always good, like reading and studying. Watching holos isn’t considered good form, but Brill would just ask you to put them away. If you’re gonna play with growing compounds though, I’d check with Big B. She’s the plant sciences expert, and it’s a good idea to keep the section chief informed about stuff like that.”
“Big B?”
She laughed. “Yeah, that’s Brill”
Three stans was a long time, and I had to find something to do. My tablet was okay, but I kept thinking about the courses in my duffel and my portable computer. I pulled up the Spacer’s Handbook and started researching the full share ratings. The Handbook was the encyclopedia for everything there was to know about life in the Deep Dark. It was huge and going through it all would take a lifetime, but it contained training material for each rating and practice tests to help get you prepared.
My original plan was to get a full share rating in each division as a kind of insurance policy to maximize employability. Having all the ratings would mean I would be qualified for just about any open slot. As I sat there, it seemed almost pointless and perhaps naive. There did not seem to be much likelihood of me getting stranded, and I could not imagine leaving the
She grinned. “In a heartbeat!”
“I’ve got sixty-eight days to study. Think I can do it by then?”
“Two months? Wow. That’s ambitious. It took me two tries, but I wasn’t working in environmental at the time.”
“What’s the downside? I skip the next test period and maybe hit the Union Hall at Betrus?”
“Yup,” Diane agreed. “That’s about it.”
I started reviewing the various environmental exam materials with Diane’s help. When the ship set normal watch, Francis showed me the log keeping functions, and we handed the duty off to Diane in time to catch some dinner. I was more than ready to get out of the section.
While waiting in the mess line, I saw Pip behind the serving station standing next to Sarah. She seemed like she was settling in well enough for having been aboard for such a short time. It was both good and strange to see Pip from this side of the line.
Pip waved when he saw me. “Hey, Ish! How’s life in engineering?”
“It’s still a little soon to tell, but I think it’ll be all right. I’m off now until 06:00. Wanna get together when you get cleaned up here?”
“You betcha. We’ve still got business to deal with from St. Cloud.”
After I ate, I stretched out in my bunk and read for a bit to let dinner settle. I did not want to repeat my mistake of running so soon after eating.
Around 19:30, I found myself beginning to nod off as I read, so I decided it was time to run. I was into my fourth lap when Rhon Scham caught up with me. Rhon was one of the watch standers and I was used to seeing her through bleary eyes when she woke me for mess duty. “Hi, Rhon.”
She gave me a friendly smile, and asked, “How’s life in engineering?”
“It’s a living. I think. It feels like I’ve been on duty for the last twelve stans, though. I’m off now until 06:00.”
She smiled. “Second section. Me, too.” We ran a half a lap before she continued, “Shifting from port-side duty to being underway is always a pain. You’re getting it over with early, though, so you’ll be in the groove sooner.”
“In the groove?”
“Yeah. Watch standing is boring and tedious, but it’s also crucial. These ships don’t fly themselves. When something goes wrong, the ship can tell you, but you need to interpret the data and take corrective action. Sometimes that means like RIGHT NOW!”
“I can buy that.”
“So, as time goes on, you get into the groove. Just like you’re probably used to getting up at 04:30 every morning. In a couple of days, you’ll be in sync with the new schedule. You’ll be in the groove.”
“What do you do on watch?”
“Sit, wait, study, read. It depends. The bridge is a pretty active place. We’re moving really fast and there are adjustments we need to make to the sails and keel, sometimes as much as several times in a stan. The solar wind isn’t constant and it’s not uniform. We find pockets and swirls that require us to pay attention to stay on course.”
“Sounds interesting,” I said, remembering my last watch with Francis.
“I’m building it up. Mostly it’ll make you numb from the sheer boredom.”
I chuckled and we ran our remaining laps in silence. When we were done, I waved to her and headed to the showers to rinse off before my sauna. I hoped I was not going to regret leaving the mess deck. At least there, I had Pip for amusement.
At 21:00 I headed over to deck berthing and ran into Pip and Sarah just getting in from the galley.
“How was your first full day, Sarah?” I asked.
Long,” she said shyly. “But fun in a way. I think I’m going to like it.”
She went on into the berthing area while Pip and I talked in the passage. “Well?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “I have no clue. She’s like a different person.”
“How’d she do?”
“Great! She catches on really fast and she has a knack with breads as you probably noticed with the biscuits.”
“Good. So, what about this yarn? You got a lot of it? Wanna give me a peek?”
Pip grinned and led me into deck berthing. He opened his locker and it was stuffed full. Then he opened the locker that went with the empty bunk under his, and it was full, too. I started laughing and then channeled Pip and his famous sayings. “My dog and her little puppies, Pip, how many are there?”
“One hundred skeins. Each one weighs two-hundred grams.”
“They sell it by weight?”
“Apparently. I shoulda talked to Sean a little more, I guess. I thought it would be by length or something awkward like that to calculate.”
“How much?”
“A hundred creds,” Pip said.
“A cred each?” I was in shock that we got such a good price.
Pip laughed. “Yeah, it’s insane, but that’s what they charged me. They were selling it for three in the booth, so either their markup was really high or they needed to clear some inventory.”
He closed the lockers, pulled out his tablet, and we settled in at the table.
“Okay, we’ve got a meeting scheduled with the Co-Op Steering Committee tomorrow afternoon, are you free?” Pip asked.
“Yup.”
“The preliminary numbers are that the booth’s take from the flea market trading was four hundred and twenty creds which will be split between the booth captains and the co-op. That’s more than enough to cover Dunsany Roads, so we’re good there.”
“I’m impressed. How’d you and I do?”
“I sold about three hundred and fifty of the stones with the leather thongs on them and all the belts and buckles. We’ve covered the costs for all the goods, so anything we sell is gravy at this point and we have a nice bit of a cushion to boot.”
He turned the tablet around so I could see his calculations, and I did a double take. The number at the bottom of the column was five thousand two hundred and elven.
“What? How!”
“Between the raw belts we sold at Margary, the ones with buckles we sold here, and a very large pile of small stones that’s what’s left. And get this…that’s AFTER I took out the costs of everything: the belts, buckles, stones, leather thong, and the yarn. Oh, and the dyes. They were cheap. I think twelve creds for the lot.”
