He grimaced and then turned to the class. "Okay, in a moment we're going to project a space field in this room so you can see what it will be like in space." He nodded to Rodriguez.
"All right, listen up! Step one!" she ordered, looking around the room. They checked their seals and then each others. "Step two?" They turned and checked their partners, then gave thumbs ups. She nodded. "Step three!" They checked their safety lines.
She nodded to Jennie who had positioned herself by the light controls. "Let’s do this," she said. The lights dimmed and the hologram came up. In a moment the room was filled with black, then stars.
"Oh my god it's so dark!" one of the girls called, voice quavering. The lights hadn't gone completely out yet, not a good sign.
"Turn your lights on," Jennie called, putting words to action by flipping hers on.
Some of the girls around her gasped at the light. "WOW!" One by one they turned the suit lights on.
The engineer nodded. "All right, we're going to give you a moment to get used to this, and then we're going to cut the gravity," he said. One of the girls squeaked.
"Why don't we give them a floor so they can orient for the first exercise?" Sprite said to him. He nodded.
"Ship's skin?" he suggested.
"You got it Admiral." The floor wavered a moment, then the exterior hull of the ship formed.
"All right Jennie." In a moment he felt the sensation of floating. "Remember; check your safety lines, and those of your partner." They moved around, checking each other. His enhanced vision picked them out, watching them fumble a little. He was still classifying the fast learners with the slow, narrowing the list. Once he was sure he would put the fast learners on the more difficult tasks, while letting the slow ones build up with basic ones like fetch and carry.
"For your first few space walks you’re going to do orientation exercises and survey work. We want you to get used to being in space, and build the skills up to be comfortable working in it," Irons said. Sprite had enough initiative to take a cue and run with it. The floor image changed to an airlock and surrounding area. "All right, when we come out, this is something like what it'll look like. We'll move from here down the side of the ship to the stern. There'll be a shuttle out in case of a Dutchman," he said. Diedra didn't have any qualms about that. A few of the girls sighed at this. He took it as relief.
They could see the exterior of the ship, and the burnt and buckled hull. "Is that what the ship looks like?" one of the girl's asked.
"How are we supposed to fix all that?" one of the other girls asked in dismay.
"One thing at a time. That's the only way to do it. Prioritize what we need to fix, and then work on the list, one item at a time. Besides, we have twenty people here, so we can break down into teams and do three to four jobs for each mission." The projection changed to the starboard sub light engine pod. "There are four sub light engines, two of which are working. Now this run we're going to do some minor repairs on this engine, and repair as many shield nodes as we have time for."
He pointed to the ovoid sticking out of the side of the hull. "Those are the shield nodes." He took a moment to look around, noting that all the girls had reorientated to face the ship. Good, less fear of the black if they focused on the mission. "Okay, over to the starboard side of this shield node is a hull breach we can patch as well." He closed the channel for a moment. "Sprite, feed them a karat of things I indicate on their HUDs," he said, and then moved closer to the hull. "As you can see, there are clips on the hull for us to clip onto."
They spent the next two hours going over the basics before he called a halt and they floated down to the surface. A few had trouble orienting their OMS packs, but caught on after a while.
"All right, get some food and some rest. Tomorrow at 0700 we will all have breakfast, then get suited up and do the first walk," he said to his tired but happy crew. The lights cleared and the hologram shut off.
"Why not now?" one of the girls asked sounding a little disappointed.
Rodriguez smiled. "Unlike some of you, I'm tired and hungry!" A few waved off, not wanting to eat since their stomachs were still unsettled.
"What if we have to go to the bathroom out there?" one of the girls asked timidly.
He snorted and looked over to Jennie, “Didn't you brief them on that?” he asked. She nodded, clearly irritated. He turned back to the girl. "Then you go. OR you can try to hold it. If you go, your suit will handle it." She gulped. "We'll have teams and missions posted on the ship network later tonight."
