We who are about to work, dont want to....

Who: John Keats
Where: Blue Dwarf
When: Here and now (with giblets from the last few months)
Here stands a man. His name is not important, and neithers he. A
veteran of a thousand battles in over a thousand years (well, 5 or so,
but this is the price we pay for poetic license). In his hand, a small
crumpled form, illegible handwriting scrawled on it with leaking red
pen. The hand ends and starts into a suit, its not tidy, and its a bad
fit, but the man had made an effort. He looks up, and clenches his
fist, further screwing the paper up as the gaudy gold lettering
infront of him washes down the last of his shame and pride, closing
his eyes he thinks back over the last few months, and how he came to
stand here, washed up and downbeaten....
He first thinks back to a time when he stood with a close friend, the
events that followed are as follows.
"Severn, i need your help"
"Help from me? Whats broken?"
"Nothing, its just.. well, i need a reference"
"Ahhh, that interview today then?" Severan asks. The man nods at Severn.
"What did you say it was again? Shuttle repairs?"
"Yeah... way i see it, ive flown enough of them, so i know my way
around them, but they want to know im qualified"
"I see, ok, gimme that form a moment... there, hope that'l do"
The man reads it, smiles and heads to the landing bay offices for his
interview. An hour later, the man sweats into his suit as hes looked
upon by an emploment panel, the interview was coming to an end.
"So then, your details and references check out, but we just want to
make sure your ok at this, so a small test of your ability" the person
places a box of parts and tools on the table.
"This, as you know is a basic Navigation relay panel used in JMC
shuttle class Starbugs. Id like you to locate the problem in it,
repair it and talk us through what your doing."
The man takes the box and looks inside. A mass of wires, panels and
chips looks back. He sweats more.
"Umm, i was thinking of more basic maintanance..."
"The test is the same, pleas, you have... 29 minutes remaining"
Half an hour passes. The man has fiddled with the parts constantly,
and has succeded little. The panel look apon him unenthusiastically,
sigh, and call end time.
"Im sorry, but perhaps this is to much for you.. Thankyou Mr-"
"No wait!! I... ive almost got it, just let me"
"Your time is up, im sorry!"
"Dammit! Fine then, il go peacefully" The man stands, grabs his things
and throws the panel at the wall, and watches with satisfaction as it
splinters and breaks the circuits into splinterd fragments before
storming out. It seemed he wasnt fit for repair work.
He looked out again, this time he recalled another, shorter interview,
this time with the Science department.
"So, what did you graduate in?"
"Graduate?"
"Yes, you know, school, learning, university, what did you study"
"Uhhh... Advanced Wave and Partical Physics?"
"Oh! An interesting subject! I did the same i might add!! Whats your
view on Heisenburgs Uncertainty Principles?" The man starred balnkly,
coughed and tried a bluff.
"Oh.. uhh.. i think.. yeah, he like.. had some great ideas.. maybe
not very practicle?"
"Oh i agree, totally, i mean, its all very well and good saying about
these particles, but whats the actual use! Which reminds me, i saw a
very interesting lecture on Electro-static potentials of inert gases
in relation to cheap fuels on space stations!"
"Electro-wha?"
"Electro static potentials, you know!"
"Oh yeah... uhhh... how much will i get paid for this job?"
"Well, lets just see your records then Dr... oh... i see... look, i
dont like you people, coming here and making fun of us Scientists, now
just scoot along and dotn come back!"
The man stood and walked out, with a slight bit of annoyance. Hed paid
that hacker well to alter his records, and he had a good mind to go
alter him....
[Part 2 follows later!]