You would get to sit in on the Flight Deck with the Pilot – you and Carol. Including travel time out to the jump points and back, it’ll take four or five days. I think it might be fun. Would you do that for me?”
To Saturn? See the rings close up? To Io Station – be able to look down on Jupiter, see the spot, and not just on vid, but with her own eyes?
Her tongue came out and licked her lips. “Really?” She hoped that Captain Bettina wasn’t just having fun with her like some of the crew had on Amalgamated 684.
“Really. Feel up to it? If you don’t, I’ll have to look around for someone else.”
“No!”
“No? You don’t feel up to it?”
Captain Bettina looked amused. She only teased her.
“No, you don’t have to find someone else. I’d love to go. Really!”
Wait until she told Wen! Maybe Wen would be the pilot. That would be, oh, so much better. Thoughts tumbled around inside her head. Then she noticed that the captain still stood there. “Oh, sorry. Is there something else?”
“No. Just leave the cart here. One of the others will finish on the Passenger Deck for you. Go up and make sure the suite is ready for Ms White, and then go to Number One Docking lock to meet Ms White.”
“Yes, Captain!”
“Oh, yes, I almost forgot. Carol has a cat. You know the drill?”
“Yes, Captain.”
No more playing maid for the day – possibly for several days. And out to Saturn and Jupiter! What a story she would have to tell! It just didn’t get much better than this.
* * *
“Hello, Ms White? I’m Angela. I’ll be your contact person on Venture for the length of your stay with us.”
Carol nodded, eyes looking in every direction at once, it seemed. She had a hand-carry in one hand, the cat carrier in the other.
“Wow! A real spaceship! And you get to work here, get to travel to other planets. You’re living my dream.”
Dreams, as Angela could tell her, sometimes became nightmares. But, then again, so could life on Earth without those dreams.
“If you’ll just come with me,” she said, holding out her hand for the woman’s hand luggage, “we’ll get you settled in.” She glanced at her chrono. “It’s almost time for lunch. We’ll go to the cafeteria. By the time we finish eating, the rest of your luggage will already be there for you.”
“I can carry my own bags.”
Angela gave her the brightest smile she could. “I know. But you’re our big winner. How would it look if I made you carry it? You’re here to enjoy yourself, not work. Besides, if the Captain saw me making you carry your bag, she’d have words for me.” Likely she wouldn’t, but Carol didn’t have to know that.
Carol handed over the bag, but maintained her grip on the pet carrier. “Well, I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble.”
They placed Hurricane, the cat, in her room, opened the carrier and showed her the ‘facilities’. Angela dropped off Carol’s hand-carry, then took the lottery winner to the cafeteria.
“That’s some of the best food I’ve ever eaten,” Carol exclaimed after finishing her meal.
Angela smiled, agreeing with her. The Yrden crew ate well. Another reason she’d love to stay after the year ended. She wouldn’t want to go back to the comparatively pedestrian fare on one of Amalgamated’s ships – nor to the cramped quarters.
“How about a tour?”
“I’d love it.”
Angela took her to the Portside Lounge. There, she raised the shields that the Captain had dropped just for this purpose – to make the unveiling more dramatic. As the starfield came in sight, Carol gasped with the beauty of it all. She stood, transfixed.
Angela knew just what she felt. She, herself, had felt just like that the first time she had seen the stars without the atmosphere of Earth getting in the way.
“Oh, my!”
Angela sat down on one of the seats, and waited, allowing the other woman to get her fill of the sight. After a few minutes, Carol retreated to the seat beside Angela, and sat there with her, the two of them looking out into the depths of space.
“I never imagined it would be so beautiful. And you get to see it all the time.”
“Well, not all the time. Most of a voyage takes place in hyperspace, and there’s not much to see – as you’ll find out on the trip out to Saturn.”
“I will?”
“Yes, they have given us permission to go onto the flight deck for that trip.”
“Us? You’re coming with me? That’s great. What’s it like in hyperspace?”
“Mostly calm. You see swirling greys, not much else.”
And the questions kept coming. Angela didn’t tire of answering even the most obvious of them. Not only did she feel knowledgeable, but also came to realize that she was, indeed, living the dream. If only more people could come up, and see what it was really like.
“Come on, let’s go—”
“Oh, please, not yet.”
Angela laughed. “Let’s go to the other lounge, the one where you can see Earth,” she completed.
On the other side, they saw the blue-green planet hanging in space, lonely in the deeper black.
“Marvellous.”
In quiet companionship they sat and watched the slowly rotating scenery for over an hour. Finally, Carol stood. “I think I’ll go and lie down. Too much excitement today. Besides, I want to see how Hurricane’s getting on. Can I come back here?”
