Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  “Where are the bodies?” he asked.

  “I spaced them Admiral. With a brief ceremony I recorded. It was the least I could do,” Firefly replied softly. Irons grimaced then nodded. The AI had a sense of honor still. Good.

  “You did fine. Good work.” He went back to studying the links.

  After an hour of studying the reports he received a call from a frustrated tech and decided to lend a hand. "What were you saying about they show promise?" Sprite teased. He shook his head. "It's early, give them a break." He made his way through the darkened decks, down ladders to the open doors of fusion two. He could see spot lights lighting the compartment. Other lights moved around in the Stygian darkness. "What's the problem?" he asked coming into the room.

  "We can't cut the armored panel, it just sucks up the plasma torch," Angie grunted angrily, throwing the tool away. It spun away then was yanked back by its cord. She grabbed the end then racked it.

  "The armor is designed to do that, to prevent damage. Let me take a look." They stepped aside as he floated in. “Here?" he pointed. She nodded. He studied the bulge. The armor was cracked and bulged over the leak. "Can you cut the feeds up stream?" he asked.

  "Already done. We can't reroute, everything runs to this main trunk to the reactor," the tech named Jimmy pointed to the core behind them.

  Irons nodded. "Right, what about running a bypass? Deal with this later?" He ran his right hand over the bulge.

  "Nanites are the only thing that can cut this Admiral," Proteus reported. He grunted.

  "I can cut it, but it would take hours." He looked over to Angie who nodded.

  "Right, bypass it is," she sighed.

  "Call Sergio, have him break out the spare hose, Jimmy, Wally, go pick it up as well as the crimps and fittings we'll need. We'll start working on a fix here." She studied the lines etched onto the deck. "There is a feed here," the Admiral pointed. "The problem is we're going to get some leaks, it is upstream of the breach but when we tap into that valve we're going to get some blow back down the damaged section." He pointed his right index finger, tracing the lines. "Can you get to the pipe on the backside?" he asked suddenly curious.

  "No chance, there is a spar on the other side. Honeycombed," Firefly reported over the net.

  "Roger that," he sighed. "Is there fuel in that bulge?" he asked. Firefly paused. "Most of it has dissipated over the centuries. I set up a scrubber to grab it, but I was getting only a one point two one percent return on investment so I gave up after a while." Sprite received the data the ship sent and projected it. Irons waved it away. "Later. Can you get the scrubber here? Maybe we can tack a catch basin over this hole to catch the blow back and send it back into the line?" He used his hands to mime a dome over the bulge.

  "It will be messy, you'll have leaks but it's worth a try," Angie replied. She was across the compartment making adjustments to the valve. She grunted as she muscled the cap off. "Vacuum weld." She hammered at the side for a moment then heated it with a hand torch. Her partner used a pry bar to muscle the valve open. "All right, we're ready on this end." She looked over to the doorway to see lights approaching. "Nice timing as usual," she smiled as Jimmy came in with a section of hose wrapped around his torso and two more coils over each shoulder. His partner followed carrying a bag of parts and a bladder of fuel. "Okay, lets hop to it we don't have all day!" The Admiral floated backwards and watched them get on with it. After a moment of watching he was sure they knew what they were doing so he turned to the console and jacked in.

  "What are you doing?" Angie, the head tech asked.

  "Checking the systems." He watched as Proteus and Firefly ran a rapid diagnostic. "Looks good. Firefly is warming up the chamber now. Lasers and tractors are on. We've got good containment, but we're sucking a lot of power from the micro reactor." He grimaced. It was sink or swim time. They'd have to chance it. "Sergio, come in." He looked up. After a second Sergio's startled voice replied.

  "Admiral is that you?" Sergio asked startled. He smiled.

  "Roger that. Sergio, I want you to tie the launch's power grid into the ship. It's designed to go the other way, but I think we can get it to work. Firefly will send a bot to help you if you need it." He waited.

  "Roger that. Admiral if we suck the launch dry we won’t have a ride back," Sergio cautioned.

  "We're going back on Firefly," the Admiral smiled. The crew looked up as they finished making connections. They were committed now.

