That evening (ship's schedule time) I found myself in The Black Hole with my first three swains: Dr. Jerry Madsen, Jaime "Jimmy" Lopez, and Tom Udell. Tom is first assistant supercargo and I had never known quite what that is. All that I really knew was that he wore one more stripe than the other two. That first night aboard Jimmy had told me solemnly that Tom was the head janitor.
Tom had not denied it. He answered, "You forgot `furniture mover.'
This night, less than seventy-two hours out from Botany Bay, I found out part of what Tom did. The starboard landing boat was being loaded with cargo for Botany Bay. "The port boat we loaded at Beanstalk," he told me. "But we had to load the starboard boat for Outpost. We need both of them to handle Botany Bay, so we have to shift cargo this leg." He grinned. "Lots of sweaty work."
"It's good for you, Tommy; you're getting fat."
"Speak for yourself, Jaime."
I asked how they loaded the boat. "That airlock looks pretty small to me."
"We don't move cargo through that. Would you like to see how we handle it?"
So I made a date with him for the next morning. And learned things.
The holds in the Forward are so enormous that they breed agoraphobia rather than claustrophobia. But even the holds in the landing boats are huge. Some of the items shipped are enormous, too, especially machinery. Botany Bay was receiving a Westinghouse turbogeneratorÄbig as a house. I asked Tom how in the world they would move that?
He grinned. "Black magic." Four of his cargomen placed a metallic net around it and fastened a suitcase-size metal box to it. Tom inspected it, then said, "Okay, fire it up."
The leaderÄthe "snapper"Ädid so... and this metal behemoth quivered and lifted a touch: a portable antigrav unit, not unlike that for an APV, but out in the open instead of built into a shell.
With extreme care, by hand, using lines and poles, they moved this thing through an enormous door and into the hold of the star-
board boat. Tom pointed out that, while this huge monster was floating, free of the ship's artificial gravity, it was as ponderously massive as ever and could crush a man as easily as a man can crush an insect. "They depend on each other and have to trust each other. I'm responsibleÄbut it's no use to a dead man for me to take the blame; they must take care of each other."
What he was really responsible for, he told me, was being certain that each item was placed by plan and was tied down solidly against surges, and also being absolutely certain that the big cargo doors, both sides, were actually vacuum-tight each time they were closed after being opened.
Tom showed me through the landing boat's migrant-passenger spaces. "We've got more new colonists for Botany Bay than for anywhere else. When we leave there, third class will be almost deserted."
"Are they all Aussies?" I asked.
"Oh, no. Lots of them are but about a third of them are not. But one thing they all do have in common; they are all fluent in English. It's the only colony with a language requirement. They are trying to ensure that their whole planet will have a single language."
"I heard something about that. Why?"
"Some notion that they are less likely to have wars. Maybe so.
but the bloodiest wars in history have been fratricidal wars. No language problem."
I didn't have an opinion so I didn't comment. We left the boat
through the passenger airlock and Tom closed it behind us. Then I
recalled that I had left a scarf behind. "Tom, did you see it? I know I
had it in the migrants' hold."
"No, but we'll find it." He turned back and unlocked the airlock door.
The scarf was where I had dropped it between two benches in the migrants' space. I flipped it around Tom's neck and pulled his face down to mine and thanked him, and let my appreciation progress as far as he cared to push itÄwhich was pretty far but not that far as he was still on duty.
He deserved my best thanks. That door has a combination lock. Now I could open it.
When I returned from inspecting the cargo holds and the landing boat, it was almost lunchtime. Shizuko, as usual, was doing some sort of busywork (it can't take all of one woman's tithe to see that another woman is well groomed).
I said to her, "I don't want to go to the dining room. I want to take a quick shower, grab a robe, and eat here."
::~at will Missy have? I will order."
Order for both of us.
"For me?"
"For you. I don't want to eat alone, I just don't want to have to dress up and go to the dining room. Don't argue; just punch for the menu." I headed for the bath.
I heard her start to order but by the time I switched off the shower she was ready with a big fluffy towel, with a smaller one wrapped around her, the perfect bath girl. When I was dry and she had helped me into a robe, the dumbwaiter was chiming. While she opened the delivery drawer, I pulled a small table over into the corner where I had talked with Pete-Mac. Shizuko raised her eyebrows but did not argue; she started laying out lunch on it. I set the terminal for music and again punched up a tape with some loud singing, classic rock.
Shizuko had set only one place at the table. I said, facing her so that my words would reach her through the music, "Tilly, put your plate there, too."
"What, Missy?"
"Knock it off, Matilda. The farce is over. I've set this up so that we can talk."
She barely hesitated. "Okay, Miss Friday."
"Better call me Marj so that I won't have to call you Miss Jackson. Or call me Friday, my real name. You and I have got to take our hair down. By the way, your lady's-maid act is perfect, but there is no longer any need to bother with it when we're in private. I can dry myself after a bath."
She almost smiled. "I rather enjoy taking care of you, Miss Friday. Marj. Friday."
"Why, thank you! Let's eat." I spooned sukiyaki over onto her plate.
After some chompingÄconversation goes better with foodÄI said, "What do you get out of it?"
"Out of what, Marj?"
"Out of riding herd on me. Turning me over to the palace guard on The Realm."
"Contract rates. Paid to my boss. There is supposed to be a bonus in it for me but I believe in bonuses only when I spend them."
"I see. Matilda, I'm cutting out at Botany Bay. You're going to help me."
"Call me Tilly. I am?"
"You are. Because I'm going to pay you a large chunk more than you would get otherwise."
"Do you really think you can switch me that easily?"
"Yes. Because you have just two choices." Between us was a large stainless-steel serving spoon. I picked it up, squeezed the bowl, crushed it. "You can help me. Or you can be dead. Rather quickly. Which is it?"
She picked up the mutilated spoon. "Marj, you don't have to be so dramatic. We'll work something out." With her thumbs she ironed out the crumpled steel. "What's the problem?"
I stared at the spoon. " `Your mother was a test tubeÄ'
" `Äand my father was a knife.' So was yours. That's why I was recruited. Let's talk. Why are you jumping ship? I'll catch hell if you do."
"I'll be dead if I don't." Without trying to hold back, I told her about the deal I had made, how I had turned up pregnant, why I thought my chances of living through a visit to The Realm were slim. "So what does it take to persuade you to look the other way? I think I can meet your price."
"I'm not the only one watching you."
"Pete? I'll handle Pete. The other three men and the other two women I think we can ignore. If I have your active help. YouÄyou and PeteÄare the only professionals. Who recruited these others? Clumsy."