Craggy 2: Another Last Flight for Craggy (7 page)

Craggy smiled. 'I have every confidence in you girls. I heard a lot of swearing back there. Freddie's moaning and groaning squeezing the new unit in place. I couldn't bear to watch so I came in here.'

'Better for me if they take their time. I know how it all works, Skye's gone over the basic principles of the whole propulsion unit, but we have to tell it what to do from here. The theory is straightforward, I just haven't learnt the language.'

Cragg stared at the controls, scared to breathe on them, let alone touch anything. 'Have you worked any of it out yet?'

'I think so. Power to the injector comes by these sensors. That gets the magnetic coils going, the injector and possibly the two antenna that heat up the ionised plasma.'

'So. That's like just getting things started.'

'Yes. I think so. Almost probably.'

Cragg said, 'I'd have thought the controls for everything for the propulsion unit would be all together in one place. That's how our ships have been laid out since Adam was a lad.'

'Was Adam a freighter pilot?'

Cragg chuckled. 'Yeah. He got his orders from some woman named Eve, if I remember correctly.'

'I assumed these controls right here are as you say, are just for the engine. But which does what? How would they organise the controls?'

Cragg gave some deep thought to that question. 'I doubt you will ever get inside those alien minds. Maybe you're coming at it from the wrong direction. Instead of asking, how would
they
set it all up, try asking, how would Stella Wayward, computer expert, set it up if she was building the computer, and I bet you wouldn't be far off the mark.'

'Well. If I put the start up power sensor here which is what this is, then logically, left to me I'd put...'

'See?' said Cragg. 'Just think Stella and it'll come to you. I gotta go.'

'Thanks, Craggy.'

'No worries. If you have any more problems, don't hesitate to solve them. See you later.'

'I
t won't fit, I tell you. Craggy. Tell them won't you? This bloody thing will not go through that opening.'

The look on all four faces told Cragg everything. He was reluctant to step in the middle of a situation getting heated. 'Ok. Calm down. Freddie?'

'It's too damn big, and that's all there is to it.'

Cragg climbed up in the dozer next to Morcurry. At first glance, it didn't look good. 'Interesting.'

'I could think of other words, Craggy.'

Cragg said nothing and jumped down and approached the three young women. 'A bit of a squeeze, as the actress said to the bishop.' Ignoring the blank looks, he said, 'Couldn't you have allowed more clearance, Skye?'

Skye said, 'we couldn't make a workable injector as small as the old one. The working parts we use for our ships are larger and we haven't time to completely make everything from scratch. But I measured the opening and allowed what I thought was the best clearance for the complete thing.'

'Ok. So obviously we can't make the opening any bigger. But the unit is as small as it can be and still allow us to put in our parts.'

'Correct.'

'And it will fit in.'

'Thank you.'

'But the dozer attachment won't. That's the problem. We need something that can handle the weight of the unit whilst it extends into the ship, but doesn't take up so much of the clearance.'

Dillow said, 'I don't think there is anything, is there Craggy?'

Cragg stood inside the ship, central to the problem. He closed one eye and focused on the space around the new injector. Then  he clambered down and got back on the dozer.

Morcurry said, 'I'm right, ain't I Craggy? It won't go in.'

'Your are absolutely right, Freddie, my old pal. Any idea where Shamini Singh is?'

'Back of Base Eleven, levelling the ground for a laser cannon to be fitted.'

Cragg worked the dozer radio. 'Shamini Singh. Can you hear me? This is Craggy. Shamini? Are you there, pal?'

'Craggy. What's up?'

'I got Freddie here. The dozer grabber is too big to get the new injector in.'

'Yeah? We got no magic wands, Craggy.'

'Me neither. The pod grabber. Where is it?'

'Stripped. Being overhauled in the workshop.'

'Excellent. The grabber arm. Still in one piece?'

'Yes, last time I looked. Why?'

'Because I want engineering to cobble it to the dozer.'

Singh laughed. 'Good luck with that.'

Cragg said, 'Screwy Driver. You there? You got five minutes?'

'I heard, Craggy,' said Sam “Screwy” Driver, head of engineering. 'You want us to fit the pod grabber arm onto the dozer.'

Cragg said, 'If you have a spare ten minutes.'

'Impossible.'

'Ok. Fifteen minutes, then.'

