Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  “How much can you get done? I mean in the time allowed?” She studied Irons.

  “Tear down is easy. Running the power and life support properly will be interesting but we'll get it done. The frills?” He shrugged. “We might have to compromise if the schedule suffers. The fun part is going to be getting the compartment torn up and reworked to work better.”

  “Ah,” she nodded. More than one floor panel wasn't up to holding the weight of her equipment. They had marked each and knew to avoid them. Having that repaired would be great. They wouldn't have to worry about where they could walk or wheel equipment.

  “Fixing someone else's mess can be dirty and tricky doc. It takes a lot of time and patience. Which...” he shrugged. “We've got plenty of right now. Time I mean. Sixty seven days until we reach Antiguan space. Plenty of time.”

  “Okay,” Numiria said with a nod. “We'll start shifting now then. I'll take a load over to the other infirmary and wake them up,” she said.

  “How are we going to put all this in there? It's full too!” a Veraxin orderly asked.

  Numiria gave the Veraxin a look. “We'll make do. We always do.”

  “You could go through there and pick out the stuff to recycle beforehand. Make room and all,” Irons mused. “We're going to be doing that compartment next week. Or the week after anyway,” Irons said with a shrug.

  Numiria stopped packing a box and turned to stare. Irons realized the others were staring as well. He shrugged. “Something I said?” he asked innocently.

  “No,” Numiria said shaking her head. Her ears were forward. “No, not at all,” she said returning her attention to the box in front of her. “You're right. I just need to get used to the changes.”

  “Triage doc. Triage the equipment. We'll work on it. One step at a time,” he said, patting her on the shoulder as he walked out. She looked at his hand and then followed him with her eyes as he left.

  Unfortunately trying to shift everything in one shift turned out to be overly optimistic. It took four and a half shifts to clear out the sickbay, pull the equipment, empty out the store rooms, exam tables, lights and everything they wanted to salvage. Everything was cleaned out, from the nurse’s locker room and lounge to the doctor's office.

  What couldn't fit in the other infirmary was stored in storage nearby. When it was all done O'Mallory and a demolition crew moved in and started carefully pulling out the life support, power, and plumbing.

  Irons stood by, pouring over the new blueprint with the doctor and exec and making himself available if they ran into a sticky situation. Numiria was getting excited about the project, griping about some of the problems with her old office and wistfully smiling at what the new infirmary would be.

  Since they had cleared the storage bays and the deck space above and below the space already they had planned out a three deck infirmary with a cad program. The lower deck would be for imaging, office space, surgery, the locker room, full bath complete with showers, and the staff lounge. The second and actual main floor would be the largest. It would have the waiting room, triage center, treatment rooms, and around it more storage. In the back of the room would be a large elevator designed to shift patients on gurneys between floors.

  The third floor would be for rest and recovery. It would be set up in wards, since they didn't have the room for individual rooms. There were four wards with the duty nurse's station in the center. Small storage closets would be in between each ward to try to deaden some of the sound.

  With Proteus's help the plans went surprisingly easy. Proteus even generated wiring diagrams and plumbing plans for the crew to follow. O'Mallory was surprised by the simplicity of construction with blueprints. With the plans the AI generated a manifest. They had exactly what they needed to build the new infirmary from the materials they had recycled. With a little logistics juggling they had just the right parts on hand when they needed them and not too much that they crowded themselves and the surrounding area.

  Irons had even tossed in a couple of view screens and holo projectors for the doctor. He'd suggested a class room but they had unfortunately run out of room. Numiria didn't sound like the class room teaching type however. She preferred her people learned on the job with experience.

  When they were certain the construction supervisor and tradesmen knew their jobs O'Mallory went back to keeping an eye on the ship's overall health and checking in with other projects going on all over the ship.

  Irons hinted to Numiria and the staff about the medical database Sprite had uploaded. Numiria hadn't been interested at first; but when she caught one of her orderlies looking up a disorder it had intrigued her.

  As new equipment rolled out she asked for training on the equipment she had no experience with. Irons did his best but sometimes all he had was the tech manual to go off of. He was no medic even though he had an associates in medicine. He hadn't applied a lot of the knowledge he'd gained in the high school class so he lost most of it over time. He had a bit of residual memory of a few things but the science of medicine changed since he'd taken the course eight hundred and some odd years ago.

  During their discussions they would sometimes get off topic but it was enjoyable for him and for her. When they installed the bioreactor and cloning equipment that had shocked her.

  “Doc, I realize you don't have experience, but there is a great deal of information in the database. I suggest you take a look when you can spare the time,” he suggested as they made the final connections.

  “You don't understand. With this we can... we can heal so many of the people in stasis!” Numiria was ecstatic.

  “I know doc,” he said with a nod. That had been part of his plan after all, he just hadn't mentioned it because he didn't want them to get their hopes up... and he didn't want to run into any resistance from the captain. The nurses nearby were looking up at her. They exchanged looks. The air took a general feel of excitement and anticipation.

