Space Affair by Peter Viney. 6 An Accident In The Garden.

Дата публикации: Nov 03, 2014 12:58:22 PM

One day he woke up in the freezer. His eyes opened. Two freezer technicians were standing over him. One of them spoke. 'Beta 4297 is awake, Doctor.'

The doctor hurried over. 'Are you OK? You know who you are, don't you?'

'Yes,' said Gareth.

'We haven't got time for tests,' said the doctor. 'We've had to wake you up early. You've only been in the freezer for three days.'

'Why?' said Gareth.

There's been an accident in the garden. There was an explosion in the pipes to the orange trees. They need your help. Go there now. Don't change your clothes, you haven't got a room. It's the Alpha shift.'

Gareth hurried up to the garden area. All the garden technicians were working in the orange area. He didn't know any of them. The Chief Garden Technician came over. Gareth knew him, because he worked weeks 1 and 4, like all the officers.

'Gareth, we need your help. The orange trees were in the explosion. We have to save them.'

'Right,' said Gareth. 'Where's Alpha 6558?' Alpha 6558 was the garden technician who worked on the orange and lemon trees on the Alpha shift.

'Carl - that's his name - was hurt in the explosion. He broke his leg. He'll be OK, he's in the hospital now. That's why we had to wake you up.'

Gareth worked for nearly twenty hours on the orange trees. There wouldn't be any oranges for a few months, but he was able to save the trees. The Chief Garden Technician was waiting for him.

'You'll have to use Carl's room,' he said. 'I've had your things moved there.'

'Right,' said Gareth.

'And we'll have to change you to the Alpha shift. I'm sorry, all your friends are on the Beta shift.'

Gareth didn't say anything.

'You'll have to stay on the Alpha shift for three or four months. There's no one else that knows about oranges and lemons on this shift. The Beta shift will be all right. Jose can do your job there.'

'I can change to the Alpha shift for the rest of the journey, if you like,' said Gareth.

'You don't mind?' said the Chief Garden Technician.

'No, not at all,' said Gareth. He was wondering when Sara finished work.

'All right. I'll show you where Carl's room is,' said the Chief Garden Technician.

Gareth felt very happy.

The Chief Garden Technician looked at him for a moment.

'Stop smiling, Gareth. I know why you want to work on the Alpha shift.'

Gareth felt cold suddenly.

'Yes, when they moved your things to Carl's room, they found these.' He showed Gareth some pieces of paper. They were Sara's notes. He hadn't wanted to throw them away.

'I told the policeman who found them that you were . . . that you were writing a romantic book. I also told him that you were the only person that knew enough about the trees. He agreed to forget about it.'

The Chief Garden Technician showed him Carl's room on the plan of the starship.

'Now, you go and get some sleep, you need it,' he said.

'Yes. Thank you,' said Gareth.

He walked slowly out of the garden area. Carl's room was downstairs, and to the left. His old room was to the right.

Gareth smiled again. He turned right, and began to walk more quickly.

Questions

• Why do you think all of the garden technicians were men?

• Why Gareth hadn't wanted to throw Sara's notes despite a high risk of disclosing their affair?

• Why was Gareth sure that nobody couldn't inspect his staff while he was sleeping in the freezer?

• Why wasn't Gareth panished for breaking the starship rules?

• What do you think would be with Gareth if he was not an unique specialist?

• What do you guess would happen to Sara and Gareth later? Do you think they would be happy with each other or not?

2.

• Why do you think all of the garden technicians were men?

• Why didn't Gareth want to throw Sara's notes despite a high risk of disclosing their affair?

• Why was Gareth sure that nobody couldn't inspect his staff while he was sleeping in the freezer?

• Why wasn't Gareth punished for having broken the starship rules?

• What do you think would happen to Gareth if he were not a unique specialist?

• What do you guess would happen to Sara and Gareth later? Do you think they would be happy with each other or not?