Myself — skipper
Castor — 1st officer & pilot
Meade — 2nd officer & asst. cook
Hazel — chief engineer
Pollux — asst. eng. & relief pilot
Edith — ship’s surgeon & cook
Buster — ‘supercargo’
He stared at it for a while, then said softly to himself, ‘Something tells me this isn’t going to work.’
IV — ASPECTS OF DOMESTIC ENGINEERING
Mr Stone did not show his ship’s organisation bill to the rest of the family; he knew in his heart that the twins were coming along, but he was not ready to concede it publicly. The subject was not mentioned while they were overhauling the ship and getting it ready for space.
The twins did most of the work with Hazel supervising and their father, from time to time, arguing with her about her engineering decisions. When this happened the twins usually went ahead and did it in the way they thought it ought to be done. Neither of them had much confidence in the skill and knowledge of their elders; along with their great natural talent for mechanics and their general brilliance went a cocksure, half-baked conceit which led them to think that they knew a great deal more than they did.
This anarchistic and unstable condition came to a head over the overhaul of the intermediate injector sequence. Mr Stone had decreed, with Hazel concurring, that all parts which could be disassembled would so be, interior surfaces inspected, tolerances checked, and gaskets replaced with new ones. The intermediate sequence in this model was at comparatively low pressure; the gasketing was of silicone-silica laminate rather than wrung metal.
Spare gaskets were not available in Luna city, but had to be ordered up from Earth; this Mr Stone had done. But the old gaskets appeared to be in perfect condition, as Pollux pointed when they opened the sequence. ‘Hazel, why don’t we put these back in? They look brand new.’
His grandmother took one of the gaskets, looked it over, flexed it, and handed it back. ‘Lots of life left in it; that’s sure. Keep it for a spare.’
Castor said, ‘That wasn’t what Pol said. The new gaskets have to be flown from Rome to Pikes Peak, then jumped here. Might be three days, or it might be a week. And we can’t do another thing until we get this mess cleaned up.’
‘You can work in the control room. Your father wants all new parts on everything that wears out.’
‘Oh, bother! Dad goes too much by the book; you’ve said so yourself.’
Hazel looked up at her grandson, bulky in his pressure suit. ‘Listen, runt, your father is an A-one engineer. I’m privileged to criticise him; you aren’t.’
Pollux cut in hastily, ‘Just a Sec, Hazel, let’s keep personalities out of this. I want your unbiased professional opinion; are those gaskets fit to put back in, or aren’t they? Cross your heart and shame the devil.’
‘Well… I say they are fit to use. You can tell your father I said so. He ought to be here any minute now; I expect he will agree.’ She straightened up. ‘I’ve got to go.’
Mr Stone failed to show up when expected. The twins fiddled around, doing a little preliminary work on the preheater. Finally Pollux said, ‘What time is it?’
‘Past four.’
‘Dad won’t show up this afternoon. Look, those gaskets are all right and, anyhow, two gets you five he’d never know the difference.’
‘Well — he would okay them if he saw them.’
‘Hand me that wrench.’
Hazel did show up again but by then they had the sequence put back together and had opened up the preheater. She did not ask about the injector sequence but got down on her belly with a flashlight and mirror and inspected the preheater’s interior. Her frail body, although still agile as a cricket under the Moon’s weak pull, was not up to heavy work with a wrench, but her eyes were sharper — and much more experienced — than those of the twins. Presently she wiggled out. ‘Looks good,’ she announced. ‘We’ll put it back together tomorrow. Let’s go see what the cook ruined tonight.’ She helped them disconnect their oxygen hoses from the ship’s tank and reconnect to their back packs, then the three went down out of the ship and back to Luna City.