  “Okay, let's see here. You wanted to know the basics of cloning. Let's see how much I've remembered from high school health class doc.” He smiled at her expression. He started laying it out, leaning heavily on the bookmarked passages from the encyclopedia Galactica Sprite had helpfully pulled up for him on his HUD. Some of it he remembered from his own experience with the doctors dealing with his own injuries but a lot came from the layman's knowledge he had on hand.

  As the staff picked up the data... he was pretty sure they were soaking it up like a sponge which was amusing. They could access this anytime they wanted but again, they learned by experience. They started into a rather lively discussion of cloned tissue replacements over implants.

  He explained tissue basics to the medical staff and those interested. “See, you use ECM structures and stem cells harvested and force split from the patient to form replacement parts. By applying a stimulant you induce the stem cells to fission in a controlled growth pattern. You can find the directions in the files.”

  “But...”

  “Doc, I suggest you give it a test whirl. Start with something simple. There might be labs in the files, I don't know. Try a recipe, but start with something small like skin. Build up your confidence in the equipment and then try something tougher when you become familiar and more confident in the system.”

  “Okay,” Numiria said with an ear flick and nod. “Sounds good.”

  “We've built a bioreactor for you. I'd like to do another but unfortunately we don't have the material or the room. If the stasis pods were emptied then...” He shrugged and spread his hands as she nodded in understanding.

  The stasis pods were in bays under the infirmary's lower floor. Unfortunately they couldn't do anything about that space; the pods couldn't be moved or disturbed. Their contents were too delicate.

  “Now, the bioreactor is a simple piece of equipment that has been around for over a thousand years. What it does is it mimics the body of the patient to allow the tissue to grow at an accelerated rate,” he explained.

  “Usual
ly it takes about two weeks to grow an organ. It really depends on the species and how complex the organ is and what you have to start with. That is if you don't have to repeatedly stop to induce additional cellular fission mitosis and other factors.”

  “Yes but what does it do? It looks like a box,” a nurse said, wrinkling her nose. It was a cube about a meter high on top of a cabinet. The lower cabinet had an emergency power supply and material containers for the reactor. A heat exchanger was on top. Getting that sorted out had required a bit of shifting of the life support but Proteus had anticipated the usage of the equipment in the plan.

  Irons rested his hand on the green reactor casing. There were controls along the right side and a series of doors hinged to the left side. If someone didn't know any better it looked a bit like a microwave. An oversized one with a lot more controls but a microwave. “It's not a reactor like the fusion reactor. What the reactor does is provide warmth, high oxygen or other atmosphere and nutrients to stimulate the tissue to grow, filling in the voids in the ECM and forming the tissue pattern you want.”

  “Oh.”

  “We can replicate some tissue structures with nanites. Most notably ECM. A medical replicator can churn out ECM that is sterile by the bucket load. But to avoid tissue rejection you use harvested cells from the patient themselves. You really only need a small amount. Of course the more there are the better and faster the process goes.”

  “So we can clone my brother's hand?” An orderly asked.

  “What happened to his hand?” Irons asked turning to him.

  The orderly made a face. “Engineering accident a couple of years ago.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah. He gets along without most of the fingers but...”

  “It's a pain. Okay, yes, if I remember from the literature and my limited experience in health class, if you treat a fresh wound with a powdered ECM it will stimulate regeneration. Basically the body regenerates instead of forming scar tissue. But it has to be under the right conditions and before the scar tissue is formed. For him a tissue replacement is in order. The doctor can sample his tissue and then force grow a replacement digit. Or digits in this case.” He wiggled his fingers.

  “Ah,” the nurse said. The orderly nodded.

  “I would prefer you start with something a little easier actually,” The doctor said slowly.

  “What me?” The nurse asked surprised.

  “You've the incentive to learn it right?” Numiria asked. The nurse nodded. So did the orderly.

  “It's best to learn to walk before you can run. Or in this case crawl before you can walk. I suggest you start looking over the additional materials Sprite has uploaded for you.”

  “I have?” Sprite asked amused. He cocked an eyebrow.

  “Okay, I am now. How’s that?” she asked. He saw files flutter across his HUD to a Red Cross symbol.

  “Better. Please flag the tutorials if there are any. And any video recordings for them,” he ordered. Numiria seemed relieved at that.

  “Done,” Sprite said after a moment.

  “What did they start with before?” the nurse asked.

  “Back when cloning and regeneration was first making major break throughs they started with simple structures. Ears if I remember correctly,” Irons said with a shrug.

  “You are correct admiral,” Sprite said sounding amused again.

  “It's in the historical database or in the preamble in the cloning documentation Sprite uploaded. I skipped some of it over for brevity's sake. Check it out. I suggest regenerating something similar. Perhaps skin for a burn victim if one is available.”

  “Well, we don't have a burn victim that lost an ear but we do have Charlie and Barney. Both of whom lost their ears in a bar fight...” Doc mused. “I'll look into this.” Her ears were forward as she stared down at the tablet in her hands.

  “Doc you know damn well he's just going to go get it torn off again,” an orderly sighed, shaking his head. The Veraxin nurse chittered an affirmative.

  “He hasn't the other yet.”

