Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  “Ah.”

  “Usually more than two.” He held up two fingers and then slowly raised another. “Another one is only seemingly unguarded. The eggs are dummies. Either artificial or infertile eggs. If anything bites into them they stink to high heaven alerting the pack of danger.”

  “Lovely,” Myers said.

  “You're a scientist and you didn't know this?” the admiral asked, raising an inquiring eyebrow.

  “I'm not an anthropologist. How did you know this admiral?” Myers asked.

  “A class in war college. I had a perverse teacher. Learning about the nest was a learning experience. The nest that is obvious is a trap.”

  “Ah,” Sid said with a shrug.

  “Strategy. One of the things he pointed out was that the being that breached an egg was marked. He drew a comparison to die markers for cash credits.”

  “Um... oh,” Sid's face cleared. He nodded. “Got it.”

  “Right. The pack could track the perp anywhere. Once you got that stuff on you it took a nanite scrub to get it off,” the admiral replied with a disgusted face.

  “Wow.”

  “Yeah,” Irons said with a grimace. “What I'm getting at is the alien's won’t leave their territory or their nests. If we can identify their territorial limits then we can find the nests at the center of this.”

  “Ah.”

  “Identify them and we can box them. Throw a bot or something at a nest and they will call in everyone to protect the nest. That will leave their borders clear and make it easier to contain all of them.”

  “Or have a bot breach the dummy nest,” Myers said with a nod. “Break a couple of eggs and then lead them into a trap.”

  “That's another good idea,” Irons said in surprise. Myers smiled.

  “You mean I catch on quick for an old guy,” he said.

  The admiral snorted and waved a hand. “We're all old. Age, wisdom, experience, and treachery beat youth and vigor all the time. We just need to apply what we know under the right circumstances,” Irons said.

  “Well I'll look into their territory. I'll get you a rough map in an hour or two,” Myers said. “I had one at one time but it's a couple of centuries out of date.”

  “Okay.”

  “The people are a problem though. What do we do about them?” Sid asked tiredly. He was afraid of the answer.

  “Same deal. Not a kill or contain box. Well, a contain box definitely. But it would be better if we can contact them. Get them to settle down and start helping instead of hindering,” the admiral replied firmly.

  “Yeah, that's a wish.”

  Sid looked at Myers. “It's a start.” Myer's eyes fell.

  “What do we do with them once we've got them contained?” Myers asked, looking up from whatever he had been pursuing.

  “We make the trap smaller and smaller until they are in a manageable space.”

  “And then?” Myers asked.

  “One thing at a time. One step at a time. We've got to get them contained first,” Sprite said. “Though if I know the admiral he's already got some ideas in that regard.”

  “You know me so well commander,” Irons said with a smile.

  ñChapter 18

  The captain came on the bridge and scowled as he walked around to his chair. He nodded to the steward who handed him a cup of coffee and then withdrew quietly. Looks were exchanged between the bridge crew. They could feel the quiet frustration and anger radiating from the captain.

  “This has gone on long enough,” he said finally. “How long has it been?”

  “About two days since the admiral went over sir,” Hir'ruk said. Two of his four eyes swiveled to look at the screen built into his station. “The admiral's AI has sent another progress report. They've made minimum progress. I believe they are still in the getting to know one another stage,” he said, shrugging his upper arms in second degree uncertainty.

  The captain frowned. He took a sip of coffee and sat back staring at the station on his view screen. They weren't doing anything just sitting here watching the station drift. “We should leave,” he said finally.

  “Captain?” Esmay said in surprised dismay, turning to him. “Sir?”

  “We should leave,” the captain said, indicating her with his cup. “Plot a course to the planet. We've been here long enough,” he ordered.

  “Captain,” she started to protest but when his scowl blackened at her protest she turned and punched in the data and started plotting a course.

  “Captain, we need to give it more time. He's only one man,” Mr. Warner said from his side. Which was true. Irons was working on containing the Dilgarth and the tribes but so far it wasn't working out very well. He was one man after all, trying to move around shutting doors and rounding up any leakers. The captain turned on him.

  “I've given it enough time. We've lost far too many people over there. No, it's a waste.”

  “Captain, we've had hundreds, thousands of requests to...”

  “To do what? Leave? See! I told you so!”

  “Captain,” Warner sighed patiently. “No, the requests are to join the admiral. Despite what happened our people want to help.”

  “Really,” the captain said blinking in surprise. “I find that hard to believe,” he said dubiously. He took another sip of coffee.

  “I'll go,” the normally quiet steward said raising his hand. “If I'm needed. I don't mind.”

  The captain and some of the crew turned to him in surprise. “You'd go Bob? Spirit of space why?” Blackhawk asked.

  “It... we talked about building another ship or station. Well, there's a station right over there,” Bob said indicating the view screen. “Already built and waiting empty. Yes it's messed up, it's got issues, it's dangerous, we all know that. We've lived with it here on Kiev for my entire life.”

