Farmer in the Sky Part 5

He was good enough. When we went weightless again, I looked over my shoulder out a port and there was the Mayflower, Mayflower, with the Sun gleaming on her, large as life and not very far away. There was the softest sort of a correction b.u.mp and the loudspeaker sang out, "Contact completed. You may unstrap." with the Sun gleaming on her, large as life and not very far away. There was the softest sort of a correction b.u.mp and the loudspeaker sang out, "Contact completed. You may unstrap."

I did and went to the port from which we could see the Mayflower. Mayflower. It was easy to see why she could never land; she had no airfoils of any sort, not even fins, and she was the wrong shape-almost spherical except that one side came out to a conical point. It was easy to see why she could never land; she had no airfoils of any sort, not even fins, and she was the wrong shape-almost spherical except that one side came out to a conical point.

She looked much too small-then I realized that a little bulge that was sticking out past her edge at one point was actually the bow of the Icarus, Icarus, unloading on the far side. Then suddenly she was enormous and the little flies on her were men in s.p.a.ce suits. unloading on the far side. Then suddenly she was enormous and the little flies on her were men in s.p.a.ce suits.

One of them shot something at us and a line came snaking across. Before the k.n.o.b on the end of it quite reached us there was a bright purple brush discharge from the end of it and every hair on my head stood straight up and my skin p.r.i.c.kled. A couple of the women in the compartment squealed and I heard Miss Andrews soothing them down and telling them that it was just the electrical potential adjusting between the two s.h.i.+ps. If she had told them it was a bolt of lightning she would have been just as correct, but I don't suppose that would have soothed them.

I wasn't scared; any kid who had fooled around with radio or any sort of electronics would have expected it.

The k.n.o.b on the line clunked against the side of the s.h.i.+p and after a bit the little line was followed by a heavier line and then they warped us together, slowly. The Mayflower Mayflower came up until she filled the port. came up until she filled the port.

After a bit my ears popped and the loudspeaker said, "All hands-prepare to disembark."

Miss Andrews made us wait quite a while, then it was our deck's turn and we pulled ourselves along to the deck we had come in by. Mrs. Tarb.u.t.ton didn't come along; she and her husband were having some sort of a discussion with Miss Andrews.

We went right straight out of our s.h.i.+p, through a jointed steel drum about ten feet long, and into the Mayflower. Mayflower.

5. Captain Harkness

Do you know the worst thing about s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps? They smell bad.

Even the Mayflower Mayflower smelled bad and she was brand new. She smelled of oil and welding and solvents and dirty, sweaty smells of all the workmen who had lived in her so long. Then we came, three s.h.i.+ploads of us, most of us pretty whiff with that bad odor people get when they're scared or very nervous. My stomach still wasn't happy and it almost got me. smelled bad and she was brand new. She smelled of oil and welding and solvents and dirty, sweaty smells of all the workmen who had lived in her so long. Then we came, three s.h.i.+ploads of us, most of us pretty whiff with that bad odor people get when they're scared or very nervous. My stomach still wasn't happy and it almost got me.

The worst of it is that there can't be very good 'freshers in a s.h.i.+p; a bath is a luxury. After the s.h.i.+p got organized we were issued tickets for two baths a week, but how far does that go, especially when a bath means two gallons of water to sponge yourself off with?

If you felt you just had had to have a bath, you could ask around and maybe buy a ticket from somebody who was willing to skip one. There was one boy in my bunk room who sold his tickets for four weeks running until we all got sick of it and gave him an unscheduled bath with a very stiff brush. But I'm getting ahead of myself. to have a bath, you could ask around and maybe buy a ticket from somebody who was willing to skip one. There was one boy in my bunk room who sold his tickets for four weeks running until we all got sick of it and gave him an unscheduled bath with a very stiff brush. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

And you couldn't burn your clothes either; you had to wash wash them. them.

