Plague Planet (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  “Oh.”

  “Furthermore, that was Irons. The Irons. The guy who's been going around the continent fixing stuff for everyone. He was in the middle of offering his services to me when you three clowns,” she gritted her teeth as she glared once more. “Interrupted me,” she ground out.

  “It's my mistake ma'am, I thought you'd want the interruption,” the secretary said in a small voice.

  “Dawn, just... go finish what you are doing and go to lunch.”

  “Was he really talking about helping?” Marcus asked.

  “Yes. He's done all sorts of stuff for the various clinics and infirmaries in the towns he's visited so far. I've gotten all sorts of good reports. He's not only fixed everything they found for him, he also upgraded power grids and gave them a microcomputer with all sorts of stuff on it. Good stuff, stuff you'd give a lot to get your hands on.”

  “Yeah, I'd say it was important,” Ted said with a sigh. “Sorry Ma'am,” he said.

  “It's over and done with now,” Helen replied with a sigh. “I don't even know how to get back in touch with the man! That's what's so frustrating!” she growled. “He said something about his ship, I don't know how to call a starship!”

  “I guess this ties in with that then,” Julian said, one hand raised. The others looked at him. “I had that case with the strange liver function remember?” She nodded. “Well, doctor Nugo over in Brownsville is an old friend, he actually referred the case to me. Someone came by and gave him a computer and he checked and not only found what it was, but also a treatment. That's why I was excited and came to see you.”

  “Right. I'm betting you've got Irons to thank for that. You and your patient if it works,” Marcus replied. The other doctor nodded. “Come on, let's leave the lady alone then,” he said as he turned away.

  Almost as if on Cue Helen's stomach growled. He turned back with mischief in his eyes. She snorted. “Yeah, yeah, I'm coming,” she said, gathering her purse up from the coat rack near the door. “Come on you three, let's go eat and then I'll see if someone can get a hold of Irons again for me. Maybe Hank,” she mused as they walked out. “I'll be seeing him tomorrow. I've got to catch the red eye out to Hazard tonight.”

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Helen Richards personally oversaw the placement of the pods in the Rubicon warehouse the next day. She had a tech hook them up to the local power grid. The ship had been generous, they had even thrown in the hover pallet and pallet jack to move the pod cluster around. Or at least they hadn't asked for it back. Most likely they wouldn't, and if they did they'd get some excuse or another.

  This was their second move, too many people had flocked around Hazard General hospital to get word, disrupting the facility and annoying the staff. People hadn't known the pods had been stored in the hospital's ambulance garage until some motor mouth medic had let it slip and even showed his girlfriend the pods.

  She stuffed her hands in her pockets, wishing it would go faster, she had other things to do after all. But she knew better, she knew some things were worth taking time to get right. You didn't go off halfcocked with medicine, so maybe they were right to dilly dally and look. At least they'd be telling their grandkids about this event, she thought wryly.

  One of the first things the work crew had done was take the pods off the pallet of course. They'd left them on the bare dirt floor and made off with the pallet and jack. She hadn't been happy about that, but the grapevine had said it was Hodges's pay off to allow the pods to be transferred out of Hazard City and to the warehouse district of Rubicon town.

  Of course the location wasn't as secret and therefore not as secure as she would have liked. Hopefully they'd thrown off some pursuit though. The media had reluctantly agreed to not disclose the exact warehouse the pods were in. She'd even gotten them to run a false story about how they had dropped the pods off at the local infirmary... not that the local infirmary really had the room for such a project.

  She'd been tempted to divert the pods to a major hospital. She had the authority, but she didn't want the circus to go along with it. Had she sent the pods to say, Metropolis or oh, Gotham, or even Landing the people would have turned it into a parade. Besides, she didn't have the facilities there either.

  No, she'd have to set up the facilities here, which meant diverting them from other more needy projects. Since these people were on ice they could wait, she thought. If the powers that be wanted them awake faster than they could damn well provide her more resources to get the job done. Since they were in no hurry, neither was she.

