Angeleyes - eARC (5 page)

I knew they’d take some people into their areas, but they couldn’t take many, and trying to push it would get you spaced. It wasn’t that they were cruel. There just wouldn’t be enough air. Especially if the life-support plant got damaged and they couldn’t split or grow more. They had a combination of extracted O2 from water vapor, and stuff from hydroponic tanks. But if the tanks died, then they’d be down by half, then down by whatever leaked.

It wasn’t going to be pretty. If people were scared now, they were going to get violent when the emergency bottles ran low. The station was effectively out of commission. They’d need weeks of major repair to get it back.

Juletta hung onto my hand now. She seemed to realize it was bad and she was lost.

We definitely needed to get off the station. There wasn’t time to try to find her family. That would have to wait.

We passed one of the pressure hatches, and the access was unlocked due to emergency. Perfect. It was working the way it should, which was also in my favor.

Tucking her up on my shoulder again, I used the service passage to get to the outside radius 30 of the outer dock. It was easier to walk with increasing G, but harder to carry the girl.

At the dock, I just pushed the exit lever and walked through. That was a mistake. The UN had had enough brains to post guards, even if they didn’t have enough brains to bypass ID for emergencies.

There was a single guard, but he was bigger than me and armored.

“Stop, you. What the hell do you think you’re doing bypassing the corridor? And where—”

I threw my hand up and slammed the lock pin under his chin. His teeth clacked hard and his eyes rolled up as he went down. I bounced in the low G, but I’d managed to transfer most of the energy into his jaw.

I was no longer in a mood to be fucked with.

I looked at Juletta, who just stared at me.

“Bad man?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“Safey is good man.”

“He wasn’t a real Safety Officer.”

“Oh,” she said. She seemed to trust me on all this. I wasn’t sure if that was good for her, but it worked for us for the time being.

The crowd wasn’t as bad up here. In fact, it was light. I’d managed to bypass the mass, and they were all trying to cram into the nearest ships first.

CHAPTER 5

The nearest ship to me was a decent-sized freighter with passenger modules already locked in place. I took a deep breath and headed for it, Juletta still clinging to me. In fact, her nails were cutting into my neck.

“Not so tight, sweetie,” I said. “We’re almost to the ship.”

“Mom and dad?”

“Ship first. Have you ever been on a ship?”

“No. Not without Mom and Dad!”

“We have to find them, Juletta.”

I wasn’t sure how long I could keep her from a tantrum.

I reached the lock ramp and the crew were armed with stunners, standing behind clear shields they’d either had on hand or fabbed fast.

The guy in front of me was huge, mostly muscle with a bit of padding, bearded and bald with a mean stare.

I walked right up, slowed enough to avoid a fight, stopped three meters short and introduced myself.

“Hi. Angie Kaneshiro. Able Spacer, certs for medical, internal and external cargo, galley and services. Distressed Spacer Rule. I need transport but can work my fare.”

He shrugged and nodded.

“Better than the shallow bitches following, I guess.” He turned his head, “Phil, got an actual spacer. Sending her up.”

He turned back and waved his thumb over his shoulder.

“We’re bound for Caledonia. If that’s not where you want to go, too bad.”

“That’s where I’m from. Perfect.”

“Yeah. Good luck with the girl. We don’t have much for kids.”

“We’ll be fine. Thank you very much for your help.”

Behind me, a crowd was gathering. I’d beat the rush by about thirty seconds.

At the top of the ramp, a woman said, “Aft twenty, Portside up . . . no, let’s make it level,” she said, looking at Juletta. “Double for the two of you, but we may have to put someone else in as well.”

“I’m sure you will. Thank you.”

I found the stateroom. It was minimal crew quarters, but workable. I dropped my bag, slapped my phone against the terminal to access it, and punched in a hatch code.

I turned right around.

“Come with me, Juletta. We need to go see the captain.”

“Ship captain?”

“Yes, he is.”