  "We're ready," Angie nervously reported, studying her work once more. She wasn't too sure about an all or nothing approach. Then again, they didn't have a lot of choices.

  "Right, linking up now, it will take me a few minutes Admiral. Sergio out." The channel clicked off.

  "Are you sure about this Admiral, I don't want you to be stranded here," Firefly said. He smiled.

  "Like it or not, our fate rests with you old friend. Time we committed to that." He nodded to Angie. "Open the valve." Angie gulped and turned the valve with the pry bar. She seemed to spin in the air, not moving it for a moment before she tucked her body down and then locked her feet around the exposed valve.

  She grunted then managed to turn the valve. "Here it comes..." She looked up. Proteus was showing him a feed of the fuel as it entered the plumbing and approached the ignition chamber.

  "Burn baby burn," Jimmy muttered softly.

  "Come on, light..." Angie said equally soft. The other tech Wally crossed his arms looking bored. As the deuterium entered the ignition chamber it began to swirl within the torus. After a moment it met the incoming stream and began to compress.

  "I still don't have enough power for ignition... wait one, power from the launch is coming online, drawing power, got it." Firefly sounded more and more excited as the chamber's temperature rapidly climbed. Lasers and tractors flared.

  "We have ignition!" the Admiral reported with a smile. Angie crowed, slapping Jimmy on the arm. After a moment the lights brightened.

  "Reactor at one percent. I don't think we should take her above two point four percent until we get more fuel Admiral. I'm going to have my hands full keeping it stable at that low an output," Firefly cautioned. He nodded.

  "Agreed." He turned to Angie.

  "Jimmy you've got the watch, Wally, we need more fuel bladders. Start pushing them here, I'll be along in a minute." She patted the man's shoulder he nodded and floated out without a word. "What's next Admiral?" Angie asked.

  "Well, we're going to ensure the fuel supply then start patching critical systems." He waved to the lights. "Make sure there aren't any kinks in the hoses.” He looked to make sure there weren't then nodded. “We're going to leave the gravity off for now, we don't need it, and to be honest it will hamper moving the fuel and heavy parts." Angie nodded.

  "Right, I'll help Wally then report in to Shelby." She wiggled her fingers in a good bye then floated out of the compartment. Jimmy floated up beside him.

  "What do I need to know? It's like the reactor on the station right?" He looked at the controls.

  "Right, Firefly is keeping it balanced. Just back him up. Don't let the fuel run out and keep an eye on the core temp." He pointed out the salient features then un-jacked and floated backwards.

  "Admiral, we've got a plasma leak on deck two section four port side. I'm rerouting now. I've rerouted around known leaks but some are cropping up," Firefly reported.

  "Unknown damage or damage from micro meteors?" Jimmy asked looking up.

  "A bit of both I assume. My armor is strong but it isn't perfect. It could also be expansion joints, this long in cold and vacuum doesn't help fittings and metal fatigue could also be a factor." Firefly sounded annoyed. Jimmy chuckled.

  "Nothing is perfect," Jimmy said nodding as he studied the controls.

  "Right, I'll leave you to it." The Admiral waved and left. "How is Shelby doing?" he asked.

  "Shelby here, we've got main engineering up. We're receiving power now that you've got the reactor online. Sergio reports the mic
ro reactor is tapped out. I sent him back for more fuel. Drive is off line, it's going to take a lot more power to bring it up. Goddess Admiral this ship, even damaged is incredible!" She sounded awed. He chuckled.

  "That she is. Once we get the damage repaired, the pirates don't stand a chance," he said as he smiled.

  "Roger that. I've got a work party tracking down EPS leaks. Can we get some heat? Maybe some more air?" she asked.

  "Working on it," Firefly reported.

  "Right sorry," she sighed. He chuckled.

  "So far so good Admiral, we've nailed down three more major and two minor leaks. I think it is safe for the tender to come in," Shelby reported tiredly nearly three hours later.

  "How is the drive?" the Admiral asked.

  "Warming up now. Inertial dampeners are primed. Our limited fuel supply will barely get us home. You're right, Gutierrez isn't going to be happy, but vampiring his ship for the fuel will get us home three times faster than with him trying to push us." She shook her head.

