I was just finishing up a light bit of routine work in the Cargo Bay when a ticket flashed onto my Analyzer’s screen with an orange light. I glanced up at Mack, who was whistling a cheerful tune while using the degreaser on the cargo crane’s steel tracks. I spoke loudly, “Hey Mack, the heating table in the Officers’ dining area went out. They need it fixed ASAP. I don’t see Steve online, and I don’t have access to that area.”
Steve was a slow riser and usually didn’t show up for another half hour, but keeping the Officers happy kept Steve happy, which was an important detail since his best friend was my Overseer.
Mack called down, “Steve is still in the Medical Bay. I have to continue working on this, but I will contact one of the Officers to give you access to that dining area.”
I had not been aware that Steve was still in the Medical Bay. “Is Steve okay?”
“He hit his head and has a bit of a concussion, so they are keeping him there for a while longer.”
“Okay. Mind if I pop by on my way there and leave him a get-well card?” He was either seriously injured or the Medical Bay had no other patients. Those medics liked to dote on people, and it was a pretty good bet that Steve was milking it for everything he could. The card was a good excuse to check if he was going to be ‘incapacitated’ for just a day or an entire week.
“Sure. Tell him that I will come visit him once I finish this, but it will take me almost all day.”
“I will let him know. If he has his communication device, you two can probably still talk as you work. I think I know how to establish a live link, but it won’t last more than a day.”
He looked at me in surprise. “You know how to set up a live link? I tried setting it up before, but never managed it. I will leave my line open, so you can give it a shot. It will probably be a relief for him to have someone to talk to.”
“I will try, and if it doesn’t work, I will let you know.”
A live link was close to a true telephone call, not like the communication device’s usual transmissions where it recorded everything before sending it. A communication device allowed you to stop a transmission before it was sent, which was a great feature, but it wasn’t good for long idle conversations.
Live links were not encouraged on spaceships during work shifts, but that rule was not enforced on this ship, so it was just the difficulty of setting up the live link that prevented most people from even attempting it.
I jogged down the corridor, being careful at intersections so I didn’t bump into anyone. The Cargo Bay really was a long ways away from most areas on the ship and walking always seemed to take too long.
I slowed as I entered the Medical Bay. A lady in a white medical uniform smiled as she greeted me, “Good morning! How are you doing today?”
I ignored the faint pressure at the front of my head. “I am doing well, thank you. I just dropped by to see Steve.”
“Certainly, he is awake right now. He is in room one.”
Room one for a concussion that occurred two days ago… Oh yeah, they must be bored. Steve looked up as I stood tentatively in the open doorway and greeted me fairly merrily, “Hi Rookie, fancy seeing you here. What did you break?”
I ignored the name that he had picked up from Mack. The day I left, chances were that they wouldn’t even remember my name unless they saw it on the tickets I had closed.
They didn’t even have the scanners monitoring him, which was a clear sign that the medics were allowing him to stay here just to keep them from going crazy with boredom. “Mack asked me to drop off this get-well card until he can drop by. He has to regrease the crane’s tracks, so he won’t be in for some time. He also asked me to see if I can establish a live link between your communication devices if you feel up for idle talk.”
His eyes lit up. “That would be great!” He peeled his communication device off of his shirt and handed it to me. I took the oval-shaped item that wasn’t much bigger than my palm. Its surface was the color of dull silver with the swirling indentations of the Tyndel’s logo, denoting which ship he belonged to.
I pulled out my Analyzer and connected it to the device as I started bypassing several pieces of software that were there to prevent people from doing this exact thing. It didn’t take long, soon there was just one thing left to do to connect them. I unplugged the device from my Analyzer since I no longer needed it for the rest of this process.
I pressed the transmit button on my own communication device. “Rachel to Mack.” Beep.
“Hey Mack, I almost have it set up. If your hands aren’t too dirty, I will need you to press the transmit button for ten seconds at the same time I press it on Steve’s device. Please let me know when you are ready.”
It took a few seconds before Mack replied, “Let me know when.”
“From the end of this transmission, count to five. At that point, hold it for at least ten seconds.”
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One, two, three, four, five… I held the button down on Steve’s communication device as I counted to ten. I released the button and the device beeped three times before I could hear faint breathing on the line. I inquired, “Can you hear me?”
“Yep. Thanks for setting this up, Rookie.”
That guy really knew how to offset his low-key gratitude with a faint insult. I passively handed the communication device back to Steve. Steve took it with a big grin, speaking into his device. “I hear you are playing in the rafters while pretending to be a grease monkey.”
“Hey, I do have to work for my keep you know…”
I left the room and its oblivious occupant. Hopefully, this would keep both of them in a better mood. A quick check of my Analyzer showed that Mack had already contacted an Officer and updated my access.
