Rising, Dean turned to make his way back to his room. He stumbled to his left as Bill abruptly bumped his right shoulder as he brushed past him. Apparently, the look of disgust had been meant for Dean after all.
Chapter 7
Dean was back in his room and contemplating whether he should take a shower or just try to get some sleep. His internal debate was interrupted by a knock on his door. “Come in,” he called out.
“Hi Dean,” Captain Rogers said as he opened the door, entered, and shut the door behind him. “You got a moment?”
“Sure,” Dean replied.
Walking over to the small desk next to the foot of the bed, the Captain took a seat in the padded chair beside it. “I wanted to apologize for putting you in an awkward position out there. I know the crew hasn’t had a chance to get to know you yet, and using you as an example of what they should be doing isn’t going to ingratiate you to them any quicker.”
From his spot on the bed, Dean rubbed the back of his neck and replied, “That’s okay sir. It’s nice to know that I serve some purpose on this mission; even if they hate me for it.”
Frowning, Captain Rogers said, “First off, I’ve told you, cut the ‘sir’ crap. You can call me Captain or Greg. Second, regardless of what happened during training or what SpaceTek may have preferred, you would not be here if I didn’t think you had something to contribute to the mission.”
“But what could I contribute? I don’t have a specialized degree like you or the others. I’ve never been to space before. And aside from serving as a lab assistant to the others, and pretty much playing janitor, I have no assigned duties to perform during the trip.”
“That should leave you with plenty of spare time,” he said. “And what exactly do you plan to do with all that extra time?”
“I was going to continue my studies with the information available in the database.”
Smiling with genuine warmth, the Captain said, “Exactly what I assumed you would do. Look Dean, during your training you passed advanced courses in physics, electrical and mechanical engineering, geology, and geophysics. I’m sure you’re not aware of it, but the first aid training you received was actually the standard course of instruction for a paramedic. The point is, while you are not specialized like the others, you’ve been given enough training to fill in for anyone on this crew if they become unable to fulfill their duties. You are also a backup system to catch any mistakes the rest of us may make. You have already proven that one by saving us all from crashing due to a math error.”
Dean looked down at his feet and said, “I’m sure Bill would have caught his mistake.”
“Maybe, maybe not; I refuse to operate on a ‘maybe’. You are here because you fill a very important role as a backup. Just like Destiny has multiple redundancies to prevent catastrophic failure, you’re our human redundancy.”
Dean shut his eyes and in a quiet voice said, “But if I’m constantly correcting the others, they will hate me for it.”
“Yes they will; at first. I assure you, your correcting Bill’s math will ensure he double and triple checks his calculations from now on. Once you are no longer correcting him, because he is no longer making mistakes, he will eventually figure out that it was you that made him a better engineer. Trust me Dean; they will come around soon enough. In the meantime, I want you to do exactly what you already planned to do; study. The smarter you are, the smarter the rest of us become. And, we need to be as smart as possible to successfully complete this mission.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
“Of course it does. I’m the Captain; I’m not allowed to not make sense.” Smiling, he rose from his chair and walked toward the door. Just as he reached his hand out to grasp the latch, he turned and said, “Oh, by the way, I’ve decided that when we get to Mars, you are going to be the first to step out of the lander. Better start thinking about what you are going to say.”
With that, the Captain turned and exited the room. Dean lay back on his bed, swallowing hard as he contemplated the immense responsibility the Captain had just placed upon him. There was little chance he would be able to sleep now. It was a good thing that sleep deprivation was one of the many techniques they had used against him during his training.
Chapter 8
Dean was working in lab three as Stacy’s lab assistant. The nuclear powered, ion engine had been powered up and they had begun their journey as scheduled. Everyone had quickly fallen into a routine and the days began to pass. Dean alternated between serving as an assistant to Stacy or Captain Rogers in one of the labs and helping Sarah in the medical bay.
“Can you bring me that beaker of sulfuric acid?” Stacy asked.
He grabbed the heavy glass container off the countertop and placed it down in front of Stacy. He was again struck by how attractive she was for an older woman. She had short brown hair and strikingly brown eyes. She was about fifteen centimeters shorter than his own one hundred eighty three centimeter frame and was in superb physical condition. She was in her early thirties, which made her closer to his age than any of the others.
He looked at the various items she had spread out on the counter and tried to deduce what type of experiment she was conducting. He saw several different chemicals, six radiation meters, and six small protective cases labeled cobalt sixty. “You’re studying radioactive decay?” he asked.
“Uh huh,” she answered absently. “It has been shown that the speed of decay can be altered by solar events. I intend to apply different chemical solutions to four of the samples and then trail all six behind us in open space to determine what effects the solar wind will have on them.”
Dean’s eyebrows furrowed as he thought about her assertion. He asked, “But I thought the rate of radioactive decay for any given substance was constant?”
