Rust Bucket (4 page)

      It only took a few trips back and forth between Gabriel, along with the shore leave, for me to finish up the half-year I had been deprived of from my third-year classes. I even sent the lessons, that the work entailed, back to the Sarge for him to critique or grade, if he was so inclined. If nothing else, I wanted to let him know that I was actually doing the class work from the textdisks and trying to learn. He didn't send me any remarks about how well I was doing on the work until I finished that half-year of classwork. Then I got a note saying that the fourth-year textdisks would be forthcoming and encouraging me to keep up my efforts because I wouldn't be disappointed.

***

Not too long after that, I got promoted to Gunner First Class and moved to a Mark III quad because of my gunnery skills. We had another skirmish with a pirate whom we destroyed. The combat videos revealed that not only had I hit the pirate, but that it was my shots that destroyed him. The bonuses I got were enough to swell my credits to where I could leave my job and not do anything else for the next two years. There was also another salary increase with the promotion. I was feeling real good about myself and applied myself even more to my books. It was starting to look very possible for me to someday be the captain of a gun ship. Certainly, the Sarge had been right in stating that I would see more action there than anywhere else. Not only that, I felt good about what I was accomplishing.

The Navy announced the discovery of a new planet along with the important discovery of the first intelligent alien life form. Because of the discovery, diplomats went into action. They soon started negotiations to put trade agreements into effect and work out various problems and such that diplomats normally do. If nothing else, the entire galaxy, let alone the business community, was abuzz with the news. Every business saw a chance for profit in dealing with those new people who weren't too unlike ourselves in biological terms. Save for their blue skin and the fact that they weren't as technologically advanced, they were just like us in temperament, personalities, and the placement of vital organs.

      Of course, they were far off the beaten path, so any company having business dealings was going to have to use a shipping company that had armed escorts available, especially if the cargo was valuable. Because those discovered people were new to all this, it meant that some commodities suddenly became more valuable simply because the Blues, as they became known commonly, were willing to pay for those things with cargoes that were just as valuable to us. Pennyweight Shipping Company got one of the cargo runs that were granted by both governments. That meant that the
Thurman
was going to have to include a run to their planet once each month in addition to our run to Gabriel.

      Even though the Blues were very much like us, they still had major cultural differences. Shore leaves on their planet wouldn't be happening until the differences were fully understood and we could be briefed properly so that we wouldn't create a diplomatic incident. If nothing else, it meant that some of the other crew members would be forced to save some of their pay that they would have otherwise spent on having a good time. For me, it made no difference. I spent very little time on shore when not in space. I was trying to complete my fourth-year classwork.

      Because of my studies, I was granted an upgraded badge that allowed me to do some of my work on the bridge of the
Thurman
while it wasn't involved in a critical procedure. I imagine that it was probably the Sarge's efforts again that got me that privilege since I didn't tell anyone in the company that I was studying. I only know that I got a call while on Beulah to report to Jim in the office and he asked for my badge. For a moment, the look on his face betrayed nothing. I thought that I was being fired. I took off the badge with some reluctance and handed it over, thinking that my world was about to crumble, again. I was about to take off the gunbelt and return it as well when he held out his other hand with the upgrade badge while he smiled at me. Then he only said, "Wear it in good health. We're rooting for you." I felt more embarrassed then than I had the first time in the shower with Wellesley. I numbly accepted the new badge and placed it in position carefully as if it were made of delicate, expensive crystal before saying thanks and returning to the ship to resume my studies.

***

Somehow, I expected it to happen and I wasn't wrong. Our company received the salvage rights to the second pirate ship as well. It took a few months for the ship to be recovered and then rebuilt into another gunship. Of course, part of what I expected to happen was for us and the
Edmund
to have to transfer some of our crew members over to the new ship in order to man her with some experienced people. I almost got selected to go to the smaller ship, but for some reason I wasn't. I wouldn't have objected since it would have been an opportunity for me to work with another size gun ship and perhaps pick up some more education along the way. It might have led to a more rapid promotion for me. Instead, our ship gave up the lion's share of personnel to help man the new ship, though I stayed on board the
Thurman.
We saw a whole new influx of personnel to replace those people who moved over.

      She was commissioned as the
Theodore
and took over the Gabriel route since it was a shorter route. We faced both her and the
Edmund
in mock-battles, winning three out of three, even when it was two to one. I guess it was when she was commissioned that the company's fortunes took a turn for the worse. The
Theodore
only lasted three months before it was taken by pirates. From what we learned later, she was captured almost without damage because they managed to get some people on board as part of her new crew.

      When she was lost, our ship resumed working the Gabriel route as well as the monthly Blues route. To say that we were hustling all the time to keep both routes running smoothly was an understatement. We also went through a personnel adjustment to make sure that we didn't have anyone unsavory on board who might have slipped through at the same time. I'll admit I didn't mind seeing one or two of the personnel, whom we had, given the boot. They didn't strike me as caring about the work they were doing. I think our efficiency went up as a result. Certainly our morale improved after the devastating loss of the
Theodore.
But it wasn't the end to our problems.

      The former
Theodore
was later fought by the
Edmund.
Both ships were damaged, though the former
Theodore,
then a pirate, escaped without taking any of the
Edmund's
convoy. It did put the
Edmund
into repairs. We were once again covering all the routes. For the next three months, we sweated it as we covered all the routes as best we could while seeing some valuable cargoes go to other shipping companies because we couldn't cover them all. Then the shit really hit the fan.

