The Apprentice Starship Engineer: Book One The Link

by Hanks, Daniel

  “Hey, kid. Drake, you there?” Jack asked.

  “Yeah, I’m here.”

  “We need to finish this. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m good. Let’s finish.”

  I tasted blood, and noticed globs of it being sucked up by my suit. Not able to see out of my right eye, my head rang and my right arm felt numb and useless. We had a job to finish and no one else to do it, so I’d told Jack I was good. I told Margret to turn up the tinting on my face shield and turn on my suit lights. When Jack asked, I told him it’d broken during the accident.

  Medical called. “Doc Weston here. You don’t look good on my monitors. I recommend you both return to the ship for treatment and evaluation.”

  “Doctor, Drake has suffered a broken arm, concussion and other injuries,” Margret said.

  “No, just a bump on my head and my arm is fine. Give me a painkiller and I’ll be fine,” I said.

  The captain came on the line. “Do as he asks. Doctor, they’re the only ones who can finish the alignment. The situation is becoming very unstable. They need to finish.”

  “Yes, ma’am. As you say,” Doc said.

  We worked on without speaking. Jack might be hurt, but he didn’t complain. Maybe he was just tired. It felt as though we’d never finish. We were both being very careful. After hooking up my safety line, I checked Jack’s. Everything was surreal. I just keep moving. Jack called out to loosen the forward adjustments, and moving as a robot, I loosened them. I marked the flat position and tapped the wrench with my hammer. Hearing Jack was getting harder since he’d started mumbling.

  My right eye bled again. I wonder if I’d lose it. My head pounded. Margret had run out of stimulants. Even after taking the painkillers they’d allow me, I wanted to scream. Jack told me to tighten the back adjustment one flat. I anchored myself with my legs. All that mattered was the bolt got tightened one flat. I waited for the next adjustment.

  “That’s got it. Let’s go home,” Jack said with a hoarse voice.

  “Shit, it feels as if we just started,” I said.

  “You sound tired. Let’s get you to bed. Medical one, tired kid on his way to airlock C-two.”

  “Margret, can you take me to airlock C-two?” I asked.

  “Yes, dear, and good night,” she said. I felt a shot go into my arm and I drifted off to sleep.

  * * * *

  Kathy has nice legs. The short skirt looked great. She had them crossed as she read on a pad. I could watch her forever. My right eye still didn’t work. I’d lost it. Cool, maybe I could wear an eye patch. No, I’d just end up with a mechanical eye.

  “So you’re awake. How do you feel? Do you need anything?” Jenny asked.

  I turned over. She was on my left side. Good thing I hadn’t commented on Kathy’s legs. “No, I’m fine for now. Ah, how is Bob? Did he make it?” I looked over at Kathy. She bit her lower lip. “Did he live?”

  “He’s being treated. He had a break down,” Kathy said.

  “Jack? Is he okay?”

  “Oh yes. After a good sleep, he’s back at work full speed.”

  “That’s good. Margret, where are you?”

  “Over here, dear. Right beside you where I belong,” Margret said.

  “Margret, what’s wrong with my eye? I can’t see out of it.”

  “When the ship corrected its course the second time, you struck your head. Your helmet took most of the shock, but you still hit hard enough to pop your right eye out of its socket and give you a concussion. You’re healing nicely. The medical staff are competent. You’re expected to walk out of here in four hours. Tomorrow you’re scheduled for a mechanical eye at ten hundred hours. Are you hungry, dear? Some breakfast? Your favorite waffles and eggs?”

  “Breakfast sounds good. Thanks, but that doesn’t make up for you telling medical about my injuries.”

  Kathy frowned and Jenny scowled. Margret said, “Yes, dear, I understand you’re mad at me. You’d taken a hard hit to the head, and I didn’t want you to die.”

  “I’m not mad. I’m disappointed.”

  “Oh.”

  “I thought we worked together, trusted each other, and then when I needed you the most you panicked,” I said. The room got quiet. Both Kathy and Jenny looked very uncomfortable.

  “Of course you’re correct. How can I make it up to you?”

  “If I’m conscious, take no automated rescue action without my approval.”

  “Okay, with a modification. If you’re incapable of responding, I shall consider you unconscious and take proper automated action,” Margret said.

