Last Ship Off Polaris-G by Carol Van Natta

Author:Carol Van Natta [Van Natta, Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781946165039
Publisher: Chavanch Press, LLC

Sixteen minutes later, Lizet connected Anitra’s call to Ferrsi and broadcast it to the crew.

“We can take all forty-five hundred, but they’ll be sleeping on supply racks. It better be a short trip to wherever we’re going, because it’ll be a miserable, crowded, stinky ride. And dangerous. The ship and internal systems are untested in vacuum or transit space, and we don’t have escape pods or exosuits for anyone. Not enough freshers, either, and only one autodoc. One of our crew is pregnant with twins, and she and her cohab don’t like their chances on the Diamantov, so they’ll need a ride back with you and two launch berths elsewhere. That leaves us with a skeleton crew of fourteen. We’re slow as a slug in atmosphere, so we’ll have to go suborbital to get to the southern continent, which makes us visible. We’ll be late, too. Probably the last ship off the planet.”

“We’ll tell the Lo Kuro people about their options and the risks, and get them organized. Some might choose to stay and take their chances, but probably not enough to make a difference. Ping me your location, and I’ll send every PLE flitter and ground vehicle I can spare for the cargo. Your hard work won’t go to waste.”

“Will do.”

“Thank you all,” said Ferrsi with sincerity. “And especially to you, Manager Helden. I’m glad we took Dammerk’s word over your boss’s that you belonged on the committee.” Ferrsi disconnected.

As Anitra pulled out and unfolded her tablet, Gavril raised his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “Sinjin, Maruk, Elongo, and Nzube, tag anything we need to keep for the ship. I’ll move the bus out of the way and open the dock’s big bay walls so the flitters can land. Lizet, get to the nav pod and monitor comms and airlocks. Take over the repair dock’s flying cameras and sync them to the shipcomp. Anitra will be on the loadmaster platform, creating new manifests for what’s going and what’s staying. I’ll direct the load bots. I’ll have to shuffle cargo so we don’t lift off like a drunken elephant, so stay out of the way if you can.”

The crew moved purposefully to their tasks. Gavril scooped up Anitra’s crate of belongings. “I’ll take this to your bunk so you can get started. What was that bit about your boss?”

She rolled her eyes. “He’s a politician,” she said, as if that explained everything. It probably did. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m good.” He frowned. “Oh, you mean my talent. The crew is calm, so I’m okay.” He blew out noisy breath. “Ask me again when we stack forty-five hundred pissed-off people onto repurposed cargo shelves and they realize we only have six freshers and no showers.”

“I’ll help. Don’t tough it out and wait until you’re overwhelmed or in blowback.” She put her hand on his shoulder and massaged gently. “We need you.”

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