Childers

by Richard F. Weyand

  Jan crawled into the access doorway with her arms in front of her, holding the grabber. She got her shoulders through on the diagonal and kept inching forward.

  "I could use a push on my feet. Real easy."

  She felt pushing on her feet, and moved forward another six inches, then a foot, to where she could see around a corner.

  "It's got a blue handle, right?"

  "Yeah, that's it."

  Jan just managed to grab the tool with the grabber at her maximum reach.

  "OK, got it. Pull the cord."

  As someone pulled the cord behind her, she let the grabber slide through her hand, until the tool was within reach.

  "Ok, I've got the tool. Pull the grabber out, then pull me out. Real easy."

  The grabber disappeared with a clatter down the accessway, then she felt two strong hands grab her by the ankles. Terror welled up within her, which she suppressed with difficulty. This wasn't Earth. This wasn't a rape gang. This was the CSF. This was the Aquitaine. This was her team. This was her home.

  Those hands pulled her slowly back as she wiggled and squirmed around obstructions, until she was finally back out on the deck. She handed the tool to Roberts.

  "Well, that was fun."

  "Thanks, Childers. We were gonna have to dig our way in to get it. We couldn't leave it banging around in there in zero-g. It's non-magnetic, but it's electrically conductive. That would have been bad."

  "No problem, Chief."

  "All I gotta do now is not let 'Seaman Dropsky' have it again. All right, Childers. Dismissed. And thank Senior Chief Cho and Petty Officer Pulaski for me."

  After two weeks in hyperspace, the Aquitaine flipped for deceleration. Jan wasn't on the bridge for this one, though. She was down in the galley preparing for maneuvering. Everything had to be tied down or secured in some way to keep it from flying about in zero-g.

  They were all secure when the maneuvering warning sounded. For several minutes they were weightless as the Aquitaine flipped over. Everybody in the galley kept an eye out for anything that hadn't been secured, that got loose during zero-g. They were properly secured, however, and nothing went flying about.

  The ship's drive thrust resumed, and gravity returned. Down was, once again, down.

  "Go ahead, Chadha. It's your idea," Chief Petty Officer Sally Matsushita said.

  "Yes, Chief. Well, Senior Chief, we were gonna do a stores run, and you know how hard it is to clip the farther crates up in the stores containers, and, uh, well,..." Seaman 1st Brendan Chadha said.

  "Go ahead, Chadha. Spit it out," Senior Chief Petty Officer Margaret Cho said.

  "Well, we wondered if we could have Seaman Recruit Childers for this, Senior Chief. She could get up in there and clip 'em for us. You know, if Chief Pulaski could spare her today."

  "Huh. Childers sure is popular. Maybe we've been wrong all these years, recruiting you big, hairy types."

  Cho walked over to the comm and punched in a combination.

  "Pulaski here."

  "Pulaski, Cho here. Can you spare Childers today?"

  "Sure, Senior Chief. I mean, we'll miss her, but if you got something else she needs to do, we'll get by."

  "Thanks, Pulaski. Send her over, please."

  Jan found herself in a work crew of half a dozen spacers under Chief Matsushita, heading up into the hallway that ran around the ship inboard from the crew cylinders. They went over to a hatch in the overhead, and climbed toward the bows. Jan thought they must be inside the second ring of containers that girded the ship when they came out into a compartment that had a corridor heading outboard to an airtight door.

  "OK, Childers, this is what we call stores. All the food and other supplies we bring along are in containers latched to the ship. That ring of containers can rotate to whichever one we want. We're going after food stores, and we're going to lower them into this hatch right here, down into the galley," Matsushita said.

  "That's why the galley is on the top deck of its cylinder."

  "Yep. Got it in one. Uses more bulk stores than anybody except the engines, and that's all piped from the front rows of containers. What we could use help with here is clipping the crates. They all have pull hooks on them, and we have a tool to clip them, but it's a pain in the butt. We thought you might be able to fit in there to clip them."

  "Well, I'll give it a try, Chief."

  They opened the far door on the corridor, and Jan was looking into one of the containers. There was a large number of crates on a shelf just above deck level. Above the crates were more shelves, empty, that had been pushed into the dead end of the container above.