  She smiled as she locked up and then dropped the keys into the hands of the warehouse security guard. “No one in or out. That includes you and your staff. I'll have someone check in randomly,” she warned, brandishing a stern finger at him.

  “Yes ma'am,” the hulking brute said, bobbing a nod.

  “I'm serious now,” she held up a warning finger. The guy grimaced and then nodded. She'd been sure to at least let him get a peek before they'd locked up. Hopefully that would suffice. She didn't want some young idiot in there tripping over the power cord and killing the people after all. Nor did she want them posing for pictures or hitting the wrong buttons.

  “We'll play it by the book ma'am. I mean doc,” the guy said. She nodded firmly.

  “See that you do,” she said, walking out.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Irons grimaced as he waited in the storied conference room. It had a nice view of Gotham and the harbor beyond, but he really didn't care for ground side views much. And he cared even less for cooling his heels.

  “What's the problem?” he asked Sprite. They'd been kept waiting or been shuffled from one department to the next. Someone named Earle had shuffled him off to a Mr. Fox in the companies Applied science division. Apparently Earle was busy trying to convert the tech company into a machine to build weapons of war.

  That really didn't make sense, there was no war on the planet, unless you took into consideration the war between the mobs and the law. But perhaps he wanted to branch out? Build machines and weapons of war for export? That was entirely possible, Irons mused. Avalon was just a couple of jumps away and they fought every year, most of the time just for the fun of it. If Earle used the pirate threat as a potential goad, he may see profits in selling weapons to passing ships who would then in turn sell them to others.

  Of course that painted a big target on Epsilon, but Irons was fairly certain the company, or at least it's C.E.O. was banking on the idea that the defense network would ward off any possible invasion. Irons himself however didn't see it that way, and he was reminded that others may not either. Not everything went according to a C.E.O.'s playbook.

  Apparently the other firm Sprite had singled out for his interest was also involved in manufacturing weapons, the two companies and another an upcoming utility company called Power's Inc. that wanted to diversify its market share were dueling over who could make the most profit from the new endeavor. War profiteers, he thought with a pang. He'd thought he'd had his fill during the Xeno war.

  At least they were here, confined to Epsilon for the time being. He had no intention of setting up shop here either. The asteroid belt was too sparse and diffuse, the fuel supply on the Jovian's also too diffuse... and he just didn't like the cesspool here on the planet. No, he was rapidly getting his fill of this world.

  “I'm not sure what the problem is admiral, they're probably looking to find someone else to foster you off on,” Sprite replied.

  “Possibly,” he replied absently, staring out into the clear skies beyond the thin untempered glass. “Any word from Prinz Zir?”

  “One casual inquiry. Phoenix played them off, passing himself off as crew. They were more interested in seeing if our crew was ground side than in trade or communications.”

  “Oh?”

  “I'm not sure what they were up to. It doesn't matter, they're scheduled to lift in a few hours,” Sprite responded. She was a bit bitter over the whole fuel deal.


  “Oh well, not our problem,” Irons replied with a shrug. He turned as the brass doorknob turned. He rose as a black human male came in and smiled. The old man had pockmarks on his face, steel gray hair, and a lively smile to go with his polka dot bow tie.

  “Sorry to keep you waiting Admiral, I was in another meeting. Lucius Fox, pleased to finally meet you sir,” he said shaking hands with the admiral.

  “As I with you Mr. Fox,” Irons replied as they disengaged hands. Fox indicated they sit. A secretary came in with a stenographer machine and closed the door behind her. The admiral's eyes cut to the woman and then back to Fox as he settled into a chair and crossed his legs and clasped his hands in front of him.

  “Now, how may we be of service here?” Fox asked politely.

  “Well, I'm thinking it's more the other way around actually, I'm a sleeper as you know, an Engineering admiral. I've been going around trying to help bootstrap communities back from the dark ages and a friend pointed out I should be looking to work with a company to get to more people. Someone like you and your company,” he said indicating Mr. Fox.