  "Try telling him that though, he's going to be pissed!" Irons chuckled while running his hand through sweat soaked hair. Even his implants and suit were hard pressed to keep up with the hard pace they were on. In the past three hours they had run from one leak to another, locking them down and avoiding hull breaches. The last leak had been scary, it had been dangerously close to a scuttling charge. Had the drifting plasma ribbon hit that charge, the excited electrons could have set it off, setting off a chain reaction that would have destroyed the ship.

  "She's a mess but repairable. Once we get the leaks sorted out and a reliable fuel supply she'll run rings around anything in space," Shelby smiled.

  "And once those are done we'll get her other systems sorted out," Irons smiled as Wally studied the controls then looked up with a thumbs up.

  "You two do realize you’re talking about me right?" Firefly interrupted sounding amused.

  "Right, sorry," Irons smiled as Shelby looked startled. She blushed and then took a sip of water. "I have a channel open to the tender Admiral," Firefly reported. He felt the link open onto his HUD.

  "Right, Captain Gutierrez, please dock at boat bay two with the launch. We're going to use your power to get her home to Anvil under her own drive." He waited a moment as the Captain grumbled.

  "Captain, Firefly will get us home three times faster, and you can spend the time out of your cabin. You can even get out of your suit once we get the life support repaired." He looked up to the bulkhead above with a patient air.

  "I'll just check on Sergio, make sure he hasn't gotten into mischief..." Shelby said softly and left.

  "All right." Gutierrez finally relented.

  "I promised you a tour of the ship Captain, we might as well do that while you’re here," the Admiral smiled. The Captain chuckled.

  "You don't have to lay it on that thick Admiral, I'm coming. I'll be docking in twenty minutes. Gutierrez out." The channel closed.

  "They are interesting," Firefly said diplomatically.

  "You mean prickly? It comes with the times and being a civilian I suppose. Once we get things sorted out we'll rebuild the fleet," Irons smiled tiredly.

  "Your mad Admiral, rebuild the fleet?" Firefly asked, suddenly wary.

  "Why not? We have four military AI, one flag officer, one slightly damaged and aged noncom, and your ship and a mess of volunteers. It's a start." He smiled as he locked eyes with the nearest camera in the corner of the room.

  "Right," Sprite replied. "Admiral, we've got the launch drained of fuel, should we move her crew and gear to better quarters?" Sprite asked. He nodded.

  "You two handle it. Keep them clustered close to critical systems so we can concentrate life support and inertial dampening to those decks. Get Sergio briefed on the helm. Captain Gutierrez as well. Give them a carrot and they will bend over backwards to help." He smiled as he nodded to Angie. She came in and set her tool box down.

  "That's it for decks three and four. I think we've got the worst leaks taken care of. We can't be sure until we get a lot more fuel though, we may have pinhole leaks we're not picking up." She shook her head. Sweat was beading along her sweat band. Her breath fogged around her. He nodded.

  "How is it that we can get pinhole leaks, but we can't breach that with a plasma cutter?" She waved disgustedly at the armored fuel line shroud. He looked in the indicated direction then chuckled.

  "When the ship was damaged splinters of material ricocheted inside. Also plasma leaks from the EPS conduits and possibly ordinance going off. Not everything is armored like that is," he indicated the shroud. “Many of the systems are designed for easy access for repair or replacement." He shrugged. "We'll have to go through the ship deck by deck and make repairs as needed. The good news is Firefly has its own replicators and the AI is pretty advanced." He nodded to the camera. "We'll get it sorted out."

  Angie held up a tablet. "Well I was thinking, we're focusing on drives, helm, the bridge, minimum sensors, and life support for the critical decks we need right? Well I was wondering, if we reroute power here from the hyper drive controls to the port drive pod then we can test each of them from the power room. We don't need the hyper drive now, so we can bypass it. I know her governor needs a trickle charge, but..."

  The Admiral smiled. "Make it so. See if you can reroute controls from the drive room to main engineering or the bridge so we can concentrate our life support." She nodded.

  "Jimmy give me a hand?" she waved. He looked up from the bulkhead he had been sitting against and nodded. Wearily he pushed off then floated behind her. They felt a bump.

