“Yeah,” Bailey drawled. “Just be glad kid, I learned on the job. The hard way.”
“So how did you get into engineering?” Bryan asked looking up.
“Turning the tables eh kid?” Bailey said chuckling. “The answer is simple. Destiny got caught by pirates.”
“Oh,” the paramedic blinked then blushed. “I didn't know you were on board.”
“Yeah. Me, Clarke, and Charlie the purser, and a couple of my guys and gals in engineering. We're all that's left of the original crew.” Bailey reached out and snagged a beer stein from a waiter's tray. She gave him a dirty look then continued on.
He took a pull then sighed softly. “What happened?” Bryan asked. “If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay,” he held up his hands as he said that.
“No, it's not okay. It sucked,” Bailey shook his head. “There we were, minding our own bees wax, about to shift cargo down to Protodon and the next thing I know we were being boarded.” He shook his head and then took another pull.
“Found out later we got caught by a pirate, that destroyer. The Damocles. Captain at the time didn't have any choice but to surrender. Not that it did him any good,” he grimaced. “He went out the airlock first thing.”
“Oh.” Most of the room had quieted as the Chimp talked. Bryan looked around then returned his attention to the simian.
“We lost most of the officers in a couple of days. A few people suicided like our old chief. Mr. Destrius.” He hefted the stein in salute then took a chug. “Damn good man. Couldn't hack seeing his daughter get raped and shorn like sheep before they dropped her out an airlock with a pulser dart in her head.”
A few people grimaced at that. A few left the compartment. Bryan gulped. “Why'd they keep him...”
“Alive?” Bailey interrupted. “Cause he's an engineer. That's the only reason I'm alive. Skills are hard to come by. Anyone who was not human or Earth clan bought it that first week. Everyone. Anyone that couldn't pull their own weight too. Those that they wanted somewhere else ended up getting transferred to other ships. I met a couple in Pyrax. Most were still shook up,” he grimaced. “Those that survived.”
“Oh.”
“No, it's not what you're thinking. The Admiral didn't do it. Didn't kill them when they caught the pirates. Not intentionally anyway. No it was the pirates themselves. They went on a killing spree when we got disabled. I was in an air duct. Got around a bend before they unloaded on me. Still caught a needle in the ass though.” He shifted a bit as a few people snickered at his discomfort.
“So yeah, I owe the marines and especially the Admiral. Great guy. Ain't anyone going to tell me different. I watched the film, I know who's telling the truth. Anyone who says different is going to get a knuckle sandwich. Personalized from me.” He grinned a nasty grin, making sure everyone got a good look. Many people looked away, or down to their drinks.
“There's been enough shit going on, talk about spacing him. That ends now. You don't like him? Fine. Think he's what they accuse him? Go watch the vid. But fuck with him or me and I'll tear you apart. Any one of you,” he snarled, fur upraised. “Capiche?” he said, bending the metal rail attached to the bar.
“Yeah, I think they got it,” Bryan said nodding.
“Good. 'Bout freaking time someone did,” Bailey growled, taking another chug of beer. “But enough about me. You really should go down.”
“Yeah,” Bryan said, nodding. “I'm getting that vibe. You're saying that they could use all the help they can get.”
“And more. We were in sorry straights for a week after we got rescued. Bet it's worse down there. No fancy sickbay, no power, no equipment, no food or shelter since the freaking pirates took em or turned em into a crater. No hope unless we bring it to them.”
“Which is what we're doing,” Bryan nodded getting up. He downed his beer then headed to the door. “Thanks for changing my mind chief.”
“Any time kid,” Bailey said finishing his. “My good deed for the day.” He teetered a little then stretched, teetering even more. “Now, someone point me to the nearest head and then bed,” he chuckled. “Ha, that rhymes,” he said with a toothy grin.
Chapter 10
Irons watched the kid in the back as he settled into routine. Since only twenty percent of the crew were allowed ground side at any given time the remaining group were either doing their duty or bored. Most were counting the time until they went ground side. A few of the avid spacers were counting the time until they broke orbit and hit deep space once more. He'd been asked to run a few classes on various things to help keep some of the crew occupied and to aid in their training, since the drive had been repaired he'd decided to go with it.
The class room was just large enough for about twenty people. There was a small stage in the front, he wasn't sure if it was for plays or for other activities. Space on a starship was at a premium and usually served double or triple duty.
He'd been in the room before of course, he'd sparred with Bailey a few times here. Now however the room was changing, finally taking on it's intended role. That was good.
This room was just now being put to right. Apparently there was some trade going on with the planet, Charlie had managed to get some raw material and wood furniture for additional goods and services. The captain had considered adding more vid screens but when Bailey had mentioned the impromptu classes he'd decided that outfitting the class room with the basics was a better use of their limited resources.
And he did mean limited, Irons thought, looking around. Just the basics. Simple pastel colored plastic and aluminum chairs, each with a writing board attached so the students could write or use a tablet. They didn't even have a dock to keep the tablets charged or keep them in a network.
