Book One of the Travelers (13 page)

H
obey!” Spader punched his fist in the air in excitement. “Real duty!”

Tradco peered over Spader's shoulder at the work rotation list posted at the aqua center. He let out a whistle. “Lucky you, mate. Loading dock. Where the action is.”

During the probationary period the juniors were cycled through different departments. Once they were full aquaneers, they'd spend most of their time at the docks, but Wu Yenza wanted them to understand how their work was supported by other departments, and how what they did was critical to the smooth running of Grallion.

“What did you pull?” Spader asked.

Tradco sighed. “The alt power depot.”

Spader's forehead crinkled. “What's alt power?” So far he'd been through the maintenance depot and the piloting depot, along with continued training on equipment and life-safety skills.

“Wind systems,” Tradco explained. He shook his head. “Probably hasn't been used since the time of Faar, but still they make us learn how they work.”

“Wind?” Spader laughed. “I guess there's a reason for it, but I can't think what. Well, you have a party, mate. I know I will!” He clapped Tradco's shoulders, then strode toward the loading docks and over to Wu Yenza, who stood studying her work sheet.

“Spader reporting, right and ready,” he said.

Yenza smiled at him. “Glad you're so eager to work.”

Spader grinned back. “It's what I'm here for!”

“It's what we're
all
here for,” Yenza reminded him with a smile. “I've got you on escort. Today we'll have two of you working the dock here. It's a busy day. The Jorsen habitat will be coming by for supplies—that's a lot of load-out. And we've got the usual small cruisers, deliveries, and visitors to guide in. Your partner is also a junior, but there will be senior staff around too. If you run into trouble.”

“We won't!” Spader assured her.

“Good. Here comes your partner now.”

Spader turned and his grin froze.

A sweet plum day just turned sour. He was paired with Per Watsu.

Clearly Per wasn't overjoyed to see Spader, either.

Wu Yenza frowned. “Is there a problem here?” she asked.

“No, no problem,” Per said.

“Good to hear. Now let's get to work. Smooth waters.”

“Smooth waters,” Per and Spader replied.

Per and Spader headed toward the dock where they'd sign out their skimmers. They gave their names to the worker who was checking out the equipment for the shift.

“Stay out of my way, Spader,” Per snarled while they waited.

“Isn't that kind of the job?” Spader teased. “To be sure everyone stays out of everyone else's way?”

The dockmen checking out their skimmers snickered. Per glared.

“I mean it,” Per snapped. “Steer clear.” He put on his air globe. As a safety measure everyone wore buoyancy compensator belts and globes, even though they were working above water.

“I always do,” Spader said. “But I have to say, I'm a little hurt. I was hoping we could work up a synchronized skimmer routine for Wu Yenza.”

Now the other workers in the area began to listen.

“I can see it now,” Spader said, enjoying the ridiculous image of performing with Per on skimmers. “We can start by crisscrossing a few times. Then we come to a sharp stop and do ever-widening circles. Can't you see it?”

The other workers obviously could. They were all smiling and laughing.

“We should find out what her favorite music is and choreograph—”

“Are you capable of being serious?” Per's face was growing red with frustration. “Everything's always one big joke to you.”

“Not everything,” Spader retorted. “Just you.”

“Ooh, got you there,” someone called out.

“Get to work, Per. Why are you dawdling?” Spader hopped aboard his skimmer and peeled out, leaving Per in his wake.

“Slow down, young man!” a supervising aquaneer called to him from a nearby skimmer. “It's not a race!”

Spader gave the woman a nod and a wave, and pulled back on the throttle. It
was
a race, only he and Per were the only ones who knew.
And I just won!
Spader gloated inwardly.

Once Per arrived at the marking buoy that established the perimeter Spader and he would be patrolling, the aquaneer supervising their area gave them their instructions. They were expecting a habitat to arrive. While the more senior staff would attend to the habitat, Per and Spader would escort the smaller ships in. Until then, they were to direct the usual vessels loading and unloading, and keep traffic running smoothly.

