I looked at the pills. “Sandra, no. I have to get you back.” I walked over and stuffed a couple into Ron’s mouth, forcing him to swallow them. He was quiet after that.
They charged. Thirty of them roared, throwing their darts as they ran straight toward us. I pulled Sandra around the post, getting her cover, then we fired, killing them. They didn’t get closer than twenty feet. Later, a few more came out of the woods, holding their hands out. They moved very slowly, carefully picking up their fallen comrades. We watched in silence. Sandra reminded me to keep watch on all fronts for a sneak attack, but nothing happened.
The rescue vehicle lowered itself into the clearing. I had Margret bring it in close. Sandra wouldn’t go in, but let me take her to the door where she sat watching my back as I figured out a way to transport poor Ron. I used a laser and cut off all the shafts sticking out of him and then loaded him into a stretcher. He screamed as I moved him. As soon as I pushed him inside the rescue craft, I grabbed Sandra and pulled her in, locking the door and setting the force field.
“That was rough,” she said with a smile.
I reached down and picked her up like a baby. It was a struggle. Laughing, she put her arms around my neck. Huffing and puffing, I set her on a stretcher and then pushed her into the auto doc.
“Ron should go first,” she said.
“I need you. No one needs him.” I pushed her into the machine.
After we arrived at the emergency building, I hauled Ron into the medical area and pushed him into the station’s auto doc. Several warnings came up on the screen—infections, loss of body fluid, severe trauma, imbedded projectiles.
I stood looking at the readout. Strangely, I felt nothing. We’d risked our lives for him, but I didn’t care if he lived or died. I was just glad Sandra was safe.
Taking a deep breath, I said, “Margret, get me Captain Marcel Ramon.” After a few minutes, a sleepy-looking woman appeared.
“This must be an emergency,” she said.
“Ron was kidnapped by natives. We got him back, but he’s hurt and in the auto doc.”
“Let me speak to Sandra.”
“She took a spear in the leg and is in another auto doc getting healed.”
“So when you say we got Ron back, what do you mean?”
“Sandra and I.”
“You and Sandra? What the hell was she thinking? She took you on a rescue mission? I told her you were important. Those doctors are too damn smart to tie their own shoes. We need someone to keep shit running. What the hell was she thinking? Young man, you’ll send me the whole record of the rescue, everything you have on it. Understand?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Okay, good. I’m glad Ron is alive, and neither of you were seriously injured. I’ll have to remove Sandra. She can’t stay with you. I’m switching you over to Dr. Weston. He needs to talk to you about Ron.” She smiled. “Thanks, Drake, for saving him, but you need to be careful. We need you to keep the camp running. Goodbye.”
Dr. Weston looked sleepier than the captain had. “Ron was kidnapped by natives. I’m sending you the readings from the auto doc now,” I said.
He turned to look at a screen. He swore softly. “He might not live. Keep him in the auto doc for now, and we’ll come and get him as soon as possible. Ah, keep an eye on the auto doc’s supplies, especially the pain medications.” He frowned. “You did good. No one could have done better.”
“Ah, thanks, doc. Sandra took a spear to the leg. She’s in the auto doc on the rescue vehicle now.”
“Send me the auto doc readings.”
“Go ahead, Margret.”
Doc’s eyebrows furrowed as he read the report, then he smiled. “When she’s awake, put her to work. She doesn’t get a day off for this.”
“Thanks again, doc. I’ll tell her that. Look forward to seeing you soon.”
“Later, kid.” He closed the communication.
I checked Ron’s auto doc supplies. They were full. I went to get cleaned up. I wondered about what the captain had said, if she could replace Sandra. Maybe Sandra would want to be replaced. Checking with Margret, I saw the force field around our building was up with no alarms. As I climbed into the shower, I thought, gad, we could have died. After finishing, I got some breakfast for Sandra.
