The chief turned. "What's this about security being re-prioritized at the bottom of the repair list?" the chief glared.
Molly grimaced. "Good morning Em, nice to see you too." She took a cup of coffee from the steward and sat down.
"I'm waiting." the chief glared, arms crossed.
"Go ahead and wait, you’re going to have a long time doing it," Molly replied not looking up.
"And just what's that supposed to mean?" the chief snarled.
"Oh, it means we have other priorities now," Jen took a cup from the stewardess and then sat down, looking at Molly then up at the chief.
"Like what?" Vanessa asked sitting back.
"Oh like repairing that boat bay. Fixing all the equipment that was shattered, and replacing all the cargo that was in there. We're damn lucky we didn't lose the ship," Molly replied then took a sip
. "Not to mention the five shuttle craft," Jen added.
"Four, one belonged to the Admiral," the chief replied with a snide look his way.
Jen met her eye to eye. "Really, I forgot that. I don't remember the Captain signing it over to him just yet," she said. The chief's nostrils flared.
"Still, that doesn't excuse you dropping my priorities!" Molly's temper flared. "After what happened in that boat bay it will be a cold day in Hades before we get to you." Her knuckles whitened around the cup. The chief dropped her right hand to her pulser.
The door opened and the Captain hovered in. "Good morning, I see a few of us woke up on the wrong side of the bed again," she said. She nodded to the officers, and then met her granddaughter’s glare. "Have a seat why don't you," her tone made it an order. Reluctantly she obeyed.
"Now, we have a few things to work on, I understand it's going to take some time to make repairs?" the captain asked politely. The Admiral nodded.
"Weeks," Jen sighed. "Getting that hatch replaced is going to be a bitch," she said as she took a sip from her drink. "Sorry for the language Captain," she blushed.
"And the cargo?" The Captain asked, picking up her cup of tea and taking a sip.
"Here's the inventory list." Quietly Vanessa handed over a tablet. "As you can see, we got off light; I had managed to clear nearly half of what was in there the previous shift." She shook her head.
"Still, we lost a lot, and a lot of the water containers," she sighed.
"We'll just have to make more won't we?" the Captain asked then smiled.
After another marathon session tracing leads he decided to take a break and get some work done on his quarters. It'd be nice to at least get the head and shower working. He negotiated the corridors waving to work parties he passed. It was a relief not having the entourage, some of the women were professional, but others had showed open hostility that had jarred on his nerves and made him edgy.
He turned a corner and was pleasantly surprised to see the floor panels had been replaced. The lights repaired, and the debris was gone. A pair of girls were sweeping the corridor down near the next junction. They turned and waved. He waved back. Molly came out of his quarters, turned and smiled. She fiddled with her glasses and then shrugged.
“I cleaned the head, and your robot had to be dumped. It's down the corridor.” She waved in the direction of the girls. “How does it clean like that?” she asked.
“Oh, a combination of ultrasonics, infrared beams, and a gravity pulse emitter,” he answered as he passed her.
She turned. “All that in that little thing?” she demanded. He smiled as he took in the quarters.
The lights had been repaired, as had most of the electronics. Even the mini replicator had been replaced. He wasn't sure how they'd pulled that off, he was the only one who could make one. Wait, he had made spares. Ah... that explained it.
He nodded and waved her back in. “Miniaturization. Ultrasonics are used in a lot of things, from sensors, cleaning, showers, and stunners.” He indicated the head to include it as well.
“Oh, I forgot about that. I didn't know you could take a shower with sound though,” she said. She fiddled with her glasses. “Does it really work?”
He smiled. “Yes, it vibrates the dust and grime off your skin. Of course it doesn't do it alone; there are fans and an infrared lamp as well.” He checked out the desk, and then traced a finger along the replicator’s power button. It lit. “Coffee black,” he ordered. The machine's small enclosure lit, then the sound of liquid began to pour.
