He chuckled. "Everyone's a critic."
She smiled. "Okay, that just about... Okay... I'm in!" The door sparkled.
`"Hey what the?" The guard said.
Molly touched the door. Sparks flew and her hand was thrown back. "OWE! That really hurt!" she said, clutching her hand. The tech down the corridor looked over to them craning her body to get a better view.
The Admiral grimaced. "Force field. The computer sensed an intruder when you tried to hot wire the door and activated it." He studied the controls. "The controls are dead. One moment." He closed his eyes. "Sprite?" he sub vocalized. The HUD came up.
"Already on it Admiral," Sprite said as she scrolled data. "Hmm... Hardwired security access node, you'll need to go to the next junction, take the port corridor down twenty meters, pull the panel on your starboard side and then jack in," she said.
He nodded and opened his eyes. "Hardwired security system, I'll have to jack in to bypass."
They followed down the corridor, and to the access port. "Here it is." He pulled the panel off then set it aside. "Just be a moment." He extended his right hand, letting it morph into a jack. "I'm in. Okay..." He fed the security node his ID. It flashed back at him.
"Damn stubborn paranoid son of a dishwasher...” Sprite said grumpily. Her colloquialism made him smile. "Okay, got it. Try again," she growled finally. He did. The node cleared.
"All right, I reset the node. No problem." He unjacked and they went back to work.
"I heard you were talking about implants. What's this I hear about an identity chip?" a familiar voice said behind him. He turned to the Chief sitting next to the Captain.
"Yes, civilians and military personnel had them in my time to identify themselves and act as keys," he explained.
She looked amused. "Keys?" He nodded.
"To electronic records in networks, and electronic locks."
She gave the Captain a look, and then shifted her attention back to the Admiral. "Can we do something like that?" she finally asked. He noted a curious sound of...anticipation in her voice.
He nodded warily. "Yes, there's a stock of them in sickbay according to the records, and the doctor can replicate more. Why?"
She didn't answer, just typed something into her tablet. "Why?" the Captain echoed, looking at her. "Oh huh?" she looked up. "Um, well, I would like to lock off access to some areas of the ship," she said.
The Admiral nodded. "You mean restrict them. Good idea," he said. Her eyes became a little hooded.
"What areas?" the purser asked.
"Well, like the weapon rooms, armory, and areas of the ship that could cause damage if someone broke something inside," the chief replied. She nodded to Jennie.
She nodded back. "I see where you’re going with this," she said. She turned to the Captain. "Captain, it's a good idea. We've had a few problems with people getting into compartments they aren't supposed too or damaging systems," she said with a grimace.
"Remember when Dorah and Mindy decided to make necklaces?" Jenny asked when the captain didn't look totally convinced.
The purser, Chief, Captain, and Shandra winced. "Good point. I'm still not sold however," she gave the Chief a look. "What else?" she demanded, knowing there was more.
The Chief squirmed a little. "Well, we could also track their movements," she admitted.
The Captain's eyes glittered. "I'm not sure I'm at all happy about that." She turned to the Admiral. "So you have one of these?"she asked.
He nodded. "Two. One is my civilian implant when I was a child; the other is my military IFF," he replied. She nodded.
"I want the access codes," the Chief said suddenly. He knew she wanted them to limit his access and monitor his movements.
"That won’t be necessary," the Captain said hands flat on the table.
He thought for a moment. "Captain, if the crew is going through with this, I don't mind giving her the civilian IFF code," he said.
She studied him for a moment, and then nodded. "All right, if you’re okay with it."
He shrugged. "It's best to lead by example ma'am." She smiled.
"Can it get into your head?" the purser asked, sounding concerned.
He turned to the purser. She blushed. "No ma'am. Well, there's a tendril that's inserted, but only to your optic nerve. It projects a signal onto your optic nerve when you palm something. More complex systems allow you to view data through them. If you get to military grade level one implants, then you can send information to and from the basic link."
The doctor looked up. "I noticed a lot of the equipment requires that," he observed.
