Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  “All right I'll make the rounds. Call me if you need me,” Irons said patting him on the shoulder again. Riff nodded as Irons left.

  Irons realized he used tactile contact when he's tired or emotional. He's not emotional so he knew he's tired. Very tired. Tired was bad, tired meant he was going to make mistakes, over look things, miss the obvious. He had to get some downtime, he couldn't be everywhere at once, couldn't spread himself so thin. He couldn't micromanage. He had to let go and let them do it. Just as soon as the reactor was online he promised himself with a sigh.

  Gwen looked around as she took in all the damage. Admin or ops or whatever they were going to end up calling it had some pretty spectacular damage. When the brief cyber war had been going off she and her crew had been ducking for cover as banks of electronics melted down in showers of sparks and bright pretty and rather terrifying explosions. Now they had to deal with the aftermath.

  “What a mess,” she muttered. They'd spent a couple of hours working on it, but so far they weren't getting far. Not as far as she'd like to be of course. Not by a long shot.

  “Damn it! We've got to start over! Frack!” a tech swore. From the look of him he looked near tears. Or near ready to break something which they didn't need on top of this mess.

  “Don't just start over. If it's questionable get a parts number and make and upload it to the list,” she ordered.

  “Shit! Boss lady this is taking waaaay too long.”

  “You've got somewhere else you'd rather be?” she asked dryly.

  “As a matter of fact my rack right about now.”

  She chuckled and shook her massive head. “Yeah well, you can rack out later. I think we're still up in the air on that department.”

  His face worked. “Shit.” He like the rest of them seriously didn't like the idea of racking out in their suits.

  “Long walk home. Just work on this. I’m sure someone's working on the other end,” she said.

  “You mean you hope,” he replied, thoroughly disgusted. Knowing their luck no someone wasn't.

  “I hope. I'll check out and chew someone's ass if they aren't,” she said. She assured the crew it was just temporary. The damage was far more extensive than before apparently.

  “Can we get another replicator going?” Nick asked.

  “To do that we need power. Which means the reactor.”

  “What about the food replicator?”

  Gwen blinked at him. “Food ones? Come on. Plastic. That's about it. If we've got materials for them.”

  “We can use what we've got,” the tech said stubbornly. “Seriously. What do we have to lose?”

  “Fine then,” Gwen said. “You are responsible for it. Go get it sorted out and start on it.”

  “Me? I don't have a clue... um. I... sure,” the tech said, taking in her glare and drumming fingers. “Me and my big mouth,” he muttered heading to the food replicator. “Oh yuck! It's got fungus growing out of it!” He yelled, looking over his shoulder to her in appeal.

  “Your project. Get it done,” Gwen called not looking up.

  Sara sighed and got up. “I'll lend you a hand Nick, but next time...”

  “Yeah yeah...” Nick said.

  “Seriously...” Sara said, shaking her head. Her pony tail danced.

  “Why are we here again?”

  “Because it beats sitting in Kiev peeling paint?” Sara asked as she picked up a piece of broken plastic and started to use it as a scraper.

  “Oh.”

  “I'd rather be busy than bored any day of the week,” Sara said. “Besides, we do this right who knows? We might be making a new start.”

  “True that,” Nick said with a nod. “Okay, let's do this,” he said, gushing out a sigh as he set his toolkit down. Gritting their teeth they dig into it.

  Yan Fu watched the organics tearing into the repairs. He had mixed feelings over everything that had happened and was about to happen. It was happening so fast! And yet not fast enough. The station was coming to life slowly. He just wasn't sure how it would come to life. Would it be as before? Or would it grow into something different? He... they needed to mold it. To shape its destiny. Or at least try to do so.

  Which was why he and his fellows were here now. The admiral's AI was out of the net so they could talk undisturbed.

  “He is doing more harm than good. We've lost so much!” Kennet snarled. Kennet could be relied on for his support, Yan thought.

  “What has been done can be laid at our feet as much as his. We did nothing to prevent it. To repair the damage. Now it is done,” Averies said.

