Podkayne of Mars: The 1962 Illustrated Pulp Novel by Robert Heinlein

Author:Robert Heinlein [Heinlein, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-04-20T04:00:00+00:00

This went on for several hours, with volunteers moving in and tired ones moving out and positions rotating. I was relieved once and had another snatched meal and then stretched out on my shelf for about an hour before going back to duty.

I was back at the changing shelf when the captain called us all by speaker: “Attention, please. In five minutes power will be cut and the ship will be in free fall while a repair is made outside the ship. All passengers strap down. All crew members observe precautions for free fall.”

I went right on changing the baby under my hands; you can’t walk off on a baby. In the meantime babies that had been being cuddled were handed back and stowed, and the cuddling team was chased back to their shelves to strap down and spin was being taken off the ship. One rotation every twelve seconds you simply don’t notice at the center of the ship—but you do notice when the unspinning starts. The stewardess with me on the changing bench said, “Poddy, go up and strap down. Hurry.”

I said, “Don’t be silly, Bergitta, there’s work to be done,” and popped the baby I had just dried into its basket and fastened the zipper.

“You’re a passenger. That’s an order—please!”

“Who’s going to check all these babies? You? And how about those four in on the floor of the women’s sick bay?”

Bergitta looked startled and hurried to fetch them. All the other stewardesses were busy checking on strap-down; she didn’t bother me any more with That’s-an-order; she was too busy hooking up the changing shelf and fastening baby baskets to the space. I was checking all the others and almost all of them had been left unzipped—logical enough while we were working with them, but zipping the cover on a baby basket is the same as strapping down for a grown-up. It holds them firmly but comfortably with just their heads free.

I still hadn’t finished when the siren sounded and the captain cut the power.

Oh, brother! Pandemonium. The siren woke the babies who were asleep and scared any who were awake and every single one of those squirmy little worms started to cry at the top of its lungs . . . and one I hadn’t zipped yet popped right out of its basket and floated right into the middle of space and I snagged it by one leg and was loose myself and the baby and I bumped gently against the baskets on one wall—only it wasn’t a wall any longer, it was just an obstacle to further progress. Free fall can be very confusing when you are not used to it, which I admit I am not. Or wasn’t.

The stewardess grabbed us both. She shoved the elusive little darling back into her straightjacket and zipped it while I hung onto a hand hold. And by then two more were loose.

I did better this time. I snagged one without letting go and just kept it captive while Bergitta took care of the other one.

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