New Dawn (Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  "Amazing that you've made such progress so soon," the Captain nodded to Molly.

  "Oh we're just getting started! Once we nail down the shield frequency issue, and that plasma leak we should be in A note... If all goes well we could shave another couple of weeks off our journey time!" Shandra grinned. "Won’t they be surprised to see us!" she said excitedly as she sat back, sipping her tea.

  "Yes, won't they. How soon are we going to arrive?" the purser asked suddenly.

  The raven haired navigator Lessa looked at her notes. "At current speed, um, in four months." She looked up.

  "And what season will it be there?" Vanessa asked.

  "Um...” The woman tapped at the tablet. "Um..."

  "Here let me," Shandra leaned over and tapped in the query. They both looked up after a moment. "Mid fall."

  The Captain netted her fingers together. "Just in time for harvest eh?" she smiled. "That worked out well," she said. She gave the purser a knowing smile. "If we can get into the next note we can shave another two to two and a half weeks off our time," Molly replied as she adjusted her glasses.

  She rubbed at her bicep. "Sore?" The doctor asked.

  "Oh, I strained it. It'll be fine in a couple of days," she shrugged. The ship shuddered. "I'd like to get us to the A note, according to the Admiral it's the sweet spot of each band," she said. She stood up. "I need to get going, I have to check on the EPS conduits to deck five. Something there is hinky."

  The Captain nodded. "Get on it," she ordered. Her usual gravelly voice had a fond tone. "They really are working miracles down there aren't they?" she smiled softly as the door closed behind Molly. She was blushing.

  "Blast!" Molly heard the thunk and looked over. "Oh damn." She came over to see Jennie clutching at her forehead. Blood gushed. "Darn it," Jennie sucked in a shuddering breath.

  "Just lean back and hold it." Molly replied. She looked around and spotted one of Trish's life support girls. "Can you get some help here? Pass me that first aid kit on the wall." She pointed to it. The girl nodded and rushed over. She came back with the box.

  "Oh my god is she going to die?" She clutched at the first aid kit.

  "No silly she isn't going to die!" Molly grabbed the kit.

  "But all that blood!" The girl trembled and looked away. She gulped.

  "Head wounds bleed a lot. Go call sickbay and let them know Miss klutzy is going to need stitches again," Molly ordered.

  Jennie glared as the girl rushed off. "Miss klutzy? Oh you’re asking for it." She leaned forward.

  "I said lay back silly," Molly pulled Jennie's hand away.

  She sprayed the wound it foamed up nicely and the bleeding stopped. "There," she said. She tossed the sprayer into the kit then helped Jennie to her feet. "All better, let’s just get the doc to fix you up for good." Jennie shook her head then stumbled. "Just a scratch,” she said. Molly deftly caught her.

  "No, I think we need to check you out a bit," Molly said. Jennie grinned.

  Mindy came in at a run. "Where?" The girls near the door pointed. Mindy ran over and looked concerned. "Oh my! All this blood! What did you do?" She peered into Jennie's eyes.

  "Molly bopped me," Jennie said with a straight face.

  Mindy gasped and turned on Molly. "You didn't!"

  Molly shook her head. "That's right, I didn't. She hit her head on the console." She helped Jennie over to the chair.

  "I like it better my way," Jennie sighed as she let herself be guided. "Okay, I guess we better get a chair..." Mindy rushed off.

  Molly groaned. "Thanks, your version will be all over the ship in an hour." She sat down next to Jennie. Jennie smiled.

  “I'm glad the Admiral insisted we install those first aid kits,” Molly muttered.

  “Yeah, Trish and I took the time to go over it with him earlier,” Jen nodded.

  “So, other than the bump, how are things going?” Mindy asked...

  “Good, we've gotten up into A note of hyper, balanced the shield nodes and frequency adjustments, we're looking better and better every day,” Jen smiled at the pixie. She grinned. Things were looking up, they had shaved another two weeks off their ETA and were about fifteen weeks out.

  “What's A note?” Her eyebrows knit and she frowned after a moment. “Oh, it's a … well; it's a layer in the band of hyper that's really good. Something we've wanted to get into for years,” Jen explained.

