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with me, but I went ahead and served him. I enjoyed seeing him get embarrassed. I liked Bob. He was fair at his job and was less of a stiff than Jack. As usual I was getting three cups of coffee on a tray and half a dozen donuts when a woman looked over at me.
    “What are you doing? Are you serving those guys?” she asked.
    I laughed, pointing a thumb at myself. “Apprentice. I fetch the coffee.”
    She scowled. “They can’t do that.”
    I smiled. “It’s okay. I work them hard. They earn the coffee. I make them teach me everything, and at the end of the shift, they’re both beat.”
    She shook her head. “They shouldn’t allow that. They’re supposed to be training you, not abusing you.”
    “Jack and Bob work hard. It’s a way to say thanks,” I said.
    She smiled. “My name is Kathy Shelling. I’m your test proctor, and I administer the apprentices. It’s my job to see you’re treated fairly. This isn’t good. You should stop serving them.”
    “What If I grab a thermos of coffee and a bag of donuts?”
    “On occasion. You aren’t here to serve them. If it continues, I’ll have to take disciplinary action against you all.”
    I put the tray down and the cups back. “Yes, ma’am. No coffee.”
    When I told Bob and Jack, Bob’s face went pale. Jack said, “I knew it. Shit. You were fine, kid. I should have kept you out of trouble. Sorry.”
    The next day, Jack had me go with Bob on trouble calls, and at fourteen hundred we answered a call from lab seven about a cooling complaint. She was a large woman, strong with a very curvy figure.
    “Hi, Vivian. I hear you’re hot, and from what I can see, I have to agree,” Bob said smiling.
    “Bob, I’m cooking. Soon I’ll be sweating. Cool it down,” she said.
    “Well, Vivian, you called the right guy. With a single line, I can cool the hottest women.”
    “If you don’t cool me off soon, I‘m going to smack your scrawny ass.”
    “Oh, if it were only so simple to gain you’re attention.” Bob sighed as he connected his assistant to her work station’s climate controller.
    A gentle breeze stirred her hair. “Ah, that’s better. The only place this woman should be hot and sweaty is in your arms,” she said.
    “Vivian, meet Drake, our shit hot apprentice. Soon we’ll have him chilling women all over the ship.”
    She looked me up and down with the prettiest eyes I’d ever seen. My heart jumped into my throat.
    She smiled, patting Bob’s cheek. “No, he won’t be cooling any women. When do you get off? I’ll have dinner waiting.”
    “Give me a couple hours. We have to check the forward air plant.” He turned and looked at me, then chuckled. “Oh, Drake, Vivian’s my wife. I’ve been cooling her for thirty years.”
    “Go away. I have work to do. Oh and bring Drake along to dinner,” she said.
    “Oh, I’d love to, but I have practice tonight. It ends at nineteen hundred,” I said.
    “That’s fine. We’ll have a late dinner then.”
    Bob chuckled as we walked away. I followed him into the forward equipment area. Inside it was so loud I could hardly hear him.
    “Kid, behind that door is every sneeze, fart and burp that’s been passed in the last hour,” Bob said with a grin. We stood by the main filter section. The roar of air passing was deafening. He directed me over to a wall of old-fashioned mechanical gauges. “We check the electronic meters against these old ones to verify their calibration. Personally, I trust the electronic meters. These old ones are, in my opinion, just junk. This is an example of one of those custom things.” He shook his head, looking at the panel of meters. “They’re pretty. If Jack asks, you can say, yes, Bob showed me.” He looked at me. “You get how to read these?” I nodded. “Good. I don’t have a clue myself.” He turned and walked away. “Come along. We have important stuff to check.”
    He showed me through the machine. It was amazing. We had, of course, filter systems on