Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (118 page)

Sid
blinked at him in surprise. “He did?”

Taylor
nodded. “Yes. He built a seed station and then handed the civilians back
control of their equipment, all fully repaired and restored. Then they built
several stations, a shipyard, and a micro Dyson sphere in less than nine months
before he left.”

“Impressive,”
Myers said with a nod. Doctor Trask and Averies both nodded.

Taylor
nodded as well. “They were well on their way to building their first ships as
well. The first should have launched a month ago.”

“Seriously?
All that as well?” Averies asked, eyes wide.

Taylor
snorted. After all this time Averies should have known better. Irons was an
engineer after all. “Indeed. The admiral is formidable.”

"Still..."

"Still
nothing. He's a war monger. Just think about what he'll make with that gear. He
won’t defend this system! He'll take it and throw it away chasing the
pirates," Kennet snarled. He shot an appealing look to Fu.

"I
find that hard to believe," Rasha Warner said shaking her head.

"You
should abstain from this discussion. You're too close, You and your
husband," Albert said, staring at her.

"I
will when you four cut off your balls. Or I can do it for you," she
growled, eyes snapping.

The
others stared at her. "I'm tired of your squeamishness. You're complaining
about
my
bias? You're inserting your own peacenik bias into every breath
you take! The admiral is
trying
to cover all bases. He's trying to make
sure your alive to spout crap like that and your sniping and carping isn't
helping!"

She
shook her virtual head. She could see the faces closing and hardening around
her. "It's only making it worse. Hell, I'm making it worse now! I can see
you throwing up barriers, closing your minds to what you don't want to hear and
see. I know damn well when people throw up walls and barriers to ideas they
can't stand. I'm tired of this crap!" She threw her virtual hands up in
disgust.

"You
are correct," the Asian male said. They all turned to him. Fu was ancient,
the oldest of their group. He seemed to be able to draw consensus from all of them
most of the time. In his youth he had led the station into a bright and
seemingly glorious future. Now he was someone the younger set chafed against.

Most
of the old guard new that he wasn't perfect but he was good. They knew that the
Xeno war wasn't his fault, and ignored his mistakes. They trusted his serenity,
he formed their center.

The
new guard was still in awe and idolized the old cybers. Fu took ruthless
advantage of that, knowing he could bend them to his will. Hence their present
dilemma.

 He
stroked his long flowing white beard. "You are close to this and our
associates are clouding their judgment with their personal beliefs. But the
essence of this discussion is not in doubt. It will not, cannot be done in the
time frame available. We have too many commitments."

"Like
all the factories going up! I just got an order for an electronics factory! and
a tablet one!" The Veraxin chittered. "More competition!" He had
been surprised it hadn't been Randall. Apparently Irons had gotten through to
someone; they had formed a cooperative with other investors and now were
bidding for the materials. They already had the real estate picked out for the
plants.

"Exactly,"
Albert said in disgust. “Another thing we can lay at Irons feet.”

"No,
it is good. We are here to maintain the function of this station not judge it's
use," Fu said quietly. His mate nodded sagely. She knew the lie of that
statement though. Her husband would never allow the station to be used to make
weapons. The admiral was correct, her husband was a liar and a hypocrite she
thought deep down, feeling something in her soul twist and writhe
uncomfortably. "We cannot commit to the admiral's request because it is
not our function to do so. We must bow to a higher authority." He waved his
hand to indicate the holo of the world floating at the center of the table.

"And
that's the problem. We're bucking it up to people we know won't commit or
aren't trustworthy. We've already seen it. They won’t do it. Or they will drag
it out until his deadline expires and he leaves. Mark my words," Warner
growled.

"Let
the leaves of destiny fall as they may brother. We can only watch and
admire," Fu said with a patient air.

"True,"
Warner sighed. His wife patted his virtual hand. “But you and I both know the direction
of this wind and what's about to happen. It's going to leave us wide open for
the hurricane that will follow in its wake. Mark my words, it's coming and when
it gets here we'll have this moment and you to thank for it.”

"I
don't think they will go for it admiral," Warner said, shaking his virtual
head a half hour later. He had just finished relating the meeting to Irons. Fu
and Albert had written the presentation to the Antiguan mayors and submitted it
a minute before Taylor came to talk.

Irons
smiled bitterly. He'd known that from the beginning. He locked down the emitter
he was working on. It was still kicking by a nanometer but it was within a
point oh four tolerance. He made a note to swap it or the wiring to it later
when he had time and materials. "So? you knew this would happen," he
said.

The
Antigua ruling council had been locked in chambers in a closed session most of
the day according to the media. So far the media knew something was going on,
something important but not what. He was hoping it would stay that way at least
until he was underway. He had no intention of being mobbed on the station. He
was pretty sure the debate was raging hot and heavy right now.

"Anything
I can do?" Warner asked finally.

The
admiral smiled slightly. "Nothing son, not a thing. I've got what I could
get. I'll make do," Irons said sitting up on his elbows to look at the
holo. "How are things on your end?"

Taylor's
face worked. He could see disgust and annoyance writ all over him. "The
Fu's are bridging the gap between the two groups but it's hard to stay cool
knowing what's at stake. My wife really blew her stack in there. She was
something else,” he smiled in pride.

"She's
a firecracker that one. I can see why you married her. Keep her safe,"
Irons said getting up and brushing himself off.

"She
is, I've known that for decades," Warner said with a note of admiration in
his voice. "I've always loved watching her temper. From a distance you
understand," he said hastily, hands up. Irons grinned. "Like a force
of nature," Warner continued smiling himself. Irons nodded.

