Last Flight For Craggy (7 page)

'What? What are
you telling me, Craggy? The pods are not lined up?'

'That's right,
Carlos. We can't land on the cradle, at least not all of it. We
will have to disconnect in space from pod five onwards and let the
rest orbit until we can get it down. You may wish to give it some
thought while we are on our way.'

There was a
pause as Carlos considered the situation. 'This is a new one. I'm
sure uncoupling pods has never been tried in space before. We'll
figure it out, so don't worry too much. Dillow okay?'

'I'm here,
Carlos. I'm fine, thanks.'

'Good. Have a
safe trip. I'll try you again in a couple...days.
I'll...engineering...do about...'

'You're
breaking up, Carlos,' said Cragg. It was just static now. 'At least
they know our status. The bus is all yours. See you later.'

'Hi. Any more
radio contact?'

Dillow said,
'Nothing. I made you a feed. Just a salad. It's in the fridge.'

'Thanks. I hope
they are getting their heads around our arrival. You are certainly
getting plenty of experience on this trip.'

'Just glad I
have you to hold my hand.'

'No worries.
I'll have that feed and I'll be right back.'

Cragg got the
salad from the fridge. Not a huge fan of salads, he ate it without
enthusiasm. Talking to Carlos had cheered him up. He could imagine
the pandemonium on Moon. Taking a pod train apart in space had
never been tried before. Then they had to get five pods onto the
cradle from space. That would get them scratching their heads for
sure. Him and Fawn would be okay. They would just land and settle
the first five pods on the cradle, their job done.

The days turned
into weeks. They were finally only two weeks from the Moon. Radio
contacts had been few and far between. “Have you got a plan of
action?” he'd asked Carlos on one short opportunity.

“
Getting there, Craggy,” came back the
reply. “You should know something. Things are getting kinda heated
on Earth at the moment.”

“
Global warming?”

“
I'm talking military heat. On the
grapevine. The crazy bastards are about to slug it out
again.”

“
Shit. Stupid idiots. Any fighting
yet?”

“
Just name calling and gesturing. So far at
least.”

“
Great. That's all we need.” The signal had
broken up. “Shit. Cleaning toilets on the Moon is sounding better
all the time.”

Three days out
and radio communication was still down. The blue of Earth was clear
and bright, the Moon on the far side.

'It still looks
pretty even if it is sick,' said Dillow, looking at the screen.

'It's the
people that's sick, not the planet,' said Cragg, sourly. 'Once the
humans have finally wiped themselves out, the Earth will heal
itself. Maybe that would be a good thing.'

'Craggy. Some
of my family might still live down there. Would you mind not
wishing them dead?'

'I
never...sorry. I forgot. I didn't mean...'

Dillow couldn't
face him. She stared at the Earth. Craggy was right, but she didn't
want to hear it. Even before they had taken off from Mars, the
jungle drums had been banging. Another famine in the West had the
East refusing to help them out. They could hardly feed their own
people. The West threatened to go get what they needed anyway. The
East had said, in your dreams, West. It was the West that wanted
the marsillium.

Dillow told
him, 'I'm on the first run back to Mars I can get.'

Cragg said,
'That's a smart move. I wish I could join you.'

'Then why not?
You said it yourself, it's mandatory to have at least two on board.
I could sound out Pottsy for a job. If he said yes, I could stay
and you could fly the ship back to the Moon. That would keep you
for another few months.'

'Can't fly back
by myself. I'd need a passenger with a pilots licence. They'd never
let me do it anyway.'

'I'm going to
miss you, Craggy.'

Cragg laughed.
'For all of five minutes.'

'Moon calling
Captain Dixon Cragg. Moon calling Captain Dixon Cragg.'

'Carlos?'

'Big brother
Mario. We think we have a plan. We've fitted lifter grabbers to a
tug ship. It seems to work okay.'

'Impressive,'
said Cragg. 'Can it handle five pods in one lift?'

'We've gone up
to six in a trial. It worked well until the pods were lowered to
the cradle. Not quite how it would be done with an experienced
freighter pilot like you standing by. We should have the damage to
the cradle repaired by the time you arrive.'