“I see you've been putting your skills to work,” he said with a smile of approval. He took the cup out, saluted her with it and took a sip. Steam waved over the cup.
Molly blushed. “We have you to thank for that,” she murmured. He smiled. “Can you work on the port OMS tomorrow?” she asked. He nodded.
It had taken a long time, but he finally had the port OMS pod cleaned and repaired. It would need a bit more work to recalibrate the thrusters, and a space walk to make sure the variable thrusters were not clogging or getting kinked. He heard voices and sat there, stretching slowly. They were outside the hatch.
"So, has anyone flipped the sheets with him yet? a voice asked and he realized it was a group of gossips. He stood up and stretched more, getting some of the kinks out.
"No, I mean, he has been so busy, and there are guards with him all the time," another girl said. He froze.
"Did anyone get a good look at him?" another voice asked whistfully.
Okay, they could be talking about that other guy Bart. "No, and that robot arm is kinda scary," the first voice said. No such luck. He grimaced.
"He's kinda handsome, and a war hero. But old," one of the girls giggled.
"Well, it isn't that bad, I mean, if you ignore the stasis..." she petered the sentence off suggestively.
"Yeah, I caught a look at him with his shirt off, he has nice pecks!" the second girl said giggling. He shook his head blushing.
One of the girls squealed. "I'd love to run my hands all over them..."
"Or his butt!" the first said.The girls giggled again. He sighed and covered his face with his hands.
"But I heard he's older than the Captain," one girl said confused.
"No way! He can't be that old! Doesn't look it!" several girls said. He grunted.
"Oh gross, that'd be like sleeping with your great grandfather! EWWW!” the natural response from teenagers started. He chuckled.
The voices faded as the guard murmured. He palmed the door open and gathered his tools. He looked up to see the girls on the other side of the hatch, frozen. He froze himself. "Evening ladies," he said politely. They just stared, red faced. He straightened and shouldered the kit, then stepped over the hatches knee knocker.
"Next," he said as he motioned the guards to the next job. They followed. He could hear the whispers behind him, but actively suppressed the urge to listen in.
"Do you want to hear it?" Sprite asked after a moment.
"No thank you." he sub vocalized.
The AI chuckled. "I didn't think so."
Twenty three hours of work and he was tired. Running control runs was a young person's game, not his. He had missed the memorial service, paying attention to it only when the crew he had been working with stopped to listen. He made the turn to his quarters and noted a young woman there. “I was wondering if you could show me what you meant about how a gravity emitter works and the differences in applications?”
She was about sixteen and seemed full of energy. Exuded it even. Tired as he was, he never could turn down a student, let alone a pretty one. “All right,” he said. He thumbed the control to the door. “Let’s start with how much you know.”
After the lecture he yawned and stretched. She started, and then gave him a sheepish grin. “Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot you’re tired. We can do this another time,” she said.
He shrugged. “Well, now that you know where a lot of the references are in the database, you can look them up without me,” he said. A lot of the lecture had been to look it up and how to look it up.
She nodded eagerl
y. “I never knew there was so much there!” she said.
He chuckled. “A bit better than studying a romance novella?” he teased.
She giggled. “Oh, I wouldn't go that far, but so fascinating!” She opened the door and stopped, the Chief barred her way. “What are you doing here? What's going on here?”
The girl ducked her head, and tried to get past the Chief. “I'm just leaving. Excuse me; I have to get ready for my next shift,” she muttered. She managed to make her escape as the Chief turned.
“So now you’re luring them into your quarters?” she almost snarled that.
He sighed, it was going to be one of those days. “No Chief, she stopped by to ask some questions on engineering principles. I answered,” he replied and then shrugged.
“Capitan to Chief. I think I told you I wanted that inventory this shift?” the overhead speaker squawked. He cocked his head to the speaker. She glared for a moment, and then opened her communicator. “Roger that. On my way,” she growled. She turned and left. Thumbing the door lock, he shook his head.
