The Plan and other short stories

by Stephen Brandon

  One replied to the Chief that the kid wasn't as ignorant as they thought. He must have been a janitor.

  John started walking a grid pattern around the engineering section checking the deck and behind everything to see if he had missed any sweepings. After assuring himself that the deck was clean and keeping one eye on the 2 engineers he returned the sweeper and tray to the locker and then approached the Chief. “Chief, the sweeping is done for now and the deck is ready for inspection.” he said.

  Chief Brown turned and walked straight to the largest engine and pulled out a white rag. He then bent over and wiped it along the crack where the engine met the floor. Pulling it up he opened it and there was a faint line of black.

  As he started to open his mouth John tried to look shocked and said, “Oh my, I missed a spot, I'll get right on it and turned and marched across the deck to the sweeper locker.” He didn't see any rags in it but there was a sweeper with a cloth where the bristles were on the sweeper. On the top shelf in the back he did find some white rags. As he searched the locker thoroughly he remembered another of the stories his grandfather told him about what he called basic training when he joined the scouts. The sergeants would assign a task and when that task was completed they would find the slightest fault related to that task. What the Chief had done snapped that story back into his memory. He was being taught the lesson that no matter what he did it was never enough and he must be familiar with every nook and cranny within sight. He must also be prepared for anything. Well if the chief wanted to teach that, he would show that only 1 lesson was needed. Hanging on the rear wall was a folded up contraption that had 2 wheels and a short sweeper handle on it. As he pulled it out it fell open. It had places to put the sweeper and the cloth covered sweeper and tray. Also it had a wire basket the he assumed must be for holding the clean rags and anther basket below it. He loaded everything into the fold up cart and dragged it to the other corner of the engine room. He started by sweeping a section and then running the cloth covered sweeper over the section again. The he took one rag and rubbed it along the cracks on the wall and floor and then all over the piece of equipment there and then where the equipment met the floor. Lying on the deck he felt as far around the equipment as he could and then took a rag and wiped that area thoroughly. The first thing he saw as he pulled himself out from behind the equipment was the Chief's feet.

  “Lying down on the job, huh.”

  John slowly pulled the rags from behind the equipment and folded them in half and place them in the bottom basket. He remembered something else his grandfather had said. The sergeants would never say they were pleased if you did a good job or used your initiative. They would just find something else you missed. If you didn't miss something but opened your mouth to defend yourself they would jump on you for talking back. As John stood all that he could think of to say was, “I found a spot someone missed. They must have had shorter arms.” The second the arm comment was out of his mouth he knew where the Chief would attack.

  “Oh so you think you have longer arms than anyone else here, huh. Well lets see then.” He called a tall lanky engineer over and told him to take a clean rag and see if the novice had missed anything behind the equipment.

  With a grin he dropped to the floor, turned on his left side with both arms over his head and pulled himself behind the equipment all the way to his knees. In less than a minute he was pushing himself back out and tossed the rag on the deck. It had a patterns gray on it separated by irregular patterns of white. He stood up and said, “Chief he don't know where to look and wipe. I think he needs to learn everything about this piece here so he can clean it proper.”

  With a smile the Chief said, “Good, you teach him and then I'll check his work.”

  Jimmy turned to John and said, “Drag that contraption back to the cleaning locker and bring those dirty rags.” He turned and walked over to another locker on that wall. Opening it he said, “The dirty rags go in the bottom here and you get clean rags off the top bin.” Two lockers over he opened a locker named Novice and said, “Here are your tools. Chief knows every scratch and ding on them because they were his at one time. There is a checklist for when you put them up. You don't want to leave any tools in the engines. As soon as you get everything checked meet me back over at the air processor.”

  Four days later after disassembling the air processor several times Jimmy said, “Tell the Chief it's prepared for inspection. You have about 8 minutes before the air flow will gather enough impurities from the air to show on a white rag.”

  The Chief walked slowly over and then looked at Jimmy and asked, “Does he know where all the dirt collects.” When Jimmy nodded, the Chief said, “Good, then start him on the O/H manifolds tomorrow.”

  “Can do”, said Jimmy with a grin.

  John rolled his tool chest back over to the Novice locker and started inventorying his tools and wiping them down. Every tool had an outlined shape in each drawer. Every tool was on the checklist by name and location in the tool chest.

  When everything was accounted for Jimmy walked over and said let me show you something. Together they walked over to the ladder door and went down 2 levels. After suiting up Jimmy led him outside the ship and said look at that.

  John had looked at the solar system and planetary system using view screens before, but had never stood on an observation deck and looked into raw space while a ship was underway. There wasn't that much to actually see, but the immensity of space suddenly hit him. With only a piece of plastic and some fabric to protect him, he was naked to the stars. He felt his eyes misting and a knot forming in his throat.

  Jimmy said, lets go back inside.

  He couldn't even fully describe his feelings they were so strong.

  Jimmy pulled him back through the airlock and stood watching him as he shook. Then he patted him on the shoulder and said, “I felt the same way the first time I stood out there. It never gets old”.

