by Bob Blanton
“Sure, want me to set it up with Dr. Metra for you?” Catie asked.
“Please!” all three girls said at once.
“Okay, but it takes a month before you can really use them, and you have to be able to go to the clinic every week for three weeks,” Catie said. “Sophia, I assume you have yours.”
“I got them last month,” Sophia said. “I live in Nice most of the time, so that was the first chance I got.”
“Oh, you live in Nice, that’s where I’m from. Alex . . . I mean Catie, why didn’t we visit her while we were there?” Yvette asked.
“Because the last thing you want to do when you’re trying to be in disguise, is talk to the press.”’
“Oh, I guess so.”
“Catie,” Joanie cooed. “Is there any chance you could help us get better summer cruises?”
“I’m not sure,” Catie said. “Why, you don’t like the ones you’ve been assigned to?”
“We don’t know what they are,” Yvette said.
“Yvette is being assigned to one of the surface carriers,” ADI informed Catie. “Joanie is being assigned to work on Gemini Station.”
“Tell them,” Catie suggested.
Once ADI had told Yvette and Joanie their assignments, Catie gave them a ‘well what now’ look.
“I kind of like mine,” Joanie said.
“Mine doesn’t sound so wonderful,” Yvette said.
“Why not? You could get the Mediterranean carrier and be close to home.”
“I think I’m allergic to salt spray,” Yvette giggled. “Two weeks on that clipper was more than enough for me.”
“You can ask if they’ll give you another posting.”
“I will, but what if they don’t have anything else?”
“Ask, then let me know,” Catie said. “Miranda, do you have your first assignment yet?”
“I’m scheduled for flight training when the next class starts. That’s in three weeks. Until then, I’m on leave.”
“That sounds good, have you been using the simulator yet?”
“There’s a long line of people wanting to use the simulators,” Miranda said.
“Not those, the one in your HUD,” Catie said. “That’s how I learned.”
“Is there a reason nobody has told us about it?” Miranda asked.
“I don’t know. ADI, who is in charge of pilot training?” Catie asked.
“Lieutenant Beaulieu,” ADI replied.
“Is she available?”
“Hi, Catie,” Mariam Beaulieu answered her Comm. “Congratulations on finishing at the Academy. I didn’t know you were going.”
“Hi, Mariam. Thank you, and it was a secret. But I’m calling about the pilot training. I have a friend going to attend the next class and we wanted to know if there was a reason that you didn’t point them to the HUD simulator?”
“I can’t imagine why, unless Commandant Lewis doesn’t want them distracted. But there are lots of other distractions to worry about.”
“So, you don’t mind if I show her how to use it?”
“Not at all. Take her up and let her fly one for all I care.”
“Thanks.”
“She says it’s okay,” Catie said.
“Cool. Hey, what are you doing next?”
“She’s taking the Dutchman out on a cargo run to Paraxea and Artemis,” Liz said, “while I hang out here and reacquaint myself with the luxuries of being on a planet.”
“Hey, Daddy said he gave you a tour of Artemis.”
“Three days!” Liz said. “I’ve only been on the ground for ten days in the last six months.”
“Blame Daddy and Uncle Blake, they’re the ones who made me go to the Academy. Besides you get to go down in history as the captain of the first cargo ship to make an interstellar round trip.”
“When do you leave?” Miranda asked.
“I’m supposed to make a run to the asteroid belt and back next week,” Catie said. “That’s two weeks. After that, I have to make the long run, which is eighteen weeks or so.”
“That is a long run,” Yvette said.
“Yeah, but Dr. McDowell and I think we have a way to take out ten days or so,” Catie said.
“Why is it that it’s only now that you have to sail the next trip that you’re ready to deploy that?” Liz asked.
“We just figured it out back in March. We still have to prove it will work, then we need to make the infrastructure for it.”
“Well, we should try and hire another captain to balance out the work schedule,” Liz said.
“I think we need to hire more than one. Our second ship will be ready in a few months, and I want to go out on the Roebuck and check out some new systems to trade with.”
“You’re worse than your father, never satisfied with what you have. It’s always more, more, more.”
“Now you’re sounding like Uncle Blake.”
Chapter 24
Well, Now What?
“Catie, can we talk about money?”
“Sure, you want to give me some?”
Liz snorted. “Like you need help from me.”
“Hey, at least you’ve been getting a paycheck. I’m only getting about half of my usual check from Fred, and nothing from StarMerchants.”
“Oh, cry me a river; you’re worth billions and you’re whining about not getting a paycheck.”
“Hey, ADI won’t let me use money from my savings and investments.”
“It’s your money!”
“A penny saved is a penny earned,” ADI said.
Liz laughed. “Funny, ADI.”
“The saving man becomes the free man.”
“She has a whole list of them,” Catie whined. “She goes through them all before I can touch any money besides my paycheck.”
“Wasting is a bad habit, saving is a sure income.”
