The Past Through Tomorrow Page 26

  Mighty pretty though, a great network of shiny struts and ties against black sky and stars—titanium alloy 1403, light, strong, and non-corrodible. The Station is flimsy compared with a ship, since it doesn’t have to take blastoff stresses. That meant we didn’t dare put on spin by violent means— which is where jato units come in.

  “Jato”—Jet Assisted Take-Off—rocket units invented to give airplanes a boost. Now we use them wherever a controlled push is needed, say to get a truck out of the mud on a dam job. We mounted four thousand of them around the frame of the living quarters, each one placed just so. They were wired up and ready to fire when Tiny came to me looking worried. “Dad,” he said, ‘let’s drop everything and finish compartment D-113.”

  “Okay,” I said. D-113 was in the non-spin part.

  “Rig an air lock and stock it with two weeks supplies.”

  “That’ll change your mass distribution for spin,” I suggested.

  “I’ll refigure it next dark period. Then we’ll shift jatos.”

  When Dalrymple heard about it he came charging around. It meant a delay in making rental space available. “What’s the idea?”

  Tiny stared at him. They had been cooler than ordinary lately; Dalrymple had been finding excuses to seek out Miss Gloria. He had to pass through Tiny’s office to reach her temporary room, and Tiny had finally told him to get out and stay out. “The idea,” Tiny said slowly, “is to have a pup tent in case the house burns.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Suppose we fire up the jatos and the structure cracks? Want to hang around in a space suit until a ship happens by?”

  “That’s silly. The stresses have been calculated.”

  “That’s what the man said when the bridge fell. We’ll do it my way.”

  Dalrymple stormed off.

  Tiny’s efforts to keep Gloria fenced up were sort of pitiful. In the first place, the radio tech’s biggest job was repairing suit walkie-talkies, done on watch. A rash of such troubles broke out—on her shift. I made some shift transfers and docked a few for costs, too; it’s not proper maintenance when a man deliberately busts his aerial.

  There were other symptoms. It became stylish to shave. Men started wearing shirts around quarters and bathing increased to where I thought I would have to rig another water still.

  Came the shift when D-113 was ready and the jatos readjusted. I don’t mind saying I was nervous. All hands were ordered out of the quarters and into suits. They perched around the girders and waited.

  Men in space suits all look alike; we used numbers and colored armbands. Supervisors had two antennas, one for a gang frequency, one for the supervisors’ circuit. With Tiny and me the second antenna hooked back through the radio shack and to all the gang frequencies—a broadcast.

  The supervisors had reported their men clear of the fireworks and I was about to give Tiny the word, when this figure came climbing through the girders, inside the danger zone. No safety line. No armband. One antenna.

  Miss Gloria, of course. Tiny hauled her out of the blast zone, and anchored her with his own safety line. I heard his voice, harsh in my helmet: “Who do you think you are? A sidewalk superintendent?”

  And her voice: “What do you expect me to do? Go park on a star?”

  “I told you to stay away from the job. If you can’t obey orders, I’ll lock you up.”

  I reached him, switched off my radio and touched helmets. “Boss! Boss!” I said. “You’re broadcasting!”

  “Oh—” he says, switches off, and touches helmets with her.

  We could still hear her; she didn’t switch off. “Why, you big baboon, I came outside because you sent a search party to clear everybody out,” and, “How would I know about a safety line rule? You’ve kept me penned up.” And finally, “We’ll see!”

  I dragged him away and he told the boss electrician to go ahead. Then we forgot the row for we were looking at the prettiest fireworks ever seen, a giant St. Catherine’s wheel, rockets blasting all over it. Utterly soundless, out there in space—but beautiful beyond compare.

  The blasts died away and there was the living quarters, spinning true as a flywheel—Tiny and I both let out sighs of relief. We all went back inside then to see what weight tasted like.

  It tasted funny. I went through the shaft and started down the ladders, feeling myself gain weight as I neared the rim. I felt seasick, like the first time I experienced no weight. I could hardly walk and my calves cramped.