When he came off from the next shift he found three more women at his door. "Um...Yes ladies?" They seemed eager, one squirmed, and another bounced. He noted that they were wearing coveralls. Basic coveralls were becoming a fashion trend in the engineering department. It was a bit amusing.
“We were wondering if you could show us the emitter like you did Casey?" the spokeswoman asked hopefully. He nodded.
"Okay, my quarters are a bit tight..." They looked crestfallen. "But I see no reason we can't do this in the wardroom," he suggested.
They perked up at this. "Really?" one of them squealed.
He chuckled. "Really. Let me get a bite to eat and the holo projector and I'll meet you there in ten," he said. They nodded and rushed off.
When he entered the compartment he was amused to find his three had grown into a dozen. "My, I guess my lectures aren't as boring as my students led me to believe," he joked. That earned a chuckle. "All right, let’s begin." He set the projector on the table and plugged it in. He jacked in and Proteus pulled up an exploded view of a basic gravity emitter.
"All right, this is the exploded view of a basic gravity emitter...." He turned and pulled up the emitter plate. "We have four main parts, the emitter plate, shown here, the controls, the power feed, and the wave guides." Each part projected briefly, and then the hologram returned to the platter shaped emitter. "The emitter uses energy from the power grid to spin electrons. By controlling the spin of the electrons we can generate a mass shadow." He turned to study the faces. Some were struggling with the explanation. He nodded. "I'm going to assume some of you don't know what an electron is so we're going to do a little sidebar," he said. Some of the women looked relieved, others further confused. He smiled.
"All right, this is an atom." The hologram changed to project a sphere. "Atoms are the basic building blocks of all things," he said, deciding to keep it simple and build off of the basics. He tapped the desk, then the projector, then his chest. "Everything made of matter is made of atoms." The screen changed to show a chain of spheres. "Here's a molecule. Atoms form chains of materials called molecules that form the basic things. Everyone got that?" he asked. The audience nodded.
"Okay then. An atom has three main parts." The image refocused on the sphere, then zoomed in. One of the girls let slip an appreciative ohhh, as the image settled into a series of spheres orbiting a center.
"Does this look familiar?" he asked.
One of the girls cleared her throat. "That's like a planet right?" she asked.
He nodded. "Good guess. The electrons...” The electrons highlighted. "Orbit the center of the atom called the nucleus. Inside are protons and neutrons." Each highlighted in turn. "Different matter is made up of different atoms. The atoms are different because they have different numbers of electrons, protons, or neutrons." Each highlighted. "Now, electrons are what electrical energy is made up of. We'll get back to that in a later class," he said dryly. The group chuckled at this.
"As I was saying, the super conductive plate focuses energy to spin the electrons and create the mass shadow effect." The hologram returned to the image of the superconductor, then zoomed in to a cross section. "The computer sends out a pulse at different times to energize and control the system." The screen changed to the entire assembly. "The waveguides channel the energy up to where you want it." He tapped his foot.
"For simple things like interior decking, we need only a few in each compartment, and they take a low voltage charge every half hour or so to keep working. There are capacitors in the controls that soak up the low voltage then spit it back out at certain times," he explained. They looked a little confused. He smiled. "Okay, I'll get to that in a minute too."
He pointed his free hand to the superconductor. "Okay, does anyone know what usually breaks in one of these?" he asked.
One of the ladies waved. He nodded to her. "They just sort of stop working, or start and stop...or reverse," she said making a face.
He nodded. "Do you know why though?" he asked.
She shook her head. "We usually just cut power and take one from another area," she said.
He nodded. "Yes and the computer tries to compensate for the loss."
He pulled up the overall schematic again. There are four points of failure. The first is the power, it can become damaged. That's a cut out," he said. They nodded. "The second is if the computer overheats or wears out. It sends random signals to the emitter and it begins to go haywire," he said with a grimace.
The class chuckles. "Remember Briana in the shuttle bay? She got stuck to the ceiling!" The class tittered at that.
