The Apprentice Starship Engineer: Book One The Link

by Hanks, Daniel

  I pulled myself to a standing position and reached for Kathy. “Come on, I’ll help you get home.”

  She pointed a finger at me. “You. The last time I took your hand we got caught, remember?” She took my hand. “What the hell,” she said as I pulled her to her feet. Kathy was tall, six feet. She leaned heavily against me. We got our bearings and made a straight line across the shop.

  It was difficult to walk with her head on my chest and both her arms wrapped around me. We ran into several young women, who stopped and stared as we passed. Kathy giggled.

  At her apartment, she said she felt sick. I took her into the bathroom and held her as she vomited. We then staggered into her bed room.

  I dropped her onto the bed, and she stretched her arms up. “Screw me,” she said, then rolled over and got sick again. “God, what was that shit Jack gave us?”

  As she puked, I grabbed another blanket and staggered into her living room. With a spinning head, I curled up on her couch. Several hours later, I woke up and just made it to her bathroom before heaving my guts out. I could hardly see and my head was pounding. I crawled back into her living room, pulled the blanket off the couch and curled up on the floor.

  I woke up to a soft voice. “You’re cute and harmless-looking when you’re asleep. Sit up, sleepy head. Here is something for your head.” I sat up. She said, “Here, drink this.”

  A glass pressed against my lips. My head hurt so bad I wanted to scream, and I couldn’t stand to open my eyes. My whole body relaxed as the cool liquid hit my stomach. My headache went away. I opened my eyes then. Kathy looked as beautiful as the first time I’d seen her. She wore a bathrobe and looked as if she’d just stepped out of the shower.

  I leaned back against the couch. “Jack tried to kill us last night.”

  She sat next to me and gave me a thoughtful look. “I’m ninety-five years old next week,” she said as she placed her hand on my knee. She didn’t look a day over twenty-five to me.

  “I meant what I said last night. I’d be happy just looking into your eyes and hearing your voice.”

  She squeezed my knee, then leaned forward, giving me a kiss on the forehead. “That’s not enough for me.” She got to her feet. “Go take a shower. I’ll get breakfast.”

  She was quiet during breakfast. “You’re breaking my heart,” I said.

  “You’ll get over it.”

  “We’d have fun in bed.”

  “Stop it. You’re too young for me.”

  “No woman on this ship will have me.”

  “Find a man.” She picked up the dishes.

  She stood by the kitchen counter, looking wonderful. “Good day, Drake. Thanks for being decent last night. You’re a good kid. A lucky girl will pick you up.”

  I stood in front of her. “Lucky girl, I wonder. I could tell Jack how stupid he is, but he doesn’t deserve you. I do.” I held her head and gave her a kiss on the lips. She tried to push me away, but not hard.

  “Go, just go,” she said, looking at the floor.

  As I walked away, I thought I was the most unlucky guy in the entire universe. I never get the girl. Something always happened.

  Jack looked like death. I almost laughed, but I was in no better shape. He’d kept his word and showed me around the fusion reactor, a Robin’s with dual particle accelerators. We had the same kind on the farm. A very reliable, stable power supply.

  “Five hundred megawatts. Four hundred million of those watts are used to generate the hole in space time at the bow of the ship. We’ll start studying propulsion after we’re done here,” Jack said.

  He must have started to feel better. He lectured as if he were a professor in college. He paced across the room.

  “These are the safeties,” he said, pointing at a control panel on the side of the room. “Of course it’s important to keep the fusion reaction in the center of the heat exchanger. If the reaction moves more than a few millimeters, the reactor will be destroyed.” He paused and looked at the safeties. “It’s a long walk home. We have seven redundant circuits. Any of them are capable of protecting the reactor core if necessary.” He paused and seemed to gather his thoughts. “Even here, outside the containment and beyond the cooling jacket, the magnetic fields are huge.” He set a large wrench on the floor and it floated at a forty-five degree angle. “When welding, the field can pull the molten metal away from the joint, leaving weak welds. So be careful working here.”

  Jack was a good teacher. He went on to show me the pellet injectors and the trim field generators.