  "We need to clear out two whole shelves to replenish stores. So we need to snag these crates one at a time, pull them to the side onto the dolly, run that over to the winch above that hatch, and lower them to the galley. All I need you to do is clip our rope onto each crate in turn so we can pull it out."

  "Got it, Chief. We taking them all?"

  "Yup. All this shelf and all the next."

  A crewman came up with a dolly and pushed it up next to the shelf. He clipped the first crate to the come-along on the dolly and winched it out onto the dolly. He and another crewman manhandled the dolly over to the galley hatch and hooked up the overhead winch. Meanwhile, another crewman came up with a second dolly.

  "All right, Childers, in you go. Clip the next crate, and then get on top of the other crates to clear the space for pulling that one out."

  The issue was there was less than a foot of room between the top of the crates and the empty shelves above. Which was no problem for Jan, of course, but none of the other seamen could have fit in there. Which would have meant climb in, clip a crate, climb back out, for every crate on the shelf. The shelf itself was twelve feet in diameter, so that would have really slowed things down.

  Jan clipped the come-along to crates and they pulled them out. The next dolly, they would toss the come-along line into the shelf, Jan would clip the next crate, and then climb out of the way into the narrow gap. It wasn't claustrophobic to her. It reminded her of some of her better hiding places on Earth. It made her feel safe.

  When they had emptied the whole shelf, Jan climbed back out.

  "OK, now watch this, Childers."

  Matsushita went to an air valve on the bulkhead and opened it. Jan could hear pressurized air rushing to somewhere. The whole contents of the container moved up until the empty shelf rose above the doorway. There were several clicks of pawls latching during this process. Matshushita turned the valve the other way, and the contents of the container settled back down. The empty shelf had latched into the upper dead end of the container with the other empties, and the loaded shelf below it had settled onto pawls that left it the right height above the deck.

  "OK, now we do it all again. In you go, Childers."

  They emptied out the second shelf in the same way.

  "Well, that went a lot faster than normal, Chief," one of the work crew said.

  "Yeah, I'm gonna hafta write this up as a better process for emptying containers. As long as you got somebody small enough aboard anyway. Thanks, Childers. That worked out great."

  "No problem, Chief. Glad to help."

  At their next meeting, Stewart asked Voipers about Jan. Voipers laughed.

  "They love her below decks, Ma'am. Turns out there's all kinds of things a small person can do that make a lot of things go a lot easier. And she's always willing and happy to help. They have her clipping containers in stores now. Cuts the time to pull stores by about a quarter if you have someone who can maneuver around in there instead of getting in and out all the time."

  "Maybe the Navy should make being small an occupational specialty, Senior Chief."

  "Well, from what I've seen, it would be useful. Back to Childers, Ma'am, she's just so happy to be here, so eager to help, morale goes up in any group she works in. When she goes ashore at Sigurdsen, there's gonna be a lot of people miss her."

  Stewart pulled Jan out of th
e galley to observe the exit from hyperspace on the bridge. The first-shift bridge crew was all in place.

  "Sir, all departments report ready to transition," Stewart said.

  "Set maneuvering warning," Lutzdorf said.

  "Maneuvering warning set, Sir."

  The low-g warning light on the bulkhead lit, and the alarm system rang three bells loudly.

  "Set hyperspace warning."

  "Hyperspace warning set, Sir."

  The hyperspace warning light on the bulkhead lit, and the alarm system rang four bells loudly.

  "Reduce hyperspace thrust to zero, Mr. Kwasniewski."

  "Reducing hyperspace thrust to zero, Sir."

  Jan felt her apparent weight decreasing, until she was weightless.

  "Hyperspace thrust at zero, Sir."

  "Engineering. Reconfigure drive for transition."

  "Reconfiguring, Sir," Mei said.

  "Drive reconfigured for transition, Sir."

  "Confirm closure and seal of all air-tight hatches and doors."

  "Airtight hatches and doors confirm all closed and sealed, Sir," Stewart said.

  "Execute hyperspace transition sequence, Mr. Kwasniewski. Call 'em out."

  "Executing hyperspace transition sequence, Sir. Powering up hyperspace field generator.

