Aces (5 page)

“Er, ah, yeah.
Yeah, now that you mention it, yes, it is. Quite a coincidence, huh?”

“
Indeed.
That
’
s a real stroke of luck for them, that this
ship just happens to be carrying a man who knows how to keep a secondhand,
junker life support system running.”

“You know, I was
thinking the same thing.” Rick said innocently.

Joy picked up her
fork, stabbed a piece of chicken, and popped it in her mouth. “Honey, you are
going to help, aren
’
t you? To fix their system?”

It was Rick
’
s turn to be surprised. “I hadn
’
t, um-
“

”I can
’
t imagine the man I fell in love with to not volunteer to help,
in a case like this.”

“Well, I, I did.
It
’
s uh, Captain Schroeder isn
’
t sure the company will allow a passenger to drop down to the
surface on a rescue mission. Their insurance people won
’
t
like it. But I did volunteer to help, if I can. Sam and I talked, he told the
captain he thinks I would be a help to him. If the company lawyers say it
’
s OK, that is.”

“You
’
re going on the rescue shuttle, Dad?” Manny asked.

“
Cool!
”
Kaylee chipped in.

“
Kids,
we don
’
t know yet if I
’
m going
or not. Like I said, the company may not allow it. Although, Sam told the
captain the repair work would go a lot faster if I was with him.”

“Still, that
would be most cool, Dad! Promise me you
’
ll take holos, so
we can send them back to Earth?” Manny thought that would be something to send
to his old school, to show all the boneheads he left behind all the great
adventures his family was having out among the stars. He had already recorded
several hours of holos recording their spaceplane ride up from Earth, the giant
freighter, and their side excursion down to Avalon. Manny had a need to show
his old classmates that where he was going was better than where they were. He
bet none of their fathers had ever dropped down from orbit to rescue people.

“I will take
holos, if I have time. And if I go. I may just be on the bridge, giving Sam
advice over the radio.” Rick doubted that, Sam had already scornfully vetoes
that idea. Sam had made it clear he needed someone on the ground who could
handle a wrench, not a disembodied voice offering advice over the radio. He
took another sip of iced tea, stood up, and walked over to his wife. “Do you
know that I have the best wife in the whole galaxy?”

Joy
smiled.
“Yes, I do know that. But no more than you deserve.”

Manny made a
face. “Are you two going to get mushy
again
?” His parents had the habit
of frequent displays of affection, and often did so at mortifyingly
inappropriate times. Like in front of other people.

Rick grinned.
“Oh, yes we are.” He said, and kissed his wife passionately.

When Captain
Schroeder requested permission to include Rick Sanchez on the rescue shuttle,
he initially received the reply he expected from company headquarters: have you
lost your mind? The company lawyers quite rightly wanted to avoid any company
liability, in case Rick was injured. Our insurance prohibits it, they said,
find another way.

Then the company
operations people got involved, and did some research on the background of one
Ricardo Sanchez. They contacted a couple of people who had worked with Rick on
Sahara, who verified that it was indeed Rick who had kept their creaky life
support system running. Finally, a technician from the life support system
manufacturer, who had made a routine servicing visit while Rick was on Sahara,
stated that Rick had done wonders with the old unit, and he would hire Rick as
a repair technician, if the archeologist was interested.

So it became a
matter of finances: what was the dollar value of the liability risk, compared
to the money the company could save, if Rick helped fix the miners
’
life support system, and
Ace
only had to make a short
detour?

A compromise was
reached. Rick would sign a form, and he would temporarily be a Universal
Transport employee, for the expected short duration of the rescue mission. He
would even get hazardous duty pay. Forms were signed, Rick shook hands with
Schroeder, and then was put under the care of Sam, for e-suit refresher
training. Manny thought was was
super
cool that his father now owned a
company jacket designating Rick Sanchez as an ‘Ace
’
, like
the rest of the crew.

Rick tucked his
gloves into the e-suit helmet, like he
’
d seen Sam do, and
held the helmet in the crook of his left arm. Sam nodded approvingly as he put
his card into the slot, and pressed the button to open the door to the shuttle
bay.

Rick took a few
hesitant steps forward, and stopped, his eyes wide. “You
’
ve
got to be joking.”

“Huh?” Sam asked.

