Space Rescue One (30 page)

      "Chief, that's a nice story, but I'm not convinced. I've heard their anguished voices," Richard said.

      "But did you listen to what they were really saying? In the meantime, whether you like it or not, you have shipmates who care about you. I'm not just speaking for myself. I'm speaking for the entire crew of this ship. We're your shipmates and we're not going to let you down no matter how rude or hostile you are to us. You did your best for shipmates. Now we're going to do our best for you as a shipmate."

      Richard brushed away a tear forming in one eye. "Okay, I can't argue with you on that point. I can't even order you to disregard the Shipmate's Code when it comes to me. As far as this goes, I'll try to remember that you all are my shipmates and not take out my rudeness and hostility on any of you. That's about the best I can promise."

      "That's good enough for me, sir. I'm sure it'll be fine with the crew as well."

***

"Attention all personnel.
Space Rescue One
is on scramble alert. Level four emergency. Attention all personnel.
Space Rescue One
is on scramble alert. Level four emergency."

***

"This is Captain Saberhagen of the
Space Rescue One.
We are two hours away from you. What is your current situation?"

***

"I don't think the United Worlds of Sol has the chance of a spitball in hell of succeeding," Jimmy said.

      "Why not?" Alex asked.

      "Look at what the nations on Earth are demanding. They want representation in the UWS by population. Mars and Venus won't buy that. They'd be outvoted on every issue that comes up. Most of the nations on Earth aren't willing to establish any human rights, either. They're still involved in their petty politics. Now that we have a solar society, you'd think that they'd realize that they all need each other," Jimmy answered.

      "So, what do you think is going to happen? Earth isn't going to go to war again with Mars and Venus, is it?" Alex asked.

      "Not very likely. It will take them years to establish a military presence in space. The United States stopped its program of building military ships once the UN agreed to recognize Mars and Venus as independent. Meanwhile, Mars and Venus are both going ahead with their own plans for a military space force. There's nothing anyone can do or say to stop them since they're not under UN control any longer. In fact, hardly any of the nations on Earth are under UN control. That's why it's falling apart, despite the fact that we're now a part of it. However, I do think that there's going to be a war on Earth. It might even be big enough to rival World War II in scope and losses."

      "But that's stupid. Why should they even think of having another war so soon?" Alex exclaimed.

      "Simple, Alex, my friend. You've got a lot of factions that don't like the current situation for any of a lot of reasons. Some are pushing their own agendas whether it's power, politics, religion, or economics. Some simply don't like others being in charge. This is possibly the last opportunity some of them will have to be in charge. Once the Earth is united under one leadership, it's going to be almost impossible to overthrow it. The stability that one leadership gives the Earth will lead to greater prosperity for most of the world. People who are prosperous will tend to support that leadership. They won't put up with insurrections by factions that feel disadvantaged in some way or another. At the same time, they're all afraid that if they don't unite soon, then they might have to worry about Mars or Venus trying to take over the Earth sometime down the road."

      "That's stupid, Jimmy."

      "Sure it's stupid, but that's the way some people think. One thing for sure, I'm advising my relatives to immigrate to Venus as soon as possible."

      "Why Venus?" Alex asked.

      "Because its terraforming is more stable than that of Mars. Mars is okay for now, but unless they get everything completely stabilized soon, they're going to see it fall apart badly."

      "How soon?" asked Alex.

      "Within the decade. Meanwhile, if Earth has another World War, Mars might be doomed unless they can get what they need from Venus."

      "You'd think they'd have the sense to apply the Shipmate's Code to themselves."

***

Shelly crept down the ship's corridor and entered Richard's quarters. As usual, he was sleeping badly. Quietly, she eased herself onto his bed and lay next to him after removing her robe to keep it dry. Almost immediately, his labored breathing calmed down to something more normal for sleep. She rechecked her paging watch to ensure that it was set to vibrate on her wrist so she could leave before he woke in the morning. Hopefully, there wouldn't be an alert to wake him before she could disappear from his cabin even though she'd left instructions with the bridge to page her a minute before waking him.

     As she dozed off, one of her hands caressed his left shoulder while she thought about whether Richard had any deep down feelings for her. Already, she knew that she was in love with him. It hadn't been easy sorting out her feelings for him after all those mixed signals he gave out. She felt it would be nice if he fel in love with her. She wondered about asking Damon if he knew anything concerning Richard's feelings toward her.

Richard woke up sweating profusely, the horror still fresh in his mind. Too late, Shelly realized he was awake and could feel her bare skin against him. Before she could move, he grasped her wrist.

      "What are you doing in my bed?" he asked somewhat gruffly.

      Shelly answered, "Helping you fight your nightmares."

      "There's no way you can help me fight those."

      "Yes, there is. You sleep better when I'm beside you. I've been doing this every night since I found out my presence calms you. Tonight, I was late getting to you. I'm sorry."

      "Every night? You've been in my bed every night?" he exclaimed.

      "I always get up before you do and leave quietly so you can keep your silly male pride intact."

      Richard stated, "It's not my pride I'm worried about. I'm more concerned right now with how it possibly looks to the crew of
Space Rescue One.
Strike that word 'possibly.' Make that how I'm sure it looks to them. They probably think you're my mistress."

      "No, they don't. Most of them know why I'm in here each night. Even if they thought that, I don't care. That's not the case, though. I've even had offers from some of the other women to take my place so I can have a night off now and then. If I didn't think you were worth it, I might have taken them up on it. Right now, you're acting pig-headed as usual and making me reconsider their offers."

