Chapter 13

At just before 0900 station time, we arrived at the docks and made our way to the 'Shivari'. I was carrying Sam and leading the way through dock workers and maintenance people. Midshift had started an hour before and work was in full swing with people gathering materials and tools for repair work. I was in my work clothes and the women were in their coveralls. We'd gotten some looks as we'd left the hotel.

I was trying to be better company in the morning and not so grumpy. Earlier we'd gone to the gym and I'd done a heavy workout. I think I scared Anna and Katherine a little when they saw the weight I was lifting. They hadn't realized how strong I was. I gave pointers to Mari on her workout, adding a little strength training to her routine. After breakfast, we'd gone to my ship.

I stepped up to where I was docked, unlocked the hatches and entered the transit shaft. At the hatch into 'Shivari' I unlocked the anti-tampering system and then unlock the hatch itself, opened it, and entered. It had been two days since I'd last been on it and while I enjoyed the company, it was really nice getting back on my ship. I headed for the bridge as the women headed for the galley.

Once there, I pulled out Sam's unit and replaced it in the enclosure and securing it. Sam immediately popped into view and started running her system check. I sat in my command chair, pulled up a comm panel and contacted station control.

"Amethyst Station, Privateer 'Shivari'."

"This is Amethyst Station. Go ahead, 'Shivari'."

"Can you pass me off to Maintenance, please."

"Standby. Go ahead."

"Maintenance, 'Shivari'. We are ready for scheduled repairs at your convenience."

"Roger, 'Shivari'. We'll have people there in five minutes. Can you make sure your port side hold access is ready for entry in fifteen." Since I was currently docked with the transit shaft on the starboard side, maintenance crews would need to use to port side for bringing in equipment.

"Roger that, Maintenance."

"See you in five then."

I signed off and move about the ship, removing anti-tampering systems from the hatches. I had just finished up and come back to the main deck when the first maintenance guy showed. He held up a tablet with a list of needed repairs and I pointed to the bridge. Sam would look it over and confirm the list. These guys did this all the time, talking to AIAs, so I wasn't worried. I yelled at his back that the galley was open to whomever and he waved a thanks.

I looked into the galley and found only Katherine and Mari. Both were at the table having foo-foo drinks and I asked where Anna was. I didn't need her underfoot of maintenance. That just pissed them off.

"Your room," Katherine said.

"Cabin."

"What?"

"On a ship, they are called cabins. Like hatches, not doors."

"And floors are called decks," was Mari's input.

Katherine frowned. "That's dumb."

"That's ships," was my answer.

I went to my cabin and found Anna with her hands on her hips and a disgusted look on her face as she looked around at the walls.

"What's wrong," I asked her.

"This room. It's too small."

"For what?"

She gave me 'the look'. "The bed," as if that answered the question.

I looked at the bed in question. "OK?"

"Max, you can't sleep the four of us in that tiny bed."

Something clattered on the deck behind me. I looked and there was a maintenance worker with a slightly shocked look on her face with a tool on the deck at her feet. She was looking at me, to Anna, to Mari and Katherine who were standing in the passage sipping their drinks, and back to me. She then looked at the bed and said "She right you know. There is no way you'll fit all of you in there." She then picked up the tool and said "I can call the crew chief and he can send for ShipFab."

"ShipFab?" asked Katherine.

"Ships Fabrication Shop. They do configuration of ship interiors, among other things," I said.

"You can reconfigure the ship?" Anna asked the maintenance worker.

"Oh sure. Do it all the time. ShipFab could take all the sleepers and combine them into one, if you wanted."

Anna looked at me and smiled hopefully.

"No." At her pout I explained, "I can take the next one over but I need a couple of cabins in case I pick up passengers. I don't want them in my bed and I don't want to monkey with reconfiguring all the time." I turned to the maintenance worker. "OK, let's see what the chief says."

"Hey Bobby!" she called out towards the bridge.

The guy that I'd sent to coordinate with Sam poked his head from around the hatch and looked at us. "Yo."

"He wants a sleeper reconfig."

Bobby wandered over and asked what I wanted. I told him that I'd like to configure my cabin and the one next to it into one. "Got any suggestions?"

He held up his tablet, poked around on the screen, and handed it to me. "You still have the basic layout and its pretty standard practice to reconfigure them. There're a couple of the more common configurations." I looked them over and showed the one I'd prefer to the women. They nodded after a moment.

"Let's go with that one. How long until you can get a crew?"

"They have a few cycles free, it's been pretty slow. I'll have some here in about thirty minutes. They just need to gather up the new pieces."

"Oh, can you add a ceiling panel for a holo-projector in there and in the hold?"

He poked his tablet and nodded at me.

"OK, thank you. I appreciate it." It's always smart to be polite to the crew chief.

We let the crew chief and maintenance worker go about their business after that and went to the galley. I had my tablet with me and I sent an email to Nola letting her know I was on my ship for the day. I got a reply almost immediately telling me that she'd be there at 1100. I checked my other emails while sipping a Red-Eye, found one from Philippe and he scheduled me for a two hour block after lunch tomorrow. I replied and let the women know. After that, we sat and chatted. They had commandeered the tablets from the other cabins and were doing their own thing.

I did a little prep work and disassembled the holo-projector in the galley. I then grabbed a pedestal projector similar the ones in the clothing stores we'd shopped at, and hooked it up on the bridge temporarily. When Sam popped up in miniature and went back to her work, I took down the projector there.

At about 1000, the ShipFab guys showed up and got to work almost immediately with two workers in each room. It was fascinating to watch. First they broke down the bed and set the pieces aside. Then they removed the anything mounted to the shared wall. They pulled out powered drills and started to unscrew the wall panels, each one 1.5m by 1.5m with bolts placed every 10cm along the edges that when unscrewed were still mounted to the panel, so no loose bolts. When the wall panels were down, the interior studs and frames were taken down. They then brought in 25cm strips of panel and filled in the gap on the deck, walls, and ceiling. In less than an hour, my cabin was doubled in size. The last part was the tedious bit of moving the extra cabinets in, removing the second hatch that wasn't needed, reassembling the bed into a bigger one, and mounting the new ceiling panel for the holo-projector. It would take another two to three hours to complete.

Every now and then a maintenance worker would grab me and haul me around the ship. He or she would go over the repairs they'd performed, have me and the crew chief inspect the work, and then sign off on the repair. The big hold door was open with the maintenance barge docked to the 'Shivari'. This would allow crews to use the barge's stores of equipment and tools instead of having to run to a warehouse somewhere.

At a little after 1100, Nola showed up with the crates of projectors and helped me move them to an out of the way part of the hold. We popped the crates open, inspected and did spot checks of the projectors, and made sure all the associated cables and adapters were accounted for. I had four projectors and a spare now. She then went over the new portable projector. I was essentially a new carrier for Sam's unit that had a mounted projector. It was about the same quality as a pedestal projector and wouldn't allow for moving around a room but it was still nice to have when I didn't have access to any other.