Actually, any officer would do, but I wanted to explain things to someone.

I secured my hatch, went forward and hoped things would keep working.

I made it through two hatches before I did run into the captain. They had a roomy lounge behind the C-deck, and he had a polo with four stripes on his shoulders. He wore a headset with glasses and was talking to someone. I waited until he was done giving orders, which seemed to be about how many people they could stuff aboard.

“Sir, Angie Kaneshiro. Able spacer, medic, cargo, cook, clean. Thank you for your hospitality. Your crew let me aboard. I can work while I’m here. What do you want me to do?”

He grinned and said, “Well, we’re tossing our ID chips. Want to join the party?”

Behind him, someone was running a chip through an arc demagnetizer.

“I, uh, already ditched mine,” I said.

“Hah. Most trif.” He looked impressed. He spoke my dialect. That felt so good.

“Yeah. Thanks for the lift. It’s getting ugly there, fast.”

“It is. I wish we could pay you, but given the loading and all . . .”

“Yeah, I know,” I said. His margin wouldn’t support paying deadheads, even if they stretched out the workload. “It’s fine.” I pointed at the girl. “Juletta isn’t mine but she’s traveling with me for now. You’re flying, I’m working. Tell me what you need.”

He said, “I put all the women with children in Port Mod Two. I’m keeping the men back in Starboard Three. Can you take charge of those habitat bitches and show them how to survive aboard ship?”

Yeah, he’d need that. His crew didn’t like station women, I gathered. They seemed to like having me to help, at least.

I said, “I’ll do my best.”

He actually smiled. “Good. Be all MI on them.”

“Got it.” I’d try.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do in Caledonia with a stray child. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with her here.

Juletta went with me, clinging on my arm and neck. I closed locks on the way. They’d all been left undogged, which was really stupid after a pressure failure.

“Mom?” she asked.

“We have to keep looking,” I said as I monkeyed back, walking and grabbing stanchions. “There are too many people here. We’re going to a meeting place. You know, like school has a meeting place for fire or air incidents?”

“Yeah.”

“This is a stationwide air incident. We all have to get off the station, then meet up. Mom and Dad should be there.”

“Capn will help?”

“Yes, he’ll take us somewhere safe.”

“Okay,” she agreed, as we reached the passenger space.

The pod was full, with kids in a mostly happy swarm and the women chattering away, but some were arguing, two of them face to face. There were four men with kids. Kids adapt fast. It’s always amazed me.

Why does everyone think their kids look cute? Some were. Some were little trolls. One was shoving another and shouting, “Bitch!”

Several of the adults looked at me. Some were hopeful, some looked like they wanted a fight, most just curious.

“Listen up, please,” I said. The rest turned my way and the volume dropped. Some kept whispering.

“I need all your attention for a few segs or you might die in space.”

A chick who looked about eighteen G-years, dressed like somebody’s trophy wife or escort said, “We’ve lived in space most of our lives.” She was leaning across a bunk, careful not to mess her hair, but still taking two people’s seating spaces.

I looked back at her and asked, “On a ship? Or just one of those artificial island hotel thingies?” I waved.

She wanted to argue. “Pressure, water, bulkheads, clock cycle. Got it.”

I was learning quickly how a military instructor felt.

“Where’s your nearest egress? What is your evacuation drill? What is your hull breach drill?”

She looked at me and started to open her mouth again. It looked out of proportion. She didn’t know how to do lipstick.

I cut her off with, “Shut the hell up and listen.”

She still came back with, “Yeah? Who the hell put you in charge?”

I didn’t raise my voice. I did lean forward slightly and focus on her. “The captain. If you have a problem I’ll give you a chit to see him. He might just leave you here. There are plenty of others who won’t cause trouble.”

That got her attention, but I wanted to drive it home.

“So, can I be in charge now, Miss Gio Pants Ensemble with Diamond Accents? All I have is a shipsuit with two thousand light-years of wear on it. Will that satisfy you?”

