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There was indeed not a moment to lose, with 22 transports and the Vindictive champing at the bit to be off, while Roth still had to off-load all of her old cargo and take on all of the new, to say nothing of visiting the condensing dock to have her coolant recompressed, and then a seal blew on the master cylinder of the docking stanchion, requiring two space walks to repair. Eventually, though, eventually, everything was squared away, and the forced delay gave time for the gunner to replace all of his defective caps, the master to exchange the filters on the water circulators, the purser to replenish his stock of paper (toilet and writing), and both Jack and Sergeant Strasser (caterer to the officers’ mess) to lay in some private stores, as was explained to Stephen when he found real chicken under the first tray cover that he lifted that Thursday evening. “And you will find that your earnings have been docked accordingly,” explained the Purser.
“Really?”
“Yes,” said the Purser. “In some ships you have to buy in with ready cash, but Roth uses the payroll - so much easier, not having to make sure you have ready money when you depart, and never quite knowing how much to set aside, since you’d have to borrow otherwise.”
“Typically from the purser,” said Sergeant Strasser, “at a high rate of interest.”
“Well,” said the Purser, blushing, “not all pursers are created equal.”
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