Destiny's Choice (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  Bryan snorted. He shook his head as the coonie came out and then plopped down near his feet for a thorough bathing session.

  “I've copied the database to a couple of flash drives so we have back ups and can pass it along as a trade good. Although, in the spirit of the Admiral's generosity, I'd say it would be better to give it to others as a gift.” He eyed the captain uncertainly. He wasn't sure how he would take it. Traditionally medical care was freely given to those in need. You haggled over some sort of compensation later if it was needed.

  Fortunately the captain agreed with a nod. “Information of that nature should be treated that way. I agree. I'll see about getting you additional flash drives. Improving the health and welfare of other colonies is part of our mandate I believe,” the captain smiled. “And spreading the good will does help smooth over any bumps we get when we first make contact. Sort of a house warming gift.”

  “I like that idea,” Sprite said. “I'll keep that in mind. The Admiral is like that. He's also copied other files here and made hard copies for your purser. Unfortunately he hasn't accessed them for some reason.”

  The captain scowled slightly. Charlie was being an ass again. That was getting old. “Oh? I'll have to take a look then,” the captain said with a nod. “Are you getting everything you need in sickbay?” He turned his attention to the medic.

  “Yes sir. Chief Bailey and the Admiral sorted us out. It turns out a lot of the equipment we have was either not calibrated properly, or was clogged with contaminants or dried materials, or had minor repair issues. They've since sorted it out and even scheduled a tech to come around once a month to double check everything.”

  “It makes sense. After all, their health and the health of the crew depends on your equipment functioning properly,” the captain nodded sitting back. He stretched his legs. “Ah,” he nodded. “Feels good to stretch.”

  “I know the feeling sir,” Bryan said getting up and gathering the coonie up in his arms. “Thank you for the company sir.”

  The captain nodded. “No problem. Dismissed.” As Bryan turned to leave the coonie chattered then leaned over and waved goodbye to the captain. Chuckling and shaking his head he tapped at the console and went back to work with a light heart.

  “Did they finally get up a band?” Irons asked. He had a free moment in engineering and wanted to know what was going on. He'd heard scattered talk about how slow they were going. He wanted to know why. It wasn't engineering, he was sure of that. There was nothing wrong with the ship's hardware or software. They were sure of that now.

  Main engineering was nice now, nice and tight, the way it should be. They had plenty of room for training, something he was planning on asking Bailey about soon. Bailey he was sure knew it was needed. He'd heard the chimp had taken courses on Anvil.

  Destiny did have a class room of sorts. It was small and cramped, unused and under equipped since it hadn't been a critical thing to repair. Clean yes, but not set up properly apparently. Other things had been more important. He'd seen it in their bout the other night.

  Of course if they needed another space to train they could always take it to the galley, a ward room, or an unused store room. Classes could be held right here in main engineering if they didn't distract the crew on shift. Obviously not a good idea, but if they did it right... he put the thought aside.

  “Not quite,” Sprite answered. She sounded a little disgusted.

  “Why the hell not?” They'd dropped to the lowest octaves of Alpha band to deal with the crisis. They'd risen back up to the B octave but had held there for the past week.

  “In a word, power. They used a lot of fuel replicating parts. More than they should apparently,” Sprite replied.

  “Crap,” Irons said rubbing his brow. He'd forgotten that. Normally they could draw power from hyperspace, at least from higher bands and stable octaves. But to get there you needed fuel. In other words it took vast amounts of energy to get to the so called free energy.

  “It's not all doom and gloom actually. They have enough fuel to get to Agnosta and through the empty system beyond. The problem is they ate into their reserves more than they liked.”

  “So we're stuck puttering along at this speed?” he demanded.

  “I think it's not just the fuel issue,” Bailey said pulling a chair up and sitting down.

  “Oh?”

  “Clarke. Or at least him and his team. The kid's good, but he's not a selkie. He played second fiddle when we were held by the pirates. The pirates kept Deja on double or triple shifts so the kid never got much time to fly.”

  “Oh.”

