Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  The admiral got out of their way and followed with the doctor.

  “We've awoken twelve so far. We've had to well... write off ten so far. One we lost. Nine others that were too far irradiated to recover. I'm holding off on about two hundred patients who are beyond my ability to help,” Numiria explained quietly.

  “Okay...”

  “The twelve are doing well. We have them together as they work through their recovery. So far so good.”

  “I won’t ask for details doctor. I was just interested in the project.”

  “Will you consider joining the group therapy?” Numiria asked as they saw Light Touch come out of a room and stand attentively near the door. The Warners steered themselves toward it and her.

  “I'm a little busy doctor,” Irons said demurely.

  “I have nothing better to do,” the lieutenant said looking over his shoulder to them. “We'll help,” he said patting his wife's arm. His wife nodded.

  “How did this happen?” Irons asked.

  “Virus,” the lieutenant said with a snarl. “The captain of the time asked us to look into a defense sat for a colony. It was a contract. They wanted to get the satellite back online since it had an onboard antimatter reactor.”

  “Ah,” Irons said in understanding. “Fueled?”

  “Yes,” the lieutenant said. He groaned as he helped his wife into a seat. “Damn I hate getting old.”

  “Peter Pan complex,” Irons teased.

  “Don't joke about it until you've tried it admiral,” the lieutenant growled. He looked over his shoulder to Irons as he rubbed the small of his back. “No offense sir.”

  “None taken,” Irons said, hand up.

  “Anyway, we where jacking in when we got slammed. It seemed they neglected to tell us the thing had been set up by a paranoid nut job. We didn't have time to show our implant signature. The damn thing fried us on the spot. I only caught the corona; Rasha took the brunt of it.”

  “Ouch.”

  Taylor turned a guilty look at his wife. “My fault. I should have taken lead,” he said feeling guilty all over again. His wife shook her head firmly. One withered hand stroked his cheek. He rumbled a sigh. “Okay so you were the better cybernetic tech. I still...” she shook her head even more firmly than before. He sighed again. “Okay. You win. You're right it's over and done with now,” he said.

  He caught the youngsters look and snorted. “Old argument. It helps when you already know the script,” he said. Irons hid his amusement.

  Irons waited until they were seated in the room. The lieutenant took a seat on the exam table. The ensign sat nearby. Irons watched as the staff hooked up monitors to the lieutenant and then came in. “Are you ready lieutenant?” he asked.

  “Do you want a chair admiral?” An orderly asked.

  “No,” Irons said shaking his head. He held out his right hand. The lieutenant took it and shook it.

  “Thank you admiral. Whatever happens, thanks.”

  “We'll do our best. Right Proteus?”

  “Wait, Proteus?” Doctor Numiria asked behind him. Irons turned to look at her over his shoulder. He smiled.

  “Sprite is my adjunct. She handles data, software and other tasked. Proteus is my engineering AI. So,” he said nodding to the lieutenant as he laid back and got comfortable. “I'll be jacking into your cerebral implants directly. Hopefully you won’t feel anything,” he said.

  “Hopefully,” the lieutenant said, wincing as the admiral took a universal cable up off the nearby tray and plugged into a port on his arm. Irons held the other end of the cable up. “Last chance to back out lieutenant,” he said.

  “Just a second.” The lieutenant got up and kissed his wife long and thoroughly. She smiled beautifully at him, stroking his cheek. He looked into her eyes for a long moment before Numiria cleared her throat.

  “Okay,” the lieutenant said, climbing back onto the table with some difficulty. “I'm ready now,” he said, settling in.

  “All right then,” Irons said. He plugged the jack in and felt Proteus and Sprite leap.

  Data was flowing through the cable; he could feel Defender slamming up firewalls. After a moment there was a fast request from Defender and the third AI entered the lieutenant. Irons cocked his head.

  “What?” Light Touch asked.

  “All three AI are in the lieutenant. Apparently something is amiss,” he reported.

