Rachel laughed at her expression. "Thank Damien. He's the gourmet coffee maker around here."
"Because no one else seems to be able to accomplish such a simple feat," Damien growled. He finished off his coffee and handed it to a bot. "One of these days I'll get one of you trained."
The bot moved across the room and into the break-room. A moment later it reappeared with the cup topped off, heading straight back to Damien. One of the men in the back of the room teased Damien for his domestic skills, but a glare and a threat to never make coffee again stopped it in a flurry of laughter.
Tish took the chance to grab another cup for herself. Usually she wouldn't have anymore after first thing in the morning, but she wanted to make sure she was awake and ready for whatever the day might bring. As Rachel said, the coffee was good. Almost as good as what the bot brought to her apartment.
"Is Sector 1157 still inhabited," Tish asked.
"So far. We continue the work today." Damien leaned back in his chair to give her an assessing look. "Thank you for finding the acid leak. I understand from Simon that a main power conduit and another coolant line were almost breached."
Tish shrugged. "I didn't do anything. Just stumbled onto it and brought it to the bots attention. Fortunately before it splattered on me."
Arthur entered the room from the side leading to storage rooms. After talking quickly with the two people she didn't know, he headed straight for her.
"Damien, need help?" He asked without looking in his direction.
"No. Almost have it locked down. Be using a bunch of raw materials, though," Damien said.
"Use what you need."
Arthur stopped in front of her and looked her up and down, stopping his perusal when he reached the top of her head. Tish put a hand up to make sure the pony tail was still there, finding all the hair ties where they should be.
He pressed his lips together before turning to Rachel. "Rachel, Tish Douglas. Tish, Rachel Henderkito, the head of Redpoint One's plumbing systems. You'll be training with her today."
Rachel gulped down a mouthful of coffee with surprise written all over her. "I'm training today?"
"You wanted trainees," Arthur said before turning away, running a hand through his hair.
"Does that mean I can keep her?" Rachel said with a grin towards Tish.
"Not before I have some time with her in my section," Damien said, handing the empty coffee cup to the bot waiting beside him.
Tish gave Rachel a mock-glare. "I'm not a pet."
"Hey, expect to be fought over. In a way it's a compliment," Rachel said with an unrepentant grin.
Across the room, above the circular table at the center of the raised platform, a series of red lights started blinking within a holographic image of Redpoint One. With it started several chimes at different octaves.
"Uh oh." Rachel stood up straight and taking a big gulp of coffee.
"I wondered if we would get hit after the damage yesterday. Tish, you're with Rachel." Damien headed towards the table without a backward glance. "Vasiliy, you're with me."
A blond-haired man ran out of the locker room, fastening his tool belt as he ran. Tish knew her eyes were wide as she watched Arthur walk away. She couldn't help it. He was a bit, well, overwhelming, even after the stern talk she'd given herself earlier. Even with his bad mood.
Rachel took her arm and pulled her towards the locker room. "We best be off. By the number of alarms he'll be calling in reinforcements to help with the repairs. We should get out of the way."
"From the pirate attack?" Tish asked.
"That and a smuggling operation gone wrong a few months ago. Don't ask, it wasn't good."
Rachel opened a locker at the end and pulled out a tool belt. Tish grabbed hers, but Rachel stopped her before she could put it on. "Have you refilled it?"
Tish hesitated. "What do you mean?"
Rachel opened one of the pouches, revealing small ovals filling up the internal space. "Raw materials. We carry a variety with us so the bots can make fast small repairs. But, it looks like these are full."
"I didn't use any yesterday. I thought they were full of tools," Tish said. When Rachel started naming what went into each, her mind blanked. More to memorize, and the substances weren't organized alphabetically.
Rachel closed up the last of the pouches after showing her the contents. "Don't worry, it will make sense eventually. I'll help you refill right at first until you get the hang of it. Remember: all tools are hanging on the outside, and the pouches are raw materials."
"Finally, something I can remember easily." Tish wrapped the belt around her and hooked it up. "We're fixing plumbing today?"
"Yes, and there's plenty of it to fix. Water pipes, sewer, gray water, clogs, breaks, pets."
Tish couldn't help the laugh that escaped her. "Pets?"
Rachel nodded so seriously that Tish suppressed another laugh. "Oh, you wouldn't believe what I find. It's mind-blowing."
Tish wasn't so sure she wanted to start out the day by mucking around in the sewers. Maybe she should start storing an extra set of clothes in her locker for quick changes.
Pulling a cart behind her filled with more tools and covered buckets, Rachel pointed out things along the way, mentioning where some of the corridors led. Introducing people as they passed. All the while a yellow and white bot trailed behind them.
But Tish shook her head as Rachel continued the sight-seeing spiel. "There is no way I'm going to be able to remember all this. I'm not sure I can find my way back to my room from the Maintenance Platform without calling a bot to lead me."
Rachel reached back to her ponytail and wrapped her hair in a knot and stuck a long pin through it. "You'll get it with time. If you get lost and there isn't a bot around just ask the computer for help."
"The computer no one can understand?"
