The Apprentice Starship Engineer: Book One The Link

by Hanks, Daniel

  “Oh, I will. You can bet on that,” Tammy said.

  “These are the wells in the area where all the operating wells say method of discovery as other,” Margret said.

  “Yeah, that’s how Grandpa has them reported—other for method of discovery.”

  “Thirty-seven wells in the area are listed other as the means of discovery,” Margret said.

  “I think all the wells were discovered by Grandpa.”

  “This is just shit talk. I‘m going,” Tammy said. She got up and stalked out of the room.

  Jenny laughed. “That was funny. I don’t care if your story was made up or true. I’m just sick of hearing about water every night. Thanks for shutting her up.” She raised her glass.

  I finished my drink. “Sorry, Brice, got to go. Jack wants me at it at five. Thanks, hope we’ll do this again soon.”

  * * * *

  Margret awakened me in a daze. I sat up and smacked my head on the inside of my tube. I hadn’t slept well, and kept dreaming I was inside a coffin. I climbed out and found several of my roomies were sleeping on the couches and floor. Guess I wasn’t the only one who felt cramped in a tube.

  “Drake, by the shower is a locker that has your work uniform, boots and safety glasses. You’re required to wear your uniform. Sorry,” Margret said.

  After taking my shower, I pulled out the ugly brown coveralls and work boots. The coveralls were sad. They had pockets all over and my name printed on the left breast. I’d never worn coveralls in my life. Dad had tried to get me into a pair once, but I rejected them. No way was I going to wear that stupid-looking gorilla suit. I swallowed hard and climbed into the rag, avoiding looking into any mirror.

  I staggered into our mess hall, grabbed a stack of donuts and two cups of coffee. I balanced them on a plate. Margret give me directions to maintenance. The halls were empty at four thirty in the morning ship time. Good thing or I might have spilled the coffee. She led me down a hallway past store rooms to a set of double wide doors. The sign read, Restricted area maintenance. Ship personnel only. On the wall was a palm reader. I placed my hand on it, the lock snapped and the door slid open.

  The room was dark. I was the first to arrive. I stepped inside, and the lights came on, illuminating the clean shop. To the left was a room crowded with electronic test equipment. Ahead was a conference room, and to the side a nice office. I took the coffee and donuts into the conference room, then wandered through the others. Going to the right I found workbenches and two replicators. Everything was neat and clean, except one bench that was covered with tools and junk. I sighed. Well, I’d found my work area.

  I jumped at the sound of the lock releasing. Jack entered, carrying a thermos of coffee in one hand and tablet in the other. “Good, you’re early. I like that. Clean that pile of shit up,” he said, heading toward his office.

  It didn’t take long before I had a stack of coffee cups for the mess hall. I put all the tools away, adding the screw driver and wrench I’d found in my tube. As I worked, I heard the door lock snap again. I looked up as another man entered. He’d been sitting next to Jack on the shuttle.

  He walked over and shook his head. “I’m glad you’re here. I didn’t want to clean up that mess. Name’s Bob.” He stretched out his hand.

  I stood and clasped it. “Drake. Nice to meet you.”

  “Where you from, Drake?”

  “Mars, born and raised. And you?”

  “Earth, New York. We left when I was ten.”

  “The Yankees. Did you see them play?”

  “No baseball. I was too young.”

  “Ah, too bad. I hate the Yankees, but I’d love to see a game in person.”

  “You have this looking passable. Let’s see what we have going today,” Bob said.

  I followed him to the conference room as the door snapped again. A tall, thin woman with a tight bun of hair on her head lifted her nose in salute as she passed us. Without knocking, she barged into Jack’s office and then closed the door.

