"If there's nothing else?" She didn't even look up, totally engrossed in the movie playing out on the screen. The guard was watching too. He chuckled, motioning her out. She had her eyes glued to the screen and watched it as she walked out.
She bumped into the other guard and turned. "Oh, sorry," she said to her partner.
The other guard glared. "You’re supposed to be keeping an eye on him, not the girl..." she reminded.
"I wasn't watching the girl, there was a movie," the guard said and shook her head.
"What if the Chief had caught you?" the second demanded and then shook her head.
The second guard blushed.
"No harm, no foul. No harm done," the Admiral interjected before the argument got out of hand. "Okay ladies, next is... a broken shower on deck three." He waved to the lift. "Shall we?"
"So, we managed to get the valve locked down, and she pushed the button..." Molly smiled maliciously as she entered the galley with Jennie.
"Let me guess, back flush?" Jennie demanded.
Molly giggled. "You betcha, right in her face!" Jennie joined in the giggles. The two of them stepped over to the counter and ordered. Their tray arrived and Molly scooped it up. Jennie grabbed the drinks. "So, anyway, oh hi Admiral!" Molly tried to wave, but nearly unbalanced the tray.
"Careful with that!" Jennie cautioned.
The Admiral looked up from the tri-d board and smiled. "Ladies, in for a late lunch?" he asked. He made a move on the board, and then leaned back as they set their tray down at the table.
"Ran into a messy problem in the deck eight life support," Molly admitted. The girls waved. "Yeah, I can smell it," he wrinkled his nose.
The girls grimaced. "Sorry."
"Who are you playing against?" Molly nodded to the board.
"The computer." He studied the board and made a move.
"I'll have to challenge you to a game sometime," Molly said. He turned to Molly who was grinning. "If you’re up to it," she teased.
He nodded. "Check mate."
She studied the board. "Oh," she said quietly. Her face was no longer amused. He smiled.
The galley door opened and Shandra leaned in. "Admiral, we're ready."
He got up. "All right, be right there," he said. He nodded politely to the two girls.
"What's up?" Molly asked, taking a bite of her salad.
"We're working on a simulator for the higher bands of hyperspace," he explained.
Jennie froze. "So that's why the computer's running so hard!"
He shrugged. "Well, that and I'm recompiling a few segments of programming, and rewriting the neural processor tree to get crude embed AI," he added. Jennie's mouth went slack.
Molly sighed. "Obviously, I need to brush up on my computer techno speak," she said in disgust. He chuckled. "Ask Jennie, I think she knows." He waved as he left with the guards.
"Admiral, I'd like to thank you," Anita said as he walked down the corridor. He had just finished up with a satisfying session with Shandra. The girl came over, holding up a pair of goggles. He nodded. "It isn't the same as skiing for real..." she said.
He smiled politely. “But it helped with the home sickness?" he asked.
Anita nodded. "Yeah." She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.
He stiffened, more from fighting off Defender's automatic defenses then in surprise. "Thank you!" she whispered in his ear and then gave him a peck on the cheek.
He hugged her back. "No problem," he said. He patted her back.
"What's going on?" Trisha asked, looking out of the door.
"Nothing nothing!" Anita said, breaking the embrace and smiling fondly at the Admiral. "Thanks,"she mouthed and left.
"What'd I miss?" Trisha asked amused.
He shrugged. "Did you get the heater fixed?"
She shook her head. “No stripped screws," she said, clearly disgusted.
He grimaced. "Okay, I have a tool for that." He motioned her back into the compartment.
"Admiral, you’re going to be mated in two moves," Sprite reported as he looked over the game carefully. The 3D chess set wasn't new to the crew, the rules were.
"Hmmm."
Molly tapped her fingers on the arm rest; she had a smug smile on her face. "Well?" she demanded. He shook his head. The crowd around the table murmured.
His eyes narrowed. "Got it," he said thoughtfully. He pointed with his index finger to a knight, then to a space two levels up and one to the left. "There," he said.
She studied the board, gleaming eyes suddenly narrowing. "Hey wait...I thought I had you..." she said in growing concern. He smiled and sat back. She sighed after a long moment.
