Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows

Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold

Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold

Elsewhere on Pern
NPC Weyr
River Bluff Weyr
Seacraft Hall

Story Listing
Series Listing

Weyrling Training

Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 9th May 2007

Characters: Rikka
Description: Rikka is happy to work in the technician building and is disappointed in herself for feeling that way.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 4, day 3 of Turn 4

Rikka hoist herself onto the tall stool at her workbench, smiling at the day's work set out in front of her. Small production jobs, minor repair, cleaning and testing of components. A Turn ago as a senior apprentice at the Hall she would have been beside herself to avoid this duty but since being posted to Amber Hills Hold she had had a change of attitude.

She reached into the pockets of the big apron she wore over her dress and pulled out her pencil, setting it beside the paper sheet she would record her days work on.

These days the technician's building and this sort of basic near-drudgery was a haven for the journeywoman. In the building she only dealt with other technicians, men who were familiar with and (for the most part) comfortable about women crafters. Outside, working around the Hold proper she was at best a curiosity and at worst an offence against accepted moral values.

She picked up the first item for repair. It was a simple switch mechanism that had worn out past the point where it could be adjusted.
Picking up her screwdriver she disassembled every part of the component, laying all the pieces on the bench in front of her. With the solvent she cleaned each part, inspecting them in the strong light of the workshop as she did so.

It was a simple matter to replace the items that were worn or broken for along the back of the bench all the commonest spare parts were stored in little open-faced wooden boxes all stacked up one on top of each other.
In this case it was contacts and a spring. That done she reassembled the switch, clipped on leads to make the switch part of the circuit to a light on the bench.

Illumination when the switch was in the 'on' position; the light went out when the switch was moved to the 'off' position. Now detach the leads. Place the repaired switch in the correct box, the discarded spring and contacts in the basket for returning to the Smiths as scrap.
A note on her paper. The job was done.

Rikka looked at the pile of broken switches and sighed. What was she doing enjoying this work? This was the sort of thing apprentices were set – and, more often than not, apprentices who were never going to become journeymen or women.

When she had walked tables she had been thrilled, looking forward to an exciting future as a journey-ranked technician. Her six Turn apprenticeship was over and she had the rank now to work on most jobs alone. Even when her posting to Amber Hills Hold had been announced she hadn't worried. She was a good technician and Holds needed technicians; men or women.

The reality of being at Amber Hills Hold had been different from anything she imagined. Just wearing her knots set her apart from people she met in a way that didn't affect the male journeymen. And when she was actually working it wasn't any better. Some people went as far as refusing to accept her doing the work they had requested which she regarded as childish in the extreme. It didn't matter what she thought, she was one voice against a whole Hold-worth of attitude. Worse than that, she was a voice constrained by the need to do nothing to discredit the technician craft.

It was all right for the men, she thought as she picked up the next switch for repair. They were treated with respect and politeness.
Somehow that made things worse, that it was only her that was suffering.

No, what made it worse was that her male peers were all but oblivious to the slights she endured. If they noticed them at all they were dismissive. She was being too sensitive ... it was only to be expected in a Hold and it was inappropriate that she tried to dictate her attitude to them in their own Hold ... that she should be more conciliatory.

She looked down at the switch spread out on the bench and suddenly didn't feel very conciliatory at all.

Last updated on the May 10th 2007