  Bob laughed. “That little firecracker was Stella Sterling, our boss, or better yet, Jack’s boss. Ah, donuts and coffee. I’ll show you around. Those two will be at it for a while.” He continued dropping crumbs as he spoke. “One of them professors wants his shower temperature turned up. We have rules for just about everything, and his temp is as hot as they’ll allow. Stella is non-union, and can’t touch our equipment, except during the worst disaster. Truth is, if she played with stuff, we’d have one. Shower temp don’t sound like much, but to turn his up we’d have to turn it up for one fourth of the ship. If someone got burned with the hot water, the company would be sued. Company would find out that Jack and I had broken the rules. That would be the end of our careers. No way are we going to turn his heat up.” He toured me around, stopping in the electronics area. “You’re off to a good start, bringing donuts and coffee. That’s what apprentices should do.”

  Bob had me make parts in the replicators while he worked on equipment at his bench. When Stella stalked out, she didn’t even give us the nose salute. Jack came out with a cup of coffee in his hand. He looked as if he’d taken a beating. He nodded at me as I started the replicator and then went over to my work area. He went through the box, checking every drawer.

  He looked me, and said, “You check the tool list. If you’re missing any tools, go ahead and replicate them. Get your tools together now while you have the time.”

  After morning break, Bob had me follow along to work on an intermittent transporter. He had me plug Margret into the control panel and run a diagnostic program. Everything checked out fine so he had me take it for a ride. As he looked over my shoulder, he showed me how the different parts worked. I could see the processor’s output for speed direction and opening and closing the door. We stopped at a section, and a young woman stepped in. I just glanced at her, but was aware she was nice-looking.

  She looked at the back wall of the transport and sighed, “That’s wrong, dam it,” she said.

  Bob looked up at her. “What’s wrong?”

  “They have the wrong time on my flyer.”

  Bob and I looked at the display screen that covered the back wall. It advertised a self-defense class for beginners at sixteen hundred. “Well, ma’am, this is your lucky day, as we’re the people who can fix this disaster. What time would you like it to display?”

  “Eighteen hundred. Your shift ends at sixteen hundred. That would give you enough time to make it to my class.”

  “Yeah, if I wanted to I could. Do you want us to change your display?”

  “Yes, that would be fantastic.” She looked straight at me. “Come to my class. It’ll be fun.”

  She had a bright smile, and appeared excited and happy. Did I mention she was pretty? “Of course. At eighteen hundred Monday, Wednesday and Friday,” I said, probably with a stupid grin on my face.

  Bob chuckled softly and gave me directions to the screens to change her flyer and upload the changes to the server to distribute across the ship.

  “Thanks for fixing my flyer,” she said, reaching out to me. I felt embarrassed as I took her hand. “My name is Sandra Marsh.”

  “Drake Wilson. You’re welcome, Sandra,” I said.

  She smiled at me as the door opened. “Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you tonight then.”

  Bob and I watched in silence as she walked away, letting out a sigh together.

  Bob socked me in the shoulder. “Not a chance in frozen hell, geeky boy. Let’s button this poor machine up and let it run to failure.” We both laughed as I closed up the panel.

  * * * *

  I propped up Margret, preparing to study through dinner. Jack had scared me good this afternoon. He’s hard to read, especially when he’s scowling. He’d marched into the shop and called me into his office. I’d thought it was the end and that I’d spend the rest of the trip washing dishes. He’d told me to take a seat, then he’d outlined my apprentice program, making sure I could access the tutorials and study material.
He’d made Margret show him that she could indeed get me to them. He’d assigned me the first four chapters of the power and distribution lesson.

  “We’re having problems with the distribution system and will need your help to fix it,” he said.

  He’d gone on to tell some stories about his own apprenticeship. I guess his journeyman had been meaner than mine. Jack sure had a lot of stories.

  After dinner, I arrived at the gym early. Several other people were there and milling about. I was reading when Sandra entered. She wore a karate-like outfit and looked very professional.

  I left Margret in my bag and walked up to Sandra. She nodded at me, then introduced herself to the class. She had us introduce ourselves. We were quite a collection. First was Mike, who worked in navigation, then Jillian, who was a programmer, Rod and Terri, who were a married couple and, of course, me.