“Uh . . . yeah, go ahead.” She tried to shrug me off and sat back, trying to look casual.

Oh, hell no. “You can address me as ‘Spacer,’ ‘Crewwoman’ or ‘Lady.’”

There was a pause that started getting embarrassing, with people staring at me, but mostly at her.

An older lady said, “She means it. I know a vet when I hear one.”

The woman finally said, “Yes, Spacer.” She wasn’t going to call me “Lady.”

The matron said, “I’m a vet. Groundside only, but I can take and give orders. I’ll help.”

Oh, good. That would help a lot, and I was glad the faceoff was over.

“Thanks. What’s your name?”

“Claire Copley.”

“Thanks, Claire.”

I looked them all over. “I’m Angie Kaneshiro. Medic, stevedore, cargomistress, Able Spacer. This is what I do for a living the last seven years. These pods are really tight for space at the best of times, and this one is basically a bunkroom for laborers. Now, you each have a rack, and either the kids share with you, or we’ll improvise some bedding for them. You need to hold onto them, with webbing, during Jump Point transit. They may feel nauseous, I’ll tell you what to eat before we go. One person sleeps per bunk. This pod is women only. Men are diagonally across and aft. If you want to bump or spread you can use the shower in the head together. We’re going to appoint people to cover stray kids while we work. You’ll be keeping this clean, getting your own meals, and staying out of the crew’s way . . .”

They listened to me, and didn’t argue much.

In five segs they had a summary I knew they’d forget, but they knew I was in charge. I hoped.

Intercom sounded, “All hands, secure for space. Departure imminent.” I felt the outer lock seal.

The next announcement was, “Umbilicals separated, vessel secure. Undogged and moving.” I could feel it. That wasn’t just a ram. There were maneuvering engines at work. That probably wouldn’t hurt the station regolith, but it might melt hatch equipment.

Then, “We are in space. Duty rotation to commence. Passengers stand by and await instructions.”

That was the most abbreviated pullout I’d ever experienced. With a ship, I mean.

I wasn’t a passenger, or was I? And I had Juletta.

She looked up at me with big eyes. I figured she wasn’t sure what I had been doing, but I’d been telling adults off. She was probably either scared or impressed.

I gathered her up and stepped through the hatch. As I dogged it, she said, “You strong, Anzhie.”

“I am when I need to be,” I said.

“Are we friends?”

“Yes, Juletta. We’re friends.” I fastened her hands around my neck and started dragging myself along grips, glad I was only in the passage, not in the long umbilical to towed pods.

“Where’s Mom and Dad?”

“We’re still trying to find them. There’s an air leak in the station, so we have to go to another.”

I hoped we’d meet them in Caledonia. If not, they’d still be in this volume of space. Assuming they weren’t dead, but with what info I had, I didn’t think many, if any, were.

“Find a safety ofser?”

“They can’t help with that, Sweetie. We need the ship for that. Have you ever been on one?”

“No.”

“Well, it might be a few days, but we’ll be safe.”

“You make me safe.”

I’m going to try
. “I’ll do my best.”

How did I get into this crate?

I got into the stateroom as engines started thrusting. I lunged for the bunk, grabbed her with me, and said, “Hang on, we’re moving.”

“Rockets?”

I didn’t even know if this one was string drive or forceline propulsion.

“Yes,” I agreed.

CHAPTER 6

I hear all kinds of stories about the “Spacelift” as it got called. There wasn’t any official request or SOS that I know of. The haulers and trampers just decided that people needed help and moved to evacuate everyone who showed up. Some had access to long-duration O2 supplies, but even most of them pulled out. No one knew if there would be any resupply, or what the damage was.

I got a tx from Lee that said he was riding down insystem to a habitat around Dagda for now. I wished him luck back.

My phone told me we were queued for a jump and our number was three divs down. That was going to be well into third shift, and I’d have to stay up to coddle the stationers.

What would I do with the girl?

