In A Starship's Wake

Chapter 54: Almost A Letdown

The load display on Great Mandan Laker's windshield was a three-dimensional representation of the cargo hold. As the ship was loaded, small blue orbs slowly filled the image, each of which denoted a few cubic feet of cargo space. Complicated sensor arrays in the cargo hold monitored exactly where the load settled, so the image was an accurate representation of the state of the hold and allowed the crew to monitor the load balance.

Blue orbs slowly winked into existence as Joseph rotated the image with one finger. The slow pace agitated him, especially with the hold nearly full. Four Machines had been faster by far.

A nervous day and a half had passed at Kalleta Asteroid Mine, and they learned nothing new from repeated inspections of their recorded footage. The sensors on the hull had not tripped for anything but the occasional large rock. Every time they went off a jolt of fear went through Joseph as he checked for the source of the alert, only to watch a piece of debris approach slowly, bounce off the shields and arc away.

Fear that they might be attacked after all lurked at the back of his mind, and each such event brought it to the fore. The nervous waiting of the past hours was worse for him than the attack on the corvette. That had been over quickly by comparison, and he'd been occupied with the fight. Here the hours dragged on in endless suspense.

Gregory drummed his fingers on the console at his station as he mirrored Joseph's impatient watch over the monitor. The hold was nearly full, and after a day and a half of anxiety, they were all ready to leave.

"Could it possibly go any slower?" Gregory grated.

"Don't ask that." Joseph was determined to keep his tone mild. "I'm sure it can, and I don't want any proof. Just sit quietly and wait. I'll admit it didn't aggravate me nearly as much a few hours ago when there was still a lot of hold to fill."

Gregory gave a displeased grunt. "Could I sit quietly and curse every decision those miners made that led to three broken-down feeder systems instead?"

"Sure, I'll settle for that. As long as the cursing is internal."

Gregory subsided, but glared at the load display with even less patience than before.

Everyone was tense, even those not on the bridge to watch the agonizing pace of the work. Thirty-some hours at the station to load was already a long wait, and their dangerous discovery made it worse. Despite the many circumstances they'd discussed that would dissuade any pirates from an attack on Laker, everyone worried they would do it anyway.

Joseph did his best to appear unconcerned, or at least calm. Most of the time he succeeded at that, only because he ran down the list of reasons pirates wouldn't want to attack them. Over and over he recited it in his head in an attempt to persuade himself there would be no attack. Yet he also knew he shouldn't persuade himself, so that his guard would remain up.

"It should only be another thirty minutes." Joseph took the pilot's position and scrolled through the ship systems. "I'll call the others up. We should be ready to leave as soon as we're done, and under the circumstances I want everyone on the bridge this time."

"Roger that. Best for everyone to be ready, just in case we have trouble after all."

One by one the others joined Joseph and Gregory on the bridge, seating themselves at one of the stations. Joseph noted that everyone strapped in without him even suggesting it, despite the absence of that precaution for normal flights. Artificial gravity and the inertial drive could be relied on to take care of the forces that would otherwise throw them around the ship. The exception was hard maneuvers, which usually didn't happen with Laker. This time it was a possibility.