Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (115 page)

"We'll
see about that," he said picking up the phone.

The
admiral read a report and snorted. Sprite saw his slight levity and took a look
at what he was looking at. “Eternia? Why are you so interested in some ground
side city admiral?”

“It's
not just the city, it's the people. Some of the Kiev people went there.”

“Scanning,”
Sprite said, checking her files. She came up with several names prominently
among them were the Prince family. “The prince family? What about them?”

“I'd
hoped they would make the jump to the military. Oh well,” Irons sighed leaning
back in his chair. Things were just about where he wanted them with Phoenix. A
bit more fine tuning and they would be off.

“You
were hoping they'd join the military?” Sprite asked, sensing the opening. “The
son doesn't strike me as Navy admiral. According to his file he's lazy,
spoiled, narcissistic...”

“What
do you base that last on?”

“The
heavy body building. He's was frequently reprimanded for working out and being
late to work or calling off.” Irons grunted. “But you saw something more?”

“I
only met the young man a few times. There is something, I don't know, something
of a hero in him. If he'd get that spoiled streak out of his head. He'd make a
pretty fair marine. The same for Teela.”

“Teela?”
Sprite asked and then nodded on his HUD. “A marine possibly or a Fed special
agent with a bit more seasoning. She seems okay, handy in a brawl but she tends
to take the straight view and break heads over using her own.”

Irons
smiled. “Which is why others fear her. Which means the next altercation she
gets into they won't test her.”

“Interesting
observation you've made there. Something from personal experience?” Sprite
asked. Irons snorted.

“Something
like that. I like her father, nice guy.”

“A
bit old to be a marine admiral,” Sprite replied, pulling Duncan's bio up. The
mustached MP's image came up beside her avatar on his HUD. He waved it away. He
didn't need to see the man to know what he looked like. “Sorry,” Sprite
murmured. “You are most likely correct, but his personal attachment to the
Prince family will deter him from ever signing up.”

“True,”
Irons sighed. “What really bothers me...”

“Yes?”

“The
whole stupidity of it all. Not just that they wont
let
me recruit, that
no
one, no one at all,
is interested in signing up. No one,” he said in
disgust, flicking the stylus in front of him off the desk bloater.

Sprite
registered his not quite despair in that remark. He was clearly frustrated, so
was she. She took a moment, a full second to think over her response before she
gave it. “I agree admiral, it is odd. However Pyrax had different things going
for it when we were there. One the external threat of Pirates. Two the recovery
of Firefly and the other derelicts, and three the capture of the pirate task
force. All of those factors made it much easier to get recruiting underway.”

“I
think you are forgetting a few people there Commander,” Irons sighed. “But
you've got a point.”

“Oh?
The Logans? True. They and the others served as an excellent core. Admiral I
strongly suggest we go back there and get things back on track.”

“The
situation hasn't changed there Sprite, or at least not enough.”

“Well
admiral, if history has proven anything it is that we never really know what
changes the future may bring us. Hopefully the Horathians don't serve the
people here a bad wake up call. And hopefully someone is around when they do
wake up to help them,” she pointed out gently.

“But
not us. Not now,” Irons growled.

Fu
frowned, studying the calligraphy in front of him. He was kneeling before the
ancient table; the scroll was in front of him, the past rolled up carefully and
neatly. The future was unwritten and ready. He held a paint brush in his hand,
poised to use it. He was still, his body forgotten. Normally he'd be happy with
this, happy about being at peace but unfortunately he wasn’t, his mind was in
turmoil.

It
all came back to the admiral. Why was he doing this? Why did he help them? He
didn't take over, which Fu had assumed that was what he had planned. Indeed all
his plans had been put in place against that eventuality. Now they were going
off... he frowned.

Irons
was an odd man. He'd let his assumptions blind him. He hadn't done his homework
on his opponent, something truly stupid of him. He was certain Irons hadn't
made the same mistake. Oh he had made mistakes, but not like that. He truly was
getting old if he was underestimating an enemy like that so easily. Irons
wouldn't make mistakes like that. Missteps in the game.

But
he
was
making a mistake now. He was leaving. Again why? Was it for show?
Or did he truly believe what he said about the pirates?

The
references to the cyber dreamers haunted him. He frowned, looking down at the
paper in front of him. He glanced at the gloriously simple Baku pictogram to
his right and then to the empty spot before him. What to do?

What
Irons, what most of the other cyber
didn't
know was that it was not so
simple as they thought. The past was imperfect. When the pirates had attacked
they had taken what they wanted but Draco and the others had fended them off.
The others had wanted to return to their post, to rebuild and protect Antigua.

He
and a few others of the peace faction had needed time and a position of
strength to sway the undecided votes on the council. They had to see reason and
in time he knew they would. He'd done an incredibly shameful thing, he'd
resorted to force.

Oh
not physical force, not in the way that the admiral and his kind used. No, what
he and the others had done was something more simple and subtle. A little cyber
jujitsu. They denied their enemy in this case Draco and the other engineers a
chance to sway the others.

His
hand shook slightly, still holding the brush. His left hand tightened in his
lap. What he had done had to be done, but it had cost them dearly. Oh so
dearly. He hadn't known, how could he of known? How? But it had cost them. He
closed his eyes in pain.

He'd
done it. He'd used his access as the station CEO to distract a few, easily
enough. Someone was needed to maintain the station and keep an eye on the
repairs of course. Draco and the engineering faction of course, that was their
job. Easily handled. Then when they realized the crucial meeting was underway
they had tried to barge in. And he and his followers had sprung the second
trap.