“Whenever you want. However, sometimes they use the stage – she indicated the bubble – for holo-entertainments. For that they drop the shields. But they never use both Port and Starboard Lounge at the same time – except in hyperspace, when there’s nothing much to see, anyway.”
Turning around, Angela saw that a few other people had come in and had taken seats in rows higher up. She smiled at them, and received smiles in return. Some of the passengers. Leading the way back up to the Crew Deck, Angela thought again of her meeting with the Captain.
They wanted her. Her, Angela Fulton. They didn’t want just any attendant; they wanted her. It felt good to be wanted; it felt good to find a home.
&nb
sp; * * *
A pilot made sure his passengers got home again. Wen wanted to go back to the console in the study hall immediately, but after two guitar lessons, he felt he needed a break.
He carried his guitar back to his quarters, and carefully set it in his closet, fastening the case to the bulkhead with webbing. No sense taking chances.
A short sleep, and then he would go back to the console, try out his game from the other side. If he could only find a way, he might give any ship he piloted a chance against the horrors that roamed the stars.
The alarm woke him just in time for supper. He had overslept.
“Hey, Wen, come and sit with us.”
Wen obediently carried his tray over to Angela’s table, where she sat with a woman he had never before seen.
“Wen, this is Carol. She won a month’s stay with the Yrdens in The Lottery.”
Wen bowed his head to her. “Nice to meet you, Carol.”
“Wen’s a pilot.”
Carol’s attention sharpened. “Are you the one who’s taking me out to Saturn and Jupiter?”
He had heard nothing of this. Nothing about any trip out there, nothing about the winner of a Lottery.
“Probably not,” he said. “I’m pretty busy about the ship. And that’s got to be a three or four day round-trip. Maybe more, depending on whether you go onto Io Station or not.”
No, they would never let him pilot anything there. And, as she had asked if he were taking her, he knew Venture wouldn’t have that honour, either. Likely the scoutship that most – if not all – Family ships carried. And it, too, might contain secrets that the Yrdens would not want a TPC pilot to discover.
Carol’s face fell a little; Angela’s a lot, but only momentarily.
“But I’m sure that you’ll enjoy the flight – even if you don’t have me to make it exceptional.”
The two women laughed, but he felt bitter. Oh, how he wished he could get off this prison ship, and back to the job he had trained for, aspired to, loved.
“Umm!” Carol half-moaned, half purred. “This food is to die for!”
On that, he could agree. Venture fed its people much better than any Amalgamated ship he’d ever crewed in.
“It’s our home,” William had explained to him. “We’re not working a job, hired out to some faceless corporation whose eye always rests on the bottom line. And we want our otherhires to think of it as a home away from home. If we didn’t feed them well, they might not want to come back, and we prefer a more stable crew complement than others do.”
A clatter brought Wen back to the present. Pilot Ritter took the seat next to him, across from Carol.
“Good evening, ladies.” He fixed his gaze on the newcomer. “Hope they’ve made you feel welcome.”
“Carol, this is Pilot Ken Ritter.”
She greeted him amiably, and he smiled at her in return. Wen didn’t really care much for Ritter, but he could find no real reason to dislike him, either.
“So, you’re the one I’m taking out to the giants. You’ll love it.”
“The giants?” Carol asked.
“Saturn and Jupiter.”
Ritter began to schmooze, and Wen decided that he’d just bolt his food, and escape. He didn’t like the thought of Ritter and Angela, but he couldn’t say or do anything, because she appreciated the man, not realizing that he probably wanted to bed her. Anything he said against his fellow pilot would only make that outcome more likely. He’d seen how an intervention could backfire before. Everyone had to learn for themselves.
“Been pleasant talking with you, Carol,” he said as he rose. “Hope you’ll have a wonderful month.”
Outside, he breathed a sigh of relief. Now to get down to what needed getting down to. He strode up the corridor, and went straight to ‘his’ console when he got to the Learning Centre. There, he called up the game, went into administration mode, and programmed the freighter to take evasive actions – to do what he had discovered the most likely way to gain the time for the jump engines to recharge.
Taking control of the pirate ship, going over the controls for loosing missiles and firing the beam weapons, he waited.
“Emergence wave,” the ship warned him.
He looked at the screen, and saw the freighter appear. He hit the thrusters, feeling just a little sick as he did so. His actions would result in the murder of all crew and passengers aboard the innocent ship.
The freighter turned, and went to maximum boost, but that would avail it nothing. He armed his missiles.
As per his programming, the freighter began ejecting cargo, lightening itself to increase its acceleration. Then the lifeboats, shuttles, and workboats launched and turned to meet him.