"Okay, let’s see about this!" She took the knight with the queen. The knight burst into a holographic explosion of light and debris.
He smiled. "You sure about that?"
She sat back and rubbed her glasses. "I, um, I guess so," she said, now unsure.
He smiled. "Okay, too bad," he said. He pointed at his bishop two levels down, then up to the queen. The bishop took the queen, who burst into a nova.
"Damn! Why didn't I see that!" she said, suddenly aghast. He smiled again. Some of the girls were muttering. Molly waved their chatter away angrily.
When the murmuring didn't quit she rounded on them. "Will you chatter heads knock it off? I'm trying to concentrate!" The murmuring died down. "I mean honestly, all the yada yada!" she muttered touching her king. She looked at the Admiral who smiled enigmatically. "Oh no you don't you’re not taking me that easily," she growled. She paused her right movement and went to the left and down. "There!" she said. She sat back. "Your move," she said, now unsure.
He sighed theatrically, shaking his head and tsk tsking. She groaned. "Molly Molly, and you were doing so well!" He motioned to his queen. "Have at ye!" The queen moved in up against the king. "Check Mate!" he said.
She stared at the board. The audience was silent. "Wait, can't I take her?" she demanded. He shook his head. "Look at the bishop, it's covering her," he said.
She looked up, and then traced her finger down the diagonal path. "Damn!" She sat back "Damn!" She reached in and flicked her king he toppled over to explode in virtual sparks and ruin. "You win," she admitted. She shook her head. "Should have known better to play a strategy game with an Admiral!" she said. Some of the audience chuckled. He shrugged.
"Actually, I'm better skilled in engineering then strategy," he admitted and then smiled.
"Oh gee, thanks!" Molly sighed, shaking her head. The audience dispersed. She looked up to the see the board on the big screen. "Damn! Did this go over the entire net?" she demanded. The Admiral put on his best innocent expression. She growled at him.
"Well, maybe," he admitted. He spread his hands apart. She shook her head.
"Never going to live this one down," she said in disgust.
He chuckled. "Some master strategist you are," Jennie teased, coming up behind Molly and cradling a drink. Molly snagged the drink and took a sip. "Hey! That's mine!" Jennie protested.
Molly smiled and took a sip. "Not anymore!"
Jennie chuckled. "Okay, I deserved that." She shook her head.
"You shouldn't tease someone if you’re in arms reach." the Admiral observed sitting back. "So, want to know what you did wrong?" he asked Molly. She waved him away.
"No, I'd rather not see my humiliating defeat replayed over and over again. I'll figure it out," she said. She shook her head and walked off.
Jennie sat down in her place. "So, I see you’re having a bit more fun, life isn't all playing with your spanners?" she asked.
He smiled. "Something like that."
She smiled back. "Good to know. I hear the next port of call is a medieval colony Avalon, but we should be able to make some drive repairs while we're in space," she said. He nodded. "You want to get the hyperdrive to Gamma?" He nodded again.
“I've tuned the hyperdrive twice, rebuilt her twice, we've replaced the cables, and most of the compu
ter circuitry and it’s ready,” he said.
A waitress set a drink down in front of him. "Thanks," he said to her. He picked it up and took a sip.
"Think the old girl can take it?" Jen asked.
He smiled as he set the cup down. "Of course, we still have a ways to go on H&A before we can go to Gamma, but we shouldn't have a problem getting into F note of the beta band," he said.
She nodded, looking thoughtfully at the board for a long moment. "I heard you gave the navigators a simulator program to practice on," she finally said. He nodded. "Actually, I saw the computer cycle time in the logs and asked about it."
He smiled. "Glad you’re checking up on that," he said.
She nodded. "Yeah, I caught a couple crew members trying to shut the firewall down to upload a game infected with viruses too," she said with a grimace. She shook her head. "Some people will never learn."
He sighed. "Yeah, that was a problem in my time too," he admitted.
She nodded. "Glad to know we haven't changed in that regard I guess," she said.
He gave her a look. "That wasn't a compliment."
She got up, "Could have fooled me!" She smiled and waved as she left.