"We can understand. A little bit. More important, it understands you." She pointed to a black screen on the wall with a dark blue frame around it. "Just activate and tell it where you need to go. A little bot will come out and take you there."
Tish nodded slowly, eyeing the blank screen. "Sounds easy enough."
Her voice must have held some of her misgivings because Rachel grinned at her.
"Like this." Rachel walked up to the pad and touched it. "Computer, how do I get to section Sigma 1782 Maintenance Shaft 82?"
The screen flashed to life. Garbled words came from it along with a map appearing. Below the screen on the floor a small flap opened in the wall.
A miniature version of the bots appeared, smaller than the big ones, but much bigger than the ladybug versions. A little light rose up from a small opening on its back and started blinking red. It whistled at them and circled their feet before taking off down the corridor.
"And don't worry about them being too fast. It will wait for you or come back if it realizes you aren't close behind. Cute thing, isn't it?" Rachel give her a grin before following the bot.
The way it zigzagged down the corridor whistling to itself had her grinning. She looked down at the bot following Rachel. "I've never seen this configuration of robot before coming to Redpoint One. Who builds them?"
"No one. They belong to the space station."
Tish's steps faltered. She stared down at the bot. What had looked so innocent, even cute, suddenly had an ominous tone. One of the eyestalks swiveled around to stare straight at her.
The dark shadows along the maintenance corridors took on shapes and connotations she didn't like. Why couldn't the place be brightly lit?
She shook herself. Time to stop thinking about that movie.
Through maintenance corridors and the brighter common public corridors, up and down levels. Tish had a feeling she would be using the computer and its little guiding-bots a lot. How could anyone memorize the place? It seemed to go on forever.
The bot stopped and whirled around in close circles with the red light turning a solid red. It whistled up and down twice. The moment they caugh
t up with it the bot turned and shot into a small opening in the wall, a flap coming down behind it.
"That means we're here?" Tish asked, staring down at where the bot disappeared.
"You got it. Ready to work?"
"That's why I'm here."
"Good girl!" Rachel gestured to the yellow and white bot still tailing behind them. "Find the problem, please."
The bot beeped and moved forward. It rose off the floor, beams of light coming from the eyestalks. The beams went up and down the pipes in the wall until it stopped to hover in just one spot.
"What does that mean?" Tish asked.
"That means that is where the problem is." She took out a small tube from her belt. The top rolled out with what looked like flex-paper. As Rachel passed it over the tube the flex-paper displayed a multi-colored version of the pipe it faced. In one spot red filled the pipe. "And that confirms it. We have a nice big clog of something simple flushing of the system can't take care of."
"I have a feeling I don't want to know what it is," Tish said, wondering if she was going to regret having such a big breakfast.
"Most times, no. Ready for your first repair?" Rachel asked with a wicked grin.
She really wanted to say no, but she forced herself to nod.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A SMALL BOT appeared, coming to hover over a joint, a small tool snaking out from a hole appearing in its front. A spark of light against the seam between the joint and the pipe appeared.
Rachel grabbed something from her belt and unhinged a long narrow tool with a hook at the end. "Time to get dirty. Go to the end of the corridor and turn off the main valve."
Tish started to remind her she had no idea where the valve might be located when several more bots converged on them. One rose to shine a light further down the pipe where it turned into a nook in the wall. Several started working on another joint, sparks flying into the corridor. Rachel started working on the seam, oblivious to the new company.
Another bot bumped into her leg. Tish took a step back and it sat down in the place she'd been standing. A line appeared across its back and the left side flipped down. Several arms with different tools came out. She backed up another step as it moved forward to extend the arms into the nook.
"Come on, Tish. Get a move on." Rachel said, banging on the pipe with the edge of her tool before gesturing back the way they'd come. "Shut down the valve before we flood the corridor."
Tish turned around and nearly tripped over another bot. It whistled up at her and circled her legs before moving to join the others.
She put a hand on the wall to help keep her balance, and then snatched it back when she found the pipe under her hand hot. A bot zipped past, making a series of beeps and clicks at her, sounding way too much like it was complaining or chastising her.
Neither of which she appreciated. Tish glared down at the bot. "Hey, stop complaining. You want me to help, then help me find the valve."
The bot whistled up at her and turned down the corridor. Tish stepped over a smaller bot arriving in order to follow. The bot stopped at a juncture in the corridors, whistling up at her.
But she had no idea what she should be looking for. The only things in front of her were the regular station pipes and conduits with a few boxy shapes rising between the twists and turns.
The bot rose up and shone a light on a smooth block with several complex geometric shapes on the surface. Shapes that meant nothing to her other than perhaps as a bit of art or decoration.
Wait, one of the shapes reminded her of one of the tools hanging from her belt.
She reached down and found the thin tool about as long as her longest finger. The end flared out into a hexagon, at the end of which was one of the shapes. But it didn't look right.
She twirled the tool in her hand while studying the block on the wall. She needed to do something with one of the shapes, but which one?
She looked back down at the tool. In her twirling the shape at the end had changed. She played with the handle, finding it twisted half-way down, and with each twist the shape at the end changed.
"Do you have it?" Rachel called out. "I'm ready to disconnect a joint."