      "I just don't like the idea of you getting the reputation of a slut," Richard said as he groped for and found the reading light switch. "Where are your clothes?" he asked as he glanced around the cabin.

      "I left them in my quarters so they wouldn't get soaked."

      He exclaimed, "You walked in here naked? What if someone saw you?"

      "So what if anyone did? I think you're worth what I've been doing."

      "It doesn't look right. You could lose your chance later to be promoted along with ruining your reputation."

      "I don't care about my reputation. It's nothing compared to keeping you sane. You might be the Captain now, but you're still a shipmate and shipmates stick together. They can't survive in space without each other. I'd give up more than my reputation and any stupid promotion to protect a shipmate," Shelly said.

      "I see. Calling in the golden rule of space, huh? I can do just as well. I can order you to leave my cabin and not enter it again."

      "So? I'll just do what you'd do under the same circumstances. I'll just ignore your order like you ignored orders and came to my rescue before. You're going to have my company if only because I owe you my life. The least you can do is let others help you in your time of need. Or is Richard Saberhagen the only person capable of understanding the golden rule?"

      "No, I'm not the only one who understands the damn rule. Still, I don't need you here every night. If my dreams get real bad, I'll drink myself to sleep."

      "Uh-uh. I can't let that happen. As the Captain, you have a responsibility to remain sober. What if an emergency call comes in while you're drunk? What if you start issuing orders when there isn't an emergency and we're off somewhere when one happens because we followed your orders? No way, Richard. You haven't touched that bottle once since I've been helping you. I don't want to see you return to it. You have too much to give to rescue work and yourself. I don't want to see you get lost," Shelly said.

      "I only said if."

      "And I'm saying there won't be an if so long as I continue sleeping beside you. Can't you get it into your damn thick head that we're all on your side? No one really minds that I'm in here with you, even though we're only sleeping beside each other. They could care less if anything else happens between us so long as you're kept whole. They see you as important. I see you as important—"

      "I'm not important."

      "Yes, you are. You helped stop a war already. That's more lives than any other rescuer can ever hope to save. That makes you important to us and just about everyone else. No one is going to get upset just because you have a woman sharing your bed at night. Now turn off the light and go back to sleep, Richard. I'm tired and can use the rest unless you want to really help me ruin my reputation," Shelly said.

      "I can't do that to you, Shelly."

      "Then go to sleep, Richard."

***

Seguma David looked at the ceiling of his apartment. It was too high for him to reach from his wheelchair. Nor could he throw the cord up over the beam from his position. His crippled hands prevented that as well. Tears flowed down his cheeks as he realized that he couldn't even commit suicide without assistance. His friends had already refused to purchase any poison for him. He sat there staring at the unattainable ceiling remembering when he asked Bea to assist him in committing suicide.

      Bea had said, "Seg, you still have much to live for."

      "What do I have left to look forward to, Bea? I'm a broken man. I can't even get in bed at night without a friend dropping by. Three nights ago, I had to sleep in my chair. No one gives a fuck about a crippled black man. No one!" Seguma replied.

      "You have lots to look forward to if you'd quit feeling sorry for yourself. Besides, you're going to be rich by the end of the year when the Corporate Responsibility Tax is disbursed by the government to everyone injured by faulty consumer products. You'll be able to hire someone to care for you when friends can't be around."

      Seguma sneered, "Oh sure, the Corporate Responsibility Tax. It was a good idea at the time when the President proposed it. Pissed off a lot of lawyers when it passed, too. Most of them white. Sure cleared up the court backlogs. Still, it's not as if they're going to give a black man a fair shake."

      The act provided for injured parties. However, they couldn't sue for unlimited damages since any business producing a product that caused an injury had to pay the tax instead. Then everyone who was injured that year by a faulty product got reimbursed from the tax fund at the end of the year according to the extent of their injuries.

      "Yes, they will. It's not like happened with your grandfather before the tax came along. Things are different now. We both know that things have been different since the country finally elected a black man as President without his color being an issue."

      "Don't kid yourself. His skin was still an issue. It was just that the whites were afraid to mention it. He only got most of their vote because of their guilt," Seguma said.

      Bea exclaimed, "It was not! He got the vote because he knew how to work crowds and because he had new ideas! He got the Corporate Environmental Responsibility Act passed, too. I almost fell out of my chair when he won that battle in Congress. Then he made the corporate heads move their families and themselves into homes on their manufacturing sites like the act required. Damn, but he had them by the short hairs then! The manufacturers had to upgrade all their run-offs and discharges then since their heads were directly in the first line of fire for any ill effects they might cause. He sure gave them some instant motivation for cleaning up the air and water. They bought safety and environmental equipment like never before and caused the economy to surge in one year. The Corporate Responsibility Tax was just one of his ideas and it works, too. Don't you dare forget that!"

      "I haven't seen a black man benefit from it yet."

      "Then be the first to prove that what he created works for everyone instead of feeling sorry for yourself. Besides, you don't need to be able to walk to do your work. Your mind is still clear. You're still the best mathematician in the world. We need you to continue your work and prove that we're not just good athletes. Don't give anyone a reason to push us back down the ladder. We've advanced too far for you to throw away part of what we've accomplished."

      "My death won't hurt blacks."

      "Oh yeah? Well, remember that you accomplished everything you are now without a single welfare program. You beat out everyone for those scholarships and grants fair and square. If you quit now, they'll think we're all quitters."

      "Bea, you're grasping at straws. None of what you say is going to happen. The world will simply be rid of one black man. A crippled one at that. If anything, killing myself will make people happy if only because it will mean one less person on the dole."