Aces

by Alanson, Craig

  “Honey, I need to discuss something with you.” Rick said as the family sat down to dinner in the ship’s galley. The compartment was empty, except for the Sanchezes and the ship’s first officer Vassily Yurchenko, who was sitting alone in a corner, reading a report and picking at something on his plate. Rick figured having the children and a stranger present would moderate his wife’s reaction, if she was going to get upset.

  Joy put down her fork. She knew this tactic, Rick used it often enough. One day, she was going to throw caution and good manners to wind and throw a big scene, regardless of the audience. That would teach him.

  But not today.

  She placed her hands on her lap, sat up straight, as prim and proper as she could, gave her husband an overly sweet smile, and responded. “Yes, Ricardo, what is it?”

  Kaylee and Manny caught the look exchanged by their parents, and huddled over their plates, suddenly intent on their food. Kaylee couldn’t manage to hide a quick smile. She perked her ears up. This was going to be good, she knew, it usually was. Mommy never referred to Daddy as ‘Ricardo’ unless she was mad about something. Sometimes her parents talked privately by calling each other through their bComms, but it was easy to see when they were doing that, as their eyes took on a faraway, glassy look.

  “Captain Schroeder invited me to the bridge a few hours ago, I listened to their call with the miners on Ares.”

  “Oh.” Joy said in surprise, a tiny bit deflated. Perhaps Rick simply wanted to brag in front of the children that he had been on the starship’s bridge. “That was nice of the captain. What did the miners have to say?”

  “Oh, just, nothing new.” Rick’s throat was dry, he took a sip of iced tea.

  That put Joy on alert again. Her husband was nervous. She had been right the first time, he was up to something, something he thought she wouldn’t like. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

  Rick continued. “They’re stretching their oxygen supply, some of the miners are living in the crawler tractors, which have their own oxygen supplies. The crawlers can only reprocess air, though, not truly recycle it, they need to be resupplied every so often. And there isn’t much space in their crawlers for more than a few people.”

  “Interesting. Anything else?” She continued their verbal chess game.

  “Uh, yes, in fact. Their life support system is a Culcorp Tradewinds model 11A.”

  “Fascinating. Imagine that!” Joy had no idea where Rick was going with this. Unless- “Wait. Are you going to tell me that’s the same type you kept working on Sahara?”

  “Er, ah, yeah. Yeah, now that you mention it, yes, it is. Quite a coincidence, huh?”

  “Indeed. That’s a real stroke of luck for them, that this ship just happens to be carrying a man who knows how to keep a secondhand, junker life support system running.”

  “You know, I was thinking the same thing.” Rick said innocently.

  Joy picked up her fork, stabbed a piece of chicken, and popped it in her mouth. “Honey, you are going to help, aren’t you? To fix their system?”

  It was Rick’s turn to be surprised. “I hadn’t, um-“

  ”I can’t imagine the man I fell in love with to not volunteer to help, in a case like this.”

  “Well, I, I did. It’s uh, Captain Schroeder isn’t sure the company will allow a passenger to drop down to the surface on a rescue mission. Their insurance people won’t like it. But I did volunteer to help, if I can. Sam and I talked, he told the captain he thinks I would be a help to him. If the company lawyers say it’s OK, that is.”

  “You’re going on the rescue shuttle, Dad?” Manny asked.

  “Cool!” Kaylee chipped in.

  “Kids, we don’t know yet if I’m going or not. Like I said, the company may not allow it. Although, Sam told the captain the repair work would go a lot faster if I was with him.”

  “Still, that would be most cool, Dad! Promise me you’ll take holos, so we can send them back to Earth?” Manny thought that would be something to send to his old school, to show all the boneheads he left behind all the great adventures his family was having out among the stars. He had already recorded several hours of holos recording their spaceplane ride up from Earth, the giant freighter, and their side excursion down to Avalon. Manny had a need to show his old classmates that where he was going was better than where they were. He bet none of their fathers had ever dropped down from orbit to rescue people.