A few of the girls looked up at this. Rodriguez watched them as they unsuited and racked the gear. "Make sure you put your suit back properly, and plug it in,” she ordered.
"Yes boss,” one of the girls called over. Another started to walk away, then stopped and went back and checked. She blushed then plugged the suit connections in.
"Good."
After the class had left the remainder came in, led by Robin. Jennie nodded. "Here we go again," Rodriguez said softly.
He snorted. "Good luck."
She stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Why don't you stick around?"
He snorted again. "I don't think I'd be welcome when it comes time to undress and make the um... plumbing connections."
Rodriguez blushed and took her hand away. "Good point," she said.
He snorted. "Besides, Molly wants a report, and I need to check the Dutchman exercise, the rebuild of replicator three, and the electronics replicator is about to finish a shield node computer module." Jennie looked excited. "Think we can get into Beta?" she asked. He nodded.
"We're going to shoot for it. I know the Captain only wants to be here a week so we have only a narrow window to work on the hull," he replied. He really didn't want to be out on the hull with greenhorns while underway. She nodded. "You're going to take charge of the shield node repairs once I know you can hack it," he said to her as he turned to Rodriquez.
"You’re going to work on repairing the hull breaches," he told Rodriguez.
She sucked in a breath. "Great, jagged pieces of metal in vacuum and babysitting greenhorns. Just what I wanted to do for fun," she growled. Robin came over.
"Robin, you’re going to be our safety officer, you’re going to keep an eye on everyone and make sure they follow the procedures and check in on time," he said. She nodded.
“The others will be team leaders doing survey work and doing minor repairs," he said. He motioned to them. "Most of this class will be doing fetch and carry work for the first couple of walks."
"Weeeee!!" One of the girls called, spinning off.
"KNOCK it off! Sandy get back here!" a few of the girls called out.
"STOW IT! This is SERIOUS!" Rodriguez called, stepping on all of them. The channel went quiet. "Get your pretty butts in line with the program or get back inside. This isn't a joy ride, it's a job." She turned as the next group came out. The engineer had already taken his team out and aft.
They could just make out the glow from their lights. "We're going there?" one of the girls squeaked.
"What were you sleeping yesterday?" one of the other's sarcasm was cutting.
"No, but it looks a whole lot bigger out here now," she said with a slight tremor in her voice. She looked around nervously. She tried to gesture and went into a tumble. Her partner reeled her in slowly.
"Knock it off you two, we need to get clear of the lock and to our site," Rodriguez called. "Why me?" she muttered. A few of the girls stifled giggles at that. "The first hole is twenty meters aft and three meters down. Right about... here." Her jets pulsed and she came to a stop. A second pulse and she drifted down to the deck. She unclipped her safety line and attached it to a nearby clip. "All right, clip in here; watch that you don't foul each other's safety lines."
She knelt carefully near the edge of the hole. One of the girls whistled. "Nasty," she said.
The edges were charred and curled up. Rodriguez pulled out a plasma cutter and checked it. "All right, I'm going to cut each piece,
then hand it to you Sally. Mary, take your tool and start on the other side," she ordered. She motioned to Mary, who was already moving. "The rest of you spread out and look for more holes." She bent and got to work.
"How are things going?" the Admiral called over the net an hour later.
Rodriguez looked up. "Almost finished with this hole. I called the specs in, but it'll be a while before the list gets down to it," she reported. He double clicked assent. "How's your team?" she asked as she looked around. "So far they've found small holes all around this one, it looks like a plasma hit from the last battle. The spray did a number here," she said. He grunted.
"How's it on your end?" she asked. He paused for a moment. "Jennie's emitter has an impedance problem; it looks like a rebuild is in order. We'll have to detach it and bring it into the ship to do that. Mine had a breach; it looks like an overripe melon that burst, going to need a replacement," he replied. She pulled at the last piece, then when it broke free, carefully stowed it in her bag.
"What about the others?" she asked.