“It's important you two stay in synch. We want to move quickly to keep everyone happy, but smartly, to keep everyone safe. Be aware of each other.”

Spader and Per exchanged a look. “Oh, I'd say we're aware of each other,” Spader said with a smirk.

“Whether we want to be or not,” Per muttered.

Spader spotted a mid-size ship approaching the perimeter buoys. “I'm on it!” he declared.

“No, I am.” Per zipped in front of Spader, cutting him off.

Spader gaped after him.

“Your mate has initiative,” the aquaneer commented. “You take the next one.”

“He's not my mate,” Spader said, “but if he wants to
play that way, I'm game.” He quickly angled the skimmer toward another arriving vessel.

“Hobey, mates!” he called up to the people on board the cruiser. “I'm Spader, your Grallion welcoming committee!”

“Nice to meet you, lad,” the man on deck said with a grin. “Let's take this in.”

“Sweet and smooth,” Spader said.
And faster than Per,
he thought. “Let's give it some zip,” he said. “Best way to not get stuck behind a plugger.”

Spader took off at a quick clip, using his minispeaker to call back instructions to the pilot navigating through the busy waters. He glanced in Per's direction. Excellent. A vessel towing a platform was crossing right in front of Per and the ship he was guiding. They were going to have to wait.

Spader kept his eyes peeled for traffic, but it was clear all the way in. As he was leaving the docking zone, he passed Per. “Even giving you a head start I beat you,” Spader said.

Per ignored him and Spader laughed. He had just brought in his first vessel and showed up Per at the same time.
Pretty nice.

Spader passed a small craft that didn't seem to be going anywhere. He went over to find out what was going on. “Not a good place to park,” he said.

“I can't figure out why it's stalled,” the woman at the controls said.

“Hang on, maybe I can help.”

He stopped the skimmer and dove below. He instantly saw the problem. Somehow she had gotten kelp in the
intake, cutting off the supply of water that powered the engines.

He reached into his water boot and pulled out his trusty knife. It was a beaut—large, with a silver handle. His father had given it to him as a graduation present. Now he used it to cut away some kelp.

He resurfaced and held up the strands. “Got your culprit right here.”

The woman frowned. “I should have checked after I went through that patch on the way in. It's an old system. It's not self-regulating like the newer models.”

“I'll get you a tow,” Spader suggested. “It would be a natty-do if the kelp tangled farther up into the works. I can't do a serious cleanout here.”

“Thanks.” The woman looked relieved. “It's embarrassing sitting here tying up traffic.”

“Just pretend you're keeping watch on everyone,” Spader said with a wink. “Make 'em think you're here supervising. Like this.” He scrambled back up onto the skimmer and draped the offending kelp over the handles. He gave a little nod to a passing vessel. “Keep up the good work!” he called to the pilot.

The woman laughed.

“Maybe
you
should get back to work,” Per said as he cruised by.

Spader watched as Per zipped to the supervisor at the buoy. They spoke for a moment, and then both turned and looked at Spader. Great. Per beat him back to the buoy and was probably bad-mouthing him besides.

Spader kicked the skimmer into high gear. “Lady
needs a tow,” Spader told the supervisor. “How do I get one to her?”

“I'll let them know,” the supervisor said. “Good work, checking on that disabled vessel.”

Per looked disgusted. Without a word he did a one-eighty and headed toward a new incoming.

“That's really your lane,” the supervisor told Spader. “You need to jump to it a bit more. The crafts come in quick and can't wait around while you boys decide who's going to handle what.”

Spader's jaw dropped, but then he shut it again. No sense in arguing with this guy—it was Per who was the problem.

For the rest of the afternoon Spader and Per went head-to-head over who could get to an incoming vessel faster, and then who could guide them into the docks first. They even raced back to the buoys. Very quickly they stopped bothering with lanes at all and crisscrossed the harbor, each determined to guide in the most ships.

A new vessel was coming in. Spader leaned forward, willing his skimmer to go even faster. He could see Per doing the same.

“Back off!” Per called. “This one's mine!”

“Gotta beat me to it!” Spader called back.