  We inspected throughout, then went to the office and sat down. It felt good, just right for comfort, one-third gravity at the rim. Tiny rubbed his chair arms and grinned, “Beats being penned up in D-113.”

  “Speaking of being penned up,” Miss Gloria said, walking in, “may I have a word with you, Mr. Larsen?”

  “Uh? Why, certainly. Matter of fact, I wanted to see you. I owe you an apology, Miss McNye. I was—”

  “Forget it,” she cut in. “You were on edge. But I want to know this: how long are you going to keep up this nonsense of trying to chaperone me?”

  He studied her. “Not long. Just till your relief arrives.”

  “So? Who is the shop steward around here?”

  “A shipfitter named McAndrews. But you can’t use him. You’re a staff member.”

  “Not in the job I’m filling. I am going to talk to him. You’re discriminating against me, and in my off time at that.”

  “Perhaps, but you will find I have the authority. Legally I’m a ship’s captain, while on this job. A captain in space has wide discriminatory powers.”

  “Then you should use them with discrimination!”

  He grinned. “Isn’t that what you just said I was doing?”

  We didn’t hear from the shop steward, but Miss Gloria started doing as she pleased. She showed up at the movies, next off shift, with Dalrymple. Tiny left in the middle-good show, too; Lysistrata Goes to Town, relayed up from New York.

  As she was coming back alone he stopped her, having seen to it that I was present. “Umm—Miss McNye…”

  “Yes?”

  “I think you should know, uh, well… Chief Inspector Dalrymple is a married man.”

  “Are you suggesting that my conduct has been improper?”

  “No, but—”

  “Then mind your own business!” Before he could answer she added, “It might interest you that he told me about your four children.”

  Tiny sputtered. “Why… why, I’m not even married!”

  “So? That makes it worse, doesn’t it?” She swept out.

  Tiny quit trying to keep her in her room, but told her to notify him whenever she left it. It kept him busy riding herd on her. I refrained from suggesting that he get Dalrymple to spell him.

  But I was surprised when he told me to put through the order dismissing her. I had been pretty sure he was going to drop it.

  “What’s the charge?” I asked.

  “Insubordination!”

  I kept mum. He said, “Well, she won’t take orders.”

  “She does her work okay. You give her orders you wouldn’t give to one of the men—and that a man wouldn’t take.”

  “You disagree with my orders?”

  “That’s not the point. You can’t prove the charge, Tiny.”

  “Well, charge her with being female! I can prove that.”

  I didn’t say anything. “Dad,” he added wheedlingly, “you know how to write it. ‘No personal animus against Miss McNye, but it is felt that as a matter of policy, and so forth and so on.’”

  I wrote it and gave it to Hammond privately. Radio techs are sworn to secrecy but it didn’t surprise me when I was stopped by O’Connor, one of our best metalsmiths. “Look, Dad, is it true that the Old Man is getting rid of Brooksie?”

  “Brooksie?”

  “Brooksie McNye—she says to call her Brooks. Is it true?”

  I admitted it, then went on, wondering if I should have lied.

  It takes four hours, about, for a shi
p to lift from Earth. The shift before the Pole Star was due, with Miss Gloria’s relief, the timekeeper brought me two separation slips. Two men were nothing; we averaged more each ship. An hour later he reached me by supervisors’ circuit, and asked me to come to the time office. I was out on the rim, inspecting a weld job; I said no. “Please, Mr. Witherspoon,” he begged, “you’ve got to.” When one of the boys doesn’t call me ‘Dad,’ it means something. I went.

  There was a queue like mail call outside his door; I went in and he shut the door on them. He handed me a double handful of separation slips. “What in the great depths of night is this?” I asked.

  “There’s dozens more I ain’t had time to write up yet.”

  None of the slips had any reason given—just “own choice.”

  “Look, Jimmie —what goes on here?”

  “Can’t you dope it out, Dad? Shucks, I’m turning in one, too.”

  I told him my guess and he admitted it. So I took the slips, called Tiny and told him for the love of Heaven to come to his office.

  Tiny chewed his lip considerable. “But, Dad, they can’t strike. It’s a non-strike contract with bonds from every union concerned.”