Irons himself had hooked up a Wi-Fi node in the room. Sprite was never happy to share it with the students when he had a full class... which was more and more often.
Behind him was a view screen, one of the largest on the ship. That and the holo projector also behind him were his contributions to the room. He needed them to help illustrate his lessons.
He'd heard that a few people had snuck in to use the room as a movie theater or love nest but an incoming class and the uncomfortable chairs would win out and chase them out. According to the ship's grapevine one group who had intended to watch a movie had been so intrigued by a lecture that they had stayed anyway... and come back the following day to catch the next one, and the one after that.
He'd really wanted to go out, snag some more rocks and start on his own projects, however the nearest rock he'd found, not the out of range Atens but another smaller one on the other side of the planet, was still out of range for another eighteen hours. Hence his willingness to teach. That and his natural love of teaching.
There was something satisfying about seeing a dawning comprehension on someone's face. The joy of learning, of exploring something new and exciting. It brought back memories to him of his own studies, and encouraged him to keep learning himself.
They really wanted to learn, which was good. They didn't have half the basic skills and knowledge he himself took for granted. He had to force himself to rein himself in, to dumb down his lesson plan to get points across to the class. Something he had done before on occasion but which was more of a regular thing now.
It was also impossible to get through a lecture without getting off topic more than once. Sometimes they were all over the place, touching every field in a wild and chaotic dance of questions and answers. It was fun and invigorating but for some, bewildering and exhausting. When he had pointed out that a lot of his answers were on the net that had spawned a lot of researching... and further questions.
Adequate teaching was needed now more than ever, the Anvil college was a good start, for centuries people had learned on the job in an apprentice system. The system was heavily flawed, emphasizing keeping elderly equipment running with jury rigged repairs over how the system ran and how to make parts. Up until he came along only a
few places actually even made replacement equipment. And even those that did rarely knew how they worked, they just knew the sequence to press in the computer to get the replicator to spit one out! Hopefully the college would set up a trend and a new renaissance would kick in. That was part of his plan anyway.
They had been going over the replicators, covering some of the basics but skipping around to items of interest that the class brought up. Behind him an exploded view of a replicator was being projected on the holo and on the vid screen. The images rotated in space, coming together and apart in a swirling complex dance. He nodded to Everette then turned to the class. “You were asking about passwords?”
“Yes, ah, specifically the replicators actually. I was wondering how that worked. How you ended up with them.” It was hard for the kid to keep his eyes off the vid screen behind Irons. Which was important in a way, Irons thought. It kept him focused on the front and interested in what was going on. It did confuse a few people though.
He had a test for them, one that was percolating through the other instructors now that he had made his databases available to them. He had a 3D representation of a piece of equipment loaded. Each virtual reality item could be taken apart, put together, and used to not only identify problems but to train people to diagnose and repair it.
What had just gotten through to some of the students was that you could see and play with the equipment with virtual reality goggles. Which had made things interesting for the few people who owned them. More than one pair had gone missing and the miscreant had to be tracked down through the net and forced to return them. Which had casued no end of problems for security and for the replicator staff. Students and others were asking for the glasses now instead of LCD screens or holo projectors. Go figure.
Irons grimaced trying to think. The door opened and Miss Willis came into the room. “Is there a problem ma'am?” Irons asked.
“No, just me being fashionably late as usual,” she smiled and then sat in the front.
He shook his head as she shook out her blond locks then tapped a stylus against her tablet and looked at him patiently waiting. She smiled invitingly, decolletage showing since she'd left the top of her coverall unzipped. Was she really flirting with him? He shook off the thought. “Okay, since we're all here, the question is, how the lock out for the replicators works and how I was given the code keys,” he grimaced. “I can't get into too many specifics, I am duty bound to keep some things secret.”
A few of the techs looked disappointed. “But I can tell you that I was selected because I am an officer of the Federation Navy with a proven track record for doing what is right.” He shrugged. “Most engineering officers have a limited set of code keys, these are specific for whatever they are specialized in. This allows them to make parts they need for their job if necessary.”
“As an Engineering Admiral I have a master key set. That unlocks just about everything a replicator can produce. By just about... well I do have to admit I can't make military grade medical nano. That's not my field so I never got the need to know key set,” he sighed. “Which I'm regretting now. But they wanted me to attend a six week seminar to get them. Not something I was in the mood to do during the beginning of the war.”
He shook his head as the class looked at each other. “So you have the master set? When I go to make something it asks for a password,” Everette replied.
Irons had a sudden suspicious feeling this was leading to something. Something he wasn't going to like and something Everette and his cronies were likely regretting. “What were you trying to make?” Irons asked. “I left the basic replicator password off on Chief Bailey's request since none of you have implants beyond the ident chip. You should be able to make basic equipment with it.” The crew had ident chips now but none of the passengers had them. It made it easier to lock them out. What they didn't know was that the crew's ident chips held the password for the replicators. It logged them in and the computer was supposed to keep track of who was making what. He of course wasn't keeping very good tabs on that obviously.
