Chapter 45

The extra workers had departed and the chaos was becoming organised again.

While TJ led his EVA teams, Orville wound up his cadcam manufactories with Cedric overseeing the programming of the cadcams and upgraded cluster frames and missiles spewed forth (after some human intervention like final assemblies and programme booting — there is a limit to robotic help level).

The dock passages were use as temporary storage.

TJ and his team removed the sealing material from the cone—hull joins, removed the locking bolts, and then activated the rams to rotate the cones out of lock and float them off. (It did appear strange to be able to directly look into the power plant.) Under Orville's supervision, the fusion bottles were re- positioned in situ by a gentle(?) rotation (Orville had to really twist a lot of arms to get that done).

Cedric took one look at the hemispherical cover being manoeuvred in the confines of the covered slip and innocently asked,

"How are we going to service the after missiles? EVA and through the missile outer doors?"

Orville turned to have another look at his engine room overhead and a gulp was heard over the i/c,

"Yes! That's what you will have to do. Compromise. More protection for the engine room or convenience to maintain the after missiles."

The quiet snorts increased to audible chuckles and the volume of laughter was increasing when Clare accused Orville

"Orville, you forgot access to the rear cone."

"No. I did not. I just didn't tell you. I removed the arguments about it. Tell me! What other ship do you know of that has its power plant tacked on the arse of the hull? None! The power plants are buried in the middle of the hull protected by the full radius of the hull. Ours? It got stuck on the rear end like a biter waiting to be knocked off or squashed. At least now, I've got a double hull like the rest of you surrounding me and if it's just a bit inconvenient to service the missiles in our lesser space — tough! Price you have to pay for greater power plant security."

"He's got a point, boss" TJ interjected "There would have been a Deity awful row if he'd put it to conference; and besides there aren't that many warships with rear mounted missiles."

"Oh! ... Oh!" Clare spluttered "Dammit! And as you so delicately didn't point out it was my idea for rear tubes ... Just make sure you bond that damned thing on securely."

A quiet whisper came over the i/c

"Game, set, and match to Orville."

and was politely let go through to the keeper without further comment.

The robo-workers in the HLRV's TO&E had been programmed.

The missile mechanisms were removed from the forward hull bulkhead and the after nose cone. The redesigned magazine frames and feeding mechanisms were attached to the bulkheads. The cones were modified to enable four clusters forward and two aft to be ejected simultaneously; the lights were repositioned on the hull with better coverage of the boat bays. The bow maser was removed and the defect covered. The gun mounts were emplaced in positions that covered arcs the PDs covered less effectively.

The mezzanine in the Club was raised and a false floor placed over the middle deck making a magazine space for missile clusters. The false floor about the two side after airlocks to the Club had to be recessed and stairs placed to continue access.to the Club.

The forward pair of locks gave access to the magazine; only the forward third of the magazine was utilised but space was available for expansion.

The forward bulkhead airlock was replaced by a wider hatch to enable clusters to be manoeuvred into the forward cone for reloading; Murphy put in an appearance reprogramming the cutting robot — fortunately making the new orifice ten millimetres too small. The retrimming of the opening took twice as long to perform than the original cut because of the much extra care needed with such a thin strip.

The purchased airlock went in much easier into the correct sized orifice.

The engine room overhead was bonded in place without Murphy appearing.

...

The trainees returned before the cones were replaced and they clamoured to be allowed to 'get a closer look'. The Sundowners agreed but ... The trainees were trained in EVAs (inside the covered dock) in skinnys by TJ and Morg who dredged up those lessons of so long ago. There were a lot of hands now available to position the cones. The rams were reattached and the locks engaged. The bolts and seals were done by the spacers. The trainees returned to their more mundane tasks.

...

"Sundowner" was tidied up and the dock policed (with the assistance of the trainees) and the ship's complement stood down for pre-departure make and mend. It was really the Sundowners who needed the relaxation and apart from the duty watch, they spent their time sleeping and relaxing.

The relocations from Chagos to New London and later the Potomac Orbitals were in themselves uneventful. It was the change in the rested Sundowners which manifested itself on sailing day from Chagos that stupefied the trainees

When they surfaced, however, it became obvious to the trainees, that during their absence on the snowfields, a plague of evil had infected the previously polite and urbane crew members. The Sundowners had metamorphosed into screaming petulant bad tempered reincarnations of the Lord of Hades himself.

