Vera's Day In Space : Part 1 ( Marta & Gallanol Ch. 3 )

CHAPTER THREE: VERA’S DAY IN SPACE ( Marta and Gallanol In The Modern Age )
Part 1
An alarm bell was ringing loudly. Vera snapped out of her dream but remained confused. She had been about to depart from the space station which was her world on a small space craft, bound for a planet which she had discovered in a dream within a dream, with none other than her old tutor Diocletian whom she had not seen for many months. She had almost lost hope that she would ever see him again. Just maybe she would go back for training in Marta City on some technical specialism in which Diocletian was an expert – he seemed to know so much about so many things. How could he be so perfect – and beautiful, too, that rare occurrence when the world is blessed with a perfect shape combined with a perfect spirit and a perfect intellect. She had been with him just seconds ago, sitting next to him as he flew the craft.

It occurred to her then that Diocletian was an engineer and a teacher. There was no way he could have been taught piloting skills. The dream was unreal. Where would the opportunity for such an adventure, just the two of them together, ever arise in real life? Any spacecraft would carry a full team to make it “economic”. The cost of everything was phenomenal. Small satellite craft were used for external repairs and these were capable of being piloted by engineers who had passed the relevant exams but the craft she had just been in was larger than that. It contained comfortable living quarters, entertainment such as satellite view screens, with video inputs, and a computer game terminal for mental stimulation, and of course access to the full broadcasts of vidnet.

As Vera tried to review the details of the craft she found she could not. It was not like any craft she had been in before. These were always utilitarian in nature. This one had been more like a home. She felt warmer at the thought that the dream she had just enjoyed portrayed an idyllic existence with the man she most revered. Thinking about the dream brought it closer, made it seem more real. But as she tried to imagine the craft, she realised that she could no longer see it clearly. That was not all. She knew Diocletian had brown wavy hair and small sideburns, greenish blue eyes, smooth skin, strong cheekbones and jaw, and a beautiful smile, a well-proportioned and muscular physique. But she could not remember it clearly. She could not summon his image into her waking mind any more.

The alarm bell still buzzed in her head. Time to wake up. She became fully conscious of it now. Another day. The night did not seem to be finished with yet. She wanted to return to the dream and hide from the day. There was no day out here in space. It was all night, except for the ever present sun and the stars all around. Why should she have to wake up? There was no Diocletian in the waking world, and no respite from striving.

Duty called. She was due to continue work on one of the station’s generators. The repairs were scheduled to be finished by the end of today’s working shift, but Vera knew there was no chance of meeting the deadline. Targets were always being brought forward, to encourage the engineers to improve on earlier standards. Improved productivity, even in such service departments as Engineering Repairs, was a concept much used by managers. In Repairs, there was no continuous output, as was the case in production departments. Service departments did not produce anything, but even so, the concept was applied. Achievement of specific repairs could not effectively be forecast. Nonetheless, accounting departments insisted on attempting it. They knew no other way to practice their craft. Money had to be budgeted. The utility of finance had to be maximised. If too much cash was budgeted it was wasteful, could be better invested elsewhere for higher returns per cost expenditure.

The organisation’s higher management had other reasons for imposing tight deadlines. MIOST had competitors in the space business, and the race was on to find new technologies and new products. They and their competitors were also trying to improve space travel and space hardware. For this goal, the station had to be in perfect working order as much of the time as possible. Badly functioning stations would not be able to perform research and development or production operations as quickly. It was a race against time and the other Houses.

Vera knew she would have to work an extra shift tonight, just to attempt to finish before tomorrow. It would not be enough in this case, even with three extra technicians brought into the team. They had worked late already for three nights this week. Vera had not minded. She had been paid overtime credits, which were greater than the normal rate. Management had stepped in and offered small incentive bonuses to get the work done on time, but Vera knew it could not be done. It would take another two days she guessed, but even that might not be enough.

She wanted the extra credits because they would build her investment plans for the future. One day she would retire and be wealthy. She was worried at her loss of study time, however. There were more exams in five more weeks and the time was getting close. She needed to pass them on time to ensure she remained on one of the faster levels to promotion. If she failed, although she would not be removed from her career path, she would stand less chance of competing against the other candidates in the applications to come. Her career would suffer. At the age of thirty, she felt many of her hopes would have been dashed, despite many years of steadfast study and targets well met.

Before she began to get dressed, Vera entered her breakfast requirements into the service computer. The programming had been well designed. All she had to do was press relevant buttons for the standard foods she required. She pressed the muesli button. An option appeared onscreen for the type of milk she required. She selected low fat skimmed and then went on to order a fruit juice. That would be enough to get her through the morning. There would be another “coffee” break later, at which further food could be ordered if required.

Scientists had long since discovered that it was best to eat relatively small amounts at regular intervals through the day. Her course instructors had repeatedly warned them against overindulgence in food. It was reputed to be harmful to eat too much at any one time. The brain would be dulled, work would suffer, and the individual’s mood could be negatively affected, making them surly and slothful. Vera knew that many people, particularly women, suffered from the problem of overeating. It was a refuge from the pressures of life, which many took, but it led to a vicious cycle of over-consumption, laziness and inefficiency. Knowing this, Vera had always avoided the temptation. She wanted to succeed too much.