“Launch missiles,” he ordered.
“Cannot launch missiles with shields up,” the ship replied. He sat a moment, stunned.
“Drop shields. Launch missiles. Target incoming vessels.”
“Missiles launched.”
“Raise shields. Shields on maximum.”
The missiles began taking out their targets, filling the space ahead of him with debris. He altered course slightly, found himself falling behind the accelerating ship. It escaped the range of his missiles. He burned again, avoiding the jetsam that the freighter had thrown out.
“Fire beam weapon.”
“Cannot fire beam with shields up.”
“Drop shields; fire beam. Hold it on target.”
He went to full boost, closing range with the freighter. The freighter had recharged its jump engines, but couldn’t jump without dropping its shields. When it did, the beam would strike its target. If the freighter didn’t drop shields and jump within the next few minutes, his missiles could take it out.
His detectors showed shields dropping. He boosted the power of the beam to full, and the freighter began to come apart. It tried to jump and failed, sending debris in all directions.
“Congratulations, Wen,” he told himself, “you just murdered a ship and everyone on board her.”
Even on a simulation, it felt as if he had done something unspeakably dirty.
He re-ran the simulation, watching now as his every decision, his every move played out on the screen before him. Now that he didn’t actually have to make decisions, he could view it somewhat more dispassionately, though a shiver went down his spine when the freighter went to pieces. He didn’t like to see a ship die, not even in simulation. Especially not at his hands.
He glanced at the chrono, and found that three hours had elapsed since he had arrived in the study hall. He muttered something that even he couldn’t understand, and closed the program, sealing it under his passcode.
“Morning comes early,” he said aloud. He had promised to give Cargo a hand with the day’s shipments – this time unloading from the holds, and taking the goods to Haida Gwaii. Later, he would fly a few of those loads over, himself. But first he would get some practice at calling down the pallets from where Dave had stored them. Good practice.
His suite looked empty. He undressed and went to bed, carrying his reader from the dresser top. Lying down, propped up by his pillows, he turned on the reader, and watched as Lil celebrated her birthday with her family. Her bright smile changed the plain face into something nearing beauty. To him, true beauty. Her voice came through, clear and bright and happy. Tears came to his eyes.
Not able to bear it any longer, he turned it off. “Oh, Lil. If only I were there – I might have done something.”
But his experiments had shown that nothing he could have done would have bought them more than a couple of minutes. He choked back a sob. A couple more minutes with Lil would have been worth it.
Finally he dozed off. Anyone watching would have started as Wen suddenly sat bolt upright in bed.
“I’ve got you, you bastards!”
CHAPTER 20
Venture
Saturday 07 Aug
The day passed by at a crawling pace as far as Wen was concerned.
“Hey
, not J42, J24, Wen,” Dave Patterson said. “Where’s your mind, today, Pilot?”
“Sorry.”
He had apologized for the third time, before Dave shook his head. “You’re head’s not in it today, Wen. Either take a break, and come back refreshed and concentrating, or go help load the pallets.”
Stung by the rebuke, though knowing that Dave had every justification for issuing it, he replied, “Something on my mind, Dave. You’re right. I’ll go help with the pallets.”
At least he could deal with the pallets without having to think too much, allowing his brain to work on the solution to his piloting program.
“Wen – you need to strap that down.” Sean’s voice broke through. “You should know that.”
Stunned, he saw that he had almost hooked the two pallets together without the strap-down cord. The top one might go crashing into others if it got free in the hold of a workboat or shuttle.
“I’m taking a break, Cargo Master,” he told the boy. Seeing the astonishment on Sean’s face, he added, “Dave told me to do so if I couldn’t concentrate. I can’t, so I’m just obeying orders.”
“Ah, it’s okay, then.”
He went to the small crew room, and sat down. A minute later Carly walked through the door, and sat down beside him.
“Not quitting, I hope. If I can’t have the money, then I don’t want anyone else to get it – so I can at least recoup the cost of my ticket. All bets are off if you don’t quit for at least a month after the last guess.”
He raised his head. “No, not quitting. Something on my mind that’s making me a danger to the operation. So, I’m taking a break.”
“Her?” she asked
He tensed. But she had asked out of worry, nothing more. He could see it in her face.
“In a way, but only peripherally. I never thanked you for what you did. I never would have thought of it.” He took her hands, and squeezed them gently. “Thank you.”
Lil. Her face, smiling as she received a piece of cake, came to his mind. If he couldn’t concentrate, he would fail her in the end.
He stood up. “I’m fine, now. Let’s go back to work.”
Not With A Whimper: Survivors Page 20