Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (14 page)

“Don't
mention it,” the young man said surprised and amused. He nodded stroking his
goatee as Irons left without a backwards glance.

“I
don't... there is something about that guy,” Twilk chittered.

“He's
nice. Helpful. Hell, he's saved all our asses,” Yuri said. He scratched under
his goatee.

“That's
just it. He's too nice. Too helpful. Makes me uneasy,” the Veraxin said. Yuri
turned on him with a glare.

“He's
helpful and that bothers you?”

“No
one is that helpful. He must want something.” Others around them nodded. Yuri
shook his head.

“The
guy's an engineer. He's a fix-it kind of guy. Can you blame him for seeing
something and wanting to fix it?”

“I've
known people like that,” Derrick said with an amused smile as he sat back and
picked at his teeth with a plastic toothpick. “Some people can't leave well
enough alone. They see something broke and dive right in.”

“And
what's wrong with that?” Yuri demanded.

“Nothin.
Nothin t'all. Just saying is all. I like the guy don't get me wrong. I'm glad
he's on our side. On our ship I mean. I wonder what the old girl is going to be
like by the time we get to Antigua?” he drawled amused.

Voices
around then began to murmur. Yuri looked around and nodded. “Right. The guy is
a blast from the past. We've had experience with sleepers before. All of you
know how that works. Those that have engineering experience do wonders on the
ship while we have them aboard. Let's take advantage of that. Play nice. Who
knows? Maybe he'll really rebuild everything.”

“I
heard he's going to rebuild the hyperdrive before we leave. Any truth to that?”
Derrick asked sitting forward and resting his forearms on the table in front of
him.

Yuri
cocked his head as people really started to chatter. After a moment he
shrugged. “No idea. I just met the guy. I'm for one going to look forward to
getting to know him better though. I'd love to see what else he can teach me,”
he said with a smile.

“I
wonder if he can fix EVA suits?” someone in the back asked.

“What
about electronics? Can he do electronics?”

“What
about the force emitters? The gravity in my room is messed up again. Been that
way off and on for years! Think he can do something about it?”

Yuri
listened to the excited chatter and looked at Derrick. The big man wiggled the
end of the toothpick up and down and from side to side. From the look of him he
was amused. Good.

O'Mallory
looked at the rear end of Barry hanging out of the cockpit of the Scarab and
sighed. When that didn't get a reaction she tapped her foot. A few of the techs
looked over to her then back to what they were doing, clearly trying to steer
clear of whatever was about to happen.

When
the tapping didn't get through over the cussing and clattering in the room she
cleared her throat. An air wrench went off making her wince. Barry's right hand
reached up, fumbled around and then dipped into his tool box. He pulled out a
set of leads connected to a multitester and then made them disappear.

“Boss
um...” a Veraxin tech looked at her.

“Yes?”
she asked, raising her voice.

“Do
you think that admiral fellow could replicate us some parts? The ignition is
clogged again. We've got one side cleared but the other is messed up. The
scarab just goes in circles. Also there are some faults we're trying to run
down now,” the Veraxin indicated Barry.

“Faults?”
Quinna asked, raising an eyebrow. Normally they just did what they could and
then crossed their fingers when they couldn't do anymore.

“In
the RCS. And the life support. And the communications. And the sensors,” Barry
answered loudly, not bothering to pull himself up to look at her. The Scarab
was a beast to work on, a bug. Someone had said it looked like a banana. It was
a half circle, with the drives on the outside of the curve and three
manipulator arms on the inside and on the underside tip of the curve. The top
had the tiny cockpit. Doors and RCS thrusters were all over the thing. Some of
the thrusters worked, some didn't. She for one had no intention of flying the
damn thing.

In
order to land it you had to come in and land face down for one. The manipulator
arms doubled as landing legs. It really did look like a bug. It was a pain in
the ass to get in and out of as well. You had to pop the cockpit and climb down
the leg without throwing the entire thing off balance and tipping it over. If
you popped your security webbing before you braced you ended up doing a belly
flop on the deck below.