"Sprite, did I miss something?" he asked softly.
"You just told her your time wasn't perfect. It wasn't the golden age of perfection," the AI said, sounding close to exasperated. He nodded in understanding.
"Okay, I can live with that, we had our warts," He said with a wince.
"Okay, is she fat or is she pregnant?" Irons asked softly. He could tell she was pregnant from her scanners but he was curious to know if others knew. The Admiral turned to Jennie as the woman walked out of ear shot.
"Pregnant. Apparently she slept with some guy downside at New Texas,"Jennie said. Jennie shook her head after a moment. "It happens," she sighed wistfully, looking out the window then back. "There are fourteen kids on the ship, but not one boy. You, Hibiki, the doc, and Bart are it."
He looked alarmed. He really hadn't paid close enough attention to the crew dynamics before apparently. Jennie smiled at his expression. "So you see now why some of the ladies are kind of taken with you," she said.
He held up his hands. "Whoa!"
Her smile turned into a grin. "Oh don't worry, Shandra would kill me if I dumped her for you,” she said. He chuckled, suddenly feeling relief..
He passed a pair of giggling girls and looked back to them, then the guard. "What's going on?" he asked.
Tara shrugged. "Either it was a juicy piece of gossip or it's movie night," she sighed.
"Movie night?" the Admiral asked looking at another group coming down. He paused and then flattened himself against the bulkhead.
He looked back to see the giggling pair enter the galley. "Movie night must be a doozie," Tara sighed again.
"Yeah, it's a western romance!" The Admiral looked to his left to see Molly, Jennie, Trisha, and Mindy had broken from the throng of girls.
"It starts in a minute. Come on!" the girls said together. Each girl latched onto an arm and then dragged him to the door. Reluctantly he let himself be led, but he tried to get out of it.
"Really, I've a lot of work to do, honest!" he said. They ignored the pleading and pulled him into the galley. The room erupted in applause.
"Glad you could make it!" Tara pushed him from behind.
"Face it Admiral, you're surrounded and out gunned, best give in to the inevitable," Molly said, eyes twinkling. He shook his head. Molly grinned. "Sit, or be sat on." He sighed and sat in the indicated seat. Jennie sat down next to him, Molly on his right. One of the girls with pigtails Tia sat on Molly's other side. Tara sat behind him. The other guard, Frie, stood by the door.
"So what are we watching again?" Tara asked, passing a ceramic container of seeds to Jennie. She took a handful and placed them in her lap then passed the bowl to the Admiral. He took a few and then passed it on.
"Western romance is all I heard." Jennie replied, and then popped a seed in her mouth.
Molly handed her a candied apple on a stick. "Here you go!" The lights dimmed and the wall screen came to life.
"Thanks for showing me how to do this Admiral," Jennie said, nibbling at the apple.
"No problem," He said, trying hard not to sound put out over being kidnapped. Several girls shushed them. He chuckled softly. The sounds of an American western theme song began to play. He shook his head. "Going to be a long night," he muttered.
Jennie grinned. "Yeah, I forgot to tell you, it's a double feature," she said. He groaned again.
Chapter 10
"Are you sure about this doctor?" The nervous gardener looked around, and clutched at the gown. "I'm sure if you’re busy we can do this some other time...” She started to get up.
He gently set his hand on her shoulder and eased her back down. "Nonsense, removing a cataract is a simple procedure. We don't have the ability to program or control nanites, but we...”
She froze in alarm. Her pulse went erratic and she paled. "Nanites? Did you say nanites? Promise me doctor you won’t try those hellish machines on me!" She clutched at his arm.
"Gently dear. No, as I was saying, we can't. So we're going the old fashion route and putting you under to remove the cataract," he explained.
The woman laid back. "We have nanites on this ship?" the old woman demanded. Mindy set the mask over her face. She breathed. The doctor checked his tools.
"Really, I must talk to the Captain about those machines, they should all be destroyed at once... at..." she let out a soft sigh and her eyelids drooped.
"That's right, just breathe normally," the doctor said. She tried to keep her eyes open.
"Out an airlock..." she mumbled woozily.
