In later courses, some of us reminded ourselves about sound and light discipline by putting one of those jingly bells next to the communications microphone and light switches. Of course, some cadet graduates, from what I had seen thus far in the Navy, hadn’t learned the lessons of maintaining sound and light discipline at the proper times.
I swam about enjoying the water for almost an hour and then picked up my clothing and shoulder pack to walk back to the ship where I could put on my other change of clothes as others were already doing. As Captain, I no longer had to do my own laundry, but I still did it myself most of the time. To me, it was only appropriate to allow it to be done for me when I was extremely busy. If I had time, I would do it myself, if only because it helped me to rub shoulders with the rest of the crew and remain aware of what their concerns were.
Majel caught up to me a moment later, also carrying her clothing and shoulder pack in her hands. “I can do your clothing for you with mine.”
“Oh, I don’t mind doing my own. It keeps me in touch with reality,” I replied.
She said, “Okay, but if you change your mind, just let me know. It’s really no problem to throw your clothing in at the same time.”
I replied, “Thanks. I’ll remember that.”
“Do you have a boy or girlfriend?” she asked suddenly.
I was totally unprepared for the change in topic. I looked at her for a moment to see if I could discern any reason in her face for her question. I couldn’t see anything about her that might be a tipoff as to her reason for inquiring. I answered, “Not really. I’ve gone on a few dates in the last few years just before the war, but nothing since. I guess I’ve been more concerned with putting my career together. Any particular reason for your question?”
She answered, “Just curiosity. You seem to be awfully involved with what you’re doing. I wondered if you had a personal life and how you handled it for my own educational benefit. I was hoping to get some advice from you on how to keep the two separate. Since I hadn’t seen any pictures of anyone in your cabin, I knew that I’d have to ask.”
I replied, “Well, there’s no one right now in my personal life. It’s not that I haven’t met anyone whom I would like to have a long term commitment with, but that I’ve been dedicating myself to getting started. After all, I’m still young and ninety is still a long way off before I have to retire. So, I guess I’m not the one who can give you that kind of advice. You have someone in mind?”
She said, “Not yet, but it’s been something that I thought I should start thinking about. Either I’m going to make a career in the Navy or get married or something. Of course, I might decide to do several things. I just wondered if you had any knowledge of the pitfalls to avoid.”
I replied, “Absolutely nothing more than what they said at the Academy during the first year. Keep your relationships friendly and loosely held so that each person has enough freedom to expand.”
“That was wise advice,” she said. “I followed that one while at the Academy and, of course, used an implant. Then when my first boyfriend washed out, I was able to go on instead of sulking and flunking out. He seemed to follow it too, because he didn’t ask me to give up my position in the Academy when he washed out. I didn’t find anyone quite like him the rest of the time, although I still enjoyed sex occasionally. How about yourself? Did you indulge yourself while at the academy?”
I answered, “Uh, no. I was trying to keep my mind on my studies and learn enough discipline to handle more than one task at a time.”
“You seem to have learned that discipline pretty well,” she replied.
I said, “Well, thanks. I still have to work at it sometimes, but it comes easier now.”
She stated, “You could have fooled me about that. I thought you had that part mastered. You sure seem to know everything about the ship and crew. Do you have to spend a lot of time doing that?”
I replied, “Not really. It’s just a matter of doing it right the first time. That and a little refresher occasionally so it’s fairly easy to keep up with. The hardest part now is making the decisions. It seems that more and more, now, I’m learning that the smallest of decisions can have a great impact on someone living or dying.”
“Really?” she asked.
I said, “Quite so. Whether I have my breakfast on time or not can influence whether I make a correct decision at a later time.”
“Well, I suppose so. Have you made any wrong decisions?” she asked.
I said, “I’m not sure. That’s the absolute worst part of it. Not knowing in some cases whether a decision is right or not. Some decisions continue to haunt me later when there’s no way of changing them. I wonder if zigging instead of zagging would have ended in a better or safer result. But there’s no way to know a lot of times.”
“You sound as if you could use some sympathy or consolation. I could come to your cabin later if you like,” she said.
I looked at her face and felt a bit threatened by what she was proposing. Right then, I didn’t need any conflict of duty. It was going to be difficult to tell her no because I could see everything she had to offer and her body offered a lot. I’m sure I could have accepted her offer because she was my First Officer and we worked closely anyway. It wasn’t uncommon either for affairs to occur, either in the Academy or the Navy, but I wasn’t ready for one. However, my position in the Navy was tenuous at best. It might not be an offense or admissible in a later court proceeding that I had an affair or even a one-night stand with my First Officer, or anyone else in my ship for that matter. However, it could be used to show that I wasn’t paying attention to my duties if something went wrong. Had she asked to share my bed back at our home port, I’m sure I would have accepted. Many of those affairs and one-night stands occurred there. I answered, “Thank you for the offer, especially since you are so tempting to me, but I feel that I must decline for now.”
The look of disappointment was clearly visible in her face as we reached the ship where she let me enter first because of my rank. I went to my cabin and right to bed instead of putting on the change of clothing since I usually slept naked anyway.
The work continued to progress over the next couple of weeks. The water tanks were finished. Our efforts were concentrated on the structural frame, steering, and engines of the ship. We weren’t filling up the water tanks yet because none of us, least of all myself, wanted to put any additional stress on the frame. The amount of water to be added could have easily made it bend. The more we thought about that, the more we realized we had been lucky to lose most of the water before we landed.
Everyone continued to get drinking water and bathe at the lake. It was a nightly ritual for the crew to go to the lake in two shifts. One shift remained on guard and did a few other tasks while the other shift enjoyed themselves for an hour getting themselves and their clothing clean.
The engines were easily fixed since they weren’t that badly damaged or loosened. The steering was the next easiest, but the frame continued to elude our best efforts. We threw everything we knew at solving the problem. The best solution we could come up with was to reinforce the two damaged beams with logs. That solution worried the pilots who would have to steer the ship through the atmosphere. They weren’t concerned with the weight, but the aerodynamics. The weight of the logs we thought of using was in no way as much as what was lost from that area of the ship. They weighed far less, but their placement would create aerodynamic disturbances that would compound the steering.
I finally resolved that debate by stating, “Okay, we’ll use the logs, but we’re also going to have to return to port. We won’t take any risks unless we’re spotted and have to fight. That means we’ll have to be satisfied with what we’ve accomplished so far. We’re not even going to attempt to do a flyover of the aliens three hundred kilometers away to destroy their ship, even if it looks like they’ll be able to get back off the ground. We’re also going to fill the water tanks only halfway. That should give us an additional margin of safety for lift off. Any questions or comments?”