It felt good to be clean again. Sandra was just rolling out of the auto doc when I came in with food. “You’re clean. Where have you been? You’re supposed to stay within arm’s reach,” she said. I gave her a foolish smile and set her tray onto a table before I came over and helped her to a bed. “The captain is going to pull me after this stunt.” She looked away as a tear ran down her cheek. I pushed a tray holder to her and then moved her breakfast to it.
“Do you want to stay here with me?”
She glared at me. “What do you think?”
“I don’t know. I can’t figure you out. You change. I can’t keep up.”
She put her head into her hands and sighed. “Sorry, you’re just so dense you make me mad.” She reached out and took my hand. “I like you and I want to stay.”
“Then I’ll have you stay.”
She scoffed. “You’re just an apprentice. What can you do?”
“Well, sugar, Bob isn’t fit for duty so I’m the only engineer available, but I’m an apprentice. The captain can’t order me to do what I’m doing. She has called the situation an emergency, but that’s a very weak call. So, dear, to make a long story short, I’m playing ball with the captain and will continue to do so as long as she plays with me. Or us, as the case may be. Don’t worry about a thing, dear. I have your back.”
She leaned back, shaking her head. “You’re so full of shit.”
I smiled. “Margret, call Linda Tames. Time to collect on my union dues.”
Linda looked beautiful, even after being woken up in the early morning. I told her about Ron’s kidnapping and how Sandra had saved him. “So, Linda, Sandra took a spear to save me, and I just won’t feel safe without her,” I said.
“So you have this on video, right?”
I sighed. “No. When I turned my eye to night vision I accidentally turned off the video buffer. I was nervous and screwed up.”
“Okay. So I know you won’t feel safe staying on the planet without Miss Marsh to protect you,” Linda said, smiling.
“Ah shit, that sure sounds wimpy of me, but yeah, that’s right.”
“I’ve taken stranger arguments to management. I’ll see what I can do for you, but, Drake, no more risks for my sake, okay?” Linda closed the communication.
“Sounded wimpy to me,” Sandra said, stretching her arms over her head. “There might be other motives behind your madness, young man.”
I leaned over and kissed her nose. “I wonder what those motives might be?”
An hour and a half later, Margret chimed. “Call from Linda Tames.”
“On speaker please, Margret,” I said.
“Drake, I talked to the captain. She was very upset. You’re very important to the mission, and she just doesn’t want anything to happen to you. She realizes you and Miss Marsh have been through a life-threatening experience, and has decided to keep you both together.” Linda smiled. “That’s the official story, Drake. You’ve used up your favors, so do be careful.”
“Thanks, Linda, I owe you one,” I said.
She smiled. “You’re union, kid. We have your back.” She ended the conversation.
“She’s very pretty,” Sandra said.
“Ah, not as pretty as you.”
“You said you love me.”
“Yeah, I do.” My heart sank. Would I lose her as a friend now?
She grabbed my head with her hands and pulled me to her, giving me a long kiss. “Let’s just go slow and see where we end up,” she whispered. I gave her a hug and tried to pull away. “No, sleep here next to me,” she said, sliding over.
* * * *
I’d drifted off to sleep and awoke to Margret’s alarm. After silencing it quickly,
I tried to sneak out to get Sandra some coffee.
“Where are you going?” she asked as she grabbed my arm.
“To get you some coffee,” I said. “We have a lot to do today.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“Doc says you should get up right away. You don’t need any time off,” I said. As I helped her out of bed, she looked as if it hurt and moved slow.
“That muscle-headed moron said I should be walking right away. He’s an idiot. What kind of doctor is he? A quack?”
Arm’s length was now an inflexible law Sandra wouldn’t even consider bending. I took out a pain pill, turned around and stuffed it into her mouth. She gave me a surprised look, then smiled. She put an arm around my shoulder and limped along next to me. Holding her up was a struggle, and we had a lot to do. We were behind schedule. Today I was supposed to finish clearing the area so tomorrow I could set up the perimeter force field. I’d be a long day in the mulcher.