“This piece of
junk flies?” Rick exclaimed in surprise. To say that
Ace
’
s
shuttle showed its age would be an understatement. It was battered, weathered,
and dented. The leading edges were coated with multiple layers of soot from
countless passages through planetary atmospheres. Panels on the skin were
different colors, depending on how long ago they were replaced, cleaned, or
repainted. Only the cockpit windows looked they they
’
d had
any attention recently.

“Sure, man, it
’
s safe. Don
’
t go by looks.” Sam reached up
and patted the underside of the craft affectionately.

Rick looked
askance. He
’
d seen the shuttle only from a distance,
watching it through a viewport as it left, or came back to the ship. From a
distance, it looked uniformly light grey. Up close, Rick could see that the
shuttle
’
s skin was originally white, and there were faded
company logos and other markings on the wings and tail. He felt tempted to wet
his finger and write ‘WASH ME
’
in the soot. “Sam, you
’
re going on this flight too, so I
’
ll trust
you, but do not let my wife and kids see this thing. Joy is already worried
about the whole idea of me dropping down to Ares.”

Nelson poked his
head out the shuttle
’
s airlock. He was tall and thin, with
dark skin and close-cropped hair. Rick had been told where Nelson was from;
Kenya, Liberia, something like that, he couldn
’
t remember.
What he did remember was that Nelson hadn
’
t exactly been
warm to the idea of taking a passenger along on a rescue mission. “Hey, what
are you two doing, sightseeing? I haven
’
t got all day.”
The pilot said gruffly. “Let
’
s get a move on.”

Sam and Rick
exchanged a glance. Sam had warned Rick about Nelson, the shuttle pilot was,
according to Sam, really a nice guy, once you got to know him. Nelson didn
’
t seem interested in giving Rick time to develop anything
beyond a pilot/passenger relationship. Rick gave Sam a thumb
’
s
up sign, to show that he wouldn
’
t cause any problems. His
job aboard the shuttle would be to sit down, strap in, shut up, and hang on.
That, he could do.

Rick
’
s shuttle passenger training, which covered not much beyond how
to use the emergency oxygen supply, was over in an hour, so he joined his
family at the now-deserted Beach. He and Joy were on their way back from the
Beach when they caught up with Schroeder on his way to the command section. Joy
gave Rick a reminder in the form of a nudge in his ribs. “Captain, can I speak
with you for a moment?” Rick called out.

Schroeder turned,
and paused for Rick to catch up with him. “Ms. Sanchez, good afternoon. Mr.
Sanchez, how is your training?”

“Fine, sir.” Rick
figured that, since we was a company employee, Schroeder was, albeit
temporarily, his boss. “Sam says I
’
m coming along well.
The e-suits you have are much less complicated that the old units I am used to.
And I went over emergency procedures for the shuttle with Nelson.” Nelson had
made it clear that Rick
’
s only job was to sit in his seat,
be quiet during the descent, and not even think about touching anything.

“
Good.
”
Schroeder nodded curtly. He would get an independent evaluation from Sam and
Nelson later.  “What did you wish to discuss?”

Rick had
considered how to bring up the delicate subject. He felt caught between an
unstoppable force, his wife, and a likely immovable object, Captain Schroeder.
“Joy would like to be on the bridge during the shuttle
’
s
descent, to watch what is going on.”

“I see. Ms.
Sanchez, company regulations prohibit me from having visitors on the bridge, I
am sorry. You don
’
t wish to be with your children, during
that time? We can transmit all the images to the screen in your cabin.”

Joy was not
accepting the brush-off. “Regulations do not prohibit visitors, Rick and I
toured the bridge when we first came aboard-“

“Which was when
this ship was in a parking orbit, with the engines shut down.” Schroeder
interjected.

“It is my
understanding that, when the shuttle is descending, this ship will be in orbit,
with the engines shut down.” Joy pressed ahead.

Schroeder
blinked, caught off guard. “Quite so. But the ship will then be engaging in a
landing operation, during which time the bridge crew will be occupied with
their jobs. Ms. Sanchez, I understand your concern, but I can assure you-“

“No. You can not
assure
me.” Joy put her hands on her hips, and Rick bit his lip. He knew what that
gesture meant, it was something Joy had inherited from her mother. “You can say
nice things, but none of it will actually
assure
me that my husband will
be safe, that if anything goes wrong, my husband
’
s safety
will be your highest priority.”

Schroeder tried a
new tack. “This is a routine shuttle drop, Ms. Sanchez.”