“Okay, we get it!” Liz said. “Anyway, I wanted to ask how we were managing our pay from StarMerchants.”
“Standard captain’s pay,” Catie said. “Didn’t you get paid?”
“No, that’s why I’m asking about it.”
“Just a second.” Catie dove into her HUD and looked at the records.
“Did someone forget to approve her pay package?” Catie asked when she found what she was looking for.
“What?!”
“It says here your pay is awaiting approval from the co-owner. I approved it, but you haven’t.”
“You’ve got to be kidding, why do I have to approve my pay?”
“All salaries have to be approved by both owners.”
Liz groaned as she used her HUD to find the document in her in-tray. She signed it and closed the view. “I can’t believe I missed that.”
“Hey, open it back up and approve my pay package.”
“Sure, I guess now you’ll finally be able to have some money that ADI will approve of you spending.”
“Don’t save what is left after spending; instead spend what is left after saving,” ADI quoted Warren Buffet.
“Argh!” Catie screeched.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Catie, you do know that the cargo run to Gemini Station is about ready to go out?” Liz asked as she sat with Catie at breakfast.
“I know, I’m just waiting for them to load the last container of appliances. We should be ready to head out on Wednesday. I wanted to let everyone have an extra day planet side.”
“How long is the run going to be?”
“Since we’re not carrying that much cargo, we can use a higher acceleration profile, so it’s five days each way. We’ll spend one day there since we have passengers to disembark and a new set to bring home.”
“Passengers?”
“Miners.”
“Oh, right. What are we charging for them?”
“Nothing.”
“What! No way you’re giving them a free ride.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“I’m negotiating with Daddy about making the s
olar probes so we can establish a single wormhole between our jumps.”
“That benefits him, so why do you have to butter him up by giving free rides to the miners?” Liz asked.
“It really benefits us. He doesn’t care about saving a week in the transit time.”
“Two weeks when you count both ways, but I see your point. Do you think it’ll work?”
“We’ll see.” Catie said.
“What do those probes cost?”
“Thirty million each, but they each need a quantum relay as well.”
“Oh! Let me know if I can help.”
“You can interview for a second crew.”
“Oh no you don’t, we’ll interview when you get back.”
“But what about all the crew from the Roebuck? Most of them are on leave and they might be reassigned before I get back.”
“Tell you what, I’ll work with Derek and see who we can pick up from his old crew. I assume you’re okay with having him take the first mate slot.”
“If he wants it,” Catie said. “He’s been captain of the Roebuck for over a year.”
“I’ll talk to him; can I tell him we’ll make him a captain when we get the next StarMerchant built?”
“Definitely.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“She’s a vindictive bitch,” the spec three at the antimatter reactor console whispered as Catie walked by.
“Captain, I’m surprised to see you back here,” Commander Griggs said as she gave the spec three a disapproving stare.
“Hi, Commander Griggs,” Catie said. “A gravity and a half isn’t that tough. The walk will serve as my exercise for today.”
“Call me Chief,” Commander Griggs said. “Now come into my office and we’ll chat.”
Catie followed Commander Griggs into her office, glancing over her shoulder at the spec three. “Was he talking about me?”
“What? Oh, that vindictive bitch comment. Are you a vindictive bitch?”
“Some people might think so.”
Commander Griggs laughed. “Liz told me about the green food coloring incident. She showed me some interesting videos of Sophia rushing out of her shower. But, no, the comment wasn’t about you. It was about his ex-girlfriend. He came home after a night out with his mates to find all his stuff in plastic bags. She’d washed his clothes in red dye and put them in bags with moldy bread. He spent the next two days buying new clothes.”
“That does sound vindictive.”
“Yes, and that is a reputation you don’t want to get,” Commander Griggs said, giving Catie a knowing look. “Getting even can be funny if you do it right, but if it becomes a habit, you can fall into that trap.”
“Oh, so you think I should stop getting even?”
“At least for the little stuff; it’s not worth it. You should have better things to do with your time.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“So, what did you want? I’m sure you didn’t come down here for mothering.”
“No, not that I don’t appreciate it. But I wanted to review the crew staffing. We’re going to take your advice and create a three-crew rotation between the two ships. That gives everyone at least six weeks off every thirty-six weeks.”
“So, when is the second ship going to be ready?”
“Six months, but we want to get key members of the crew hired now. Liz is trying to grab as many as she can from the Roebuck now that it’s back.”
“That will endear you to your Uncle, the admiral.”
Catie laughed. “Well, he’s getting used to it. Do you know Lieutenant Payne?”
“Only by reputation.”
“We’re going to make him an offer to be first mate for the second crew, and captain when we start up the third.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine. You and Liz both have a lot of experience with him.”
“Yes we have. I’m curious how you think the crew will handle switching ships all the time.”
“It’s become more common. The biggest complaints have been about increased maintenance cost, but that’s not going to be a problem for you since you’re always coming back to the home port. The ships are going to be identical so the crew won’t get confused.”
