Mar Cadet Chapter 1
So, I've decided to try and write something a bit different than my standard fare. I'm trying for a young adult type feel. Ala Heinlein's older stuff.
Chapter 1 Restart
Jamie looked up at the rippling fabric nearly three stories overhead, and took a long pull of oxygen from her mask. The Skipper was counting on her. She was the only one that could reach the breach in the habitat ring and repair it before the tear sacrificed the integrity of the whole ring seam. Jamie adjusted the thermal controls of the suit and reached up for a good handhold on the scaffolding that supported the weight of the inflatable module as well as defined its shape.
It was going to be a long hard climb, and given that the ship was on orbital insertion, one that had to be made under weight, rather than in free fall. Here at the skin, Jamie could hear the scream of interstellar dust against the very fabric of the ship, and could feel the tremor in the thin air of the skinspace. She moved up the truss, carefully choosing her hand, and footholds. A slip would send her to her death, or rip the fragile skin of the ship and possibly suck her into the void.
Sweat ran down her forehead and she silently cursed the fact that she had not had a chance to pull on her headband before putting the emergency mask on. Jamie blinked furiously to get the stinging salt out of her eyes. She locked the carabiner around a nearby truss and wedged herself back against the springy inner skin of the habitat. She shoved her toes in likely holds and let her legs bear her weight. It was a long tear, almost fifteen feet long, right along the sewn seam. An emergency patch would have to do and given the way that the pressure was dropping a air streamed from the gash, the quicker it was done the better.
Jamie pulled out the glue stick and chose a spot almost fifteen inches higher than the tear to run the first line. It was a good clear piece of cloth, not showing any of the telltale signs of wear. Another soft curse was wrung from her mouth as she almost dropped the gluestick. Training was easier than this, you did not have to wear the thick gloves of the suit that made everything difficult.
She pulled the free of the emergency patch from the dispenser roll clipped to her belt, and carefully, because of the gloves, pressed it to the line of glue. It was essential that there be no wrinkles, otherwise the repair would leak more. Jamie slowly lowered herself down along the length of the crack pulling more cloth from the dispenser roll as she moved. She laid down another crosswise line of glue from the stick every foot or so. That was temporary, just to hold the sheet in place. Spider clips had to be pushed through the tear as well, and then attached to loops along the centerline of the patch. The plastic and memory metal legs pulled the edges of the tear together, and would ensure that the patch bonded well.
Jamie was drenched in sweat by the time she reached the lower end of the tear, and her thighs and calves were beginning to tire from the awkward toeholds. She breathed a sigh of relief as she put the gluestick away for the final time, and triggered the controls or the spider clips. There was a sudden lack of movement as the patch stopped the airflow for a second, before the edges began to flutter, causing even more noise than before.
Jamie pulled the heat gun from her belt and dialed the power level to the max. A cursory check showed a full charge on its battery pack. As she moved the head of the infrared heater back and forth slowly over the patch, the plastic outer layer softened, and bonded to the inner fabric of the ships skin. The patch bond itself was stronger than the original sewn seam. It showed just how old the ship was, having been built before the newer plastics ever were approved.
As she worked her way up the tear, the skin visibly tightened as pressure built up between the two skins again. She was able to move faster, as the higher pressure let the patch bond better with less heat applied to it. Jamie was almost done when her implant pinged for her attention. It pinged again, and with a sigh she turned up the volume and answered the implant call.
“Jamie, where are you? I’ve been pinging the cart for a half an hour.” Her father’s voice tore away the last shreds of the daydream. It was something that she did often. The dreams made the tedious work on her family’s dome farms something exciting, and worth doing. It was a lot more fun being on a spaceship working on an emergency repair, than being on Mars working on a run of the mill maintenance.
“Sorry, I must have been out of range of the repeater. Dome C had another tear, and I was busy fixing it.” Jamie bit her lip at the little white lie. Both her parents would have her hide if they knew she had dropped the shield over the cart repeater again. It was a safety violation to do it, but it was a stupid regulation anyways. Her implant was a much more capable unit than that of the cart.
“I see.” Jamie could hear the doubt in her father’s voice. She supposed she had been going out of range a little too often lately, and she made a mental note to tone it down. “I guess I should have tried your implant earlier.”
Jamie gave a silent nod as she ran her fingers over the upper end of the patch, and put away the heat gun. Not the best patch job in the world, but her brothers were still turning out worse. She pulled loose the carabineer from the anchor point on the truss, but instead of going down, she moved higher up the curve of the dome. It would be faster to climb up and check the carbon dioxide condenser, than it would be to climb down, and take the central ladder up.
