Unedited snippet of “I Never Applied for This Job”

The two trucks nearest the exit doors appeared to be done as Alonso had been told. There were man carts and tool boxes pulled back by the walls away from them. A couple of workers were doing something but not on the trucks themselves. Lee and her Badgers went to the one Alonso was inspecting and greeted him. Compared to the Twool the trucks were huge and not at all sleek. They still had handsome lines as Lee expected of Alonso.

“It’s big!” Trix said stating the obvious.

“Will it fit in the big cargo hold in the Silk Road?” Tish asked.

“Now really, do you think we’re like the guy who built a big boat in his basement with no way to get it out?” Alonso asked.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you.”

Alonso opened the door and the young Badgers climbed in exploring.

“Will it fit?” Lee asked privately through her spex.

“Damned if I know,” Alonso replied. “You never specified a maximum height and I never thought to ask how you’d transport it. I wasn’t about to admit that to her.”

“I’m asking crew to measure it right now,” Lee said. “I think that’s faster than asking for the design files to be searched.”

“Ask Tom,” Alonso suggested. “I bet he answers faster than they can find a tape measure and run down to the hold.”

Lee was surprised but sent Tom a text.

“Done. Do you use him like that?” Lee asked.

“Sure, if I want to know…”

“Mistress, exactly four meters high in the middle section and five point nine meters wide centered, because there is a half meter radius at each corner for stress relief.”

“Thanks Tom,” Lee sent the text to Alonso.

“Lots of room,” Alonso assured her. “Almost a meter for the cab height and a bit more clearance on the width. But if you want the base camp or big box accessory along, you’ll have to load it separately.”

“We have a crane for that,” Lee said. “No problem. Though the next ship will have a hatch to clear them mounted now that I know. It’s going to be a copy of the Silk Road but we can make changes. We’ll make the lower hold taller.”

“You could just drag it along in your field, like you do ships,” Alonso suggested.

“That’s not a half bad idea,” Lee admitted.

“Alonso,” Tish called from the cab. “How do you get the sun roof open?”

“With great difficulty since it doesn’t have one.”

“Then what’s this?” Tish asked pointing up.

Lee wondered too and stepped closer to look up. She recognized it immediately.

“Honey, that’s the inside of a mating flange for an airlock,” Lee told her.

“Oh, glittery. You can go to your ship or one of the space stations just like we did in the Twool,” Tish said.

Lee looked a question at Alonso and got a single small nod.

“That’s right but I’m not up to that today,” Lee warned her. “I haven’t been all the way through the simulator orientation yet.”

“You could have Tom fly it for you, couldn’t you?” Tish suggested

“He’s not installed in it and we haven’t finished talking about cloning
him,” Lee said. “There are still some details to agree on.”

“He could fly it remotely, couldn’t he?” Trix said.

“Probably,” Alonso agreed, “but I won’t trust my life to a remote operator, man or machine, when you are working through enough distance to have considerable lag. Especially if you don’t control all the routing. The network may change that lag in the middle of something critical like docking. But I can give us a little manual ride. All we’ll do today is taxi over to my shop, test rotation in all axis, and climb to five meters and back. Then I’m going to go over it in detail before pushing it and trying a load.”

“That’s all?” Tish said disappointed.

“You don’t take a new aircraft and test it to the edge of its envelope the first flight,” Alonso told her. “I’d rather fall from five meters than five thousand.”

“Oh, OK,” Tish said.

“A new policy?” Lee asked through her spex. When they test flew the Twool together they thoroughly wrung it out.

“New policy when we have youngsters aboard,” Alonso sent back. “Beside that, I built the Twool. I knew every connector and screw in her was done right.”

“Good thing I haven’t told them about testing the Twool,” Lee said.

“Keep that story for when they are forty or fifty,” Alonso said.

“That works,” Lee agreed. “Trouble is Tish has already seen Gordon fight his ship. That story will pale beside what she’s already experienced. When we get back to your shop come with us and we’ll get them some lunch,” Lee said. “Food always distracts them.”

“It does that for me too,” Alonso admitted. “Lunch sounds good.”

Alonso liked to project all hard and grumpy, but Lee was pleased how much he cared for her Badgers.

“Ma’am, the hold hatch opens to four meters vertically,” her crew reported.