  “No, but he will eventually. Then he'll have a matching set.”

  “Well, if we fix it maybe the pain of fixing it will get him to sober up some?” She looked up from the tablet to stare challengingly at her staff. After a moment they shrugged uncomfortably.

  “Good luck with that doc,” the nurse said shaking her head mournfully. “You've got as much luck with that as getting to the head of the lunch line before...” she shrugged. “Never mind. Do you want me to assist in this?”

  “If you please,” the doctor said with a nod.

  “Then I suppose I'll need to read up as well,” she sighed. “Fine,” she shook her head and fluffed her hair. “Can you send me the links?” she asked, turning to the admiral.

  “Sure.”

  It took the better part of twelve days, but on the thirteenth day they had a grand re-opening ceremony that was attended to by the bemused captain and Cora. Cora made a lot of approving noises as they walked around in the tour. The captain tried to look suitably impressed. He was a bit out of his element and unsure how to react to it all. Toni following along with a video camera didn't help. It did keep him on his best behavior though.

  The new infirmary was clean, white washed and neat. The floor was tiled with a green linoleum product that was easy to clean and self repairing. The ceiling had a drop ceiling covering all the duct work above.

  Cameras were in the corners of each room. The nurse's station on each floor had a bank of monitors. Some showed the camera views but most were set up to report the patient's vitals.

  In the corner of the wards was a LCD screen. Irons apologized when he pointed out the small size. He told them that they could upgrade to a larger screen size when they had the time and material.

  “Oh my, a bathroom?” Cora asked, looking inside. She smiled politely and then looked at the doctor. “No more trying to find an unused refresher to get cleaned up I take it?” she asked.

  Numiria smiled slightly and flicked her ears and then nodded. “That's the idea,” she said. She didn't like the ultrasonic shower but she didn't mind the water. The massage feature was nice. She'd have to get Lobo in there sometime when they had a slow day. The thought of them taking a shower together made her smile even more.

  The biggest hit with the staff at least equipment wise was the bug zapper. Really it was a glorified cleaner. A cylinder about a meter tall, the user loaded it from the top and then closed the lid. The utensils inside were bombarded with ultrasonic’s to clean them, and then a microwave baked them for a few minutes to sterilize them.

  The first time they had used it Numiria had been sure she was going to howl and that her teeth were going to fly out of her mouth. If the ultrasonic’s bothered her so much they were pure torture to Blur the cargo master. The Telerite hadn't been happy over all the changes, he had kept up a bitter rant about cost, but he had cleared the decks in quite a hurry when someone had “accidentally on purpose” turned the bug zapper on. The captain had shaken his head and commented about not ever having seen a Telerite move so fast in his life.

  People stopped in to see the changes over the following week while Irons and his merry band turned their attention on the other infirmary. Numiria complained about the attention to O'Mallory who just shook her head and rolled her eyes at the griping.

  ñChapter 10

  O'Mallory was impressed and amused by Iron and his impromptu classes. Irons peppered his work crews with training and held hour or sometimes two hour long courses when he was supposed to be resting. He was even approached at meals now. She had watched him take it all in stride, never complaining or storming off. He was a good teacher, she liked that about him.

  When she found out the AI has been uploading classes and material she took a look when she had a free moment. It was fascinating reading. Since the ship was 45 days out from exiting hyper and was running better than ever she kept a tablet with her and sometimes pulled it out to read an article
or two while waiting on something or other. It was something she enjoyed now when she had to use the refresher.

  Other people in her department as well as friends started to take notice and asked what she was doing. She absently told them. After a day there was a run on the computer files, overloading the servers. It spilled over into the other systems so much so that Ops called to ask what was going on.

  She was a bit sheepish and amused when she explained to the annoyed Veraxin. To placate him she had her electronics techs set up a secondary server system for all the knowledge the AI had uploaded.

  The admiral paused, looking at the captain and cargo master. O'Mallory was standing there as well, looking seriously pissed. He caught sight of the captain's wife behind them all.

  “Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt,” he said with a wave. “I'll come back when you are free chief,” he said waving a tablet. They had finished the second infirmary yesterday and he was now onto his next project.

  “No no, you're fine here admiral. Really,” Cora said waving. “I think we're about done here,” she said, looking from her husband to the cargo master and then finally settling on the chief engineer. The look she shot the chief was sympathetic. O'Mallory's jaw set and she looked away, clearly fuming.

  “Okay... We've got infirmary two sorted out chief,” he held up the tablet. “Doc is moving in as we speak. Since the space was the original ship's infirmary it was easier to clean up and repair.”

  “Ah,” Cora said, looking at the tablet. “May I see that?” she asked, holding her hand out for the tablet. Irons handed it over. She looked down at it. “What am I looking at again?” she asked, brows knit.

  “Most of the list doc put together. Page two is what was left out. We'll have to see about that later,” Irons explained.

  “See, that's just the problem. This replication has got to stop!” Blur said, waving his hands. Irons cocked his head. He looked at O'Mallory.

  “We're about done with what we can handle right now. I think we'd all like to do more but we're limited on material I believe.”