Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven Man, Woman and Monkey

Captain Newton long ago believed that certain women were not allowed to work on spaceships.Their breasts are too much of a distraction in weightlessness.It's bad enough when they're standing still, but when they move and start to resonate, it's more than any bloody male can stand.He was convinced that at least one serious space crash had been caused by a braless female astronaut passing by the control module, causing the operators to lose their minds. On one occasion he raised this theory with a lieutenant colonel surgeon without revealing who had aroused the idea in him.But that's not necessary, they know each other too well.They had fallen in love once, many years ago, on Earth, in that lonely and dreary hour.Maybe this experience will never be repeated (who can say for sure), because they have changed a lot since then.But every time the well-built medic wriggled into the captain's cabin, it always evoked a string of old feelings in him.She knew how he felt too, and they were both happy about it.

"," she said, "I've examined our climbers, and here's my diagnosis. Carl and Joe are in good shape, and everything says they've done a good job with their training load. But Will's Signs of physical exertion. I won't bore you with the details. I don't believe he's done the prescribed amount of exercise, and he's not the only one. They've played tricks on their bodies. If you keep going like this, you'll be dizzy. Please give me instructions." "Yes, ma'am. But there are forgivable aspects. We've worked hard enough."

"That's true for their brains and their fingers. But not for their bodies—not the real Kilo Migong. And that's the reality we're dealing with when we look at Rama." "So, can we go in there and investigate?" "Yes, if done with caution. Carl and I had a pretty conservative plan based on getting below the second platform so we wouldn't need helmets, which was an incredible fluke that made the whole logistical arrangement Simplified. It's hard for me until now to get used to encountering a world with oxygen... so that we only need the provisions of food, water and thermal suits. Going down will be easy, it seems that we can use That handy step rail slides down."

"I've asked Zipps to develop a little sled with a parachute brake that could at least be used for transporting supplies and equipment, if we didn't risk putting the crew on it." "Excellent, this way, it only takes ten minutes for one trip, otherwise it would take an hour! The upward climb is difficult to estimate. I estimate it will take 6 hours, including two one-hour breaks. Later, we have Experience, and grow muscle, the time can be greatly reduced." "What about the psychological factor?" "Difficult to estimate in such a novel environment. Darkness may be the biggest problem."

"I set up searchlights at the hubs. This way each group has the beams of the searchlights shining on them in addition to their own lighting." "Well, this will help a lot." "One more question: do we send a team down halfway down the stairs and back, for safety's sake, or do we go down the stairs the first time?" "If there is enough time, I am in favor of prudence. But the time is so short that, as far as I am concerned, there is no danger in going to the end and looking around." "Thanks, Laura—that's all I need to know. I'm going to have the mate work out all the details. I'm also going to order everyone to do eccentric training—twenty minutes a day, half a g, will that work?"

"No, there's zero-six g in Rama, and I need a safety factor. Let it be three-quarters—" "Oh!" "Ten minutes each time." "Okay, I'll do it." "Twice a day." "Laura, you're a cruel, hard-hearted woman. Do as you please. I'll announce it at supper. But it's going to spoil them a lot." It was the first time that Captain Newton saw Karl Messer so uncomfortable.He was as good and astute as ever during the 15-minute logistical discussion, but then something clearly bothered him.His captain had guessed something, and was waiting patiently for him to say it himself.

"Captain," Messer said at last, "do you really think it's up to you to lead the team? If anything, I'd be the better sacrifice, and after all, I've been deeper into Rama than anybody else—if only 50 meters." "Even if this is the case, this time the team should be led by the captain himself, and we have already analyzed the situation. It will not be more dangerous than the previous trip. As long as there is a slight danger signal, we will go to the moon at a speed that breaks the record of the Olympic Games. Run back up the steps." He waited for further objections, and Messer, though still looking displeased, said nothing more.Newton felt sorry for him, so he easily added: "And I believe Joe will surpass me to win the championship."