  “Ah, well, that’s as good as I can hope for. Thank you. I couldn’t have made it without your help. Thanks.”

  “It was a pleasure to serve you.”

  I sat up with a groan. “Margret, what’s wrong with my shoulder?”

  “You broke it along with your arm. It’s healed now, but you’ll have sore muscles for a few days.”

  Doc Weston entered the room. He pointed a finger at me, and growled, “You lay back down—now.” I laid back down. Kathy snickered, and Jenny smiled at me. He studied the medical monitors for a moment. “Drake, I don’t have a bedside manner. Don’t even think of giving me any arguments. You’ll do what I say! Light duty for at least a week. Tomorrow I’ll be fitting you for a mechanical eye. We can’t grow you a new one on ship, but once we return to our galaxy, you can have one grown for you. Young man, for the next week, you’d better do very little. I’ll check you every day at the beginning and end of your shift. If you aren’t healing to my satisfaction, you’ll find yourself back in this bed. Do you understand?”

  “Ah, yes, sir,” I said.

  Dr. Weston smiled. “Well, that’s a good start. Your quarters are in one of the dorms, right?”

  “Yes, sir. F dorm.”

  “Hmm, for the next week, you’ll use this room. I don’t want you climbing in and out of one of those holes.” He turned to Jenny. “Are you his friend?”

  “Ah, yeah, were friends.”

  “You work for me now. I want you to stay by his side, keep him from falling. Will you do that? Drake, you won’t stand without her at your side. Got it?”

  “Got it, doc.”

  “I can keep an eye on him for a while,” Kathy volunteered.

  Dr. Weston nodded. “Okay if you’ll do that I’ll let him go right now. The best thing for him is to get up and walk around.” He reached over and pulled the covers off me. “Okay, get up.” He pulled me to a sitting position. He looked me in the eye. “Are you steady?” I nodded. He helped me stand. The room spun. I had to fight to stay up. Soon the dizziness passed. Dr. Weston smiled. “I’ll have someone bring you some scrubs. You don’t want walk around like that.” He left the room.

  I looked over at Jenny. She blushed and gave me quick glances. Kathy stared. She had a wicked smile on her face. Jenny took my arm and pulled my gown closed. Kathy sighed as she took my other arm. It felt great having them both so near, and if my head hadn’t been pounding so hard, I might have enjoyed it.

  Sandra came into my room, carrying scrubs. She smiled. “Head hurts, right?” I nodded as a tear dripped from my eye. “I should let you suffer as it’d keep you from overdoing it, but I’m a nice girl.” She pulled out an injection gun and gave me a shot, then handed Jenny a bottle. “Give Drake one of these every hour.” My headache went away. “Doc wants you up and around, but no falls. Don’t stand without someone to catch you.” She paused, stepping close to me and putting her hand on my waist. “Drake, I got you at the airlock. I know what you did. Thanks. You can miss practice tonight.” She leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “You scared the shit out of me,” she said, looking me straight in the eye. I thought she might kiss me. Kathy cleared her throat. Sandra gave me a weak smile. “Remember, Jenny, one pill every hour.” Sandra left.

  I felt more puzzled than before. Bob’s words came back to me. No way, geeky boy, not a chance in hell.

  I turned to Kathy. “I need to see Jack.
Let’s go to maintenance.”

  * * * *

  As we entered the maintenance shop, I leaned heavily on both Kathy and Jenny. My head pounded. I looked at Jenny. “Can I have a pain pill?”

  “Yes, of course. Let me get you some water,” she said, hurrying away.

  Kathy and I found Jack sitting at his desk. He hopped up and came over to greet me. “Kid, you had better sit. You look bad.”

  Kathy helped me get into one of the chairs. “Shit, for a tall drink of water you sure are heavy.” She stretched her back.

  Jenny entered with water and a pill, which I took. “We’re going to head back to medical soon,” she said.

  “Okay, I need to talk to Jack alone for a few minutes.” I took out Margret and handed her to Jenny. “I promise to stay right here in this chair.”

  Jack gave me a puzzled look. “Don’t worry. I’ll watch him.”