She
for one would never fly the damn thing. Banana indeed. You had to be crazy to
fly it. Which didn't mean she didn't need it out doing its job right now
though. Someone had to fly the thing.

“Barry...”
she sighed, hands on her hips. She was tired and getting crankier by the
minute.

“Don't
get me started on running the power plant of this thing at one hundred percent
for what? Twenty hours? Twenty one? We need an overhaul,” he growled. His voice
echoed from inside the little ship. A tech was standing under it, working on
the cockpit. She could hear rigger tape ripping as they fixed the seat cushion
again. That figured.

“Everything
on this ship does Barry,” she said, reining in her temper with difficulty. It
wasn't like that was ever going to change. They learned to trade for parts they
needed, cannibalize parts from something else and make them fit, or figure a
work around. Or learn to do without, which was what sometimes was a necessary
thing to do.

A
young tech came in holding a plastic tray and carrying coils of material on her
shoulders. She blinked at the Chief in her way and then passed at a trot. She
shot a confused look back over her shoulder. Clearly the girl wasn't sure why
the chief was there. “Here you go Barry,” she said.

“Huh?”

“You
said you needed an R-451 board, let’s see... I did what I could with your
list...” she said. He pulled himself up and looked at the tray the girl set
down on the step. She picked her way through it as he wiped his hands on his
coverall pants.

“Where
did you find the parts?” he asked. An R-451 was almost impossible to come by.
“Hey this is like brand new!” he said picking the piece up and turning it over
and over as he inspected it.

“That
admiral fellow showed us how to replicate parts with a food replicator. Martha
showed Jen who showed me. It can't do chips but it can do plastic pretty good.
I've got the replacement hoses for the life support here,” she said, taking a
coil off her shoulder and handing it to him. He looked it over. “Also ODN line
and power leads. The adapters are in the baggie there,” she said pointing. He
looked down to the set of bags on one edge of the tray. One was filled with
plastic clips.

“Well
all right!” he said with a grin. “We should be able to get this bucket of bolts
going in no time then!” he said with a grin.

“We
aim to please. We've got, well um; Jen's got a crew working down a list.
Martha's gone to dinner.”

“What
about the injectors?” Barry asked.

The
girl shrugged. “We tagged them for the Admiral since he has to replicate them.
Should take about twenty minutes once he gets through the rash of priorities
ahead of them.”

“Thought
you wanted this done now?” Barry asked, turning his attention on O'Mallory.

O'Mallory
blinked and then frowned as the others in the bay turned their attention her
way. “I do,” she said.

“Yeah
but fixing the leaks inside and getting the overloaded life support fixed is
critical,” Fara said, running her hands through her short black and purple hair
and then shrugging. “Least that's what I've been told,” she said with an
annoyed shrug.

“It
is. We don't need a leak inside. But we need the exterior leaks patched fast.”

“The
gorilla's on it.”

O'Mallory's
eyes narrowed at the dismissive sound in that statement. No one really liked
saying Petunia's name. It was absurd for something so big to have such a goofy
name. “They are working on it true. But fixing the leak near the reactor is
more complex. It's also dangerous for a suited tech.”

“Get
that admiral guy to do it. Kill two birds with one stone,” a tech said. “Make
the captain happy and get him out of our hair,” he said with a sniff.

“Admiral
Irons? Why are you so bent on that?” O'Mallory asked turning to round on the
hapless tech. She had no problems sending someone into a dangerous situation.
She'd do it herself and was ready to do it. But why the captain and now some of
the crew were so ready to... She shook the thought off with a frown. “Irons
isn't crew. We are. Our responsibility,” she said firmly.

“True,”
Fara said with a nod. “I've got to go. I'm going to see if we've got another
working replicator nearby. Maybe it can cut down on time. If it's got raw
material,” she said wrinkling her pert nose.

