“Captain Seafort, sir, I think I can do what you want. I mean, 1 know 1 can, if I may ask a favor.”
“What favor?” This was no time to start bargaining.
“I know the senior middy is supposed to handle wardroom matters and keep the other midshipmen out of your hair. But if I’m not sure of myself, could I come and ask you if you’d approve? I mean, of a hazing?”
I could have hugged him. It felt as if a fusion engine had been taken from around my neck. “I think so,” I said soberly, after a moment’s reflection. “I would allow it, yes.”
“Thank you, sir. I promise I’ll control myself. I will haze the other middies only when I think it’s good for discipline.
I won’t let myself get carried away. Sir.”
“Vax, the wardroom is yours. I won’t spy on you; I accept your word. You have a job to do, and you’d better get on with it. Thanks to you, poor Alexi ended up over the barrel when all he needed was a lecture and a few hours of calisthenics.” That wasn’t fair; it was my fault more than Vax’s.
“I’m very sorry, sir. You can count on me now.”
I should have saluted and dismissed him. Instead, I broke regs, custom, and all propriety. Matters must have been getting to me. Slowly, looking him in the eye, I offered my hand. Just as slowly he took it in his big paw and clasped it firmly. We shook.
13
“Lord God, today is March 30,2195, on the U.N.S. Hiber-nia.We ask you to bless us, to bless our voyage, and to bring health and well-being to all aboard.” Seated, I nodded to my two tablemates. Weeks after I’d assumed command, Mrs.
Donhauser and Mr. Kaa Loa were still my only dinner companions.
The purser bent at my ear. “Sir, one of the passengers is asking if he may join the Captain’s table.” My popularity had just risen by half.
“That’s agreeable, Mr. Browning. Who is it?”
“Young Mr. Carr, sir.”
I hadn’t spoken to Derek in the weeks since his letter. I was curious. “Ask him if he cares to start tonight.”
A moment later Derek Carr approached with diffidence.
“Good evening, Captain. Mrs. Donhauser. And you, sir,”
this last to Mr. Kaa Loa, whom he apparently didn’t know.
“Please be seated, Mr. Carr.” I introduced the boy to the Micronesian.
After his courtesies to the older man Derek turned to me.
“Sir, I apologize again for my behavior in my cabin. I promise it won’t happen again.”
Where was all this heading? “No matter, Mr. Carr. It’s over and done.” Derek sat. I chatted with Mrs. Donhauser.
She turned the topic to religion, a difficult topic on board ship. Her Anabaptist doctrines were tolerated, as were most cults, but the Naval Service, like the rest of the Government, was committed to the Great Yahwehist Christian Reunification. She knew full well that as Captain I was a representative of the One True God, and she shouldn’t be baiting me. I assumed she was just out of sorts; normally Mrs. Donhauser was a pleasant if argumentative companion.
To avoid contention I turned to Derek. “How have you been occupying yourself lately, Mr. Carr?”
“I’ve been studying, sir. And exercising.”
Definitely a change in manner. I gave him another opening.
“Were you enrolled in school before the voyage?”
“No, sir. I had tutors. My father believed in solitary education.”
“We should reimpose mandatory schooling,” Mrs. Donhauser grumbled. “The voluntary system doesn’t work; we don’t have enough technocrats to run government or industry.
We’re constantly starved for educated people.”
“Mandatory education didn’t work either,” I said. “Literacy levels dropped constantly until it was abandoned.”
Mrs. Donhauser, savoring a good argument, launched into a vehement counterattack, demonstrating, at least to herself, that mandatory education was the only way to save society.
“Don’t you agree, Mr. Carr?” she asked when she finished.
“Yes, ma’am, I agree that a mass of uneducated people is a danger to society. As for the rest--” He turned to me. “Is she right, sir?” Now I was really puzzled. This was not the haughty youth who’d come aboard the ship. And I was likewise sure he had not undergone a complete change of heart.
His courtesy had a purpose. I turned away the question and studied him during the rest of the meal.
Going over watch rotations in my cabin that evening, I realized how little time I had to decide the fate of the three wretched sailors under sentence of death. I intended to make a deliberate decision; their fate wouldn’t be determined by default. Shortly, I would have to free them or allow--no, order--the executions to take place.
I had spoken to Tuak and Herney, but I’d put off seeing Rogoff because I found the interviews unbearable. I made a note to see the man after forenoon watch.
I undressed, crawled into my bunk, and drifted off to sleep almost immediately. In the early hours I awoke. I tossed and turned until I couldn’t stand it any longer; I snapped on my holovid and read ship’s regs. If they wouldn’t put me to sleep, nothing would.
Again I closed my eyes and tried to sleep; I’d never found insomnia a problem in the wardroom. At three in the morning I turned on my bedside light. My stomach slowly knotted from tension as I began to dress.
I walked the deserted corridors to Level 3. One of Mr.
Vishinsky’s seamen guarded the brig. He was watching a holovid, feet on the desk, when I appeared in the hatchway.
Horrified, he leapt to his feet and snapped to attention.
I ignored his infraction. At that hour, one need not be prepared for a Captain’s inspection. “I’m here to see Mr.
Rogoff, sailor.”
“Aye aye, sir. He’s in cell four. If the Captain will let me get the cuffs on him--”
“Not necessary. Open the hatch. And lend me your chair.
You don’t sit on guard duty anyway.”
“Aye aye, sir. No, sir.” He jumped to obey.
Rogoff, wearing only his pants, was asleep on his dirty mattress when the light snapped on. Bleary, he looked up as I entered and set down the chair.
“Mr. Rogoff.”
“Mr. Seafort? I mean, Captain, sir? Is it--oh, God, I mean, are you here to--” He couldn’t say the words.
“No. Not for a few days yet. I’m here to talk to you.”
“Yessir!” He scrambled to his feet. “Anything you say, Captain. Anything.”
I turned the chair backward and straddled it. “If I don’t commute your sentence they’re going to hang you. Tell me why I should pardon you.”
He rubbed his eyes, standing awkwardly in front of my chair. “Captain, please, for Lord God’s sake, let me go. Brig me for the rest of the voyage, or whatever you want. But don’t let them hang me. I didn’t mean any harm.”
“No harm?” I asked him. “You clubbed the CPO unconscious while Mr. Tuak held his arms.”
“Not in cold blood, sir. We were fighting, all of us.”
“You can’t brawl with a superior, even a petty officer.”
“No, sir, you’re right, sir. But the thing was, the fight started. Your blood gets hot, you don’t see what’s going on, or stop to think things over. Right then, Mr. Terrill was just another joe, you know? He wasn’t the CPO, he was just somebody to hit. It’s not like I meant to mutiny, sir.”
He had stated in a nutshell why the affair should have been handled at Captain’s Mast. Damn Captain Malstrom for leaving me this mess. I felt guilty for my anger, and it made me cross. “Maybe that’s so for the first blow, Mr. Rogoff.
But you smashed him several times in the face. By then you knew who you were hitting.”
“Excuse me, Captain, no offense, have you ever been in a fight?”
“Yes.” I hadn’t won.
“While you were swinging did you stop and think about the consequences? Did you consider how hard you should fight, or whether you should hit a joe?”