Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  “Still...”

  “It's over and done with now dear,” Cora said. He looked at her scowling blackly. She cocked an eyebrow. Finally he relented.

  “I'm pretty sure we'll come out near the Antigua jump point. We may be an AU or two further out or in from it though. We'll know more when we start dropping speed.”

  “And that will be?” Blur asked.

  “In twenty seven and a half days,” she said.

  “Oh,” he said.

  “I've also discovered that nine of our sleepers are past the point of recovery despite anything we can do. They were placed in stasis in their clothing.”

  “Why is that a problem doctor?” Hir'ruk asked. He showed baffled confusion.

  Numiria sighed. “Because the clothing itself was contaminated. Irradiated in other words. They were thrown into the stasis pods before being stripped down. The radioactive objects continued to emit neutrons. Since the articles of clothing or in two cases skin suits were in contact with the patient's body for centuries... prolonged exposure has severely degraded their cellular system,” she explained, ears flat.

  “I thought...” Cora hesitated. “I thought stasis prevented that?”

  The doctor shook her head. “In normal circumstances it limits or slows the metabolic rate of the patient. Slowing it to an indefinite crawl. But it doesn't halt the life process. Nor does it protect the patient from exposure.”

  “Oh.”

  “Their DNA strands were hopelessly irradiated and fragmented. One of the skin suit wearers had her helmet irradiated. It did significant damage to her brain.”

  “Oh.”

  “We decided to end their suffering as peacefully as we can. I was going to talk to you about arranging memorial services,” the jackal said, looking at Cora. Her ears slowly returned to their alert status.

  Cora was uncertain. She looked at the captain. He shrugged a little. “I'll need their names to find out if they have any living relatives,” Cora said quietly.

  “I'll send you an e-mail,” the doctor murmured.

  “Thank you for trying doctor,” the captain said. The doctor looked away uncomfortably for a moment and then straightened her shoulders.

  “Is that all?” he asked after a long pause.

  “No.”

  “Continue then,” he said. The captain seemed to brace for the next bit of bad news.

  “On another happier note,” Numiria said, interrupting. “I've got some good news. Our first three sleepers are awake. Well, they are out of stasis anyway.”

  There was a murmur around the compartment over that new bombshell. Finally Mr. Warner interrupted with a throat clearing sound. When the room quieted he turned to her. “How are they doctor?”

  “Well. Or on their way to a full recovery,” she said, ears forward, tail wagging behind her in full show of her excitement.

  “That is good news!” Cora said, smiling radiantly. “How are they handling it?”

  “Mentally you mean?” The doctor asked, tail slowing and then drooping. Her ears went back. “That is an issue,” she said slowly. “Unfortunately they each have time shock even though they knew what they were getting into. I've asked my staff to look into treatment methods.”

  “Time shock,” Hir'ruk said showing surprise and concern. “Depression?”

  The doctor nodded. “That is one of the symptoms. One of the primary ones. Adjusting to the fact that most of your family is dead is a major shock to any mental state.” There was an awkward silence for a moment.

  “I wonder how the admiral is taking it,” Cora said quietly. More than one person looked at her in surprised concern.

  “I don't think any of us have ever thought of it,” Hir'ruk said, showing second level embarrassment.

  “I have. My parents have. They've gone through it as well of course,” Warner said softly. They turned to him. “I think finding someone from his own time period helps. It's helped them a bit. I know they've talked a few times since his arrival. It would help if he would take a bit more time off and just sit down with them and talk. I think it would do all of them a world of good.”

  “Could your parents help?” Numiria asked. “They have gone through this. I heard that establishing bonds helps. Finding living kin to bond with... getting into group therapy sessions and making new attachments will anchor them to our time and help them to adjust.”

  “I... I can ask. Mom's still having problems,” Warner said with a wince.

  “I'm working on it,” Numiria said, ears back. “I'm... I'm sorry; implant tech is a little out of my field.”