When we first got into the Mayflower Mayflower it took them maybe half an hour to get us all sorted out and into our acceleration couches. The people from the it took them maybe half an hour to get us all sorted out and into our acceleration couches. The people from the Daedalus Daedalus and the and the Icarus Icarus were supposed to be stowed away by the time we got there, but they weren't and the pa.s.sageways were traffic jams. A traffic jam when everybody is floating, and you don't know which end is up, is about eight times as confusing as an ordinary one. were supposed to be stowed away by the time we got there, but they weren't and the pa.s.sageways were traffic jams. A traffic jam when everybody is floating, and you don't know which end is up, is about eight times as confusing as an ordinary one.

There weren't any stewardesses to get us straight, either; there were emigrants instead, with signs on their chests reading s.h.i.+P'S AIDEbut a lot of them needed aid themselves; they were just as lost as anybody else. It was like amateur theatricals where the ushers don't know how to find the reserved seats.

By the time I was in the bunk room I was a.s.signed to and strapped down there were bells ringing all over the place and loudspeakers shouting: "Prepare for acceleration! Ten minutes!"

Then we waited.

It seemed more like half an hour. Presently the count-off started. I said to myself, William, if the blast-off from Earth was rugged, this is going to knock the teeth right out of your head. I knew what we were going to build up to-better than ninety-three miles per second. That's a third of a million miles an hour! Frankly I was scared.

The seconds ticked away; there was a soft push that forced me down against the cus.h.i.+ons-and that was all. I just lay there; the ceiling was the ceiling again and the floor was under me, but I didn't feel extra heavy, I felt fine.

I decided that was just the first step; the next one would be a dilly.

Up overhead in the bunk room was a display screen; it lighted up and I was looking into the face of a man with four collar stripes; he was younger than Captain DeLongPre. He smiled and said, "This is your Captain speaking, friends-Captain Harkness. The s.h.i.+p will remain at one gravity for a little more than four hours.I think it is time to serve lunch, don't you?"

He grinned again and I realized that my stomach wasn't bothering me at all-except that I was terribly hungry. I guess he knew that all of us ground hogs would be starving to death as soon as we were back to normal weight. He went on: "We'll try to serve you just as quickly as possible. It is all right for you to unstrap now, sit up, and relax, but I must ask you to be very careful about one thing: "This s.h.i.+p is precisely balanced so that the thrust of our drive pa.s.ses exactly through our center of gravity. If that were not so, we would tend to spin instead of moving in a straight line-and we might fetch up in the heart of the Sun instead of at Ganymede.

"None of us wants to become an impromptu barbecue, so I will ask each of you not to move unnecessarily from the neighborhood of your couch. The s.h.i.+p has an automatic compensator for a limited amount of movement, but we must not overload it-so get permission from your s.h.i.+p's aide before moving as much as six inches from your present positions."

He grinned again and it was suddenly a most unpleasant grin. "Any one violating this rule will be strapped down by force-and the Captain will a.s.sign punishment to fit the crime after we are no longer under drive."

There wasn't any s.h.i.+p's aide in our compartment; all we could do was wait. I got acquainted with the boys in the bunkroom, some older, some younger. There was a big, sandy-haired boy about seventeen, by the name of Edwards-"Noisy" Edwards. He got tired of waiting.

I didn't blame him; it seemed like hours went past and still nothing to eat. I thought we had been forgotten.

Edwards had been hanging around the door, peering out. Finally he said, "This is ridiculous! We can't sit here all day. I'm for finding out what's the hold up. Who's with me?"

One of the fellows objected, "The Captain said to sit tight."

"What if he did? And what can he do if we don't? We aren't part of the crew."

I pointed out that the Captain had authority over the whole s.h.i.+p, but he brushed me off. "Tommyrot! We got a right to know what's going on-and a right to be fed. Who's coming along?"

Another boy said, "You're looking for trouble, Noisy."

