“Attention, passenger, the shuttle has completed it’s final approach and has docked with the station. You will disembark now.”
The harsh static sound of the intercom and the abrupt tone of the captain broke the silence of the near empty passenger section of the tiny spacecraft, and started the sole occupant out of his comfortable nap. Joe Nier, 2nd grade plasmatics engineer for Spaceys (“It’s the rest of the best!”), had arrived at his latest assignment. He stood up and stretched, his hands brushing against the low ceiling of the cabin, then lifted his duffel from under his seat and made his way towards the airlock. Space Station 11 awaited.
Joe was a very tall, very thin man of middle age. A pale, bald man with a pair of round rimmed glasses, he resembled a birdlike professor from an old fashioned college more than an engineer. As he stepped out onto the concourse, he immediately noticed the discolouration of corrosion on the metal walkways, as well as a number of stains varying in colour, which looked like they had been left to dry out by themselves rather than cleaned. This was already looking wonderful.
Sighing, Joe shook his head and walked towards customs, a lone figure in a passenger lounge designed for hundreds. As he approached customs, he noticed the security guard lowering his legs from his desk and hurriedly shifting a stack of magazines into the desk cupboard.
“Hi there.” Joe said with a smile, waiting patiently as the security guard put himself into something resembling a professional posture. Once this had been done, the blond man looked up at Joe, slightly embarrassed, then coughed.
“Good day sir and welcome to Space Station 11.” he quoted from a rulebook, “Please declare your purpose and any contraband cargo you are carrying, which we will store until your departure.” the guard then gave a small sigh and rolled his eyes.
“Sorry about that bud, regulations. You the new engineer?” At Joe’s grunt of affirmation he tapped into his desk terminal and looked up the relevant memo.
“Joe Nier? Good to meet you, I’m Customs agent Aaron Martins.” He stepped out from behind his desk and stood in front of Joe, looking short by comparison, even at 180cm. They reached out and shook hands.
“We’ve really been needing someone like you. Glad to have you aboard.” Joe looked back at the concourse and grunted.
“No offence, but it looks like you need maintenance more than engineering.” Aaron sighed,
“We need both, but your problem is bigger. Y’see I dunno if they told you this in the brief but our old reactor’s hit end of life 3 years ago, and she’s starting to act up a lot. Need someone with some real fusion know-how to get her up and stable again.”
Joe winced, this was something they’d want a serious specialist for not just some line technician with no ambition.
“That may be above my pay grade, Aaron, I’m just a 2nd class plasmatics engineer. I can fix some pipes and replace a coolant rod or two but fixing a whole reactor is something you want the chief engineer on.”
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Aaron’s smile turned slightly sinister as he motioned Joe towards the screen.
“You didn’t read the brief, did you?”
Joe stepped up to the desk, glancing down at the stack of old fashioned paper magazines (oh lord was that xeno porn?) before looking at the screen. His jaw dropped. This had NOT been in the briefing. All he’d gotten was a notification to report to his new berth... but he’d have to check the papers later just in case he was blind.
=== Spaceys - The Rest of the Best! ===
OFFICIAL MEMO OF PROMOTION FOR DELIVERY TO NIER, J.
Hello, Joseph!
We are glad to inform you that, effective as of your boarding Spaceys Space Station ID SS-11, you are promoted to Chief Station Engineer! We understand that this promotion is sudden, but due to a lack of available personnel and the relative priority of your destination assignment, it has been decided that it would be most suitable to make you the highest authority figure in SS-11’s Engineering hierarchy. Your responsibilities will of course be expanded to fit your new role, and we are certain you will excel in your new position.
Additional remuneration will not be provided as you were unavailable for negotiations. Back pay as well as danger pay can be negotiated once you have successfully passed a probation period of two months.
We wish you the greatest of success in your new role, and know that you will excel in the Spaceys tradition of being the Rest of the Best!
Kind Regards,
HR Intelligence ICQ-1337-455
Joe’s vision constricted. He’d heard of this. Management would decide a station wasn’t required and start removing people from critical postings, replacing them with people under-trained and unprepared for the nightmare that resulted. Eventually the station would either blow itself up, or it would make itself profitable enough to get priority. Either way business won. He’d just never expected to be one of those, comfortable as he was in a low-pressure job with only the occasional bouts of screaming panic or terror.
Aaron put a hand to Joe’s back and supported him to a seat. He waited patiently for the hyperventilating to stop then stepped up.
“Listen, I know it’s tough, but you’re all we got. There’s a pretty bad situation down there in the reactor and we kinda need it looked at.” Joe saw the man’s forehead acquire a gleam as he started sweating.
“To be honest we don’t even know how long it’s got till she blows. Most of the dials in the control room are green but some are red and some are yellow and they all have important sounding words on the label. I dunno, I’m just a customs agent.”
Joe calmed down quickly as he realised how serious it could be. The station was already falling apart, a reactor meltdown wouldn’t destroy the station but it would render it dead in space, which meant everyone on it was dead anyway. He took a deep breath.
“Okay fine, introduce me to whoever’s in charge.”
As they turned to enter the dilapidated station, there was a loud ding on the station intercom.
“Shuttle has departed the station.”
He hoped it wasn’t the last time he’d hear that.