"Almost!" Tish shouted back.
Another twist and a sharply pointed shape appeared. It felt right. She studied the block, finding the shape on the lower front.
"I hope this is right," she told the bot. In response it whistled in a short upward flute to her as if encouraging her.
She pressed the tool flat against the shape on the block. The surface glowed a soft blue before giving way, allowing the tool to push down into the block. A quick twist to the right and she heard the flow of fluid in one of the pipes cease.
She pulled out the tool and tapped the pipe she thought she'd heard a change in. "I think I have it. Do you hear anything in the pipe?"
"It's gone. You have it," Rachel answered.
The bot next to her lowered to the ground and she smiled. "We got it. Thanks for your help."
The bot gave a long beep. It followed her as she returned to help Rachel with a pipe joint. It took both of them tugging and twisting before they were able to pull the joint free.
A bot with a bucket waited to catch the fluid still in the pipe. The ventilation of the area increased to the point she felt the movement against her skin and clothes. Considering the odors coming out of the pipe, she was happy for the additional air.
Rachel described each step as she worked, showing what each tool on her belt did as well as the tools and equipment in the cart. Some of it Tish recognized from helping Neil around the house back on Earth, but Rachel had more variety of size and shapes of the same plumbing tools.
By the time they had the joint on the other side of the clog detached, Tish even knew which tools she was going to need next.
"Has Arthur mentioned what department he has in mind for you on a permanent basis?" Rachel asked as she snaked a long tool into the pipe.
"No, not so far." She didn't even know what all the departments were.
"No worries. Sometimes he has something in mind, and sometimes he has the person apprentice with several departments before a good fit is found. Obviously Damien is looking forward to you training with him." Rachel grunted as she shoved at the tool. "Wow, this is really jammed."
Tish leaned into the tool while Rachel worked the end of it, twisting and jiggling the handle. With a sucking noise more fluid poured out of the pipe. A dark foul-smelling clump rolled out of the pipe and splattered in the bucket a bot held.
Tish scrambled backwards to avoid the splash. And fell over the back of a bot. Three other bots converged on the mess and started cleaning the floor and walls.
Another bot glided up to her, a small arm coming out with a rag to mop at her pants. She pushed it away only to find another bot doing the same thing from the other side. A third appeared, going after her shoes.
She tried to stand up, only to fall again in a tangle of arms, legs, and rags. Rachel started laughing when she fell for a second time.
"You could help," Tish said, glaring up at her.
Rachel shook her head, still laughing so hard she could barely speak. "They like you."
"They could like me a little less. Death by helper bots." At least the bots were only using rags and nothing else under their shells. She gave a little shudder at the memory of the movie scene.
A bot queried her with a whistle as it dabbed a spot on her pants.
Rachel scowled at her. "Oh great, you saw the movie."
"I didn't say a thing about any movie," Tish said, trying to at least get to her knees.
"I'm right, though, aren't I?"
Reluctantly Tish nodded. The bots at her feet continued their work at her clothes, even after she finally found a way to stand up. The bot with the foul-smelling bucket turned and raced down the corridor with its burden while another bot took its place with a new bucket.
"I'm guessing the maintenance crew didn't care for the movie?" Tish grabbed the j
oint. The sooner they got it attached again, the sooner the place wouldn't smell like a sewer.
"The screenwriter who wrote it stayed here for a few months. We all know where he got the ideas, and he's wrong. The station computer is not homicidal." Rachel grabbed another tool. "Wait, we need to do the other side first."
Well, that explained why so much of the movie echoed what she'd seen on Redpoint One since arriving.
With the joint re-installed the bots converged from above, below and to the side of it, small welders setting it back in place. The ventilation system quickly dispelled the smell of the clog, allowing Tish and Rachel to breathe in deep.
"You deal with that kind of smell every day?" Tish asked with a shake of her head. "I wouldn't want to get out of bed if I had this to look forward to."
"It's usually not this bad. There are cleaner bots that work from the inside of the pipes, but this was too close to a distribution grid-point." Rachel gave her a flash of a grin. "And this isn't the dirtiest repair work. I have it easy compared to others."
Tish felt a small tug on her pants. One of the bots held up the tool she'd used on the valve in a small claw at the end of a thin arm. She must have dropped it when she fell.
She took it, saying, "Thank you."
The bot chirped at her. She turned back to find Rachel shaking her head at her. "They definitely like you."
Tish shrugged. "Makes me feel better and it gets the movie out of my head. Do we turn on the valve now?"
Rachel nodded towards the end of the corridor, "Go for it."
This time Tish found the right symbol immediately. Pulled out the right tool the first try, a twist in the opposite direction and she could hear fluid flowing again.
Upon returning, Rachel said, "And you found the right symbol. Excellent. Did you grow up as a spacer?"
"Nope, an Earth girl through and through. This is the first time I've been off-planet."
Rachel shook her head. "Arthur is right. You never know who will take to this."
Tish paused in the process of returning the tool to her belt. "Why do I get the feeling I just passed some sort of test?"
Rachel grinned unabashed. "Because you did."
Coffee Cup Dreams (A Redpoint One Romance) Page 6