“Excuse me, no,
but it is not.” Joy
’
s eyes gleamed. The battle was
joined.  “I was speaking to Nelson, your shuttle pilot.” Rick looked
sideways at his wife in surprise. When had she spoken to Nelson? Joy ticked off
her objections on her fingertips. “First, Nelson has never brought a shuttle
down through this planet
’
s atmosphere. Second, there is no
guidance system on the ground, so he has to fly the approach manually. Third,
this ship only has one shuttle, and the miners don
’
t have
one. So if your shuttle gets into trouble, they are on their own. Fourth, the
miners can
’
t refuel the shuttle on the ground, so Nelson
tells us he will have to fly a minimum power flight profile on his way back up
here, to conserve fuel for the return flight into orbit. None of which is, as
you say,
routine
. Are my facts wrong?”

“Er, no.”
Schroeder was forced to admit. “I can tell, you, however, that Nelson is a very
experienced shuttle pilot. Before he joined Universal Transport, he flew for
the Navy, and then for a survey company. He has, many times, dropped into an
unfamiliar atmosphere, with no guidance system or ground support.”

Rick moved close
to his wife, and put his arm around her shoulders, in a gesture of
solidarity.  It was time to choose sides, and the choice was easy. His
voice took on a firmer tone. “Captain, I believe that I have been more than
cooperative. I volunteered to help out on rescue mission, a mission that is
your problem, not mine. I do not think it is at all unreasonable that my wife
be on the bridge during the descent.”

Schroeder pursed
his lips. His next command, he fervently hoped, would be of a ship without
passenger cabins. “That is your final word, then?”

Out of the corner
of his eye, Rick saw Joy looking at him. “Yes. Either Joy can be on the bridge,
or we will both be in our cabin, and Sam can fix the life support system by
himself.”

“Mmm.” Schroeder
then did something unexpected, his face crinkled into a smile. “Very well,
then, Ms. Sanchez, I would be happy to have one of my crew show you to the
bridge, and we will find you a place on the bridge, during the drop. You are
correct, Mr. Sanchez, it is not an unreasonable request. My crew needs to have
backbone, I am glad to see you do. Do not, however, make this a habit, eh?”

Slightly ahead of
Seth
’
s schedule, the big freighter ship arrived at Ares
and dropped out of hyperspace. Her excited crew had been able to coax a bit
more power out of the old, reliable engines, making Schroeder inordinately
proud of both crew and ship. Arriving at Ares was not the same as being in
position to establish a stable, low orbit, from which the shuttle could drop.
Hours went by as the ship fired her normal space engines, first to catch up to
the planet in its orbit around the star, then to slow down enough not to fly
right by the planet, and finally to swing into orbit. After that, it took what
seemed to Rick like forever, maneuvering here and there, getting the ship
’
s orbit lined up just right for the shuttle drop. Why they
couldn
’
t just hop in the shuttle and fly down right away,
Rick didn
’
t understand, until Sam explained that safety regulations
required the ship to be in the sky over the landing site while the shuttle
dropped, in order to provide radar guidance.

By the time Sam
called Rick to get suited up for the shuttle ride, it was almost anticlimactic,
he and his family had been sitting around in their cabin so long, they
’
d all gotten bored. Rick was getting hungry, unfortunately Sam
had advised Rick not to eat much before the shuttle drop, so Rick satisfied his
hunger with an apple, trying to set a good example for his children, when what
he really wanted was junk food. Kaylee and Manny had put their swimsuits on,
and were about to go to the Beach with their mother. The call from Sam produced
a family scramble to change clothes again, until Sam mentioned that Rick would
not actually be stepping into the shuttle for another two hours, at least.
Plenty of time for a swim. We
’
ll call you when he
’
s ready, Sam said, have fun in the meantime.

Rick went down to
the shuttle bay, got his e-suit on, had it checked out and tested by Sam, then he
sat around with the helmet off, waiting. He waited long enough that he decided
to take the e-suit off to use the bathroom, so he had to put it on and have it
checked out all over again. Sam didn
’
t seem to mind.

Finally, Nelson
showed up, and began his pre-flight inspection of the shuttle, which he said
would take an hour or so, their window for launch was in 90 minutes. When Rick
mentioned his family wanted to see him off, Nelson frowned, and gruffly relied
that was fine, as long as they stayed in the airlock
doorway
alcove, and didn
’
t touch anything.