  “Remember what the doctor said. You aren’t to stand without me at your side,” Jenny said. After they left and closed the door, I turned to Jack.

  “Damn. Sorry, kid, you’re banged up. That should never have happened. I should have stopped him,” Jack said.

  “Jack, I was there. You did everything you could. He should have listened and done as you’d said. That was the problem.”

  “I like Bob,” Jack said.

  “Yeah, so do I. He’s good with the easy stuff. If we keep our eyes open, we should be able to keep him out of trouble.”

  “You’re a good kid. Thanks.”

  “If you tell me a lucky girl is going to scoop me up, I’m going to get up and hit you.” Jack looked puzzled. “That’s what every girl I meet says to me.”

  “What they’re saying is they aren’t attracted to you.”

  “Great. Thanks.”

  “Any time, kid.”

  I looked at him. We were silent for a moment. “Don’t worry, Drake. Bob will be okay. Just get well soon. I’ll need your help.”

  “What’s up?” The pain pills had kicked in and I was feeling better.

  “That’s right, you weren’t at the mission briefings. In three weeks, we’ll be dropping out of warp. We’ll be at the first of four planets that could support life. A team of scientists will go to the surface for an extended stay of six months. Bob was assigned to go, but now you’ll be taking his place.”

  Chapter 6: You’ll be taking Bob’s place

  Jenny and Kathy barged into the room. Kathy came over and put her hand on my forehead. “You feel hot,” she said, taking a seat next to me.

  “Here, honey,” Jenny said as she passed me a glass of water. I took a large drink, feeling thirsty. She passed me Margret when I finished. I put her into my shirt pocket. “She says she likes to ride in your pants pocket. She feels closer to home there.” I blushed. Jack coughed, just stifling a laugh. I glared at Jenny, who batted her eyes at me. She has nice eyes, I thought.

  “Jack. I’m beat. I have an appointment to get a mechanical eye tomorrow. I don’t know how long it’ll take. I’ll let you know as soon as possible. I should head back to medical while I still can,” I said.

  “Yeah, go ahead, kid. Don’t even call tomorrow. Just get well.”

  Jenny and Kathy both had to help me stand. “Wow, those pain pills are great. See you later, Jack.”

  As we entered the hall, I called Margret. “Margret, we’re going on an excursion trip to a planet’s surface. I need to know everything.”

  “That’s bull. You’re an apprentice. You can’t go alone,” Kathy said.

  “Jack says management is calling it an emergency, so I’ll have to.”

  “I’m going to have a talk with Linda. They might be able to send you, but they should pay you as a journeyman.”

  “Planet 9732 is the driving reason for the Armstrong’s voyage. It’s inhabited and teaming with life. We’re sending over sixty scientists and technicians to study the planets eco system. They’ll be on planet for two hundred days. Your mission is to keep everything running, not a small order as there will be a lot of equipment delivered with the scientists,” Margret said.

  I was getting tired and starting to hurt as we arrived at medical. Kathy and Jenny were helping me into bed when Sandra arrived.

  “I have the night shift. You both can cut out when you want to. I’ll watch him tonight,” Sandra said.

  Both Kathy and Jenny gave me a peck on the cheek, promising me they’d see me in the morning.

  After they left Sandra came over, straightened my blankets, then put her hand on my arm. “Go to sleep, hero. I’ll keep watch.”

  * * * *

  Jenny woke me up. “Time for breakfast, sleepy head,” she said as she raised my bed and then slid a tray of food in front of me.

  As I ate, I thought about Sandra. She thought I was a hero. That had to be good. By the time I was dressed it was nine thirty. We headed over to see the doc about my new eye.

  Dr. Weston looked me over. “How is he doing? Has he done any work or even gotten out of bed?”

  “We went to engineering and talked to Jack for a few minutes, then came back here and went to bed,” Jenny said, giving me a smile.