  Mindy looked excited. “Really!” She bounced. “I can't wait to tell Dorah, oh this is so neat!” Molly rolled her eyes. She helped Jen into the hover chair.

  “I'll just get back to work now...” Molly replied, making her fast exit.

  Jen sighed, now in the not so tender clutches of the demented nurse. “So, we're going faster?” Mindy leaned over the chair and gushed.

  Jen sighed. “Yes, now drive,” She leaned back hoping she didn't barf from the girl's driving.

  "Is this the same bridge? the Captain asked as her chair exited her private lift. The normal grime had been cleaned since she had been off shift. "How did you do it this fast?" She turned to the grinning girls. One of them, Shandra, pointed behind the Captain. Curious she turned to see a hovering robot. It emitted a blue beam and sizzling sound.

  As it scanned a bulkhead small dots of dirt glowed, then began to disintegrate into dust. "Amazing,” she murmured as she shook her head. “And the wiring?" she asked.

  The girl turned to the port and pointed. "It took a couple hours, but it's all repaired and tucked up where they belong," Shandra grinned.

  The squeaking made the Captain wince. “Can we get someone from engineering to oil this chair?” she said testily.

  Kendra looked up. “Okay.”

  “That is if you can catch someone,” the Captain observed wryly.

  “What the? Admiral!” He ducked as two naked women shrieked and tried to cover themselves. “Uh, sorry ladies, I need to run a cable through that bulkhead,” he turned his back, blushing. The girls were built nicely, despite some odd scars on the pale red haired girl.

  “Well, next time knock,” one of them said testily.

  The guards choked back a laugh. ”So what are you doing in here anyway?” one guard asked.

  “Sun bathing.” one of the girls said tartly as she shouldered on her blouse. The other pulled on her skirt.

  “Sunbathing?” he asked.

  “Yeah. See?” One of the girls pointed to the holographic sun.

  “Um, you know that's a display right? There isn't a sun. We're in hyper after all. No UV to sunbathe,” he tried to hide his amusement.

  The girls paused in dressing. “Um. Ah, we didn't know that.” They returned to dressing. “We usually do it in the greenhouse, but it's occluded...and a bit busy,” the blond said. She shifted her dress. “You can look now.” He looked and shook his head.

  “This will only take a moment or two,” he said. He entered the room and pulled at the cable sticking out of a pipe. He pulled the line until the slack ended. “Okay.” He ran it along the bulkhead and then fed it into another hole. He went back and clipped the cable into holders along the bulkhead. “Okay. Here we go,” he said. He finished the last, and then checked over the room. “Okay, I think I'm done.”

  He went to the exit then paused. “If you want to sunbathe, you can ask for some UV lights. Or a sunbathing machine. There were two on the rec deck, ask if they've been repaired. If not, put in for it,” he suggested.

  The blond nodded. “Thanks.” He smiled. “Now get out,” she growled. She began to pull off her clothes. Hastily he exited. The guards chuckled.

  "And you are?" he asks politely as he turned. He freezes, amused and exasperated at the pixie before him. She was rail thin, young, terribly young, and dressed in a scandalous outfit. It looked like an adult entrainment version of a nurse's outfit, complete with black opera gloves and miniskirt. The top was brief and low cut. A little much for the girl in it. She had a nurse's cap on top of her raven haired head, hair done up in two pigtails. She carried a cl
ipboard and stylus.

  "I'm Mindy the nurse silly! Who are you?" He winced at her high pitched voice.

  "I'm the engineer. Um...that is a different um, outfit," he cleared his throat.

  "What this?" She looked down at her outfit then gave a shrug. "It goes with the job. You’re late for your physical," she burbled. She gave him an impish smile then dashed off. He shook his head, bemused. It was like he was in an asylum, run by the inmates.

  "Knock knock," he said, entering the sickbay. The lights had been repaired, but wiring was still hanging from ceiling, and panels were missing from some walls. He stumbled around a missing floor plate. "Oh! Watch that!" the nurse girl called, looking up from where she was laying on a biobed. She was face down, legs kicking back and forth while she flicked through a tablet.

