Childers

by Richard F. Weyand

  "Yes, Sir."

  "You have a college degree, then."

  "Yes, Sir. M.S. in Mathematics. From Harvard's on-line program, Sir."

  "Impressive. And you're fourteen, and passed the Citizenship Exam."

  "Yes, Sir. Last month. On my birthday, Sir."

  "Couldn't wait to get out, eh?"

  "No, Sir."

  Lutzdorf recognized the black clouds around the emphasis Jan put on that answer.

  "Ms. Childers, I want you to promise me something. If there is any hazing, any harassment, any treatment of you as anything but a respected officer candidate in the CSF, you will let us know."

  "Yes, Sir. I promise, Sir."

  "Good." He nodded toward Stewart. "You just let the XO know. We're not going to put up with anything like that on my ship."

  "That's good to hear, Sir."

  "And no less than you deserve. Sometimes we don't give young people enough credit. Some of them, anyway. OK, that's out of the way. Ms. Childers, I would like to invite you to observe our departure from Earth on the bridge. Would that suit you?"

  "Yes, Sir. Very much."

  "See you on the bridge at 14:00 hours, then. That would be about three hours from now."

  "Understood, Sir."

  Jan had lunch in the officer's mess, then had to go back to her room to retrieve the weightlessness pills dispensed to her by the ship's doctor when he came calling. She decided to dedicate a pocket to keeping them on her person. She took a pill and headed up-cylinder for the bridge. First above her level was lowest-ranking officers quarters, then higher ranking as you went up. The captain's quarters, first and second officers quarters, and an extra quarters for a visiting high-ranking officer were next. The ready room and the bridge were on the next level, then communications, planning and plotting, and navigation on the top deck. Up from there and you ended up in the ring corridor that ran around the ship and joined the cylinders.

  Jan presented herself at the bridge doorway fifteen minutes early. Vander Linden showed her to an observer's seat and made sure she strapped herself in. Everyone else on the bridge was strapped in, she noticed. The captain sat in the center of the buzz of activity, watching over the individual bridge staffers at their consoles. At the front of the room, the display was on the forward camera, which showed the stars slowly rotating about the center of the screen.

  There was a lot of checklist activity going on. Voices were muted and professional. Soon the real action started.

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

  "Set maneuvering warning," Lutzdorf said.

  "Maneuvering warning set, Sir."

  A low-g warning light on the bulkhead lit, and the alarm system rang three bells loudly. Four bells would have been hyper transition, five bells would have been general quarters.

  "Bring ship rotation to a halt."

  "Bringing rotation to a halt, Sir."

  Jan felt the ship shudder as thrusters acted to slow the rotation of the ship. She noticed a slight shove to one side in her chair, and saw the rotation of the stars in the display slow down and ultimately stop. As they did, the gravity slowly went away until she was in zero-g again.

  "Rotation stopped, Sir."

  "Stow cylinders."

  "Stowing cylinders, Sir."

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

  "Cylinders stowed and latched, Sir."

  "Connect and seal cross corridors."

  More distant mechanical sounds.

  "Cross corridors connected and sealed, Sir. Cross corridors pressurized. Pressure check passed."

  "Release cross corridors locks."

  "Cross corridor locks released, Sir."

  "Configure drive for normal space."

  "Configuring drive for normal space, Sir."

  Jan watched some sort of indicator on a nearby display come up from a low red level, through orange and yellow into green.

  "Drive configured. Drive levels nominal, Sir."

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

  "Yes, Sir. Thrust slowly to 10%."

  Jan felt her weight start to increase as the thrust was increased. She thought she was at about ten or twenty percent g when Kwasniewski reported.

  "Thrust at 10%, Sir."

  "Rear view on screen."

  The camera view on the screen switch to a view of Earth, starting to recede behind them.

  "Navigation. Go ahead, Mr. Takahashi."

  "Bring us to two-three-five minus zero-three-zero on the planet," Takahashi said.

  "Coming to two-three-five minus zero-three-zero on the planet," Kwasniewski said.

  The image of the Earth slid off to the lower left of the screen as the ship made its turn down and clockwise in the ecliptic.

  "Steady on two-three-five minus zero-three-zero," Kwasniewski said.

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

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

  Jan felt the apparent gravity increase gradually to one g. She watched the Earth moving back toward the center of the screen as it receded in the display.

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

  "Excellent, Mr. Kwasniewski. Stand down from maneuvering."

  "Standing down from maneuvering, Sir," Stewart said.

  The low-g warning light on the bulkhead shut-off and a soft ding-ding sounded from the alarm system. Stewart unstrapped herself and moved about, checking displays and chatting with individual bridge crew members. She walked back to the captain to report. At one point, she and the captain both looked over at Jan, staring at the display screen with the Earth falling farther and farther behind them, the tears running down her face ignored.

  "Homesickness already?" Lutzdorf said in an aside to Stewart.

