Plumber Pete Goes to Space

A large research space ship also needs people to do the daily jobs the scientists don’t want to do. As cook Betty Sebring said, they need "plumbers and electricians and janitors and all sorts of people.” So Pete Johnson, a master plumber forced into early retirement, took a job on the Keppler, a 400-passenger research vessel. He quickly found out how important his job was when he encountered the problems left by the former plumber. The biggest problem was maintenance on the system's water system. As was Bill West, the ship's Chief Engineer explained: “If we had tried to carry enough water for a crew of 400 out for several years, it would have weighed more than the rest of the ship combined, and would have more than tripled our size. It’s much more efficient and effective to recycle the water. Clean it up and use it again.” Part of that process was a river and the gardens. In the words of First Mate Perkins, "The engineers who designed this vessel decided to make it as self-sustaining as possible, so all the food you will eat was grown on the station. We’re a closed ecosystem, and it works better that way.” Pete has his work cut out for him, performing long-overdue maintenance, fixing plumbing design flaws and helping uncover an espionage plot. "Plumber Pete Goes to Space" is the first in a series of how a good man in a 'normal' job keeps the ship running at top shape and builds a life in space.