The Apprentice Starship Engineer: Book One The Link Read Online Free Page A

men all nodded as he introduced them.
    “Now, Drake,” Bill continued, “tell us about yourself.”
    I looked around the room. Everyone was in their mid-twenties or older. They had at least a four-year degree. Who was I? Nobody.
    “I’m an apprentice starship engineer,” I said.
    “Oh, like Mitch. Do you think you’ll last?” Bill asked.
    I got it. This was all for fun at my expense. I looked at Bill. “Hope so. I don’t want Jack throwing me off on an asteroid,” I said with a laugh. Most of them at least smiled at my joke.
    After dinner, I put my stuff away in my tube. It was pretty tight. Margret reminded me that I had agreed to go to G-four and meet Brice. I looked around, pulling out flip-flops, an orange shirt with a picture of a Mars rock that was supposed to be a face and a pair of shorts. In the bathroom I stopped at a mirror, tied up my hair in a tail and thought about getting a tattoo.
    Margret let out a soft whistle. “What a hunk,” she said.
    I laughed. “Thanks, Margret.”
    After stepping out of the dorm, I stopped in my tracks, “Ah, Margret, can you give me directions?”
    “Yes, dear, turn left,” she said. I followed her directions as she led me to a transport that shot me across the ship. 
    I stood at the door to G-four and realized that without Margret, I’d be lost. G-four was a sterile room with a small bar. A few pictures had been taped to the walls, a pool table sat on one side and several of the lighting panels had been disconnected. The room was crowded with people who looked young, but with regeneration, no one could tell anyone’s age anymore. I saw Brice, who was waving at me from a table in the corner.
    Brice had saved a chair for me, and several girls sat with him. One of them was talking about finding water on terrestrial bodies. She was real pretty. Perfect would be a good word for her. Blonde hair flowed down her back in little curls. She had a perfect tan and straight white teeth, and a great complexion. Even her hands were pretty.
    Brice bought me a beer as the girl kept lecturing us about water and how to find it. If she wasn’t so pretty, I bet everyone would have just gotten up and left her talking.
    She finally took a breath, and I said, “That’s interesting. My parents own a farm on Mars, and water is a major concern. We’re always looking for it. My grandpa helped us find a great well. We hit a geo thermal one at about one hundred meters.”
    She looked surprised. “Where did you drill?”
    I pulled out Margret. “Margret, show us the terrace, project it on the wall,”
    “Yes, sweets.”
    “Thanks, Margret.”
    “Where did you get that assistant?” another girl asked from across the table.
    “Ship stores.”
    “Drake, that’s Jenny. She’s the one who set up Margret,” Brice said.
    “I can’t change her back,” Jenny said.
    I looked at her and shrugged. “That’s okay. I’m getting to like her. Yeah, I like her. She’s just fine.”
    “I’m Tammy,” the girl who’d been talking about water said.
    “Good to meet you, Tammy, Jenny.” I moved the pointer to a place just north of the terrace dome, and said, “That’s where we found it. A geo-thermal well.”
    “Why did you drill there? I did several papers on where water would be found on Mars, and no one would waste time drilling where you did,” Tammy said.
    “Grandpa said drill there.”
    She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
    I shook my head as well. “Grandpa is a water witch. He used divining rods.”
    She leaned back from the table. “That’s stupid superstitious bullshit!”
    “You asked. You can check. It’s registered as the Wilson geo-thermal well. For the method it’ll say other.”
    “Oh, I will. You can bet on that,” Tammy said.
    “These are the wells in the area where all the operating wells say method of discovery as other,” Margret said.
    “Yeah, that’s how Grandpa has them reported—other for method of discovery.”
    “Thirty-seven wells