Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  “Mine as well apparently,” Sprite said sounding disgusted.

  “Welcome to the dark side commander. We've been expecting you,” he joked.

  “Cute,” she replied dryly.

  Irons nodded politely to the holo of the ruling council members. "Yes gentlemen? Ladies?" he said politely, determined to keep his temper in check. They'd called him here to this council room and he was pretty sure what it was about. He was curious how it would play out though. Yan Fu sat, a presence of calm in the storm of faces around the room. Oddly he didn't pick up an echo of that same calm from Fu's wife. She looked sad and torn.

  She was dressed in a beautiful red kimono, one trimmed in gold lace with lung chi dragons embroidered onto its virtual surface. He wondered why she threw that much detail into that. Then he realized it was her virtual face, her virtual appearance so attention to detail was vital to her, a woman. She was a quiet woman, one he wished he could have known a little better.

  He'd gotten his materials to the yacht just before a second stop order had come down through the ranks. For some reason the corridors leading to his docking port were closed due to maintenance. Fortunately they had miss-timed it. Or possibly it had been one of the Warners or a supporter who had delayed the order until he was in the corridor in question.

  He wasn't sure what or who had caused the delay but he was grateful. Things had so far gone just about as he'd expected. He was a little disappointed that they had.

  He'd just finished breakfast when he'd gotten the call. He'd stayed docked, mainly because he wanted to finish installing and testing the equipment before he left. He didn't want anything happening in deep space. It would be just his luck if something went wrong. Then again they could have slipped something in... No, he was getting a bit paranoid. Still, it would be mighty inconvenient if oh say some part scrammed his reactor now wouldn't it?

  Sprite had firewalled the ship's systems early on. There had been a few pings, but nothing serious. When he had returned to the ship last night he had set up a cut out. Anyone who attempted to access the ship through the data links would end up in a dead end system. Of course their entry would be logged as an unlawful intrusion.

  He'd been wary of a trap going to the council but was pretty sure the situation hadn't elevated to the use of force yet, they were pacifists after all. Then again, they were hypocrites. Still, to be cautious they were doing this through the communications system and his implants. He really didn't want things to go where they would all regret.

  "Admiral, we'd... we'd like you to remain," The portly programming councilor said beginning the discussion.

  "I've made up my mind," Irons said, resting his hands in his lap. The programmer was of the new guard, a political appointee recently added to the rank of cybers. He'd proven totally clueless about actually programming the first day he'd been a cyber. That had pretty much told everyone why he had really become a cyber.

  "Perhaps a negotiation is in order?" the Veraxin cargo and logistics master chittered. "A price for your cooperation?"

  Irons was fairly certain the Veraxin hadn't been happy about the closure to the cargo corridors. That had probably thrown his carefully arranged schedules into chaos. Running the logistics of a station, especially a factory station was a careful ballet of material and people. If any one thing was delayed it cascaded downhill fast, throwing everything out of wack and sending critical parts of the station into teeth gnashing idle. If things piled up they also caused problems, taking up space and blocking traffic. Factory execs hated that. "I'm not interested in credits," Irons said dismissively.

  "Perhaps another method?" the cargo master asked desperately.

  "We were just doing that remember?" Warner said shaking his head. He leaned forward to see past the portly programmer. "And look how well that worked out. As soon as you realized what you were doing you shut it down. Despite getting a thirty to one exchange rate in our favor."

  "I? I did no such thing! The order came from above!" The Veraxin chittered in dismay. His holo image glanced at Irons, obviously unhappy about that slip getting out. His upper arms showed first level shame and discomfort. He clearly wasn't happy about being put in this position. "I had nothing to do with it. I never wanted it to end!"

  "Perhaps we can continue the previous contract admiral?" a councilor asked. That request sounded resigned, like the councilor already knew his answer.

  "I don't really see the need. I have most of what I need and I can make what I'm missing when I need to do so," Irons said, lips twisting in a slightly cynical smile.

  "What about your naval projects? Aren't you still interested in doing them?" another asked desperately.

  "What about them?" he asked, cocking his head politely as an eyebrow was raised. The other councilors turned to the woman.

  She spread her hands in entry. "Perhaps we can make an arrangement. We can petition for you to build your projects in the future in exchange for your help in rebuilding the station admiral."

  "Tried that remember?" Warner said in disgust. "You've reneged on that agreement twice now. He's not likely to fall for promises of the future. Promises that will be renegotiated, drawn out, delayed or ignored like you've been doing to him over and over for the past seven months. The admiral knows all the tricks. He taught them to me a long time ago. He has no intention of being used and abused anymore. Nor can I blame him. The admiral keeps his word. He is an honorable man." His dig was straight at the Fu's. Both looked tired but didn't rise to the bait.

  "Then what do you want?" The portly councilor said throwing his hands up. "Not money, not parts, what?"

  "Honestly? A stop to the opposition to protecting this station is a good start," he growled. They looked at each other. A few nodded, but a few kept a polite mask. Yan Fu looked at his wife. Both had their hands in their laps. Fu's long snow white beard twitched though. He was probably fighting the urge to stroke his beard Irons thought.