“Was it anything important?” Jamie could feel the anxiety build inside her again, and tried to keep it from her voice. There was a reason she was out working on the domes today, instead of being in town working on her apprenticeship on the reactor. The suborbital freighter was due in today. With it, would come word, or no word of the success of her application.
“The freighter is in, and with it the mail. You’ve got the letter.” Jamie felt the breath go out of her as the implications of her father’s blunt statement sank in. The letter.
The Spaceforce Academy only sent a real letter if you were accepted. Rejections went out electronically. Two full Martian years she had worked towards today. Her schooling, her apprenticeship at the reactor had all been geared at the application, and now successful entry into the academy.
“Really… I… I got it?” Jamie still could not believe it. She needed to hear it again, just to make sure.
“Yeah, you got it. Your mom’s already making preparations for the goodbye party.” Jamie could feel the smile that broke out over her face as she heard the pride in her father’s voice. He had been her biggest supporter in the entire quest. He had helped get her into the training she needed, spent long hard hours poring over the books with her. “It’s going to be tonight a supper. You’ll have to take the freighter to make your reservation out of Burroughs City, and it’s leaving tomorrow. If you want some time, you’ll have to take it before the party Jamie.”
“Yeah… Let mom know that I’ll be back before it starts. I still need to finish up here and then I’ve got some personal things to take care of.” Jamie winced at that. Saying goodbye to her friends was going to be hard, given that they had grown up together. Still there were a few things that she wanted to do even before that.
“Will do, see you at the party Pumpkin.”
*****
The sun was setting over a red orange plain as Jamie pulled up to her last stop. It was a small dome, a leftover shack from the water prospecting days. Men, women had searched the dry dust plains for subterranean water and ice deposits. Those that struck it rich became founding fathers of cities and towns. Those that did not died in obscurity.
This one had once been home to an eccentric man, one who had used to regale children of Yuma, Sedwick County Mars, with stories of the stars and of the Space Fleet. Jamie gave a small smile as she touched the dusty door. Here was where her dream of joining the Fleet had been born. Sitting at the feet of a man she, and most of the children in town had called uncle. Here he lay alone, on the only piece of ground that had ever been truly his.
“Thought we would find you here.”
Jamie jumped slightly as the voice carried through the thin Martian air. It was nearly up to .4 atmosphere now after nearly a century of terraforming. It was a voice she knew and the suits that came into view as she turned were familiar as well. The fearsome four they were called, and she had been through a ton of tight scrapes with them all. She cut in the wifi connection on her implant and joined in on the shared channel so Todd would not have to shout anymore.
“Todd, Tami, Jess.” Jamie greeted them and pounded their shoulders lightly. “So word has already gotten around then.”
“Yep, your brothers have been spreading it, as if it needs any help in Yuma.” Todd’s wry words brought another smile to Jamie’s lips. She tried to keep back the giggle as he stuck his tongue out at her.
“You guys aren’t…” Jamie trailed off and looked away from them. In a way she felt like she was betraying what they had shared together by taking this chance. They had been together, well it felt like forever now, and the fact that they were not going to be there was finally sinking in.
“Mad you’re joining the fleet? Hell no.” Tami was still feigning that southern American accent she had picked up from visiting relatives years back. Jamie still was not sure if she did it to be annoying, or just to be different than everyone else.
“We’re all heading separate ways Jamie. Tami is setting off to earth to go to one of those centuries old colleges.” Jamie smiled as Jess once again deigned not to mention that that school was Yale, one of the minor teases she always slipped through on Tami. “Todd is heading to Luna city to take up occupational therapy classes, and in a month or so I’m going to Burroughs City to start my schooling.”
“I think, well that we all knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Didn’t that last camping trip seem sort of well, final to you all? The last adventure of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys type of thing.”
“Yeah.” Jamie found herself agreeing with Todd. Two weeks they had spent out in the hinterlands, climbing cliffs and exploring deep canyons it had been their senior trip and one that had scared their parents half to death. They had even made a pair of small water stakes out there. Someday in the future if a settlement popped up, or a small farm wanted to go separate they might be rich people.
“We were all worried about you Jams. We all had our plans locked down and in the red. You, well you didn’t have a backup that you talked about if this fell through. We were afraid that we were leaving you behind, rather than seeing each other off on separate paths.” Jamie gave Tami another pat on her shoulder as she said what Jamie knew the other two were feeling. Tami always had been the glue that held the four of them together.