“We thought about all that. But what about making sure the crew does all their maintenance chores just before the switch. Won’t they be tempted to let things slide?”
“That’s always the danger with crew rotations. But I always made it a challenge for the new crew to find what the last crew missed. That motivates both crews to keep things up to snuff.”
“Ah, I like that idea. Did you impose a penalty or was it enough to rely on their pride?”
“Pride worked pretty well. Different officers, so imposing a penalty was difficult, except in egregious cases.”
“Okay, we should go over this with Liz when we get back. We need to come up with planetside work assignments for them.”
“Prepping the next cargo should work. I assume you want the pods in orbit and ready to attach.”
“Definitely. We’re going to require the customers to have the pods waiting for us so we can shorten the turnaround time. But we need to add training and other stuff.”
“I’ll think about it. Now, I have a question, why are you going to let this ship sit for a week after this run?” Commander Griggs asked.
“We’ll do a deep maintenance and inspection while we’re back. But there’s something that Liz and I need to be able to attend to when we get back. And it might change the objective for our next run.”
“Something you care to share?”
“MacKenzie board secrets,” Catie said. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. ‘Need to know’ is a pretty common answer in the Navy, so I’m used to it.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“ADI, you shared the video with Liz?!” Catie asked as she headed back to her cabin. She felt offended that ADI had shared a video of Sophia with Liz that she wouldn’t share with her.
“Of course, Liz is my friend,” ADI replied.
“Are you still mad at me for not telling you what the plan was?”
“Yes! I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what you were going to do.”
“And you didn’t figure it out?”
“NO!”
“Are you mad at me or at yourself?”
“Both.”
“Didn’t you have fun trying to figure out what I had planned?”
“Hmm, fun? Possibly.”
“Probably more fun than if I had just told you.”
“Maybe. You are devious,” ADI said.
“Not a vindictive bitch?”
“No. I’ve never heard anyone refer to you that way.”
“I guess I have to lighten up, or they might?”
“But not too much so we still can have some fun getting even,” ADI said.
“We want to keep our friends on their toes.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hi, Jimmy,” Catie said as she joined Jimmy Gaines in the conference room on Gemini Station.
“Hi, Catie. Did your passengers behave themselves?”
“Mostly. 1.5G tends to keep people from chasing around causing problems.”
“But then they have all the pent-up energy when you do the 1G rest period.”
“There is that. I never got called by security, so it must not have been too bad.”
“Good. Having the Dutchman making runs is going to simplify things for us. I assume you heard we’re closing down the operation in Earth’s orbit. We’ll send those asteroids back here.”
“No, I hadn’t heard that. Are you happy about it?”
“It was our idea. More efficient for the miners. Gemini Station is a nice place to live. Rotating back to Earth once or twice a year seems to make everyone happy. And it’s more efficient. With the co-op, our miners really hate to be idle.”
Catie laughed, “Greedy?”
“Not greedy, just wanting to have nice choices,” Jimmy said.
“I’m glad to hear it. So that explains the four pods of methane we’re taking back.”
“Yep, might as well keep you as full as possible, empty cargo pods don’t help anyone.”
“How is your smelter working?”
“Pretty good. It’s a lot better than the one we were using at Delphi Station. I assume they’re upgrading that one.”
“Yes, it should be online about the time I get back,” Catie said.
“Good. Half the pods we’re sending back are full of unrefined ore, so it’s all mixed up. The new smelter makes it easy to deal with. You’ll be taking a bunch of engineers and engineering students back. They just finished tuning our smelter. I think they’ll be tuning the one at Delphi Station before they start running ore through it.”
“Oh,” Catie said, wondering if Braxton would be among her passengers.
“Speaking of cargo and stuff, we have some interesting items we brought along.”
“Such as?”
“Fresh fruit, some extra furniture for the cabins, things like that.”
“You must be coordinating with Artie.”
“He does manage our side-book cargo.” Catie was referring to the cargo that they bought and hoped to sell at the destination site. Artie was an exceptional judge of what would sell in another location having honed his skills using excess lift capacity to ship speculative cargo to Delphi Station.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Catie, these are your passengers,” Jimmy said as he led a small group to the boarding ramp for the Dutchman.
“We just loaded passengers,” Catie said.
“I know, but these are the engineers I told you about.”
“Oh, the ones staying in the guest cabins.”
“Right.”
“What are guest cabins?” the older man with Jimmy asked.
“Catie, this is Professor Haskell, he’s the one that designed the smelter.”
“Hi,” Catie said.
“Catie McCormack?” Professor Haskell asked.
“Yes, and to answer your question, we have passenger cabins, which the miners are using, and we also have a limited number of guest cabins. They’re a little nicer and are intended for dignitaries and guests of the crew,” Catie explained.
“Well, I’m pleased to meet you. And honored to merit the guest cabins as well as such a distinguished captain. What did we do to deserve such an honor?”