Edwards stopped; I think he was worried by the remark but he couldn't back down. Finally he said, "Look, we're supposed to have a s.h.i.+p's aide and we haven't got one. You guys elect me s.h.i.+p's aide and I'll go bring back chow. How's that?"

n.o.body objected out loud. Noisy said, "Okay, here I go."

He couldn't have been gone more than a few seconds when a s.h.i.+p's aide showed up carrying a big box of packaged rations. He dealt them out and had one left over. Then he counted the bunks. "Weren't there twenty boys in here?" he asked.

We looked at each other but n.o.body said anything. He pulled out a list and called our names. Edwards didn't answer, of course, and he left, taking Noisy's ration with him.

Then Noisy showed up and saw us eating and wanted to know where his lunch was. We told him; he said, "For the love of Mike! Why didn't you guys save it for me? A fine bunch you turned out to be." And he left again.

He came back shortly, looking mad. A s.h.i.+p's aide followed him and strapped him down.

We had about reached the teeth-picking stage when the screen on the ceiling lit up again and there was the Moon. It looked as if we were headed right toward it and coming up fast. I began to wonder if Captain Harkness had dropped a decimal point.

I lay back on my couch and watched it grow. After a while it looked worse. When it had grown until it filled the screen and more and it seemed as if we couldn't possibly miss, I saw that the mountains were moving past on the screen from right to left. I breathed a sigh of relief; maybe the Old Man knew what he was doing after all.

A voice came over the speaker: "We are now pa.s.sing the Moon and tacking slightly in so doing. Our relative speed at point of closest approach is more than fifty miles per second, producing a somewhat spectacular effect."

I'll say it was spectacular! We zipped across the face of the Moon in about half a minute, then it faded behind us. I suppose they simply kept a TV camera trained on it, but it looked as if we had dived in, turned sharply, and raced out again. Only you don't make sharp turns at that that speed. speed.

About two hours later they stopped gunning her. I had fallen asleep and I dreamed I was making a parachute jump and the chute failed to open. I woke up with a yell, weightless, with my stomach dropping out of me again. It took me a moment to figure out where I was.

The loudspeaker said: "End of acceleration. Spin will be placed on the s.h.i.+p at once."

But it did not happen all at once; it happened very slowly. We drifted toward one wall and slid down it toward the outer wall of the s.h.i.+p. That made what had been the outer wall the floor; we stood on it- and the side with the bunks on it was now a wall and the side with the TV screen on it, which had been the ceiling, was now the opposite wall. Gradually we got heavier.

Noisy was still strapped to his couch; the s.h.i.+p's aide had moved the buckles so that he could not reach them himself. Now he was up against the wall, hanging on the straps like a papoose. He began to yell for us to help him down.

He was not in any danger and he could not have been too uncomfortable, for we weren't up to a full gravity, not by a whole lot. It turned out later that the Captain had brought the spin up to one-third g and held it there, because Ganymede has one-third g. So there wasn't any urgent need to turn Noisy loose.

Nor was there any rush to do so. We were still discussing it and some of the fellows were making comical remarks which Noisy did not appreciate when the same s.h.i.+p's aide came in, unstrapped Noisy, and told all of us to follow him.

That's how I happened to attend Captain's mast.

"Captain's mast" is a sort of court, like when in ancient times the lord of the countryside would sit and dispense the high and middle justice. We followed the aide, whose name was Dr. Archibald, to Captain Harkness's cabin. There were a lot of other people waiting there in the pa.s.sage outside the cabin. Presently Captain Harkness came out and Noisy was the first case.

We were all witnesses but the Captain didn't question but a few of us; I wasn't questioned. Dr. Archibald told about finding Noisy wandering around the s.h.i.+p while we were under acceleration and the Captain asked Noisy if he had heard the order to stay at his bunk?

Noisy beat around the bush a good deal and tried to spread the blame on all of us, but when the Captain pinned him down he had to admit that he had heard the order.

Captain Harkness said, "Son, you are an undisciplined lunk. I don't know what sort of trouble you'll run into as a colonist, but so far as my s.h.i.+p is concerned, you've had it."

