CANAISIS ∞ Chronicle Two: A Captain's Journey

95 ∞ Captain's Duty

Mission 01 Explorer – Day 0000 and Day 0041

Gareth entered the Bridge, stepping over the broad sill of the massive blast door.

Just as the boatswain's whistle began, Officer Khanisk snapped to attention and shouted, "Captain on the deck!"

Gareth glanced around at the stations as he strode to the captain's chair and sat down. Every post manned with its first and second crew in charge spun their seats to face him with a salute—communications, engines, environment, and navigation. Each one the best at what they were responsible for, but each as proficient at every other role required on the Bridge. Redundancies were key in this isolated setting.

"At ease," said Gareth. "We're going to be with each other for a very long time. Let's keep the formal stuff to a minimum. Now, I want a diagnostic run on every system on this ship. Officer Khanisk, anything to report? Were the civvy crews pissed off at having to wait for us to board?"

"No, sir, nothing to report. Yes, sir. They're civvies—there's always a few in every crowd that's pissed off about something. It's their personal form of happiness, sir. "

Gareth looked around at the others, suppressing his smile. "Get back to work, please. I want a launch as soon as possible."

Everybody returned to busying themselves over their consoles, pretending to be unaware of Gareth's presence.

Everything had been triple-checked, then triple-checked again before they'd been cleared for boarding, so Gareth expected nothing to be found wanting. He just wasn't one to trust others where it concerned his ship. But this wasn't just for his own peace of mind, this was for the crew. They needed real-life hands-on experience with this ship and time to adjust to the reality of what they were about to do. They were leaving and wouldn't return until Earth was decades older. If anyone had reservations, he wanted to find out now. Every one of them had been psych-evaled—they wouldn't be here if they'd been judged likely to doubt their choice. Still, the reality of never going back, the finality of it, had a way of clarifying people's true convictions.

He stood up. "I'm going on ship inspection. Someone tell all departments to expect me sooner or later."

∞

"No announcement, Canaisis," said Gareth as he exited the elevator on the Machine level.

Squinting against the bright lights, he glanced up. The Machine room was easily two levels high, placed against the hull with a loading airlock similar to those for the adjoining Hangar One. Big enough to accommodate a shuttle, the airlock doors dominated the far wall.

A vast assortment of machining equipment formed a city on the floor. On the left wall, floor-to-ceiling shelving housed raw materials. Automated robotic units rested in their docking stations next to machinery that could fabricate anything the ship or crew might need, from the trivial to the vital.

An extendable robotic arm attached to the ceiling retrieved a rod of metal from a shelving bin and lowered it to a man wearing a hard hat. He took the length of stock from the opening claw and noticed Gareth when he turned around. Too distant for Gareth to identify, the man put his hand to his mouth and let out a piercing whistle that returned an echo. A sharper whistle responded with two bursts from the rear, near the airlock.

Gareth occupied himself by surveying a couple of machines, remembering their purpose and his bare minimum proficiency of their use. Then he spotted a small robotic crane on wheels heading his way via a lane between the equipment. Assuming the red-bearded man riding the crane was Master Chief Machinist Johansen, Gareth placed his hands behind his back as he waited for him to arrive.