Dillow said,
'Jeez. That's nice to know, Mario.'

Cragg said,
'Dare I ask what the hell is happening on Earth?'

'At the moment,
not too bad. The East has reluctantly agreed to help the West with
food supplies. The East has been almost as badly hit by droughts
leading to famine, so it isn't as if they have much to share. A
dozen new diseases have sprung up all over the world, and even the
latest super antibiotics aren't doing much.'

Cragg said,
'Let's hope it doesn't get to the Moon.'

'Not if we can
help it,' said Mario. 'There's a total ban on people from Earth
coming here, and vice versa. That's had a real bad impact on trade,
as you can imagine.'

'What's the
food supply situation on the Moon?' Cragg asked.

Mario said,
'Same as always, Craggy. Like Mars, we are reasonably self
sufficient. Not much choice, but we won't go hungry. Our problem is
getting hardware supplies from Earth. We needed another ten years
to further develop our manufacturing facilities, especially the
laser powered steelworks. They have a good old one they haven't
skilled people to run and have promised us we can have that in
exchange for the marsillium, so we can make our own steel. We have
the iron ore deposits, but can't do much with them.'

'Right. I was
just thinking. If there's a ban on people going to and from Earth,
how is this marsillium going to be delivered?'

'Computer
controlled ship. No pilot.'

'Are you
kidding me?'

Mario said,
'It's the latest thing, Craggy. We ordinary mortals have only just
found out. We all knew our engineers were building a huge new ship,
but we didn't know it flew itself. But if you think about it, the
ships practically fly themselves, anyway. The pilots are only there
for the landings and take off.'

'Yeah?' snorted
Cragg, testily, having heard it all before. 'I always thought of
those two things as being fairly important.'

'It's just a
natural advancement, Craggy. It had to come eventually. What are
you worried for? You're retiring.'

Cragg sighed.
'So I've been told. You just be ready to meet us when we get there.
Later, Mario.'

'Great,' said
Dillow as Mario signed off. 'My career as a pilot is over before it
has even begun.'

'I wouldn't
throw in the towel just yet. It will take years before they send
ships back and forth to Mars without pilots. It may never happen at
all.'

'It certainly
clarifies things for me, Craggy. I couldn't get to Earth even if I
wanted to, and pilots will be redundant before I'm fifty. I have to
get myself a job on Mars and sooner rather than later.'

Cragg sighed.
'I think that sums it up. I'll be thinking of you as I clean
toilets on Moon.'

The uneasy
peace between East and West held with only minor skirmishes. As a
trade off for the food, the West had agreed to share medical
experience to fight the new diseases. It was a fragile coexistence
with only a few hundred killing each other on a daily basis, rather
than tens of thousands.

No love was
lost, but the alternative to all out war, was a scrappy
understanding. If it would last or how long it would last, would be
anyone's guess. With a multinational community, Moon stayed
deliberately out of Earth's bickering and took no sides.

The solar storm
had finally abated and the freighter was able to communicate
constantly with the Moon. Dillow put the ship into a slow orbit
around Moon.

'Carlos? Craggy
here. Is that damn cradle ready?'

'It should do
the job, Craggy.'

'What do you
mean, it should do the job? Come on, Carlos. Will the damn thing
work or not?'

There was an
uneasy pause. 'We're reasonably sure it will be okay. The engineers
did what they could, but they're flat out on that new ship.'

Cragg rolled
his eyes and looked at Dillow. 'Hardly fills me with confidence.
Who's the pod lifter?'

'Angus
McGee.'

'Angus knows
what he's doing. I can't understand a bloody word he says, but he
gets the job done.'

Dillow asked,
'Carlos. When can we unload the pods?'

'About
forty-eight hours. We're making a few adjustments to the tug so we
can take off the last five pods.'

'Right. But I
insist we make a landing on the cradle with the ship before the tug
brings the other pods down, just in case it gets damaged
again.'

