Wills looked down and let out a long breath before looking back at the screen, “Repairing those reactors would take a couple of weeks and replacing them a couple of months, so, either way, it’s a losing proposition. Okay, Amanda, get yourself and your crew over to the Weasel; you have about two hours before we lift off.”
Wills smiled at the screen, “You won’t be a ship’s Captain, but maybe I can put you in charge of the kitchen.”
Kraigor grinned back, “No problem, sir, I’ve never set foot on a Rhino; I’ll need a map to find a washroom.”
Wills smiled and nodded as she cut the connection, “Well, at least the Streak was one of the small ships.” He gave CeCe a questioning look, “Say, where are the nearest washrooms?”
She pointed at the two passageways behind the observer seating, “There are facilities at the near end of both passageways and two small crew accommodations with bunk, desk, and bath in each passage.”
Wills headed for one of them, “Back in a bit.”
#
Ten minutes later, Captain Helt came walking up one of the access ramps, “What do you want first, the good news or the bad news?”
CeCe and Wills exchanged a depressed look. Wills sighed, “Give me the bad news.”
“The people I had going over the lift ring found a good deal of corrosion throughout the system: support structure, induction links, coil liners; the whole thing. It’s not horrible, just bad, and they have been welding in extra supports for the last few hours. I, also, set them to installing strain gauges on all hull mounts.”
Helt tapped on one of the console system input pads; one of the screens at the back of the circle changed to a bar graph, “I’ve tied them into an open data channel. Keep power distortion across the ring within ten percent, do not exceed ninety percent of rated maximum power input, and everything should hold together. Remember that every important control system on this ship is up to, or exceeds, current standards, except for the lift ring. The Silverman has been programmed with those limits but does not have primary control of the ring; it only has control through the auto-pilot. The ring is still tied through the old stabilizer system for all close maneuvering.”
CeCe asked, hopefully, “You said something about good news?”
“Yes, provisioning is complete, and we seem to have most of what is going to be our crew aboard. Stoker and Treelam arrived an hour ago and have been given quarters on the top crew deck. The final work should be finished in an hour; after that, the ship is yours. Oh, the gear both of you sent for arrived and is in your quarters.”
Wills nodded, “Good; tell your people down on the strut platform that the crew from the Streak will be joining us. It looks like their reactors are out so they may as well come with us. And have someone bring our gear up here and put it in those quarters down the passage; we may as well camp out up here.”
Wills sat in the right-hand console chair and rubbed his eyes, “Normally, I’d be home now pouring a stiff one. Instead, I’m bolted into the biggest flying tin can humanity has ever built, getting ready to play space-cadet. That winery dedication is really beginning to look good now.”
“DOCTOR VICTORIA TREELAM AND DOCTOR ROLAND STOKER REQUEST ADMISSION TO THE BRIDGE DECK.”
The lifeless, metallic voice of the AI startled Wills, and he saw the smile cross Helt’s face, “God, that sounds like death warmed over; change that to something that sounds like this ship isn’t part of Satan’s fleet.”
To the ship he said, “AI, admit Treelam and Stoker.”
Helt was still smiling, “Hayes has a nice AI persona, but it may present more problems than solutions when we get the Foresters aboard. I’ll set it to something nice and neutral.”
Wills pivoted back and forth a couple of times before looking back at Helt, “When Commander Kraigor gets here from the Steak, have her and her first officer quartered in the two remaining rooms up here. Standing one on one watches might get a little tedious for just the two of us and they are probably the closest thing on this ship to acceptable bridge officers that aren’t needed somewhere else.”
Stoker and Treelam appeared out of a passage as Wills continued giving instructions to Helt, “Once we are underway and you judge things to be stable, set your people to instructing the new people about the ship’s systems. Divide them as you see fit to be deck guides for our passengers.”
Wills pointed at Stoker and Treelam who now stood inside the circle, “Doctors, you two know more about the Foresters than anyone on this ship. I want you two to hold classes for our crew and do your best to give them an idea of what to expect.”
Everyone nodded their agreement. Helt turned and headed for a passage, “I’m off for a final check. I’ll call.”
Stoker sat in one of the observer seats, “I guess I always knew this was a big ship; I just didn’t know how big.”
Victoria Treelam nodded in agreement, “It was very startling when the elevator entered the engineering area; I had a brief thought that we had exited the top of the ship. When will we be leaving?”
That brought Wills’ thoughts back to hard ground; he looked at the clock on the console, “Well, it’s 1737 now”; he turned his chair to face CeCe, “what have we forgotten?”
CeCe scanned the board and then the circle of screens, “Well, provisioning is finished, fuel, water, and oxygen tanks are full,” she waved a hand at a couple of the screens, “the clutter under the ship is nearly cleaned up, not that it really matters,