  “So it's a confidence problem?” Sprite asked after a moment.

  Irons thought for a moment. He was pretty sure that was the main culprit. Confidence not only in their own skills but possibly in using their implants. “Well, that and like you said, fuel. We can't pull up to a station and fill up in Agnosta you know. And that empty system is a problem. There is discussion about changing our plan too.”

  “Yes I heard that,” Sprite said.

  “Why am I just now hearing this?” Irons asked looking up to the ceiling. He ignored her image on his HUD for the moment.

  “I was about to bring it up, honest Admiral,” Sprite said sounding chastened.

  “Right, continue,” he said gruffly. He looked down and away. A couple of nearby Human and veraxin techs nearby flinched a little. Not many had heard Irons in command mode. And Irons never went into a snit like the chief did. He just sighed and rolled up his sleeves and went to work. The change made more than one sit up and take notice.

  “As the chief was saying, we've got enough fuel for two of our jumps but not all three or four. Technically we will be in the red in Agnosta.”

  “So we need more fuel,” Irons said with a nod.

  “And to conserve power. At least until we can convince the skipper to lean on Clarke and get us up to a higher band,” Bailey said with a sniff.

  “Which is most likely not going to happen. Mister Clarke keeps making excuses. Now that I see the confidence angle I think I understand it. I couldn't before.”

  “Okay, so...”

  “So we tell the skipper there is no engineering reason not to go to Beta. That is after we check the systems over once more,” Irons said giving the chimp a look. “If that's okay with you.”

  “No, no, you're right. I agree. We do need to get the hell out of this rut. We're bumbling along so slow people are getting a bit stir crazy.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah, speaking of which, there was another fight. Bryan's got his hands full. Again. He asked me if you could drop by, something about something or other on the fritz again. I'm not sure he knows what it is.”

  “Sure,” the Admiral nodded. “I don't have anything else on my schedule... unless of course you want to add to it.”

  “Well, now that you mentioned it, I'd like you take another look at the hyperdrive before we brace the captain.”

  “Sure, just let me handle this and I'll get on it,” Irons said with a nod. “Be there in twenty or so minutes.”

  “Yeah, I'll be puttering around with the reactor,” Bailey said with a dismissive wave. “Nothing better to do,” he muttered.

  Irons grimaced as he watched the paramedic stitch a wound. “Nasty,” he said shaking his head. He watched the Gashg flex his claws. He'd been amused and a little dismayed at the large amount of security in sickbay again. It was becoming something of a habit, something that shouldn't happen. Which gave all the more weight to speeding the ship along.

  “Gee thanks. I try my best,” the paramedic said, not looking up.

  “Sorry. Just thought you'd use a laser. Or glue,” Irons said shaking his head again.

  “Trying to tell me how to do my job?” Bryan asked amused. He shot the Admiral a look and smile before shrugging. “In this case, it's the patient's request.”

  “Yes scars are good. Manly,” the Gashg said eye stalks moving around to take in the room. “Many scar
s are appealing to females.” His mouth opened and closed. The human guards flinched.

  Gashg had a mouth in their abdomen, below their shoulders but above their hips. It was large, and had some sharp teeth on the sides.

  Their bodies were long, at least their heads were. Their biology was a bit strange. Whatever they ate ended up going up instead of down in the body. It was processed in a convoluted path before spiraling down in the intestines and then coming out the stubby, scale covered beaver tail.

  The Gashg didn't look comfortable on the gurney. It's double legs had massive feet with large claws. The tail looked like it bothered the alien too. It was uncomfortable from the look probably because it was kinked the way it was.

  He had scales on his shoulders, his elbows, the knuckles and back of his tridactyl hand, around his rubbery lips and on his knees and the back of his ankle and on top of his big feet. Scars were mixed in with the scales. The rest of the greenish white body was a rubbery skin. Gashg were hairless of course, with a pair of eye stalks and a pair of nostril stalks on top of their elongated head.

  The head had no neck, it was broad and stuck up from the shoulders over a meter tall. Clearly Bryan needed to rethink his gurney's if he was going to have more Gashg in sickbay.