I expected I’d have a bunkmate, but I didn’t. It might mean I’d get one after we shuffled other refugees around. On the other hand, I wasn’t going to offer if it wasn’t necessary, and I’d wait for the crew to make the call. I didn’t want to ask the crew to do anything they didn’t have to. With this kind of crowd, they were going to be holding things together by hand until we docked.

“Juletta,” I said, as I sat her on the bunk. “I have to go help people some more. Can you stay here?”

The expression on her face said I couldn’t. She looked like a puppy about to be abandoned.

“Okay, you come with me,” I said quickly. “But you have to be quiet, and wait patiently. No fussing, okay?”

“No playing with kids?”

“Not now. Maybe later.”

“Hungry,” she said.

“Yeah, let’s find the galley.”

How much food was aboard? This was going to be a four to five day trip at least, if we could transfer direct to Shetland Station. I figured that wouldn’t be likely.

Galley was forward, inboard and down one gangtube, which wasn’t easy. I finally had her sit on my shoulders and hold my head. She managed to pull hair and cover my eyes, but we got down.

One of the regular crew was in the galley. It was small. I mean, the right size for this crew, not enough for the passenger load.

“Hey, who are you?” he asked. He looked ready to order me back wherever I came from.

“Kaneshiro, Distressed Spacer. The captain put me in charge of the inboard refugees.”

He nodded and asked, “What do you need?”

“Food for the girl, then for me if you can. Can we do anything for the others?”

“Food isn’t a problem for a few days. We stock in bulk,” he said. He looked at Juletta. “Would you like a peanut butter wrap, honey?”

“Yes!” she said, very seriously. “Thank you.”

He slapped one together, rolled it up and handed it over. She grabbed it, started munching on it, and smeared some on my right leg.

“Whatever’s handy,” I said. There was no time to be picky. “I just need protein.”

He passed me a package of tuna. I ripped the top and started munching it straight.

“Thanks. Can I get a spare for later?”

“Sure.” He tossed one and a pack of Cheesy Cracks at me. He then said, “Food worries me less than recycling capacity. We’re rated for fifty inboard. We have probably double that. The towed pods are rated for a hundred. They’re probably at double
that
. So we’re going to have a lot of water, some solids, and exceed filter capacity.”

“Right,” I said. They’d hate to dump water or solids. Those were sellable commodities in space. If they had to, though, they would. But once the filters were exceeded, they’d have to dump, then pump all the waste into the primary tanks, which meant cleaning the entire recycler, and limiting fresh water.

We wouldn’t run out of drinking water, or shouldn’t, if they managed it well. But we would probably stink.

“I won’t tell them yet,” I said. “But I will if we get to that. I see we’re on sked for jump. I’ll go instruct them.”

“Roger. I’ll report that for you. Kaneshiro?”

“Angie,” I said.

“Travis. Second Officer and Second Engineer.”

“Pleased to meet you. Juletta, we’re going back up. Are you ready?”

“Okay,” she said, and clung to my hair.

“Ouch! Careful,” I said.

“Not yours?” Travis guessed.

“Refugee,” I explained. “I don’t know where her parents are. I’m hoping they make it through.”

He nodded. There wasn’t anything to say, really.

The kid hung on as I climbed back up, and let me carry her back. I reached the cabin, opened the hatch, and looked around.

They hadn’t trashed the place, but they weren’t very organized.

“Okay, we’re queued for jump to Caledonia,” I said. “It’s going to be a couple more divs, and the actual time marked on the console there can change rapidly. They’re probably going to shove us through as fast as the gate resets.”

They looked at me as I said, “That means you need to be ready any time in about a div, so starting now. There should be mesh over your bunk. I’m serious about one adult and one child per bunk, or two small teens. You lie back, pull the mesh down. You,” I pointed at the woman from earlier. “I’ll demonstrate. Lie back.”

She hesitated but complied, and I showed where the harness attached.

“It’s just in case of a displacement shock, but you don’t want to be slammed into anything.”

