Work Text:
Gray dust and no vibration. No pain, no blood. Laser cauterizes, so arm came off easy.
***
Doc Smith and his wife were first faces I saw. First faces I remember. Still no pain, but Mimi had rolled the Doc to get me the best drugs available at price of cheap ones. Didn’t even use her own dice. Suspect Mrs. Doc may have helped cheat in my favor.
Next woke up with Greg over me. “I’m sorry, Manny. I didn’t know that Thuy hadn’t checked the credentials of whole team.”
“Did I? Tell me that I didn’t…”
Greg said, “You followed protocol. Hit the emergency “off” before you fell. I saved the recording. Might use it to teach new chums how to handle the drill properly. With your permission.”
“Got it, Greg.”
There was a long pause before Greg said, “You have to look sometime, Manny. Not at stump, not yet, but at blanket.”
“I…Greg, it feels like it’s still there. I don’t want to know that it isn’t.”
“Will have to know at some point, but I can wait for another day.”
“Good husband,” I said.
“I won’t guarantee Mimi or any of our other wives will wait, but I’ll try to get you a pass for a bit.”
“Greg, need advice.”
“I’m here.”
“Should I ask for divorce?”
Greg shook his head. “Manny, my husband, I will assume Doc’s drugs making talk-talk.”
“No. Didn’t take drugs today. But missing wing means I don’t work as well on farm. Maybe can only do kiddie chores. Can’t even milk a goat properly.”
“You think we should divorce Grandpaw because he can’t do much more than sing with radio and keep Mimi company while cooking?”
“Grandpaw earned his whole life. Retired now. Not the same thing.”
Greg said, “Is the same thing. Davis family took you for better or worse. This minute is worse, but I think soon could be better. Maybe even much better.”
“I’m no new chum. Can’t work.”
“Can’t milk goat. There’s lots of other work. Sidris needs help at Bon Ton Beaute if naught else. First, let’s get new arm fitted.”
It’s my turn to shake head. “Family can’t afford…”
“No huhu from you. Chum who lost your arm stepped up. He’s indenturing to Doc for two years for your arm. You’d do same or family would pay if you’d been rockhead and made rockhead mistake.”
“Still don’t think I could milk a goat with it.”
“There’s other options, Manny. Including working for Sidris. If you so much as whisper divorce again, I’ll sic Mimi on you. Or worse, Ludmilla. She’s small, but she is mighty.”
“Too true, Greg. Too true.”
***
First lunar after I started physical therapy, I spent helping the youngest children learn to read and figure. It let me pay my way in the family, but still left me feeling less useful than I had been.
After church one Tuesday, Anna, Mimi, and Greg took me into town for dinner at a hash house. Was good hash house, though I think Davis family cooks are just as good, maybe better.
Professor Bernardo de la Paz joined us, and Greg and Mimi didn’t even pretend surprise. Anna tried but not very successful.
The Professor looked me over thoroughly. “Your wives have told me that you’re still feeling sorry for yourself.”
“Not much use for a man missing an arm.”
“Sounds to me like you’re missing your head. The brain is more important than any appendage. I’ve taught you. Your brain is excellent. If we were Earthside, you might have been a professor yourself.”
“You taking me as apprentice, Prof?”
“Why create my own competition? No, we have another idea. It is an expensive idea, but one that will pay for itself within two years. Maybe sooner if you can work with the Authority.”
I made a gesture like spitting on floor. Wouldn’t actually spit in a good hash house like this, but important to clarify opinion of Authority.
Prof raised his hands to calm. “Not for them, Manny, with them. You will have valuable skill, be an independent contractor, and be able to charge the Warden whatever you can get him to pay. It will be high. Your skill will be very valuable.”
“What skill?”
“Computer repair.”
Mimi said, “If you keep that frown, face will freeze.”
“Lots do computer repair.”
Prof nodded. “Yes. But I checked: only two people on all of Luna have credentials to work with the big boss computer. One is being looked after by his family because age has given him palsy. The other is on the outs with the Warden for having tried to steal money with computer. Didn’t work. The HOLMES IV turned him in because it was counter to its programming. That chum is permanently locked out.”
