Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  "Right, okay then, let’s get this sorted out. Matt?" He nodded to Matt who nodded back. "No problem boss." Matt smiled tight lipped. He whistled and several people came out. In moments the push pull was clean. The startled worker looked bemused then shrugged and left.

  He felt a tug at his pant line and looked down. A female elf looked up at him with wide eyes. "Thank you for your kindness Admiral." He nodded to her.

  "And you are?" he asked.

  "My name is Purple-Blossom." She ran a hand through her purple tipped mo-hawk. The hairs were actually long stemmed feather structures. They fluffed briefly then settled down. "My father is Oberon, he passes on his thanks." She looked around nervously.

  "I was wondering about the Tarq, it is unusual to see only one." He nodded to the six limbed alien.

  "Sh-rack is one of the last on the station. She was... " The elf looked away for a moment then met his eyes squarely. "Her mate distracted the security goons allowing her to escape." He sucked in a breath. "They like to hunt us for sport," she practically spat. He sighed suppressing his emotions.

  "All right, if you can identify those responsible, do so. I will handle it." He stepped aside as a pair of people came by with a mattress. "If your clan needs supplies please inform the computer, Matt or myself." He waved. She nodded.

  "We will. I am the day caretaker for the clan, I should be going." She turned and sprinted off. He chuckled softly.

  "You've got a lot of them aliens here." A voice said from a shadowed corner. He turned to it. A frail body huddled under the blankets. From the shape it was human.

  "All are welcome who wish to work." He nodded to the person. Sprite overlaid a thermal scan. The person was male but was obviously underweight.

  "You don't get it, they ain't good for nothin 'sept cleaning the ducts or runnin messages." The man took a swig from a drink then wiped spittle on the back of a mottled hand. "No good alien scum. Security should space the lot," he growled.

  The Admiral stiffened then knelt next to the man. "I don't care for your tone or your message son. You want to express your opinion, it's your business, but poison the morale here and I WILL make you regret it." He locked eyes with the man. Yellow eyes burned at him then fell. "This is a second chance for anyone, regardless of species. We're going to rebuild this station, then the system, then the galaxy. You can help or you can sit in a corner and watch," he gave the man a long cold look.

  "And they think I'm the one who's nuts," the man muttered. He wiped his mouth but didn't look at the Admiral.

  Irons nodded as he straightened. The man smelled of moonshine. "The choice is yours. Think about it. But remember this, this isn't free room and board, you have to work for this. Everyone will help, everyone will learn. If you can't hack it, I'll find you something else to do or you can leave. The door is open but it swings both ways." He waved to the open corridor.

  "Admiral, um, I'm showing them how to lock their personal quarters just in case." He turned to see one of the techs and nodded.

  "Right, good idea. If you have too many warm bodies here and your crowding each other or over taxing life support I suggest you send a cleanup crew to the class rooms nearby. Also the public corridors and restrooms." He waved. She nodded.

  "Good idea, I've got to hand it to you, I ran into a couple old friends I thought were spaced years and years ago. I'm glad you’re giving them a second chance. Some deserve it." She looked at the man in the corner and her face darkened. She looked away. "Some more than others," she muttered. He nodded.

  "Right, well, they've got one day to get sorted out, cleaned up, fed, and rested before we start classes. Try to sort out the quick and the ones with some education so we can start working up a syllabus.” He nodded as a man came up to him. He was clutching a violin case. "Yes?" he asked.

  "I, um..." The man looked away. A child peeked around his thigh. The girl was blond, with scraggly hair. The man was wearing a battered tweed jacket, ripped sweater, and pants that seemed too long. "I heard you’re looking for people," the man muttered. The Admiral nodded.

  Sara came up and hugged the man. He stiffened then relaxed a bit. Sara handed the girl a cookie then led her off to her quarters. The girl devoured it. They watched her go then the man turned back to her. "I taught music until I was tossed out. I can do basic work." He held up his hands. They were a bit battered but his long fingers were still all there. The Admiral nodded.