  "Hyperspace field generator nominal, Sir. Projecting hyperspace field.

  "Independent hyperspace field bubble forming.

  "Hyperspace field bubble stable. Activating forward thrusters at 10%.

  "Entering hyperspace field bubble.

  "Aquitaine completely enclosed in the bubble. Modulating hyperspace field generator to separate hyperspace field bubble.

  "Hyperspace field bubble separating from hyperspace.

  "Hyperspace field bubble separation complete. Shutting down hyperspace field generator.

  "Hyperspace bubble dissipating."

  Jan again felt a slight tingle run along her nerves. The Aquitaine was back in normal space.

  "Returned to normal space. Hyperspace transition sequence complete, Sir."

  "Nicely done, Mr. Kwasniewski. Reconfigure display to forward, normal-space view."

  The normal-space display came alive again. It showed a scattering of distant stars.

  "Display reconfigured, Sir," Stewart said.

  "Flip ship, Mr. Kwasnieski."

  "Flipping ship, Sir."

  The star field slid vertically across the display as the ship flipped end for end. When it stopped, a star blazed off-center in the display. Jan could tell it wasn't Earth's sun. The color was off.

  "Flip complete, Sir."

  "Configure drive for normal space."

  "Configuring drive for normal space, Sir.

  "Drive configured. Drive levels nominal, Sir."

  "Thrust to 10%. Bring us up slowly, Mr. Kwasniewski."

  "Yes, Sir. Thrust slowly to 10%."

  Jan felt her weight gradually increase to about ten or twenty percent g.

  "Thrust at 10%, Sir."

  "Navigation. Go ahead, Mr. Takahashi."

  "Bring us to zero-nine-three mark zero-eight-five on the sun," Takahashi said.

  "Coming to zero-nine-three mark zero-eight-five on the sun," Kwasniewski said.

  The image in the display slid to the left and down as the ship maneuvered.

  "Steady on zero-nine-three mark zero-eight-five," Kwasniewski said.

  "Ahead cruising speed. Gently, Mr. Kwasniewski."

  "Yes, Sir. Gradually increasing thrust to sixty percent."

  The apparent gravity increased gradually to one g.

  "Cruising speed at sixty percent, Sir. Internal gravity steady at one gravity."

  "Excellent, Mr. Kwasniewski. Stand down from hyperspace warning."

  "Standing down from hyperspace warning, Sir," Stewart said.

  "Stand down from maneuvering."

  "Standing down from maneuvering, Sir."

  It wasn't two days later that Jan was back on the bridge for arrival in Jablonka orbit. The ship had flipped a little past halfway, and decelerated toward the planet. The flip had been timed so they arrived at the planet at the correct orbital velocity. They planet loomed large in the display now, and getting larger. It slid off to the left as they aimed not for the planet, but for the orbit around it.

  "Set maneuvering warning," Lutzdorf said.

  "Maneuvering warning set, Sir."

  The low-g warning light on the bulkhead lit, and the alarm system rang three bells loudly.

  "Go ahead, Mr. Kwasniewski. At your discretion."

  The thrust of the drive cut back, held, then cut back some more. Finally, the thrust stopped completely and they were weightless.

  "Orbit achieved, Sir. Drive at zero thrust," Kwasniewski said.

  "We're smooth on the orbit, Sir. Perfect hit," Stewart said.

  "Nicely done, Mr. Kwasniewski. Turn ship to radial alignment with the planet."

  "Turning ship, Sir."

  The image of the horizon of the planet on the far left of the screen slid off screen completely in the forward display.

  "Turning ship complete. Radial alignment with the planet, Sir."

  "Reconfigure display to aft view."

  A portion of the planet now filled the display.

  "Display reconfigured, Sir."

  "Seal cross corridors and set cross corridor locks."

  "Cross corridors sealed and locks set, Sir."

  "Pump down cross corridors and check seal."

  "Cross corridors pumping down, Sir.

  "Cross corridors pumped down, Sir. Pressure check passed."

  "Disconnect cross corridors."

  Jan heard familiar distant mechanical sounds.

  "Cross corridors disconnected, Sir."

  "Deploy crew cylinders."