  “Indeed. A noble goal. What did you have in mind?” Fox asked.

  “Well, I was looking into your power grid, but I also wanted to hit just about every field. Microcomputers, sewer and waste treatment and recycling, water treatment, medicine, and medical tech...”

  “A lofty goal,” Fox replied with a smile.

  “I've got a lot of blueprints and of course the manufacturing steps for each on file,” Irons replied. He reached over to the holo projector he had brought along and pulled out a microcomputer as well. “These were called TV sticks for the past two thousand years. A microcomputer, wireless access node, memory, and various means to plug it into devices such as this,” Irons said plugging it back into the holo emitter.

  Fox looked at the device, eyes finally lighting in interest. He reached for it. Irons however pulled another device from his breast pocket and handed it over. Fox turned it over and over in his hands, examining it's every crevice. “Such a fascinating little device,” he murmured. He looked up. “And you say it's a fully functional computer?”

  “Yes and it can connect to others forming a wired and wireless network,” the admiral replied with a nod. He pulled out more of the devices and laid them down onto the desk. “I usually make a couple thousand and then hand them out to teachers and doctors and other people wherever I go...”

  “So easily made?” Fox asked, eyebrows raised in surprise.

  “Well, I used a replicator, but I can give you one.”

  “Give?” Fox asked, now shocked. Irons shrugged. “Are you serious Mister Irons?”

  “Sure,” Irons replied with a shrug. “I can make them.” He pointed to the holo as Fox and the stenographer gasped. He cleared his throat and pointed again. “Now, as I was saying, I've worked out the basics for various tech and machinery as well as medical pharmacopoeia for you. I'm not charging for it, it's all open source or should be at this late a date, but I will ask that you only charge a minimum fee above the costs of making, installing, and transporting it. I'd actually like that in any written agreement we sign,” Irons replied and a smile to the stenographer.

  The woman blinked and then started typing once more. Irons snorted softly.

  “You aren't looking to profit from this?” Fox finally asked, studying the slide show.

  Irons shook his head. “First off, I want this into as many hands as possible, your population has suffered enough as it is. Secondly, I'm not going to be around for much longer, I plan on being off world soon enough. I'm also giving this technology to many different companies, so whoever gets it into the market first has the advantage.”

  “True,” Fox nodded. “I'll uh, have to have a list of um...”

  “Sure,” the admiral replied with a smile. “Here, the files are on each of these,” he said, feeling Sprite send the relevant data to each device. “I'll leave you all of them to use. Also a copy of this conversation for your records,” he said, glancing to the stenographer. She looked up and blinked behind coke bottle glasses.

  He nodded politely to her and then to Fox. “You can reach me with these devices. My e-mail contact is in them. I'll be on planet for some time, most likely another week or so.”

  “Thank you for understanding. You see, I need to run this by the board and well...” Fox shrugged helplessly.

  “I understand,” Irons replied smiling sympathetically. “I can show you the basics, and show you step by step on how to access the other information. I suggest you start small, with simple items easily made and then build to more complicated devices.”

  “A man should crawl before he can walk,” Fox replied with a nod.

  “True even in my time,” Irons replied as both men got up. They shook hands once more.

  “We will definitely be in touch Admiral,” the man said, firmly gripping his hand. The admiral nodded.

  “Good. I want to help your people Mr. Fox. It's past time to move to the next golden age,” he said firmly.

  Fox nodded but he seemed dazed. His eyes kept going to the hologram and the devices Irons had casually left behind. Irons nodded to the secretary and then left. “A man after my own heart,” he heard Fox murmur as the door closed behind the admiral.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Sprite was entirely too amused by the encounter as he left the big gothic building's stairwell. Unlike others in the building he wasn't going to be trapped in the deathtraps they called elevators. She smiled, virtual eyes filled with mirth. “Now, you want to take bets on whether we'll get a call back and how soon?”

  “We didn't sign any sort of document, nor an NDA. I even let them have the data gratis. I'm curious if we will. Hopefully they will see that as a small taste and will be interested in more.”