Before first nautical twilight, a screaming hurricane tore through their quarters rousting them out of the bunks and returned to roar at the laggards in the freshers. Their duty personnel who had been rousted out earlier dazedly slopped food(?) into receptacles and another banshee warning of impending death and disaster appeared before they even got comfortable in the mess insisting the slop be shovelled into the gastrointestinal opening and the eating implements be cleaned and stacked. The Bosun who had been previously such a wise and helpful person transformed into a senior minion of the Evil One herself as she created obstructions to the smooth progress of the trainees by ordering a trainee or six to "Give me ten" expecting the commanded one to perform pushups where they stood or fell. They were herded and harassed into the assembly area to be greeted by the Duty Officer and the lower decks who pushed them into ranks where. if they were hesitant about answering their names correctly(?), they were encouraged to develop either their pectoral or abdominal muscles yet again. After apparently satisfying somebody that nobody was missing, the Bosun informed them of the day's events and divided them into work parties by pointing at them and telling the indicated ones to attend upon a crewmember who hovered about them like vultures eyeing off a dying food morsel. The crew member, even timid Mary Fogg, roared at them to get their sorry posteriors to a designated space in the ship where they were bellowed at directed to undertake sundry exertions - fetching, carrying, lifting, storing, sweeping, polishing (Oh How the Crew loved polishing) and development of pectoral or abdominal musculature. Insult was added to injury by the group being expected to perform callisthenics (it was called) before being allowed to eat at one afternoon. At two afternoon, lectures on such things as wearing and maintaining items of clothing were given and a trainee was kept awake by a shriek instructing the owner of the ear so abused to perform a prescribed set of exercises. The work parties then dispersed again to be further chased about. First dog was eat and make and mend. Second dog was cleaning the quarters and the trainees were astounded by the miniscule quantities of dust which could cause their tormentors to transmogrify.

As the days progressed, the ranting decreased as did the frequency of the exercises but the numbers increased. "Give me ten" had somehow become "Give me twenty" and for those smart posteriors, "Give me thirty" was occasionally heard. Other methods of torture were developed and a favourite appeared to be placing weights on shoulders and doing leg squats.

The work details gradually changed to performing rituals with the Evil Ones guiding and instructing and screaming less.

The tortures changed and were now broadcast over the tannoy requesting such things as work parties in skin suits to assemble by the duty air bridge to load provisions, certain teams to repair to the workshop to assemble power plants and other interesting tasks interspersed with requests to practise abandon ship drill. Somebody was always last and got to demonstrate how the muscle development was progressing.

To add to their burdens, the pleasures of unarmed combat were introduced causing some of those who had requested this to seriously rethink their position as the crew delighted in throwing and bouncing the trainees when not demonstrating how to inflict pain and bodily injury. Any one believing they had begun to master the skills was put firmly in their place by exposure to the Daughters who did most of the advanced training. TJ and Morg gave occasional demonstrations and the trainees were strangely quiet (for a short time) after watching those exhibitions.

Working in the Club and the House was a relaxation but not exactly a rest as the Daughters became hissing termagants and Mr Windsor's evil yellow glare froze the recipient to the very core.

Yet they learnt almost unaware and their confidence in themselves grew.

The trainees found themselves involved in the tasks of preparing a ship for leaving and entering harbour and readying the Club.

When they thought about it, the fabric mill had not been neglected and the output maintained — albeit using lesser numbers.

Disembarking at Potomac, the trainees were not fully comprehending of the changes in themselves. The Sundowners were; and were quietly satisfied with the results of their efforts as a physically harder group with a working knowledge of living and working in a space going vessel temporarily departed.

Clare had spent a considerable time flitting hither and yon arranging berth, local hire, provisions, fabrics and negotiating with USN and Boards of Governors.

The change of status of the trainees to students caused a few eyes to widen until Clare explained that such added costs would be bourn by the ship; Clare pointed out the advantages of having experienced same age students available.

Clare expected a quid pro quo in that the new students were poor academically mainly through lack of exposure but there would be some who would be poor, full stop; she asked the tutors and students be helpful where they could, tolerant where the assistance was futile and accept the practical experience the poorer ones could give.

Clare was surprised when a fussy chairman of the board of a boarding school whose academic reputation was excellent, bluntly stated the such experience in interacting with the less well off (not necessarily less intelligent) would be good for his students as most of them took years to have the snottiness knocked out of them,