by Darrell Bain
"Just think of me being there in spirit, sir. And you know you can call on me any time you feel the need, don't you?"
"Of course. The Skipper speaks of you often. She misses having you around, too, but this is the only way we can run the watches and have me tutor her."
"I know. Sometimes you have to bear the unbearable. Hang in there, Lieutenant. We'll get home, by God, and then those fucking Monkeys will be sorry they ever heard of us."
"You think we can whip them?"
"Shit, yes. Just give us time to gear up production of warships and raise enlistments in the navy and marines. They'll think a bazillion eight-legged zipstings are after them.” He snarled so viciously it sounded like a zipsting was actually loose in the boat.
"A good analogy, Rufus,” Lisa said as she arrived. “I don't remember much of what we saw being too far ahead of us technologically. Once the home worlds see the footage of the scout boats and Shannon, every man and woman from sixteen to sixty will want to join up and go after them. That's without even our mentioning the record of our fight with them.
"And guess what, Rufus. We turn the corner after this transit and begin the crossover to Earth."
"Now that's good news indeed. How long will that take?"
"Depends on what we find,” Jeremy said. “The G spectrum stars are scarcer in this part of the galaxy, but we've got enough water and organics for a number of transits. It should go pretty fast. We'll be going toward Earth, even if it is still a long way."
"Wonderful. And now I need to go inspect the boat with Chief Martinez. She's working out real well. And damned if she isn't still plugging along in her courses that give her credit toward a degree. She'll be ready to take the exam in a number of subjects once we get back. In a year she'll be an explorer. I bet the academy would sponsor her for her last year."
He was glad to hear that Juanita was still hitting the books, even after twelve hour shifts. He knew from personal experience how hard it was to get enthused over anything when your body was dead tired. Which reminded him. After receiving and checking the data from the previous watch, the others left and he turned to Lisa.
"Is this the time I handle the boat and you the transit?"
"That it is, Jeremy. Rufus got it started, so have at it. I'll get us in the groove for the transit and call the numbers to you."
He started to say that he hoped the next target star would have a suitable planet in its life zone, but he remembered Lisa's admonition in time. Bad luck to wish in the control room!
Nevertheless, several days later they were out of hyper and the gravity detector picked up a planet that appeared to be almost as earth-like as Summertime. For a moment he thought of how part of the crew had felt back then and wanted it to not be quite so appealing, but he quickly stifled the thought. The crew had bounced back after Russell's expulsion and were again working as a team. He had no fears of a potential mutiny, no matter how good the world turned out to be.
He was in the process of making the landing when Shinzyki eased into the control room. Jeremy was concentrating so hard he didn't see him come in and didn't know he was there until he had the boat in atmosphere.
"Just the way I'd do it,” Shinzyki said.
His rough deep voice startled Jeremy for a moment, but he didn't let it distract him from the landing. He was aiming the boat toward one of the relatively clear areas in the heavily forested, green chlorophyll planet. The landing site abutted a hundred meter granite cliff overlooking a beach. Vines trailed from the cliff all the way to the water in spots, but there was plenty of room to park the boat where water and organic mass would both be handy.
"You might be able to do it better, but not by much, Rufus,” Lisa said once the landing jacks stabilized.
"As much as I want to disagree with you, I can't, Skipper. He's a natural."
The compliments pleased him beyond what his ability really rated, simply because it was from the two people aboard he respected the most—people he knew wouldn't heap him with unearned praise. He stood up and stretched.
"Hi, Rufus. Glad you could make it,” he said slyly.
Shinzyki shook his head. “Youngsters. You can't control them. All you can do is go ahead and let them foul things up, then hope they can put them back together again."
"Why, Rufus, that was very near to a perfect landing, and you know it."
"Never give a new officer too much praise, Skipper. It goes to their heads and makes them weak-minded."
"Um, yes, there is that. We'll have to watch his cranium, won't we?"
"If everyone is finished predicting where my well-deserved talents will take me, we can announce that we've made a successful landing on ... what's the name of this place, anyway?"
"You'll laugh,” Rayne said as she arrived. It had become common practice for the four of them to meet in the control room immediately after landings and the first watch after transits. The boat had been running so smoothly that Lisa had called only one all-officers conference the last three weeks.
"So tickle me,” he said, raising his brows expectantly.
"The crew voted for Bellweather."
He laughed.
"Told you,” Rayne said.
[Back to Table of Contents]
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jeremy was in the control room looking out the viewport when Lisa spoke to him.
"Do you miss being able to go dirtside, Jere?"
He took a last look and turned around. “I do, Skipper, but I know it's the safest way to play it. I'm sure you would do fine with the remaining transits, but suppose something happened to you? Then where would the boat be?"
"There's always Franika."
He shook his head. “She's coming along, but not as quickly as I'd hoped. That's why she's not here. I'm having her go back over some things by herself with the sim downloaded to her cabin. She works better alone."
"That's not good."
"I should say she studies better alone. Relax, Skipper. She'll do fine if the ball ever drops on her head. She's one of those people who just keep plugging until they get it right."
