(The Commodore at Sea) by A. Bertram Chandler

Author:A. Bertram Chandler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Action & Adventure
Publisher: Ace Books
Published: 2018-01-21T21:29:00+00:00

Part Three

The Man Who Sailed The Sky

IT WAS FORTUNATE, Sonya always said, that the Federation Survey Service’s Star Pioneer dropped down to Port Stellar, on Aquarius, when she did. Had not transport back to the Rim Worlds, although it was by a roundabout route, become available it is quite possible that her husband would have become a naturalized Aquarian citizen. Seafaring is no more (and no less) a religion than spacefaring; be that as it may, John Grimes, Master Astronaut, Commodore of the Rim Confederacy’s Naval Reserve, Honorary Admiral of the Ausiphalian Navy and, lately, Master Mariner, was exhibiting all the zeal of the new convert. For some months he had sailed in command of an Aquarian merchantman and, although his real job was to find out the cause of the rapidly increasing number of marine casualties, he had made it plain that insofar as his own ship was concerned he was no mere figurehead. Although (or because) only at sea a dog watch, he was taking great pride in his navigation, his seamanship, his pilotage and his ship handling.

“Damn it all,” he grumbled to Sonya, “if our lords and masters wanted us back they’d send a ship for us. I know that Rim Eland isn’t due here for another six weeks, on her normal commercial voyage—but what’s wrong with giving the Navy a spot of deep space training? The Admiralty could send a corvette …”

“You aren’t all that important, John.”

“I suppose not. I’m only the Officer Commanding the Naval Reserve, and the Astronautical Superintendent of Rim Runners … Oh, well—if they don’t want me, there’re some people who do.”

“What do you mean?” she asked sharply.

“Tom told me that my Master Mariner’s Certificate of Competency and my Pilotage Exemption Certificates are valid for all time. He told me, too, that the Winneck Line will give me another appointment as soon as I ask for it. There’s just one condition …”

“Which is?”

“That we take out naturalization papers.”

“No,” she told him. “No, repeat, capitalize, underscore no.”

“Why not, my dear?”

“Because this world is the bitter end. I always thought that the Rim Worlds were bad enough, but I put up with them for your sake and, in any case, they’ve been improving enormously over the past few years. But Aquarius … It’s way back in the twentieth century!”

“That’s its charm.”

“For you, perhaps. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed our voyage in Sonya Winneck—but it was no more than a holiday cruise …”

“An odd sort of holiday,”

“You enjoyed it too. But after not too long a time you’d find the Me of a seafaring commercial shipmaster even more boring than that of a spacefaring one. Do you want to be stuck on the surface of one planet for the rest of your life?”

“But there’s more variety of experience at sea than there is in space …”

Before she could reply there was a tap on the door. “Enter!” called Grimes.

Captain Thornton, the Havenmaster of Aquarius, came into the suite. He looked inquiringly at his guests. “Am I interrupting something?” he asked.

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