Anchorite
Page 8
trip all automatically. All he had ever had to do wasdrop it the last few hundred feet to a landing field.
"Keep your eyes moving," St. Simon said. "Your radar can give you datathat you need, just remember that it can't think for you."
_Your right foot controls your forward acceleration._
_Your left foot controls your reverse acceleration._
_They can't be pushed down together; when one goes down, the other goesup. Balance one against the other._
_Turning your wheel controls the roll of the boat._
_Pulling your wheel toward you, or pushing it away, controls the pitch._
_Shifting the wheel left, or right, controls the yaw._
The instructions had been pounded into his head until each one seemed toring like a separate little bell. The problem was coordinating his bodyto act on those instructions.
One of the radar dials told him how far he was from the rock. Anothertold him his radial velocity relative to it. A third told him hisangular velocity.
"Come to a dead stop exactly one thousand meters from the surface, Mr.Danley," St. Simon ordered.
Danley worked the controls until both his velocity meters read zero, andthe distance meter read exactly one kilometer.
"Very good, Mr. Danley. Now assume that the surface of your rock is atnine hundred ninety-five meters. Bring your boat to a dead stop exactlyfifty centimeters from that surface."
Danley worked the controls again. He grinned with satisfaction when thedistance meter showed nine nine five point five on the nose.
Captain St. Simon sighed deeply. "Mr. Danley, do you feel a littleshaken up? Banged around a little? Do you feel as though you'd justgotten a bone-rattling shock?"
"Uh ... no."
"You should. You slammed this boat a good two feet into the surface ofthat rock before you backed out again." His voice changed tone. "Dammit,Mr. Danley, when I say 'surface at nine nine five', I mean _surface_!"
* * * * *
Edway Tarnhorst had been dictating notes for his reports into hisrecorder, and was rather tired, so when he asked Peter Danley what hehad learned, he was rather irritated when the blond man closed his blueeyes and repeated, parrotlike:
"Due to the lack of a water-oxygen atmosphere, many minerals are foundin the asteroids which are unknown on Earth. Among the more important ofthese are: Oldhamite (CaS); Daubreelite (FECr_{2}S_{4}); Schreibersiteand Rhabdite (Fe_{3}Ni_{3}P); Lawrencite (FeCl_{2}); and Taenite, analloy of iron containing--"
"That's not precisely the sort of thing I meant," Tarnhorst interruptedtestily.
Danley smiled. "I know. I'm sorry. That's my lesson for tomorrow."
"So I gathered. May I sit down?" There were only two chairs in the room.Danley was occupying one, and a pile of books was occupying the other.
Danley quickly got to his feet and began putting the books on his desk."Certainly, Mr. Tarnhorst. Sit down."
Tarnhorst lowered himself into the newly emptied chair. "I apologize forinterrupting your studies," he said. "I realize how important they are.But there are a few points I'd like to discuss with you."
"Certainly." Danley seated himself and looked at the older manexpectantly. "The nullifiers are on," he said.
"Of course," Tarnhorst said absently. Then, changing his manner, he saidabruptly: "Have you found anything yet?"
Danley shook his head. "No. It looks to me as though they've doneeverything possible to make sure that these men get the best equipmentand the best training. The training instructors have been through thewhole affair themselves--they know the ropes. The equipment, as far as Ican tell, is top grade stuff. From what I have seen so far, the Companyisn't stinting on the equipment or the training."
Tarnhorst nodded. "After nearly three months of investigation, I havecome to the same conclusion myself. The records show that expenditureson equipment has been steadily increasing. The equipment they have now,I understand, is almost failure-proof?" He looked questioningly atDanley.
Danley nodded. "Apparently. Certainly no one is killed because ofequipment failure. It's the finest stuff I've ever seen."
"And yet," Tarnhorst said, "their books show that they are constantlyseeking to improve it."
"I don't suppose there is any chance of juggling the books on you, isthere?"
Tarnhorst smiled a superior smile. "Hardly. In the first place, I knowbookkeeping. In the second, it would be impossible to whip up a completeset of balancing books--covering a period of nearly eightyyears--overnight.
"I agree," Danley said. "I don't think they set up a special trainingcourse just for me overnight, either. I've seen classes on Vesta, Juno,and Eros--and they're all the same. There aren't any fancy false frontsto fool us, Mr. Tarnhorst: I've looked very closely."
"Have you talked to the men?"
"Yes. They have no complaints."
Again Tarnhorst nodded. "I have found the same thing. They all insistthat if a man gets killed in space, it's not the fault of anyone buthimself. Or, as it may be, an act of God."
"One of my instructors ran into an act of God some years ago," Danleysaid. "You've met him. Brand--the one with the scarred face." Heexplained to Tarnhorst what had caused Brand's disfigurement. "But hesurvived," he finished, "because he kept his wits about him even afterhe was hit."
"Commendable; very commendable," Tarnhorst said. "If he'd been anexcitable fool, he'd have died."
"True. But what I was trying to point out was that it wasn't equipmentfailure that caused the accident."
"No. You're quite right." Tarnhorst was silent for a moment, then helooked into Danley's eyes. "Do you think you could take on a job asanchor man now?"
"I don't know," said Danley evenly. "But I'm going to find outtomorrow."
* * * * *
Peter Danley took his final examination the following day. All byhimself, he went through the procedure of positioning his ship, settingup a rocket drill, firing it, and setting in an anchor. It was only asmall rock, nine meters through, but the job was almost the same as withthe big ones. Not far away, Captain St. Simon watched the Earthman'sprocedure through a pair of high-powered field glasses. He breathed adeep sigh of relief when the job was done.
"Jules," he said softly, "I am sure glad that man didn't hurt himselfany."
"Yes, _suh_! We'd of sho' been in trouble if he'd of killed hisself!"
"We will have to tell Captain Brand that our pupil has done pretty wellfor such a small amount of schooling."
"I think that would be proper, m'lud."
"And we will also have to tell Captain Brand that this boy wouldn't lasta month. He wouldn't come back from his first trip."
There was no answer to that.
* * * * *
Three days later, amid a cloud of generally satisfied feelings, EdwayTarnhorst and Peter Danley took the ship back to Earth.
"I cannot, of course, give you a copy of my report," Tarnhorst had toldGeorges Alhamid. "That is for the eyes of the Committee only. However, Imay say that I do not find the Belt Companies or the governments of theBelt Cities at fault. Do you want to know my personal opinion?"
"I would appreciate it, Mr. Tarnhorst," Georges had said.
"Carelessness. Just plain carelessness on the part of the workers. Thatis what has caused your rise in death rates. You people out here in theBelt have become too used to being in space. Familiarity breedscontempt, Mr. Alhamid.
"Steps must be taken to curb that carelessness. I suggest a publicitycampaign of some kind. The people must be thoroughly indoctrinated insafety procedures and warned against carelessness. Just a few months ofschooling isn't enough, Mr. Alhamid. You've got to start pounding itinto their heads early.
"If you don't--" He shook his head. (He had grown used to doing so inlow gravity by now.) "If the death rate isn't cut down, we shall have toraise the premium rates, and I don't know what will happen on the floorof the People's Congress. However, I think I can guaran
tee six months toa year before any steps are taken. That will give you time to launchyour safety campaign. I'm certain that as soon as this carelessness iscurbed, the claims will drop down to their former low point."
"We'll certainly try that," Alhamid had said heartily. "Thank you verymuch, Mr. Tarnhorst."
When they had finally gone, Alhamid spoke to the governor.
"That's that, Larry. You can bring it up at the next meeting of theBoard of Governors. Get some kind of publicity campaign going.