“Doesn’t look like it,” Rolf replied. Then he turned to Angela. “Open the hatch, please, and welcome them in. Put the two men in the men’s quarters, and Ms Dixon in the women’s.”
Carol looked wary. “I thought we could get out and look at the station – at least that’s what Bettina told me.”
“We might do,” Ritter said. “On the other hand, we want to find out what’s going on first.”
“I’ll get the hatch.”
Angela left the flight deck for the passenger hatch, while Rolf dropped to the lower deck to open the hold for the cargo that the Families had arranged for them to take on. After opening the hatch and her side of the airlock, she saw the other side open.
A short, red-headed man came stalking in. “Where’s Pilot Ritter?” he asked.
“On the flight deck. I’ll go get him as soon as I’ve got you settled. I’m Angela Fulton, Cabin Attendant.”
“Gareth Treverston,” the redhead replied. “Never mind that, I’ll go see him myself. Get Ms Dixon settled in, if you want.”
She led the woman to the quarters, asking Carol to show her around, and then hurried back to the flight deck. She wasn’t sure she should have let Treverston go in.
“We should leave immediately the cargo is secured – or even earlier,” Angela heard Treverston’s voice.
Treverston hadn’t bothered to close the door to the cockpit, and Angela stopped short, wanting to overhear the discussion, thinking her presence might stop them from speaking candidly.
“I have a passenger who we promised a short tour of the station. She’s quite looking forward to it.”
Treverston laughed – not a happy laugh. “She won’t like it. There’s friction here, Ritter. It has become so tense that Paxton, Dixon, and I actually fear for our safety. The various complements, USNA, the Europeans, the Africans, etc. are eyeing each other – and us – with undisguised hostility. The TPCs don’t like us either. And the USNA dropped off some new personnel that Paxton and I believe are soldiers. They’re a frightening lot. Definitely not scientists – which is what the manifest would have them.”
“Speaking of Paxton, where is he?”
“Helping load our cargo. Trust me on this. As soon as they close the cargo hatch, cast off. If you don’t I’m not sure they – the Americans – will allow you to.”
Angela felt fear crawling through her stomach, causing it to tense.
The InShip came on.
“Angela, please prepare the hatch for departure.”
She swallowed, waited five seconds, and then stuck her head into the cockpit. “On it, Pilot Ritter.”
She went out, closed the station’s inner airlock door, glanced through the small porthole, and saw men walking towards it. Gasping, she retreated, closed the outer door, and then the scout’s hatch.
“Ken! There are men coming. They don’t look happy.”
From the flight deck, she heard Ritter on the comm. “We’re breaking seal now, Control.”
The ship jolted slightly sideways, and she staggered. She heard a curse from the hatch to the hold, and then Rolf’s head and shoulders appeared.
“What the hell?”
“We just cast off, Rolf,” Angela said, licking suddenly dry lips.
“And a damn good thing, too, Yrden,” came a voice from below. “Just tell them to take it easy until I get the cargo lashed down.”
Rolf came the rest of the way up, and strode onto the flight deck.
“What’s going on, Ken?”
Angela listened as Treverston explained it again. Then she heard Ritter.
“Look, Treverston. It may be as you say, but we have a civilian on board. She won a cruise with the Yrdens to see Saturn and Jupiter. Don’t let on that anything is other than fine. We want her to enjoy her trip. We’ve already explained that you probably wanted us to hurry so that those thieves wouldn’t charge us an extra three-month’s rent because we overshot our lease by one day.”
A silence.
Then Treverston replied. “Fine. I’ll go tell Paxton.”
“Better you than me,” Rolf said. “Paxtons and Yrdens don’t get along so well.”
Another laugh – this time from all three. Sharing an in-joke, Angela supposed.
“Maybe so, but I’ll bet he’s happy enough to see your face this time. So, are we going out to Saturn?”
“Nope,” Ritter answered. “Just coming from it. Got the word there to hurry here.”
