Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (54 page)

“Cargo
bot,” Yvonne said. She pointed to the upended hover pallet nearby. There
weren't any boxes or equipment around it. The pallet like the bot had been
scavenged for parts. The power supply had been ripped out.

“How
are you getting anything without power?” she asked, looking down at the
admiral's arm.

The
admiral studied the situation. Someone had come along and scavenged here, which
was interesting. The question was what did they do with their ill gotten gains?
“I have my own power. You can tap something through a USB jack if you provide
the power,” Irons replied absently.

“Oh.”

“Not
much here. Simple bot. I've got an updated map,” Sprite said.

“When
was it deactivated?” Irons asked.

“Um...
about six centuries ago,” she said.

“Six?
Only six?” he asked. That answered that.

“Why?”
she asked. “I... yes that is significant. Pardon me. It indicates that the
station was active nearly a century after disappearing. Which begs the question
why, and why didn't it contact the planet?” Sprite asked. She was now genuinely
curious.

“And
what happened to the people on the station that survived. We'll find the
answers in administration,” Irons said, unjacking and straightening up. “Let's
find a terminal and see what we can see.”

Sprite
couldn't get into the station net after they docked despite Irons jacking in.
The best she could get was a tourist map. Each station they jacked into was
either off the net or smashed. Tapping into the station's ODN cables was a dead
end. She was rebuffed which surprised her. It was frustrating to the AI,
frustrating and very annoying. Each of the stops bothered the crew. They wanted
to move on, to keep moving. The death, dark, and oppressive feeling of the
station was wearing on their nerves.

“It's
like something is kicking me out. But it's cutting itself out of the net when
it does,” she said, sounding annoyed.

“How
so?” Irons asked. Yvonne looked at him.

“It's
like whoever is on the other end isn't bothering with a firewall. When I send
my initial ping out it cuts off a node in between me and the central net,”
Sprite explained.

“Oh.”
he frowned. That was odd; it was like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Why would... but that meant something was active didn't it? He thought.

“Yes.
I don't understand why.”

“Not
very welcoming,” Franko said looking around. “Maybe we should take the hint and
head back,” he said. “Grab what we can,” he said looking around. So far what
they had seen hadn't impressed him. There wasn't any loot to be had.

Irons
looked his way. The crew were nervous, they can hear odd sounds at random times
and the occasional puff of gas has them jumpy. The groaning of the station, the
dark, and the claw marks hasn't helped their mindset either. From the sound of
it the station's structure wasn't in good health. The sun and shade
differential probably didn't help. He didn't want to bring up structural
integrity. He didn't want a panic and mad dash for the launch.

 More
than one of the crew wanted to take off his helmet but Irons had told them that
if they did they would damn well
walk
home. Reluctantly they kept the
helmets on.

They
heard water running and dripping just before they rounded a corner and found
the leak. They found a corridor half filled with water, up to their knees. The
bot had hovered over it and passed through and kept going on its search. The
edge of the water lapped at their boots when they paused at the edge. Their
lights played out over the surface of the water. I was dark, fouled, and
contaminated by who knew what.

“Do
we have to go through here? Isn't there another way?” Adam asked. He was eying
the water nervously. His instincts told him to stay out of it.

“Unfortunately
yes. The detour on the map would take us quite a bit out of our way,” Sprite
informed them. Irons nodded. His scanners were getting through the water but
giving him an echo. He toed a box aside with his foot and then started forward.

“You're
in a suit. Don't worry about drowning. Just keep a cool head and watch your
footing. Take it slow,” he ordered.

They
had to wade through the water, down the companionway and around the corner,
passing floating bits. Fortunately it was only knee deep. The splashing of
their feet was distracting. Irons spotted the broken water line as they rounded
another corner. He went over to it immediately and crumpled the end of it until
the water flow dropped to a trickle. He felt Proteus use nanites to weld it
shut.

“Stay
sharp. Watch out for any cables. The water could conduct the electricity into
your suits,” Yvonne cautioned. Irons nodded as he turned back to them.

As
they moved he could feel things under him. It was hard to see where it was safe
to walk; the surface of the water was slick with different fluids. Hydraulic
fluids made swirls off to one side. He wondered if the air and exposure of
water had rusted some of the steel in the area.

“Stay
away from the walls and watch your footing. Anyone gets poked by something
sharp and reddish in color is in for a tetanus shot. Not something you want,”
Irons said. “Trust me.”

“Great,”
Adam said, rifle held up over his head. He waded through the water behind
Irons.

At
the end of the tunnel Irons found a closed hatch door and the waiting bot. He
frowned. The bot should have found another route. He looked at it and then the
door.

“This
is the shortest route to the others admiral. I had it wait,” Sprite said.

“Oh.
Now you tell me,” he said. He looked the door over until he found an access
panel. Fortunately it was above water. He reached over and started opening it
up.

“What's
the hold up?” Savo asked from the rear. Apparently he'd elected to play rear
guard.

“Door,”
Irons said over his shoulder. He glanced at the others. They were standing in a
column, shining their lights all over the place. “Someone keep an eye on the
ceiling. Check for any more leaks or holes,” he said as his hands pulled the
cover plate off and set it aside. It was important to keep the others busy
while he worked, if only for their piece of mind. He reached in and
disconnected the power cable and pulled it out. He plugged the generator on his
back into the cable and watched the door's control panel light up. “And we have
power. Door...” he frowned. According to the read out there was a vacuum on the
other side. That explained why the door was shut.