  * * * *

  Jack and Sandra must have some kind of competition going on to see who would kill me, I thought. Jack had just assigned me an article to read, and Sandra had become a monster, working me harder at each practice. I thought it was just for the competition, but something else bothered her. We always finished our practices with breathing exercises.

  It was Thursday, and we were just finishing up. I looked over at her, and said, “Let’s go get a beer after practice.”

  She shot me a mean look. “What? Is Kathy busy tonight?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to her in three weeks.”

  “You broke up with her.”

  “We were never together.”

  She paused and looked at me. “One beer. The tournament is in two days.”

  “Sunday, here at ten,” I said, getting up. I held out my hand.

  “I need to change.”

  “I’ll wait.”

  Her nose wrinkled. “Take a shower while you wait. See you at G-four.”

  After taking a fast shower, I pulled on clean shorts and an almost fresh t-shirt. I raked my shoulder-length hair with a brush, then tied it back into a tail. Once I arrived at G-four, I took a chair where I could see the door. At first, I didn’t recognize her with her hair falling to her shoulders in black curls. She wore tight pants that went just past her knees and a sleeveless t-shirt. My mouth went dry as she approached my table and smiled at my ice water.

  I tried to be cool, taking a sip of my water as she slipped into a chair across from me, but I saw every move she made. She reached across and stole my drink. She took a sip and smiled, daring me to object.

  “Wow, I didn’t realize you were so pretty.”

  She blushed. “Thanks. Are you hungry?”

  I nodded. She stood and held out her hand. I smiled and took it, enjoying the warmth of her touch. We headed to the cafeteria, and as we went through the line, she kept taking rolls and cookies off my tray and replacing them with salads.

  Dinner was quiet. We were both tired. I only sipped my beer. She didn’t touch hers. “You’re quiet,” she said.

  “Yeah, not much to say. My social life has been lacking. Just a few hours with you at practice and study sometimes. I wonder if I can speak.” I looked at her. “You’re a good friend. Thanks.”

  She frowned, then smiled. “Friends. I enjoy your company.”

  We sat in silence as I finished my beer. After we left, I took her hand and walked with her. “Are you walking me home?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  She laughed. “Okay, here we are,” she said. She stopped and looked at me. “Friends.” She reached up and kissed my cheek. On the way to my dorm, I worried about the match. I didn’t want to fail her.

  * * * *

  Margret hadn’t spoken to me since she’d found out she was to be left at home. I still told her goodbye when I’d set her on the shelf, big softy that I am. She is just a machine. The gym was full when I arrived. A black belt lined us non-black belts up according to rank. Sandra had given me a yellow belt, so I was with the yellows. We sat on our knees and bowed to our teachers.

  A black belt stood and spoke. “This isn’t a sanctioned tournament. It’s for bragging rights only. Only black belts will make contact. If we see you’re with the wrong group, we’ll move you.”

  My first match was with a skinny guy. I went easy on him, at first, then he missed and hit me, givin
g me a smile as he danced away. I stepped forward and blocked his strike. I touched his chin with my fist, followed up by an elbow strike and a fist to his neck. He tried to kick me, but I blocked it with my leg. Then blocked his arm, again striking his unprotected chest, scoring more points. I won the match.

  My second one was with Tammy. As we bowed to each other, she laughed. “Did you bring your divining rods?”

  Smiling, I said, “I only brought one.”

  She blushed. “Cute. I’m going to knock it into the dirt.”

  She was fast. I could hardly see her strikes, but from her stance, I could tell she had no power in her hits. I knocked her strike aside and stepped forward, driving the heel of my hand toward her chin. She stepped back in surprise, and I followed with a straight hand toward her throat. She stepped back again, then attacked so fast, scoring point after point with her quick jabs. I lost the match. She was awesome.

  I hung around to watch Sandra fight. She did well, making it to the end. Her last match was with Mattey LaCross, the man who’d made fun of me when I first came onto the ship. Sandra was better. She started with three good shots to his jaw. He backed up, then blocked one of her punches and attacked, striking her twice in the face, dazing her. He pressed his attack, knocking her to the mat. She rolled away from his kick and jumped up with blood running from her face. The referees called the match. Sandra had lost.