Mindy looked up at the readout then to the doctor. “She's out."
He nodded. "This would be so much easier with nanites. Technically we could have done this with a local anesthetic, but I knew she'd be a problem," he sighed as they put a brace around her head. "Okay, we need to swab the area, and then peel back the cornea to expose the cataract..."
The Admiral came into the compartment and looked around. A girl was seated doing her nails. He went over to her duty station and took a look at the board. He made some adjustments. "Aren't you supposed to be monitoring this?" he asked.
She looked up then blew on her nails. "What? It's not like it's important or anything," she said distracted. She waved it off. He realized she was waving her hands to dry her nails.
"Yeah it is, this is the starboard fuel station, there's a clog in the line, and the line needs to be back flushed. We're having problems with the engine now."
She looked up in disinterest. "Oh."
She came over to the station and looked it over. "What are you talking about?"
He grimaced. "Here." He pulled up the log. "See? There's a constriction in fuel to the port engine. There's a clog, most likely a stuck valve or debris in the line," he explained patiently. She tried to look around his arm. He moved to the side so she could get a better view. "Here, see?"
She nodded. "So?" She waved it off. "Do you mind? I have a date tonight and I need to finish getting ready." She waved to the door.
He felt his temper soar and tried to fight it down. "Now look, you're here on duty, you’re supposed to be monitoring this and heading problems like this one off before they effect the ship."
He tapped in the controls. “It's easy, you check the different flow read outs, hmmm yes see, there's a noticeable drop off here." He pointed to a line of code. "Now we know where to focus on." He tapped the line, bringing it up. "Now we can't reroute, but I can do a fast back flush," he explained. He tapped the controls. The flow slowed then stopped.
"What are you doing?" she asked alarmed.
"Flushing it to see if it's debris." The flow reversed but didn't relieve the pressure. "Hmm, no, stuck valve." He tapped the controls again, returning flow back to normal.
"Okay, so we know it's a valve or constriction." He tapped the logs. "No
w you log the problem, and engineering will take a look when the engine is off." He looked over to her. She was looking down, studying her nails. "See?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever," she said with an as if I care note in her voice.
His lips thinned into a snarl. "Even a moron can figure it out."
Stung she looked up. Her eyes slitted and her nostrils flared. "Moron?" she asked softly.
"Yeah, people who are assigned important duties but blow them off," he said, meeting glare for glare. He turned to her, straightening to his full height. Command voice and manner edged into his demeanor. "You know the type from personal experience now don't you?" he demanded. The bite was there. Her eyes flickered with rage. Her hands curled into claws. "Why you...”
The guard cleared her throat. The woman didn't notice at first. "Yes?"
He gave her a long cool look. "If you can't do a simple job like this, I suggest you ask for relief." He studied her. "I'm sure the cook or steward could use someone to clean or bus tables." He moved around the woman. "I'll just put in a word for you." He could hear the snarl in her throat.
"You bastard," she snarled.
He stopped. The guard moved forward, grabbing the girls arm. She tried to shake it off and failed. "Stupid know it all male," she snarled lips curling. Suddenly that made him laugh.
The guard looked at him confused. "What's so funny?" she asked.
"Stupid know it all? Oh that's rich," he said in between chuckles. He waved to the door control and turned to leave.
"You'll be hearing from the Captain about this," the woman snarled.
"Maybe." He shrugged.
"Coming?" he asked the guard. Reluctantly she let go of the woman's bicep and backed away. She followed him out. The second guard was there.
"Admiral was that wise?" the first asked shaking his head.
"There's only so much stupidity and sloppiness I can put up with," he grumbled.
"Yeah, but we're not military," she replied.
He waved as they walked down the corridor. "Do you think that matters if you're military or not?" He shook his head. "What if there was a blockage? Or if the flow was out of control and the engine was overheating?" She looked confused. "The bridge controls are limited, they can't see everything, Can't run everything. She's the eyes here, she's supposed to catch problems and fix or report them," he said. He waved to a tech that waved back. She climbed a ladder, and then began installing a new lighting fixture. "We all have a job to do here. If she can't do it, she shouldn't be there right?"
New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) Page 33