Chapter 30

The tugs tethered themselves to the freighter's hull rather than pass a line and tow her. When asked, the tug senior captain explained that the freighter was a cantankerous bitch and had broken two lines during the shift from the navy docks to here.

They had entered the freighter via the starboard boatbay and found ropes in situ on which to make their way around; TJ and Morg used the ropes rather than their suits jets so the party stayed together

TJ, Morg, Cedric and Charles Lightoller were on the freighter's excuse for a bridge, TJ and Morg in their armoured suits. Orville was in his engine room doing engine things. It was not that the others had anything to do as without power, the freighter was just another lifeless hulk. The flivver had been tied down in the starboard boatbay and contained the victuals and supplies.

Once the tow was clear of the harbour, the men repaired to the flivver where her power provided environment and replenishment of the skinnies oxygen supplies.

"Now, that's a thought" Morg muttered. "Seeing we are all busting with funds from the prizes, why not lose the skinnies and all get armour. Easier to get into and lasts longer between meals. And besides, we own the company — well SHOW does and we can give a discount."

Just then the tow made a significant course change and as the momentum was felt Morg's eyes screwed up,

"She's heavy, very heavy; feel her fight the tugs. They are at full power just to bring her round. 'Teeth, you sure you want to use this thing TJ? She's a cantankerous bitch for sure."

"Morg, don't look a gift horse ... we got her as scrap and we know better than that — she is a 'goer' — even if she does sail like a leaden slug. Relax and enjoy the ride. I'll com Allie and organise the armour for the girls. You three will have to wait a while."

"TJ," Cedric asked "can I have a different colour — black just does not go with my complexion." And burst out laughing at the reaction on the faces of the others — kept him amused until time to move to the engine room console.

The tugs stood well off — blast don't work in vacuum but radiation does.

Orville led the way into the auxiliary power room. The others looked at the elaborate console and at the block of machinery filling a large part of the small inner compartment.

"Ahh ... does that power the ship? Looks a bit small even for this" asked Charles. The other three nodded agreement.

Orville's voice over the skinny com sounded as if he was laughing to himself,

"Well in a roundabout way it does. Its an auxiliary fission pile of quite small dimensions — a bit like I have been working on; its nice to know great minds think alike. This is the back up power for our living space enviro which are double wired for both main and auxiliary — all the others run off the main; there's the breaker box on the port bulkhead.

What you have not realised that this thing is just a humungous cylinder with domed ends for strength and relatively light cone shaped ends attached. The fission pile proper is really outside the hull aft and the pods are only attached to the cylinder for strength of attachment. Losing the main engine means the crew could live in here for as long as the food and water lasted or what I think is that the ship is booted up to cruise and then main engines are almost shut down and this maintains the environment in the crew's quarters. In hyper the main plant will be needed to maintain the sails but that's all. In an absolute emergency this pile would keep the vessel moving but couldn't accelerate it.

This vessel is built like a passenger ship about to be fitted out but has as its core a pure freighter set up. Also you cant get from one deck to another from inside; this deck is full length with the only entry to both fore and aft cones and boatbays via airlocks.

This vessel conforms to no build principal I know of and what single purpose she was built for I cannot conceive.

I'll leave you clever officers to work that one out. I'll fire up the auxillary and you can man the console for me — it's still a fission plant and needs care."

Orville had the check lists downloaded on the console screens and the "Tulips" were familiar with them; Charles looked on as an interested spectator. When the auxillary was 'in the green', Orville led the group out the uni-lock hatch in the after transverse bulkhead to the after air lock traversing an area the size of a football field,

"The uni-lock cant be opened if there is pressure in the quarters and vacuum in the aft compartment. The only entrances to the cones and the boat bays are on this level and are double hatch airlocks. When we get outside into main engine you'll find it is attached to the after cylinder dome so if we ever put gravity on this deck and the aft cone — Deity forfend — you'll have to adjust your orientation coming and going.

Speaking as Chief Engineer, I'd rather put gravity in the living quarters and only out here when its needed."

The others nodded a bit uncertainly.

"Leave the hatches on the clips — they are airlocks but from what the 'puters say, the safeties don't come into play until power is available and atmosphere present on one side or the other. Good idea to have them double closed however at all times — just not needed for this as we might need to bugout if Murphy makes an appearance. Being careful you understand?"

More nods, this time certainly.

Orville took Charles with him as he moved about the power plant physically checking the gauges and settings confirming the readouts on the main engine console screens. When all checked out, Orville moved back to the main console and brought power from the auxillary and began drawing the rods from the piles. The power gauges started to come up and were monitored by the watchers. After several hours, Orville pronounced himself satisfied, and

"Captain Lightoller, gentlemen. Cedric and I will watch here while you return to harbour. After all our effort, please don't bend her."

"Suit for manoeuvres on the way back?" asked Charles.

"I'd be concerned if you didn't" Orville stated "Stay fully suited for the time being; no, on second thoughts, I'll come up and put enviro in the bridge etc."

Orville brought up environment in the transverse compartment and then to his frustration had to decompress and instruct the others on how to establish atmosphere in the compartment after he had departed through the aft uni-lock.

"On our to-do list — an after air lock out of here" TJ commented as he operated the panel.