After a long pause, during which she continued to pour chemicals from one container to another, she finally answered, “So did the rest of the scientific community until about fifteen years ago. Scientists found that large solar storms would minutely slow the rate of decay in radioactive materials found on Earth. It hasn’t been determined how this happens, but I intend to find out.”
“But, how can a solar event affect materials on Earth when the Earth’s magnetic field blocks most of the solar particles?”
“Look kid, I don’t have time to answer all of your questions,” she said, suddenly agitated. “Grab that notebook and take down what I dictate.”
Dean hung his head and replied in a quiet voice, “Of course, I’m sorry.”
Stacy went back to preparing the chemical solution she had been working on without even acknowledging his apology.
Dean walked over and picked up the indicated notebook and a pen and took a seat on the stool next to her. He began to write as she verbally prescribed the steps she was following.
About an hour later, he was still writing as she was combining the ingredients of her third solution. “Compound three should prevent charged particles from reaching the samples while still allowing...,” she was saying, but cut herself off short. A look of horror took over her features. “Oh no!”
“What?” Dean asked.
Sara stood and began pacing frantically. “Stupid, stupid, stupid! I can’t believe I forgot.”
“Forgot what?”
“The engine; I forgot about the engine.” Seeing the look of confusion on his face, she continued to explain. “The engine is nuclear. It is not water cooled like the reactors on Earth. It is vented to space. That means radioactive particles are streaming from it in massive quantities. It will ruin any data I get from my experiment.”
“Isn’t there any way to account for the additional radiation?”
“No, there isn’t. The radiation from the engine will invalidate the data I record.”
Dean watched as her expression became more and more despondent. She looked to be on the verge of tears. He took a deep breath and though hard about how he could help her. After a couple minutes of awkward si
lence, an idea struck him. “What if you use the exhaust as your source?”
She turned to him sharply as she sat back down on her stool. “What?”
“The exhaust,” he replied. “It has a known decay rate just like the cobalt. We could mount a meter near the vent and measure any changes in its decay.”
“But what about the chemicals I was going to use to change the effect?”
“I could rig up some sprayers near the exhaust vent that would saturate the particles upon command. That way you could try different compounds based on whatever the current conditions are.”
She jumped from her stool and hugged him, hard. “Dean,” she began as she pulled away from him with tears now streaming down her face, “you are brilliant. You just saved my experiment.”
“I’m sure you would have come up with the same idea,” he replied, blushing brightly.
“No I wouldn’t have,” she said with a bright smile contradicting the tears on her face. “Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome,” he said shyly.
“I’ll tell you what,” she said, “I’ll make a deal with you. If you can fabricate those sprayers for me, I’ll promise to answer any questions you have, anytime you have them.”
Dean smiled broadly. “Deal.”
Chapter 9
More than a month had passed and the voyage seemed to be going well. Dean had devoted himself to his studies and was rapidly absorbing the information available in the computer database. He had become great friends with Stacy once he helped her set up her experiment. He managed to gain Sarah’s acceptance when she discovered he could answer any anatomy question she threw at him. And Captain Rogers had taken on the mantle of surrogate father in Dean’s eyes.
Bill still hated him vehemently. Dean had tried to ingratiate himself to the surly engineer, but nothing he tried did any good. It seemed as if every effort he put forth only served to further aggravate the situation. A one point, Bill and Stacy had become romantically involved and Stacy’s friendly relationship with Dean had only made Bill even angrier.
Now, as Dean walked into the exercise room to complete his daily routine, he saw Bill pedaling furiously on the stationary bicycle. Sighing, he turned to leave when he heard Bill say, “Don’t you run away from me boy. I’ve got a bone to pick with you.”
Trying hard to keep the exasperation from his voice, Dean turned back and replied, “How can I help you…Bill.” He watched with warm satisfaction as Bill’s face twitched at hearing Dean call him by his first name.
Climbing from the bicycle, Bill stomped his way across the room to come face to face with Dean. “You can stop feeding the Captain your crazy ideas about improving the efficiency of the engine. There’s no way I’ll ever let you anywhere near my engine; so stop asking for his permission.”
“But, if you would just look at my calculations you would see that we could get twelve percent more thrust with only a minor recalibration of the plasma injector.”
“And I’m telling you, they weren’t designed to handle that type of load. Regardless, it’s not going to happen. As it is, the Captain already let you fiddle with the environmental controls; against my recommendation I might add. I want you to know, I’ve already sent a message to mission control; if anything happens to this ship, they are to automatically assume it is your fault.”
Dean had taken as much abuse as he could stand from this man and proceeded to blurt out exactly what he thought; only later realizing how much worse it would make things. “You’re just afraid the Captain might give me your job because I’m better at it than you. Luckily for me, it’s the Captain’s decision as to whether or not I can modify the engine. Once I do, and he sees the vast improvement, you’ll be the one emptying trash cans.”
Dean watched as Bill’s face turned bright red and a thick vein began throbbing on his forehead. Bill’s hands balled into fists and he took a menacing step towards Dean. Dean took a step back, unsure of what he should do if Bill struck him. He had never been in a real fight in his life.