Treverston walked out, and disappeared below deck. Angela stood there, gaping. Then she realized she should go back to tell Carol what had happened before Dixon said anything to alarm her – if she hadn’t already.
She needn’t have worried. She found Dixon already asleep on one of the bunks, and Carol looking on, bemused.
“What happened?” Angela whispered.
“I don’t know. I had just started telling her about the washroom and galley, when she just waved me off, lay down, and went to sleep.” She shrugged. “I felt the ship move.”
“Yes, we’ve left Io Station. Unfortunately, the Families need these people back right away, so there’s no time to take a tour of the station. I’m sorry.”
Carol’s face scrunched up with disappointment. Then she smiled. “Ah, well, probably nothing interesting on it, anyway. Not like FTL-1, which caters to tourists and passengers. I looked it up, and it’s strictly a working station. Mostly science. Some manufacturing.”
“Let’s go up and take a last look at Jupiter before we leave.”
Carol followed Angela to the flight deck.
“I’ve told Carol that we can’t stay for a tour because the Families need their people back right away,” Angela told the two pilots so that they wouldn’t tell her anything different. “But we wanted a last look at Jupiter before we leave.”
Ken smiled broadly. “Come and sit, Carol. There it is, in all its glory.” She sat, and looked out the window, enraptured. “We’ll turn around soon, and do a burn, but then we can turn back when the burn ends, so that we’ll see it as we’re heading away.”
Paxton and Treverston came up, and closed the hatch down to the hold.
“We’re beat,” Treverston said.
“I’ll show you to your bunks,” Angela told him. “We’re going to do a burn, but we can make it a gentle one so you don’t have to strap into acceleration chairs.”
Paxton looked her over, and smiled. “You an Yrden?” he asked
“Otherhire. I’m Angela Fulton – Cabin Attendant.”
His smile widened a bit. “Lloyd Paxton.” He took her fingers, bent over her and kissed the back her hand. Well, he might think himself a Romeo, but he wasn’t going to get anywhere with her.
“This way, gentlemen.”
She led them to the men’s sleeping quarters. “Top bunks are free.”
The two men took off their shoes, placed them in a drawer, and then climbed into their bunks without bothering to undress at all.
“Why are all of you so tired?” Angela asked. “Is it the middle of the night on Io Station?”
“That, and we haven’t slept properly in a couple of days,” Treverston answered. “What do you know?”
“I overheard everything,” she confessed.
He looked at her through half-closed eyes. “We stayed awake in case anyone came for us. It’s that bad there. Thank God you got here when you did. We didn’t really expect anyone for a couple more days.”
Treverston closed his eyes, and Paxton had already fallen asleep. She heard his steady, even breathing.
“Goodnight, gentlemen,” she said, turning out the lights, and leaving the room. What in the world had started this on Io Station? The ship began a very gentle burn, one which made her feel as if she were walking into a wind that would push her against the rear bulkhead, but one which she could manage easily enough.
She passed Carol, who sat in one of the acceleration chairs, eating from a ready-meal, and went into the cockpit. She closed the door so that Carol woul
dn’t hear.
“They’re all asleep,” she told the pilots, and then repeated what Treverston had told her.
“Call coming in,” Rolf said. He put on the earphones, probably in case Carol came in. His eyebrows went up. “They want us to return, to pick up a couple of passengers to take back to Earth.”
“Tell them we’re full up, no room for passengers.”
Rolf told them. He listened to the reply
“Now they want us to pick up some cargo.” He exchanged glances with the other two. “They already know we have room – a couple of them saw Paxton and me loading just a few things into an empty cargo hold.”
Ritter took the comm, and shunted it to speaker. “I’m sorry, Io. We have orders to return immediately. Our mothership has a schedule to meet.”
“We’ll pay for the extra fuel.”
Ritter bit his lip. Angela waved at him. He cut the audio. “What is it?”
“On Amalgamated 684, they once refused to take cargo without prepayment. They told me that a shipper had once caught them out like that. They delivered, and no payment.”