"I checked in a moment ago, Robin said they're doing okay, they've surveyed a three hundred meter radius around the lock. There are a lot of hull breaches, and a few places where entire hull sections are missing," he said.
She sighed. "Held together with bubble gum and rigger tape," she grumbled.
He chuckled. "I didn't know that expression survived to this time."
She smiled. "Family saying I guess."
"All right, when you finish up, take a quick peek at the others then call in to see if they have the patches done. Jennie has her pod detached and on the way to the boat bay now." She looked over and caught the moving lights.
"I take it the pod is too big for the lock?" she asked. He double clicked. "Roger that."
"Well, Mary and I are done here; we'll go check on the green horns."
"The hull here's all bubbled, what happened?" He looked up from the stuck bolt and around. Sprite automatically fed a karat to his HUD, circling the caller. She was out of sight.
"And who is calling?" he said, exasperated. Sprite blinked the caller’s name, but he ignored it. "Sorry, this is Nancy. I'm at um; frame four starboard near the keel shield emitter. I found a patch of hull that looks bubbled."
He looked over to where she was. "Be careful, don't let anyone near it. Make sure your camera is recording and your lights are oriented to see it properly," he ordered. Nancy double clicked. "All right, douse the lights, and switch the camera to thermal and check again."
"Roger."
He waited a moment. "Scan it twice, and then slug the files to Molly inside."
"Roger."
After a moment the channel cleared and Molly came on. "What am I looking at here?" she asked on a private line.
"Have the computer overlay the thermal image with the visual, are there any hot spots?" he asked. He waited a moment.
"By hot spots you mean bright white glowing areas? Then yes, there's one near each bubble."
He closed the channel. "Sprite get me that work party now!"
"Nancy, pull your team back at least twenty meters or better NOW!" he snarled.
He heard scrambling and clicking noises. "Why?" he heard noises. "It's bubbling more..." "Nancy...” Molly called on the same channel, voice picking up as the urgency registered.
"We're going, we're going... WOW!" They could hear static for a moment.
"This is Gena; there was a bright flash and plume near Nancy's position." He looked up and caught the edge of it near the horizon of the ship's skin. He began to move in that direction, unhooking the line.
"Sprite, get me a status report," he ordered. Sprite pulled up a feed.
"I am getting a lot of interference with team Nancy and team Gena. Plasma burst?" she asked unnecessarily.
He nodded. "It must have breached under the skin and bubbled, building up pressure until it popped like a pimple when someone stepped near it." She fed him the video Nancy had sent in a window on his HUD. He bounced along the hull, moving with practiced ease.
"Boss, you want us to come too?" one of his team called. "No, stay and finish up there. Watch for that stuck bolt, don't try too much force or you could tumble when it gets loose. Use a cutter to break it if you have to and then retap," he said as he panted as he moved. A fan came on, drying the sweat on his face. "Plasma cloud dissipating, I'm getting their locater beacons now. The team is okay. We had one Dutchman, recovering now," Molly reported. He sighed in relief.
"What happened? You said something about a plasma breach?" Molly asked.
"Is there a bleed anywhere on the starboard side Molly?" he asked.
"Yes, now that you mention it. I'm locking it down now." He caught sight of the team. Some were upright; a few were flat and supine drifting about until their tethers locked.
"Status report." The com channel crackled and popped.
He could hear garbled chatter, and a few girls crying. "I can't see!" He reached the nearest floater and caught a flaying arm. She began to scream.
"Relax it is me, just relax," he said soothingly. He pulled her down to the deck. He clipped her safety line to the deck as she wrapped her arms around him and sobbed. "You're okay, just take a minute to get your breath." Her suit shook. He looked over to the others. Gena's team had arrived and were pulling the others down. "All right, get them to the airlock. The plasma burst probably fried some of their suit systems."
He changed channels. "Molly, have the doc and nurse ready in case of injuries." He watched as the cloud of plasma spread out along the hull. Since the ship had a slight roll, it was twisting around. "Bridge this is the Admiral, we've had a plasma burst on this side. Recommend you do an OMS burn starboard side to get clear of the cloud after all parties are inside," he urged.