  I put my arm around her. “Well, don’t worry. I’ll take care of you,” I said.

  “Get me to medical, then we’ll get dinner,” she said.

  The woman who met us at medical laughed. “I heard you got your ass kicked. Bring her in here. This will just take second.” She looked at me. “Are you her lover?”

  “Friend.”

  She laughed. “Okay, friend, my name is TJ. If you’re going to spend time around Sandra, you’ll have to learn to take care of her. Grab that cloth and wash her face. Pay attention as I seal this cut.” TJ ran a small tool across Sandra’s cut, sealing it tight and leaving only a small line. “Here, you do this one.” She handed me the tool. “That’s the trigger. Don’t miss the cut.”

  It was above Sandra’s eyebrow. I gently squeezed it closed as I ran the gun across her wound.

  “Nice. Good work. Keep it steady. Great,” TJ said. The cut was now only a line across Sandra’s forehead. I finished washing Sandra’s face. She smiled at me. “Let’s check the rest of her. Pull off her shirt.” I helped Sandra by pulling off her tee and bra. A big bruise was on the side of her chest. TJ handed me cream to rub into it. “Start around the sides and work toward the center,” she said. I kept my gaze off Sandra’s chest, but from my first glance, I saw everything. Working my way to the center, the bruise disappeared, leaving only a small discoloration on her skin. I handed the cream back to TJ. “Well, he’s very polite,” she said.

  Sandra pulled on her t-shirt. It hid nothing. “Yea, let’s go drink beer, Drake.”

  G-four was packed. We joined Brice at his table with several others. Tammy was there and was crowing. She was shitty. She stood, came over to me and leaned over, exposing most of her breasts. “Did I bend your rod when I knocked it in the dirt? Maybe I’m just too much woman for a boy.” I smelled alcohol on her breath. She was plastered.

  I laughed. Sandra reached over and kissed me on the lips. She pulled back and smiled. “He’s mine, Tammy. You can’t have him.”

  “Shit,” Tammy said and turned, stomping away.

  Sandra laughed. “Thanks. I didn’t know what to say,” I said.

  She shrugged. “I’m territorial. I guard my friends.”

  Sandra walked me home, saying it was only fair. She gave me a kiss on my lips at my door, leaving me breathless. I was confused. After taking a cold shower, I decided she was a good friend, and that the kiss meant nothing.

  * * * *

  At next practice, Sandra was sharp and terse as if she was mad at me. She worked me twice as hard as before, and sometimes her demonstrations were rough.

  I studied hard, working late into the night, and three months later, I passed my second-year test with honors. Kathy didn’t proctor it. Ron Thompson did. He was the head pilot.

  After seeing my score, he said, “We aren’t going to walk the halls holding hands.” He laughed.

  “That’s too bad.”

  “I thought you cheated on your first-year test, but now I know you didn’t. Sorry.” He held out his hand. He looked genuinely sad about doubting me.

  After the test, I went to engineering. Jack and Bob both were waiting for me.

  “Did you pass?” Bob asked.

  “Yep. I aced it.”

  “Shit,” Jack said, pulling out his bottle and three cups.

  “I’m not drinking any more of your goat piss,” Bob said as Jack handed him a cup.

  “Thanks, Jack,” I said as he handed me a drink.

  “To Drake, a young man who is costing the company way too much money. Our new third-year apprentice,” he said.

  “To Drake,” Bob said as he took a sip out of his cup.

  I took a small sip. It burned all the way down. I stifled a shudder.

  “To Kathy, the woman who got away.” Bob toasted.

  I took a large gulp. Why did he do that? I wondered. Shit, it always tore my heart out. I took another swallow.

  “Bob, why keep talking about Kathy? Even I can see it hurts the kid,” Jack said.

