John felt the comment wasdirected at him.
“The Magellan crew lost theircaptain and their ship as well,” Dunlop deflected his intention. “I think aservice might be in order.”
John didn’t answer, focusing onhis drink.
“It’ll help everyone. Give themall a chance to express themselves and get stuff out of their system.”
A short message over the intercomand it was organised for the next day. John gave a small eulogy. He’dstruggled for hours that night thinking of something to say and ended up givingan unprepared speech. It appeared to have the desired affect. As he reflectedback on it later that day, he couldn’t remember a word of it.
Shock, Dunlop told him. He didhowever feel much better.
McReidy had wanted to say a fewwords regarding Magellan, only getting as far as, “I can’t do this.” Gillespieand Kowalski shook their heads, finding their boots of immense interest at themere suggestion of saying anything.
Red shared a few anecdotes abouthis fellow engineers, which brought awkward amusement and lightened the mood.
The tone of the ship lightened, asedative through the air system was not required and John found the courage tovisit Crocker and his fractured skull in sick bay.
* * *
As they neared Kuiper, Johnbecame anxious. He had one job left before they arrived. It was something hewished he could pass on to someone else – packing up the captain’s personalbelongings. Every time he had passed the captain’s quarters he had stopped atthe door, glanced hesitatingly at it, and changed his mind. Later, he hadthought. Now, he was running out of time. The newly assigned captain wouldexpect to move straight in.
With only a day to spare, Johnstood two metres from the door, his hands on his hips.
“This is ridiculous,” he toldhimself, shaking his head slightly. His mind made up, he stepped to the doorand opened it. The room smelt musty. He left the door open and turned on theventilation.
He had been in touch with Decker’sfamily and arrangements had been made for one of his brothers to collect thebelongings. All John had to do was pack and deliver them to the registrar.
First, he pulled the picturesdown from the wall and stacked them neatly on the desk. Then he seemed toswitch into automatic, sorting and packing without being fully aware of what hewas doing. He was in the middle of emptying out the desk drawers when McReidywalked in.
“I thought I might find youhere.”
“What’s wrong?” John asked,suddenly thinking there must be another minor crisis that needed sorting out.
“Nothing,” she answered, sittingdown in a chair similar to the one in the bridge office.
John sat on the corner of thedesk, the only clear spot he could find, and eyed her curiously.
“I thought you might like somecompany,” she explained, but went no further.
“Not at the moment. Maybe later,when I’m finished.” He looked around at the meagre possessions. “It’s notmuch to show for a lifetime, is it? A couple of boxes of stuff.”
“How long had he been here?”
“About eight or nine years. Witha name like Bismarck, he always thought she deserved better than transportingcargo.” John stood up and walked around behind the desk. Pulling out the nextdrawer, he upended it into the box he had been filling.
“Why are you tearing yourself upabout this?” she asked.
His mood changed instantly, hiseyes turned cold with guilt.
“Because it’s my fault,” came thehard answer. “He shouldn’t have been down there. It wasn’t hisresponsibility.”
“It was his choice.”
“Don’t you understand?” John’svoice was becoming louder. “As first officer, my first duty is to ensure thecaptain’s safety.”
She was on her feet; her voicematched his. “You think I don’t know that? I left Captain Barrett on thebridge to die so we could escape.”
“That was different.”
“Well you tell me how!”
They were in a stalemate. Eye toeye, separated only by a desk, as suppressed guilt and anger surfaced andslammed at each other.
McReidy was first to break away. She dropped her eyes and turned to the door.
“Hey,” John’s voice was onceagain soft. “I’m sorry.”
She turned back, met by anunconvincing reassuring smile.
“Truce?” he asked.
“Truce,” she agreed.
Back to top
Chapter four
John put the Kuiper space stationon the main screen. At first sight, it was a speck in space, increasing insize as they neared it until the ships coming and going looked like specks. Traffic was light. A couple of transports were running in the commerciallanes, but the station was full. All the external docking wings had shipshanging off them like flies. Carriers, cruisers, destroyers, frigates… Fleet’sbiggest and best were there with a purpose.
“What is going on?” Giacomolooked from the helm to the screen.
McReidy turned from navigation toJohn. He shook his head.
“Find out where they want us,Mister Gillespie,” John instructed.
“Yes, sir.” Gillespie contactedthe station and made the relevant inquiries. “Bay three. They want her beside Canberra.”
“Drop back to half speed,Giacomo,” John told the pilot.
“Half speed, sir. Moving up onbay three,” Giacomo acknowledged.
The main doors were open; thestation now filled the entire screen. As they cruised in, the doors closedbehind them and the airlock door opened. The internal lighting showed up likea runway.
“Quarter speed.”
“Quarter speed, sir.”
John was quiet for a momentbefore changing his mind. “Take her off auto and bring us in manually.”
Giacomo began to squirmuncomfortably in his chair. “I’ve never docked manually.”
“You’ve got to learn some time.”
Giacomo lifted his headmomentarily and mumbled something incomprehensible. John smiled.
“It’s all theory. I’ll take youthrough it. Cut main engines, bring her in on thrusters.”
Giacomo obeyed.
“Just let her glide. Whateveryou do, don’t hit Canberra.”
Theoretically, Giacomo knew howto dock. His responses to John’s instructions were automatic. They slid past Canberra and almost overshot the mark. Giacomo corrected, though they touched the dockwith too much forward momentum. Docking finished with a heavy jolt as the shipcame to rest.
“Sorry, sir,” Giacomo apologised.
“You’ll get better,” John toldhim.
Giacomo still had a strangle holdon the controls. He released his grip, looked at his sweaty palms and hurriedlywiped his hands on his thighs.
“Docking bay, this is Bismarck. We have landed,” John spoke evenly.
“Docking bay confirmed landing. Welcome home, Bismarck.”
John switched Kuiper off andswitched on the intercom. “Attention all crew. I want a security team onboard at all times. Make sure you have checked the roster.
