Free Captain Cosette by R. Bruce Sundrud Page B

this wheel off?”
    She vaulted down to the grid and stuck out her hand.  “Hi, I’m….”  She glanced down at her pin.  “…Cadet Nicholas.”
    “ Jason.”  He shook her hand briefly, and then kicked the wheel and cursed.  “This stinking wheel needs to come off and the nut’s frozen.  I need a bigger hammer.”
    The wheel he had kicked was an idler wheel used to support the back right tread.  “Why do you need to take it off?”
    “ You can see it’s shot.  See here?  It’s leaking oil.  It’ll seize up in combat.”
    “ Why don’t you just replace the seal?”
    He looked at her as though she had lost her mind.  “You can’t replace the seals on these.  That’s a factory job.  You just put on a new wheel.”
    “ But all you need is…”  She looked around, trying to figure out where parts and tools would be located.  She had spoken too soon.  She had no idea if the bay had the equipment to pull the seals on the EMCON 4 tanks, or if it had replacement seals if they did.
    “ I’m sorry,” she said.  “I’m new here.”
    “ Yeah, I can tell.”
    “ Would you like me to help you get that wheel off?”
    “ Actually, there’s no hurry, uh, and I ought to start cleaning up, get this grease off my hands before dinner.  There’s no rush.”  He pulled the wrench off the frozen nut and rested it on his shoulder.  “See you later.”
    “ Bye,” she said to his back, as he walked away.
    That didn’t go well .  I don’t think he needed to shower this soon . 
    She had probably annoyed him with her suggestion.
    While she was here, she might as well look around and find out where everything was located.  Maybe she would run across some replacement seals. 
    Rows of catwalks lined the sides of the bay and they held boxes and crates.  Above the catwalks, a ceiling winch ran on tracks, useful for lifting damaged vehicles or for moving inventory.  Stairs led to the lower cat walks, but metal ladders were the only access to the upper ones.
    What did I do before the accident ?  Did I work in the city , making things like this tank ?  If I learned all about them by the teaching machine , then how did I make my living before ? 
    I should ask the doctor where I came from . 
    Then she laughed out loud, realizing the doctor would probably start talking about how babies are born, and climbed the steps to the first cat walk.
    She went down each cat walk, checking what was stored.  Some crates were new and some were old, spotted with oil and dust.  She lifted a small container and read the part number.  Her brain responded with replacement hinge for the cargo door of a JUKE class Shuttle .  She patted the box and went on.  The inventory had no organization that she could tell, not by number or name or vehicle.  How anyone could find anything in this mess was a puzzle.
    She climbed the ladder to the highest catwalk, held on firmly, and looked down.
    I’m not used to heights !
    She walked more carefully, grateful for the secure metal railing. 
    So far, she had not run into replacement seals for the EMCON 4 idler wheels, but she had found other parts for the tank, so she was determined to search to the end of the catwalk.  Unfortunately, the boxes at the end of the catwalk were stacked solidly, and she had to climb up on top of the boxes to see the labels of the ones at the far end.
    The boxes at the end looked the right size to hold replacement seals, but they were stacked so the labels weren’t visible.
    Why don’t they put labels on all sides ?  It would make life so much easier .
    Grumbling, she crawled to the end of the catwalk, held on tight with one hand, and turned a box so she could see the printing on it.
    Hooray , that’s the right parts number !  Now if I can only drag it as I scoot backwards …
    “ May I help you?”
    She screamed, startled by the voice.  She twisted around to see who had spoken, and was startled once more to find she was looking into a large