“Um...” Everette looked embarrassed. He shot a glance to another student. She rolled her eyes and made a go on get it over with motion. “I wanted to make a mondo cool stunner design I got the specs for.”
Irons was curious about how the kid had gotten the specs for a stunner at all. He was a civilian. Then the thought made him snort mentally. The kid was a hacker, of course he'd found a way to pick up the specs. Most likely on Anvil or in his travels. “Which is of course locked out. All weapons are. You have to be an officer of the Federation to make them.” Irons had run into that particular problem when Ed the chief of security had tried to get some weapons. Fortunately for some reason the captain had been on hand at the time and had stopped him before he had forced the replicator to self destruct.
“Oh,” Everette said in a small voice and then grimaced. He rubbed the back of his head in chagrin.
“You're lucky you stopped at the pass code. Had you tried to bypass it or entered the wrong code the system would have locked up.” Everette blanched then slunk down into his chair, hunching his shoulders. “You did stop?” He was pretty sure from the lad's expression that had not been the case. Great.
“Um. Not ah, exactly.”
Irons nodded, looking grim and slightly annoyed. There was a reason passwords existed. “Now I understand why you want to know more. Well, if you got to the first firewall you probably locked the system up. If you tried to bypass it manually, then the self destruct kicked in.”
Everette paled a little. He knew he was in deep shit now. “Well, it didn't blow up,” Everette grimaced, giving the girl a look.
“It wouldn't have. It would send a signal to the nearest authority then zero purge the matrix. The nanites would have consumed each other.” The Admiral made gobbling motions with his hands, pretending that one hand was eating the other. “After that the electronics would have fried their memory chips by over writing them and then cooking them off.”
“Oh,” the boy looked a little green. “Damn.” He shrugged helplessly. “Oops?” he said.
“Yeah,” Irons sighed. “Oops.”
“So, today's lesson kids, don't screw with the password. If you try, you will fry it,” Bailey said from the door. Irons glanced over to him. The chief did not look happy. Irons could understand why.
“I was wondering why I didn't get a call,” he said shaking his head.
“Probably cause this dweeb and his girl tried it and then got the others to cover it up till they could figure out a fix,” the chimp said crossing his arms.
“Oh. Not a very wise thing,” Miss Willis said shaking her head. She gave Everette a severe look. “That is Pyrax system property you know. You are liable for damages. Especially since it was done for an off duty project.” Irons frowned. Technically no, it was fleet property. He'd have to point that out later.
“Yeah,” Everette looked down mumbling. “I screwed up.”
“Which he'll pay for. Believe me. We'll take the cost of the replacement or at least the time it takes to make one out of his pay,” Bailey growled. The kid blanched and then looked crestfallen. The girl did as well. He looked to the Admiral. “Think you can work your magic?”
“I'll have to see the damage. Which we can do. Are you up to a road trip folks? It seems to me I should show rather than tell.”
The class got up and followed him out. They walked down the corridors then entered the replicator room. The room was set aside with easy access to main engineering and the boat bays for a reason. It had a commanding presence in this part of the deck since it was so large. It had to be, since it was a class one industrial replicator. The hatch to the compartment was double the standard size to accommodate large items coming and going through it's threshold.
The room was spartan, only the replicator, a stool and some hover pallets were in there. The room also had one other entrance of sorts, a feed tube about a half meter across that came in at a steep angle from th
e ceiling to the back of the octagonal replicator.
To some the replicator looked like a large octagonal hot tub standing on one side. It was uniformly gray, well mostly gray. There were warning labels around the rim and on the control panel sticking out on the right side.
This replicator had been set up vertically for a reason, to make it easier to get parts out of it. All they needed to do was let the door open and then they could pull the part out onto a waiting hover pallet, hit the close button and it would close and be ready for re-use.
He'd used such replicators to make a great deal of parts. Since it had a ten cubic meter space inside for parts it could replicate quite a lot of parts a ship used. And anything that wouldn't fit could always be built up from sub assemblies.
The purser was there, banging on the downed replicator. He looked up in surprise at the Admiral and his class. “Damn thing. Ah Admiral, just the person I need.” He turned waving to the replicator. “It seems to be broken.”
“Why don't you hit it a few more times, it's only a delicate piece of equipment, what harm will that do?” Bailey said sarcastically. Irons sighed.
“We just heard. I'll see what I can do.” He went over and jacked in. By now the class had seen his hand morph so there wasn't any exclamations of surprise or dismay. He grimaced. He could already tell it was toast. Time to go through the motions.
“Accessing. Password sent,” He cocked his head. “I have one part of each 1024 bit encrypted set of passwords, Sprite and Defender have the other parts. They combine through a matrix module to unlock different things. In this case...” He paused examining the system and then grimaced. “Boy you did a number on this,” He shook his head after a moment.
The purser turned to see the chimp glaring at the hapless tech. “Something I should know about?”
“Typical male adolescent trying to impress a girl and ending up with egg all over his face,” Miss Willis replied dryly. The adolescents in question squirmed uncomfortably. “I'm sure it can be worked out.”
Destiny's Choice (The Wandering Engineer) Page 17