  “I will take holos, if I have time. And if I go. I may just be on the bridge, giving Sam advice over the radio.” Rick doubted that, Sam had already scornfully vetoes that idea. Sam had made it clear he needed someone on the ground who could handle a wrench, not a disembodied voice offering advice over the radio. He took another sip of iced tea, stood up, and walked over to his wife. “Do you know that I have the best wife in the whole galaxy?”

  Joy smiled. “Yes, I do know that. But no more than you deserve.”

  Manny made a face. “Are you two going to get mushy again?” His parents had the habit of frequent displays of affection, and often did so at mortifyingly inappropriate times. Like in front of other people.

  Rick grinned. “Oh, yes we are.” He said, and kissed his wife passionately.

  When Captain Schroeder requested permission to include Rick Sanchez on the rescue shuttle, he initially received the reply he expected from company headquarters: have you lost your mind? The company lawyers quite rightly wanted to avoid any company liability, in case Rick was injured. Our insurance prohibits it, they said, find another way.

  Then the company operations people got involved, and did some research on the background of one Ricardo Sanchez. They contacted a couple of people who had worked with Rick on Sahara, who verified that it was indeed Rick who had kept their creaky life support system running. Finally, a technician from the life support system manufacturer, who had made a routine servicing visit while Rick was on Sahara, stated that Rick had done wonders with the old unit, and he would hire Rick as a repair technician, if the archeologist was interested.

  So it became a matter of finances: what was the dollar value of the liability risk, compared to the money the company could save, if Rick helped fix the miners’ life support system, and Ace only had to make a short detour?

  A compromise was reached. Rick would sign a form, and he would temporarily be a Universal Transport employee, for the expected short duration of the rescue mission. He would even get hazardous duty pay. Forms were signed, Rick shook hands with Schroeder, and then was put under the care of Sam, for e-suit refresher training. Manny thought was was super cool that his father now owned a company jacket designating Rick Sanchez as an ‘Ace’, like the rest of the crew.

  Rick tucked his gloves into the e-suit helmet, like he’d seen Sam do, and held the helmet in the crook of his left arm. Sam nodded approvingly as he put his card into the slot, and pressed the button to open the door to the shuttle bay.

  Rick took a few hesitant steps forward, and stopped, his eyes wide. “You’ve got to be joking.”

  “Huh?” Sam asked.

  “This piece of junk flies?” Rick exclaimed in surprise. To say that Ace’s shuttle showed its age would be an understatement. It was battered, weathered, and dented. The leading edges were coated with multiple layers of soot from countless passages through planetary atmospheres. Panels on the skin were different colors, depending on how long ago they were replaced, cleaned, or repainted. Only the cockpit windows looked they they’d had any attention recently.

  “Sure, man, it’s safe. Don’t go by looks.” Sam reached up and patted the underside of the craft affectionately.

  Rick looked askance. He’d seen the shuttle only from a distance, watching it through a viewport as it left, or came back to the ship. From a distance, it looked uniformly light grey. Up close, Rick could see that the shuttle’s skin was originally white, and there were faded company logos and other markings on the wings and tail. He felt tempted to wet his finger and write ‘WASH ME’ in the soot. “Sam
, you’re going on this flight too, so I’ll trust you, but do not let my wife and kids see this thing. Joy is already worried about the whole idea of me dropping down to Ares.”

  Nelson poked his head out the shuttle’s airlock. He was tall and thin, with dark skin and close-cropped hair. Rick had been told where Nelson was from; Kenya, Liberia, something like that, he couldn’t remember. What he did remember was that Nelson hadn’t exactly been warm to the idea of taking a passenger along on a rescue mission. “Hey, what are you two doing, sightseeing? I haven’t got all day.” The pilot said gruffly. “Let’s get a move on.”

  Sam and Rick exchanged a glance. Sam had warned Rick about Nelson, the shuttle pilot was, according to Sam, really a nice guy, once you got to know him. Nelson didn’t seem interested in giving Rick time to develop anything beyond a pilot/passenger relationship. Rick gave Sam a thumb’s up sign, to show that he wouldn’t cause any problems. His job aboard the shuttle would be to sit down, strap in, shut up, and hang on. That, he could do.