“Viruses can also mess the control software up,” he said. Some nodded at this.
"Okay, well, related to the controls are the capacitors, they can also overheat, wear out, or in some cases explode," he continued. Some of the girls looked wary. "The last is impedance."
He turned to a girl in the back as she raised her hand. "I read about that in a maintenance manual. What is it?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.
He cocked his head. "Okay, short version? It means the superconductor has worn out. It's reached its maximum designed life and stops working," he said. They looked confused. "Equipment will only work for so long. Even with good maintenance, they still wear out," he reminded them gently. Reluctantly some nodded. Others grunted grimly.
"Metal fatigue, heat, overwork, malicious abuse, and time. All these things and more are the enemy of all things machined," he said and then waved. "And that's the basics of emitters. Questions?"
He could hear the shouts, then a couple shots. He got up and pulled his coverall on. "Report." Sprite booted his HUD and fed him the camera of the corridor. "It looks like the guards are shooting the cleaning robot," she replied in disgust.
He froze. "How could they be stupid enough to do that? I just fixed it!" He slapped the door control.
It opened and he stepped out. One of the amazons was taking a bead on the wobbling drone. "BELAY THAT!" He commanded, full volume. The woman started, her shot hitting the ceiling as she whirled. She pointed the gun at him. The other turned and glared. He came to attention and glowered. "Just what the hell do you two think you’re doing?" he snarled and glared. One of them ducked her head; the other with the weapon looked down and put the weapon away. She came up with a defiant look. After sixteen hours of work he was in no mood to play power struggle games, old habits of an officer came to the fore. "I want an explanation," he growled.
The one looking down looked up with a defiant glare. "Target practice," she said coldly. His lips moved into a snarl.
"Target practice? On a cleaning drone that took an hour to repair? You two morons couldn't hit the broad side of a barn so you needed target practice?" One of the guards froze and pulled out her communicator. He suppressed the urge to scramble her signal. He glared from one to the other clenching his fists.
He sent a silent command to the robot, which wobbled to him. "
These robots are designed to clean the ship. Apparently you two would prefer doing it the hard way?" he demanded. He looked over the robot, then over to each of them. They couldn't hold their defiant looks for long, both dropped their gaze.
"Trouble coming. The Chief and a pair of guards," Sprite informed him. He looked them over as he opened his door.
One of them looked triumphant. He motioned the robot inside. "I understand the Chief is on the way. Good. We need to get this settled now," he growled.
He had timed it just as she rounded the corner in full wrath. She stopped, then shook herself and stepped up to him. "What do you think you’re doing shooting your mouth off to my people?" she said icily. He glared.
"What do your people think they're doing shooting up robots and the corridor?" he demanded. He pointed to the ceiling where a tile was burned. "Do you realize how idiotic that is? Behind that panel is one of the buses for the navigational suite," he snarled. She looked up to the panel, then over to the guards. "They could have killed us all with their stupidity!” he finished. She looked uncertain.
The two guards saw this and blanched. "Shooting a weapon on a ship is a thing only idiots do for sport,” he waved to indicate the hapless shooters. “If they need practice there are appropriate methods to do so." She just kept staring at the burn mark. He sighed. She turned and glowered. He knew her heart wasn't in it though. She bit her lip and turned to the guards who were doing everything they could not to meet her gaze.
"We'll get it fixed," she said. He knew the we in that was the engineers of course.
He shook his head. "Not good enough. Unless of course you mean changing the training schedule and getting the guards to stop shooting up the ship and robots." He signaled the robot to come out. It wobbled. The guards watched.
"This is a cleaner. It's designed to clean the interior of the ship and scan it for problems," he explained. He pointed to the discolored wall panel. "For instance, that was under a layer of grime, when the robot removed it; we found a leaking sewage line. Bacteria builds up all over the leakage, gets into the air system and makes people sick."
New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) Page 25