Read April 6: And What Goes Around for Free Online

glare screen that rode clipped back
from his clear faceplate. Here he'd only used it once, when he's used it as an
expedient welding mask. He'd never welded anything before. It wasn't the first
specialized skill he'd had to fake and probably wouldn't be the last. At least
they'd requested a short video demonstrating vacuum welding for him to watch
first.
    The result wasn't
anything of which Barak was especially proud. It looked more like a keloidian
scar than an even expertly laid weld. He'd laid two more overlapping beads on
top of the first line so he was pretty sure it was strong enough, if not
pretty. The brace wouldn't have been bent and cracked if his boss, Harold
Hanson, hadn't tried to force it into the ice instead of waiting patiently for
the heater to do its work. He found he was spending a great deal of his
attention anticipating his boss doing something stupid, and staying out of the
way so he wouldn't get killed too.
    Barak tried to
tell Harold to slow down and think through every move working in vacuum, but
the man rejected his suggestions and was easily irritated with him. Barak would
love to ask April's grandfather what to do. Happy had taught him so much about
working in vacuum, and he had years of experience dealing with difficult people
too. But Barak didn't want that question on his com stream.
    He just couldn't
trust the security of com to send such sensitive traffic back and forth to
Home. He had memory with some one time encryption pads from Jeff, but they were
clearly for an emergency, and he'd have to have Jeff relay the message to
April's grandfather and back. He hated feeling he was the green, inexperienced
guy. All he could safely do was explain his problem to his friend Deloris in
the privacy of his cabin. She hadn't been the least surprised.
    "You don't
owe Hanson any instruction. He's supposed to be supervising you ,
not the other way around. If you keep irritating him I predict he'll complain
to the captain that you are insubordinate. I know you plan to work for your
close friends in the future, but a bad report in your job file may be a problem
fifty years from now. You just have no idea what may come back on you, so let
it go. You didn't hear it here... but jackasses take care of each other, so if
he complains to the captain guess who is going to get the blame? Just... stifle
it."
    "It's
surprising," Barak said. "The man is so meticulous and careful in the
lab. Showing me how to help him there he is methodical and cautious. But when
we get outside he is anxious to get it done and back inside. I suspect
he thinks it is beneath him to do manual labor, but it certainly isn't menial .
You'd think he's being asked to wipe down corridor walls and scrub out the
toilets."
    "Uh
huh," was all she said, indicating to him she was done talking about it
and had said all she intended to for now. Barak took the hint.
    Today they were
finishing up anchoring the last ion drive. There were eight of them in a circle
around their ship, the Yuki-onna , which was anchored nose first into the
center of the circle. Three guy lines from the tail braced it in place. Each
engine in the circle had a feed line and controls frozen in a shallow trench
radiating from the ship. They were each marked with a sprayed line of bright
yellow paint to make them safer from accidental damage.
    Barak pushed the
data cable in the frame holding the last motor until it locked with a snap he
could feel even with double gloves hands and he tugged on it to make sure it
was seated. Lastly Barak inserted the insulated water feed line in the port for
it, and twisted it to lock. He'd made sure his camera documented that the port
was clean and the line had no ice or debris in the end fitting. A big cotter
pin went through the flange to made sure it wouldn't work loose.
    He spread and bent
the end of the pin over and put the pliers back in the proper clamps, checking
that no other tools were missing. Then he folded the tool box closed clipping
it