  “It’s no strike, Tiny. You can’t stop a man from quitting.”

  “They’ll pay their own fares back, so help me!”

  “Guess again. Most of ‘em have worked long enough for the free ride.”

  “We’ll have to hire others quick, or we’ll miss our date.”

  “Worse than that, Tiny—we won’t finish. By next dark period you won’t even have a maintenance crew.”

  “I’ve never had a gang of men quit me. I’ll talk to them.”

  “No good, Tiny. You’re up against something too strong for you.”

  “You’re against me, Dad?”

  “I’m never against you, Tiny.”

  He said, “Dad, you think I’m pig-headed, but I’m right. You can’t have one woman among several hundred men. It drives ‘em nutty.”

  I didn’t say it affected him the same way; I said, “Is that bad?”

  “Of course. I can’t let the job be ruined to humor one woman.”

  “Tiny, have you looked at the progress charts lately?”

  “I’ve hardly had time to—what about them?”

  I knew why he hadn’t had time. “You’ll have trouble proving Miss Gloria interfered with the job. We’re ahead of schedule.”

  “We are?”

  While he was studying the charts I put an arm around his shoulder. “Look, son,” I said, “sex has been around our planet a long time. Earthside, they never get away from it, yet some pretty big jobs get built anyhow. Maybe we’ll just have to learn to live with it here, too. Matter of fact, you had the answer a minute ago.”

  “I did? I sure didn’t know it.”

  “You said, ‘You can’t have one woman among several hundred men.’ Get me?”

  “Huh? No, I don’t. Wait a minute! Maybe I do.”

  “Ever tried jiu jitsu? Sometimes you win by relaxing.”

  “Yes. Yes!”

  “When you can’t beat ‘em, you jine ’em.”

  He buzzed the radio shack. “Have Hammond relieve you, McNye, and come to my office.”

  He did it handsomely, stood up and made a speech—he’d been wrong, taken him a long time to see it, hoped there were no hard feelings, etc. He was instructing the home office to see how many jobs could be filled at once with female help. “Don’t forget married couples,” I put in mildly, “and better ask for some older women, too.”

  “I’ll do that,” Tiny agreed. “Have I missed anything, Dad?”

  “Guess not. We’ll have to rig quarters, but there’s time.”

  “Okay. I’m telling them to hold the Pole Star, Gloria, so they can send us a few this trip.”

  “That’s fine!” She looked really happy.

  He chewed his lip. “I’ve a feeling I’ve missed something. Hmm—I’ve got it. Dad, tell them to send up a chaplain for the Station, as soon as possible. Under the new policy we may need one anytime.” I thought so, too.

  Space Jockey

  JUST AS THEY WERE LEAVING the telephone called his name. “Don’t answer it,” she pleaded. “We’ll miss the curtain.”

  “Who is it?” he called out. The viewplate lighted; he recognized Olga Pierce, and behind her the Colorado Springs office of Trans-Lunar Transit.

  “Calling Mr. Pemberton. Calling—Oh, it’s you, Jake. You’re on. Flight 27, Supra-New York to Space Terminal. I’ll have a copter pick you up in twenty minutes.”

  “How come?” he protested. “I’m fourth down on the call board.”

  “You were fourth down. Now you are standby pilot to Hicks—and he just got a psycho down-check.”

  “Hicks got psychoed? That’s silly!”

  “Happens to the best, chum. Be ready. ‘Bye now.”

  His wife was twisting sixteen dollars worth of lace handkerchief to a shapeless mass. “Jake, this is ridiculous. For three months I haven’t seen enough of you to know what you look like.”

  “Sony, kid. Take Helen to the show.”

  “Oh, Jake, I don’t care about the show; I wanted to get you where they couldn’t reach you for once.”

  “They would have called me at the theater.”

  “Oh, no! I wiped out the record you’d left.”

  “Phyllis! Are you trying to get me fired?”

  “Don’t look at me that way.” She waited, hoping that he would speak, regretting the side issue, and wondering how to tell him that her own fretfulness was caused, not by disappointment, but by gnawing worry for his safety every time he went out into space.