  He stared, then coughed and looked around. "Doc?" Defender pulled up a motion track to his left. He turned in the indicated direction, and caught sight of doc as he stretched, coming out of an office.

  "Yes? Oh! It's you," the doctor said. He nodded, sticking his hands in his pockets.

  The girl got up, suddenly bubbly and bouncing around. "Is it our turn now?" She was excited, bouncing around the room with frantic teenage energy. He snorted. "You said you had patients doctor?" He gave the cool doctor a polite nod.

  "This way," the doctor waved in the indicated direction.

  "Yes, it's so sad that mommy and our friends are in there, in between life and death," the girl said. The girl twirled around them.

  The guard sighed. Doc turned, gave her a look, and she rolled her eyes. "Mindy, why don't you check the inventory list so we can let the engineer know what we need," the doctor called.

  The nurse froze, and then guiltily looked to them. "Awe doc!" He sighed.

  "NOW Mindy," he ordered.

  She groaned theatrically. "I never get any fun," she pouted. She huffed and stomped off. The engineer shook his head.

  "You have your hands full I see," he said dryly. The doctor sighed.

  "We have nine patients in cryostasis. All with life threatening or critical health problems," he said, pointing to tubes. "These two were injured when a plasma conduit burst. They are burned on ninety percent of their bodies. The Captain insisted they get them into stasis, apparently they saved her life," he said. The admiral nodded.

  "This one is Faith, the Chief engineer, or at least the last one to hold the title," he said. He gave the engineer a sidelong look. "She was hurt just prior to you coming aboard from an EM discharge... I think they said it came from that copper cable powering the hyperdrive,” he said. The Admiral nodded. “Moving on....This young lady was injured when a piece of machinery got loose and crushed her against the bulkhead." He sighed. “This is Clarissa, the former doctor and Mindy’s mother.” He patted the tube. “Another unfortunate victim of a plasma conduit burst, although the damage was more from steam then the plasma.”

  "These other four," he waved to them. "Well, three are accident victims, and one actually paid the Captain for the privilege," he said.

  The Admiral looked at the doctor. "Paid?" he asked on cue.

  The doctor nodded. "Yes, it seems he has a life threatening disease and paid her to keep him in stasis until someone can cure him," the doctor said and then shrugged.

  "I was taken aboard when the doctor was injured," his calm voice suddenly rang with suppressed emotion. The guards couldn't hear it, it was almost subsonic. Defender pointed it out silently to him.

  He nodded. "Well, let’s see if we can get things sorted out on the ship so you can go home," Irons said quietly. The doctor gave him a long look then slowly nodded.

  He looked over to the cryopods. "Clarissa, excuse me, Doctor Clarissa was injured in an accident." Mindy came over and looked down. "Mom was hit in the face with steam when a plasma conduit blew up," she said, one hand on the tube. She looked up. "But we're going to fix her up soon right doc?"

  She twirled around. "Then I can show her all the new stuff we have!" Doc and the Admiral watched her play for a moment. "She got a face full of steam, the Captain and Chief got her into the stasis pod, but I'm not sure if I can save her," the doctor said. He looked bleak.

  "Her face, with most of the soft tissue is gone. Eyes, lips, nose, ears..." He shivered. "Lungs, tongue, mouth, and esophagus all were seared. Some of her internal organs cooked too." He shook his head. "It may have been kinder to let her go," he murmured. The Admiral shook his head.

  "I have had worse and survived doc. So can she. If she's strong, she'll pull through," he said. The doctor looked him over for a moment. "Maybe, but you had a fully trained team of doctors and a hospital, not this." He waved to the sickbay.

  The Admiral nodded. "Maybe so, but we have to work with the tools we're given," he said firmly. Then he smiled. "Or make new ones."

  The doctor chuckled at that. "All right, let’s get to work then.”

  "What are you doing?" He looked down to see a small blue haired girl looking up at the box. She had squeezed in between him and the bulkhead.

  "I am running diagnostics on this computer," he said keeping a firm lid on his temper.

  She looked it over. "What's a computer?" She wrinkled her nose in confusion as if it was distasteful.