"Like some others I could name,” she said with a chuckle. “Seriously, Jere, I'd like to go out myself occasionally, and I've been at this for almost as long as you've been alive."
"Did you ever think you'd be commanding a longboat when you were an explorer?"
"I thought of it, naturally. Everyone does, once they get their commission. What I really dreamed of was commanding an explorer starship, though."
"You'll make it yet, Skipper. After you bring the boat home headquarters might give you one right away."
"I doubt that. They don't give starship command until an officer has served as XO on at least one cruise and usually more than one. There are other positions they like you to have held, too. Longboat commander is one, so I've got that nailed, but I'll probably need a stint in operations and logistics as well."
"I still think you deserve it,” he assured her.
"Would you really want that, Jeremy?” she asked softly. She looked around to be sure no one else had come in. “It would pretty well kill the idea of us being together after we get home."
"Do you still want that?” he asked, almost dreading what she might say but unable to keep from putting the question to her. Despite the hard work and long hours, he was having trouble sleeping. Their odd relationship was part of the reason.
"Yes, more than ever. Be patient, love. And now let's drop that subject. It doesn't do either of us any good to talk about it."
"All right, but I can't help but think about it. Regulations don't cover thoughts yet."
"So they don't."
* * * *
Bellweather was even more suitable for humans than Summertime, if that was possible. The axial inclination was slight and the animal life appeared to all be rather small. It tended to run from humans rather than attack.
"Hello, Rufus,” Lisa said as she and Jeremy entered the control room. “Ready to be relieved?"
A furrow formed between her brows as she led the way, knowing it must be something unusual for him to want privacy.
Once inside she wasted no time. “What is it, Rufus?"
"Well, I haven't had all the time in the world, but I finally got to the gravity compensating capacitors. I've thought the transitions have been a little rough the last couple of times, and now I know why. One of them is warped and not holding all the charge it should. You know the capacitors alternate in releasing their charge to smooth the gravity compensator waves as we enter and exit hyper, and they give us microbursts all the time we're in hyper when we drop out for a microsecond to peek at the normal universe. And then..."
She laughed. “Spare me the jargon, Rufus. Just tell me, how bad is it?"
"We're gonna have to stick around here while I tear down the capacitor and either repair the potentiometer, or more likely, be forced to fabricate a new one."
"Don't we carry spares? We damn sure do for everything else under the sun, including crew!"
"They aren't supposed to fail, but I guess the bright boys who designed the capacitors never met the Monkeyclaws and their warship. When we took the hit, the capacitor must have been jarred enough to make it gradually go off specs. Just be glad I found it while we were out of hyper. Had it failed while we were in...” he turned a thumb down at the deck.
"How long?"
"A week, anyway.” He shrugged. “The pots are a booger to get at. Since you aren't supposed to have to repair them, they didn't make space enough to use tools with them in place. Sorry."
"Well, I suppose the crew could use a rest anyway. We can stock up on organics here, and then get well past our halfway point with only one or two stops for water. We'll be even farther along in the amount of time left to go."
"Okay. I'll get started. Rayne can use Sparks to fill in my spot in the control room. There's not much to do while we're down except instrument checks and maintenance."
* * * *
Rufus decided to use Juanita to help him replace the capacitor potentiometer. He had found her to be very capable and smart, despite her lack of a degree. He could see a future exploration officer in her with no problem at all, and this voyage would look good on her resume.
"Okay, lift, now. Easy, easy ... got it! Let's set her down now. Good. Okay, guys, thanks. ‘Nita and I can handle it from here on out.” It had taken four of them to disconnect the capacitor and move it a few feet into the passageway so he could get into the innards of it.
"Now, ‘Nita, I'll be on top of this big bastard with my head stuck down in its guts. You'll have to hand me the tools and meters while I work."
"I'll be here, sir. This is fun."
"Tell me about it a couple of days from now, when we're trying to squeeze this big sumbitch back in place. Okay, the hex set first—the big ones."
As they worked he questioned her now and then on aspects of the longboat, not seeing any reason why he couldn't continue her education during the repair job. He also asked other questions.
"How's the crew treating you, ‘Nita? Everything going okay for you?"
"Oh, sure. Everyone loves it here. It's a great place for a break, and we needed one. We're all tired."
"So are the officers, but it's just part of the job. Keep plugging along, and before you know it we'll be home."
"That's what we know now. The Skipper did a good thing getting rid of Russell. He was way past unstable."
"Yup. A little birdy told me one of our chiefs might have had a hand in bringing it out in the open."
"Uh, that's good, sir."
He grunted a comment, but her response told him what he wanted to know. It was more or less what he'd suspected. She had told Jeremy, and he had passed it on to the Skipper. Good people, all of them.
"How's your love life these days? I hope it's better than mine.” Ordinarily an officer didn't inquire into personal affairs, but Shinzyki didn't consider himself an ordinary officer. A COB never did. He learned lots of useful information from making himself a sounding board for the enlisted ranks. Besides, he had a purpose behind his question.