  "No, Sir. Joy. Pure joy."

  Senior Chief Petty Officer Maximillian Voipers was holding forth in the Chief's Mess. His given name was Maximillian, but no one ever called 'Max Viper' anything other than 'Senior Chief' except here in the Chief's Mess, known as the Goat Locker, where the other chiefs called him Max. He was one of nine senior chiefs on the Aquitaine, had more stripes than the other eight, and was the leader of the Goat Locker. Most of the nine senior chiefs and thirty-six chiefs on the Aquitaine were present.

  "All right, you guys, listen up. I'm gonna be showin' a guest around below decks, and I want you all to tell your monkeys to behave themselves. She's bein' ferried to Sigurdsen for OCS, but she's already been sworn, so she's one of us.

  "Now she might look like she's only fourteen, and malnourished to boot, but that's only because she really is fourteen and malnourished. She came out of the slums of old Earth back there, passed the exam, and oathed up. Ya gotta respect that. And she's already taken plenty o' lumps in that shithole. More'n any of us. It's amazin' she survived. She don't need no more o' that.

  "Somethin' else ya gotta know. The XO told me she creamed the Exam. Blew the brains test out o' space, and went on to teach the computer how to do math'matics. She's contracted for OCS, Tac 1 and Tac 2, a PhD in math, and God knows what else. Oh, and she asked for UCS, too, so she's got spunk.

  "So you get the word out. Anybody gives her any grief, he's gonna get a visit from me. But that'll be the least of his worries, 'cause if she goes the way the XO thinks she's gonna go, ten, fifteen years down the road she could be his ship's captain. And if you don't think women got long memories, ask your wife about that time you got drunk at her sister's weddin'."

  Voipers looked over to the table where the four female senior chiefs on the Aquitaine always sat, and addressed one in particular.

  "Ain't that right, Peg?"

  "Betcher ass, Max," Senior Chief Petty Officer Margaret Cho said.

  It was much easier to get around o
n ship now the crew quarters cylinders were rotated flush to the ship and the cross-corridors connected. You could walk completely around decks 2, 4, 6, and 8, where the cross-corridors were. As for the odd-numbered decks, going from deck 1 in one cylinder to deck 1 in another, for example, was only one flight up, over, and one flight down.

  Jan could see the logic in the layout of the ship now, as officers were available to the departments they oversaw, and various departments were now closely connected to related departments in the other cylinders. The layout of the Aquitaine was clearly more designed to be underway than in orbit.

  Jan was given a tour of 'below decks' by Senior Chief Voipers, the senior non-com on the Aquitaine. It felt a little weird for the big, gruff senior chief to address her as Ma'am and Ms. Childers all the time, but he set the tone for every other rating on board the Aquitaine. Not even through OCS yet, Jan was being treated like an officer by her shipmates, even below decks.

  It went a long way toward making her feel welcome in the CSF.

  After forty hours of acceleration, the Aquitaine crossed the system periphery. Jan was back on the bridge for the transition to hyperspace. Everyone was in their positions as before, but the level of tension was higher.

  "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."

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

  "Reduce normal space thrust to zero, Mr. Kwasniewski."

  "Reducing normal space thrust to zero, Sir."

  Jan felt her apparent weight decreasing, until she was weightless again. She had been warned – she had taken her pill.

  "Normal space thrust at zero, Sir."

  "Flip ship, Mr. Kwasniewski."

  "Flipping ship, Sir."

  The star field slide vertically across the display as the ship flipped end for end.

  "Flip complete, Sir."

  "Engineering. Reconfigure drive for transition."

  "Reconfiguring, Sir."

  That was Lieutenant Commander Mei, the engineering officer, whom Jan had met yesterday.

  "Drive reconfigured for transition, Sir."

  "Confirm close 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.

  "Hyperspace field bubble forming.

  "Hyperspace field bubble stable.

  "Activating forward thrusters at 10%.

  "Entering hyperspace field bubble."

  Jan felt a slight tingle run along her nerves. Maybe it was her imagination. The view of Earth on the display blanked out. It was just, well, blank. The Aquitaine had left normal space.

  "Aquitaine completely enclosed in the bubble. Ramping up power to the field generator.

  "Hyperspace field bubble expansion within nominal values.

  "Hyperspace field bubble attenuating and merging to hyperspace. Shutting down hyperspace field generator.

  Jan felt for an instant like her stomach tried to do a somersault, then it was gone.

  "Hyperspace merge complete. Hyperspace transition sequence complete, Sir."

  "Nicely done, Mr. Kwasniewski. Reconfigure display to forward view, hyperspace representation."

  The display came alive again, but it was an animation now, generated by the computer based on their hyperspace navigation.

  "Display reconfigured, Sir," Stewart said.

  "Flip ship, Mr. Kwasniewski."

  "Flipping ship, Sir."

  The animation slid vertically across the display as the ship flipped end for end.