  “Should we unplug?” Numiria said reaching for the jack. She blinked as what he said registered. Three? Three AI?

  “I ffeeeeellll wiiierd,” the lieutenant said and then seemed to relax explosively. After a moment his eyes fluttered and then lowered. The doctor looked at his readouts and then back to him. “He's out. Unconscious. Odd.”

  Irons felt helpless, he was out of the fight and was an observer like the other organics in the room.

  Proteus focused on the hardware damage as the other AI focused on the software. Nanites flowed through the cable into the body of the lieutenant.

  “The damage is extensive,” Defender said. The security AI was handling the security overrides, holding the Cerberus program at bay and keeping it from lobotomizing the lieutenant.

  “Software and hardware. Whoever set this up was thorough and sadistic,” Sprite responded. “Memory is trashed.”

  “On it,” Proteus responded. Fortunately the lieutenant had a standard junior officer's class implant. The memory was melted down in seconds and then reformed into new hardware.

  “Thank you,” Sprite said, loading files. “Firmware?” she asked.

  “Firmware firewall had held but was cut off from the rest of the net by a malfunctioning UART,” Proteus responded before Defender could. They knew something of the implants had survived since the Cerberus program had activated the moment they had jacked in. That was why Defender had been drawn into the mess. “The UART was the first thing I fixed,” it said.

  “Which is why I am here,” Defender responded. When Proteus had repaired the UART the firmware embedded in the lieutenant had activated a suicide Cerberus despite Sprite's key. He however had the override to the override. “Firmware is reset. I am withdrawing,” he replied.

  “Thank you,” Sprite said, feeling the AI retreat to the background.

  “Breakers are repaired. Power systems were destroyed. I am rebuilding them now,” Proteus reported. Nanites flowed through the body of the lieutenant. “Does the admiral wish to repair cellular damage as well?”

  “No. Focus on the implants for now,” Sprite stated. “But log the damaged tissue. The organics can deal with it,” she ordered.

  “Tissue damage to the bridge is extensive,” Proteus reported. “I'm not a medical AI. I've repaired some of the damage. There will be bandwidth issues.”

  “I've done what I can. Are you finished?” Sprite asked.

  “Withdrawing. I will wake the patient,” Proteus reported.

  Sprite felt the human's consciousness awaken. She felt it fumble around in confusion before settling. She reached out and touched the old man's linkage. She felt his pain receptors flare and shook her virtual head. It wasn't complete agony but accessing his implants would be painful for the lieutenant. It was something they would have to work on.

  “Can you hear me Lieutenant Warner?” she asked through the link. He gurgled a reply.

  “Please focus your efforts on the linkage,” Sprite informed him. “Focus your thoughts. Concentrate.”

  “Yes,” he said slowly through the link. “It hurts,” he finally ground out.

  “I know. How about this?” she asked, sending a signal to his visual cortex. He blinked and then clumsily used the mouse pointer she had put up in his vision to draw an N.

  “I'll take that as a no. You are lucky lieutenant,” she said. He winced. “I am withdrawing so you can heal.”

  “Well?” Irons asked as he felt first Proteus and then Sprite return.

  “Mission is a partial success,” Proteus responded as the lieutenant gurgled. Irons looked do
wn at him.

  “Partial?” he asked, concerned for his friend. He felt Sprite return fully a few seconds later.

  “Yes,” she reported. “He has auditory and data damage. His IO needs repair. His visual cortex implants seem functional. The tissue around his implants have been inflamed again so he will need time for it to heal.”

  “Something is better than nothing,” Irons said.

  “Or death,” Sprite replied. Irons looked at the others. The lieutenant had fallen asleep again.

  “He's okay,” he said turning to the others. “Or should be. The implants have been repaired but there is tissue damage. Scar tissue. He's probably in some pain so it's best he sleep it off.”

  “Headache,” the lieutenant mumbled. Numiria leaned over and administered an analgesic for him.