  “Do any of the sleepers have implants?” O'Mallory asked. Martha looked surprised at that question.

  “The older ones do,” Numiria said, checking her tablet. “None of the three I've awakened though. Why?”

  “Implants help to run a ship. Someone with implants can do the job of ten people when it comes to managing the reactor. I believe it's the same for some of the bridge stations too,” she said, nodding to Blackhawk and Esmay.

  “It's possible,” the doctor murmured. “I can look into it.”

  “Thanks,” O'Mallory said.

  “Can you do implants now?” Blur asked suddenly. They all turned to him. “I mean, not just for the crew but we could sell the services...”

  The crew turned back to Numiria expectantly. She squirmed a little and then sighed. “Unfortunately no,” she admitted. Faces fell around her. “It's beyond what we can do. I think.”

  “You can do basic level one implants,” Sprite interjected from the overhead. “That is a possibility with your new infirmary doctor,” Sprite said as they looked up. Her holo image appeared in the center of the table. Their eyes turned to that image. She looked around to each of them and then back to the doctor. Her holo image had her hands held behind her back.

  “You... level one?” Numiria asked, looking at her tablet to look it up.

  “Basic Ident chip implants doctor. They go into the right or left hand of the user. They allow basic access to some systems and allows the ship to track their movements on the ship,” the AI explained.

  “I'm not sure I like that,” Hir'ruk said quietly.

  “It's good for security,” Teela said. Her boss was still sick and Art was dealing with a family issue so she had been forced to attend this meeting. Doc had a handle on it now, but the Naga wasn't into meetings. Besides, he was recovering, or so he said.

  “I think we should look into it,” Cora said. She looked at her husband. He shrugged. He was uncomfortable with the idea, but it was interesting to regain something long thought lost. “Will it hurt?” Cora asked, looking at the AI and then to the doctor.

  “No,” Sprite said, looking over her shoulder to the woman and then turning to better see her. “Not at all. It's a capsule you take orally. When you go into your sleep cycle the nanites grow the implant and then self destruct.”

  “Nanites???” Blur practically shrieked, standing. Warner gave him a warning look.

  “Sit down,” O'Mallory ordered. Martha wrinkled her nose.

  “Nanites. Tiny robots. They are programmed to do a job and then they take themselves apart when it's done. You won’t even know they are dead even when you organics give off waste,” Sprite replied, sounding a little disgusted by the Telerite's near hysterics.

  The people around the table started talking. Most of the sentiment was against the idea. Sprite shook her head.

  “Organics. Honestly. Superstitious ignorant savages,” she said in disgust and winked out. That calmed the room down enough for them to express indignation over that commentary.

  “I...” Numiria had ignored the babble since she was engrossed in looking up the procedure on the tablet in her lap. She looked up and nodded. “She's right. It's a noninvasive procedure. Well, it's simple, if you can call that simple. Simple for Federation time I mean.”

  “I'll volunteer,” Warner said raising a hand. The exec snorted as everyone looked at him in surprise. He shrugged it off. “M
y family can handle implants remember?”

  “Right,” the captain nodded. “I'd prefer someone else though...”

  “The good thing about having implants is that some of the equipment we can't currently use without the admiral would come online. I wonder if he can give us keys?” Martha asked.

  “No,” Sprite said from the overhead. “Not unless you enlist. It's embedded in him.”

  “Oh,” Martha said, shoulders hunching again. “So much for that then,” she muttered.

  “I was expecting it miss. It had to be asked,” Sprite said. “The crew of the Io 11 had similar questions when they went through the procedure. I'm uploading an FAQ for you now,” she said.

  “Okay,” the captain said. He knocked on the table to get everyone's attention. When all eyes were on him he nodded again. “I suggest we educate ourselves a bit before we continue to react the way that we have.”

  “Knowledge is power,” Sprite said.

  “Thank you,” the captain said, looking up. He had just the hint of reproving exasperation in his voice.

  “Sorry captain,” Sprite murmured.