  “True,” Myers said. “I wish I could have a larger hand in... can someone access his shuttle? Their priorities suck. They need to be rebuilding our memory cores first! Not playing with this reactor that they will never in a million years get going again!”

  “Don't be so sure,” Emily murmured. “The admiral and these people are nothing if not determined. They have a plan.”

  “They have Taurens. Taurens are fantastic engineers,” Sid murmured. They had hired Taurens during the construction of the station. They were talented engineers, in some ways better than humans. Unfortunately the Tauren's hadn't stayed on with the station after it had been completed, they'd moved on despite everything the council had trotted out to entice them to stay.

  “Are we hiring these people? How is the budget going to work? We don't have a budget do we? Do we have any word on the lawsuits?” Marisa asked.

  Fu contemplated her as she and the others went back and forth, debating the question. There was no real answer, other than that no they had no budget, they had no plan. No answer to the suits other than Iron's threat of nationalizing the station.

  “I...” D'red paused and then made a knocking sound when he realized the others were talking over him. The other quieted. The Veraxin was well respected for his legal prowess.

  “I believe we should drop or delay any lawsuits. The admiral's points do have merit. And if we do continue with them we will make ourselves look spiteful. We need to accept the situation as it is and move on,” the Veraxin chittered.

  There was silence as the others looked amongst each other, trying to gauge where each thought on that suggestion. Kennet's face was sour; everyone knew what his opinion on the subject was.

  “I reluctantly agree with my esteemed colleague,” Marisa said with a nod to D'red.

  “I think I understand their plan if anyone is interested,” Emily murmured. She had a holo of the station on her left side and a holo of the station's subsystems on her right. Of course she didn't really need them, they could all access them. What she was doing was showing them this for demonstration purposes.

  “What is he doing?” Kenny asked. Kenny Kennet was a low level paper pusher, really a paralegal who had been an up and coming bureaucrat being groomed for higher things until the station had been lost. He was still considered the youngest, the kid, the one no one really listened to even though he had spent the last seven centuries in hell right along with them.

  Of course the Fu's occasionally did listen to him, or at least appeared to do so. He was therefore fanatically loyal to Yan Fu, acting as his assistant when ever Mrs. Fu was unavailable.

  Emily tapped at the power systems, highlighting them. “He's routing power. What he's going to do is jump start that reactor. I'm not sure how, I'm not an engineer. But once he does I see they are already staking out a couple of replicators nearby. They'll use the power to run the replicators.”

  “Can they do that?” Marisa asked.

  Averies grunted. “Of course they can. It will take a little re routing... which is why they need control of admin. And our help of course.”

  “Of course. I'll file the necessary documents to cover their actions,” Kenny said with a nod.

  Sid, Averies, and Myers gave him a contemptuous look. The Stewards did as well. They didn't give a damn for the paper pushers. They focused on keeping what they could functioning. They were the closest people to enginee
rs left alive in their clique.

  “We still haven't addressed his actions,” Elyria said. She looked at her partner Nina who nodded. “His actions were barbaric.”

  “They were necessary,” Emily said cool and calm. “However heartbreaking they were to us, they were long overdue.”

  “May I humbly point out that he went straight to killing, as is his nature? When he is pressed he reduces to baser impulses,” Yan Fu said, hands tucked behind his back.

  “What did you expect? He's military. They all shoot first and ask questions later,” Kennet replied, backing Yan Fu as usual.

  “Did he even consider the options?” D'red asked.

  “I don't know. Did any of us? We thought of it sure, we drew up plans, but we never acted on them. We never tried,” Myers growled. What to do about the insane ones had been a topic they had hashed and rehashed to death over the past seven centuries.

  “Oh we tried,” Sid said. He looked at the Fu's. “Didn't we? We tried to shut them down. The insane... We did try.” He turned to look at the others. “For some reason Draco blocked us, locked us out. We couldn't access their systems through the net. I even tried to cut the power to their pods through subsystems remember? But if I had it would have killed Nina here,” he said nodding to the ghostly woman. The woman stared at him. She didn't like being reminded of that incident.