  “Sounds right and to be expected. Light duty indeed. I don’t make things up. It takes time to heal.” He shook his head. “Drake, I’m going to take several three dimensional pictures of your eye socket. Then I’ll build custom mounts for your new eye,” Dr. Weston said as he removed my eye patch and studied my eye socket. “I want you to remove your eye every night and wash out the socket. Hold still while I take the scan. You’ll have to use a special solution for washing. I don’t want you irritating your eyelids or tear ducts. That should do it.” He turned around and looked at a display that showed the inside of my eye socket. “I’ll need to download a program into your assistant.” I pulled out Margret and told her to prepare for program download. “This will allow you to make use of your new eye’s features—super magnification and infra-red modes of operation, to name a few.” He paused. “Young man, it’d be very rude of you to use this to view young women. If I find out you’re doing that, you’ll go without an eye. Understand?”

  “So, doc, with IR I can see energy flows and check for good connections. This is awesome. It’s the best thing that ever happened,” I said.

  Dr. Weston just stared at me. “You’re a strange kid.” He took Margret and tapped her display, downloading the program. “Margret, can you connect to the eye?”

  “Yes, doctor. Do you want me to run the diagnosis on the eye now?”

  Doc Weston looked at me and shook his head. “No, not now. Run them at the end of each day.”

  A machine chimed. Doc Weston took the eye out of its box and placed it inside a small machine on the side of the desk. After a few seconds, another chime sounded.

  The doctor rubbed gel onto his hands. “Most people report strange feelings when having an eye inserted for the first time,” he said.

  Strange? Hell yes! I almost heaved. The new eye showed the room at a forty-five degree angle. The mixed picture was disorienting. It cleared quickly, and I could see everything crystal clear.

  Doc Weston looked at Jenny. “Some people adjust faster than others to a mechanical eye. It’s common to lose your balance in the first few days.”

  “I’ll keep an eye on him, Doc. Sandra said he woke up last night with a headache. Is that to be expected?”

  “Meds run out?” Doc asked. She nodded. “Yeah, we did a lot of work on his head. It’ll get better in a few days. Keep up on his pills. Drake, you should take Jenny out dancing. Moving around will get you settled with that eye faster than anything, and it might help you loosen up as well.”

  I turned my head and almost threw up. The room spun as the mechanical eye tried to follow my movement. I grabbed the desk. “Ah, you have anything for motion sickness?”

  “Sorry, not with the pain medication you’re taking. You’ll just have to white knuckle it, kid.”

  I got up without tilting my head. The zoom was terrible. I look
ed at Jenny and all I could see out of my new eye was a single hair follicle. I need to read the manual, I thought. Jenny took my arm and guided me to my room.

  “Jenny, one minute, then we’ll go to lunch.”

  “We don’t have to. You’re white as a sheet. We can go tomorrow.” She sat me on the bed.

  “Margret, list the settings for my eye.” It appeared. “Set normal day.” The room appeared in both eyes. “That’s better. Jen, let’s go to lunch!”

  Jenny came over and helped me up. “Okay, but my name isn’t Jen. It’s Jenny. Got it?”

  I felt better. We ran in to Kathy, and she joined us for lunch.

  “He can’t dance. I have to go with you,” she said with a laugh.

  I smiled at Kathy. My mom and dad had won many dance contests. Mom taught me how to dance. She called it physical education, teaching me the popular dances. Kathy was going to be surprised if I could get this damn eye to work.

  “If he goes dancing, it’ll kill him,” Jenny said.

  “He’s healing fast. The bots have stopped the bleeding and are fixing the last damage to his brain. He’ll be good by tonight,” Margret said.

  “Margret, is this beer going to hurt me?”

  “No.”

  After lunch Jenny and I went to maintenance. Jack was out working on some water problems. I went into the conference room and studied the environmental controls used in the dorm modules. I thought Jenny had a pretty dull afternoon.

  “Take me to dinner. I’m hungry,” Jenny said, interrupting my studies.

  “Okay, okay,” I said, trying to put her off so I could finish the last page.

  “Drake, I become mean if not fed on time.”

  I glanced at her. She looked mean. I closed the display. “Let’s go,” I said, grabbing her hand.

  We ran into Jack in the hall and invited him to come along. Jack and I talked shop as we ate, gaining scowls and frowns from Jenny.

  “Jack, do you want to see something really funny tonight?” Jenny asked as we finished our dinner.

  “I could use a good laugh,” Jack said.

  “Come with us. We’re taking Drake dancing. It ought to be pretty funny,” Jenny said.