He nodded. "Yes doc, to use some of the more advanced equipment, you have to have medical implant technology," Irons replied.
The purser shuddered. "But what about those virus things?" she asked. He smiled.
"Well, I stamped them out, and any that are still lurking in hardware not connected to the net will get hammered by antivirus software and stopped by the firewall if they're ever plugged back in," he said. He shrugged at her uncertain expression. "Also, the basic implant has a primitive antivirus and firewall." She nodded slowly. "How's it powered?" she asked. He held up his right hand.
"Well, my implants are...more advanced, so require an external power source from time to time. But basic implants rely on your electrical field and thermal profile your body generates." She looked confused.
The doctor smiled. "I just finished reading about that!"
"All right, make it so doctor, starting with the senior staff," the Captain said quietly. A few of the faces weren't happy.
"It won’t hurt, you just swallow a pill. When you go to bed it makes the connections," the Admiral explained. A few looked relieved.
"Can we make replicators?" Jennie asked him later that day.
He turned to Jennie. He had been expecting the question for some time. They hadn't noticed he'd been making replicators or replicator parts. "Not exactly. You see, you can make a lot of things, but with only civilian implants, the hardware will limit the gear you can make to civilian grade," he explained. She looked confused. "Replicators have nanites in them. So do a few other things, so are restricted tech. As is weapons," he further explained.
She nodded. "But what about parts?" she asked.
He sighed. "Any attempt to make parts for them will lock up the replicator. That's what happened with the replicator on deck two," he said. She nodded.
"In my time we had to restrict that tech to prevent terrorists from using the tech to make weapons," he explained.
She looked confused so did Molly. "Why would anyone do that?" Molly asked.
He nodded to the Chief as she approached. "Well, some people didn't agree with the current government. Some for religious reasons, some for other reasons. They would use any tool to get their point across. Terror was their biggest weapon. I was hurt in two terrorist attacks.”
He looked away for a moment. "That's why we put a lock on tech. You saw what happened with nanite weapons," he said. All the women shivered at that. Seeing a planet crumple into dust was...terrifying. "Well, we had to make sure it didn't happen by our own people. So lockouts were hardwired into every replicator," he finished.
Molly nodded. "I think I for one am glad," she finally said. He nodded.
"So you want us to teach a class on first aide to the entire crew? Why? Didn't we already do that?" Mindy asked him as he showed the doctor how to use the organ cloning machine. She was still acting a little sullen around him.
"Oh, it's so the crew can do basic first aid in case of an accident," he responded absently as he touched the controls and rotated the view. "Nice, very nice."
Mindy yanked on his sleeve. "But why? I mean, that's our job right?" she asked plaintively. He turned to gaze at her. She was biting her lip, hands behind her back.
The doctor looked up. "Sometimes accidents happen. If the first people on scene can do something to help the injured, it increases their chances to survive," the doctor explained pati
ently.
The Admiral nodded. "You can't be everywhere Mindy, what happens if Dorah or someone else is hurt while you’re on the other side of the ship? Or with another patient? Or asleep?" he asked.
She bit her lip. "Like mom," she murmured. She paled, then murmured as she turned, hiding her face.
Doc nodded. "Yes, like your mom. A mandatory class could help a lot of people. If we can help, we should," he said.
She nodded. "Okay doc." She bounced off. "This is going to be so much fun teaching a class!"
The Admiral froze. "What have I done!" he groaned, drooping his head into his hands.
The doctor laughed and patted his shoulder. "It’s for a good cause."
"Remind me to suggest satellites to the purser as trade goods," he ordered Sprite as he pulled the bolt out of its hole.
"Okay. I will," a tentative voice said. He started. That wasn't Sprite's voice.
He looked over and noticed a girl standing there.”Good. You could also suggest the idea to her yourself," he said, covering.
She looked confused then nodded. "Okay, if you say so," she said wrinkling her nose. He snorted at her expression..
He looked over the computer motherboard and nodded. "Bad ram?" he asked.
Sammy had her multi tool out probing. "Looks like it. A terabyte stick right here." He looked over and nodded. Sprite had already confirmed it with a memory test earlier on.