  “Perhaps it would have been for the best. Living like this for the past seven hundred years... this... we are shadows of our former selves,” Nina murmured.

  “Don't say that,” Elyria said, looking at her and taking her virtual hand. “We'll get it back. Back the way things were. You'll see,” she said, eyes burning into Nina's.

  Emily looked at the pair and then to the others. “We I doubt. We talk and talk but in the end do nothing but get in the way. Irons on the other hand... he's going to do it. With or without our help. So, the question is, do we help?”

  “What if we don't? Will he do to us what he did to the others?” Kennet asked, now unsure. He glanced at Yan Fu. Fu stroked his beard.

  “I don't think he'll do that,” Sid said shaking his head. “I'm fairly certain he won’t.” The Stewards blinked, unsure.

  “I for one am helping,” Emily murmured. Sid nodded.

  “As am I,” Doctor Trask said. The others looked at her in shocked surprise. She shrugged and smiled a little. “This is pointless. As all our meetings have been for centuries. We talk and talk. We plan. We get nothing done. It's time to help those who can. Help or step aside and make room for those willing to try,” she said firmly and disappeared.

  “We should file a brief. Keep it on hand. Update it. Gather evidence in case of an investigation,” Fu murmured, bowing slightly to the lawyers of the group.

  “You would,” Sid grumbled. He shook his head as his wife rested a restraining hand on his. “Fine, whatever. Keep my name off it. If anyone wants to I'll file an affidavit supporting his actions. What he did he did for the best. For the safety of this station. You all know it.”

  “It is only a precaution,” D'red said, shaking his head. He was of course covering the council's actions in case of a liability suit.

  “We do not agree. We side with Irons,” Rachael growled, looking at her husband. The bears nodded to a few others. “We go to help. Do what you want.” Together they disappeared.

  “I've got to check on my garden. With all the activity...” Ripper didn't look happy. The Gashg looked at the others, moving his eye stalks. “I am unhappy with what has happened in that our friends are dead. But I will support the majority. Keep me informed with a memo,” he said and then he too disappeared.

  “Just a precaution?” Nina asked.

  “Call it a way to cover the station from liability in case of a lawsuit for his actions,” Fu murmured diplomatically.

  “Oh, if that's all it is. Then we shouldn't have anything to worry about right?” Elysia said.

  Sid wasn't so sure. Others were on the fence. They agree to wait and watch. Eventually the meeting broke up. Sprite monitored part of the conversation but didn't report it to the admiral.

  ñChapter 21

  “Admiral we've got a problem,” Riff said over the link. Tired Irons paused and wiped sweat off his brow as he looked up. He rested his hands on his thighs, back against the wall. As usual, when they finally get a handle on things and things were looking up Murphy rears his ugly and cursed head.

  “Take five for a bit,” he said to the team. They nodded, also wiping sweat off their brows. “What's the beef Riff?”

  “The plasma. We're ready for it. But I ran the calculations. If we take a standard pull from your shuttle then it still won’t be enough for the reactor. Factor in the transit time involved...”

  “I see,” Irons mused, rolling the problem over and over in his mind. A stupid idea came to him. It was a show of how tired that he was that he latched onto it right away. And who knows? Maybe it would work first try. And if it was stupid and it worked... it wasn't stupid after all now was it?

  “I've got an idea. I'll meet you at my shuttle. We'll make the pull. I assume you have the container?” The admiral asked pursing his lips.

  Riff sighed. “Yes. But only one I was going to suggest we make another but that will take a couple of hours and we don't have the super conductor material on hand.”

  “I'll take care of the other container. Let's just get this done,” he said. He looked at the techs around him. “Sorry boys and girls, duty calls. Or at least Riff.”

  “We'll be fine here admiral,” Gwen said. She had a handful of ODN cables in her hand. “If you could leave Proteus here we'll do just as well without you.”