“Okay,
we've got a breach on the other side. A good one,” he said. He looked through
the port hole. His lights refracted off the glass. He shut them off and let his
eyes adjust. After a moment his right eye cycled to low light mode and his
scanners penetrated the glass enough to get a look. What he saw he didn't like.

“Okay,
definitely a breach. I'd say a two meter sized hole and the deck is gone.
Something punched right through the corridor at a diagonal. Just punched
through and kept going at a guess,” he said. The companionway was a colander,
filled with sharp looking floating debris. He had been tempted to just crack
the seal and open the door but that jagged debris changed his mind. It was just
too dangerous to chance it.

“Great.
Now what?” Franko demanded.

“Checking...
probe two has an alternate route,” Sprite said. The map changed and a blue line
traced its way from their present position back the way they came to the next
intersection and then took a different path from there. The bot passed them and
went on its way.

“Okay
people,” Irons said, unjacking the cable and turning. “You heard the lady. Back
that way,” he said pointing. “Hopefully that way's not blocked as well.”

“Pain
in the ass,” Savo muttered.

“Dem's
de break's mon,” a guard said with a shrug. Savo shook his head.

Savo
slowed as Irons paused at a corner. He looked back and then checked the map.
“Damn this is taking forever,” the chimp muttered.

“We're
getting there,” Irons said. They were in the ring still, not quite where he
wanted to be. The station was in disrepair, it probably reeked of different
smells and stains. He was glad the suit protected him from them. He could see
the read outs on his HUD though. Anyone alive in here must have lost their
sense of smell at birth.

Crud
was everywhere, on the walls, on the decking, the ceiling... he didn't want to
think about the monumental task of just trying to clean the place, let alone
restore it to its former glory. It might be easier to scrap the damn station
and start over from scratch.

“Are
we there yet?” Gus asked. Savo gave the kid an amused look. Over the kid's
shoulder he saw something. It took a moment for his eyes to focus on it and for
his brain to kick in and realize what he was seeing. It was an eye. Not a
Terran eye either, it was filmed over and had scales around the eye instead of
skin. After a moment it blinked and then narrowed. A second later and it was
gone.

“What
the hell was that?” he asked.

“What
was what?” Irons asked. He turned. Savo pointed over the kid's shoulder. Gus
turned to look.

“That.
I saw an eye. In the tube there,” the chimp said, sounding a little shaken.
Irons paused and then went over to the tube. His scanners caught something, a
heat source moving away.

“Definitely
something,” he said as the others looked at the dark tube warily. He shined a
light inside. There was no sign of whatever had been in there. It was a
maintenance tube, an access crawl way along an EPS conduit. The tube was named
a Jeffery’s tube for some archaic reason.

“Something
was definitely in there?” Yvonne asked.

“Whatever
it was it's gone now,” Irons replied. Cables were a tangled mess in there
further down. He had no intention of getting into such a confined space.

“Should
we follow?” Adam asked. Irons turned and picked up a broken cover plate.

“No,”
the admiral said, holding it up with one hand and then tacking it in place with
his right. Savo reached over and placed a palm on it to steady it.

“Thanks,”
Irons said, tacking all the sides. “Anything that comes here will be blocked.”

“Why
did you do that?” Gus asked.

“Because
I don't like something coming in behind us,” Irons replied. “Mind any open
access panels. We don't need anyone getting dragged off.”

“Great,
this just gets better and better,” Franko muttered. “I vote we return to the
ship. Screw this place,” he said, picking up a battered toy and then throwing
it down in disgust. “Waste of time.”

“Maybe.
Then again maybe not. Something is alive in here, we've confirmed that much.
Something that's not eager to meet face to face apparently,” the admiral said.
He turned to Yvonne.

“I'd
like to go on,” she said with a nod. Irons nodded.

“Then
we go on,” Savo said nodding. “I don't like the idea of something scaring us
off so easily,” he said.

“Haunted
house,” Adam muttered.

“What
was that?” Yvonne asked.

“Nothing
ma'am. Well...”

“Spit
it out Adam.”

“Well,”
he toed the deck for a moment and then sighed and shrugged. “See, I remember
watching this sitcom mystery thing a while back. Something about a neo great
dane and a bunch of kids. It was supposed to be a remake of an animated kids
show.”

“So?
Get to the point,” Yvonne said impatiently. Irons checked the other tubes
around them, tacking each.

“Well,
it was a weird program, I'm barely remembering it. Something about a blond guy
named Fred, a mousy woman named Velma, and a red head who kept getting into
trouble named Daph or Daphnie. There was another guy but I forgot his name.
Anyway,” he said as Yvonne gave him a dirty look. “They go around solving
mysteries. Most of it boiled down to someone in a monster suit trying to chase
off people from a place or area. Usually money or something was involved.”

“Oh.”

“They
used the cover of a monster to keep people at bay. Scare tactic,” Irons said.
“Bluff.”

“Exactly.”

“Interesting,”
Irons mused. “But not conclusive. It's a thought though,” he said. “Let's keep
going,” he said motioning them forward. “Right fork,” he said waving to Savo.
Savo stopped heading to the left and turned to the right muttering darkly. The
chimp paused and let the admiral pass him to take point.

“Where
are you guys at?” Barry asked, an hour into their exploring. Irons paused,
holding a hand up. The doors were a pain in the ass. They had been detoured
twice by closed doors. One door he'd been able to open, the other had been
blocked by debris on the other side. He wasn't sure why that last door they had
passed through had been closed. They had just finished getting through it when
Barry put the call in. Savo passed him to take point and then looked back. He
nodded.