The Boys' Club

Chapter 4

    The plane gradually started its descent towards the azure ocean below. Somewhere in the distance below them was a small island surrounded by a reef, the island where Carmen would be living in between space missions from now on. In the pilot's seat was Phillip Hammond. Carmen had the co-pilot seat and had been flying the plane since take off from the mainland as part of her training to qualify her to fly all the aircraft owned by the company. There was only one other passenger aboard, one of the regular pilots stationed back at the Silver Star facility. He would return with Phillip Hammond that afternoon. 

Hammond took over for the landing and Carmen watched with fascination as a small island appeared out of the haze. A long three kilometre runway beckoned their small 25 seat jet. Alongside the runway at about the halfway point she could see three large hangers surrounded by smaller buildings. A few minutes later they had touched down and taxied to the apron near the hangers. 

As they climbed down the steps they were met by Jim Driscoll and a maintenance engineer. Hammond shook hands with Driscoll and gave instructions to the engineer. "Give it an inspection and refuel. I'll be flying back in a few hours."
Driscoll gave Carmen a forced smile. "Welcome to the North Reef Island launch and maintenance facility, Ms Taylor. I'll get one of the men to take your luggage to your room. Since you will be the only woman in the crew barracks I've organised a room for you at the end of the building ."
Carmen nodded and smiled.

"Please come with me to the briefing room where you can meet the other flight engineers. As for the rest of the maintenance crew and technicians, you'll meet them over the next few days."

Carmen and Dr Hammond followed Driscoll to the administration building. The cool air conditioned hallway felt pleasant after the hot humid conditions outside on the tarmac. A minute later they entered a room designed for briefing flight crews and engineers before space missions. There were six men present including the soon-to-retire John Harper who she had met several weeks earlier.

The men all gave Dr Hammond a respectful greeting. Hammond then stood back and allowed Driscoll to make the introductions. Senior pilot Adam Bailey, and pilots Grant Morrison, Mike Sinclair, Josh Williams and Derek Bennett. Bailey and Morrison barely smiled, Sinclair and Bennett seemed a little more relaxed as they greeted Carmen, but Josh Williams shook her hand enthusiastically and beamed at her.

They all sat down while Driscoll gave Carmen a short rundown of the facility. "This afternoon I'll get some of the maintenance crew to show you the work they're doing to prepare the Iridium for the moon flight in five weeks." He droned on for several minutes describing the purpose of the island facility. He finished up saying, "I'll get one of the boys to take you on a tour of the key areas of this base."
"I'll do it," Josh offered with a smile, but Phillip Hammond interjected.
"Thanks for the offer, Josh, but I'll take Carmen around myself. Adam, could you accompany us?"

Baily looked surprised for a second, but got to his feet and the three of them stepped out of the room. During the tour Hammond got a rather unhappy looking Adam Baily to assist in explaining many of the features of the island facility. Carmen noticed that Baily, along with everyone else on the island, never challenged Dr Hammond's authority in the slightest, but showed him the utmost respect at all times. Whatever he told them to do they did without any argument, but it made sense. After all he was the CEO, the supreme boss of the entire company. He wielded the ultimate power, which made her wonder how much power his daughter Tracy had at her command.

The tour took nearly two hours after which they had lunch in the dining hall, then Phillip Hammond got up to leave. "I have to head back to the mainland now," he said, "Carmen, I'm sure you'll fit in here very well. You have plenty to learn. It will be a big challenge for you but I'm confident you'll handle it. Adam, could you walk out to the plane with me?"

The two men left and Carmen was left sitting in a room full of strangers. As the only woman she couldn't help feeling out of place there. Some of the men were friendly enough, but others seemed to be eyeing her suspiciously. Tracy had been right. Many of these men didn't want a woman in their ranks. They considered her to be an outsider intruding into their male only domain. She was right in the middle of another Boys' Club.

She didn't see any of the flight crew for the rest of the day. Driscoll took her around to the maintenance hangar where she got to watch and assist in the preparation of the shuttle Iridium for its forthcoming flight to the moon.

After dinner at seven o'clock during which no one spoke to her except Josh Williams, feeling completely exhausted she stumbled across to the barracks building where she found her accommodation. Her two suitcases had been left there for her. She looked around her new home. Not too bad. It consisted of three rooms, a small lounge with kitchenette, bedroom and bathroom. She even had a television set which picked up Australian TV channels via satellite.
After she unpacked and showered and watched a couple of shows on TV she was ready for bed, but then remembered she had to make a call. She retreived a bit of paper out of her wallet with the number, punched it into the phone and put it on speaker. The phones on the island were connected to the mainland via a satellite link.

"Hey Carmen," Tracy said, "I was hoping you would call tonight, "How was your first day?"
"I was in the maintenance hangar all afternoon," Carmen replied, "The maintenance guys are not too bad but none of the flight crew are talking to me except for Josh Williams."
"Hmmmm, yeah Josh is a sweetheart, but if Adam tells him to pull back he will. The flight guys and the senior engineers are very tight knit. They consider themselves to be the elite of the whole organisation. Just stick it out and do whatever they tell you. They'll come around eventually except maybe Adam and Grant. You need to watch a couple of the maintenance engineers as well. Liam Peters and Glen Hewitt. They have been on the island like forever, and they are very old school. 'This facility is no place for a woman.' That's their motto. Have you met Barbara in admin?"

"Not yet."
"Well I'm sure you will. She's okay, but she is about fifty something and it wouldn't surprise me if she retires soon." Tracy paused for a few seconds.
"Are you still there?" Carmen asked.
"Yes I'm here. Is there anyone else in the room with you?"
"No, I'm on my own."
Tracy paused again, "Okay. Don't tell anyone about our phone calls, it might be safer that way."

Carmen wasn't quite sure what Tracy meant by 'safer' but she agreed. "Sure, of course. Thanks. It's nice to be able to talk to you, because I sure don't have any friends here on the island. You're like my lifeline."
"Don't worry, it's still early days. Can you call me again tomorrow night about this time?"
"Sure, talk to you then. Good night."

He took off his headphones and switched off the receiver. "So Ms Taylor," he muttered to himself, "You're reporting to Tracy Hammond. Tight knit? Elite of the organisation? You are so right, Ms Hammond, and we can't have your friend walking in here and upsetting the balance."
He picked up his phone and made a short call. "It's me. Can you come to my room? I need to have a chat with you about you know who." 

Poor Carmen, but things keep getting worse for her. Keep reading.
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