I unfastened her and helped her up, to show I wasn’t holding a grudge, even though I was.

“If we’re here long enough to shower, you get two segs. Rinse, water off, soap, rinse.”

Claire asked, “I thought water wasn’t a problem aboard ship?”

“It is at double capacity inboard and double capacity in the pods. But we should be through in a few days max.” I hoped.

They seemed a bit bothered.

“This is a rescue run,” I said. “We weren’t counting passengers, just filling space.”

I ran through the rest of the predeparture brief, adapted for stationers and with not enough resources, then excused myself to go to the male bay.

I actually got fewer arguments from them.

Naturally, when I opened the hatch, I had the attention of every man and boy over the age of ten Earth years in about five seconds.

But I was able to abbreviate the speech.

“Angie Kaneshiro. I work cargo, services and medic. The regular crew is flying this tub, I’m in charge of passengers. One person per bunk if you can. Small guys and kids double up if you need to.” I pointed to a guy about fifteen for my demo. “You, lie down and I’ll demonstrate the safety mesh . . .”

I covered signals, showed them the commo and reporting gear, explained protocols. Luckily, there were five men who’d done a tour either commercial or on a warship, and said they’d keep everyone else in line.

I took count and had them ping ID by phone, including onboard NoK. I had to put together a manifest. I’d have to do that for the females, too.

Then I dragged myself back to my bunk again.

I was getting a serious workout doing all these meters by hand, combined with the running earlier.

“Okay, Juletta, we’re going to cuddle up on the bunk, and wrap under the net like I showed them. Then we have to wait for the ship to jump to the next station, okay?”

“But . . . I need Mom and Dad,” she said again. She looked a combination of fatigued, abandoned and scared.

She had been amazingly well-behaved. I like kids a bit, but I don’t do anything with them.

“Sweetie, everyone had to leave the station because of an air leak. We’re all going to Caledonia, just a few divs away, okay? Then we should be able to find them. Or else we’ll come back here and look here, okay?”

She shrugged.

I asked, “Do you live on the station?”

“No. We live in Tani.”

They were groundsiders. I had no idea why they were at Ceileidh, unless they were already skipping out.

“Okay, well, they should be at the station we’re going to, and if not, we can go back eventually, okay? It won’t be safety, it will probably be soldiers who take us.”

“Is there a war?” she asked.

“I don’t know, Sweetie. There’s been some fighting.”

She said, “I thought you didn’t like the soldiers.”

“Those aren’t our soldiers.”

“Are they bad?”

That was tough.

“No, most of them aren’t bad, but they’ve been told to take over the station, and we don’t want them to.”

“Why?”

“Because they run things differently. It works for them, but it wouldn’t work for us, and they don’t understand that.”

“Did you tell them?”

“Other people did. It’s something adults don’t understand.”

“Like when I tell Ritchie and he won’t listen?”

“Exactly like that. Who’s Ritchie?”

“My big brother.”

“Yes, it’s exactly like that. We need to rest now, okay?”

“Okay, but kids don’t rest with adults.”

Good training. Luckily, I was able to work with that.

“I understand,” I said. “So you will be in that blanket, and I’ll be in this blanket so we’re apart. You can have the fleecy one, okay?”

“Okay,” she said, looking unsure.

“Lights ten,” I said, and the illumination dimmed from daylight shift to steady low glow. “In ten segs, go to lights five.”

I wasn’t sure when we’d jump, so I set the alarm for a div, and fastened the mesh over us anyway, just in case.

I can’t drive a ship, but I can do arithmetic. There weren’t nearly enough ships to evacuate the habitat. Unless someone came along with something big, or patched that hole fast, there were going to be casualties. The emergency O2 would probably cover everyone for a week, and by then they’d be hungry, thirsty, filthy and bugnuts. After that, it would get very ugly.

I didn’t sleep well.

