Free Ride The Rising Tide (The Maxwell Saga) by Peter Grant Page A

aboard, but not much use if we need to evacuate. It helps to be able to recycle air and water after we’ve done that, you know?”
    “ Tell me about it! It’s kinda hard to breathe vacuum! This stuff’s expensive, though. Can you make do with three packets of concentrate for each lifeboat, instead of four? That should be enough to charge their environmental systems to the point they can produce more on their own.”
    “ It’s a bit marginal, but if that’s all you can spare, it’ll have to do. Can you give me an extra packet or two, to split between the four of them?”
    “ There might be a couple of partly–used packets back there we can spare. Are these soap and scrub packs for their robotic cleaning systems?”
    “ Most of ’em, plus a few for manual use along with the buckets, brushes and sponges. I’ll hurry things along by doing some of the work by hand. The sooner we’ve got a full complement of operational lifeboats, instead of having half of them offline, the better.”
    “ We’re not likely to need ’em while we’re in orbit around Vesta, but I take your point.” The clerk crossed his fingers as he spoke, then touched his imitation wood countertop.
    Steve smiled to see such old–fashioned superstition. “I think when they say ‘touch wood’, they mean the real thing, not this cheap plastic crap,” he pointed out.
    “Cheap? D’you know what the Fleet paid for this stuff?”
    “ No — how much?”
    “ Enough that touching it should work even better than the real thing!”
    Steve laughed as the clerk finished entering details into an electronic form, then pushed a plasglass tablet in front of him. He passed his left wrist over the tablet. It picked up the chip embedded in his ID bracelet and displayed his name, code and department, confirming that the equipment and materials were now logged in the ship’s systems as having been issued to him.
    The clerk glanced at the tablet, making sure that Steve had used his own ID bracelet instead of ‘borrowing’ someone else’s — a favorite trick of those trying to obtain supplies illicitly. “Make sure you bring it back when you’ve finished, you hear me?”
    “ I’ll probably use it all. I doubt there’ll be anything to return to stores.”
    “ That’s what they all say! You might use all the consumables, but I still want the buckets and brushes back!”
    Steve grinned. It was hard to put one over on supply clerks after they’d spent years listening to every excuse in the book — and a few that weren’t. He waited for robotic conveyors to bring the supplies from racks hidden in the gloom behind the counter, loaded them onto his cart, and waved a cheery farewell to the clerk as he pushed it out of the door.
    At Lifeboat Four he used the intercom to contact the ship’s Damage Control Center, which monitored and controlled access to all lifeboats. A familiar voice crackled over the speaker. “DCC, go ahead.”
    He smiled as he responded, “Hey, Maisie, it’s Steve.” They’d developed a better than professional relationship in recent weeks.
    “Hey yourself. What’s up?” He could hear the warmth in her tone.
    “ I’ve been assigned to work on Lifeboats One through Four. I’ve got to charge their environmental systems, and check that everything’s clean and shipshape.” He knew she’d be able to see the cart and its supplies through the security camera positioned above the lifeboat trunk.
    “ Gotcha. Four’s unlocked.” The sound of disengaging locking bars in front of him punctuated the speaker’s words. “Call when you’ve finished, so I can lock it again; then I’ll unlock each of the others as you get to them.”
    “ Will do, thanks, Maisie.” He grinned. “Wanna come play hide and seek when you’re relieved? We’ll have a lifeboat all to ourselves.”
    He heard her giggle. “Fat chance! I know what you’ll be seeking!”
    “But you keep it so well hidden!”
    Still chuckling, he opened the access door