Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (19 page)

“No
problem.”

“Admiral
a moment of your time?” Doctor Numiria called him. He's amused that Sprite had
opened the video channel on the newly replaced LCD in front of him. He was just
wrapping up the job here and was about ready to move on. This was a final test
to make sure everything worked. Obviously it did.

“Is
this about the missing genetics in my blood doc?” he asked, pretty sure of her
answer.

She
blinked at his image. “Yes. I take it you are aware of it. I've never seen
anything like that. If you hadn't been sitting in front of me I would have
sworn you were a construct.”

“Nope.”

“No
I know. You don't smell like one. I can smell Terran human.” Irons didn't tell
her that a good artificial construct could replicate the smells of a human. The
Xeno's had used them but they preferred to use clone constructs.

“It's
a security precaution mandated by the Federation Doctor. Black letter
Federation law.”

She
frowned. He sighed. “Doc look. My genetics in the wrong hands could lead to bad
things. Things like clones or genetic targeting or other even nastier things
that would keep you up at night,” he explained.

She
shrugged it off. “Well, other than that you are fine. Obviously I can't check
for timed genetic disorders in your blood. I'm assuming that's been done
though,” she said. He nodded. “Okay then. You've got a clean bill of health.
But you already knew that of course.”

“Nice
to get an outside opinion every now and again doc.”

“Signing
off,” she said, reaching forward and cutting the link. Irons nodded.

“Good.
And now the crew knows you're not a leper,” Sprite said to him as he wiped off
the plastic bezel around the screen and then wiped at the scared chrome trim.

When
he finished he looked up to see Barry coming in. Barry looked left and right.
Irons smiled. “Looking for me?” he asked innocently. Barry scowled and then nodded.

“You
sicked Blur on me? How low!” Barry said. Irons wasn't sure if he was mocking
that little joke or if he was seriously annoyed by it.

“Seemed
like a good idea at the time. I need your permission to rebuild one of your
cargo shuttles.”

“I'll
remember that,” Barry said as he shook his head. “Wait, rebuild...” He looked
thoughtful as he thought that through. Apparently Blur had been his usual vocal
self and hadn't gotten much of his intended message across to its recipient.

“Yes.
It seems the Telerite wanted to borrow my shuttle. I suggested an alternative,”
Irons replied. He nodded to the crew around him. “I'll be in the shuttle bay if
anyone needs me,” he said.

“Thanks
Admiral,” a tech said. The Veraxin gave him a thumbs up with its lower right
hand. Irons nodded as he motioned to Barry to lead the way.

After
a couple of hours of work they got the shuttle Barry had picked out up to
marginally running status. “At least it can tell us what's wrong with it now,”
Irons said, taking the brighter side of things.

“Yeah,”
Barry said in disgust. “A whole hell of a lot.”

“Well,
that's because you've been scavenging it. We'll get it sorted out. I've got the
parts I can order from here on the burner. How's the Scarab holding up?”

“Well,”
Barry said, yanking out a snapped fuel line. “Better than I expected,” he
grunted as he reached in and disengaged the coupler holding the end in.

“A
little TLC and some parts and this bird will be back in the air.”

“Yeah,
until you leave. Are you leaving?” he asked. Barry didn't sound like he wanted
Irons to leave anytime soon. Irons couldn't blame the man. They were getting a
lot done. His presence and his replicators were a catalyst for major changes in
the ship.

“Not
sure,” Irons replied shrugging the question off. “I've considered it.”

“Apparently
you're not the only one admiral,” Sprite informed him.

“Oh?”

“Apparently
there is a petition to keep you aboard. Half the crew have signed it already.
The meetings I've been able to eavesdrop in.... Let's just say the Captain is
dubious about the idea.”

“I
still don't understand his problem. I mean, he's the one who wronged me
remember?”

“Who
you talking to?” Barry asked.

“Sprite.
My AI. She's briefing me a little.”

“Oh.”

“Sorry,”
the admiral replied sheepishly, looking up at the bulkhead and blowing his
cheeks out as he thought about the situation.

“No
no, it's okay. I'll uh, just get these off and go see what's ready for pick up.
Save the kid a trip,” Barry said. The kid in question was sitting in the
cockpit pretending to fly it. Irons looked at the windshield and snorted. He
could read the kids lips, he was pretending to be a fighter pilot shooting down
Xenos. Sound effects were sputtering by his young Veraxin co-pilot.

Irons
watched Barry leave. He was under the shuttle. He'd taken the cover plates off
to repair the avionics. He let Proteus handle the repairs as he listened to
Sprite's brief.

“Okay,
the Warners and half of crew are behind you and leading the fight of course. I
believe the captain's family had it out, but I'm only guessing, I don't have it
on record. So far the Captain has backed down but is still resentful.”

“I'll
try to stay out of his way then. Antigua is still our best bet. I'm not sure
when we'll see another ship here. I'm not thrilled about being stuck ground side
waiting.”

“He
feels threatened,” Sprite said.

“I
don't know why. Roles and all are reversed. He's the man in power.”

“It's
not like you'd take over his ship or anything. It's a piece of crap,” Sprite
said in disgust. “I believe though that might be the problem. That and you
thwarted him.”

“It's
old Sprite. Not everything that is old is worthless.”

“Oh?”
she asked dubiously.

“Take
us for example.”

“Touché'”
she said amused. He pulled out a card and looked it over. It was pretty
scorched. From the look of it the carbon carbon tiles had been breached. Most
of this bay was ruined. He made a note to replicate replacements and then
started yanking everything.