Bill took another step in Dean’s direction. “Someone needs to teach you your place boy,” he said angrily.
“What exactly is going on here?”
Dean turned to see Captain Rogers standing in the doorway. He began to stammer out an explanation when the Captain held a hand up, silencing him.
“Actually, I believe I heard enough from outside the door to know what this is about,” the Captain said. Turning to look at the engineer, he ordered, “Bill, go to my office so we can have a chat.”
Bill simply grunted angrily, brushed past Dean and stomped out the door.
Turning back to Dean, Captain Rogers had a look of anger on his face that Dean had never seen before. “Wipe that smug look off your face,” he said roughly. “Like it or not, Bill is our chief engineer and he has final say on what happens to the engine. And, whether you believe it or not, he is a darn good engineer. I trust his judgment and would not even consider overruling him on this type of matter.”
Taking a deep breath, the Captain calmed himself before continuing. “Look Dean, I have great respect for your abilities, but you need to be aware of your limitations. You are not an engineer.”
“Yes Captain,” Dean replied with his chin resting on his chest.
“You are to confine yourself to your quarters until tomorrow’s duty shift. I sincerely hope you will think long and hard about this and maybe see that you owe Bill an apology.”
“Yes Captain,” he repeated before turning to make his escape from what had become the most uncomfortable situation he had ever faced.
Chapter 10
Three weeks later, Dean was back in Lab three working with Stacy. He was trying to concentrate on his work, but even weeks later, the incident weighed heavily on his mind. Though he had tried to apologize to the engineer, Bill had simply brushed him off with no reply.
Stacy seemed to have noticed that Dean’s mind wasn’t on his work. She walked over to stand beside him and asked, “Dean, are you okay?” Getting no response, she placed a hand on his shoulder and repeated the question.
Startled, he turned and said, “Huh…what?”
“I asked if you were okay,” Stacy replied. “You seem to be farther out in space than the rest of us.”
“I’m sorry Stacy,” he answered with chagrin. “I didn’t mess anything up did I?”
“You’re just cleaning beakers; pretty hard to mess that up. What has you so troubled?”
Dean hesitated before saying, “Uh…I’m not sure I should talk to you about it.”
“Why not?”
“Well, my problem is Bill. I know you two have a relationship going, so I don’t want to put you in the middle of anything.”
Stacy smiled kindly and said, “I appreciate your concern; however, I’m a big girl and I can choose for myself if I want to be in the middle of things. Besides, I may be the best person to speak to. I probably know him better than anyone. So, come on, spill. What’s the problem?”
Dean decided that he probably couldn’t do anymore harm, so he blurted, “I just don’t know why Bill hates me so much. As far as I can tell, I haven’t done anything to him. I mean, I know I shouldn’t have said what I did in the exercise room, but I tried to apologize and he just ignored me.”
Stacy took his hand, led him over to a pair of chairs, and gently pushed him down into one. She sat herself in the other one and placed an arm around his shoulders. “Dean, how did you come to be on this ship?”
“You already know,” he answered, confused. “I won the essay contest.”
“Yes, and how did Bill come to be on this ship?”
“I have no idea. I assumed he was just a qualified engineer.”
Stacy smiled and said, “There is a lot more to it than that. There is a lot of competition to be part of the space program. Bill spent many years in the military working his backside off to be the perfect officer. He spent years working hard to get his master’s degree. While doing all that, he
volunteered his time to work with various charities. He did all that to make himself stand out so SpaceTek would notice him.”
Dean seemed to be carefully considering her words, so she continued, “Bill wanted nothing more than to go into space. So, he spent more than ten years working as hard as he could to make that happen. He earned his spot on this ship. I don’t want to belittle your accomplishment, but you wrote an essay and got the same thing it took him years to accomplish. And, before you say anything, I spoke with the Captain and I know what you went through during training. I believe you did earn your spot here. Bill just can’t see that.”
“But, what can I do to prove to him I belong here?”
“Dean, you want everyone here to respect what you accomplished and to respect what you are capable of. Shouldn’t you show Bill the same courtesy?”
“I do respect him,” Dean replied sincerely. “I love working on the engineering aspects of this ship. I think he has the best job here.”
“And, that’s another part of the problem. You pick things up really fast. Once you get your hand on something, you can understand it almost instantly. Bill spent years studying engineering; he then spent several more years studying the specs of this ship. He can name every single nut and bolt on this ship, and he can even tell you their specific tolerances. It’s understandable that he would be a little upset when he dedicated so much of his life acquiring the knowledge to do his job, and then someone that only worked for two years for the mission thinks he can do the job better.”
“I can understand that,” Dean said. “I just don’t know how to make it better.”
“Just try to understand where he is coming from, keep your temper in check, and listen to him when he speaks. You might even be able to learn a thing or two from him.”