He mused for a moment, than added, "You say you did this because you were hungry?"

Noisy said yes, he hadn't had anything since breakfast and he still hadn't had his lunch.

"Ten days bread and water," said the Captain. "Next case."

Noisy looked as if he couldn't believe his ears.

The next case was the same thing, but a woman-one of those large, impressive ones who run things. She had had a row with her s.h.i.+p's aide and had stomped off to tell the Captain about it personally- while we were under acceleration.

Captain Harkness soon cut through the fog. "Madam," he said, with icy dignity, "by your bull-headed stupidity you have endangered the lives of all of us. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

She started a tirade about how "rude" the aide had been to her and how she never heard of anything so preposterous in her life life as as this kangaroo court, and so forth, and so forth. The Captain cut her short. this kangaroo court, and so forth, and so forth. The Captain cut her short.

"Have you ever washed dishes?" he asked.

"Why, no!"

"Well, you are going to wash dishes-for the next four hundred million miles."

6. E = MC 2 2.

I looked up dad after they let us go. It was like finding a needle in a haystack but I kept asking and presently I found him. Molly and he had a room to themselves. Peggy was there and I thought she was rooming with them, which annoyed me some, until I saw that there were only two couches and realized that Peggy must be in a dormitory. It turned out that all the kids over eight were in dormitories.

Dad was busy unclamping their couches and moving them to what was the floor, now that the s.h.i.+p was spinning. He stopped when I came in and we sat around and talked. I told him about Captain's mast. He nodded. "We saw it in the screen. I didn't notice your s.h.i.+ning face, however."

I said I hadn't been called on.

"Why not?" Peggy wanted to know.

"How should I know?" I thought about mast for a bit and said, "Say, George, the skipper of a s.h.i.+p in s.p.a.ce is just about the last of the absolute monarchs, isn't he?"

Dad considered it and said, "Mmm . . . no, he's a const.i.tutional monarch. But he's a monarch all right."

"You mean we have to bow down to him and say 'Your Majesty?" Peggy wanted to know.

Molly said, "I don't think that would be advisable, Peg."

"Why not? I think it would be fun."

Molly smiled. "Well, let me know how you make out. I suspect that he will just turn you over his knee and paddle you."

"Oh, he wouldn't dare! I'd scream."

I wasn't so sure. I remembered those four hundred million miles of dirty dishes. I decided that, if the Captain said "Frog," I'd hop.

If Captain Harkness was a monarch, he didn't seem anxious to rule; the first thing he had us do was to hold an election and set up a s.h.i.+p's council. After that we hardly laid eyes on him.

Everybody over eighteen could vote. The rest of us got to vote, too; we were told to setup a junior council-not that it was ever good for anything.

But the senior council, the real real council, ran the s.h.i.+p from then on. It even acted as a court and the Captain never handed out punishments again. Dad told me that the Captain reviewed everything that the council did, that he council, ran the s.h.i.+p from then on. It even acted as a court and the Captain never handed out punishments again. Dad told me that the Captain reviewed everything that the council did, that he had had to, to make it legal-but I never heard of him overruling their decisions. to, to make it legal-but I never heard of him overruling their decisions.

And you know what the first thing was that that council did-after setting up meal hours and simple things like that? They decided we had to go to school!

The junior council promptly held a meeting and pa.s.sed a resolution against it, but it didn't mean anything. We had school, just the same.

Peggy was on the junior council. I asked her why she didn't resign if she wasn't going to do anything. I was just teasing-as a matter of fact she put up quite a battle for us.

School wasn't so bad, though. There is very h'ttle to do in s.p.a.ce and when you've seen one star you've seen 'em all. And the first thing we had in school was a tour of the s.h.i.+p, which was all right.