  “All right then. Let's break this up and get back to work. Same time Tuesday,” he said.

  “Thank you all,” Cora said as they got up.

  “Dismissed,” the captain said as they filed out.

  Numiria frowned at the display in front of her. She was in over her head, she knew it. She rubbed her brow and then flicked her tail against her thigh impatiently.

  “Problem?” Light Touch asked looking up.

  “You could say that.”

  “With a patient?” Light Touch asked, immediately concerned. She paused and then started coming over. She paused and then hopped up onto the desk. She looked at the display and frowned. It was a neural cortex, one of a human. “Is that an implant?”

  “Yes. The department heads want us to focus some of our efforts on recovering people with implants. I thought we'd start with the Warners.”

  “I see,” Light Touch said, studying the readings. “I see scaring,” she mused, fingers touching the imaging around the connective tissue.

  The doctor nodded. “I believe whatever knocked them both out was electrical in nature. Which is part of my problem. I don't want to tamper with replacing neural tissue. It's tricky to get it to incorporate and there are always issues with loss in motor control or in this case memory.”

  “I see...” The elf mused. She pointed to an area and enhanced it. “Damage to the speech centers...”

  “This is Mrs. Warner. She has trouble speaking for prolonged periods. Sometimes for days. From my experience she gives off classic stroke symptoms. They both do.”

  “A possible aneurism brought on by the electrical stimulation?”

  “Possibly. We just don't know.”

  “Do the implants themselves work?” The elf asked, turning to the doctor.

  “I... you know, I don't think anyone found out. I believe once the accidents happened they assumed they were burned out.”

  “They could access their implants and try to find out,” Light Touch suggested.

  “I think they did and it didn't work.”

  “It sounds like the neural pathway is broken. Or something in the hardware as well. It's military issue. Should we go digging into it?”

  “Why not?” The doctor asked, looking at the elf.

  “Because I was reading up on implant tech and military issue is an entirely different class than civilian grade. It has protocols protecting the user. Also protecting data they may hold. If we tinker with them we might trigger a booby trap. A suicide protocol.”

  “Oh,” Numiria said. Her eyes went wide as that statement echoed in her mind and registered fully. “OH!” she said looking down at the elf. “We shouldn't mess with them at all then!”

  “Maybe. Or we can ask Sprite to take a look,” Light Touch answered.

  “Sprite?”

  “Yes?” The AI said from the speaker. They looked at it.

  The doctor frowned. “I... this is doctor Numiria.”

  “I know doctor. What is the problem?”

  “I assumed you were listening in,” Numiria said slowly.

  “No, I was occupied with other matters. Also medical records are considered privileged. I try not to dabble too deeply,” the AI explained.

  “Ah, an AI with ethics,” Numiria said with a small smile.

  “I said I try doc, I don't necessarily succeed all the time,” Sprite said with an amused smile in her voice. “May I?” she asked.

  “By all means,” Numiria said, sitting back. “We're asking you to consult on...”

  “The Warners. I'm looking at the open file now doctor. I'm not sure how I can help you. I'm not a medical AI,” Sprite cautioned.

  “There were medical AI?” Numiria asked blinking. Her ears went back. She wasn't sure she liked that. Then again a medical AI wouldn't make mistakes would it?

  “We can generalize or specialize at it suits us. It's all in our programming doctor and how flexible we are. Some are more flexible than others,” Sprite explained absently. She digested the reports immediately of course but it took even her time to go over everything since she hadn't been programmed for medical purposes. She had to sift through the medical texts, identifying things and looking up the materials.

  “Oh.”

  “Implants. I see why you are interested. Military issue isn't something to dabble in for amateur’s doctor. Excuse me, doctors. Hello doctor Light Touch,” she said.

  “How did you know I was here?” Light Touch asked.

  “I guessed. I picked up your breathing through the microphone. Doc you really need a camera. This is annoying,” Sprite said. She didn't like communicating with just her voice.