  On the morning of the 24th day the Chief met him as he came through the ladder hatch and gave him a scowl that would peel paint. What is a bridge officer doing on my deck without permission. Only the Captain has the right to enter my Engineering Section without my permission. A junior officer like you had better get his ass back on the bridge where he belongs.

  Yes Sir Chief, replied John as he backed back through the hatch and secured it. Happily he climbed toward the bridge and entered without thinking about changing his uniform. As he reported to the 1st bridge officer he was told he was out of uniform, to go change quickly and then assume a position behind the senior pilot to observe how a real senior pilot flew a plasma torch. Yes Sir, he replied and ran to his quarters to change.

  He had no sooner arrived and installed a jump seat beside the senior pilots seat when the bridge officer handed him a copy of the checklist for A-engine operation. This was one that he hadn't seen before. It required the pilot to verify when zero deceleration would be reached and inform engineering so they could proceed with a smooth shutdown of the A-engine and stabilize the antimatter fields to prevent any type of accident. If the antimatter touched regular matter at any point an explosion would that far outreached the splitting of the atom. The down side was that it would continue until all the antimatter in the collapsed containment field was converted into energy. He remembered his grandfather telling him about the 2nd antimatter manufacturing station on Mercury going up in such an explosion that it caused the planet to wobble in its orbit and turn almost an 30 degrees. The only advantage to that accident was the opening up of virgin mining areas on the hot side. As he followed the checklist down he observed one non-standard operation. The pilot called communications and requested that they contact the belt station and tell them that they needed to prepare to shut down their magnetic mining scoop. That wasn't on the checklist or any other SOP that he remembered and he had visited this same belt station twice. As soon as the shut down was
completed he asked the pilot.

  The pilot simply replied that he was aware of the magnetic mining scoop and it would interfere with the magnetic containment field that held the antimatter. That was another reason that no A-matter engine ship could operate inside the orbit of Venus. A solar flare contains enough magnetic energy to disrupt the containment field close in. By the way you know that you are not finished with your training in the engineering section. The next phase in on the A-matter engine itself. By time the chief finishes with you you could go in and qualify as an engineer 2nd class so use this break to study up on the O/H and A-engine. It took the exec 5 years to qualify as 1st bridge officer. We've had 5 bridge officer trainees burn out just trying to qualify as 2nd bridge officer. Hope you make it. Then he turned to the bridge officer and said, get this trainee out of here.

  John thought about the pilots comments and then his final comment as he was sent to report to the quartermaster.

  The quartermaster officer was a short fat man that didn't have a hair on his head. He took one look at John and said your shift starts in 4 hours. I want you in a work uniform that you don't mind getting dirty. The supplies haven't been inventoried since we left Jupiter and I know that some of those lazy cargo handlers probably put them in the wrong places.

  John left the quartermaster office with an idea that by time he was through he would know where every storage room in ship was.

  * * *

  After four and a half months John not only knew where every supply room was, he knew where every suit locker, every piece of fire fighting equipment, every cargo hold, every mess supply control, every airlock, and every piece of repair equipment was located. The day that the quartermaster finished with him and told him to report to the 1st bridge officer he said I can't find my coffee cup.

  The Quartermaster officer looked at him and said you had better remember unless you want to spend the next six months moving everything and looking for it.

  John took two steps back, reached out with his right hand and felt along the counter until he came to the third cup. He picked it up and then asked where the coffee was.

  The Quartermaster officer gave him a stern look and then said in a calm low voice, you are a smart ass punk, I'm going to talk to monkey about you. Have fun while you can. Now get me a cup of coffee and then get out of here.

  After getting a cup of coffee for the quartermaster he took his coffee cup to the officers mess, filled it, went to his quarters and changed into uniform suitable for the bridge. The then proceeded to the bridge and reported.

  The bridge officer took one look at him and then said take charge, I'll be in the Captains office if you need anything.

  That was the last thing he expected. He watch the bridge officers back as he proceeded through the hatch to the Captains office. Remembering some of the tricks that had been played on him in the past he wondered what was in store for him now. He walked over to the navigation station and asked the navigator to show him on the plot where they were. After studying it for a moment he turned and walked over to the communications station and asked if there were any communications that had a time suspense on them. The communications person said no. He then walked over behind the senior pilot and asked him if the junior pilot could handle everything for a few minutes.

  The senior pilot told the junior pilot to assume control and then he turned is seat around. Facing John he said, so you are not the bridge officer for now. How does it feel.

  John look at him and said, I feel like the bridge officer just stuck me in a rocket headed for the sun without an ounce of fuel. I don't know the procedures here or what they are planning. I could use some advice.

  The senior pilot looked at him and said keep your wits about you and ask for reports every once in awhile. Then he swiveled back to his station and asked the junior pilot for an update.

  John walked back over to the bridge officers station and sat down. He then looked over the computer screen and saw a listing of the stations on the bridge and three engineering sections. He pressed the button for the Chief Engineer. Nothing happened. He then pressed the button for the Senior Pilot. Nothing happened. He then stood up and walked over to the door to the Captains office and wrapped on it with his knuckles.