      We were three days out on the Blues route when the former
Theodore
showed up again. We immediately went to battle stations. I had just gotten out of the shower with Sarah. We were each clad only in our mesh undies when the alarm went off. We dashed off as we were. I had a premonition or gut feeling then that we were in for a bad one again as I reached my Mark III quad and slipped into the gunner's seat while hitting the exposure button that slid the panel out of the way. I was firing at the former
Theodore
immediately. My second shot hit her, damaging her badly. At the same time, I felt the vibrations of a hit from her on our ship. I only hoped it wasn't the shower again, not that I was naked this time, but I was nearly so. My fourth shot also hit the former
Theodore
squarely. It was enough, I noticed, to damage her engines so that she wasn't going to perform any more evasive actions against us. I felt a couple more vibrations in the
Thurman
from more hits before my sixth shot hit and ripped the former
Theodore
apart, stopping them from shooting and hitting us anymore. Battle stations ended. I pressed the exposure switch to shut the panel that hid the Mark III quad from sight. Then I made my way amidst some smoke back to the shower area, which thankfully wasn't hit, and put the rest of my clothes on beside Sarah who was actually putting on more than I was.

      "Last time we were hit," I said to her, "they hit the shower. I had to do everything on board for two days without a stitch of clothing on. I guess I got lucky this time that they didn't hit the shower again."

She nodded and continued dressing.

***

We weren't so lucky that time. We were moving at full speed, though the engines weren't running. We couldn't steer or use the engines to reverse the thrust so that we could stay with the convoy. The onboard intercom was in shambles. It took almost a half-hour for the news to reach us all that we were trying to effect repairs. In the meantime, we were headed away from the convoy, whether we wanted to or not. The best we were able to do was notify the convoy by lightbeam radio of our condition and wish them the best of luck as we started working desperately on the damage.

      The lead freighter sent back a message wishing us good luck and letting us know they'd inform the company of our actions. There was no way they could possibly catch up to us. Interplanetary engines like ours were too expensive to put on every ship. We were going at a speed they couldn't even hope to match, so there was no way for them to have sent one or more of themselves along with us to help out with the repairs. I was already beginning to wish the showers had taken the hit again.

      For myself, I had considerable work to do in hydroponics if we were to survive over a long term. My job was crucial for such events as that. More than one ship's crew died for lack of food when they had almost everything else. Anyway, hydroponics wasn't in too bad a condition because of the battle. Most everything stayed in place. What little that spilled was easily taken care of by me over the next two hours. My report to the Captain indicated that we were in good shape and could depend on our hydroponics to see us through for long term survival.

      The other reports weren't as encouraging. It took almost two days to get the repairs to some of the ship's systems made. The rest of the needed repairs would require us to set down somewhere to make them if we were to make our way back to our world. We still didn't have steering but we did have some control of the engines so that we could adjust our speed. I also learned that we lost half a dozen lives in the battle. It might seem cold-hearted, but we recycled their bodies into the ship's recycling system. Had we been able to return to our port immediately, we would have kept the bodies for next of kin. However, we weren't in that condition. Under the prevailing laws of space, we did what we had to do. Thankfully, I wasn't in recycling any longer, but the next time I saw Sarah, I could see a difference in her attitude and behavior. She appeared shocked, saddened, and maybe a little haunted.

      Having control over our speed was the only thing that kept us alive for the next week as we dodged a few asteroids by adjusting our speed so that they passed us safely. There was only one direction that couldn't be avoided, but the chances of a perfect head on collision with an asteroid were very small. All of us pitched in to work on what repairs could be made while still in space. Eventually, after a week, we had enough repairs made so that we would be able to take advantage of the next planet we came across that had a breathable atmosphere and set down to finish our work. All we needed was a planet with a breathable atmosphere and it had to be along our current course. That wasn't to happen as soon as we wanted.

      By the time we had full engine control, we were already out of the known or explored areas of space and those were newly explored at that. Our navigator did her best to keep track of our course. I found myself helping out during my spare time when I pursued my studies. We were almost another four weeks out before we sighted a suitable planet and started slowing down to take advantage of it.

I have to admit, I've not quite seen a pilot as good as Frank in getting the 
Thurman
down to where the tiny thruster jets could be used to give us maneuverability. Even so, it was one of the scariest landings I've ever made. That was just the prelude to what would happen to us. The
Thurman
shook and rattled more than it ever did as Frank eased the ship down from orbit with little or no maneuverability to land just shy of a swamp in a small, or so it seemed from above, clearing surrounded by the swamp, a river and forest.

***

The first thing that Captain Marble did was have atmosphere testing equipment sent out to make sure our readings from space were correct. We didn't want to go out and find out too late that there was also poison in the otherwise breathable atmosphere which would kill us. If worst came to worst, we could probably lift off again, provided we were careful and lucky.

      When she got the readings, the Captain put our plans into action. Frank was concerned about the ground being too soft. For that reason, a lot of us were issued axes and chainsaws. We went to the forest to start chopping away to get enough logs to build a supporting structure to keep the ship upright for launch.

      It wasn't that we couldn't launch the ship from its side, but to do that, the ship would have to be let down or fall. Since we didn't have the tools to build anything capable of supporting the ship and easing it down on its side, the only way for that to happen was for it to fall. In the ship's current condition, a fall would probably maroon us by causing major structural damage that we had no way of repairing. As it was, we knew we would be on the planet for several months just to repair the damage to the steering. That was going to be difficult to do by itself because of our landing. The only advantage the upright landing gave us was the ability to use all our shipboard weapons to defend ourselves with.