  “Oookay.” Bryan said smiling carefully. “Whatever works come mating season to get the gals,” he snorted. Irons shook his head. Gashg mating rituals were bloody affairs. Which was no surprise since they had massive clawed hands and feet. He'd seen one once in his youth, it had been a definite test of his stomach control. Not all the splashing fluids had been water from their mating pool.

  Irons sniffed the air. There was a fresh copper smell in the air. Copper and iron. “Doc, ah, I smell blood.”

  “You should. Right here,” Bryan indicated the patient in front of him.

  “No. Coonie blood,” Irons replied looking around. He narrowed it down to the paramedic's office.

  Bryan looked up. “I'm not a doctor. I'm a paramedic. There's a difference,” Bryan said finishing up and washing his hands. He paused suddenly as his mind caught up with what the Admiral had said. “What do you mean, coonie... wait,” He looked around suddenly worried. Cooter chittered at him then went after the Admiral to the office. “Where's Nara? She's usually over... crap.” His face twisted in pain.

  He went into the office as Irons stood, trying to keep a straight face.

  “What? Don't tell me she did it in my chair. Please oh please...”

  “No. Guess again,” Irons said as the chittering and chattering got louder.

  “Oh you little witch,” Bryan breathed, peeking under the desk. Sure enough black beady eyes peeped out at him. She sniffed his way, twitching her whiskers and ears in disdain at the intrusion and then went back to the more important business of cleaning and caring for her squirming newborn kits.

  “I pick a bed out with you, get it just the way you want it...” he said softly, kneeling down on the floor. “And this is how you thank me?” he asked amused and dismayed.

  “What can I say Doc? Women are fickle.”

  “Tell me about it,” Bryan said dryly. He knew better than to disturb the mother right now. He'd have to wait until later, try to entice her to go to the bed. He had the thing made with health monitors and everything! He winced. He should have taken the advice of his mother and built them into her collar. Damn.

  He shook his head then got up. “Great. Guess I'm going to have to get a new foot rest. But not anytime soon,” he sighed moving out and shooing the Admiral and Gashg away. “Nothing to see folks, she's still in the process. Two down, three to go.” He winced as they heard scrabbling and chattering, then Cooter came out fast running with his tail firmly between his legs. “And in her usual foul mood when busy body males with nothing better to do stick their noses in.”

  “I do not have a nose. Do I count?” the Gashg asked amused.

  “Any male. And it's an expression. Which your messing with me about,” he sighed. “It's been a long day,” He shook his head and looked at the desk. “And about to get longer. Admiral, I asked for you because I was reading about a few tools I don't have and I was wondering...”

  Chapter 7

  Irons came into the bay after breakfast the next morning and nodded to a few of the people. A few turned their backs, noses in the air, but a few others nodded politely in return. Bailey came up behind him and slapped him on the back. “See what a little hard work does for you?” He kept going. Irons followed him to his office.

  “So what's the plan for today?”

  “Well, scut work for the most part,” the chief said shaking his head. “I think we've got a handle on that actually Admiral,” he grimaced. “That's not an insult just a fact. I've got a lot of bodies and a dwindling supply of things to keep them busy with.”

  “Business is that good?” Irons asked amused.

  “Something like that,” Bailey said taking a cup of coffee off his desk. He sniffed at it then grimaced and dumped it into his waste bin. “Cold.”

  “Sprite reported the AI is functional and the software is rebuilt.” He shrugged. Apparently after some consideration the captain had decided on a simple AI. More of a voice interface and smart computer than a true AI. No personality, just strong work ethics. If you could consider such a construct as having ethics at all.

  “And the hardware is as good as we're going to get this side of a drydock. At least while in hyper. Now that you've got our industrial replicator sorted out I had it chugging out the parts we need to replace the stuff we should have had in the first place.”

  “And you've had a full rebuild of your drives,” Irons said nodding. They had stopped the industrial replicator work last shift. At least until Clarke brought them up to Beta. Which seemed to be soon since scuttlebutt said the skipper had asked about it twice yesterday. Clarke was running out of excuses.

