Truth and Beauty 4-4

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Less than an hour later their cab pulled up near the Navy Yard’s security perimeter.  Panzer unfolded their truck and loaded the luggage onto it, and they worked their way through security a few minutes later.

Inside, the yard was still busy, with shadows growing long but still an hour to go before sunset.  While they waited in line for a wherry, Barus played a game on his phone, Panzer caught up with some friends from Orion’s Shoulder, and Stephen watched the yard around them.  Unlike a civilian space port, where passengers waited in the terminal building, the Navy’s port was a wide, open field of tarmac and cement.  Smallcraft regularly departed and arrived, and purposefully rumbled across the pavement.  Ground crews in heavy machinery and on foot moved with intent, but few people ran. Overhead lights on poles switched on as the sunlight receded, buzzing until they reached full brightness.  Several drunk sailors wandered through in a group, head-butting the lamp poles to made the lamps go out and restart, a phenomenon they found immensely funny.  A marine sergeant in a jeep approached them and they scattered, laughing uproariously.

Stephen, Barus, and Panzer worked their way to the front of the queue and boarded a wherry.  The process of launching into space seemed no different to Stephen than for a civilian flight, except that the wherry was much smaller than the shuttles he was used to.

His first thought after they lifted off was that the wherry had an almost nervous feel to it as it was buffeted about much more than the shuttles were.  It was also faster, and sooner than he expected Stephen saw the curvature of the Earth, and then the first stars, dim in the deepening blue sky but brightening as he watched.

Gravity fell away, the wherryman throttled back, and they were in space.  Panzer caught Stephen’s attention and handed him a bottle of water and something he called ‘ship’s biscuit’.  This had a color and consistency between chalk and caramel, with a taste to match, but was oddly filling.  Stephen read the wrapper - yes, fat, protein, carbohydrate and fiber in appropriate quantities; healthy if not terribly tasty.

Having satisfied his hunger, Stephen felt a terrible drowsiness come over him.  “How long would you say it will take us to get to the ship,” he asked Panzer, Barus having returned to the game on his phone.

“We should be at the station in about five hours, sir, this time of day, and on the brig not long after.”

“In that case perhaps I will rest my eyes for a few minutes.  Do you suppose it would be safe to stretch out on those seats in the back?”

“Certainly, sir.  If you would like I can strap you in,” said Panzer, easily determining that Stephen was no spaceman.

“That would be very kind.”

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