The Captain's voice came on after a moment. "Suggestion approved. Injuries?" she had a note of concern in her voice.
"Too soon to tell Captain, maybe a few minor injuries, no casualties," he replied. Most of the girls were oriented and being escorted to the lock. Gena gave him a thumbs up.
In the airlock he watched as Gena and Jennie helped Nancy out of her helmet. The girl had a serious case of the shakes. "You're okay, you’re safe now," Jennie said and patted her arm.
She clutched at it for a moment, and then eased. "Goddess that was scary! One moment nothing and then boom! That blinding flash!"
She shook. "You’re lucky your suit's polarity shifted or you would have been blinded," Rodriguez called. He nodded.
Molly was standing nearby. The doc and nurse were going through Nancy and Gena's teams one by one. "I haven't run into any broken bones or serious injuries, looks like a few pulled muscles and one dislocated shoulder so far. They were lucky," the doc said, not looking up. Molly rang her hands. A girl clutching her shoulder rocked back and forth, groaning softly.
The Admiral noted his team coming in through the boat bay lock. "Pod's in the boat bay Admiral," a radio tech said.
He opened the channel. "Good work. Take a break for a moment." He looked over to Rodriguez. She shrugged.
Jennie nodded. "I want to get back out there too.”
He nodded and looked over to a waiting tech. "Call cookie in the mess deck, ask her if she could send over a platter of sandwiches and some drinks," he ordered. The tech nodded and softly spoke into her com. "Okay take off your helmets and plug in people, get some down time. We'll be going back out in thirty."
Tatiana's team scowled, but obeyed. "I want to go," Nancy spoke quietly.
He nodded. "If you think you're up for it, your suit clears, and doc gives the go ahead, no problem," he said. The best medicine for her to get over the shakes was another go around. He knew it from experience, you had to get back onto the horse or spend the rest of your life running from it. She nodded and went over to plug in.
"Don't you think she should wait a while?" Jennie leaned over asking softly so the others wouldn't pick it up.
He shook his head. "Best thing for her is to ge
t back on the horse as fast as possible,” he said.
She looked confused. "What's a horse?" he chuckled at her expression.
"Beast of burden."
"Oh,” she said, wrinkling her nose.
"The expression means it's best to get back to the job before you can think about it too much and start to worry," he explained. She nodded as she watched Nancy set her helmet down and then plug in. Her movements were steady. "I think she'll be okay." He wiggled his hand back and forth. "She had a scare, but isn't letting it throw her off. Good example for the others too." Jennie nodded.
"We'll get what we can do now. We have fifteen days after all. I can do a few walks every shift and watch over things, once the rest get some experience we can divide into shift teams and keep a team or two out every shift," Irons said, laying out his plan. Rodriguez nodded.
Molly came over and touched his arm. "The first shield pod Jennie pulled has been torn down. We should have it rebuilt in a couple hours. The patches are in the bay now," she said.
He nodded. "So, let’s focus on fixing the hull and survey work for the next walk. I'll tear down a couple more broken pods with my team.”
Jennie raised her hand. "I can do that too. I mean, if that's okay," she said.
He nodded. "That leaves you on welding and survey detail Rodriguez," he said.
She groaned softly. He could tell she was kidding. "Why do I always get the boring stuff?"
Molly looked concerned. "We could always switch..."
She shook her head. "It's fine Molly really." She hid her smile as Molly looked away and played with her glasses. "I'll keep Nancy and her team with me." A noise made them look over to the left. A tray of food and a pair of women came around the corner with a clatter and curse.
"Lunch is served," Molly said getting out of the way.
"Admiral to the bridge, second space walk will commence in five minutes," he reported in, embarrassed he hadn't sooner.
"What again?" Shandra said in the background.
"Isn't it too dangerous?" another voice called.
New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) Page 21