“Speaking about leaving behind. If we don’t get moving the going away party is going to start without the star attraction. Race ya back!” Jamie challenged as she took a head start toward her cart.
Chapter 1 Restart
Jamie looked up at the rippling fabric nearly three stories overhead, and took a long pull of oxygen from her mask. The Skipper was counting on her. She was the only one that could reach the breach in the habitat ring and repair it before the tear sacrificed the integrity of the whole ring seam. Jamie adjusted the thermal controls of the suit and reached up for a good handhold on the scaffolding that supported the weight of the inflatable module as well as defined its shape.
It was going to be a long hard climb, and given that the ship was on orbital insertion, one that had to be made under weight, rather than in free fall. Here at the skin, Jamie could hear the scream of interstellar dust against the very fabric of the ship, and could feel the tremor in the thin air of the skinspace. She moved up the truss, carefully choosing her hand, and footholds. A slip would send her to her death, or rip the fragile skin of the ship and possibly suck her into the void.
Sweat ran down her forehead and she silently cursed the fact that she had not had a chance to pull on her headband before putting the emergency mask on. Jamie blinked furiously to get the stinging salt out of her eyes. She locked the carabiner around a nearby truss and wedged herself back against the springy inner skin of the habitat. She shoved her toes in likely holds and let her legs bear her weight. It was a long tear, almost fifteen feet long, right along the sewn seam. An emergency patch would have to do and given the way that the pressure was dropping a air streamed from the gash, the quicker it was done the better.
Jamie pulled out the glue stick and chose a spot almost fifteen inches higher than the tear to run the first line. It was a good clear piece of cloth, not showing any of the telltale signs of wear. Another soft curse was wrung from her mouth as she almost dropped the gluestick. Training was easier than this, you did not have to wear the thick gloves of the suit that made everything difficult.
She pulled the free of the emergency patch from the dispenser roll clipped to her belt, and carefully, because of the gloves, pressed it to the line of glue. It was essential that there be no wrinkles, otherwise the repair would leak more. Jamie slowly lowered herself down along the length of the crack pulling more cloth from the dispenser roll as she moved. She laid down another crosswise line of glue from the stick every foot or so. That was temporary, just to hold the sheet in place. Spider clips had to be pushed through the tear as well, and then attached to loops along the centerline of the patch. The plastic and memory metal legs pulled the edges of the tear together, and would ensure that the patch bonded well.
Jamie was drenched in sweat by the time she reached the lower end of the tear, and her thighs and calves were beginning to tire from the awkward toeholds. She breathed a sigh of relief as she put the gluestick away for the final time, and triggered the controls or the spider clips. There was a sudden lack of movement as the patch stopped the airflow for a second, before the edges began to flutter, causing even more noise than before.
Jamie pulled the heat gun from her belt and dialed the power level to the max. A cursory check showed a full charge on its battery pack. As she moved the head of the infrared heater back and forth slowly over the patch, the plastic outer layer softened, and bonded to the inner fabric of the ships skin. The patch bond itself was stronger than the original sewn seam. It showed just how old the ship was, having been built before the newer plastics ever were approved.
As she worked her way up the tear, the skin visibly tightened as pressure built up between the two skins again. She was able to move faster, as the higher pressure let the patch bond better with less heat applied to it. Jamie was almost done when her implant pinged for her attention. It pinged again, and with a sigh she turned up the volume and answered the implant call.
“Jamie, where are you? I’ve been pinging the cart for a half an hour.” Her father’s voice tore away the last shreds of the daydream. It was something that she did often. The dreams made the tedious work on her family’s dome farms something exciting, and worth doing. It was a lot more fun being on a spaceship working on an emergency repair, than being on Mars working on a run of the mill maintenance.
“Sorry, I must have been out of range of the repeater. Dome C had another tear, and I was busy fixing it.” Jamie bit her lip at the little white lie. Both her parents would have her hide if they knew she had dropped the shield over the cart repeater again. It was a safety violation to do it, but it was a stupid regulation anyways. Her implant was a much more capable unit than that of the cart.
“I see.” Jamie could hear the doubt in her father’s voice. She supposed she had been going out of range a little too often lately, and she made a mental note to tone it down. “I guess I should have tried your implant earlier.”
Jamie gave a silent nod as she ran her fingers over the upper end of the patch, and put away the heat gun. Not the best patch job in the world, but her brothers were still turning out worse. She pulled loose the carabineer from the anchor point on the truss, but instead of going down, she moved higher up the curve of the dome. It would be faster to climb up and check the carbon dioxide condenser, than it would be to climb down, and take the central ladder up.