  "Oops," Firefly said.

  "What the hell was that?" Wally looked up suddenly wary.

  "Captain Gutierrez slipped when I laid a tractor on his ship to dock. He's all right but his ship has sustained superficial damage. As has the boat bay," Firefly reported.

  "Right. He's probably turning the air blue as well. I better get down there then." The Admiral sighed shaking his head. "Carry on Wally, I'll see about relieving you in a bit." He waved and floated out of the compartment.

  "What the hell happened? I was all set to dock and then something jerked my ship like a rag doll!" Gutierrez was holding a blood soaked rag to his head. Blood swirled around his head like a halo, with a trail to his command pod. Shelby was trying to get him to hold still but he was thrashing about. "I'm all right, just have a headache and this blasted cut. I want some answers." He glared at the Admiral.

  The Admiral exhaled, watching his breath cloud. "It was my fault Captain. I should have notified you that I was initializing the docking tractors," Firefly interrupted sounding subdued.

  "Was that the ship?" Gutierrez looked up, anger forgotten. "You mean she's alive?" He turned to the Admiral who smiled.

  "That is correct Captain. Once miss Shelby gets your head wound under control I'd like you to take the helm with Mr. Valdez," Firefly replied smoothly.

  Gutierrez's unshaven scared face lit in a grin. "You don't say. Well I'll be. I'll be right up!" He tried to push off the crate he was sitting on but Shelby pushed him back down.

  "Hold still, this will sting." She sprayed the wound with biofoam. He winced then reached to touch the cut. She caught his hand. "Not just yet. Touch the foam and your fingers will be stuck to your head," she said amused. He jerked his hand back and then balled it into a fist. "Sergio is on the bridge. I sent him up a minute ago," she looked up to the Admiral who nodded. "All right, it's set. I'll clean this mess up Captain, you can go." Shelby took the blood soaked rag from him and waved him on. He smiled.

  "Why thank you miss," he chuckled and moved off. Shelby busied herself with cleaning up the mess with a portable vacuum. "I always hated zero g," she muttered. The Admiral chuckled. Slushy globules of blood and spittle were spreading out slowly.

  "It can be a pain at times. Here let me get that one." The Admiral pulled a micro vacuum off the wall, plugged it into his right arm to power it then started sucking globs out of the air. "At least the cold is
helping us," Shelby said after a few moments.

  "Yes and no, it's great for keeping people focused, but it is hard on equipment and is a problem for morale over time." The Admiral finished his side then racked the vacuum. Shelby finished the command pod then came out.

  "What? Oh, yeah, being in cold for a long time can be a problem. I mean, dad keeps the power rooms cold and dark to keep people focused, but it gets on your nerves after a while. I can't stand more than a few hours, after two all I can think about is getting somewhere warm sometimes." She shook her head looking bemused.

  He chuckled. "Yeah, like I said, it has its downside. Let me give you a hand with the hoses and then we can check on the bridge." He helped her hook up the power lines and fuel hoses then together they floated out into the corridor.

  "Admiral, why don't I go give Wally a break. He needs it. Jimmy, why don't you check on Angie. Check in when you get to her. If you run into Mick tell him to focus on areas we're in and lock down any leaks in areas we're not." Jimmy waved as he turned and floated off. "Admiral." Shelby nodded politely and took off. He nodded.

  "She's improving steadily. She's developing initiative and her leadership is outstanding," Sprite sounded amused.

  "Think she'd make a good officer? Possibly the XO?" the AI asked.

  "Possible. If she is willing to sign on in that capacity. She did say she wanted to join though." He made his way to the bridge. “I'd take her on as a chief engineer though, let her father take the XO slot.” He waved off the obvious protest. “Yeah yeah, I know, no families on a ship.” He shrugged. “We have to roll with what we got. He's the only one other than us with experience.” Firefly didn't respond.

  He was amused when he entered the main bridge to see the captain in the captain's chair and Sergio at the helm. Holos and LCDs were arrayed around each of them. The room was warm, much warmer than the rest of the ship. Condensation was beginning to form and drip from the bulkheads. The life support blowers were on full, trying to suck the moisture out for recycling most likely.