They were each kicking up wake, and Spader ignored the shouts and curses he heard around him as he deftly scooted by the smaller crafts making their way around the loading docks.

That spinney head
, Spader thought as he and Per both raced toward the bow of the vessel.
He's not going to back down. Well, neither am I.

“Get back to the buoy!” Per shouted, heading straight toward Spader.

“You go back,” Spader said. “It's my turn!”

“There are no turns!” Per yelled. “Just the job!”

You want to play that way, fine
, Spader thought. He knew any minute Per would have to change direction.

Only he didn't.

He's crazy!
Spader thought, his heart racing.

At the last possible moment Spader made a sharp turn. The skimmer responded instantly and spun off out of Per's way. The sudden shift and Spader's unbalanced weight tipped the skimmer over sideways, throwing Spader into the water. The skimmer lay on its side like a misshapen buoy—right in the path of the oncoming vessel.

S
pader watched the collision with horrified eyes. The vessel plowed directly into the skimmer, forcing it under.

If I'd been on the skimmer…
Spader didn't want to think about that.

The cruiser came to a stop, and a swarm of aquaneers appeared to assess the problem. Spader swam toward them, eager to help.

“Stay back,” his supervisor barked.

“I'm in the water,” Spader offered, “Let me go below and—”

“You've done enough already.”

A rescue raft arrived. “Get in,” the operator said.

“I'm fine,” Spader said. “I'll swim back.”

“And continue to be a danger out here? You'll do no such thing.”

Thoroughly humiliated, Spader climbed into the raft. The only good thing was that Per was also being sent in. He glumly watched the senior staff bring in the vessel—the job he and Per were supposed to do.

 

“No excuse,” Wu Yenza declared. Her eyes flashed with anger. “An aquaneer's
only
concern is safety. Not who does it the fastest or with the most style. But who keeps the docks running smoothly and with no accidents. Instead, you two
cause
accidents.”

Spader gazed down at the floor, feeling his stomach turn over.

“I've had reports that you two were in some kind of race all day,” she continued. “Well, this little competition of yours nearly cost us a vessel's safe entry. It
did
cost us a skimmer. Actually”—she turned her angry eyes to Spader—“that's going to cost
you
several months' pay. Accidents happen, but this you brought on yourself.”

“Understood,” Spader said.

Yenza paced her office. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn't let you both go?”

Per grew pale. “I'm waiting for placement on Prongo,” he said. “If I lose this position, they'll never take me.”

“If you two are let go from Grallion, it's unlikely either of you will be aquaneers,” Yenza said flatly.

“All I've ever wanted was to be an aquaneer like my father,” Spader blurted out. “Please give me another chance! I never make the same mistake twice.”

Yenza smirked. “You just keep making new ones?”

Spader couldn't help himself—he laughed. “At least I won't bore you by repeating myself.”

Yenza rubbed her temples as if the situation were giving her a headache. “What am I going to do with you two?” Then she looked straight at them. “Here's how it's going to go. You are off port and dock duty. You are on
Alt-power maintenance until I decide to put you back into action.”

“Yes, Yenza,” the boys said in unison.

“And you will work all your shifts together,” she said sternly. “You will either learn to work as a team, or you will kill each other. At this moment I truly don't know which way this will go.”

Yenza couldn't have come up with a worse punishment
, Spader thought. This was a right sinker.

W
hy do we need to check and repack the windworks?” Per complained for about the hundredth time. “They're never used.”

“They may not have been used since the time of Faar,” Spader replied, “but that's our assignment, and we're going to do it.”

“Of course we're going to do it,” Per snapped. “I'm not letting you get me in trouble again.”

“Me?” Spader's blood boiled. How could Per—
Forget it
, he told himself.
Don't let him get to you
.

It had already been a boring, irritating week and at least fifty times a shift—maybe more—Spader had to keep himself from punching Per.

“We have one more vessel to do,” Spader said. “Stop gobbing and let's get to it.”