So as not to bore
his family again, Rick waited until they were ready to actually board the
shuttle before calling his family; they stood dutifully in the hallway, their
view of the well-worn shuttle obscured by the windows in the two airlock doors.
They waved, and blew kisses to him, Manny recorded the whole thing on camera.
Then, Rick was aboard, Sam helped him strap into his seat, and the inner blast
door closed over the airlock, cutting off his view of his family. Again he sat,
and waited. And waited.

Almost half an
hour later, Nelson turned halfway around in his pilot
’
s
seat and addressed Rick. “You ready, professor?” Sam had vouched for the
archeologist, but Nelson wasn
’
t sure about him. A
passenger, stumbling around in an e-suit? Nelson would have to watch out for
the archeologist
’
s safety, make sure he didn
’
t
do anything stupid and get hurt. It all sounded like a pain in the ass. His
ass, as the pilot in command.

Rick gave the
pilot a thumb
’
s up sign. “I
’
m ready.”

“This ain
’
t no luxury spaceplane, you hear? We don
’
t
have artificial gravity, and the ride is likely to be rougher than you
’
re used to, so if you
’
re gonna puke, use
the bag.”

Rick responded
with another thumb
’
s up.
“Nelson, on
Sahara, our shuttle was held together with duct tape and string. The university
didn
’
t spring for luxury. And I took a dose of space
sickness meds, I
’
ll be OK.”

Nelson looked
skeptical. He turned back around to his console. “I hope so.”

Sam spoke up from
the copilot seat. “Hey, Nelson, if Rick says he
’
ll be OK,
he
’
ll be OK. He
’
s a
good guy.
”

“If you say so.”
The pilot responded. He was edgy, anxious. This rescue drop was the first
non-routine thing he
’
d done since he signed up with
Universal Transport. He didn
’
t want to screw it up, get a
black mark on his record. A passenger was just a complication. “
Ace
control, this is the shuttle, requesting clearance to exit.”

Vassily
’
s voice came back. “Roger that, shuttle. Standby, doors
opening.”

In the airless
shuttle hangar, the only sound was transmitted faintly through the support arms
which held the shuttle in place. A vibration, a whirring of gears, then the
shuttle bay was flooded with brilliant sunlight as the doors cracked open. Rick
strained in his seat to see through the tiny window. Rusty red. The planet was
directly below his window.

“
Doors
open and locked.
” Vassily reported. You are cleared to power up.”

“Open and locked,
roger that.” Nelson said. “Bringing internal power on line now.” There was a
high-pitched whine, then a steady humming sound. Eventually, Nelson was
satisfied the power generators were functioning normally. “Internal power is
active and nominal. Releasing umbilical cables.” A series of sharp, metallic
sounds announced the cables unplugging and retracting into the shuttle bay.

Rick let out a
long breath, louder than he intended.

“We boring you,
professor?” Nelson asked, without turning in his seat.

“No, no. This is
all really interesting.” And all very, very time consuming. How could it take
so long to prepare a shuttle to drop? Either everything took incredibly long,
or Nelson was dragging things out. Rick supposed that when he flew on
commercial spaceplanes, which wasn
’
t often, the crew had
all the checks completed before he settled into his seat, so didn
’
t
see all the complicated, tedious work the pilots went through before the
glamorous part of their job started.

“Shuttle, you
have a twenty minute drop window, starting... now. You have control.”

“I have control,
roger that.” Nelson began flipping switches, and ran down a checklist with Sam,
who was in the copilot seat. APUs started and running, internal power on and
steady, umbilical lines retracted, docking clamps unlocked, blah, blah, blah.
Rick reflected that these were the sort of mundane things that went on in the
cockpit of commercial spaceplanes while passengers checked their pockets for
snacks, read books, and decided what drinks to order.

Joy brought her
children back to the cabin, clicked the viewscreen controls so that the big
screen in the parent
’
s bedroom displayed a track of the
shuttle
’
s flight path, which had just cleared the landing
bay doors. With daughter and son settled in, she went to the bridge, and took a
seat next to Gina, the ship
’s communications specialist.

Joy didn
’
t expect anything to go wrong. She was on the bridge to make
sure that if anything did go wrong, the crew put her husband
’
s
safety first.