The heavy sigh came back over the radio. 'The couplings are completely different. We would have to cut off the dozer arm, and weld in place a modified pod grabber arm.'

Cragg winked at Morcurry. 'You are brilliant, Screwy. I don't care what the others say about you, I reckon you're a genius. Only you could have come up with a plan like that.'

'Err, well. I do have my moments. Freddie?'

'Way ahead of you, Screwy. On my way to the workshop.'

'See,' said Craggy. 'You just gotta know the right people. Put the injector over there. Nice and easy. Right. Come with me.'

The two men got off the dozer. 'I reckon, if they disabled the hydraulics here, cut the arm off say, here, weld the pod grabber arm on when it's cut the same length, no longer, mind, but...and this is important. The grabber itself must be this way, and not that way.' Cragg used his hand to demonstrate how it should be fitted. 'Got that?'

Morcurry nodded. 'That'll work.'

'Yep. And I want you back here and fitting that bloody injector in that bloody ship in three hours' time.'

'Not a problem,' said Morcurry hurrying back to the dozer.

'Not any more it isn't,' Cragg muttered to himself. 'Skye?'

'I heard, Craggy. Three hours.'

Cragg said, 'Are you crazy? That's impossible.'

Dillow said, 'But you said three hours.'

'That's only what I told Freddie. He'll be back in about four hours. I'm off for a beer.'

When Cragg arrived home, he found he had a little visitor.

'Uncle Craggy.'

'Well, hello, Shyne. Nice to see you.'

Misty said, 'Joel asked if we could have her for a few hours.'

'And very welcome you are too, Shyne. And if I'm not mistaken, that smells suspiciously like chicken?'

'From Joel. For us looking after Shyne for him.'

Cragg got a beer from the fridge. 'Nice. I'm partial to a little chicken.'

Misty dished up three plates. 'You want fries with that?'

'Sounds good to me.'

They sat at the table to eat their meal. Shyne was becoming a little chatter box and Cragg could see Fawn in her features. Perhaps her father's eyes.

'I wrote a story at school today, Uncle Craggy.'

'You did?'

'Yes. Can I read it to you, Uncle Craggy?'

Cragg said, 'I tell you what. As soon as we've eaten, you can tell us your story.'

'Ok.'

Shyne told them of her busy day at school and how a boy in her class pulled her hair and how she had told him off.

'Good for you,' said Misty. 'We girls have to show the boys who the boss is.'

'No comment,' said Cragg.

Armed with a full belly and another beer, Cragg sat on his old chair, Shyne on the floor in front of him.

'I'll clean up,' said Misty. 'I've heard it three times already.'

Cragg saw something hidden in the way his wife spoke. Something in her eyes. Misty gathered up the plates and took them away to clean them.

'Right, Shyne,' said Cragg. 'Away you go.'

The little girl took a deep breath. 'Did I tell you about the time...'

'Sounds familiar.'

'Shush. Did I tell you about the time I was very sad. And my Mommy and my Daddy was very very busy and I wasn't seeing my Mommy and my Daddy was too busy to play and Mommy didn't come home and then she didn't come home again and I never got a night night kiss from her and my Daddy had to tell me my story. And my Daddy said my Mommy wasn't coming home again tonight and that made me very very sad and I want my Mommy to kiss me night night and tell me a story. The end.'

Shyne stared at her Uncle Craggy, her big saucer eyes on the verge of tears.

'That was such a good story,' said Cragg. 'Much better than my old stories. Shyne, Are you staying here tonight with Uncle Craggy and Aunty Misty?'

'I think so.'

Misty came in and sat down. 'Yes. Don't mind do you?'

'Of course not. Say. I gotta pop out for half an hour. Won't be too long.'

I
t had been another long night, followed by another early start.

'Now?' said Breeze.

Commander Forbes had called Wendy Breeze on her radio. 'I want you four in Base Three immediately.'

'But Sir, we're right in the middle of...'

'Now, Breezy. That's an order.'

'On our way, Sir.' Breeze quickly tightened up the fittings on the main flange of the injector inlet port and put the tools down. 'You heard the commander. Let's go.'

Wondering what it was all about, the four downed tools and drove off at speed to Base Three. They parked their buggy outside the main airlock and entered the Base. The scent of the flowers and the birdsong hit them immediately. Commander Forbes was there to greet them and the look on his face was serious.

