Chronicle of Nautilus

Chapter 14: A Man and A Boy

“Hey, Jimbo! Look at what I brought to work today!“ a childish voice echoed through a corridor, small steps were getting louder and louder.

A man turned off his anti-gravity belt and slowly glided down. The light of his welding tool dimmed and his dirty face became visible. A smile shined on a not so charming and unsymmetrical face. One of Jimbo’s eyes was natural blue, another light green, modified to let him see seams through the hazardous welding light. The right side of his head, must have probably visited hell.  It was covered in many stiches and had a nasty burn just above the ear. Could be that the doctor did his job poorly, or wounds were so deep that it was not possible to fix them. Even the smile he had today did not make him much prettier. 

Most of people avoided eye contact when talking to Jimbo, but not Timmy.

“So, Jimbo. What did I bring?” Timmy asked cheerfully, walking slowly towards him.

“Would that be a rat you found a week ago?”

“It’s not a rat! How many times do I have to say that it’s a hamster?”

“Hamsters do not eat wires.”

“My hamster does what he wants old man!”

“If he does, then I bet that the pocket where you keep him is full of poop.” Jimbo’s smile widened.

“You are full of poop yourself...”

Their conversation ended in laughs and giggles.

Jimbo was happy he had company. For years he had been working alone, fixing ship air ventilation systems. He enjoyed his job - no one ever stood behind his back, he could turn on the music and make breaks whenever he felt to.  

After many years spent in the corridors they became too lonesome. So he asked for a student and got one. Not the largest, not the brightest, but one with strong motivation and positive attitude.

Today their task was to do the ventilation core maintenance. It was the place where the process of air recycling started.  

******

As they approached a massive entrance Jimbo asked, “Have you got all the tools? Is your gravity belt fine? This place will be much larger than anywhere we have been before.”

“I do.”

“Great!” Jimbo pushed a button on the side of the door and it opened.

Timmy walked forward and looked down. A vast sphere stretched before him, it was at least one kilometer in diameter. If by an accident his anti-gravity belt failed he would get a lot of time to enjoy the free fall before he hit the deck.

“Give me the rope,” Jimbo asked.

Timmy went to his tool box, took out a thin line and gave it to Jimbo. The mentor wrapped it around his waist and gave other end for Timmy to do the same. They turned on the antigravity belts and started to float above the ground.

The operation principle of the belt was such, that it could read gravity waves and reflect them in identical patterns by creating a kind of anti-gravity bubble surrounding the user. It was applicable only in spaceships since there was no pressure from the atmosphere weighing the person down.

Jimbo gently pushed away from the edge of the entrance. The pair moved with a constant speed, unable to change their direction midair as if they were in outer space.

There was a huge structure in the center – a black cone – it was the air filter that sucked the low-oxygen air. A long pipe coming from the lowest point of the sphere pierced it and went through the ceiling, these pipes transmitted air for the further recycling. The sphere had many round vents on its wall of diameters ranging from the height of a grown man to tiny holes of no more than ten centimeters. When the filter was turned on it sucked all the air from the entire ship. There were many platforms and ladders that led to the different components of the core.

 After a minute of drifting they approached the first tube. They used beaming tools, which emitted powerful light and radio waves of different frequencies. The waves bounced to the very end of the pipe. Computers connected to the tools showed errors, leaks and different peculiarities through the all length of pipe. If there was something wrong, Jimbo would make a not and in months length he would have the problems fixed.

They started from the top and jumped from one pipe to another, checking a circle in clockwise direction and moving down to the next one.

After it was clear for Timmy how the tools operate, they again started talking about their personal lives and daily problems to let time flow by a bit faster.

Timmy often spoke about the interaction with his friends in the orphanage, occasionally Jimbo advised him, either sincerely or not. They could hardly keep a serious tone for more than a minute. Both of them had a lot of positive emotions and no one else to give them to.

Jimbo was only a shadow of his old self.  He lived a sad and lonely life because of the tragic past – each time he looked into the mirror his face reminded him that beautiful things end fast and sometimes in horrible ways. Timmy’s life was lonely because he had hard time understanding adults and other children. He had hard time fitting in. There were too many rules and seriousness in the orphanage for his youthful spirit to handle. When Jimbo and Timmy were together all the troubles dimmed away.

They approached a huge vent which was located in the middle of the room and was parallel to the ships ground level. It was at least three meters in diameter.

Jimbo explained, “This is the largest of them all. It is connected to the whirlpool in the central park. We will make a stop here. The devices will take a long time to finish the scan.”

 “Mkay.”  Timmy moved forward and attached his scanners to the sides of the vent. When he was done, he floated down, untied the rope and turned off his belt, Jimbo did the same.

 They sat down and took out their lunch boxes. The food Jimbo brought was always better than Timmy’s. Timmy let out his hamster and gave him a bit of pet food. The light of different colors emitted from their devices was beaming in the background.

“You clearly need to find some activities for your leisure. You spend too much time cooking for a grown man.” Timmy pointed his finger at Jimbo’s dessert – a fruit cake with a homemade chocolate on top.

 “You envy me because ladies love men who can make good food.” Jimbo sneered at Timmy’s plate filled with sandwiches. “Don’t worry I will give some cake, don’t you just worry my little—”

 “Ladies love manly men, not the house husbands.” Timmy interrupted Jimbo, trying hard no to laugh.

 “Right, a thirteen year old knows a lot about women. Look…” Jimbo nodded his head to the direction where Timmy’s pet had its lunch. “I think your rat had enough of your mumbling.”

“How many times do I have to tell you that it is not—“ Timmy turned to look at his pet, but it was not there.

 “Told you.”

The area was so silent, that Timmy could hear his hamster running deeper and deeper into the rainbow tunnel. Timmy stood up and followed it. Jimbo did not say a word.

The small steps of the hamster were overshadowed by a new sound, which was similar to that of someone hitting the metal with a hammer, it was getting louder and louder… and suddenly it stopped. A moment passed and Timmy heard someone running rapidly towards him, making long powerful steps.

“Get back here!” Jimbo shouted.

But it was already too late.