The excitement
level for Rick kicked up a notch once they exited the shuttle bay and got clear
of the ship, when Nelson flipped the shuttle around and fired the main engines,
a maneuver intended to slow them down enough so that the shuttle would begin
falling out of orbit. And fall they did. Rick was able to see a slice of the
planet below out a side window, it kept getting closer, and closer, until the
red planet filled the window, and he could see the horizon, or the blackness of
space. Sam came over the intercom, and told Rick that they were about half an
orbit away from contact with the top of the planet
’
s thin
atmosphere, and there was nothing to worry about.

Gina spun around
in her chair. “Captain, a ship just dropped out of hyperspace, I
’
m
picking up a burst of gamma rays.”

“A ship?” There
weren
’
t supposed to be any ships in the area. “Navy?”

“
I
don’
t-  wait, we
’
re getting a radio message, I
’
ll put it through. There
’
s a two second
time lag, Captain.”

The screen on
Gina
’
s console flickered, then displayed the image of a
pleasant if bland looking man, short brown hair, wearing an ordinary shirt, not
a uniform. Not Navy. He smiled. “This is the BioPharma research vessel
Nightengale
, I
’
m Ted Miller, captain
here. We picked up the distress call, is there anything we can do to help?”

Schroeder looked
at the newcomer suspiciously. “This is Captain Schroeder of the Universal
Transport vessel
Atlas Challenger
. Why didn
’
t you
respond to the distress call? The Registry doesn
’
t show any
ships in this area.” He clicked the button to mute and said to Seth “See if you
can find a registration for this ship.”

Miller looked
sheepish when he sent his reply. “Our hypercomm transmitter isn
’
t
working, we can receive messages, but not send, ditto for our transponder. We
weren
’
t supposed to be in this area, we cut our survey
trip short to get the transmitter repaired. This ship's complement is mostly
doctors and medical research people, can we assist? Our shuttle only holds four
people.”

Schroeder kept
the radio on mute as he looked impatiently at Gina, until she replied. “Ah,
Captain,
Nightengale
is registered, and the ship
out there meets the configuration. It
’
s a survey ship,
they search for alien plants and animals that could yield useful drugs. That
’
s what the Registry says, anyway.”

Schroeder nodded,
satisfied he had all the information he was going to get. His ship wasn
’
t a Navy warship,
Ace
’
s sensors
were for navigation and that
’
s about all. He sent a reply.
“Be advised that we have a shuttle dropping now, it should be on the surface
shortly. Could you rendezvous with us, in case any of the miners need medical
attention? All we have aboard is a medical bot.”

“Sure, the
doctors here would like a change of scenery anyway, and this will be good public
relations for BioPharma. Always good to keep your employer happy.” Miller said
with a friendly smile. “I see your shuttle on radar, we can rendezvous with you
in…” he checked something off screen, “about fifty minutes.”

Schroeder raised
an eyebrow, and turned toward Seth. Fifty minutes, from dropping out of
hyperspace, to matching orbit with
Ace
? That was fast, such maneuvers
often took a day or more, depending on the relative positions of the two ships.
Seth queried his navigation console, and gave a thumb
’
s up
sign. “They came out of hyper right in the sweet spot, Captain, they
’
re just about lined up for orbit already. Their navigator is
either very good, or very lucky.”

Captain Gante
came back onto the bridge, with a thought nagging at the back of her mind.
Tigershark
had been patrolling this sector for fourteen months with no incidents, now
there were two distress calls at the same time. It never rains unless it
’
s pouring, her mother used to say. She came up behind her first
officer
’
s chair, and drummed her fingers on the seatback.
“XO, any luck?”

Lt. Commander
Ross blinked, and rubbed his eyes. He
’
d been staring at
the screen for too long. “Ma
’
am, if I was fishing for our
dinner, we
’
d be eating crackers tonight. I
’
ve
got nothing. No sign of the
Isaac Newton
, and no sign of an explosion.”
He turned halfway around in the seat to face his captain. “If anyone survived,
they must be using battery power to run whatever life support they have left.”

“
Keep
looking, XO.
” She frowned, and crossed to the communications technician.
When
Atlas Challenger
had arrived at Ares and gone into stable orbit,
that transport ship had sent a message to
Tigershark
that the rescue
operation was on schedule and going well. No communication since then. That was
not unusual, because if the freighter had sent a message directed back toward
Earth,
Tigershark
could not have picked up the narrowband transmission.
She instructed the communications technician to signal the freighter to send a
status report, then Gante went back to her cabin to complete some crew
evaluations.