Finding Destiny

Chapter 2, Getting ready

Paul responded "That sounds like a good name. Since its Saturday you will be off tomorrow to get settled in and straighten up the inside like I said only basic maintenance has been done since we got the ship, so it's exactly how your dad left it inside. Come Monday meet one of us at the office at eight, and we will get you started. Like I said though, join us for dinner tonight and we will get you food for tomorrow."

I asked, "Is anyone else here over the weekend?"

Paul told me "We are open seven days a week, so someone is here every day because of how storage works. Usually, there is only a single person here on Sundays and overnight, but normally we have a full staff Monday through Friday during the day. You will learn it all eventually."

With those words Paul gave me a wave and started walking away, I looked at the ship for another minute before heading to the entrance and typing in the access code I had been given. A ramp folded away from the stern of the ship and allowed me to enter the airlock. The first thing I noticed inside the airlock is the slashed pressure suits. I think to myself well that's an easy five thousand credits. Both airlock doors were open as we were not in space, I entered the inner door, and I saw stuffing everywhere. There was stuffing on the deck, stuffing along the bulkheads. I walked further in and got to what resembled a living room in my old dorm, everything was cut up. It looked like someone had been searching for something and I do not know whether they found it or not, but they had sure destroyed every piece of furniture. I continued looking around the interior and found the same damage in the bedroom, plus all my dad's clothes out on the floor with slashes through a lot of it. The galley had the doors ripped off the hinges. I could only shake my head at the destruction and wonder what my father had been into. I found my way to the bridge of the ship and found that the seats had suffered the same fate here as everywhere else, plus consoles had been removed and were hanging from their wires. So much for the elated feeling, I had 10 minutes ago. That makes my first order of business finding somewhere to throw all this trash. I decided to start farther away from the lift and work my way back to the lift otherwise anything I dropped would just contaminate an area I had just cleaned. The bridge was easy enough, picking up the fuzz was a matter of a few minutes, and luckily whoever had done the damage had only removed the screws holding the panels together. I put them back in place and screwed them down with the screws that had been lying on the deck. I then moved back to the bedroom. I decided that the mattress was unsalvageable, so I hauled it to the lift as well. I ended up spending seven hours total moving out all the stuff that was broken beyond repair. I kept the pressure suits and the cabinet doors in hopes they could be repaired, but I was not holding my breath. Most of the furniture just need reupholstering, thank god for small favors. I started making a list of items that needed doing to make the place livable. I checked the appliances such as the freezer and refrigerator which could hold enough food to feed three people for about four months fully stocked. I found that they were working so I moved on to the stove and microwave. The microwave did not seem to work, but the stove came on like it was supposed to.

I thought that since the stove worked, the microwave could go further down the list based on needs. The main items that are actually possible now are food, bed, bedding, after a few paychecks I will start in on other stuff getting the ship back up to working condition. I think I will get the fuel to do the testing before repairing the upholstery, cabinets, and pressure suits as that will let me know everything that needs repairing so I can make a punch list and work through it. I went ahead and started one now with the bond on it as well as all the stuff I have noted so far. I guess it's not a good thing when a punch list has over three pages on your first walkthrough. As it has gotten late, I decide to head back to the office and meet Paul and Doris to see about dinner. Paul asks me how it went and I hand him my tablet with the punch list, and he flips through it and whistles. "A lot of it is superficial, the pressure suits we might be able to help on as we get them now and again when a ship gets scrapped, the upholstery we have a guy that can help, and I will send him over to look Monday to get you an estimate. The food can wait till after your paycheck comes in, but the bed will be necessary. We will order one from our supplier on Monday, and you can just pay us back for it like the food."