  “That's to be expected actually,” Sprite said from the admiral's arm. “He has some damage to his auditory sensors. That is the cause of his pain. Keep an eye out for inflammation please.”

  “I will,” Numiria said with a nod.

  “And next,” Irons said, removing the jack and smiling to the Ensign.

  “Admiral, I've logged damage to the lieutenant. A report is in your inbox,” Proteus reported. “It should be repaired by the doctor.”

  “Okay,” Irons said. “Doc, you've got a file coming your way. Tissue scan from Proteus. Damaged tissue to repair.”

  “I'll have Light Touch look into it,” she said with a nod to the elf. The elf looked up from the foot of the bed and then nodded.

  The ensign was set up on an exam table next to the lieutenant's. She was made as comfortable as she could be before the admiral jacked in.

  The procedure went quickly, now that they knew what to expect the AI moved quickly and orderly. Instead of immediately repairing the IO and triggering the self destruct Proteus went to work on other areas of the ensign, repairing everything up to the UART damage. When the damaged memory was repaired Sprite moved in with a firmware emulator to load the software.

  “Almost done,” Proteus reported. “Repairing the UART now. Be prepared for a Cerberus attack,” it reported.

  “On it,” Defender stated bluntly, setting up a virtual firewall. He started pinging the UART.

  “What are you doing?” Proteus asked.

  “Sending the recognition signal.”

  “I will focus my efforts on the receive side first then,” Proteus said.

  “Do that,” Defender said.

  The Cerberus program erupted when the UART was fully functional but as quickly as it came to life it settled back down into dormancy when the handshake protocol registered.

  “Finished with implant repair. The ensign requires a competent nano surgeon to repair the brain damage remaining,” Proteus reported over the admiral's speaker.

  “We've done what we can. The rest is up to you in other words,” Sprite said as the AI withdrew.

  “All right,” Numiria said. She stared at the ensign.

  “With treatment and time she will recover. How far is anyone's guess. She is better off than she was before. I believe the Ensign was in considerable low grade pain for decades. I have repaired some of the damage. She needs a lot more repair however,” Proteus reported. “A report is filed for you doctors,” it said.

  “Thank you. All of you,” Irons said softly. He saw the green lights on his HUD and nodded. He pulled the jack as gently as he could and then unjacked his arm and coiled the cable.

  “So... that's that?” Light Touch asked.

  “Hardly. The implants are repaired. The tissue damage is only partially repaired. Then there is the therapy. They also have other medical issues that can be dealt with as well,” the admiral said.

  “I'll look into those,” Numiria said. She nodded to the nurse in the doorway. “Keep an eye on them. I want someone to check on their read outs every fifteen minutes and make a manual note. No slacking off,” she ordered firmly.

  “Understood doctor,” the nurse said with a nod. Light Touch, the Jackal and Irons left quietly and made their way to the doctor's office. They were met by an anxious looking John Warner.

  “They are all right. Resting comfortably,” Numiria said, answering the unwritten question all over his face. He visibly relaxed. She smiled a little, flicking her ears. “They will need time to recover.”

  “All right,” he said with a nod.

  “If you are willing to get implants still I think we can do it,” Numiria said.

  “Today?” he asked surprised. He looked back the way they had come.

  “Not today if you are distracted. Though I understand there is little to the procedure,” she said.

  “Just swallowing a horse pill,” Irons said. “Been there, done that.”

  “Um...”

  “In my time it was SOP. Anyone traveling in space had to have one. For that matter anyone with a bank account had to have one,” the admiral explained.

  “Oh.”

  “Simple thing. I'm sorry we can't do more. If you want more you'll have to go to Pyrax. They have been making a lot of strides there.”

  “Oh,” The doctor said looking at Irons.

  He shook his head and smiled slightly. “Sorry, doc, you're not the first. Not by a long shot.”

  “I knew that,” she said wrinkling her nose. Still her tail drooped a little.

  “I believe the doctors on Io 11 were the first this century as far as I know,” Irons said.

  “What about Destiny?” Light Touch asked.