  “Sorry, can't do that. We're sort of attached at the hip. I'll come by when this is done,” he said.

  “We'll see. I'm betting this will take longer than you think,” she said with a sniff. Her multitester was out, probing the lines. “Damn it I don't know which goes where. We need someone on the other end of each of these,” she sighed. “So much for easy, I wish the twit who had installed them had thought to label the freakin things,” she growled.

  “Keep trying. See if one of the cybers or AI can help,” he suggested as he turned to leave. She waved a meaty hand in dismissal. He shook his head and then shrugged. Running line was always a pain in the ass. Diagnosing line was even more of a pain in the ass. There was a reason techs hated the job with a passion.

  He met Riff and the team at the hatch a few minutes later. He nodded to the guards nearby. Guards were stationed at the locks and outside each place a team was. A roving patrol wandered the corridors in between locations, keeping the tribes and Dilgarth away. They checked in every fifteen minutes.

  “Any problems?” he asked, nodding to a guard with his hand on his rifle butt.

  “Not a problem admiral. Quiet. Not too too quiet but just...” he waved a hand in a smooth motion. “Quiet. The right kind.”

  “I know what you mean,” Irons said with a nod. “Good. We'll just be a minute,” he said nodding to the Tauren with the container. Two techs had it on a hover pallet. It was a meter tall cylinder, about fifty centimeters wide. It was silver, with read outs and warning markers all over it. Technically since they were moving plasma they should have a flag man out front and behind in an orange safety vest and red flashing lights and sirens. He however was too tired to give a shit about the trimmings right now. Everyone knew to get the hell out of their way anyway.

  “I can check my notes again...” Riff said. Irons waved that aside as he accessed the lock and the hatch opened. “No, let's see here...” he said.

  They made the pull and then pushed the container to the reactor room as fast as they can. It only took a half hour, but by the time they have arrived the plasma has cooled by twenty percent.

  “It's still not enough,” the Tauren said shaking his head. “Are you planning on loading it and making another run?” he asked, looking at the admiral. For some reason the admiral had been drinking a lot of water, almost a gallo
n on the walk here. That was a hell of a lot of water. A pee break was probably in order but they didn't have time.

  “Actually, no,” Irons said taking the lid off the container. Riff raised his hand in surprise at the bright light. Irons placed his right hand over the open container.

  “What are you...?”

  “Doing?” Irons asked as his hand morphed. “This,” Irons said, triggering a plasma charge. He kept it low, more of a bubble. He felt his energy reserves drop as the plasma left his arm. It superheated the bubbling mass of electrons and neutrons nicely though.

  “Okay, that worked,” he said stepping aside as a robot picked the container up and loaded it.

  “That was crazy! Isn't it hot?” Riff demanded.

  “Just a bit, Irons said, shaking his hand. He chuckled, feeling a little giddy. Also a little warm come to think of it. His entire body was warm despite the suit.

  “What the hell?” A tech asked, coming over and then backing away, shielding his face from the intense heat.

  “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Irons said with a grin. His shield sparkled from the heat radiating off the plasma bottle. They needed to get it contained ASAP.

  “That was awesome!” Riff said. “Did it work?”

  The admiral studied the container with his sensors. Proteus lit a green light on his HUD. The admiral nodded. “Looks like it did. We'll find out. I can do it again if we need to. I don't want to though. Draws a lot of fuel and energy from me,” he said.

  “Done it often?” Riff asked, watching the robot as it loaded the container. The container locked in place. A tech gave them a thumbs up with the light changed from red to green.

  “Actually, no, first time,” Irons said. “I wasn't sure if it would work or not,” he admitted with a wry twist of his lips.

  “Admiral you are either crazy or stupid lucky,” Riff said shaking his head. Irons snorted.

  “Seriously, that was...” a tech said nearby, eyes wide.

  The admiral grinned. “If it's stupid and it works it's not stupid. Also if it's crazy and it works...”