200 Years to Christmas by J. T. McIntosh

Author:J. T. McIntosh [McIntosh, J. T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Sci Fi
Publisher: Ace Books
Published: 1961-01-22T16:30:23+00:00

The Arc-en-ciel was in free fall, had been in free fall for nearly two centuries, and would be in free fall for another two centuries. Most of the maintenance which had to be done could be regarded as housekeeping. The men who had planned the ship had seen to that.

Near Christmas—the Christmas—a lot of people would have to train themselves and be trained for the jobs which would exist again then. While the ship was merely in free fall, it hardly had to be checked at all, for every part of it and everything in it was going in the same direction, without the slightest strain on it. It wouldn’t have mattered if the ship had merely been tied together with strings.

But when the time approached when the Arc-en-ciel would have to be put in orbit around a planet, problems which hadn’t existed for four centuries would exist again, and strains which hadn’t existed for the same time would have to be allowed for again.

Men and women would have to learn once more about stresses and strains and gravity problems which had not concerned their ancestors for quite a few generations back. And there would be many other subjects—spatial mathematics, some aspects of astronomy, physiology, chemistry and physics —which would require experts before the tenders from the Arc-en-ciel could touch down safely on Lorraine.

Then, the landing over, the task of colonizing Lorraine would need another set of experts. The subjects which would be important then were agriculture, market gardening, dairy farming, engineering, architecture, surveying, town planning. …

That was the importance of Ted Benzil’s job.

From some viewpoints the most important job on the ship was the rector’s, and teaching in general. It was the job of the teachers to see that generation passed on to generation what must be passed on, what couldn’t be trusted to the books alone. Not learning, but how to learn.

There was no money on the Arc-en-ciel. People didn’t do things for the money they would bring, but for the satisfaction of doing them and the prestige attached to them.

Teaching was an important job with a lot of prestige attached to it. Since teachers constructed the link between generation and generation, they started in their job early and did it all their lives.

There were the rector, the deputy head and the class and subject teachers. The rector appointed everybody on his staff; he could have all the advice he wanted, but no one could dictate to him. The deputy head was appointed ^from among the class and subject teachers, and almost invariably became the rector in due course.

Thus Dr. Eric Martin had been class teacher, deputy head and finally rector. Ted had been a class teacher and still was, but he was also the deputy head now.

Every rector naturally imposed his personality on his school to a certain extent. The school under Eric Martin was a very different thing from what it had been under Benjamin Wilson, the previous rector. And it would be different again, under Edward Benzil.

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