The Easing

[dyerfrank]

Staff swarmed over the engines spaces, some stood in pristine white wearing deck shoes that resembled daps, but who cared the vessel was not yet ready to move. The fats ones, mostly serious with a steely suicidal look moved fast their tiny legs running in their black shoes, caps offset for effect. Yardies moved slowly among the whites, wearing tight ill fitting overalls of a drudge colour with stained and torn pockets that hid metal objects like adjustables and screwdrivers. Languid was the word young Peter thought, not full of themselves like the fat whites, but carrying that air that they knew what they were about. When they touched anything then things began to happen, tuning or adjusting seemed to wok ever so well, the fats looking on superior... not daring to intervene.
Only a week ago he'd been a yardie, now he ate with the fats and the lessers, now he ate oysters for breakfast yet he had not done one solid useful thing for a week. He longed for something to do something that made sense. He stopped for a moment, something was about to happen, the chief came down the steps, dressed in black shoes, white overalls unstarched and a gold laden cap set straight hat on his hatchet face. He was fallowed by the insurance men, all qualified fats but relaxed, they were setting the scene they were important.
They gathered around the main cut-off valve, a massive construction set high up in the space rather like the choir in Westminster, this equals any religious service tough young Peter. The chief nodded and one of the fats puled a lever, a huge lever, he swung on it and for one moment he thought it might not move, but it did and as he lowered himsf;ef to the decking the fat threw of an exuberant look, his face sleek and shining. There came a juddering deep from the vessel and it traveled at race neck speed towards them and interacted with the major piston of this device, it operated the piston and slowly crashed down on the valve, groaning in the most dreadful way, the pipework began to clatter and eventually the massive thing closed with a huge hiss as steam erupted from loose joints. No one moved, there was just silence as the crowd awaited, puffs of dust settled while they waited and then suddenly deep above there was the most deafening sound as the mains steam blasted through the safety valve and released its enormous pressure. The was a murmured roar among the whites, the insurance men noted down the result on their pads and the chief turned to welcome them all to his stateroom for some spiritual libation. looking back months later young Peter though it wasn't a smile the chief made it was more of a grimace.