  The bridge officer opened it and said what do you want?

  John gave him a look and then calmly stated, I need the access codes for the bridge officers computer and a headset so I can hear any replies when I ask for any status reports.

  The bridge officer laughed twice and then said report to the Captain. I'll relieve you now. With a smile he headed back onto the bridge.

  John stepped through the hatch and saw the Captain sitting behind his desk with 2 cups of coffee.

  “Hope you like sugar in your coffee. He didn't even get to take a sip before you called him out.”

  John stood at attention and said, “If he'd given me the access codes for his position and headset I would have been out there until something came up that I couldn't handle. That probably would have been 5 or 10 minutes from now.”

  “John you lasted longer than the last trainee, sit down and relax. As I was saying, you lasted longer than the last promising youngster the veep sent us. On top of that the Quartermaster says you are a smart ass and recommended that I turn you over to monkey for a year or two. Your actions after having the bridge dumped on you were not those of a smart ass. We monitored you as you made you tour of the bridge and especially what you asked the Senior Pilot. Then when you tried to reach the Chief Engineer on the officers computer the 1st bridge officer said you were possibly going to make a half way decent bridge officer on some garbage scowl. I think that you may have surprised him by asking for the access codes to the computer instead of asking for relief. Now let me tell you my plans to destroy or make you. You will pull supervised watch for the next 10 days until we shut down the A-drive. Then you will pull 1 unsupervised watch while we go back to our assigned parking orbit around Jupiter. Two days liberty and then report to the Chief Engineer. He is going to move the antimatter containment bottle out. The antimatter engine is due its scheduled maintenance. I think that is a bit of luck. By time he gets done with you, I think you'll be qualified to monitor an A-engine powered flight. Then we'll hone you bridge skills until you're ready to pull watch as 2nd officer. Don't think you have it made though, the last trainee made it up to the bridge before he walked out the airlock one night after pulling watch. No one moves up on this ship until the Chief of each section approves. The Quartermaster and Chief Engineer both asked for you if there was any punishment detail you qualified for. I think that they want you to hand clean the rocket tubes and bilge. Of course this ship doesn't have a bilge, but there are areas that resemble a bilge. You get the idea, right!”

  “Yes Sir, I'll remember that and try not to qualify for any punishment detail. You may assure the Quartermaster and the Chief Engineer that the only grudge I hold is against one company supervisor that doesn't like me either. He is a paper pusher that thinks he's a ship captain and acts like an ass. He took from me my first love and swore that if I didn't make it here I'd never get a piloting job in this universe.”

  “Crap, then you don't know?”

  “Know what Sir.”

  “You're talking about my older brother.”

  “I feel sorry for you Sir, shall I walk out the airlock now or do I get a fair chance.”

  “You get a fair chance John, because I'm not fond of him either. I would not mention this to anyone else period.”

  “Yes Sir. Who do you want me to report to now.”

  “Take the rest of the shift off and report to the bridge officer on 3rd shift tomorrow. I'm unlocking your computer so you can read any manual or checklist. Dismissed.”

  John stopped at the hatch, turned and wished the Captain a good evening. Then he stepped through and secured the hatch.

  The bridg
e officer looked at him and asked, “Did you enjoy my coffee?”

  “I enjoyed the conversation with the Captain more, Sir. See you tomorrow 3rd shift.”

  ***

  A year later the Chief Engineer told him that he was no longer needed in the Engineering section. The antimatter bottle was back in place and tested. The A-engine was operational and passed all static test. The test run would be to Earth and back. The Old Man wanted to see it once more. The 22 day run would take 17 months with an O/H rocket.

  On John's second watch after they lit the A-engine the Captain relieved him on watch and told him to report to the Old Man in his quarters. Even using the lifts it took him over 30 minutes to navigate to the Old Man's quarters. He no longer was awed by the splendor of the accommodations aboard the Phoenix. However he was surprised at the number of medical personnel there.

  The Old Man waived him over and asked him if he was going to be happy if he made it as bridge officer on the Phoenix.

  John answered him and said, “My first love was being a pilot, I think my second will be being a bridge officer on the Phoenix. I greatly appreciate the faith you had in me to even allow me to try.”

  “Good, now go tell the Captain I wish to see him.”

  Before John even made it to the suite door he heard the Old Man snoring. The Captain was surprised to see him back on the bridge so soon until he relayed the Old Man's request.

  Then he called up another officer to duty and as soon as he arrived he told John to follow him back down.

  John waited outside while the Captain went in. When he came out he looked at John and asked, "Did you know that your grandfather saved the Old Mans life."

  John said, “No, he never told me any story that included the Old Man or that he ever saved anyone's life.”

  “He then pulled a sealed data disk out of his pocket. This is the Old Man's last will and testament. He told me that you're in it. It goes in the ships main safe. No one knows exactly what is on it except a few lawyers and witnesses. His doctors told him that he would not survive the trip. I only hope that he lives long enough to look on the Earth one more time.” Then the Captain broke down and had to lean against the corridor wall for a time.