* * *

I woke, warm and damp and itching, and thought at first I was just hot. Then I realized Juletta had wet herself. Apparently she was still toilet training, and didn’t have control at night. That was annoying. I’d have to change her outfits more often, then, as there was no way I could get absorbent pants for her; whatever they call those things they use after diapers.

She’d leaked all over my right side, from breast down below my waistband. That was bad, too. I was wearing this coverall because the other one in my bag was filthy. Damn! I’d have to get them into vac wash or water ASAP.

“Wake up, sweetie,” I said. She mumbled and rubbed her eyes and didn’t. So I worked around her. I skinned down, wiped with an alky wipe, and swapped for a clean bodybrief, which is what I wear shipside. I peeled her pants off, but I didn’t have a change for her, so I wrapped her in a towel. I laid another towel over the puddle under us and tried to get back to rest.

Then the klaxon sounded and my phone said, “All hands and passengers stand by for jump. Crew check passengers. Ten segs.”

I wiggled out past her, got feet on deckplates, and figured slacks and a tunic would work for right now. I dressed fast, checked she was still asleep, then unlatched the hatch and dragged myself back to the bays.

The men were further back by one bulkhead, so I checked them first. They were all down and ready, meshed in and talking to their kids.

The women were mostly good, including Miss Gio Pantsuit. There were a couple lagging and jawing.

“That warning means you, too. I’m the medic, so it’ll be me fixing your broken bones or dislocated knees if you slam against a bulkhead. Get secured.”

I turned and dogged the hatch before they could argue.

I just got settled when the One Seg warning sounded. I wrapped an arm over Juletta’s shoulder, and waited through the count.

I’m always tense, because it’s always disorienting. I wasn’t sure how the little girl would do.

The ten-second count came along, and I tried hard not to tighten up. I took deep breaths, and tried to focus on the bulkhead.

It only hits me for a moment, but that moment is nausea, headache, stinging pain and that feeling of dizziness like when you’re rolling drunk. Then lateral G hit because space is a different orientation there. I don’t know how that works, but it’s something astrogators account for.

Juletta clutched at me and cried out, and woke up fully.

“I’m wet,” she said.

“It’s okay, sweetie. We can fix it in a bit.”

“I hurt.”

“We just shifted through space. Now we have to find a place to dock.” That was going to take a while, if every ship from Freehold side had jumped to this side, full of refugees. Then, because of the amount of rubble in the Loop (their outer Halo), the station was a good three to four days from the jump point.

Juletta had one change of clothes in her backpack. She had jeans and a shirt with chocolate monkeys on it. We’d have to wash her other clothes fast, but she was dressed for now. She couldn’t change by herself, but did cooperate with me. I brushed her hair out. It was straight, but fine enough to have long curls at the ends.

The all clear sounded, and I took her with me to check the passengers. A couple had puked, but everyone seemed okay.

“It may be a couple of days or more before they can even slot us,” I warned. “I don’t know how many ships came through, or how many people. Some went insystem, but most came out.” Though really either Grainne surface or Caledonia was closer to the UN, just that Caledonia had colonial sovereignty as long as the Earth didn’t decide they wanted the hassle of administrating at a distance.

I got Juletta washed off in the head, before the rush to clean up hit everyone. I soaped and rinsed her clothes and mine and dried them in the vacuum dryer. They came out cold, but dry and clean. Then I went for food.

The crew galley was steady with two to three people at a time grabbing grub. I blew a pot clean, punched a button for fresh chocolate, wiped down the table and refilled a couple of dispensers to show I was useful. They were going through pre-packs instead of trying to cook.

Some guy I didn’t recognize asked, “Do you space with the kid?”

“Refugee, not mine,” I said. “But she’s a good girl. Better than the bitches back in the pod.”

“Seems like it. I’m Astrogator Jones.” He was young but seemed comfortable with the situation. I guess if he could steer this thing, anything else was boringly mundane.

“Angie Kaneshiro, lugging along and I can help with Galley and Med.”

“I heard. Main thing’s to keep those habitots in line. Is that going?”