The big man grinned reassuringly: "Even so, I hope you pick someone else." "No way, I need someone who's been down, and we can't both go. As for our Mr. Sergeant Dr. Myron, Laura says he's still 2,000 grams overweight, even with his big beard Scratching it off won't help either." "So, who is your third member?" "I haven't decided yet. It's up to Laura." "I see she wants to go." "Who wouldn't? But if she puts herself at the top of the list of fittesters, I'd be very suspicious." Newton felt a jealous sting as Messer gathered his papers and made his way from the captain's cabin.Almost all members of the ship—about eighty-five percent—established some form of emotional adjustment in their space lives.He knew some ship captains did the same.But he wasn't willing to go with the flow.While much of the discipline on the Endeavor was based on mutual respect between highly trained and cultured men and women, the captain felt that his position was a little stricter.His responsibilities are non-trivial and require a certain degree of isolation, even from the closest of friends.Any stray relationship affects morale because it inevitably creates favoritism in leadership.It was for this reason that romantic affairs were not allowed between people who were more than two levels apart; besides, the sex rule on the ship was: "As long as you don't frighten the monkeys by messing around in the aisles."

There are 4 super orangutans on Endeavor.Strictly speaking, this name is not accurate, because these non-human crew members are not from the chimpanzee species.In zero-gravity conditions, their grasping tail is very useful.Ah Hei, Ah Huang, Ah Jin, and Ah Chong are not natural species.Their lineage is bred from the most intelligent monkeys of the old and new worlds plus synthetic genes that don't exist in nature.Their upbringing and education expenses are probably not lower than that of an ordinary astronaut.Each weighs less than 30 kilograms, and its food and oxygen consumption is only half that of humans, but it can support 2.75 people in daily tasks such as housekeeping, cooking, and carrying tools.The "2.75" is advertised by the companies that supply them and is based on countless "time and motion" studies.This figure is surprising and often questioned, but it seems to be accurate.Because they can happily work 15 hours a day in a row, and never tire of servant and repetitive work.They do a lot of housework for humans, which is very important on a spacecraft.

Unlike their closest relatives, the monkeys, the four on Endeavor are docile, obedient and uncurious.Because they are clonal, they avoid the problem of that kind of embarrassing behavior.They are all carefully trained to be vegetarian and also have no smell.They can make great pets without going too far. Despite all these advantages, getting them on board also poses certain problems.They have to have their own staterooms - unavoidably with the number plate "Monkey House".Their little rooms are always clean and tidy, well equipped, with TV sets, game consoles and programming teaching machines.In order to avoid accidents, they are absolutely prohibited from entering the technical area of ​​the spaceship; all the doors of the technical area are painted red, which is an insurmountable visual barrier of conditioned reflex psychologically.

There is also the issue of calls.Although they have an intelligence quotient (IQ) equivalent to 60 and know hundreds of English words, they cannot speak.It has been proved that neither apes nor monkeys can be equipped with useful vocal cords, so that only gestures can be used to express meaning. Fortunately, those basic hand signals are easy to grasp, so every crew member understands them.There is only one fluent speaker of their language, and that is their leader, Sergeant Ravi McAndrews. There's an old joke on the ship that Sergeant McAndrews himself looks like a monkey -- and that's not an insult.The monkeys on the Endeavor are all covered with short, submissive fur and behave elegantly. They are really beautiful animals.They're also affectionate with people, and each crew member has their own favourites.Newton's pet is Ajin. But this pampering also raises other questions, including the fact that there has been intense debate about their suitability for employment in space at all.Because they are only trained to do routine, junior jobs.In an emergency, they do more than they do, and are a danger to themselves and to humans.In particular, attempts to teach them to use spacesuits have proven impossible, as the concepts involved are far beyond their comprehension. No one wanted to talk about such things, but everyone knew that in the event of a breach in the hull or the order to abandon the ship, it would have to be done.That happened only once; but on that occasion the handler of the monkeys, in carrying out the captain's instructions, went further—he was later found among the monkeys, also dying of the same poison.Since then, the task of euthanasia has been transferred to the chief medical officer, because they are generally considered not to be so emotional. Newton was relieved that at least the job did not fall on the captain's shoulders. ----------------------------- Notes: