Last Flight For Craggy (6 page)

'I thought it
was almost impossible to damage filters.'

'These days, I
agree. Back then, filters were not like they are now. Pottsy picked
me up, threw me on his back and carried me four miles to Base
Three. I wasn't breathing when we finally got there. They spent
twenty minutes reviving me. Two days in intensive care and here I
am.'

'Quite an
adventure.'

'Pottsy saved
my life that day. Know what he said when I thanked him?'

'What?'

'He said he was
just being a good Martian. And that's the difference. Somebody
needs help, you just help, you don't ask.'

'I can see
myself living there.'

'I'm glad to
hear that.'

'Craggy...'

She didn't
finish because of another jolt.

'Time to send
out a probe and have a look outside,' said Cragg.

'I've never
used one of those,' admitted Dillow.

'I've only used
them a couple of times, myself. I hope ours haven't seized right
up. We'll figure it out together.'

The probes were
attached to the outside of the ship in retractable housings. They
were manoeuvred by control cables but worked by tiny independent
thrusters.

'When were
these last used?'

Cragg shrugged.
'Five, maybe six years ago.'

'Craggy. They
probably won't even work.'

Cragg grinned.
'One way to find out. Those are the controls over there. Start with
the first key. That's for the cover.'

Dillow pressed
the key. 'Nothing.'

'Try it
again.'

'Nothing. Wait.
Cover open.'

'Right. Before
we send it out, see if we can get a picture. Fourth, no, fifth
key.'

Dillow pressed
key five and watched the huge screen ahead of them. 'Nothing.'

'You need to
switch to remote imaging for the screen. Number four key. There.
Getting an image.'

'Not bad.'

'Okay. That's
number one probe. See the number one slide? The further you slide
that along, the further out the probe goes. Ease it along and watch
the screen. There she goes. Use that sensor pad to control the
probe thrusters. Nice and steady. See the screen?'

'A good view of
the ship.'

Cragg studied
the screen. 'We need to let the probe go all along the pods to see
if something isn't right. Ease the slide along, but watch the
screen. Use the pad to manoeuvre the angle of observation. A little
too much. Back again. Nothing much wrong with pod one. Hold it
steady between each pod. A little more. Hold it. Angle down.
Nothing there. Angle up. More. More. That's fine. Keep doing that
along pod two.'

It was slow and
steady progress, Dillow becoming more competent with the probe
controls.

'This is where
the problem might be,' said Cragg. 'Between six and seven. Probably
happened back on the cradle with that damned rock.'

Dillow got the
probe in position. 'I'll take it up a little.'

'Hold it.
There. I thought so. The top lock is moving. Not secured
enough.'

'But the lock
controls say it should be.'

'Pan in. Slide
two. Hold it. See that?'

'Yes,' said
Dillow. 'The pod is flexing and the V sections are twisting against
one another.'

'Hmm. Which
suggests to me that the bottom lock is not right, either.'

Dillow said,
'We need the locks fully engaged.'

'I know.
Trouble is, only the top lock is accessible once the pods are
together. Impossible to get at the bottom one.'

'We could lose
pods seven to ten if it comes off.'

'True,' said
Cragg, 'but I'm more concerned that as pod seven lifts off the back
of pod six, the whole damned lot will be flapping about like a
broken tail. God only knows what that would do.'

'What can we
do?'

Craggy studied
the problem. 'Hmm. It has to be welded together. If we can do that,
we stand a chance of getting to Moon.'

'But that means
going outside.'

'I'll suit
up.'

'Oh no you
don't.'

'Don't be
silly.'

Dillow held
onto his arm. 'I'll do it.'

'Is that right?
A good welder, are you?'

'I took a
couple of lessons.'

'Oh, goody.
Fawn. I can weld that with my eyes shut. You just drive the
bus.'

Cragg suited up
and checked the oxygen and suit pressure. 'I'll grab the welder and
get out of the airlock.' There was another jolt. 'Jeez. Look. It's
moved up again. Keep an eye on me with the probe.'