I blinked and took a closer look at the access update. :As per request of Cargo Bay Overseer, Rachel Wanderer has access to all rooms on level two, with the exception of personal quarters.:
Either Mack planned to have me do more of Steve’s work or the wording had been an accident on his part. I suspected the latter case since Mack’s way with words left something to be desired, and he probably assumed that they would check the work tickets to see which ‘area’ he had been referring to.
I wasn’t about to comment on it. It was best to let sleeping dogs lie, and Mack would probably forget to even mention the ticket to Steve. I intended to go to that level as little as humanly possible. Some of the Officers on this ship were observant, and I really didn’t want to have to answer too many questions about why a Cargo Bay Assistant was fixing things on their level where they may be talking about confidential subjects.
I walked slowly and steadily through the level two corridors to avoid any notice, but so far, I hadn’t seen anyone. I checked the map on my Analyzer to ensure I had the right room before I approached the door. It opened the moment I was within range and the smell of cooking food told me I was at the correct place. The smells of steak, lasagna, and other fancier foods were a far cut above the questionable slop served in the assistants’ dining area.
The cook in the attached kitchen immediately noticed me and frowned in faint confusion. “Where is Steve?”
Bowing slightly, I replied, “Good morning, sir. Steve is in the Medical Bay for observation and is unable to come.”
He sighed gustily. “Fine. As long as you can fix it, that is all I care about.” He gestured to the serving table that already held half a dozen food trays. “It just stopped working this morning, and it is the only heating table in this section. We need it working before the Officers come for lunch.”
I walked over and scanned the desk-sized appliance. :Heating converter connections need to be cleaned. Maintenance required immediately.: It was also kind enough to post a diagram of where this connection was located.
This machine kept warm food from getting cold, and some words would be said if the Officers had to eat cold food. I opened up the panel on the back of it and bit back an exclamation of disbelief.
Everything was covered with a film of grease. I understood that food meant grease and food buildup, but there was routinely scheduled maintenance for this to be cleaned on a regular basis. Had the automatic reminder in the calendar failed?
I pulled up the schedule, but saw that the calendar had created the regular maintenance work tickets as it was supposed to. Each ticket had been closed by Steve before 10 am. The last one proclaimed that it had been done last week. This thing had clearly not been cleaned in years. Bloody hell, he has just been closing the tickets – and now I have to deal with his stupidity!
Had Steve been put into this situation, I would have thought it was poetic justice. But, due to his vacation in the Medical Bay, my head was now on the line. I was not impressed, although I didn’t let it show.
It would take hours to properly clean this thing, hours that I didn’t have. My mind quickly thought of a solution, and I checked my Analyzer before heading over to the cook. “It is really best if I take this to the Maintenance room down the hall. Can I possibly bring another food heater up from level five for today?”
He didn’t even glance up as he diced up expensive fruits. “No. The Captain insists that his food is kept warm with vibration heating converters so that there is no radiation of any kind. This is the only serving table on the ship with that type of heater.”
And this is so not my lucky day… “I will see if I can repair it as it is. What time later today will I be able to take the food heater for three hours for proper repair?”
“Not until 7 pm tonight. The Bridge crew members have staggered shifts, so someone comes in every hour until then. I need it back by 11 pm though, as there is a midnight shift.”
The Captain requires an entire table of food for a couple dozen people when a cook is present? I think it is a bit too late for the Captain to be worried about exposure to radiation that may come from a common heating lamp or electrical heater…
It severely annoyed me that I would have to give up my personal time to fix Steve’s long-term laziness, but I knew if I left it like this, my head would be rolling the next time it malfunctioned. The state of the panel clearly needed attention, and if I closed the last ticket, then they would be asking me why I had left it in this condition.
This was the first time in over a year that I had been required to put in hours outside of my work shift though. Cynthia often had to put in an hour or so every couple of weeks, as did most assistants, so it wasn’t exactly something I could complain about.
I went back to the heating table and pulled out a cleaning rag as I removed the various specialty fuses and polished them clean. One by one, I removed each of the dozen fuses and cleaned both them and their connections before putting them back.
One connector was badly corroded and needed replacing, but a check of the inventory on my Analyzer showed that we had none in stock. I gritted my teeth as I kept a patient expression on my face since it would be just my luck for an Officer to walk in and see me scowling at the troublesome machine. I put in a supply request for that part and marked it as medium priority, which was still a bit daring on my part. A food heater in no way counted as a necessity.
I cleaned that part as best I could, but the entire machine really needed a serious cleaning, and I wasn’t even sure it would work for another week in its current state. It was a minor miracle that it had worked for so long. A miracle that I wish didn’t have to end on my shift…
I turned it on and all six heaters started to heat up. I sighed in relief before heading over to the cook. I said, “I have it working, but keep an eye on it. I put in an order for the part it needs, but I am not sure if they will pick it up at the next port.”
The cook still didn’t glance up. “Fine. Is it working now?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good, now get your greasy hands away from my kitchen.”
And a good day to you too, sir… I walked out of the room, wanting to be gone before one of the high ranking crew members showed up.