  “Well, the reactor and the back up. Sublight drives yeah. Both are complete rebuilds. Had to after the pieces Sun-yat tore out of her,” the chimp grimaced. He got up and leaned out the door. “Coffee!” he called, more like bellowed. He turned. “Want one?”

  Irons made a dismissing motion. The chimp shrugged. “Your loss. As I was saying.” He went back and sat on the edge of the desk. “About the only thing I could use you for is rebuilding the hyper drive. Which we can't do right now. Clarke's still using it as an excuse not to go to Beta.”

  “No one rebuilds a hyper drive while it's in use chief,” Irons said knowing the chief knew that was true. Sprite had pointed out a few flaws in the drive's sensor logs. Obviously whoever had last overhauled it hadn't done it by the book. That irked him a little.

  “True. I just don't know what to do with you right now,” Bailey admitted.

  “So I can go find someone else to bother?” Irons said smiling. He'd checked the drive but he couldn't do a tear down while it was in use. They were at an impasse as far as the navigator was concerned.

  “In a nutshell,” Bailey said grinning. “Though I'd like you on hand the moment the drive spools down. Now that you're here I'd like a rebuild. As close as we can get to factory specs if you can manage it. Or better if you can manage it. The shit I heard about Io's got my mouth watering.”

  Irons laughed just as the steward pushed a tray in. “Coffee? And your morning danish sir.”

  “Thanks Jed,” Bailey said with a polite nod. He nodded as he poured himself a cup. It was his cup, the one with the chief and proud of it logo. He sniffed. “What'd you do put almonds in it?”

  “The smell of almonds is a sign of cyanide!” Defender said, leaping to full alert status. Irons reached out and knocked the cup from the chief's mouth. “Spit it out fast.”

  “What?” The chief asked swallowing. “What the hell?”

  “Poison. Spit it out fast!” Irons said. He grabbed the stewards arm as the man tried to back away. “Freeze Mister,” he snarled. “Sprite.”

  “Contacting medical. They are already on their way.”

  �
��Medics are on their way,” Irons echoed.

  “Good cause I suddenly don't feel so hot,” Bailey said sticking his tongue out. He grabbed a rag and wiped at his tongue and mouth. “I got a teaspoon or tablespoon or so in me.”

  “What's going on?” a voice said from the door. “I just got an emergency page. What are you doing?” the heavy worlder guard asked, clearly confused.

  “Take this person into custody for questioning. The chief has been poisoned. Get the captain and security chief on hand. Alert them.”

  “To what?” the guy asked, clearly not understanding.

  “Who called?” Bryan said shouldering his way through with his kit. “Make a hole people.” He came in carrying an orange emergency bag. “What's the emergency?”

  Irons pointed to the chief engineer still behind his desk. “Poison. Cyanide or a derivative. About a tea or tablespoon of diluted liquid swallowed,” Irons reported.

  “Oh. Are you okay?” the paramedic asked, turning to Irons.

  “Not me, the chief. I am immune to poison,” he pointed to the chief again. Bryan turned in the indicated direction. Bailey was looking a little queasy.

  “Oh crap,” the medic nodded, going over to the grimacing chimp.

  “Doc I don't feel so good,” Bailey groaned He was a little flushed..

  “Relax. That little isn't going to kill you right away. Lets get you to sickbay and pump your stomach. Then we'll run a toxicology panel and I'll get something to flush out anything.”

  “Bag the evidence,” Irons said getting up from the chair. “The cup he was drinking. Get a sample for the medical computer.”

  “Oh,” the paramedic said nodding as he attached a monitor to the chimp. “Lets get a stretcher in here. I'd rather not have you exert yourself any more than necessary.”

  Irons grimaced as he thought of something. He stuck one finger into the cup.

  “Isn't that hot?”

  “Yes. Very,” Irons replied. He watched the data scroll across his HUD. “Definitely cyanide. Enough to kill an elephant. I'm uploading the results to your in box.”