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So what do you wear to the party?"
She said accusingly, "You're giving me an easy one. That's practically Earth."
"So what's the answer, Sheri?"
She scratched reflectively under her breast. Then she shook her head impatiently.
"Nothing. I mean, I wear an airsuit on the way down, but once I get to the surface I could walk
around in a bikini."
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DUTY AND LEAVE ROSTER USS MAYAGUEZ
1. Following officers and crewpersons tr temp dy stns Gateway for contraband inspection and
compliance patrol;
LINKY, Tina
W/O
MASKO, Casimir E.
BsnM 1
MIRARCHI, Lory S
S2 2.
Following officers and crewpersons authd 24-hr temp dy Gateway for R&R;
GRYSON, Katie W
LtJ
HARVEY, Iwan
RadM
HLEB, Caryle T
S1
HOLL, William F Jr
S1 3. All officers and crewpersons are cautioned once again to avoid any repeat any
dispute with officers and crewpersons of other patrol vessels regardless of nationality and
regardless of circumstances, and to refrain from divulging classified information to any person
whatsoever. Infractions will be dealt with by complete deprivation of Gateway leave, in addition
to such other punishments as a defaulter's court may direct. 4. Temporary duty on Gateway is a
privilege, not a right. If you want it, you have to earn it.
By Command of the CAPTAIN USS MAYAGUEZ
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"Shithead! You'd be maybe dead in twelve hours. Earth-normal conditions means there's a
good chance of an Earth normal-type biology. Which means pathogens that could eat you up."
"So all right--" she hunched her shoulders, "so I'd keep the suit until, uh, I tested for
pathogens."
"And how do you do that?"
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"I use the fucking kit, stupid!" She added hastily, before I could say anything, "I mean I
take the, let's see, the Basic Metabolism disks out of the freezer and activate them. I stay in
orbit for twenty-four hours until they're ripe, then when I'm down on the surface I expose them
and take readings with my, uh, with my C-44."
"C-33. There's no such thing as a C-44."
"So all right. Oh, and also I pack a set of antigen boosters, so if there's a marginal
problem with some sort of microorganism I can give myself a booster shot and get temporary
immunity."
"I guess that's all right, so far," I said doubtfully. In practice, of course, she
wouldn't need to remember all that. She would read the directions on the packages, or play her
course tapes, or better still, she would be out with somebody who had been out before and would
know the ropes. But there was also the chance that something unforeseen would go wrong and she
would be on her own resources, not to mention the fact that she had a final test to take and pass.
"What else, Sheri?"
"The usual, Rob! Do I have to run through the whole list? All right. Radio-relay; spare
powerpack; the geology kit; ten-day food ration -- and no, I don't eat anything I find on the
planet at all, not even if there's a McDonald's hamburger stand right next to the ship. And an
extra lipstick and some sanitary napkins."
I waited. She smiled prettily, outwaiting me.
"What about weapons?"
"Weapons?"
"Yes, God damn it! If it's nearly Earth normal, what are the chances of life being there?"
"Oh, yes. Let's see. Well, of course, if I need them I take them. But, wait a minute,
first I sniff for methane in the atmosphere with the spectrometer reading from orbit. If there's
no methane signature there's no life, so I don't have to worry."
"There's no mammalian life, and you do have to worry. What about insects? Reptiles?
Dluglatches?"
"Dluglatches?"
"A word I just made up to describe a kind of life we've never heard of that doesn't
generate methane in its gut but eats people."
"Oh, sure. All right, I'll take a sidearm and twenty rounds of soft-nosed ammo. Give me
another one."
And so we went on. When we first started rehearsing each other what we usually said at a
point like that was either, "Well, I won't have to worry, because you'll be there with me anyway,"
or "Kiss me, you fool." But we'd kind of stopped saying that.
In spite of it all, we graduated. All of us.
We gave ourselves a graduation party, Sheri and me, and all four of the Forehands, and the
others who had come up from Earth with us and the six or seven who had appeared from one place or
another. We didn't invite any outsiders, but our teachers weren't outsiders. They all showed up to
wish us well. Klara came in late, drank a quick drink, kissed us all, male and female, even the
Finnish kid with the language block who'd had to take all his instruction on tapes. He was going
to have a problem. They have instruction tapes for every language you ever heard of, and if they
don't happen to have your exact dialect they run a set through the translating computer from the
nearest analogue. That's enough to get you through the course, but after that the problem starts.
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