"What bothers me...?” She cleared her throat and blushed. "Um," she said uncertain.
He nodded. "Go on," he encouraged her.
"Well, um, what bothers me is, with the replicators and nanites, why build things like this?"she asked.
He handed her a new stick of ram as she gingerly pulled the old out. "Well, that's why," he said. She looked confused.
He nodded his head to the ram. "With different parts, if one goes bad, we can swap it out. If it was all one homogeneous piece we would have to send in nanites to fix the problem," he explained.
She glanced at the memory in her hands then back up as she handed it to him. "Oh," she said. Her face cleared.
"Besides, it would regulate people like you and I obsolete," he chuckled. She giggled after a moment.
"How come you don't need a haircut?" a woman asked as he passed her with his usual entourage. he paused. "Excuse me?" he asked politely.
She smiled. She was a portly woman of moderate age, most likely in her early forties. "Yes, I do the girls hair and I was wondering why we haven't seen you in the hair salon," she said.
He looked her over. "Well, I have nanites that take care of that at night while I sleep," he replied without thinking.
She looked at his scalp. "Nanites?" She moved back turning ashen. "Rrrooobots?" She wrung her hands then hid them. "Never mind never you mind!" She turned and jogged away taking periodic looks over her shoulder.
He shrugged to the others. "Takes all kinds..."
"Wiring, electronics, plumbing, and plasma conduits, is that all we do?" one of the techs asked exasperated.
Molly snorted. "You’re forgetting replacing parts, rebuilding things, recalibrating them, patching the hull, and replacing spars. Not to mention motors, gravity plates, and the like," She glanced over her controls then shrugged. She was getting a lot more grumbling now that everything was working better. People were getting bored.
"A day in the life of an engineer," the Admiral replied. "Once the repairs are done, we can move onto bigger things," he said. He wrote a patch program and uploaded it through his jack.
"Like what?" the woman asked, glancing over.
"Oh, like making satellites, parts for colonies for trade goods, vehicles, shuttle craft, all sorts of things," He suggested absently.
She looked awed. "We can do that?" she asked. He nodded.
"And more!" Molly as excited. "We can do so much more, so let’s get this ship fixed!" They chuckled at her exuberance.
"Hello Tara, how are things down here?" Jennie asked.
Tara looked up from peeling potatoes. She hated having starch all over her hands but had gotten used to it by now. "Oh not bad. Just a different kind of crap to put up with," she said. She waved to the sludge tanks. One of them was leaking at the top.
Jennie wrinkled her nose. "I can smell that," she said. She shook her head. "Well, I'm sorry to see you in durance vile." She waved to the room. "I'll try to get you on a work crew soon," she promised.
Tara nodded. "I was thinking about trying my hand at engineering, but I'm not sure I have the patience," she said, uncertain.
"Well, let me see if I can work some magic on that tank and make it a little more bearable in here," Jennie commented, going over to study the tank.
"Please," Tara sighed.
Jennie grunted as she tugged at the seal. "This thing is stuck." She grumbled as the pulled at the seal. "Can you give me a hand?" She turned to Tara who was finishing a potato.
"Sure, give me a sec," Tara said, glad of the break. She tossed the potato into a pot then got up wiping her hands on her apron. "Don't know why I'm bothering cleaning up, just gonna get dirty again," she grumbled. She looked over the pot.
"It stinks closer up. Wow! What is that rot? Rank!" Tara said.
Jennie shrugged. "Sewage. The engineer said to check with the sensors before cracking the seal, but why bother? It'll just say it stinks," she said wrinkling her nose. She regretted not having a mask. She banged on the seal with a screwdriver and mallet. "All right, that loosened it,” she said.
“So what do you need me for?" Tara teased.
"Well, I'll pass you the parts as I take them off. Here, here's the seal," she grunted as it came off. With a hiss the top loosened then gunk began to bubble out.
"Oh gross!" Tara said. "Stinks too!" She grabbed the seal then stepped back.
Jennie faltered and coughed. "I don't feel so good."