  "We're focusing on the basics now with a heavy engineering focus, but I am planning a general education plan as well as an advanced college program in the future. Can you play more than the violin?" The Admiral nodded to the instrument.

  The man nodded. He pulled out a penny whistle and harmonica from his pocket. "I had a flute but someone broke it," he muttered eyes downcast.

  "Well, we will see about replacing it. I am sure we can work something out. For now let’s get things sorted out, then see what tomorrow brings." He smiled to the man. The man nodded and turned away. He paused. "Thanks," he said softly. The Admiral nodded.

  "You'd be surprised what we can do when we work together. Get some food and ask Sara to mind your violin. Check in with Matt for work. If you get the chance check out the music room here and let Matt know about it." He nodded as the man left.

  "What was this place?" the tech asked.

  "Back in the day this used to be the local branch of Pyrax's community college program." He waved. "The campus is so large it has most of this deck and part of the one above and below. There was even a park and a small stadium at one point, though I believe the stadium is now used as a hydroponics area. Mostly to store waste for later recycling." He waved in the other direction. "Most of the campus is set up for basic advanced education, language, medicine, reading, math, computers, navigation, ROTC, basics in science and engineering. There are some minor branch areas like music as well." He smiled. “There is even a small amphitheater for live performances.”

  He turned to see the young woman looking at him. "I've lived on this station my entire life, I didn't.. I mean, If I didn't know this, how could you?" she asked in disbelief. He chuckled.

  "I've got the station's original map," he tapped his temple.

  "You've been here before?" She asked startled and a little awed. He shook his head.

  "No, it's in the computer," he smiled. "I've been working on repairing it. It's slow going but soon we should see an improvement in the computer system. Once we get dedicated programmers from the campus, well, you'll see." He smiled. She nodded.

  "So this is where you got off to." Irons turned at the familiar voice and smiled. "O'Reilly at your service." O'Reilly tipped his hat in salute. "Shelby sicked me on you to work on the atmo plants in this section." He hefted a wrench then dodged a pair of elves. "Blimey!" He chuckled. "Glad to see the little blokes, they do wonders in the ducts and in creepy places we can't reach without tearing the deck up. Mind if I borrow a few?" O'Reilly asked the Admiral. The Admiral chuckled.

  "They can see where we can't, and their hands are great for tight places," the tech added.

  The engineer nodded. "Ask for volunteers. You may get more than you bargain for though," he chuckled as the door to their quarters opened and a half dozen came out. They had belts and bandoleers with tools strapped to keep them from banging around.

  "We're ready." They looked up at O'Reilly.

  "All right then mates, let's shove off and get this air cleaned." He pointed with his

  wrench. "Atmo plant ho!" he said, pointing the wrench and marched off. The elves looked at each other then followed. The Admiral chuckled.

  "As I was saying, there is a medical clinic and micro hospital here as well. The chief medical officer doctor Thornby opens one up on another deck one day a month for a poor clinic. We can do better than that." He smiled. "This place is a small city all on its own. It has its own fire department, police, hospital, admin, tri-d station, theater, sports center, and day care. Once we get things sorted out it will serve as a model for the rest o
f the station, and eventually the rest of the solar system," he finished.

  She grimaced. "Well then we've got our work cut out for us. I'll just go check out the computers then." She walked off. Several people followed. He chuckled.

  "Admiral, this isn't exactly going to plan you know," Sprite reminded him.

  "No plan survives contact with the enemy... or time for that matter. You have to adapt. They have the will and energy, we're just building on it." He nodded to a pair of workers carrying in a pair of stools. Shelby came around the corner and eyed the work. The corridor had changed in the short shift, it was already nearly as clean as the more occupied center of the station. The ceiling was still missing some panels but the lights were all repaired. The robots had moved off to other areas or rooms. He wasn't sure where the trash was going, hopefully not out an airlock, it could be recycled. Hopefully Matt had handled that right. He'd have to check later. He nodded to Shelby as she approached.