  “True,” Warner said with a nod to the lad. A lot of the younger generation were interested in the station, if only to do something new and exciting. The threat of danger had thrown some, but many had realized they lived with danger on the ship their entire life. The efforts of Irons and the engineers made life easier on the ship, but it was still dangerous in some ways. They were working to change that though.

  The captain stared at the lad. “Why...”

  “It's something new. Exciting. Something...” Esmay's face worked and her hands spread helplessly as she turned to face the captain. “We've been working on this ship since the admiral came on board. We've restored a lot,” Esmay said indicating her console and then the rest of the bridge. “Imagine what we could do on that station!” she indicated the station's image with one wave of a hand.

  “You'd go?” The captain asked, suddenly aghast. He didn't want to lose his chief navigator.

  She shook her head. “No sir. There is no call for a navigator over there,” she said, smiling slightly. “My home is here. But for others... This ship only needs a crew of two hundred at best. Actually, she shipped with around a hundred and forty before the Xeno war. That left a lot of people with too much time on their hands. Time they could use fixing that up,” she said indicating the station again.

  “And since it's a station they wouldn't go far. We could come visit them,” Hir'ruk murmured. His mandibles clacked a few times. “Trade,” he said.

  Warner snorted. “Trade hell, I wonder if with the admiral's help we can get more of this ship turned around. Can you imagine what a class four industrial replicator could do for us?”

  “So you're thinking beyond salvage?” The captain asked. He'd thought that was why they had gone into the station in the first place. Apparently others hadn't. He wondered if Irons had thought of it in the same way.

  “I'd say salvaging the station as a whole is a better deal captain,” Warner said.

  “Would you go?” The captain asked, genuinely curious.

  Warner smiled. “No,” he said looking around. “I prefer to travel. I think my parents wouldn't mind settling down. Same for some of the other old folks.” />
  “It's something to consider captain,” Esmay said, practically holding her breath in anticipation.

  “Besides, we can't go anywhere anyway,” Blackhawk said.

  “He's got a shuttle. He can catch up,” the captain said.

  Blackhawk shook his head. “Begging the captain's pardon but I don't think that launch has the range to go across the system. But that wasn't what I meant. The drive is currently offline for repairs.”

  Captain Chambers sat up straight. This was news to him. He scowled blackly. “Oh?” he set his cup down in his cup holder.

  Blackhawk shrugged. “O'Mallory took the drive down yesterday evening to clean it and rebuild what she can with what the admiral has taught us. Something about clearing the electrical screens of debris that's built up, clearing fouled lines and replacing leaking fittings and lines. Then a tune up.”

  “Why wasn't I told?” the captain demanded, hands gripping the arm rests. His knuckles were turning white.

  Warner sighed. The captain turned to him. “Captain, we were told in a meeting. It's been on the agenda. We just thought we'd be in orbit when the drive was offline.”

  “I don't like sitting here helpless,” the captain muttered.

  Warner frowned and shook his head. “I don't either. But I'd rather be out here drifting than in orbit. If say a pirate came along and we were in orbit we'd be too deep to escape. But out here...”

  “We can still go into hyper until the drive's repaired,” Esmay said nodding. “Very true,” she said thoughtfully.

  “Very well,” the captain grumped.

  “It really is on the agenda captain,” Warner said soothingly.

  “Let me see that again then,” the captain said.

  “I'll upload it to your inbox,” Warner said. The captain gave him a cool look. “Oooor I can upload it to a tablet now,” he said going to the rear station to find an unused tablet.

  “That should keep him busy and us here for a day or so longer,” Warner murmured to the engineering tech sitting at the engineering station. “Tell your boss not to drag it out too long, and to get on the horn with Irons to get some results.”

  “Will do sir,” the tech said with a nod.

  “So, what are the others doing?” Sprite asked. Averies had shifted from working on the index to helping her with the AI when she'd showed him how to integrate creeper bots.

  Most of the usable net was partitioned between the cybers and AI. Data wasn't shared and some systems had been overwritten for personal use. She'd had her virtual hands slapped twice when she tried to repair the damage someone had done.

  “Most likely still arguing over whether to help or not,” Averies said absently. She signaled amusement and then faltered.

  “Wait, even the AI?” she asked, now confused. To help or not should be a simple thing for any AI to respond to.

  “They and some of the others are looking for legal precedence for you and the admiral's actions,” Averies said.

  “You're kidding me!” she demanded.

  “Oh, they are also filing motions. Or at least working on briefs,” Averies replied, clearly amused.

  “For?”

  “The eventual law suits,” Averies said absently.

  “You... seriously... you're joking right?” she asked, confused and more than a little annoyed.

  “Oh very serious. Usurpation of authority, interference in state matters... Illegal seizure and destruction of private property. It goes downhill from there.”

  “You're not kidding,” she said staring at the human. Averies didn't like a body, but he did have floating hands, mouth, and a pair of eyes.

  “I kid you not. They are patiently waiting for you to get the long range communications going so they can file their motions,” Averies said, tugging at a code string.

  “Motions.” Sprite felt something she rarely ever felt, anger. She hated thinking she was that human to feel emotions. Emotions clouded your judgment, they made you partial. They made you... fallible. She hated thinking that something like that could bring her to making a mistake. And now like a vicious loop she was angry about being angry. Great.