  She went on desperately, “You don’t have to take this flight, darling; you’ve been on Earth less than the time limit. Please, Jake!”

  He was peeling off his tux. “I’ve told you a thousand times: a pilot doesn’t get a regular run by playing space-lawyer with the rule book. Wiping out my follow-up message—why did you do it, Phyllis? Trying to ground me?”

  “No, darling, but I thought just this once—”

  “When they offer me a flight I take it.” He walked stiffly out of the room.

  He came back ten minutes later, dressed for space and apparently in good humor; he was whistling: “—the caller called Casey at ha‘ past four; he kissed his—” He broke off when he saw her face, and set his mouth. “Where’s my coverall?”

  “I’ll get it. Let me fix you something to eat.”

  “You know I can’t take high acceleration on a full stomach. And why lose thirty bucks to lift another pound?”

  Dressed as he was, in shorts, singlet, sandals, and pocket belt, he was already good for about minus-fifty pounds in weight bonus; she started to tell him the weight penalty on a sandwich and a cup of coffee did not matter to them, but it was just one more possible cause for misunderstanding.

  Neither of them said much until the taxicab clumped on the roof. He kissed her goodbye and told her not to come outside. She obeyed—until she heard the helicopter take off. Then she climbed to the roof and watched it out of sight.

  The traveling-public gripes at the lack of direct Earth-to-Moon service, but it takes three types of rocket ships and two space-station changes to make a fiddling quarter-million-mile jump for a good reason: Money.

  The Commerce Commission has set the charges for the present three-stage lift from here to the Moon at thirty dollars a pound. Would direct service be cheaper?—a ship designed to blast off from Earth, make an airless landing on the Moon, return and make an atmosphere landing, would be so cluttered up with heavy special equipment used only once in the trip that it could not show a profit at a thousand dollars a pound! Imagine combining a ferry boat, a subway train, and an express elevator—

  So Trans-Lunar uses rockets braced for catapulting, and winged for landing on return to Earth to make the terrific lift from Earth to our satellite station Supra-New York. The long middle lap, from there to where Space Terminal circles the
Moon, calls for comfort—but no landing gear. The Flying Dutchman and the Philip Nolan never land; they were even assembled in space, and they resemble winged rockets like the Skysprite and the Firefly as little as a Pullman train resembles a parachute.

  The Moonbat and the Gremlin are good only for the jump from Space Terminal down to Luna… no wings, cocoon-like acceleration-and-crash hammocks, fractional controls on their enormous jets.

  The change-over points would not have to be more than air-conditioned tanks. Of course Space Terminal is quite a city, what with the Mars and Venus traffic, but even today Supra-New York is still rather primitive, hardly more than a fueling point and a restaurant-waiting room. It has only been the past five years that it has even been equipped to offer the comfort of one-gravity centrifuge service to passengers with queasy stomachs.

  Pemberton weighed in at the spaceport office, then hurried over to where the Skysprite stood cradled in the catapult. He shucked off his coverall, shivered as he handed it to the gateman, and ducked inside. He went to his acceleration hammock and went to sleep; the lift to Supra-New York was not his worry—his job was deep space.

  He woke at the surge of the catapult and the nerve-tingling rush up the face of Pikes Peak. When the Skysprite went into free flight, flung straight up above the Peak, Pemberton held his breath; if the rocket jets failed to fire, the ground-to-space pilot must try to wrestle her into a glide and bring her down, on her wings.

  The rockets roared on time; Jake went back to sleep.

  When the Skysprite locked in with Supra-New York, Pemberton went to the station’s stellar navigation room. He was pleased to find Shorty Weinstein, the computer, on duty. Jake trusted Shorty’s computations—a good thing when your ship, your passengers, and your own skin depend thereon. Pemberton had to be a better than average mathematician himself in order to be a pilot; his own limited talent made him appreciate the genius of those who computed the orbits.

  “Hot Pilot Pemberton, the Scourge of the Spaceways—Hi!” Weinstein handed him a sheet of paper.

  Jake looked at it, then looked amazed. “Hey, Shorty—you’ve made a mistake.”