Ken grinned, and thumbed the microphone back on.
“Sorry, Io, we can’t pick up cargo without an okay from higher up. Please contact FTL-1, Shipping. Scout-1 out.”
Rolf smiled. “Well, that will buy us nearly two hours. We’d better send Venture a signal outlining the situation or we might find ourselves with orders to go back.”
“Good thinking.”
Ritter sent the message, even while continuing the burn. They picked up speed steadily. No chance of going back.
Carol came in, laughing. “I’ve never tried walking like this before. It’s almost like a carnival ride.”
“Sit down,” Ritter said. “We’re about done accelerating, let’s turn her around and watch Jupiter slowly get smaller.”
Hours passed. No further signal came from Io Station, though one from Venture suggested that they jump soonest. They turned about again, and continued the burn.
* * *
Monday 16 August
“Carol, I have an idea,” Ritter said. “Do you want to play a joke on your sister?”
Her eyes brightened. “As long as it’s not a hurtful one.”
“Nothing like that. I’ll just have you send a voice message, and then we’ll jump, get to Earth before the message, and you can call her up just before your message from Jupiter reaches her.”
“Ken,” Rolf said, giving his head a minor shake. Too late.
“Yes! Let’s do it!”
Sighing, Rolf shook his head, but said nothing further. Carol and Ritter put their heads together, and finally, she took the microphone.
“Hi, Helen. I can’t describe it. Jupiter fills the whole sky. You may have beaten me into space, but I beat you into hyperspace. We’re almost at jump. Talk to you when I get there. This is a voice from the past.”
Giggling, she handed the mic back to Ritter. He gave the ‘send’ command, and then dropped the shields.
“Okay, we’re jumping.”
They all felt the slight nausea, as they jolted into hyperspace closer to Jupiter than they probably should have. Angela didn’t understand. They hadn’t reached anywhere near the speed they would need to get back to Earth in under an hour. Judging by their time in hyperspace on the way out to Saturn, one hour wouldn’t get them anywhere close.
Rolf suggested that they relax in the cabin for a bit, get something to eat. They went.
Then they got the call to return. Angela looked at the chrono, and frowned. What was going on? But Rolf had her take the co-pilot’s seat.
“Bring us out of jump,” he said.
They dropped, and there in front of them hung the Earth.
Ritter grinned. “Let’s call up Helen.”
“Scramble it,” Rolf told him.
Again Angela frowned. Something happened here that she didn’t understand. Ken studied the chrono.
“Now.” He called up FTL-1, and soon Jill’s voice came through.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Jill, this is Ken on Venture’s Scout-1. Helen White around?”
They heard Jill say, “It’s for you,” and then Helen’s voice came through the speaker.
“Yes?”
“Hi, Helen, it’s Carol.”
“Carol? Where are you?”
“I’m just back from a trip out to Saturn and Jupiter.”
“Oh? How was it?”
“Fantastic. And the drop from hyperspace – oh, my, you have to experience it – especially while holding hands with someone.” Ken tapped her on the shoulder. “Anyway, I’ll stop talking now; you should be getting a call.”
“Call?”
Carol giggled as they heard Jill say, “It’s for you. From Io.”
And then they heard Carol’s voice through the speaker. “Hi, Helen, I can’t describe it. Jupiter fills the whole sky. You may have beaten me into space, but I beat you into hyperspace. We’re almost at jump. Talk to you when I get there. This is a voice from the past.”
Carol started laughing, then controlled herself. “Pilot said he could work it so we’d get back before the signal did. Quite a jolt going into hyperspace, but we did it. And he timed it exactly!”
“Glad you’re enjoying yourself,” they heard the bemused voice of Carol’s sister.
“Never had so much fun in all my life. Ken says I have to sign off now. Call you after I get back to Venture. Bye.”
“Bye.”
“That was just great!” Carol leaned over and kissed Ritter. “I love you!”
