War World X: Takeover by John F. Carr

Author:John F. Carr
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780937912133
Publisher: Pequod Press
Published: 2011-12-01T00:00:00+00:00

“You will teach me, my lieutenants, and my family, English.” said Tawfiq. “But to the crew, you will know no English at all. The guards have told us that they want workers in the crew areas, workers to do the dirty work, like mopping decks, and washing dishes, they do not wish to do. So you will do this, and listen and learn.”

The spaceship reminded Abdullah of the Sidi Ferrous in many ways. He slept with forty other men in a tiny compartment with canvas racks stacked four high. There were warrens of interlocking corridors and compartments, all with airtight doorways separating them. Many of the walls were even painted with the same hideous green that haunted his memories from those hot days on the Red Sea. The ship spun, so there was a semblance of gravity in most areas, and many of the passageways were curved in some manner. The galleys were simple and the food, often based on protein paste, nourishing but bland. The air was thin and dry with a metallic tang that never escaped notice.

The ship was somewhat shabby, with a crew too small to keep up with maintenance, and not well designed for all the passengers.

To help him gather information, Tawfiq made sure that Abdullah drew an assignment as a scullery worker in the ship’s wardroom serving the ship’s officers. Surprisingly, even though the transportees were controlled by BuReloc guards and officials, the ship they were on, the Gettysburg, was a CoDominium Navy vessel, and these were military officers Abdullah was serving. The ship was a military drop ship, its midsection lined with capsules designed to land troops from orbit.

After one of the first meals of their journey, as Abdullah was collecting dinner plates and serving dessert, the Captain made some comments to his officers that explained this mystery for Abdullah.

“Lift your glasses to Gettysburg’s last mission. We stop in Haven long enough to drop off our ‘passengers,’ and then head to Makassar, where she will become an orbital base for the Fleet.”

After the toast, a young ensign spoke up. “Why are we using drop capsules to deliver the transportees to the surface?”

“First,” answered the Captain, “The Humanity League has complained that the settlers in the Dire Lake region have not been given enough support. The capsules are designed to be converted into barracks, warehouses and office space after landing. So they are our parting gift to our ‘guests.’

“And second,” he continued, “If you repeat this, I will deny I ever said it. There’s a problem with the capsule system. When we dropped troops on Xanadu we lost twelve percent of them on the way down. There were many injuries, and even deaths, in the capsules that did make the drop. You can’t deploy troops with a system that decimates the force before they even put their boots on the ground. The ship has been in service for over thirty years and is about to be retired. The Fleet decided to use the remaining drop capsules for one more mission, a mission where a few casualties won’t bother anyone.

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