"Oh, I suppose it could be better, Mr. Shinzyki, but it could be worse, too. You know it's like that for a lot of us. The selection isn't near as great as when we were on the ship, or even when we had a full crew."
"True enough, ‘Nita, but the Skipper allows a little more leeway under circumstances like ours."
"Oh, yeah! It's a good thing, too."
Shinzyki chuckled. “She knows what she's doing."
"She sure does. It's just too bad she doesn't give herself some of that leeway."
"Hmm?"
"Never mind. I shouldn't have ... never mind, sir."
He knew she was wishing she'd never uttered those words. They had to have come out on impulse, but he knew exactly what she was referring to. He thought for a moment and decided to run with it.
"It's all right. I'm sure you weren't trying to involve yourself with Commander Trammell's personal life."
"Oh, no, sir!"
"On the other hand, I have to sort of agree with you, in a way."
"You do?"
"Yeah. Here, take this, and hand me the spanner. The big one."
Juanita gave him the tool. “You agree and everybody knows, so why doesn't she ... well..."
"Command is an awful responsibility, ‘Nita. She can't afford to lose the respect of the crew."
"If you ask me, Mr. Shinzyki, she'd gain respect. Shucks, everyone knows she and Lieutenant Costa are in love."
"They do? Hmm. News to me, but I'll take your word for it. You think they oughta go for it, huh?"
"I'm just a chief. What do I know?"
"A lot more than some people. Crap! This thing isn't moving a millimeter. Pass me up the medium hammer.” He let the conversation turn to other matters, but he had gotten the seed planted. Now it would be passed around, and the Commander would hear about it eventually, but with no names attached. That was all he could do about the situation for now. Chiefs of Boats sure come into strange duties, he thought with amusement as he began tapping with his hammer, which was sometimes a very useful tool when nothing else would work.
* * * *
Jeremy was glad to get away from Bellweather. It was such a decent place that day after day it pulled at him like a magnet, making him want to get outside under the sunlight and into some fresh air. He even broached the idea in a roundabout way to Lisa, but she shot him down with a few pithy words.
"We can't risk you, so shut up about it, Lieutenant Costa."
"Yes, ma'am.” He had begun thinking of some way to ameliorate his moment of weakness when Shinzyki appeared in the control room.
"Skipper, that cursed Allah-be-double-damned mongrel of a potentiometer is back in place and working again. We can leave whenever you like."
She glanced over at the chronometer. “Thank you, Rufus. We're set up, so all we need to do is pick a launch time to coincide with the quickest way to the transit point. It will be sometime tomorrow, for sure. Lieutenant Costa has been doing his best to put his name on the thruster controls so he can handle it."
"Good. I can take a nap while he does the work."
Jeremy took that conversation to mean he was forgiven. He vowed that never again would he let his emotions get in the way of his duty—not if he could help it. He immediately took Lisa at her word and began looking forward to handling the boat during launch. It was an exhilarating experience, just as it was when he first became old enough to drive air cars. As soon as he reasonably could, without looking like an eager little boy playing at a game, he began studying the prospective launch parameters against the location of their target star. Finally, finally, they had finished turning the corner and would be heading directly toward Earth. It was still a long way, but at least they were going in that direction now. It made him feel good.
* * * *
Th
e launch went well, and Lisa and Rufus allowed him to continue flying the boat within systems. A number of other transits occurred without incident, bringing the morale of the crew almost up to normal. The last planet they'd landed on had been a likely one—perhaps worthy of colonization sometime in the future. They had stocked up on water and organics and gone on. They had just dropped out of hyperspace from the next transit, when several explorers began complaining of feeling ill. Jeremy learned of it when Casey immediately brought the news to the Commander. At the time, they were studying together in her day cabin, each learning techniques from the other.
"You've become a very good astrogator, Jeremy,” Lisa said.
"Thanks. You are too, for that matter. You know, I don't know if I've ever thanked you for giving me the commission. You didn't really have to."
"Commander Brackett had already discussed it with me. I just carried out his wishes. He was a good man, but damned if he wasn't careless with his own safety."
Jeremy was able to avoid answering that loaded question when her com asked for attention.
"Commander here."
"Skipper, Casey. I need to see you."
He recognized the worried tone in the new officer's voice and a moment later he found out why. She knocked at the hatch, and then stepped inside at Lisa's call to come in.
"What is it, Casey?"
"Several of the crew are ill, and several more are beginning to show symptoms. They're all in the first squad."
"Oh, Lord, we really didn't need this. Get some cabins fixed up for isolation quickly. I'd better go and see. Jeremy, you come along, too. You know something about microbiology."
"I don't know much medicine."
"No one in the boat does now. Simpson was our last medical specialist."
He trailed along, feeling completely inadequate. What did he know about sickness? He'd never been ill a day in his life, and the only medicine he knew was what the academy taught for emergency treatment in the field. He did know microbiology, though. If that was the cause of the illness, he might be able to do something. He hoped.