  "Dad told me you've been busy." She looked around. "You did this in a couple hours?" she asked looking around. Her lips were pursed in a silent whistle. He chuckled.

  "I've got a lot of volunteers." He dodged a pair of giggling kids and a pair of people carrying coils of cable.

  "I see that. You're throwing our plans for rebuilding deck thirty five, you know that?" she looked around. He chuckled.

  "Which do you think is more important? Remaking a recreation deck or restarting the schools and college?" he waved. She froze.

  "College? You’re kidding?!" She turned to him. He smiled. She stared. His smile turned into a grin. "You are not kidding. Wow. I know dad is big on education, but I.." She shook her head stunned. "Okay, I'll get our teachers and staff down to help." He nodded. He had known about them, he had caught the references to the engineer's school Logan had set up in their private computer network and in several conversations.

  "It might be wise to fold the entire engineering course and basic education courses into this," he waved. “Here are the facilities, I bet there are some areas the teachers would love to get into. The labs for one." He smiled. She nodded. "With your teachers and some of the others as a nucleus, we can expand it." She nodded growing enthusiastic.

  "Right. I'll get it rolling on my end. We were trying to figure out what to do with the classes and library, it's in an electronics machine shop and we need the space now that the industry is back on track." She looked around.

  "There is a library here too, you may find it has a lot of material. We will have to watch out for theft and viruses though," he sighed. She nodded.

  "I'll get with dad and the others and see you in a couple hours." She waved and left. He chuckled.

  "I'm going to work on the admin computers Matt." He ducked into the room to let Matt know what he was up to. Matt nodded.

  "Okay Admiral, we've got two people and a bot in there cleaning now, I'll tell them to stay out of your way." Matt picked up a communicator and called it in. The Admiral smiled.

  After two hours of work he looked over to see a pair of people leaning against the door jam studying the room. "Boss this is Matilda, she's a secretary. Thistle is her granddaughter, she's eleven." Matt patted the older woman's shoulder. He nodded to her and the young brunette beside her. The woman had silver hair done up in a tight bun.

  "Pleased to meet you. I take it your here to run admin?" he asked. She picked up a tablet and looked it over.

  "We'll see." She started tidying the desk. He looked over to Matt. They moved out a bit.

  "She's a bit prickly but she's good, very good," Matt explained. The Admiral nodded.

  "Gran's touchy because of Mallfoy." They turned to see Thistle standing there. "He dumped her for a younger model she says. She's a bit put out about that." She shook her head then wrinkled her nose. "I still don't know what she meant though, younger model." The men looked at each other in suppressed amusement then shrugged.

  "His loss our gain. Okay well, if she can hack it, the job is hers." Irons tapped a tablet. "Sprite dump the admin outline and our plan to this and give her the support she needs." He felt the flow of data for a brief moment then it stopped.

  "Done. I included a thumbnail briefing on the station and personnel and an updated map of the station as well."

  He nodded. "Give this to your Gran, it has the outline of the plan I started." He handed the tablet to Thistle. She took it, gave him a jaunty salute then playfully skip marched back to her gram.

  Matt chuckled. "Going to be lively with those two. I think I am going to like it here." He turned and went back to work. The Admiral followed chuckling softly.

  “Believe it or not we've got an entire dorm cleaned and running. O'Rielly's got his hands full with the life support for the deck, we've got people coming out of our ears.” Matt shook his head. “I dunno what you’re planning to do with us all.”

  “Clean, eat, teach, bathe and repeat. At least for a couple of days till we get things sorted out. We'll get a daycare class going as soon as possible so the parents can drop their children off.”

  “Cool.” Matt nodded. “You were working on the admin database?”

  “Yes. It's cleaned out and set up. Sprite did most of the work. I did the electronic repairs.” He shrugged. “I took a quick look at some of the material she handed off to me. Unfortunately admin is a small net, really just for paperwork not for anything else. We're going to set up a separate intranet for the staff and students later.”

  “Okay....” Matt said shaking his head. That was a bit over his head.