  "Flip complete, Sir."

  "Configure drive for hyperspace."

  "Configuring drive for hyperspace, 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-eight-seven mark zero-one-five on galactic center," Takahashi said.

  "Coming to zero-eight-seven mark zero-one-five on galactic center," Kwasniewski said.

  The image in the display slid to the right and up as the ship maneuvered, along with annotated icons representing the positions of possible destinations. It stopped when one icon, labeled Jablonka, centered in the screen.

  "Steady on zero-eight-seven mark zero-one-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."

  After a couple of days, Jan was crawling the walls with boredom. She was still studying OCS materials, but there were a lot of hours in the day, and she didn't want to spend them all in the VR. She crossed over to below decks, and asked for Senior Chief Voipers.

  Jan found Voipers in his responsibility area, environmental.

  "Hello, Ms. Childers."

  "Hi, Senior Chief. I have a request to make. I am going plain stir-crazy. Is there something I can do on the ship to help out?"

  "Well, you're a guest, Ma'am. You don't have to work."

  "Senior Chief, I am oath-sworn to CSF. I owe my allegiance, and probably my life, to CSF. I don't like to be dead weight. What can I do to help?"

  "Well, I don't know, Ma'am."

  "If I were fresh out of basic training, what would be my rate?"

  "Going into OCS, you would be a PO2, Petty Officer 2nd Class."

  "But I don't deserve that. What's the lowest rate?"

  "Seaman Recruit."

  "That sounds like me. Seaman Recruit Childers reporting for duty, Senior Chief. What is my duty station?"

  Voipers looked at her for several seconds, then slowly started to nod his head. He walked over to the comm on the bulkhead, and punched a combination.

  "Cho here."

  "Hi, Peg. Voipers. Our guest wants to start her duty now. You got something for Seaman Recruit Childers to do up there?"

  "We can always use hands, Max."

  "I'll send her up. Voipers out."

  Jan reported to Cho in the galley. The sheer scope of a kitchen that fed eight hundred officers and crew three times every day was astounding.

  "So you wanna work, Childers?"

  "I want to earn my keep, Senior Chief. I'm nobody's burden. I won't be dead weight."

  "Seaman Recruits don't get any glamour jobs."

  "Senior Chief, three weeks ago I was dressed in rags eating garbage while hiding in a dumpster. You don't have any jobs that can put me off."

  "There's no special treatment down here, Childers."

  "I don't expect any, Senior Chief. I don't want any."

  "All right. Well, we've got work to do, that's for sure. Come with me."

  They walked across the galley to where a crew was whittling away at a mountain of breakfast dishes, pots, and pans. Cho talked to the Petty Officer 3rd Class who kept the process moving.

  "Pulaski, I got anothe
r warm body for you. Seaman Recruit Childers. Work up a duty schedule for her. No special treatment."

  "Sure, Senior Chief. We can always use help. Come on, Childers."

  As the senior non-com aboard, Voipers had regular meetings with the XO. At their next meeting, Stewart asked him about Jan.

  "What's this I hear about Childers being on kitchen duty?"

  "Childers came to me and asked how she could help, Ma'am. I put her off. Guest, you know. Doesn't need to work. She wouldn't have it. Said she was oath-sworn to CSF, owed CSF her life in fact, and demanded to be treated like the lowest rate, right out of basic. I sent her to Senior Chief Cho, and she put her on Pulaski's crew, washing dishes."

  "How's she working out? You heard anything back?"

  "I sort of kept an eye on the situation, Ma'am. Pulaski couldn't be happier. Said she works hard, and crazy enough actually seems to enjoy it. She seems to enjoy being a member of a team with a job to do."

  "OK, I can see how that would be. All right. I was about to jump all over you on this one, Senior Chief, but actually I think this is perfect. Keep an eye on it for me, though, would you?"

  "Yes, Ma'am."

  "Senior Chief," Chief Petty Officer Ivan Roberts said.

  "Hi, Roberts. Whatcha got?" Cho said.

  "We've got a tool somebody dropped, and nobody can reach. It's a beam-focus adjuster, so it's non-magnetic, and even a remote grabber can't get at it. We can't leave it there, but it means disassembling the whole side of the machine to get at it."

  "That sucks."

  "Yeah, I know. But I was wondering. Can I borrow Childers for an hour? Maybe she can get at it."

  "Sure. Go for it."

  Cho walked over to the comm and punched a combination.

  "Pulaski here."

  "Cho here. Pulaski, can you spare Childers for an hour?"

  "Sure, Senior Chief. I'll send her over."

  Jan showed up and she set off with Roberts. They went over into Weapons Systems Control. Roberts explained the problem.

  "So do you think you can get in there far enough to grab it with this?"

  He held out a remote grabber about three feet long with a long cord tied to the end.

  "Well, I'll try. Probably need somebody to pull me back out, though."

  "That we can manage."