  After introductions, Sandra lined us up and had us begin with some stretching exercises. She continued with sit ups, deep squats and shallow squats. Soon we were all huffing and puffing. She seemed to be just warming up as she had us do fifty pushups. I looked over at her. She pumped them out with ease. At the thirtieth, my form went to hell with my butt sticking up and I didn’t go down all the way. Once we finished with the pushups, she had us all sit and do breathing exercises.

  With our exercises completed, she instructed us on how to make a fist and the basic fighting stance. We finished by shadow boxing with each other as she walked around, telling everyone to keep their hands up and start our punch from all the way back. The lesson was two hours long, and I was tired as I headed back to my dorm. I still needed to finish Jack’s reading assignment.

  I felt weak, but forced myself to stay away from bed and went straight to the study room. I began reading chapter three. It was dull stuff about safety when working with high voltage DC power systems. It went on and on about forms and how to fill them out. I was pissed. Weren’t we going to work on broken equipment? I never wanted to be a secretary. I hate forms. Fuming, I finished the fourth chapter about making connections to the bus. If Margret hadn’t nagged me, I probably would have read all night. Being tired, I slept well, not even thinking about the small quarters.

  * * * *

  I was a bit groggy, but continued my same routine of bringing donuts and coffee to work. While Bob and I munched our donuts and sipped coffee, Jack started his lecture on the day’s task.

  “It’s like this,” Jack said, drawing a cigar shape on the screen with his finger. “Three power buses go the length of the ship.” He drew three more lines vertically through the ship. “If one fails, another can supply it. They’re automatically switched so if you’re working in an area you have to switch power off and apply your personal lock at least in two locations.” He handed me two locks. “Everyone working on the section has to have their own locks.”

  Bob jumped in. “It’s happened many times. A piece of machinery is down for repairs and a jackass comes along and wants to use the equipment. They see the power is turned off, but they don’t ask anyone. Now you’re working with fifty thousand volts hot and your ass is fried. Kid, that’s why we lock and tag the switches.”

  “This is a simple switch order. Drake, go ahead and fill it out. Show us what you got,” Jack said.

  It takes so long to do anything with all this safety stuff, I thought. On the farm I just hit the switch and changed out the power unit, but not on a ship with a union. We have our rules, and Jack wasn’t going to fudge on them, particularly when teaching an apprentice. Using Margret, I filled out the switch order. The document spelled out which switches we were going to turn off and what bypass switches we’d be using, if any. Shit, I want to work on equipment, not fill out stupid forms. Although, I had to admit it was a complicated switching, and it’d be easy to get the wrong one. That could be a nasty surprise.

  Jack brought up a schematic drawing of the power bus as he checked my switching order, then ran a simulation. To my horror a shunt safety feed came on, powering up the area where we’d be working.

  Bob swore as he turned away. “Dumb kid is going to kill us all,” he muttered as he walked out into the shop area.

  Jack looked at the switching order and shook his head. “What the hell do you think we’re doing here? A dam kid’s game? If you hit that bus live, you’re done dead. You’re one of those smart guys. Start being wise. We do this so we all get to go home.” He pointed at me. “You screw up another switch order and you’re done. Got it? Now do it again right.”

  I looked at my switch order. I’d pulled up the file on the wrong side of the ship. I would have killed us all. Jack had it right—test and check everything. I started over, and after a careful review of the file, I went over the schematic, making sure I hadn’t made a mistake, then ran the simulator. It checked out.

  I asked Jack to check my switch order. He ran the simulator again. “So we’ll each need four locks, correct?” he asked.

  Still embarrassed I just nodded. I pushed the anti-gravity cart carrying our tools and power converter as I followed Jack. This wasn’t a farm. It was a starship. I’d better leave the farm behind and do what my journeyman says, I thought.

  Bob had locked out the switches before we’d arrived. He led us to the location of each one, and I verified that the switch identifier was correct before applying my lock. Bob laughed as I put on my last one.

  “Well, Jack and I made a convert out of a farm boy. You might just make it to your retirement yet,” he said with a smile.

  Jack made the connections to the replacement power converter. Determined to be a good apprentice, I’d never let myself get caught in to making the same sloppy mistake as the lock out again.