"This control system looks rather primitive" Charles observed "but if you gentlemen take your positions, we'll get going. Morg, com the tugs and tell them we have power and are about to move into Gorgipest. Orville, ahead one third on impellors. TJ, can you come to ... left forty and down ten and we'll see how we go ... Whoops! She does swing. Follow the tugs please. Half power please. TJ, left fortyfive, then right ninety and bring us back by left fortyfive ... My goodness, she does have a big arse swing ... Hello, TJ are you rolling? No? The screens are showing the asteroid rotating under us ... and we are rolling back slightly to keep the planet under us..."

"Orville, stop all. Thank you."

"Boss" Morg said "Gorgipest control wants us to moor on bouy seven delta. Here it is on the screen."

"TJ head for the bouy please; Orville go half astern on the impellors ... Full astern impellors ... TJ right ten and Orville full portside thrusters ... Overshot but missed. Stop thrusters. TJ left helm ten please. Orville stop impellors. Morg catch the bouy with the forward electromag and Orville touch forward take the way off her ... stop. Satan's teeth, that was interesting"

"Yeh" agreed TJ "I think we all now agree she is a pig. Boss, I suggest we retrieve the supplies out of "Bulb" and Morg can retrieve Orville and Cedric via one of the starboard airlocks."

"Agree TJ. Orville shut down as you need to and then Cedric and you come forward via an air lock into "Bulb" and back here."

"Roger, Boss, we'll com Morg in ten."

"Bulb" was quickly emptied and Charles and TJ carried in the bedding and supplies while Morg sortied to recover Orville and Cedric. Charles distributed the bedding into the bunk recesses while TJ operated the primitive heater and prepared rations. They were ready for the returnees,

"Commed Mam, and told her the news" Morg informed the party. "She says Clare wants to discuss some ideas about fitting out the accommodation block. Told her, I'd com in morning to make arrangements."

"I think hardsuits are a must" TJ stated " urgently, in fact. Nil gravity seems to be the rule in this thing so we need jets to be safe — the ropes stay and as we get about we might want to put more about. Orville, can main engines, impellors be routed up to the bridge?"

"You thinking on the seats, TJ? Pretty sure but I'll have to check but from what you said when you found her, they have to be here now."

"Seats?" Charles enquired.

Morg gave him the full story as they demolished the meal,

" ... and we need that galley. This looks and tastes like wet cardboard."

TJ did the explaining this time.

"I wondered how that courier was manned. Thirty wasn't it?" Charles said.

"Nah. Hadn't been thirty for over a decade" Orville stated "Eighteen all ranks but that was just to watch the gauges move. Once this pair put all the gauges in the one spot we had time on our hands. Filled it well, though" with a quiet chuckle.

That brought forth reminiscences that had Charles wondering if his toes should curl,

"I'm sure I'm in for interesting times, but now I'm for the bunk. Choose anyone. No anchor watch — nothing we can do about anything anyway; we are closed up? Good."

At morning nautical twilight, Orville dragged Cedric back to the after dome power plant to do some engine things getting Morg to do 'do the transportation hop' in "Bulb" before he departed for Sloane Street to pick up Clare and then to the providores for more supplies.

Charles and TJ booted the 'puter and ran themselves through the construction details of the ship. They got a dose of the severe frustrations. The double hull cylinder with its numerous airlocks, the end cones, the Adama Wartzsilo Seltzer main engines, the ten inertial compensators (ten? What in the universe were they contemplating?), the environmental fittings and the power circuitry were described in almost loving detail but there was nothing but nothing on the internal structure except to iterate what could be seen with the eyeball Mk 1.

TJ did an EVA to inspect the hull and its construction and reported that the hull looked as if it was one piece but the fact that it had been in space and exposed to several voyages from orbital space to n space and at least one trip in hyper albeit as a piggyback meant that it had handled those stresses well enough.

Back to the 'puter to go through the control system — again eyeball Mk1 iteration. TJ's comments on what was under the console panels would have attracted actions for defamation if it was ever published; none of the manufacturer's names were familiar and no planet was mentioned. His considered opinion, and he held himself to be an expert, was that the equipment although of recent manufacture, ie within the last decade, the systems used were at least a century old. Whilst hull mounted vids gave a visual picture of the outside world, there were no active or passive detection systems (which had been available shortly after the exodus to space five centuries ago) except for millimetre band radar which had been around for eons.

"The ship's general contour" Charles mused, "is certainly elegant in its simplicity but its lineage is almost five or six centuries old — those transplanetary passenger liners in those romance vids..."

"Hey, don't knock that idea. I'm the end result of one of those spaceboard romances and it lasted three decades or so. Me parents have just started up again — disgustin' really" TJ said rather primly.

"Oh, you mean that yours parents could not have indulged in steamy fornication and you are the product of immaculate conception" Charles laughed.

"Yeh, that's the one. But back to basics. We've got a space going ship that handles like a pig which is built like a series of convention spaces. Hey! That's it. Charles, how would you like to command a convention ship?"

"TJ, I've been warned about your brainstorms. Explain and expand please."

"Suit. Morg and I joined Andrew to gain space going experience and to see part of the galaxy we conned our way into couriers. While we were at it, Morg discovers his talent for female fashion design and you might have noted that whilst normal dress is unisex, when dressing up the femmes, in higher society at least, revert to those sex statements of centuries ago..."

""Titan" seemed to be full of them..."

"See! So Morg and I came up with this idea of a galactic couturier; we certainly did well enough just out of "Tulip" — phenomenal really. Of course, it helped that we had ready access to all sorts of exotic fabrics — each one new on another planetary system. We were the rage in New London without trying any other port. Morg has a sure touch in design — probably something to do with his strength in maths..."