We went in groups of twenty and it took all day"day" by s.h.i.+p's time, I mean. The Mayflower Mayflower was shaped like a ball with a cone on one side-top shaped. The point of the cone was her jet-although Chief Engineer Ortega, who showed us around, called it her "torch." was shaped like a ball with a cone on one side-top shaped. The point of the cone was her jet-although Chief Engineer Ortega, who showed us around, called it her "torch."

If you count the torch end as her stern, then the round end, her bow, was where the control room was located; around it were the Captain's cabin and the staterooms of the officers. The torch and the whole power plant s.p.a.ce were cut off from the rest of the s.h.i.+p by a radiation s.h.i.+eld that ran right through the s.h.i.+p. From the s.h.i.+eld forward to the control room was a big cargo s.p.a.ce. It was a cylinder more than a hundred feet in diameter and was split up into holds. We were carrying all sorts of things out to the colony -earth moving machinery, concentrated soil cultures, instruments, I don't know what all.

Wrapped around this central cylinder were the decks for living, "A" deck just inside the skin of the s.h.i.+p, "B" deck under it, and "C" deck just inside that, with "D" deck's ceiling being the outer wall of the cargo s.p.a.ce. "D" deck was the mess rooms and galley and recreation rooms and sick bay and such; the three outer decks were bunk rooms and staterooms. "A" deck had steps in it every ten or fifteen feet because it was fitted into the outer curve of the s.h.i.+p; this made the ceilings in it of various heights. The furthest forward and furthest aft on "A" deck were only about six feet between floor and ceiling and some of the smaller kids lived in them, while at the greatest width of the s.h.i.+p the ceilings in "A" deck must have been twelve or thirteen feet high.

From inside the s.h.i.+p it was hard to see how it all fitted together. Not only was it all chopped up, but the artificial gravity we had from spinning the s.h.i.+p made directions confusing-anywhere you stood on a deck it seemed level, but it curved sharply up behind you and in front of you. But you never came to the curved part; if you walked forward it was still level. If you walked far enough you looped the loop and came back to where you started, having walked clear around the s.h.i.+p.

I never would have figured it out if Mr. Ortega hadn't drawn a sketch for us.

Mr. Ortega told us that the s.h.i.+p was spinning three and six-tenths revolutions per minute or two hundred and sixteen complete turns an hour, which was enough to give "B" deck a centrifugal force of one-third g. "B" deck was seventy-five feet out from the axis of the Mayflower; "A" Mayflower; "A" deck where I lived was further out and you weighed maybe a tenth more there, while "C" deck caught about a tenth less. "D" deck was quite a lot less and you could make yourself dizzy if you stood up suddenly in the mess room. deck where I lived was further out and you weighed maybe a tenth more there, while "C" deck caught about a tenth less. "D" deck was quite a lot less and you could make yourself dizzy if you stood up suddenly in the mess room.

The control room was right on the axis; you could float in it even when the s.h.i.+p was spinning-or so they told me; I never was allowed inside.

Spinning the s.h.i.+p had another odd effect: all around us was "down." I mean to say that the only place you could put a view port was in the floor plates of "A" deck and that's where they were, four of them-big ones, each in its own compartment.

Mr. Ortega took us into one of these view galleries. The view port was a big round quartz plate in the floor, with a guard rail around it.

The first ones into the room went up to the guard rail and then backed away from it quick and two of the girls squealed. I pushed forward and got to the rail and looked down , . . and I was staring straight into the very bottom of the universe, a million trillion miles away and all of it down. down.

I didn't shy away-George says I'm more acrobat than acrophobe-but I did sort of grip the railing. n.o.body wants to fall that far. The quartz was surface-treated so that it didn't give off reflections and it looked as if there were nothing at all between you and Kingdom Come.

The stars were reeling across the hole from the s.h.i.+p spinning, which made it worse. The Big Dipper came swinging in from the left, pa.s.sed almost under me, and slid away to the right-and a few seconds later it was back again. I said, "This is where I came in," and gave up my place so that someone else could have a look, but n.o.body seemed anxious to.