'Well. I
suppose that makes sense,' said Carlos. 'I'll see what I can
do.'

'No, Carlos,'
said Dillow. 'That's the way it's going to be, end of.'

Carlos
chuckled. 'Consider it done. Over.'

Cragg looked at
Dillow in a new light. 'Good for you, Fawn. That's how a proper
captain acts.'

'Thanks,
Craggy.'

'You're
welcome. We need to think about the first issue. It has never been
attempted before to remove pods in orbit. There's a lot that could
go wrong.'

'I know. The
tug not only has to take off the rear five pods, but must keep pace
with us in orbit. We can slow down substantially to help with that.
But if there is any damage to the five attached to the ship,
landing on a patched up cradle will be interesting, to say the
least.'

'Yeah,
but...'

'What?'

'Dunno. Not
sure. An idea keeps going around in my head, but I can't quite get
a handle on it.'

'It'll come to
you.'

'Yeah.
Maybe.'

'You look
pleased with yourself,' said Dillow.

'That idea I
was on about. I figured it out last night. So simple.'

'Good ideas
usually are. Go on.'

'Pods six and
seven are welded together and are not exactly lined up. We need to
cut five and six free from each other.'

'We know
that.'

'True. Once pod
six has been taken off pod five we can safely land, if the cradle
is safe. But the tug can't land with the last five pods connected
with the misalignment. That would be a disaster.'

'Agreed.'

'So. If the tug
takes off pods eight to ten, then seven and six, we can land one to
five, then get straight back up there. We can get the last three
pods and bring them down, leaving the tug to deal with six and
seven. Does that make any sense whatsoever?'

'In Principal.
Let's tell Carlos.'

'Want me to
talk to him?'

Dillow said,
'We'll do it together. Come on.'

'After
you.'

'Freighter
XB7FG6 calling Moon. Carlos?'

'Carlos here.
We're on track for you.'

'We've been
thinking,' said Cragg.

'Unusual for
you, Craggy. What were you thinking, exactly?'

Dillow said,
'Pods six and seven are the troublesome ones. If we take eight to
ten off first, secure them with safety line to six and seven, the
tug can wait while we land the first five pods. We go back up, we
reconnect with the last three and bring those down. You get the
cradle cleared while we do that. We go back up again, connect up
with pod six, bring that down, and the tug can bring number seven
down.'

Impressed with
Dillow's fine tuning of his idea, Cragg said, 'It's a little
convoluted, but it maximises the chances of a completely successful
delivery.'

'Leave it with
me. I'll call with the details later. Over.'

'Over,' said
Dillow. 'What are you grinning at?'

'The future of
the human race, and I like what I see.'

Four hours
later, Carlos came back with the approval of the plan.

'We agreed it
was the best plan. We'll need to undo the welding between six and
seven. Any volunteers?'

'I can do
that,' said Cragg.

'I should do
it,' said Dillow.

'I want you
driving the bus. I did the welding, I'll undo it.'

Carlos said,
'As long as one of you does it. I'll leave that with you two.
Twenty two hundred hours Moon Base Time for the relaying with the
tug.'

Cragg asked,
'Who is the tuggy?'

'Spencer.'

'Spence? A good
man.'

'Twenty two
hundred hours,' said Dillow. 'We'll be ready.'

* * *

The orbit was
established and Cragg was already suiting up. 'I promise you next
time we need a welder, it's all yours.'

'I know. We
can't afford to stuff up.'

The radio
hissed. 'Craggy? Spence here. I'm on your tail. You guys
ready?'

'I'm on my way
right now, Spence. Good luck, Fawn. Just stay calm and
focused.'

'Good luck,
Craggy.'

Cragg did a
stock-take in the airlock. He had secured himself to a retractable
safety line, had a complete two hundred metre line around his
shoulders, the welding gun and hammer in his utility belt.

'Leaving the
airlock now, Dillow.'

As he leaped
out of the airlock, he could see Spencer closing in, in the tug. It
looked weird with the lifter attached to it. Cragg climbed along
the backs of the pods until he reached the top of number seven.