|
LUCAS: |
These men are part of the ship's crew. The flight crews have
different lounges. I think that man is a fireman. There are several
firemen. |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
Do
you have many fires? |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
No,
everyone is very careful. But sometimes accidents happen. Sometimes
we have electrical fires. You know, equipment gets too hot. Wires
start burning. |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
I'm
glad firemen are on the ship. |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
Yes, a big fire could be dangerous. See that man with the blond
hair? |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
The
short one who just came in? |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
Yes. What do you think he does? |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
He's a barber. |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
No.
He's the man who flew the helicopter. |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
The
one who brought me here? I don't believe it. I didn't recognize him.
|
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
Let's go. We have a long way to go. |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
How
big is the ship? |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
It's over a thousand feet long. |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
And
it's several stories high. |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
I
told you there are about six thousand people on board. Three
thousand belong to the ship's crew and three thousand belong to the
flight crew. |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
It
really is a small city! What do all the men do? |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
Some of us are like managers. We supervise other men and their work.
Take the pilots, for example. |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
How
many planes are there on the ship? |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
About a hundred. You have pilots for the planes. You have mechanics.
|
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
You
must have mechanics for the ship too. |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
Sure. Most of the work on the ship is taking care of the equipment
and machines. Everything has to be taken care of very carefully. We
don't want anything to break. But when it breaks we have to fix it.
Everything has to run smoothly. See those men? |
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
Yes. |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
They're the ones who check the nuclear reactors. You know, you just
can't telephone for the repairman. We have to have everything we
need on board the ship. |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
What's that? |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
It's a fire alarm. |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
A
fire alarm! Where? Where's the fire? |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
It's probably a fire drill, not a real fire. |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
How
can you tell? How do you know it's not a real fire? |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
We
act as if it's a real fire. The firemen are the ones who will take
care of it. Follow me. |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
What's that? It stopped. What does that mean? |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
It
means the alarm is over. |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
Was
there a fire? |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
Yes. But it's out now. |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
How
do you know? |
|
|
|
|
LUCAS: |
A
fire drill is much longer. We would go onto the upper deck. With a
real fire, they turn off the alarm when the fire is over. I'm sure
it was just a small electrical fire. Or maybe a small fire in a
kitchen. Are you all right, Martin. |
|
|
|
|
MARTIN: |
I
think so. I'm a little afraid of fires. |
|
|
|