  Bob sighed. “When I met Vivian, she wouldn’t talk to me. I couldn’t sleep. I hurt so bad I went to her and told her how I felt. We became friends. After she knocked me out, we married and the rest is history. You,” he said, “are avoiding that. You’re hiding behind your studies, using them for a haven. Don’t live safe, kid. Live hard. Tell her, and for better or worse, take her answer on the chin. You might be surprised at what she says, but either way, you’ll never be sorry you asked. Damn it! Cowards can never be happy.” He finished his drink, then left the room.

  We were quiet for a while. Jack filled my cup. “Bob, he’s passionate. He loves Vivian. I’ve never seen a man so in love, but he’s right. No matter what she says you’ll never regret saying what you have to say to her. You don’t want to make your life into a cheap romance novel. Finish your drink and go tell her before it’s too late.” Jack corked his bottle.

  Bob was right, I thought, swirling the yellow liquid around in my cup. Jack’s whiskey had to be made from goat piss.

  I liked Kathy. Hell, who wouldn’t like her? At least we could be friends. I stood and staggered. Shit, if I went to see her now she’d think I needed liquid courage to face her. I picked up the cup and drained it in one large gulp. It almost dropped me to the floor. It was true, I need liquid courage to face her. What if she refused to talk to me?

  Jack laughed. “Well, liquid courage is still courage. Go talk to her. You can’t lose.”

  I left him rocking in his chair, singing. Margret guided me through the ship. I only really saw flashes of hallways and people giving me disgusted looks. After arriving at Kathy’s door, I almost turned around, but Jack’s words came back to me. You have nothing to lose. I rang her doorbell.

  Kathy came to the door. She looked better than ever. “So I hear you aced another test,” she said as she looked at me. I stood in her doorway with my heart in my throat. “You’ve been celebrating with Jack’s piss.”

  “Yeah. Where the hell does he get that shit?”

  “I think he makes it in a dark, dank part of the ship.”

  “Bob says it’s made from goat piss.”

  “Ah, an even scarier thought is it’s defiantly made from piss, but we have no goats on the ship,” she said with a smirk.

  “Yuk. Let’s not go there, okay?”

  “Are you going to get sick?”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “You’d better come in,” she said as she gently pulled me into the room. “Sit on the couch. I’ll get you something just in case you can’t make it to the bathroom.” She returned with a large plasti
c bag. “I’m tired of cleaning up, so please hit the bag if you can’t make it.”

  The room spun, my stomach clinched, and I found myself on all fours, heaving my guts out into the bag. Kathy patted me on the shoulder. I wanted to die. “Shit, Jack is trying to kill me!”

  I woke up to a pounding headache. Kathy was telling someone she’d be late for her shift. That she had an upset stomach. She handed me a glass of fizzy water. “For your head and stomach,” she said.

  As I sat up, I thought I might faint. My head pounded so hard. “Why the hell would anyone drink that shit Jack makes?” I muttered.

  Kathy chuckled. “When I first met you, I thought what a nice, smart young man, but now I’m starting to wonder. The only time you’ve come to see me is when you’re stumbling drunk.”

  Her medicine worked miracles on my hangover. She was half joking, but there was an underlying seriousness in what she’d said. I looked at the floor to avoid her eyes.

  “Bob said I was a coward for not talking to you. He said I hid behind my studies to avoid facing my feelings for you. When I’m around you, I’m comfortable and happy.” I looked up into her eyes. “At least could we be friends? I apologize for forcing you to kiss me. That was wrong, and I’m sorry.”

  She looked as if I’d slapped her. She took my empty glass and walked into the kitchen. My heart hit the floor.

  “Bob is right. You have been a coward. I don’t know if it’s Jack’s piss water that’s talking or your heart. We can talk tomorrow when you’re sober.” She walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

  Still unsteady, I pulled myself to my feet, then struggled to fold up the blanket she’d thrown over me. After putting it on the couch, I looked the room over to make sure I wasn’t leaving a mess.

  * * * *

  Jack stayed in his office. I puttered with a damper motor and repaired a controller. After taking one look at me, Bob had volunteered to handle the repair calls.

  Usually Bob had lunch with Vivian, but today he joined me. “I want you to know I don’t involve myself in other people’s business, but after watching you for the last few months, I couldn’t take it anymore,” he said.