Tara looked up to her in alarm. "What's wrong, your face is blue!"
Jennie crumpled. "Oh crap!" Tara cried, pulling her apron up over her mouth and nose. She grabbed Jennie's arm and tugged. Her eyes watered. She yanked the girl down and onto her shoulder then got out of there. She slapped the hatch closed behind her then sealed it. In the distance she could hear an alarm klaxon.
Her head was pounding. She felt weak, like she had run laps around the ship. She tried to carry Jennie away from the hatch but faltered then collapsed. The engineer came at a run. "Shit. Get them to sickbay fast," he ordered, taking the look of them in with a practiced eye in a single glance. He looked up. "Medical emergency deck three galley! Hypoxia and poison gas exposure, one severe, one moderate. Get a medical team here stat!" he growled. He turned around and found the emergency breathing kit and yanked it off the wall.
"Breath," he ordered. He held the first mask over Tara's face. Oxygen blasted into her face, at positive pressure it forced its way into her lungs. "Good, again," he ordered as her chest heaved. He fumbled the second mask over Jennie's head.
A crew member came pounding up. "What's going on? What happened?" she asked. He waved her back.
"Poison gas. Tell the ops officer to get that compartment's life support shut down and get the gas filtered out fast," he ordered. He pulled Jennie off Tara's shoulder and carried her out past Cookie and a scullery maid. "Everyone out now," he ordered. He waved his head. "Get Tara out of there,” he called back. He laid Jennie down and checked her pulse.
"Shit no pulse," he snarled. He slammed her chest, and then instituted CPR.
"What are you doing to her?" The maid said alarmed.
"One... Two... Three.. come on kid, breathe!" he yelled as he pumped her chest with his hands. He checked for a pulse. "No pulse. Going to have to defib," he said. He yanked her coverall open, ripping the seam, exposing her chest. The women's gasps were distant unimportant things.
Tara laid down next to her. "Can I help?" she asked blearily.
He shook his head. "No, get back." He set his right hand over Jennie's heart and looked up. "CLEAR!" he ordered, sending the mental
signal.
Proteus fed an electric pulse into his palm then into her chest. "No pulse, heartbeat erratic Admiral," Sprite reported.
"Again. Amp it up. CLEAR!"
He glared as the maid tried to grab her clothes. "I said CLEAR!" He slapped her hands away with his left hand. She moved back. The zap made her body jerk and quiver.
"What are you doing?" Tara asked.
"Trying to restart her heart," he growled. He checked her over.
"Heartbeat detected Admiral... Pulse is weak. BP is low. Toxins are being emitted from her body and clothes," Proteus reported.
He sighed in relief. "Okay, she has a pulse, but it's weak,” he said.
He looked over to Tara. "She was checking the tank that was leaking and popped the seal, she just fainted," she said.
He grimaced. "I saw it once before on a station. They said it was toxic waste," Tara said. She grimaced through the clear mask.
He sighed. "I take it she didn't check her sensors?" he asked.
She shook her head. "I think she was going to when the top was off," she said.
He grimaced and looked the girl over. "Talk about learning the hard way," he said. He shook his head as the nurse came running up, the doctor behind her. "Toxic gas exposure," he explained, stepping back.
He moved back as the nurse moved in. He watched as the two set in to check Jennie over, changing the emergency mask for the paramedic version. The doctor checked the readout and blanched. "Damn, what a stew! She's lucky to be alive," he said. He gave Tara look. She waved as she breathed through the mask.
He handed her another. "Keep breathing the pure O2," he ordered her. A pair of girls dressed in paramedic coveralls arrived carrying litters. The corridor was getting crowded.
The engineer moved back a little and linked in. "Sprite kill the klaxon," he ordered. He sighed in relief as the jarring sounds quit. "Open a channel to the bridge," he said.
"Captain, this is the Admiral, Jennie and Tara was exposed to sewage chemicals and had a bad reaction, doc and the nurses are on scene."
He waited for a moment. "Are they okay?" the Captain finally asked.
New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) Page 38