  "I want one week of unrestricted use of the replicators. All of them.” The admiral turned a cold look on all the councilors, meeting any eyes that would meet his. More than one set dropped or looked away after a moment. Only the Warners nodded his way when he met their eyes. “One full week, twenty four standard hours a day, one standard seven day week. Full use of the replicators and full access to all materials on hand or incoming during that period. No charge for use and no interruption of power or computer support for that time period. No accounting games or other shenanigans," he said turning a glare on first Kennet and then Yan Fu.

  "To do what?" one asked.

  "To make weapons," a woman sighed in disgust.

  "No," Warner said thoughtfully. He studied the admiral as he rubbed his virtual chin. Irons looked at him with a grim but firmly set face. “I've known Fleet admiral Irons long before you did and that's not how the man's mind works.” He shook his head. "No I don't think so. Weapons wouldn't do us much good. Oh you could make weapon satellites, but they could be picked off from a distance. You're an engineering admiral at heart, you take the long view."

  A few of the others nodded to each other. That at least they could appreciate and understand. They had seen what the admiral could do; they had seen how his mind worked as they had worked together rebuilding the station.

  "So what would he make?" the Veraxin asked, looking from Warner to the others. After they all shrugged they looked at him.

  He cleared his throat and set his shoulders but Warner snapped his fingers. Virtual eyes cut to him. "I got it! You'd make power plants and replicators! The infrastructure you needed to build a naval annex!"

  The others blinked. "He could do that?" one asked.

  The Veraxin chittered, mid arms moving in signs of dismay. "It is possible."

  Warner nodded. "With the replicators and a power supply you wouldn't need us. You could then build the tools and materials you need."

  "Correct," Irons said nodding. “Your hands would then be clean. I could then set up recruiting stations on the planet to tak
e in those who are interested in defending their home system.”

  "And you wouldn't need the docking slips and dry dock? What about them?" the Veraxin asked, four eyes swiveling to view him intently.

  Irons indicated the council with his hands. "Yes I built them, but I did so as part of the council to fulfill a set of contracts. Contracts with the Kiev 221, Lieandra, and the Cassidy. Therefore they belong to the station. With the replicators I could make more. Or an entire yard given time, fuel, materials, and manpower."

  Averies for once was more than just a set of hands and eyes. He had a form, albeit an outline. He blinked at the admiral as the others looked at each other. "That is a... that is an interesting proposal admiral."

  "Highly ambitious," Mrs. Fu murmured in approval. She glanced at her mate. He nodded but remained silent.

  "I'm not sure I like the idea of setting up competition," the Veraxin mused. Kennet nodded in agreement to that statement.

  "Or having him independent," the portly councilor said. He looked stricken as Irons eyes narrowed. "Um... perhaps we should ah..."

  "Discuss this amongst yourselves and then contact me later. I get it," Irons said. He gave a polite nod. "You have twenty four standard hours to decide. I am pretty sure what your answer will be anyway but I will allow that time limit. Good day then," he said. He flicked a thought through the link to shut it down.

  "They'll never go for it. A week? that would disrupt their build schedules all to hell. It would be total chaos. And the political fallout would be enormous," Sprite said.

  Irons knew that. He knew it was a long shot but he had to try. If they ate some crow so much the better. It wouldn't be good for him in the short term, relationships would be at best strained, but it would allow him to get the ball rolling here. He'd have a hell of a lot less to work with than what he had started with in Pyrax, but then again he'd started with virtually nothing there before picking up Firefly to begin with. "Not to mention turning me into a bad guy," Irons replied in agreement. “More of a bad guy than they are already making me out to be at any rate,” he mused. "Pissing people off who would be bumped by the project, even if it was a temporary bump."

  "True."

  They both sat there for a few minutes. Sprite was curious if he'd actually follow through with the plan if they jumped in and agreed to it. She laid the odds at eighty nine percent that they wouldn't. But if they did?

  Irons however was thinking about where he went wrong and why. In the end though he decided that it didn't matter. He'd agonize over it during hyper. He tugged on his right ear for a minute and then shrugged.

  "I've got more important things to worry about. Let's see if we can get this navigational suite calibrated properly this time around," he said finally. Getting the computer systems sorted out on this bird was a pain. Since he had to do it anyway he had gone to his wish list and rebuilt from scratch to milspec. Sprite had thrown her own wish list into the works so hardware and software integration was lagging behind a great deal. It was time to get that mess sorted out.

  "Not a chance," the portly councilor said shaking his head. He looked regretful. Many on the council nodded in agreement. "To do that..."

  "Perhaps we should discuss this with the Antigua ruling council?" Margret one of the reactor techs suggested pensively. She'd been nominated to join the cybers by Randall of course. The others were pretty sure she was his eyes and ears in their midst. Her and her fat friend Albert. Neither one of them had any clue about how to do their real job, that had become abundantly clear right off.

  "To do so would add an unnecessary political voice that we don't need here," the portly councilor said, jowls turning red. He didn't like being marginalized and Margret always was a follower and not a doer. He joined this for his own plans for the future despite being appointed by Randall. "We know they want him to remain, but this is too costly."