The two boys boarded the cruiser docked in the maintenance shed. Per was right, Spader conceded. Alt power didn't make much sense. Vessels all ran on the much more controllable water power. Some of the
smaller vessels, however, came equipped with the ability to harness wind and had the means to do so stowed about in hidden compartments. Aquaneers needed to have basic understanding of alt power, but Spader had never known anyone who had ever actually used it.

Spader crossed the deck to open one of the compartments where the windworks were stored. Because it was considered emergency equipment, everything had to be set up by hand, as it would only go into effect if none of the automatic systems were working.

That's odd
, he thought. He couldn't find the latch.

“You're looking in the wrong place,” Per said.

Spader frowned. “The latches on the other boats were here.”

Per strolled to the center of the deck and tripped a hidden lever that was flush with the flooring. The hatch popped open. Per smirked at Spader. “The other boats were Watsu one-twenty-four Bs. This is a Watsu one-twenty-six D.”

Spader's father had spent hours teaching him about ship design, but there was no way Spader could know every detail of every vessel used on Cloral. Not like Per. Per's family
made
the vessels!

“You could have just told me,” Spader fumed. He stalked to the storage compartment, and he and Per raised and secured the center mast. Then they hauled up the sails and tied off their lines. Together they practiced bringing the boom about, which, if the boat weren't tethered, would have helped them change direction.

They went through the list of required moves in
silence. Spader had found not speaking was the best tactic with Per.

As they were reloading the storage compartments, Wu Yenza strode into the shed. “Glad to see you working so well together,” she said.

Per and Spader exchanged a look. Spader wouldn't call what they were doing “working well together”—more like barely tolerating each other.

“I believe you're ready for on-water work,” she said.

“Spiff!” Spader exclaimed. “I mean, thank you for the opportunity.”

Yenza smiled. “Most juniors aren't thrilled by wind systems. But it's a necessary facet of knowledge for all aquaneers.”

“Understood,” Spader said.

“There have been severe storms around Crasker,” Yenza explained. “Some of their fleet has been damaged as a result, and they're short on transport boats. So rather than delivering the goods and personnel we've been expecting, they've asked if we can pick it up ourselves. You'll be part of the team making the run.”

“Both of us?” Per asked.

Yenzu frowned. “Yes, both of you. Will that be a problem, Watsu?”

“No,” Per said hastily. “No problem at all. Promise.”

Spader had a feeling that was going to be a tough promise to keep.

 

“I think that's everything and everyone,” the man on the Crasker loading dock called up. “You're ready to go.”

The two-day trip to Crasker had been uneventful.
They had arrived on schedule, and the shipment of thermal regulators and ballast equalizers had been waiting for them. Three engineers who had designed experimental devices they planned to test on the underwater farms on Grallion had also come aboard with their equipment.

Crasker was interesting, but not really Spader's style. A habitat devoted to manufacturing, Crasker didn't have the beautiful farms and open spaces he loved on Grallion.

Or maybe it was seeing the Watsu name blazoned across so many of the buildings. Per's family manufactured many of the ships used throughout Cloral, and Crasker was one of the biggest habitats dedicated to building them. Even the cruiser they were on was a Watsu. The vessel followed the same basic design of the other ships its size: cargo holds below, living quarters in the middle, the upper deck, and then the pilot's tower. It was a fairly small vessel, carrying ten crew members, who split day and night shifts. Happily, Per and Spader, as the juniors aboard, were put on different shifts and they barely saw each other.

Once the ship had cleared the habitat, Clayton, Spader's shift supervisor, joined him at the rail. “Ready for some more drills?” Clayton asked.

“Always!” Spader replied.

“We'll do some more water sled work,” Clayton said.

“I'll fetch one,” Spader said, turning to head to the equipment storage below.

“Not so fast.” Clayton tossed Spader a globe. “You're going to access a sled from the water.”

Spader put on the globe. “I can do that?”

“You're going to try,” Clayton replied, putting on an air globe so they'd be able to communicate while Spader was underwater. “Put on a harness, too.”

Harnesses were stretchy cords that kept workers attached to the ship. Some were clipped onto rings on the hull; others, like the one Spader was going to wear, were attached to a winch on deck, manned by senior staff. This way a trainee in trouble could be hoisted back onto the ship.