  "Deploying crew cylinders, Sir."

  The deck and her chair jerked and then moved such that she was a little pushed forward into her chair, then weightless again, then pushed briefly back in her chair. There was a distant sound of mechanical clanking.

  "Cylinders deployed and latched, Sir."

  "Rotate ship. Standard spin."

  "Beginning ship rotation to standard spin, Sir."

  Maneuvering thrusters now started the ship rotating. The portion of the planet visible in the display started rotating about the center of the screen. Some gravity gradually returned as the ship's rotation increased. When the thrusters stopped, it looked like it was about thirty seconds per rotation of the ship.

  "Ship rotation completed, Sir. Deck 1 gravity stable at .9 g."

  "Secure from maneuvering."

  "Secured from maneuvering, Sir."

  Jan was scheduled for the first shuttle run down to the planet. There was an OCS class starting in a few days, and the next class wouldn't start for months.

  The captain asked to meet with her in his ready room, and she waited there for him. She was nowhere near as nervous as she had been four weeks before.

  Lutzdorf and Stewart arrived together, and he waved her back to her seat as he and Stewart sat down.

  "At ease, Ms. Childers. We just wanted to say goodbye. It's been a real pleasure to have you aboard my ship, and there are precious few guests we've ferried whom I can say that about."

  "Thank you, Sir."

  "We are not unaware of your activities aboard ship during this crossing. You've been a great help wherever you lent your efforts. I just want you to know as you start your career that you will always have friends aboard the Aquitaine."

  "Thank you, Sir. And thank you for the hospitality of your bridge. I very much enjoyed watching the maneuvering."

  "A few short moments of action in what is mostly a boring business. Still, you're welcome, Ms. Childers. XO, is she ready to go?"

  "Yes, Sir. Ensign Lopez took her duffel forward to the shuttle already."

  "Well then, we'd better get her on her way. One thing you learn in the Navy is that it never pays to keep Sigurdsen waiting."

  Lutzdorf stood up and
offered his hand. Jan stood and shook it.

  "All the best of luck, Ms. Childers. I hope we serve together someday."

  "I as well, Sir."

  Jan then shook Stewart's hand.

  "Good luck, Ms. Childers. And remember what I told you on Quito Station."

  "Yes, Ma'am. Thank you, Ma'am."

  The intercom cut in just then. It was Senior Chief Cho's voice.

  "Seaman Recruit Childers to the Enlisted Mess. Childers to the Enlisted Mess."

  "Well, I don't know what Senior Chief Cho wants, Ms. Childers, but an officer also learns not to keep senior chiefs waiting. Not if he wants a hot supper. Dismissed."

  Jan saluted and left the ready room. The Enlisted Mess was a deck down in another cylinder, so it was up two decks to the ring corridor and back down three.

  When Jan got to the Enlisted Mess, she found several hundred of the ship's crew crowded into the room. It sat about two hundred, as enlisted ate in three shifts, but it was standing room only. They cheered as Jan entered the room.

  Senior Chiefs Cho and Voipers were standing in the front of the room, at the door, when she entered.

  "There she is!" Voipers voice boomed out across the room, which immediately went silent. "The guest of honor has arrived. Seaman Recruit Childers, we know you're on the way to your shuttle, but we couldn't let you go without sayin' goodbye, and takin' our proper leave of you."

  "We have a few tokens of your trip aboard the Aquitaine for you, Childers," Cho said.

  Cho gestured to PO3 Pulaski, who came forward and handed her a square flat box. Jan opened it and found a piece of the ship's china, saved for dress occasions in the Officer's Mess. It had the Aquitaine's logo in the center, and said Commonwealth Space Force around the border, chased with gold. She held it up for the crowd to see, and they all cheered.

  Then Chief Matsushita came forward and handed her a small box. Jan opened it and found a spacer's carabiner, like they used when clipping stores. It had been plated with gold and engraved CSS Aquitaine. Once again, Jan held it aloft to cheers.

  Finally, Chief Roberts came forward and handed her a long small box. Jan opened it to find a beam-focus adjuster, again plated with gold and engraved CSS Aquitaine. She held it aloft to more cheers.