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jack_babalonI'm standing on the fantail, leaning on the rail and letting myself slip into a light trance as I watch the wake in the waves our ship makes across the Red Sea. This is as close to a state of Satori in all my years of flirting with Buddhism & meditation as i've ever gotten. Empty brain. The chattering word monkeys that live in my skull are all oddly quiet. The day and a half of no sleep probably helps. In fact this is the first few minutes I've had to myself in a while. Just me and the Red Sea and the white clouds grazing across the blue sky.
Enter Chief Ewald, a straw man who wears his rank like a suit of armor.
"Mosca" He bellows at me.
I don't turn around immediately. I've been up for the last 32 hours straight. I hear him but my thoughts are too far away. It's like trying to eavesdrop on your own consciousness.
"M-AHH-SKA!" he barks and I resurface up from the reverie with a snap.
"Yes Chief."
"Did you finish that work on the Evap's"
"Yeah Chief I took care of it..."
"Did you clean out the filters on the LPAC's?"
"Yep."
"And the JP-5 pumps did you..."
"YES!" I fuck up here, I let annoyance slip into the answer.
"There a problem Mosca?"
"No." I answer unconvincingly.
"Really?"
"Jes' tired Chief."
"What?"
"Tired. Thas all."
"Well do your job right the first time and we won't have to go through this."
A month ago I screwed up the valve sequence to run the Venturi pumps. We sucked dry air for a few minutes and this somehow flooded the OP's berthing. It was one mistake, but he won't let me forget it. Well two mistakes. The CHENG did catch me sneaking in a smoke during Flight Quarters in the AUX ENG. Room a week ago but other than that...
"Y'know i'm not a idiot!" I blurt out in frustration and quickly add "Chief".
"That right Mosca?"
"Yeah. I'm not half as stupid as every one here thinks I am."
I have a complex. I'm the only Engineer that has no intrest in mechanics. When I got out of bootcamp some kind of test said i'd be real good at mechanics for some reason and since I failed the psych test for BUDS well here I am in the land of bolts and wrenches.
"No... no your not. But I gotta tell you this Mosca: You ain't nowhere near 1/2 as clever as you think you are."
I don't know why but those words hit me hard. I must've freezed up. He pulls out a pack of Camels and offers me one. I take it on auto.
"So I'll tell you what we'll do."
"What?" Clink of zippos. Savored first drags.
"What say we split the difference." He says with a sigh crossdressed as a laugh. I nod in agreement and we finish our cigarettes in silence.
Enter Chief Ewald, a straw man who wears his rank like a suit of armor.
"Mosca" He bellows at me.
I don't turn around immediately. I've been up for the last 32 hours straight. I hear him but my thoughts are too far away. It's like trying to eavesdrop on your own consciousness.
"M-AHH-SKA!" he barks and I resurface up from the reverie with a snap.
"Yes Chief."
"Did you finish that work on the Evap's"
"Yeah Chief I took care of it..."
"Did you clean out the filters on the LPAC's?"
"Yep."
"And the JP-5 pumps did you..."
"YES!" I fuck up here, I let annoyance slip into the answer.
"There a problem Mosca?"
"No." I answer unconvincingly.
"Really?"
"Jes' tired Chief."
"What?"
"Tired. Thas all."
"Well do your job right the first time and we won't have to go through this."
A month ago I screwed up the valve sequence to run the Venturi pumps. We sucked dry air for a few minutes and this somehow flooded the OP's berthing. It was one mistake, but he won't let me forget it. Well two mistakes. The CHENG did catch me sneaking in a smoke during Flight Quarters in the AUX ENG. Room a week ago but other than that...
"Y'know i'm not a idiot!" I blurt out in frustration and quickly add "Chief".
"That right Mosca?"
"Yeah. I'm not half as stupid as every one here thinks I am."
I have a complex. I'm the only Engineer that has no intrest in mechanics. When I got out of bootcamp some kind of test said i'd be real good at mechanics for some reason and since I failed the psych test for BUDS well here I am in the land of bolts and wrenches.
"No... no your not. But I gotta tell you this Mosca: You ain't nowhere near 1/2 as clever as you think you are."
I don't know why but those words hit me hard. I must've freezed up. He pulls out a pack of Camels and offers me one. I take it on auto.
"So I'll tell you what we'll do."
"What?" Clink of zippos. Savored first drags.
"What say we split the difference." He says with a sigh crossdressed as a laugh. I nod in agreement and we finish our cigarettes in silence.