Spader hated wearing the harness—it made him feel like a wee baby just learning to be water safe—but he knew they were required for drills while the boat was under way. He put his arms through the openings and buckled the harness belt around his waist.

“All set,” Spader announced.

“This is a timed drill,” Clayton explained. “In an emergency you may not have a globe with you, so it's important to work quickly. If you fell overboard, for example.”

“You mean like this?” Spader slid across the deck flailing his arms. With a loud “Whooooo-ah!” he somersaulted over the rail and splashed into the water.

When he resurfaced, he saw Clayton laughing above him. “Yeah, something like that,” Clayton said.

The ship was moving at a good clip, and the harness was dragging Spader with it. He swam to the hull and clutched the grips that were spaced in intervals along the sides. He placed his feet in the lower grips and leaned out, relishing the invigorating feel of the breeze and the spray. He had spent many hours riding “shipside” on his father's runs.

“Steady on?” Clayton asked.

“Like the ship and I are molded from the same piece!” Spader replied. “So what do I do?”

“The storage units in the holds can also be opened from the water. So you'll need to find the hatches that correspond with those units.”

“All right,” Spader said.

“Pop the hatch open and get out the sled. Keep in mind, you could need to do this without a harness, an air globe, and while the ship is moving.”

“Is that all?” Spader quipped.

“I'll be here with the lines,” Clayton said. He glanced at his watch. “And the timer! Go!”

Spader scooted along the hull using the hand and foot grips. He had to push against the force of the water rushing over him, but he made it pretty quickly. Now he just had to figure out how to open the hatch and pull out the sled without falling off the side of the ship, or letting in too much water.

He gazed toward the horizon. A wave was approaching. If he timed it just right…

Hang on…hang on….
The swell of the wave raised the ship, taking Spader with it. At the top of the crest, he quickly popped open the latch and yanked out a water sled and shut the hatch. As the boat slammed back down the back side of the wave, Spader kicked away from the ship on the water sled.

“Well done!” Clayton cheered. “Fastest time I've ever seen.”

“Easy-o,” Spader said.

“Now for repair drills,” Clayton said.

“Slack me,” Spader said. “And I'll be back in a flash.”

Clayton released the entire length of the harness so that Spader could maneuver. Spader had run the same drills en route to Crasker, so he knew what to do.

He submerged the sled and zipped to each of the intake valves under the ship, which he'd inspect if he were checking for damage or maintenance. He quickly returned to his starting point and resurfaced.

Strange…
The light had changed. Clayton stood at the rail staring up at the sky. It had grown dark and ominous.

“Come in,” Clayton said. “Now.”

“Should I put back the sled first?” Spader asked, guiding the sled alongside the hull. “Or carry it on board?”

Clayton's answer was drowned out by a sudden torrential downpour. A huge wave knocked Spader off the sled—and about ten wickams away from the ship. Only the harness kept him from being swept farther out.

It was hard to see with the rain pouring down, but he could just about make out Clayton struggling with the winch. He thought he could feel the harness pulling him, but it might have been the violent chop of the storm.

Another wave crashed down, but this time Spader was lucky. The undertow brought him back in line with the ship.

“Hang on,” Clayton called above the howling storm.

“Doin' my best, mate!” Spader called back. The high winds and waves buffeted him around badly, wearing
him down. His muscles burned as he fought the heavy, roiling water to get to the ladder.

There it was. Spader kicked hard and stretched as far as he could to grab a rung.
Yes!
He pulled himself halfway out of the water but was instantly swept off by another wave. It slammed him into the side of the boat. His body went limp and he slipped underwater.

“I'll try to lift you. Forget about the ladder!” Clayton hollered.

Spader felt himself being pulled out of the water.
Wham!
He slammed back into the side of the boat again.

“Too much slack!” Spader cried. “The ropes are getting tangled.”

Wham!
He hit the side of the ship again.

Could he keep fighting the storm to make it back on board? Or was he going to be pounded senseless first?