  “What about them? Oh wait for implants? Yes, some had full implants, some had the basic level one Ident implants. A few had refused for various reasons. Most of them were passengers,” he replied and then shrugged.

  “Oh.”

  “It takes time to get over prejudices. Ignorance is the leading cause of prejudice. Work on it. The best way is with education. Knowledge.”

  “Oh.”

  “Well,” he stretched. “I've got to be going. Let me know if you need me again,” he said.

  “We will. Thank you admiral,” Numiria said. The others echoed the sentiment as Irons left.

  In the exam room the lieutenant opened his eyes slowly. He had one hell of a migraine but he had something he had to do. He turned his head and smiled. He could see his lovely wife beside him. Beyond her were her medical read outs. He puzzled out the blips and lines for a moment. Everything seemed fine. All were okay apparently. Good. He reached out and touched her hand over the gap in between them. He felt her hand twitch and then it slowly gripped his. He smiled and laid back, closing his eyes and letting himself drift once more.

  ñChapter 14

  Twenty days to break out Barry tore into the yellow bus. It was a planetary school bus at one time, Kiev had picked it up from the ship they had rescued but it had been scavenged a long time ago for parts for cargo shuttles. He'd had a hell of a time convincing the captain of the time to let him take it on. He'd always loved ascraft and O'Mallory had signed off on the project grudgingly since they could always use it for parts. Now there was an interest in getting it and everything else running again.

  The bus was cool, really a purpose built vessel, which was why it was sidelined. The bus was designed to haul about two hundred kids to and from orbit with minimum cargo. Now after the Xeno war that really wasn't done. Getting up and down from orbit meant hauling cargo and fuel, not kids.

  “Why are we doing this again?” Gus asked, sullenly standing nearby as he passed Barry parts or tools.

  “Cause its cool,” Barry said, not looking up from the avionics. “Just keep doing what you're doing kid.”

  “Seems like a waste,” Gus said. He was still in a growth spurt, covered in acne and the bane of his mother and teacher. They'd sicked him on Barry to get him out of their collective hair. Barry wasn't sure what he was going to do with the kid. He was uncoordinated, still awkward and clumsy. He had a good heart though, and he had a cool head. He did make the damnedest mistakes though.

  “Nah, it's cool. Think
about it. Banana boat. Drop everyone who wants shore leave all at once. Or in two trips,” Bert said, waving a spanner. “Or three.” They had thousands of people onboard. Normally less than a hundred went ground side when they entered port.

  “Can we run animals in it? Maybe planet hop? One side to another?” Gus asked.

  “What one of those grungy buses we saw on the video the other day?” Bert asked.

  “No, I was thinking more along the lines of leasing it out. Maybe day excursions for grounders who want to see what space is like,” Barry said, looking up from the avionics. “But your ideas are good too.”

  “Cool,” Bert said with a nod. “I still like my idea though.” He was another teen, young and a little inexperienced but eager to learn the trade. There were dozens of people who were interested in shuttles but not many had the patience. Art had tried his hand at piloting but had flunked after the third try. Now they were running the kids through virtual sims. Hopefully that would weed out the wanna bees from the serious players. Unfortunately they didn't have one for engineers.

  “Which is possible. But not until we get this baby back in space. Which we can't do while we're sitting on our asses talking about it,” Barry said testily.

  “All right all right, I get the point,” Gus sighed. “Back to work.”

  “We've got that other maintenance boat, plus the other shuttles to tear into and refurb. I want as many done as possible before we get to Antigua,” Barry said.

  “That's a little tight boss, we've got what? Twenty one days left?” Bert said.

  “Twenty.”

  “Okay, Twenty. Still kind of tight.”

  “Dude! Could we sell one?” Gus asked suddenly. Barry scowled. He spread his hands apart. “Just saying Barry, man, I know you love em and all...”

  “I... we damn well better not. I've put a lot of blood and sweat into rebuilding these things,” Barry growled looking uncomfortable.