'Sir? Are we in trouble?'

'You could say that, Breezy. Follow me.'

They followed the Mars Commander along what was left of the path that ran through the middle of the Base. He said nothing as he strode purposefully to the small dining area. It was Fawn Dillow that gasped.

'Joel? Shyne?'

The little girl ran to her mother who picked her up for hugs and kisses. 'Mommy.'

Fawn noticed the table was overflowing with food and various cold juice drinks. She looked at Forbes. 'I don't understand?'

'You have all been found guilty of working too hard. Your punishment is to have exactly two hours off, have a good feed and soak in the pool. Spend a minute less in here, you'll be docked a month's pay. We don't need exhausted people working on critical projects. Right. I have to go.'

'Come on, Mommy. It's a picnic.'

Breeze fixed Forbes with a look. 'Ok. Whose idea was this?'

Forbes laughed. 'Who the heck do you think?'

Breeze laughed. 'Craggy.'

'Naturally,' said Forbes, as he walked away.

I
t had only been two hours, but the foursome returned to their mission in a far better frame of mind. They finished the assembly and went through the check-lists three times, leaving nothing to chance. On specially adapted seating, made to be both buckled safely into whilst allowing easy access to the controls, the four of them sat strapped in, ready for a test firing up of the rebuilt plasma engine. The tank was filled with helium-3, power was flowing as it should, Stella had decided within a reasonable degree of certainty which did what in the controls.  All Stella had to do was to risk using them.

'Maybe we should postpone it until tomorrow,' Stella suggested.

Breeze said, 'Press the damn button.'

'Touchless sensor,' corrected Stella.

'Fine. Right. Touchless sensor. Wiggle your fingers over the damn touchless sensors.'

'I could do this alone,' said Stella. 'No need for you three to risk...'

'We agreed,' said Dillow. 'Together or not at all. Let's go, Stella.'

'Ok,' said Stella. 'Maybe a countdown...'

Breeze almost screamed with frustration. 'I'm trained to kill with my bare hands by Dillow's father, you know. Enough with the procrastination or...'

Stella wiggled her fingers. Nothing happened. 'Ah! Now. Hang on. I got this. I just need to do this, then err, this, no, yes...'

Breeze was about to blow. Then the ship did a disconcerting rumble and wobble as if it were about to blow, instead. 'Too much injector input. Shut it down.'

'It just needs regulating a little...'

Wilder rocking and rumbling started.

'Stella. Shut the damn thing down.'

'I'm bloody trying to...'

The ship responded. The rumble became a hum. The hum became a whisper.

Skye asked, 'She's shut down?'

'No,' said Stella. 'Ticking over. Running sweet. Now for take off and landing thrusters...'

'Jeez, Stella,' said Dillow.

'Oh, my God,' said Breeze. 'Are we taking off? Jeez. Are we taking off?'

'Let's see,' said Stella. The screen flickered into life. 'We're about one mile in the air.'

Dillow said, 'We haven't clearance. This was just a fire up trial.'

Skye said, 'We still haven't checked all the underneath for damage. This ship might not be airworthy.'

Stella turned and gave her friends the strangest of looks. A new found confidence was flowing through her as smoothly as the plasma was now flowing through the rebuilt engine. 'One way to find out. Hang on to your panties, ladies. Going one tenth power.'

'How the hell can you tell?' asked Dillow.

'I can feel it.'

'Oh, Jeez. Another ship hugger,' said Breeze. 'It's bloody contagious.'

'Hey,' said Stella. 'You were the ones wanting to try the engine out. One fifth power. Wow. Sweet.'

'Up,' yelled Dillow as all they could see was the ground as the ship dropped like a very big stone. 'Take her up.'

'This should do it. Take off thrusters off. Sweet. We are out of Mars atmosphere. Now we can really see what she can do.'

Breeze hung on to her seat, he knuckles turning white. 'Stella.'

'Yep. That's my name. Don't wear it out. One third power. We did fill that tank, right?'

'Don't you dare get us lost,' growled Dillow.

'Relax. This thing tracks our course. At least I think it does. More or less. One half power.'

The ship was faster than anything any of them had flown in before and it wasn't even flat out.

'Shit!' said Skye. 'The asteroid belt. Can't be going that fast.'

'Looks like it,' said Stella, grinning. 'Slowing down.'