Cragg got the
welder, a small hand held device, not unlike a revolver. It had a
safety cord which he attached to his belt. He also found a small
hammer and secured that to himself, too. A minute later, he was out
of the airlock. He fed out the safety line fastened to his suit
belt and made his way towards pod six. It took a couple of minutes,
and then he gave a wave to the probe.

'Dillow. Can
you hear me?'

'Loud and
clear, Craggy.'

'I'm going to
try to hammer the lock in place before I weld. Here goes.'

Cragg tapped
the top of the lock with the hammer. Nothing gave. He hit harder.
The lock budged slightly. Encouraged, he struck the lock with a
small series of light blows with the hammer. 'It's moving a little.
One more...damn.'

'What's
happened?'

'Damn lock
broke clean off. I couldn't catch it.'

'Now what are
you going to do?'

'I'm thinking.
I'll have to weld the V section together. Enough to stop the thing
moving about.'

Dillow said,
'We can't land with the pods out of alignment.'

'I kinda
figured that out myself. This is just a stopgap to get us to Moon.
We can orbit and a maintenance crew can fix it so we can land.
Starting welding.'

Cragg eased
himself over the top of pod seven, so he could reach the ends of
the V section. Then he pulled the trigger of the welder and the
flame shot out of the barrel. He used the flame to tack the V
sections together. Then he did a long run of weld on both sides,
fusing pod six to pod seven.

'That should
get us home. Coming in. Retract the probe.'

As the ship
hurtled through space, Cragg pulled himself along the safety line
with one eye on the probe.

'Slow
retraction down, Dillow. Slower. Ease it inside the housing. Got
it. Slide the cover over. Cover over. Switch over to normal
screening. Now turn off the probe. Opening the airlock, now.'

He opened the
outer door, closed it then opened the inner door. He took the
safety line off and rolled it up and stowed it where it was
intended to go, just inside the airlock. Then he closed the inner
door and took off his helmet.

'Great job,
Craggy.'

'As long as we
get to Moon, we'll be okay. I need a beer after that. Want
one?'

'Just the one,
okay?' warned Dillow, knowing just how illegal drinking alcohol on
a ship was.

'Coming right
up.'

'Cheers,' said
Dillow. 'That was a gutsy thing to do, Craggy.'

'Because I'm
eighty four?'

'Just because
it was. I'm glad I'm with you, this trip.'

'Thank you
kindly, young lady.'

Dillow looked
as if she had something serious to say. 'Craggy. Let's face it. I
couldn't have gotten here right now if it wasn't for you. I'm not
ready.'

'What are you
on about?'

'You're here to
assess me. Not to save my ass.'

Cragg said,
'You're doing okay so far.'

'See? That's my
point. I wouldn't have figured out that problem and gone out to fix
it like you did. I wouldn't have been able to figure out the probe.
I need more experience.'

'Yes, you do.
And you'll get it. Fawn. You've already learnt heaps on this trip.
You'll never fly on a ship on your own. Two minimum. And they will
have had to have passed basic training, like you did. You've a good
head on your shoulders. Just always keep calm and think things
through. Besides...'

'Besides
what?'

'Nothing.'

'Out with it,
Craggy.'

Cragg sighed.
'I didn't want to bring all this up again. Fawn. If I pass you,
it's because you deserve to pass. And I really want you to pass,
because the sooner you can get back to Mars, the better.'

'Fine. But if I
fail, I fail. I can accept that. I can't accept you passing me for
any other reason.'

Cragg wagged a
finger at her. 'You just do what you've been trained for, you'll
pass. Go take a break. I'll drive the bus.'

'Thanks,
Craggy.'

With the deck
to himself, he sat at the controls. He closed his eyes and listened
to the ship. The ship was happy again. Just as well with three
months to go. He mentally patted himself on the back for doing his
second out of ship walk in forty five years. 'Not too shabby for an
old fart, Craggy.'

He liked Fawn.
A bit up herself to begin with. And with a father he wouldn't want
to tangle with, she was an interesting young woman. Fawn was the
future of the human race. If planet Earth keeled over, it would be
up to Fawn and the other young ones to save their species. His
immediate intention was to keep her alive and teach her as much as
he could so that she would be a capable pilot with the confidence
to handle anything thrown at her.