  “Possibly,” Sprite replied. “Fox is having a ball using the computers. He's definitely a fast learner. Not only did he figure out the voice address system, he also discovered the laser keyboard,” she said as Irons exited the building.

  “Good for him. I need to resupply. Who's next?”

  “So far no one, but when word gets out, they'll probably be chasing you even more than the assassins currently are,” Sprite responded with a laugh.

  “You would remind me of them,” Irons sighed. He looked around to the busy street. Defender had picked out the bomb attempt at the hotel he had stayed in Metropolis a few nights ago. The AI had pointed it out to him that morning. Apparently Sprite hadn't made the connection. To be fair, neither had the admiral. Still, it was something to think about and to be cautious about. A bomb would ruin his day but not his life, but it would permanently ruin the lives of anyone else caught up in the explosion.

  “Lunch?” Irons asked.

  “You'd think Fox would have offered,” Sprite grumbled. “Two blocks down admiral, on the left side. There's a restaurant there with adequate food and better yet, a television with the latest news feed.”

  “Right,” Irons sighed, moving off in the indicated direction.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  The Prinz Zir didn't stay long, just long enough to take on some fuel and a family of passengers, the Gronix family of three. Irons was amused at the media story of the family leaving and the shy little blonde girl waving goodbye at the shuttle launch.

  “Slow news day to cover that,” Sprite said after they watched the vid feed. There was always something about people going off into the great unknown that intrigued organics, she thought. Which was probably why they ran the story. That and the fact that a ship coming to the system was still a news event. It was so in other systems as well.

  “True,” Irons replied with a shrug. “Now, where were we?”

  “Still going nowhere fast apparently. Though the protests about the fuel has drawn our supplier out with an out and out demand for more credits.”

  “Lovely.”

  “I would suggest trading skills for the fuel but he doesn't deserve making more profits w
ith his attitude,” Sprite replied. Irons grunted in irritation.

  “Fuel station?” Irons asked. He still had that to fall back on.

  “If we go visit it, maybe half a tank admiral,” Sprite replied. This gas giant is diffuse, the Helium 3 is harder to come by. We sold a lot of the first run to Io.”

  “Which took on what? Ten tons? That's not much.”

  “No. But our problem is we need all Helium 3 and deuterium. The hydrogen we're getting ground side is allowing us to supplement the deuterium from the platform. Remember, we need more of that then of Helium 3, but the distilled water we're getting is anything but distilled. And Phoenix has to scrub it, run it through electrolysis, and then separate the hydrogen and then screen for the deuterium. We've got plenty of reaction mass for the fusion drive but...”

  Irons held up a restraining hand. “Spare me. I get it. More water.”

  “We could camp out on the platform. It would take a month but we would get the fuel needed for a shorter jump. Say...”

  Irons shook his head. “No, we're going for the long jump. But I think it's time to get the last package and then change continents.”

  “Good idea,” Sprite replied. “Let some other person try to screw us,” she said.

  “Not helping,” he growled.

  “Sorry sir,” Sprite replied. She blinked and then cocked her head. “In other news, one of the minicomputers you handed out in Hazard has just gone orbital.”

  “Oh?”

  “The one that was given to the school. Or at least one of the ones. I'm guessing someone either traded for it or did a five fingered discount.”

  “Are you still tracking it?”

  “I was but it's now out of range. The ship will be out of Phoenix's range shortly.”

  “Well, at least it's in someone's hands. Someone who can use it and appreciate it,” he said with a shrug. “Moving on...”

  “You know, something that's been bothering me. Perfect Circle,” the admiral said as his right arm continued to work. He studied the primitive wiring of the hydroelectric controls and then snorted. It wasn't like the Siegfried project, but close. This facility was over thirty years old so apparently some systems hadn't changed much in design. Sprite and Proteus were adding microcomputers to help control the system. He'd made certain they had put up additional firewalls to protect the critical systems as well.