  Finishing up with work on Wednesday, I felt a sense of dread for another of Sandra’s workouts. I was still sore from the last one. I’d hoped Jack would come up with some extra work that couldn’t wait so I could miss our practice, but, in fact, he’d left early! I’d just tell her I couldn’t practice anymore. I’d been up until midnight Tuesday finishing another of Jack’s assignments. I argued with myself all the way to my dorm, then got changed into my workout clothes. I’d talk to her after today’s workout.

  Only three of us showed up for practice—myself, Rod and Terri.

  Sandra entered, wearing a brave smile. “Well, a bit smaller class. Mike and Jillian have decided not to continue. All the better for you, as it’ll be a lot more intimate. Shall we begin?”

  Jillian shook her head. “Sandra, Rod and I have decided not to continue also. It’s just not for us. Sorry.”

  Sandra nodded. They both slipped out. The room got quiet. Sandra looked at me with sparkling eyes. “How about you? Are you going to quit also?”

  I really hate myself. I can be such a worm. “No, if you still want to teach I want to learn,” I said with my best I’m-motivated smile.

  She nodded and then led me through a workout that was harder than the last one. At the end, she suggested I come every day. She’d teach me how to use small weapons. Of course I agreed. That’s what worms do. The trouble with me is I have so much guilt I do what I agree to do.

  I berated myself all the way to my dorm, then stayed up past midnight studying, mostly to abuse myself further.

  Jack didn’t let up. He taught me as fast as I could learn, and I felt pressured. Meeting with Sandra slowed me down, but seeing her face light up when I came into the gym I couldn’t quit. I was tired and felt pressured to study to keep up with Jack. Her workouts were pure torture. I liked her, and I just couldn’t let her down. I learned to do with a lot less sleep.

  Every day I brought coffee to the shop. Bob had said that was what apprentices were supposed to do. He’d been joking with me, but I went ahead and served him. I enjoyed seeing him get embarrassed. I liked Bob. He was fair at his job and was less of a stiff than Jack. As usual I was getting three cups of coffee on a tray and half a dozen donuts when a woman looked over at me.

  “What are you doing? Are you serving those guys?
” she asked.

  I laughed, pointing a thumb at myself. “Apprentice. I fetch the coffee.”

  She scowled. “They can’t do that.”

  I smiled. “It’s okay. I work them hard. They earn the coffee. I make them teach me everything, and at the end of the shift, they’re both beat.”

  She shook her head. “They shouldn’t allow that. They’re supposed to be training you, not abusing you.”

  “Jack and Bob work hard. It’s a way to say thanks,” I said.

  She smiled. “My name is Kathy Shelling. I’m your test proctor, and I administer the apprentices. It’s my job to see you’re treated fairly. This isn’t good. You should stop serving them.”

  “What If I grab a thermos of coffee and a bag of donuts?”

  “On occasion. You aren’t here to serve them. If it continues, I’ll have to take disciplinary action against you all.”

  I put the tray down and the cups back. “Yes, ma’am. No coffee.”

  When I told Bob and Jack, Bob’s face went pale. Jack said, “I knew it. Shit. You were fine, kid. I should have kept you out of trouble. Sorry.”

  The next day, Jack had me go with Bob on trouble calls, and at fourteen hundred we answered a call from lab seven about a cooling complaint. She was a large woman, strong with a very curvy figure.

  “Hi, Vivian. I hear you’re hot, and from what I can see, I have to agree,” Bob said smiling.

  “Bob, I’m cooking. Soon I’ll be sweating. Cool it down,” she said.

  “Well, Vivian, you called the right guy. With a single line, I can cool the hottest women.”

  “If you don’t cool me off soon, I‘m going to smack your scrawny ass.”

  “Oh, if it were only so simple to gain you’re attention.” Bob sighed as he connected his assistant to her work station’s climate controller.

  A gentle breeze stirred her hair. “Ah, that’s better. The only place this woman should be hot and sweaty is in your arms,” she said.

  “Vivian, meet Drake, our shit hot apprentice. Soon we’ll have him chilling women all over the ship.”