Greg said, “Machines like you, Manny. We all know it.”
Prof cocked his head. “I am a philosopher and a pragmatist. Machines have no capacity to like or love, says the philosopher. The pragmatist says, don’t get one mad at me. Might open an airlock as I pass by.”
“All right. I respect machines. Do my best to treat them right. Still missing a wing.”
Anna said, “Your new arm will be on the next tourist ship, so says the Doc. Mrs. Doc will help you with that physical therapy, too.”
“Need very fine motor skills to work with computer, especially big boss computer.”
“And no one can have finer motor skills than a man who can switch his arms depending upon the level of skill and control needed.”
“Arm to make me socially respectable is costing a chum two years indenture.”
Prof said, “It will take you at least a year of study to be able to pass the tests for Earthside study. That’s time for you to get used to the new arm and to start using the weights and centrifuge to prepare you for six times the gravity, comprende?”
“Da.”
Mimi said, “We’ll expect you to keep teaching the children during that time, maybe take on some of the older ones as you learn more advanced math, yes?”
“Da. No problem.”
“It will take you six months on Earth, once you’ve been accepted to the right school, just for the study. It might take you up to another three months to pass the tests. But once you have passed the tests, you will be only chum on this rock certified to work with Boss computer. Plus there are other computers, air regulators, and smart equipment that can use your skills.”
“We figure,” Anna said, “that one year of work once you get back will repay the family for all the up front outlay. We will miss you as our spouse for those nine months you’re gone, but the value you bring back in that smart head of yours will be worth every dollar of scrip.”
Prof said, “More than that, you can design your own working arms to your own specification. The Warden may pay for an arm that will let you work faster and more efficiently.”
“Wouldn’t take it,” I said. “Low bid contractor not good enough for fine skilled work.”
“Good,” the Prof said. “My fee, or I should say fees, are as follows: For the first three months, I have dinner with your family weekly. I will report your progress each week. If for any reason, I think you won’t be able to do it, I will say so. In which case, your family will owe me weekly dinners for a full year for the time I have invested to that point. In three months, if you are up for it, you will start owing me time. You will be an assistant teacher or tutor when I’m not available in the mathematics you’ll be learning. That’s for four to six months. At that point, you and I will be learning the higher math together, and I will consider having another class that I can teach to be your fee for that period. If you don’t pass the entry exams on your second try, then you will owe me another full year of tutoring. If you do, then, when you return, you’ll owe me six months of computer repair or upgrades. Does this fee schedule seem fair to you, Manny?”
“More than, Prof.” I turned to Mimi, “Do we have enough in stores for a weekly guest?”
Mimi looked haughty at me. “Manuel Garcia O’Kelly Davis are you trying to insult me?”
“Would never, Mimi. Just don’t want the family to owe more for me than I’m worth.”
Greg rested a hand on my shoulder. “No question, Manny. Even if all you do is learn enough math to audit books for shopkeepers, you will repay the family investment. We know you’ll work hard to do this.”
“You have a new student, Professor de la Paz.”
***
Every single kilo of weight was both an enemy and a boon. Enemy because every kilo made any task harder, except the math. Boon because I was doing well in my studies, and it meant that nine months on Earth would be uncomfortable, but unlikely to be deadly.
Passed my exams for certification program on the first try, too. No need for the family to pay the fees twice. Two months after that, Doc pronounced me fit for Earth work, and I got roundtrip ticket to a place called Boston for my HOLMES IV certification.
I would never be ready. I would never really pay back Prof or the family because they took the rough, and I’d be paying them back with the smooth. It’s not the same.
I spent my last loonie night with Sidris who had me auditing her books already. The next morning, I kissed everyone goodbye and Greg and the Prof took me down to the rolligone to take me to the launch pad.
Nine months on Earth. Then home to family, ready to pay my way again. Happy to be Manuel O’Kelly Davis.