  “I'll put it on my wish list,” the doctor said dryly. “About the implants? We had a concern about the military variable. Which is one of the reasons we brought you on board.”

  “I'm flattered. I suppose the only way to answer our questions is for me to access their implants. Which I'll need to do in person. In the form of the admiral I mean.”

  “The admiral...”

  “He'll need to jack in directly to which ever Warner you wish to start with. I suggest the lieutenant; he's in better shape physically. The ensign's neural damage is extensive. There is a great deal of scar tissue. Brain damage...” she sighed. She knew it would be painful for the admiral to deal with the situation but if he wanted to help them he'd have to get over that.

  Numiria blinked and then nodded. “I... yes. We can do that.”

  “If we're lucky his buffer was corrupted but his breakers took most of the damage before failing. Whoever did this is a nasty piece of work,” Sprite said in disgust.

  Numiria frowned. “I'm not certain of the circumstances of the injuries. I know that they jacked into something and it well...”

  “Bit them. Fried them. It did it's best to kill them. Had they been civilian they would have died,” Sprite replied.

  “I guess so,” the doctor said. Light Touch nodded.

  “I can prep for cloning if we need to,” Light Touch offered. “We have their genetic information on file since the doctor initiated the physicals. It will take some time to isolate the neural tissue we need to clone. We'll need samples as well.”

  “I suggest you bring the Warners in with the admiral. We might be able to do something about the damage,” Sprite said.

  “All right,” Numiria said with a nod. “I'll page them.”

  “I've alerted the admiral already,” Sprite said with an amused smile in her voice. “He's on a job. He'll be here in a half hour. Forty minutes tops he said.”

  “Thank you,” Numiria said with a nod. “We'll see you again then.”

  “Yes it would be nice to actually see you,” Sprite said dryly before the speaker clicked.

  The Warners smiled politely to the Admiral as he came to the hatch and knocked on the doorway. The doctor turned and nodded and waved him in. “You wan
ted to see me doctor?” the admiral asked. He'd told Taylor and Rasha to not pop and salute each time he entered. They were after all out of uniform.

  “I did. Or rather your body,” she said.

  He hesitated coming over. “I haven't quite had it put that forward before doctor. Okay not in a while anyway,” he said with a slight grin.

  Numiria froze and then looked down at the Warners who were laughing softly. The ensign was giggling, hand over her mouth. Numiria shook her head, ears flat against her skull in embarrassment. “Okay...”

  “What do you need doc?” Irons asked, sober now.

  “Throttling certain males would be a good start,” she grumbled. He just smiled at her. “You and my husband are entirely too alike in the humor department. I think we need to separate you two before it spreads any further,” she said firmly.

  “I think I've got him by date of birth actually doc,” Irons said with a smile.

  “What I'd like for you or more importantly your AI to do is check in on the Warner's implants. Which requires a direct connection,” she said. “Sprite told me we would need that.”

  “Ah,” Irons said with a nod of understanding, now completely sober. He looked at the two Warners who were looking back at him. “Who wants to volunteer?” he asked. They both knew the risks like he did.

  “I believe we wish to start with the lieutenant since he has the least amount of damage,” Light Touch interjected.

  “Okay,” Irons nodded. “I suggest in an exam room. With a crash cart standing by just in case,” he cautioned.

  The doctor looked uncertain. He held up a hand. “Purely a precaution doctor. We don't know what is in there. A virus of some sort maybe. I'd like to not trip any traps but you never know.”

  “All right,” she said nodding to Light Touch.

  “I'll see to it,” the elf said, hopping down and bouncing out.

  “How are the sleepers doing doc?” Irons asked.

  “We were just about to ask that,” the lieutenant said, getting up and then helping his lady get up. They were frail, withered with age but still stubborn enough to disdain helping hands from those around them. The ensign smiled lovingly to her husband, tucking his arm in his and then together they shuffled to the door. Taylor leaned heavily on his bamboo cane but apparently he could manage.