  Rick’s shuttle passenger training, which covered not much beyond how to use the emergency oxygen supply, was over in an hour, so he joined his family at the now-deserted Beach. He and Joy were on their way back from the Beach when they caught up with Schroeder on his way to the command section. Joy gave Rick a reminder in the form of a nudge in his ribs. “Captain, can I speak with you for a moment?” Rick called out.

  Schroeder turned, and paused for Rick to catch up with him. “Ms. Sanchez, good afternoon. Mr. Sanchez, how is your training?”

  “Fine, sir.” Rick figured that, since we was a company employee, Schroeder was, albeit temporarily, his boss. “Sam says I’m coming along well. The e-suits you have are much less complicated that the old units I am used to. And I went over emergency procedures for the shuttle with Nelson.” Nelson had made it clear that Rick’s only job was to sit in his seat, be quiet during the descent, and not even think about touching anything.

  “Good.” Schroeder nodded curtly. He would get an independent evaluation from Sam and Nelson later. “What did you wish to discuss?”

  Rick had considered how to bring up the delicate subject. He felt caught between an unstoppable force, his wife, and a likely immovable object, Captain Schroeder. “Joy would like to be on the bridge during the shuttle’s descent, to watch what is going on.”

  “I see. Ms. Sanchez, company regulations prohibit me from having visitors on the bridge, I am sorry. You don’t wish to be with your children, during that time? We can transmit all the images to the screen in your cabin.”

  Joy was not accepting the brush-off. “Regulations do not prohibit visitors, Rick and I toured the bridge when we first came aboard-“

  “Which was when this ship was in a parking orbit, with the engines shut down.” Schroeder interjected.

  “It is my understanding that, when the shuttle is descending, this ship will be in orbit, with the engines shut down.” Joy pressed ahead.

  Schroeder blinked, caught off guard. “Quite so. But the ship will then be engaging in a landing operation, during which time the bridge crew will be occupied with their jobs. Ms. Sanchez, I understand your concern, but I can assure you-“

  “No. You can not assure me.” Joy put her hands on her hips, and Rick bit his lip. He knew what that gesture meant, it was something Joy had inherited from her mother. “You can say nice things, but none of it will actually assure me that my husband will be safe, that if anything goes wrong, my husband’s safety will be your highest priority.”

  Schroeder tried a new tack. “This is a routine shuttle drop, Ms. Sanchez.”

  “Excuse me, no, but it is not.” Joy’s eyes gleamed. The battle was joined. “I was speaking to Nelson, your shuttle pilot.” Rick looked sideways at his wife in surprise. When had she spoken to Nelson? Joy ticked off her objections on her fingertips. “First, Nelson has never brought a shuttle down through this planet’s atmosphere. Second, there is no guidance system on the ground, so he has to fly the approach manually. Third, this ship only has one shuttle, and the miners don’t have one. So if your shuttle gets into trouble, they are on their own. Fourth, the miners can’t refuel the shuttle on the ground, so Nelson tells us he will have to fly a minimum power flight profile on his way back up here, to conserve fuel for the return flight into orbit. None of which is, as you say, routine. Are my facts wrong?”

  “Er, no.” Schroeder was forced to admit. “I can tell, you, however, that Nelson is a very experienced shuttle pilot. Before he joined Universal Transport, he flew for the Navy, and then for a survey company. He has, many times, dropped into an unfamiliar atmosphere, with no guidance system or ground support.”

  Rick moved close to his wife, and put his arm around her shoulders, in a gesture of solidarity. It was time to choose sides, and the choice was easy. His voice took on a firmer tone. “Captain, I believe that I have been more than cooperative. I volunteered to help out on rescue mission, a mission that is your problem, not mine. I do not think it is at all unreasonable that my wife be on the bridge during the descent.”