  He cleared his throat in surprise. "A computer is an electronic device. It's the brain of the ship," he explained, taking her question as a literal expression of ignorance. She looked at it again.

  "Oh. What's that?" She suddenly reached to grab something. He intercepted her hand with the back of his.

  "That's optical ram. It... Here." He pulled the bad stick and handed it to her. She grinned in delight. "See the edge with the glass like lines?" She fumbled it, and then twisted it around and around. "No, here." He touched the correct edge. "These are the connections to the rest of the computer." She ran her finger along the edge. "You have to be careful; touching the wrong part can kill it," he warned her.

  She froze, and then looked up guiltily. "I didn't break it did I?"

  He shook his head. "No, that was already broke." A guard leaned over. He looked at her. "See, this is ram. This,” he opened the panel door as wide as it could then pointed. “This is the motherboard. This is the CPU; it has a fan and heat sink on it to keep it cool. This is the ROM, and these are the data lines to the rest of the network."

  The girl looked intrigued. "Do you think I could learn how to fix things like that?" she asked.

  He nodded. "Of course! You just have to learn." He waved to the box.

  "How did you learn?" she asked. She looked at him with bright innocent eyes.

  "I went to school and learned."

  He hid a smile as she grimaced as she looked beyond him. "I gotta go. Thanks for showing me." She handed him the part and ducked around him and skipped off. He snorted.

  "Is that all there is to it?" the guard asked quietly. He looked up as he swapped the bad ram for a good stick from his kit. The guard was nearby, looking in the box.

  "No, there's a bit more too it, but for an introduction, it makes it a little easier to understand," he said. She nodded.

  "This,” He ran a finger along a cable out of the box, then pointed to the pipe it was in. "This runs to the network. This one goes to the wireless network router modems." He pointed to the box in the ceiling. "This goes to some of the systems on this deck." She came closer and looked.

  "What about these?" she asked. She pointed to the red, yellow, black, and blue cables. "They look different, not like the clear ones," she observed. He nodded.

  "Those are the power cables." She snatched her hand away and gave him a hurt look. "Oh don't worry; they have plastic shrouds protecting them, and you from damage." She nodded and stepped back to her post.

  "I will upload an introductory computer class on the network tonight," he called over his shoulder as he jacked into the computer and ran post.

  Jennie watched as the engineer grasped the handles on either side of electronic module. “Now, you pull it out slowly,” he said a
s he pulled. The tray came out exposing cables behind it. “Okay, once the tray is extended you can work on the cables, or within the module,” he said. She nodded. Trisha watched.

  “So this is what it looks like,” she said as she reached out. Jennie slapped her hands away. She turned hurt. “What was that for?”

  The Admiral cleared his throat. “Unless you know the module is not powered, check first,” he said. He placed his right index finger over the panel, and then brought it closer to it. When he got two centimeters away a fat blue spark leapt between his finger and the panel the girls gasped and stepped back.

  “See? The front handles are insulated, but there is a short inside that goes to the exterior case.” He pulled his hand back then reached around and yanked the power cable. The front leds went dark. “There, all dark.” He reached again with the finger. “No spark, see?”

  Trisha nodded. Jennie looked over the panel. “Did it hurt?” Trisha asked as his finger morphed into a screwdriver and he began removing screws.

  “No,” he shook his head. “No, I'm grounded, so no pain.” He removed the panel and looked inside. The interior electronics were smoldered and broken on one side. A wire had welded itself to the right side.

  “Darn. Okay, it looks like we need to pull it.” He looked over to Jennie who nodded and made a note on the tablet she had. He stepped back and let Trisha pull the jacks for the data lines.

  “How are we going to make sense of all this?” she asked.

  He chuckled. “Look at the jacks. See their shapes?” he asked. She paused and looked one over.

  “What you mean the cables?” She ran her fingers over the black cables.

  “No, not the ODN cables, the jacks. See the plastic sheaths they come together in.” She looked the blocks of plastic over. There are tabs on each, and markings. She looked them over.

  “The tabs and markings are to help you identify what it is and how to plug it in. The color of the jack also helps,” Jen explained. Trish nodded.