I dumped her onto the couch and then made us breakfast. She looked a lot better after a cup of coffee. I sat next to her while we ate. “Schedule says I need to clear the area. I’ll be in the mulcher all day so you can stay here and recover,” I said.
She smiled, which wasn’t a good sign. After finishing up, I tried to leave without her, but she pulled herself up and threw an arm around me.
“I’m going with you.”
“Sandra, you’re hurt. If you must come, sit on my lap.”
She smiled. “Honey, I’d crush you. We’ll do it my way.” I had to lift her onto the mulcher. “You’re doing very well. I enjoy it when you carry me around,” she said with a grin. I don’t know how she did it, but she managed to sit in the seat as I climbed in. “Just sit.” For such a big machine its cockpit was very small. Shit, this will never work, I thought.
“Margret, I’m going to run the mulcher from our living room. Set it up for me. We’re going inside,” I said. “Let’s go, Sandra.”
“Damn, I was looking forward to being cozy with you for a while.”
“We can sit close on the sofa.”
“Oh, I suppose that’ll work.” She followed me out.
The only challenge about running the mulcher was staying awake. Sandra slept next to me on the couch. If I could keep at it, we could be back on schedule by tomorrow. The mulcher could run this way on auto, but it needed to have someone to watch for the unexpected like that big rock. I steered the mulcher around the monolith and let it resume its automated route. Tomorrow we’d put in the fence, then the rest of the equipment and personnel could be delivered.
The mulcher made the last circle. At three, I told Margret to wake me at seven. Leaving Sandra on the couch, I crawled into my bed and fell asleep.
* * * *
My eyes popped open before the alarm. I canceled it and asked Margret to display the outside camera on the wall. The local star was just rising, but it was still dark out. She paned the camera around. When she came to the star rise, I stopped her and watched. It was beautiful, better than watching a sunrise on Mars.
Sandra came over and sat next to me taking my hand, “Why did you say that you love me?”
My heart sank I felt cold, how could I have said something so stupid it was true but I should not have said it. “I don’t know I was afraid that I would lose you,” I said giving her hand a squeeze.
“Did you say that because I’m pretty,”
“Well you are but so is Tammy, I’d like to think that I’m not that shallow,”
“Hum, yet you think that I’m shallow and could never love a geeky guy with a great heart,”
“Never thought about it,” I paused taking a deep breath, “I couldn’t think of us together.”
Sandra wrapped both hands around mine and pulled it to her lips giving my hand a kiss, “What the hell am I going to do with you?”
“Anything you want,” I said.
She laughed “I almost lost you twice yesterday. Let’s have a quiet day today. No running off into the bush or rescue stuff, okay?”
“One boring day coming up,” I said.
“Thanks for watching my back.”
“Such a lovely back to watch.”
“You look tired. I’ll get you breakfast.”
She got up to make breakfast. She moved without any noticeable limp. It was hard to imagine that less than twenty hours ago she’d asked me to leave her. I dozed for a while.
She nudged me. “Sorry to wake you up. You should sleep, but we have a schedule to keep.”
I struggled to a sitting position. “That’s okay. I need to get going. That smells great. Thanks.” I dug into breakfast, finding I was hungry. Sandra sat next to me and watched in silence as I ate.
“Captain called. She wants you to put up the perimeter fence first. She wants to send the next group tomorrow with their buildings,” Sandra said.
I stood and stretched before I headed into the bathroom. “That’s wonderful. At least the captain has read the schedule.”
* * * *
Another drop of water ran down my back toward my underwear. I’ve never been so wet in my life. The changing humidity played havoc with the force field. If they couldn’t be stabilized, the landings planned for tomorrow would have to wait. Jack and I had been working on the problem with force fields most of the day.
The captain had been clear. If I didn’t stabilize them, she’d make me a dishwasher for the rest of the trip. That conversation caused a nasty fight to develop between Jack and the captain. Kathy and Linda joined Jack, and the captain was soon outnumbered. I didn’t follow the whole fight. I took naps as Sandra drove me from one field generator to the next. The captain called early in the evening and apologized, saying if I needed anything I should call her.