They'd
fought of course, something he hadn't expected but now regretted not seeing. At
the time he'd thought of himself superior, that it was proof that they were in
the end violent and deserved what they had gotten. What a fool he had been!

When
the other councilors had walked into the trap they had been cut off. Cut off
from the net, from their senses, everything. Trapped, to use the martial arts
expression, using their own force against themselves, thus undoing the
attacker.

In
cutting them off though he had done the unthinkable, he had driven them insane.
An organic mind needed constant stimulus, an AI mind as well. They needed it to
function, an anchor. He hadn't thought of that. It was the primal fear of every
AI, of every sentient ever hooked up to be cut off and lost and alone in their
own mind. Trapped in a powerless body. Oh how he should have remembered that!

He'd
come to realize what an error he had made when they had released them after the
vote. He had expected accusations, expected an argument but to his surprise
there had been none. Just a maniacal giggle and they were gone. Scattered to
the far corners of the net.

His
eyes opened. Slowly he drew the pictogram of Draco. Draco had found out of
course. He knew. He had acted, cutting off Fu's ability to ever touch the
insane ones again. He had raged at Fu, in private though. Which was why when they
had proven their insanity he was helpless to act.

His
eyes closed again in familiar pain. Yes. He'd made a terrible error. One that
many, all too many paid for with their lives. He regretted that. Regretted it
deeply. But it was his burden, his cross to bear.

He
hadn't anticipated Draco's response either. The cold way the AI had cut off
support, had stopped repairs and cut him and the others off from the station.
The AI couldn't undo what had been done but had been determined to prevent it
from ever happening again. And in so doing the AI had further tied his hands,
preventing him from doing what was right.

None
of them had known that Draco hadn't been insane. Not then. Perhaps never but
again, the past was done; Draco was gone as if he had never existed.

None
of the others knew. One by one most of the peace faction involved in the trap
had died or gave up hope and lost themselves in dream. And he, HE! He had been
forced to cut them off. To kill his friends. The admiral didn't know that
agony. That pain. No. He was certain that the admiral killed without remorse.
It was after all in him.

But
that was the rub. It was in him again. In him. He opened his eyes. A drop of
paint had fallen onto the wrong spot. No matter. A flick of a thought and the
drop was gone, as if it never existed.

His
wife's actions haunted him. She had never spoken out against him. Never in all
this time together. Now she supported Irons. He could see it in her eyes. She
hadn't come out again and said it, but she did. He didn't know what to do. He
didn't know if he could do anything.

“Like
a leaf in the wind,” he murmured and bent forward to paint once more.

Sparks
looked up to see a familiar male approaching. He waved the admiral over and
then poked his partner. Freeze looked up in annoyance and then turned as Sparks
pointed to Irons. “Admiral!” he said with a welcoming smile. Irons turned
around. “Over here!” Sparks said, waving.

“Something
I can do for you gents?” Irons asked, smiling politely as he strolled through
the light crowd. People parted around them, too busy on their own tasked to
realize who was in their way.

“Are
you really going sir?” Freeze blurted out without thinking.

Irons
sighed. He'd heard that same question a lot lately. He nodded. “It looks that
way.”

“Too
bad. I was looking forward to becoming a yard worker,” Sparks said.

“Yard
dog,” Irons murmured. “We call them yard dogs.”

“Oh,”
Sparks wrinkled his nose.

“Old
story,” Irons replied with a smile. “You can still build a small yard or
servicing station.”

“We
can?” Freeze asked, looking at his partner with wide eyes before turning his
stare on Irons. “How?”

“Save
up your money. Come up with a plan, get some investors and then build a small
place. A dock or something. Take on odd jobs like fixing stuff for other people
or fixing ships when they come into port. When you've got enough expand.”

“Is
it possible?” Sparks asked. He rubbed the back of his head. He was just a
techie; he didn't know anything about business.

“Talk
to your families. It's possible. Talk to your friends. See if any of them are
interested or interested in investing in the project. In fact look up a neo
couple, Savo and Petunia. They are a primate EVA tech and a security sector
chief with too much time on his hands who might be interested in helping. There
is another pair, um,” Sprite helpfully put the names up on his HUD for him.
“Yeah, a pair of neochimp welders, Howi and Shari. Both are pretty cool and
might be interested. Get some of the council interested like the Warners and
have someone with business skills and you'll be able to pull it off.”

“Thanks,”
Freeze said with a nod.

“I
can have Sprite send you a build plan. A simple one if you are interested in
it.”

“Really?”
Freeze asked shocked. “Sure! I mean wow that would be all right!”

Sparks
rolled his eyes and pointed his thumb at his friend. “Don't mind him, stars in
his eyes,” he said.

“We
all get that way sometimes,” Irons said with a nod and small smile. “Now, if
you'll excuse me I've got a date with a replicator.”

“Thanks
admiral,” Freeze said. He reached out with one hand. Irons paused and then
realized he was offering a hand to shake. He shook the man's hand, and then
Sparks.

“Keep
working hard, keep looking forward. One step at a time gentlemen, don't get
discouraged if things don't work out the right way at first. Keep plugging,” he
said.

“Thanks
admiral. We'll try,” Freeze said, looking at his partner. Sparks nodded firmly.

“That's
all I ask. That and take care of each other and your families. If I don't see
you again, good luck and safe haven.”

“Fair
sailing sir,” Sparks said soberly, waiving as Irons left.

“Now
there goes a class act.”

“Who's
really getting shafted. After everything he did for us. That sucks,” Freeze
growled, turning and kicking a can. The can clattered down the corridor.