Barry
nodded. “Thanks kiddo. Can you see if you can rustle up some grub for us? Oh
and a new...”

“Yeah
yeah, the injector...” she said waving a dismissive hand in the air as she
walked towards the hatch. “Some people are never happy even when things are
going better,” she said, glaring at the chief and then the others. “Just
saying,” she said, eyes falling, hands in her pockets. She kicked a wrapper off
to one side as she walked out.

“Kid's
got a point I guess,” Barry said, using the tip of a screw driver to scratch
the side of his head. “Think we all ought to keep that in mind and not look a
gift horse in the mouth. This admiral guy's all right in my book. Fella's doing
us all a favor. We should be grateful,” he said turning back to the boat.

“Time?”
The chief asked, crossing her arms.

“As
soon as it's ready I'll let you know,” he said just as someone hit the hull
with a hammer. He snarled. “Fuck! What the hell did you do that for! Stupid!
Geesh!” He threw his hands up in the air and climbed down the ladder. “Fuck now
I've got to recheck and re-seat the seals since this birds so fucked up!
Thanks!” he rounded on the sheepish tech.

“Sorry
boss, it was stuck.”

“All
else fails hit it. Rule one of an engineer,” O'Mallory murmured turning and
shaking her head. “Get it done Barry.”

“Get
some rest chief. You're crabbier than usual and that's not a good thing.”

“Bitch
bitch,” she murmured walking out.

“Still
at it admiral?” Warner asked, meeting him in his launch. He was looking the
military shuttle over. “Damn, wish mum and dad could see this.”

“They
can come down later,” Irons said nodding to crew working nearby. He went inside
and booted Martha's replacement out with a thumb. The girl blinked and then got
up. He shooed her off so he could sit and jack in. Her eyes went wide when she
saw that.

“You
need... ah. Okay. Uploading keys now. One part each?” he asked. He opened his
eyes and looked from Warner to the girl.

“Um...”
She toed the carpet. “Not sure.” She looked at the exec for confirmation.

“Just
make one of each for now unless they requested more,” the first mate answered.

“Okay.
Working. Tray is set up and off and running.”

“How...”

“If
you want a class on replicators I'll upload it to the net later,” Irons said.

“Done,”
Sprite replied on the overhead. He like the others looked up and then at each
other. He shrugged. “Sprite's pretty good at anticipating things.”

“One
of my jobs as an adjunct,” Sprite replied smugly.

“True,”
he said and then looked over to Warner. “Sit,” Irons indicated the seats
nearby. Warner sat and rubbed his hands appreciatively over the plastic fabric.
Irons wasn't sure if it was because it was military or comfortable. Or if it
was because it wasn't patched over with riggers tape. The chairs in the galley
had been covered in riggers tape.

“Young
lady?” he asked looking at the girl. The girl jumped like she'd been shocked.

“Yes
sir?” she asked surprised.

“If
you don't mind running the food replicator? I think some of these smaller bits
can come out there if you feed it the raw material.”

“Okay,”
she bobbed a nod and then went to work. Warner looked over his shoulder to her
and then back to Irons with a soft snort.

“I'm
curious about how things are going here,” Irons asked.

“We're
surviving. That's the testament to our crew. Past and present,” Warner said.
Irons caught the girl's blush. He didn't mind her eavesdropping. Warner looked
over his shoulder to her and then shrugged. He started to lay out some of the
history of the ship.

The
engineer found out that the life support for the crew was overextended, and
with so many mouths to feed the crew was on strict short rations. The ship only
required one hundred forty to function, however with all the families on board
they had converted most of the cargo bays to habitats. Everyone did something,
even if it was make work. Most of the time it's just to keep busy and sane.
Many had been stored in the stasis pods before injuries had filled them up.
Warner shook his head. “We've done well. I mean yeah, she's a mess, but she's
our
mess. Our home. We've grafted in life support for this many people years ago.
One of the smarter things our people did. Before my time anyway,” he shrugged.
Irons nodded.