Jack and I had several discussions, and tried several fixes. The last one proved the best. The force field fence had never failed, but I’d been getting errors and warnings. This was the last section to adjust, and it was well past midnight and raining. The flashing light turned a steady green. The power level went up and held steady. Good, home to a nice dry bed, I thought as I stood, stretching my back. I closed the cabinet door, making sure it locked tight against the rain.
“Are you finished?” Sandra asked.
“Yeah!”
“Let’s go home then.”
“I have to call Jack.”
“Call him from inside the rescue craft.” She guided me toward it.
Jack was still up when I called. He sounded as tired as I felt. “Jack, we did it. It’s up and looks good. I’m going to have Margret monitor it, but it looks good now,” I said.
“That’s nice. Good work, kid. Have you told the witch yet?”
“Hell no. That’s your job, not mine.”
“Great, thanks. I bet she’ll ask what took you so long.”
“Yeah, whatever. I’m going to pass out. I’ll talk tomorrow.”
My teeth chattered by the time we arrived at our quarters. Sandra scowled at me. “I told you to wear the rain gear.”
“I couldn’t work wearing that crap. Besides, it would have dripped water into the cabinet,” I said through chattering teeth.
“Go take a hot shower. I’ll get our bed ready.”
I was halfway through my shower when what she’d said hit me. Gad, please, Sandra, no more games, I thought. I’m too tired. After I was finished, I almost fell over her bed. It was pushed against mine, and Sandra lay in the middle.
She looked up at me. “Don’t say a word, just get in,” she said, flipping the blankets aside.
I was too tired to argue, but muttered about her never-ending games. She grabbed me, pulling me to her. She held her face inches away from mine.
“I never play games, so just shut up. Go to sleep I’ll be here in the morning,” she said.
* * * *
It was a pretty voice. It sounded so nice and comfortable. I could listen to it forever. I put together what it said. Oh, my name. It wanted something. What?
“Drake, w
ake up. We need to get going,” she said. I forced my eyes open. Sandra leaned over me. She looked worried.
“Pretty voice, what do you want?”
Laughing, she pulled me up into a sitting position. “Come on. Wake up, Drake!” I forced myself awake with a groan. “You’re not very good with limited sleep, are you?” She pulled me to my feet. “Don’t worry, you’ll be just fine once I get you moving, sweetie pie.” She placed my arm over her shoulder and towed me across the room and then dropped me into a chair. “Take these and drink this.” She stuffed several pills into my mouth, then handed me a cup of coffee. “Drake, you haven’t had a good night’s sleep in three days. I talked to the doctor. He said those pills would be okay for you, providing you get a good night’s sleep tonight. So you’ll go to bed at sundown. Agreed?”
“Sandra, I feel like going back to bed right now.” I stifled a yawn. My vision cleared, and I felt sharp and fresh, as good as I’d ever felt. “Wow, what the hell just happened?” I felt like a superman.
“You’re running on borrowed time you’ll have to pay for, so sit and eat breakfast.” She set a plate of food in front of me.
She sat next to me and put her hand on my arm. “I don’t know about love, but I like you a lot.” She gave me a kiss.
Even after a bunch of playing around as we got dressed, Sandra and I arrived with the loader before the shuttle landed. It was beautiful to watch as it flew around, leaving a contrail burning up its speed. She sat with me on the side of the loader, finishing my coffee.
On the ground with its cargo doors open, the Discovery lost its sleek lines. Driving inside with the loader was easy, but one mistake and the Discovery or the cargo could be damaged or destroyed. I picked up the first container. I was happy Sandra had given me those pills. The first load contained the four dormitories and recreation areas. After unloading, we moved the dorms into position and connected the modules to one another as the Discovery launched into space to pick up another load. Work continued with a few short breaks. We’d just finished unloading the last of the equipment containers when Sandra called it quits. I could have kept working for several more hours.
The Apprentice Starship Engineer: Book One The Link Page 11