“Was it anything important?” Jamie could feel the anxiety build inside her again, and tried to keep it from her voice. There was a reason she was out working on the domes today, instead of being in town working on her apprenticeship on the reactor. The suborbital freighter was due in today. With it, would come word, or no word of the success of her application.
“The freighter is in, and with it the mail. You’ve got the letter.” Jamie felt the breath go out of her as the implications of her father’s blunt statement sank in. The letter.
The Spaceforce Academy only sent a real letter if you were accepted. Rejections went out electronically. Two full Martian years she had worked towards today. Her schooling, her apprenticeship at the reactor had all been geared at the application, and now successful entry into the academy.
“Really… I… I got it?” Jamie still could not believe it. She needed to hear it again, just to make sure.
“Yeah, you got it. Your mom’s already making preparations for the goodbye party.” Jamie could feel the smile that broke out over her face as she heard the pride in her father’s voice. He had been her biggest supporter in the entire quest. He had helped get her into the training she needed, spent long hard hours poring over the books with her. “It’s going to be tonight a supper. You’ll have to take the freighter to make your reservation out of Burroughs City, and it’s leaving tomorrow. If you want some time, you’ll have to take it before the party Jamie.”
“Yeah… Let mom know that I’ll be back before it starts. I still need to finish up here and then I’ve got some personal things to take care of.” Jamie winced at that. Saying goodbye to her friends was going to be hard, given that they had grown up together. Still there were a few things that she wanted to do even before that.
“Will do, see you at the party Pumpkin.”
*****
The sun was setting over a red orange plain as Jamie pulled up to her last stop. It was a small dome, a leftover shack from the water prospecting days. Men, women had searched the dry dust plains for subterranean water and ice deposits. Those that struck it rich became founding fathers of cities and towns. Those that did not died in obscurity.
This one had once been home to an eccentric man, one who had used to regale children of Yuma, Sedwick County Mars, with stories of the stars and of the Space Fleet. Jamie gave a small smile as she touched the dusty door. Here was where her dream of joining the Fleet had been born. Sitting at the feet of a man she, and most of the children in town had called uncle. Here he lay alone, on the only piece of ground that had ever been truly his.
“Thought we would find you here.”
Jamie jumped slightly as the voice carried through the thin Martian air. It was nearly up to .4 atmosphere now after nearly a century of terraforming. It was a voice she knew and the suits that came into view as she turned were familiar as well. The fearsome four they were called, and she had been through a ton of tight scrapes with them all. She cut in the wifi connection on her implant and joined in on the shared channel so Todd would not have to shout anymore.
“Todd, Tami, Jess.” Jamie greeted them and pounded their shoulders lightly. “So word has already gotten around then.”
“Yep, your brothers have been spreading it, as if it needs any help in Yuma.” Todd’s wry words brought another smile to Jamie’s lips. She tried to keep back the giggle as he stuck his tongue out at her.
“You guys aren’t…” Jamie trailed off and looked away from them. In a way she felt like she was betraying what they had shared together by taking this chance. They had been together, well it felt like forever now, and the fact that they were not going to be there was finally sinking in.
“Mad you’re joining the fleet? Hell no.” Tami was still feigning that southern American accent she had picked up from visiting relatives years back. Jamie still was not sure if she did it to be annoying, or just to be different than everyone else.
“We’re all heading separate ways Jamie. Tami is setting off to earth to go to one of those centuries old colleges.” Jamie smiled as Jess once again deigned not to mention that that school was Yale, one of the minor teases she always slipped through on Tami. “Todd is heading to Luna city to take up occupational therapy classes, and in a month or so I’m going to Burroughs City to start my schooling.”
“I think, well that we all knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Didn’t that last camping trip seem sort of well, final to you all? The last adventure of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys type of thing.”
“Yeah.” Jamie found herself agreeing with Todd. Two weeks they had spent out in the hinterlands, climbing cliffs and exploring deep canyons it had been their senior trip and one that had scared their parents half to death. They had even made a pair of small water stakes out there. Someday in the future if a settlement popped up, or a small farm wanted to go separate they might be rich people.
“We were all worried about you Jams. We all had our plans locked down and in the red. You, well you didn’t have a backup that you talked about if this fell through. We were afraid that we were leaving you behind, rather than seeing each other off on separate paths.” Jamie gave Tami another pat on her shoulder as she said what Jamie knew the other two were feeling. Tami always had been the glue that held the four of them together.
“Speaking about leaving behind. If we don’t get moving the going away party is going to start without the star attraction. Race ya back!” Jamie challenged as she took a head start toward her cart.