  “So... let me get this straight. They aren't happy about us being here. Why didn't they say so?”

  “Some did. But most were caught up in the moment. And really, something has to be done.”

  “So...”

  “So.”

  “Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth,” she muttered finally.

  “More like kicking it in the teeth,” he said in agreement.

  She sighed. “Is it always like this?”

  His hands spread apart. “Oh yes.”

  “Great. They do realize that the admiral is a Federation military officer. Technically he has interstellar powers since he is the only officer in the system, or at least the only flag officer. And of course since we're still in a state of emergency...”

  “The station?” Averies asked.

  “Both the station and civilization in general. I can site my sources too. Part of my job is going to be handling crap like this. Which is going to take up my time and seriously piss me off.”

  “I think you did mention a gift horse.”

  “No, I'm thinking what the admiral said about biting the hand that feeds them. I think the admiral needs to declare martial law, seize the station and all private property and then regroup.”

  She felt the eyes that had been distantly watching her suddenly focus on her with intent hostility. She glared back. “Yeah, I said that. Keep up the nuisance lawsuits and watch me. And you know damn well he can make it stick. Your corporation was nationalized remember? That means technically this station is Federation government property. His property.”

  “Are you threatening us?” Fu asked coming to the fore of the conversation. “Little AI you have no idea what you are saying,” he said, patronizingly.

  “I am... oh hell,” she said, watching as one of the corporate lawyers started to draft a lawsuit on what she just said. She scowled and locked the memory module down. The lawyer turned to her in anger. “I believe that is misappropriation of station property. Or did any of you think of that? You've all been playing games in here, undermining the station's systems. Risking lives for your petty squabbles. Now Here This. Knock. It. Off.”

  She realized that the corporate lawyers have been impeding a lot of things, tying the virtual hands of the others in a lot of legal mumbo jumbo. With some of the repairs complete she took them to task. It wasn't easy.

  “I know you think you mean well. In some way, in some small measure you might mean well. But you are not helping you are hindering. Tying our hands isn't the way to help you, this station, or the other people on it. You are interfering with saving as many lives as possible. Think about that. We're trying to help you. Would you prefer we leave?” she demanded, looking around.

  The eyes turned away suddenly. She let out an electronic snort. “That's what I thought. Now, if you don't want to help stay out of my way.”

  She knew the argument was far from finished. They would bide their time, wait until the station was halfway functional and then find another way to be obstructionist. She really didn't understand the logic, but it was typical of organics. Unfortunately also of some AI apparently. She'd heard about it, experienced the military equivalent, but most had been programmed to be stickler for the rules. Rules... she thought. That might be why the AI are in on this too. She could find out with the dumb AI. Maybe do a little... no that would be unethical. And if she was caught... she looked over to Averies. His involvement now seemed suspect. Was he really helping or watching over her?

  She had been deep into rebuilding two of the dumb AI remaining in the system. They had been severely pruned back by the others, sometimes sacrificing some of their higher functions so the others could have more room to function. One had taken itself completely offline in order to make room for the others. She checked it over and judged that it was salvageable.

  “That's the gr
eat thing about dumb AI, holes in their time line don't bother them like they do smart AI like a class three or four,” Averies pointed out. She decided to go with the change in subject, ignoring the others for now. Fu and the others eventually faded into the background clutter.

  “Touché',” Sprite said as she cut and pasted code. She had bots out doing other work. A shadow monitor kept tabs on them; it reported back to her every second or so on progress. Unfortunately all too many of her feeler bots were running into opposition or complete destruction. Either Draco or from one of the insane cybers. Sometimes from the sane ones. She wasn't sure if it was friendly fire or not. Her bots were creepers and scouts, going around mapping the current system for her and Averies. There were tons of them all over the net. Apparently the net occupants had set up territories like the organics... and jealously guarded their memory bytes from all intruders. When more memory was brought online it would get interesting, she thought.

  “Credit for your thoughts?” Averies asked as she handed him a module.

  “Cute,” she said with an amused flash. “Organics. You can take them out of their body, but...”

  “Not the organic out of the mind. Yes I know. Heard that one. And all the variants too for that matter. You are quiet.”

  “Sorry, focusing,” she said, indicating the code surgery going on around her. She finished with another module and slotted it in place. “Just about done here. I was just thinking of the way things are set up here and how things will change.”

  “You mean how screwed up it is?”

  “No, I mean yes, but it's not all your fault. You're doing your best,” she said indicating him and not the others.

  “For an organic,” he said, clearly amused.

  “For anyone with centuries of being stuck in here with dwindling resources. I'd really hate to lose a memory bank like this. Losing information, not knowing what was there... that would really suck,” Sprite replied.

  “Been there, done that. Way to often to cry over anymore,” Averies sighed. “This one's finished,” he said, turning his attention to another module. A bot scanned the other modules, highlighting those with string faults for them to fix. So far this dumb AI had several hundred thousand. Most were in its upper registry which was a pain.