  Schroeder pursed his lips. His next command, he fervently hoped, would be of a ship without passenger cabins. “That is your final word, then?”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Rick saw Joy looking at him. “Yes. Either Joy can be on the bridge, or we will both be in our cabin, and Sam can fix the life support system by himself.”

  “Mmm.” Schroeder then did something unexpected, his face crinkled into a smile. “Very well, then, Ms. Sanchez, I would be happy to have one of my crew show you to the bridge, and we will find you a place on the bridge, during the drop. You are correct, Mr. Sanchez, it is not an unreasonable request. My crew needs to have backbone, I am glad to see you do. Do not, however, make this a habit, eh?”

  CHAPTER 5

  Slightly ahead of Seth’s schedule, the big freighter ship arrived at Ares and dropped out of hyperspace. Her excited crew had been able to coax a bit more power out of the old, reliable engines, making Schroeder inordinately proud of both crew and ship. Arriving at Ares was not the same as being in position to establish a stable, low orbit, from which the shuttle could drop. Hours went by as the ship fired her normal space engines, first to catch up to the planet in its orbit around the star, then to slow down enough not to fly right by the planet, and finally to swing into orbit. After that, it took what seemed to Rick like forever, maneuvering here and there, getting the ship’s orbit lined up just right for the shuttle drop. Why they couldn’t just hop in the shuttle and fly down right away, Rick didn’t understand, until Sam explained that safety regulations required the ship to be in the sky over the landing site while the shuttle dropped, in order to provide radar guidance.

  By the time Sam called Rick to get suited up for the shuttle ride, it was almost anticlimactic, he and his family had been sitting around in their cabin so long, they’d all gotten bored. Rick was getting hungry, unfortunately Sam had advised Rick not to eat much before the shuttle drop, so Rick satisfied his hunger with an apple, trying to set a good example for his children, when what he really wanted was junk food. Kaylee and Manny had put their swimsuits on, and were about to go to the Beach with their mother. The call from Sam produced a family scramble to change clothes again, until Sam mentioned that Rick would not actually be stepping into the shuttle for another two hours, at least. Plenty of time for a swim. We’ll call you when he’s ready, Sam said, have fun in the meantime.

  Rick went down to the shuttle bay, got his e-suit on, had it checked out and tested by Sam, then he sat around with the helmet off, waiting. He waited long enough that he decided to take the e-suit off to use the bathroom, so he had to put it on and have it checked out all over again. Sam didn’t seem to mind.

  Finally, Nelson showed up, and began his pre-flight inspection of the shuttle, which he said would take an hour or so, their window for launch was in 90 minutes. When Rick mentioned his family wanted to see him off, Nelson frowned, and gruffly relied that was fine, as long as they stayed in t
he airlock doorway alcove, and didn’t touch anything.

  So as not to bore his family again, Rick waited until they were ready to actually board the shuttle before calling his family; they stood dutifully in the hallway, their view of the well-worn shuttle obscured by the windows in the two airlock doors. They waved, and blew kisses to him, Manny recorded the whole thing on camera. Then, Rick was aboard, Sam helped him strap into his seat, and the inner blast door closed over the airlock, cutting off his view of his family. Again he sat, and waited. And waited.

  Almost half an hour later, Nelson turned halfway around in his pilot’s seat and addressed Rick. “You ready, professor?” Sam had vouched for the archeologist, but Nelson wasn’t sure about him. A passenger, stumbling around in an e-suit? Nelson would have to watch out for the archeologist’s safety, make sure he didn’t do anything stupid and get hurt. It all sounded like a pain in the ass. His ass, as the pilot in command.

  Rick gave the pilot a thumb’s up sign. “I’m ready.”

  “This ain’t no luxury spaceplane, you hear? We don’t have artificial gravity, and the ride is likely to be rougher than you’re used to, so if you’re gonna puke, use the bag.”

  Rick responded with another thumb’s up. “Nelson, on Sahara, our shuttle was held together with duct tape and string. The university didn’t spring for luxury. And I took a dose of space sickness meds, I’ll be OK.”

  Nelson looked skeptical. He turned back around to his console. “I hope so.”