“We'll
work on it. Antigua is a better place to spend time on I heard. It's a cross
roads for several freighter loops.” He tugged out a clip and then disconnected
the wiring harness.

“Thinking
about hooking back up with Io 11 Admiral?” Sprite asked. She wasn't sure about
the viability of that option. Or how it would play out.

Irons
hands slowed as he thought. “It's a thought. A long shot, I'd prefer to find a
nice base to build from though.”

“Admiral
there is...”

“Don't
go there,” Irons growled, sitting up straight, eyes flashing. He knew she what
she was thinking. Hell, he'd thought about it briefly himself. But secrecy was
drilled into him as much as her. Something’s were best left alone. If. If, a
big if. If it even still existed. “Even internally we don't break that.”

“Even
now?”

“Even
now. Not unless we have to. Right now we don't, so we won’t. Besides, to get
there we'd need a ship. If it even still exists. Which I doubt.”

“True.”

“Now
let’s get this bent up bird straightened out so they can go on with their
planned transfer and we can get back to business.”

“Do
you think you'll have enough time to overhaul all the critical systems Admiral?
They want to leave in a week,” Sprite replied sounding dubious. She put the
odds of their leaving on schedule as two to one against. Then again
circumstances can change fast. Even she can't account for every variable at
work in this situation.

“We're
going to do our best,” he answered, pushing the growing pile out from under the
crate as he kept pulling more parts. “We're going to try.”

Cora
arranged for dinner with the Captain and the Warners. The Captain talked with
the Warners, feeling them out about admiral Irons and their connection. Taylor
had explained, laying out the story. Cora seemed impressed. Toni was busy
taking notes with her tablet. Her mother normally laid down the law about that,
no electronics at the table. For some reason she was allowing this.

The
captain sat back, stretching a bit. It was ironic, he had always avoided the
seniors, they told a lot of good stories but they were usually maudlin about
it. Good times. A golden age, things like that. Feelings that the best was
behind them and everything was downhill from here usually left him feeling lost
and depressed. He'd braced himself for that but they were surprisingly upbeat.

Taylor
grinned throwing the captain further off balance. “He's incredible. Drop him in
a star system with a couple of hundred people, some AI, a tug, a fusion reactor
and a class two industrial replicator and he'd have the system swarming in a
week. A month after that and he'd have a full on shipyard growing. Or at least
the beginnings of one. At the end of the year he'd have laid the first ship.”

“Impressive,”
Cora said, dabbing at her mouth with her napkin.

“He's
incredible. Even before he was injured.”

“How'd
that happen? I thought the implants... cybernetics were voluntary?” Cora asked.

The
exec looked at his father. Taylor Warner shook his head in amusement. “Irons
isn't the type. He was too busy even before the terrorist attack to take the
downtime. From what I heard they usually had to order him to take his
accumulated leave time. They'd lock him out and drop him someplace.”

“That
only happened once,” his wife said with a small smile. That surprised the
Chambers family. Rasha rarely ever spoke.

“And
from what I heard the admiral was up to his elbows in mischief despite it,”
Warner said with a laugh.

“True,”
his wife said with a small moue. The Captain and his wife looked from one to
the other in amused curiosity.

Taylor
waved a dismissive hand. “Long story. It boils down to that idle hands make for
the devil's work. He's brilliant when he wants or needs to be. He tends to look
at something and turn it on its head or follow the KISS principle. He calls
KISS the ultimate crap cutter.”

“KISS?”
Cora asked.

“Keep
It Simple Stupid,” the exec supplied with a small smile.

Cora
blinked and then her lips puckered in an amused smile. “Oh.”

“Engineers
are usually fond of making things overly complicated and horribly difficult to
run let alone repair. Irons isn't like that. He's a big fan of the modular
concept. A bigger fan of self repairing systems and an innovator. He has
several ship and station designs to his credit. Or should I say had.”

“You
were talking about his implants? Before?” Cora suggested, trying to get them
back on topic.

Taylor
shrugged. “Oh them. He's picked up injuries at different times in his career.
Pirates, terrorists, and the Xenos. Normally a person who is injured received a
cloned replacement part. The problem is it took weeks to grow parts, and months
sometimes to go through rehabilitation learning to reuse and dial the body part
in properly. When a hospital is swarming with wounded during a crisis such as a
war they tended to take short cuts.”

“Ouch,”
Cora said, eyes wide.

Taylor
nodded. “Yes well, it's only temporary for most of them. Something to at least
get them out and about until they can get the time to replace the parts. I'm
not sure of the full story, he hasn't told us you see, but apparently they
asked him to volunteer to try something new.”

“And
being an innovator he went for it?” The exec asked. “Dad?”

“I'm...
I'm not sure how much I can get into. Security and all,” Taylor said
cautiously, giving his son an apologetic look. The captain glanced his wife and
the exec in surprise. Security? At this time?

“I
know I know, it's been centuries, but somethings die hard. Habits and all. What
I can say is that the implants have stepped up his game exponentially.”

Taylor
Warner's eyes turned to the captain. “Captain. Give Irons his head and he'll
have this ship in tip top condition in next to no time. Give him a willing
group of people to train and they will know how to keep her up for the
next
seven centuries.”

“That
I'd like to see,” the captain said with a nod. “If it is possible. He was
finally getting over his anger and loathing at Irons. It's hard to be the
bigger man when Irons had already taken the honor.

“Oh
it's possible all right. Just give it time. Reserve judgment if you must. The
best we can do is try to live up to his example. The man really is a miracle
worker.”

“It's
part of being an engineer or being a doctor,” Taylor Warner said quietly with a
small smile. His wife smiled a little as she took a sip of tea.