The expression on Ritter’s face almost caused Angela to laugh out loud. He looked almost trapped.
Carol did laugh. “No, not that way, silly. We had fun, but that’s all. But for this,” she pointed at the mic, “for this, I love you.”
Ken grinned at her. “I can accept that.”
Rolf set the course for Venture. “Okay, Angela, take us in.”
With their three passengers now awake and in the acceleration chairs in the dining area, Angela began a nice vigorous burn.
CHAPTER 25
Haida Gwaii
Monday 15 August
“Matt, John Whitestone here to see you,” Nordine’s voice came through the speaker. She sounded wary.
Matt answered, feeling a stone in the pit of his stomach. When Nordine sounded wary, it never came with good news.
“Yes, Nordine. Send him in.” Matt stood to welcome Whitestone, foreman of one of the steel-working crews. He put his welcoming smile on.
Whitestone didn’t seem at all inclined to smile in return.
“What is it, John?”
“Matt, some of the gang want to go home.”
“Home?” Matt frowned. They couldn’t afford to lose any at this juncture.
“Back to Earth. We get the news feed, you know.”
“Sit down, please,” Mat said, indicating a chair – not the one in front of his desk, but one of the ones by a side table. He took the one on the other side, and offered Whitestone water and cookies. Better to not face this as employer-employee, Matt figured.
“Yes, I know. Part of the deal.” And one which he now regretted. But who could deny them entertainment and news from home. They also had virtually unlimited comm. Anything to keep them on the job.
“Things look bad down there,” Whitestone said, and Matt couldn’t disagree with him. “And we worry about our families.”
Matt worried about all the Families; he couldn’t blame Whitestone’s people for worrying about theirs.
“And how would giving up decent-paying jobs help those families?” Matt decided to try logic first. He needed the workers to stay.
“It isn’t the money, Matt, and you know it. If anything happens, we’ll be stuck up here unable to do squat for our people.” Whitestone took a slug of water. “They can’t concentrate like they need to. We’re going to have accidents – deaths. Working the steel in zero-g and vacuum needs a sharp mind.”
&nb
sp; Matt felt that his own mind had lost whatever sharpness it had ever possessed a long time ago.
“How many?”
“Twenty-three of us now. Most of the unmarried ones don’t care as much, but some of those have girlfriends or boyfriends.” Whitestone scowled. “Hell, Matt, you should understand. This is family. What would you do for family?”
Lose his health, his sanity, his life if this kept up. He – they – couldn’t afford to lose twenty-three. Two weeks. He only needed two weeks.
“Two weeks, John. Give me two weeks.” He almost pleaded.
Whitestone shook his head. “I can’t give you two days. Have you seen the news?”
“Double pay?”
Whitestone shook his head. “Won’t cut it. This is family. Money doesn’t matter when you fear for family.”
Losing twenty-three of his best workers would put the project so far behind, they might not make it in time. He, too had seen the news, and he had other reports coming in from everywhere.
“Soon as it calms down, we’ll come right back up,” Whitestone promised.
Back up?
He looked the worried man in the eyes. “I’ll bring your families up until things cool down back on Earth. You won’t have to fear for them – in fact you can see them every day after your shifts. And,” he held up his hand to forestall any objection, “I’ll keep them here – if that’s what you want – until your part of the job is finished. Then, I’ll return you to Earth or whatever planet you wish, if you wish to emigrate.”
Whitestone stared at him. “That’s a lot of cubage to bring up that many households.”
Matt shook his head. “I can’t do that. I can bring up the families of those who want them up here. They can bring what you might take on a month’s holiday, no more. No furniture, no vehicles.”
“But—”
“Later,” he interrupted. “Later, after the situation calms down, and if you want to emigrate, then we’ll talk about household goods.”
Hell, he didn’t even know if he could even manage to get the people up. They already had their shuttles working to capacity. But if he didn’t, and he failed Haida Gwaii because of that, then nothing mattered anyway.
Not With A Whimper: Survivors Page 27