  “Make sure everyone has a communicator and a tablet. I'll have a map and general outline for each crew chief so we can work together and not at cross purposes,” Irons instructed. Matt nodded.

  “Right gotcha.” He looked around. “Ah, How do I do that though?”

  Irons smiled. “I put in an order with electronics. There should be a shipment coming in soon. A couple of them actually.”

  “Oh. Well we did find a room full of these.” Matt held up a tablet.

  “Interesting.” Irons looked it over. “May I?” he asked.

  “Sure.” Matt handed it over. His eyes widened as the admiral jacked in. “Okay it's clean. Factory new actually. How many did you find?”

  “A few boxes. About a hundred I think. Most of them have dead batteries.”

  “Okay.” Irons looked up.

  “I've updated electronics. The crew chief said he's shifting to battery packs. It shouldn't take more than an hour to do,” Sprite reported.

  “All right. Sprite said she's uploaded the new list to engineering. Batteries should be here soon.” He turned to Matt and handed the tablet back.

  “I took the liberty of uploading the plan and station blueprints as well as the college blueprints to his tablet,” Sprite reported.

  Irons nodded. “You've now got the same maps and outline as Matilda has. I'll upload changes and completions as we go,” he smiled.

  “Right boss.” Matt checked the tablet. “Okay then, I'll go check on the water plant then get someone with the padds to swap the batteries and get them out.” He waved.

  “And on to the next project. It's good to have help with initiative.” Irons smiled.

  Chapter 10

  After twenty two hours of work he paused to get an update. Sprite pulled up his outline and faded out the parts that were completed. Then she switched it to a red, yellow, green map so he would better understand it. "Mrs. Valdez has been calling for you by the way," she reported.

  He sighed in resignation. "What are we up to?" he asked ignoring that last.

  "My last census was a half hour ago and put the number at five hundred and fifty one. Oops, make that five hundred and fifty two," Sprite informed him. He shook his head. "Sara got some rest and reported for duty but the CMO sent her back down here with Doctor Standish and a small staff. They re-opened the medical clinic. I've shifted resources there to compensate," Sprite finished. He nodded.

  "Good, good."

  “Matt has iden
tified areas with metal fatigue and they have been cordoned off for safety until engineering can get in and inspect things. Chief Logan has sent over some inspectors to check the area but they are tied up with sector five's sewer leak damage.”

  “Ew,” Irons said grimacing. He turned to see a man in a plaid tweed jacket come up to him.

  "You sir, are you the one they call the Admiral?" he asked, hands on his lapel. The Admiral nodded. "Fleet Admiral Irons. And you are?" he asked.

  "Mr. Periwinkle. Perry Periwinkle. I am your new teacher. Or one of them at least." He dodged a pair of children. The Admiral nodded.

  "I prefer teaching basic history, but Mr. Logan has had me teaching basic reading and math as well. Dreadfully dull and boring." He shook his head in resignation. "But needs must follow when the devil drives. I understand you're re-opening the campus?" He looked around.

  The open quad was quite different. Tree saplings were being brought in from the greenhouses. The food court had been cleaned and was now in limited use. A robot was busy scraping gunk and graffiti off a wall nearby. The man whistled softly.

  "Yes, we're working on that now. If you can check in with Mrs. Matilda at the front desk she can get you set up. Once things are sorted out we'll try to give you more advanced courses to teach along with the basics." He pointed to the admin section.

  "I say, I would love to sit down with you and pick your brains about your time period. Fascinating!" The man ran one hand through his whiskers. "Truly fascinating, much better than this dark time," he waved.

  "Well, we're going to change that. It's time for a new Renaissance, starting right here. You'll be making history yourself." The Admiral stamped his foot and waved to indicate the entire campus. The teacher nodded.

  "Good good! Jolly good! Glad to hear it!" He thrust his fist in the air then looked around embarrassed. "I'll just check in now. With Matilda right?" Irons nodded. “Good catch that one, positively ingenious with managing people and materials.” He nodded, turned and left.