  "Why? It gets what he wants and it gets what we want. He'll be happy and busy, we'll have a momentary disruption and then we won’t need to support him for projects anymore," Warner said. "He'll be on hand if we have a problem. We can replicate the contract as often as we need over time.” His eyes flicked to each of them, trying to gauge their reaction to the idea. “I talked with Sprite. He did essentially the same thing in Pyrax when Anvil became swamped with orders and politics started to interfere with his construction rates."

  Sid blinked at him in surprise. “He did?”

  Taylor nodded. “Yes. He built a seed station and then handed the civilians back control of their equipment, all fully repaired and restored. Then they built several stations, a shipyard, and a micro Dyson sphere in less than nine months before he left.”

  “Impressive,” Myers said with a nod. Doctor Trask and Averies both nodded.

  Taylor nodded as well. “They were well on their way to building their first ships as well. The first should have launched a month ago.”

  “Seriously? All that as well?” Averies asked, eyes wide.

  Taylor snorted. After all this time Averies should have known better. Irons was an engineer after all. “Indeed. The admiral is formidable.”

  "Still..."

  "Still nothing. He's a war monger. Just think about what he'll make with that gear. He won’t defend this system! He'll take it and throw it away chasing the pirates," Kennet snarled. He shot an appealing look to Fu.

  "I find that hard to believe," Rasha Warner said shaking her head.

  "You should abstain from this discussion. You're too close, You and your husband," Albert said, staring at her.

  "I will when you four cut off your balls. Or I can do it for you," she growled, eyes snapping.

  The others stared at her. "I'm tired of your squeamishness. You're complaining about my bias? You're inserting your own peacenik bias into every breath you take! The admiral is trying to cover all bases. He's trying to make sure your alive to spout crap like that and your sniping and carping isn't helping!"

  She shook her virtual head. She could see the faces closing and hardening around her. "It's only making it worse. Hell, I'm making it worse now! I can see you throwing up barriers, closing your minds to what you don't want to hear and see. I know damn well when people throw up walls and barriers to ideas they can't stand. I'm tired of this crap!" She threw her virtual hands up in disgust.

  "You are correct," the Asian male said. They all turned to him. Fu was ancient, the oldest of their group. He seemed to be able to draw consensus from all of them most of the time. In his youth he had led the station into a bright and seemingly glorious future. Now he was someone the younger set chafed against.

  Most of the old guard new that he wasn't perfect but he was good. They knew that the Xeno war wasn't his fault, and ignored his mistakes. They trusted his serenity, he formed their center.

  The new guard was still in awe and idolized the old cybers. Fu took ruthless advantage of that, knowing he could bend them to his will. Hence their present dilemma.

  He stroked his long flowing white beard. "You are close to this and our associates are clouding their judgment with their personal beliefs. But the essence of this discussion is not in doubt. It will not, cannot be done in the time frame available. We have too many commitments."

  "Like all the factories going up! I just got an order for an electronics factory! and a tablet one!" The Veraxin chittered. "More competition!" He had been surprised it hadn't been Randall. Apparently Irons had gotten through to someone; they had formed a cooperative with other investors and now were bidding for the materials. They already had the real estate picked out for the plants.

  "Exactly," Albert said in disgust. “Another thing we can lay at Irons feet.”

  "No, it is good. We are here to maintain the function of this station not judge it's use," Fu said quietly. His mate nodded sagely. She knew the lie of that statement though. Her husband would never allow the station to be used to make weapons. The admiral was correct, her husband was a liar and a hypocrite she thought deep down, feeling something in h
er soul twist and writhe uncomfortably. "We cannot commit to the admiral's request because it is not our function to do so. We must bow to a higher authority." He waved his hand to indicate the holo of the world floating at the center of the table.

  "And that's the problem. We're bucking it up to people we know won't commit or aren't trustworthy. We've already seen it. They won’t do it. Or they will drag it out until his deadline expires and he leaves. Mark my words," Warner growled.

  "Let the leaves of destiny fall as they may brother. We can only watch and admire," Fu said with a patient air.

  "True," Warner sighed. His wife patted his virtual hand. “But you and I both know the direction of this wind and what's about to happen. It's going to leave us wide open for the hurricane that will follow in its wake. Mark my words, it's coming and when it gets here we'll have this moment and you to thank for it.”

  "I don't think they will go for it admiral," Warner said, shaking his virtual head a half hour later. He had just finished relating the meeting to Irons. Fu and Albert had written the presentation to the Antiguan mayors and submitted it a minute before Taylor came to talk.

  Irons smiled bitterly. He'd known that from the beginning. He locked down the emitter he was working on. It was still kicking by a nanometer but it was within a point oh four tolerance. He made a note to swap it or the wiring to it later when he had time and materials. "So? you knew this would happen," he said.

  The Antigua ruling council had been locked in chambers in a closed session most of the day according to the media. So far the media knew something was going on, something important but not what. He was hoping it would stay that way at least until he was underway. He had no intention of being mobbed on the station. He was pretty sure the debate was raging hot and heavy right now.