'And good luck
with that, Craggy.'

Cragg had set
up his artists easel on the deck where he would hear the radio
should it hail him, if the solar storm abated and reliable contact
could be resumed. There was no such thing as artists materials on
either Moon or even Mars. It hadn't been considered a priority to
those who made the decisions. But Cragg was resourceful and
inventive if he had to be.

His easel he
had cobbled together from scraps of wood and scavenged wire.
Brushes he made from his own hair taped to a few twigs, pruned from
the Base Three jungle. Paints were from synthoil, mixed with
anything that made a colour. His “canvas” was any discarded flat
material that he could get his hands on.

As he daubed
incongruous shapes and colours into what would look like a flower
only to a half blind mad man, he was confident in the knowledge he
was the greatest artist on either Moon or Mars. He ignored the mute
point that he was the only one who painted.

He would give
his works of dubious art to people he liked for birthday presents.
They were strangely popular, used to break up dull plain walls.
Misty had three in her rooms. The computer played Brahms in the
background and he lost himself in his solitude, Dillow asleep in
her room.

The freighter
sailed across the heavens with its precious cargo of marsillium.
What Earth was supposed to be doing with it was anyone's guess.
Pottsy had hinted at some kind of energy thing. Cragg had tested
some with a radiation monitor when nobody was looking. He got no
read out. One thousand tonnes of it was a big order.

The plan was to
land the pods on the Moon. The ship and the freight pods were not
designed to pierce the Earth's atmosphere. It was okay for Mars and
the Moon. The pods would then have to be transferred to Earth by a
different type of ship. Craggy was pleased about that. Passing the
baton to someone else when he got to the Moon suited him just fine.
He'd made his mind up, he would never set foot on that sad sick
planet Earth ever again.

He'd sounded
Pottsy out about maybe settling on Mars. As a good friend Pottsy
had been tactful. “It's a hard life out here, Craggy. That storm
nearly finished you off, remember? We're building all this for the
future, the young blood.”

Fair enough.
Mars had been a long shot, anyway. The Moon was a different thing
altogether. Youngsters sometimes didn't stay long on the Moon,
either transferring to Mars at the first opportunity, or even back
to the hell hole of Earth. It was the grey brigade that kept the
Moon running like a Swiss watch. He had friends in low places in
the grey brigade. Many of them doing all the shitty jobs nobody
else wanted to do. The sanitation department was a big drop from
being a freighter pilot, but it was still preferable to being
Earthside.

But, if the
Earth suddenly took a turn for the even worse, where was the first
bolt-hole? Moon. And who would be first to abandon Earth? The toss
pot politicians who screwed it all up in the first place. Imagine
being elbow deep in politicos. Just that had almost happened once
before.

But he was
between a rock and hard place. Or in his case, Moon and Mars. He
might squeak in to a Moon job; never in a million years on Mars. He
had no choice. His old age was to be spent scrubbing toilets on
Moon. The relative peace on the ship for a few weeks would seem
like a slice of paradise by comparison. Making the most of the rest
of the trip suddenly became a top priority.

'Oh, come on
Moon. Talk to me. Captain Dixon Cragg, of the freighter XB7FG6.
Now, I always wanted to give her a name like Starlight. Against
company regulations to humanise inanimate objects. Bloody stupid.
So, damn well talk to me. Hello? Is it something I said?'

'Craggy. Who
are you talking to?'

'Hmm? Nobody.
Myself. I've been trying for hours. Can't get past the static.
Damned solar storm.'

Dillow said,
'Maybe when we get closer to the Moon, we'll get somewhere. Go take
a break.'

Cragg got up
and stretched. 'Yeah...'

'Calling
Captain Dixon Cragg. Are you okay, Craggy?'

'Yes. Is that
you, Carlos? You're a bit scratchy.'

'Yeah. Carlos
here. Feeling lonely were you?'

Cragg laughed.
'Just a little. Hey, Carlos. In case we lose you again. We have a
little problem. We lost locks on a pod. It was slipping out and I
had to weld it together to bring it home.'