"The
good ones usually are," Irons replied. Warner smiled again in
appreciation.

"The
reactor, replicators, and parts... Sprite shot me a list of what you had
planned. Ambitious," Warner said. He ran a hand through his virtual hair.
"A fully functional micro yard I bet, it'd take you what?"

"A
year, give or take a month. It all depends on what other support I could drum
up," the admiral admitted. Prime was more advanced with more materials and
equipment than Anvil but he lacked the volunteer support he had in Pyrax. With
the same amount of support he could do the same thing they had done in Pyrax in
half the time. Well, except for San Diego. San Diego would require resources he
wasn't ready to commit to here.

"So
where were you planning on getting bodies for this? Robots? AI?
Volunteers?" Warner asked.

"My
problem," Irons said putting his equipment away. He used a couple of zip
ties to tie wiring harnesses together and out of the way. “Which won't be an issue
since I don't see it happening anyway.”

"Just
asking admiral, no need to be rude," Warner said hands up again.

Irons
sighed, grimacing. "Sorry, didn't come out the way I wanted." He
shook his head. "Yes volunteers. Bots and AI too of course."

"Which
is an ethical dilemma," Sprite said interjecting herself. "I'd like
to point out that building a sentient being to do a service without
compensation or control of their own destiny is slavery. It violates all the
codes of AI creation and I wouldn't be a party to it admiral." She looked
at him defiantly.

He
studied her for a moment, feeling a rising anger. He didn't need this... this
complication. He watched the stern resolve there. "I'd resign my
commission if necessary admiral," she said quietly.

That
hit him in the gut. To do so... He shied away from the thought. She was serious
about this. He made himself step back from the anger of being thwarted and
think about it. He knew he was still too vexed to think clearly, but he
grudgingly admitted she had a point.

"You're...
right," he admitted after a moment, jaw working. "We'd work something
out." His face worked for a moment. “It's hypothetical anyway so we don't
need to get up in arms over it.”

"Good
to hear," Warner said, looking from one to the other. "I see it's not
all worked out on your end," he said quietly.

"Not
by half," Sprite laughed, shaking her head. Apparently she was willing to
let it go if he was. "Sometimes we make it up as we go along. But we try,
and that's the main thing. That's the only thing we can all do, is try to make
the best of what life hands us."

"Right,"
Irons nodded. "When life hands you lemons make lemonade. I get it Sprite.
Subtle as a sledgehammer as usual."

"Mowa?"
she asked, hand on her chest, but virtual eyes twinkling. He snorted, good
humor restored.

"I've
got to go, my shift starts in five. Whatever happens, good luck admiral,"
Warner said nodding. His virtual image blinked out of existence.

"A
man torn... I don't envy him in the slightest," Sprite said softly.

"Me
neither. We've given him enough headaches. I'll try to make a peaceful
exit."

"Good
idea," Sprite said. "Let's not burn anymore bridges than we have
to."

"True,"
he said and then went back to work.

Irons
looked out the view port, studying the lean lines of the yacht. He'd renamed it
Phoenix and it seemed appropriate. He had considered Prometheus, but he'd
already laid the keel for the Prometheus back in Pyrax months ago. He'd even
taken the time to embed a ghost phoenix in the hull's smart paint. Or at least
he'd programmed a bot to do it. It looked good. A little blocky, but he wasn't
an artist so it was okay with him.

It
was a beautiful ship alright. Right now it felt more like The Billy Ruffian,
the ship that had taken Napoleon off into exile to Elba. Not that Napoleon
could fight a naval battle. You'd have thought he would have realized having
good people, tech, and applying the macro strategic lessons he'd learned on the
battlefield to Naval strategy should have been...

He
grimaced, and shook his head wryly. Woolgathering again. He shook his head
again, clearing it. Phoenix would be it for a while. She'd need some repairs,
but they'd managed the critical ones before the ruling council had cut off his
access to the station's fabricators. Warner had been apologetic about it.

That
was fine, the critical systems were functional, he had plenty of spares now,
she was fully fueled, and anything he needed he could do on his own.

He
had the parts he didn't have time to install, and the larger industrial replicator
tucked away inside her. He also had plenty of provisions, fuel, and material. A
few more hours and he'd be off.

He
had been amused when the ruling council of Antigua, after eighteen hours of
apparently acrimonious closed doors debate had tabled the issue for a later
unspecified date. Just as he had figured from the beginning. Typical
politicians, unable to stare reality in the face. The public hadn't weighed in
on this, as far as he knew they didn't know about the shifting tide. He was
glad. He didn't need the complication. If they thought by putting it off he'd
cool his heels and wait they were about to realize how sadly mistaken they were
going to be.

"Kind
of ironic isn't it?" Sprite asked. "Almost amusing."

"What?"
he asked disinterested. He glanced at the tablet in his hand, not really
reading it.

"I
checked. After that meeting you had a while back some of the mayors have
changed their priority requests. Instead of air cars and doodads to impress
their constituents they are now requesting factory equipment."

"Interesting,"
he said disinterested.

She
smirked. "Yes, one even went so far as to cancel their request for new
combines and instead put in for a combine factory."

"Fascinating,"
he said scrolling through the document.

"Of
course where they are going to get the supporting infrastructure for it all is
yet to be determined. I don't think they thought of that part," she said
thoughtfully. “I see a few of the electronic factory requests are near deposits
of silenium and silicon. I believe existing electronic factories are there so
they should make the jump easily enough. I'm not sure how it's all going to
work out. From here it doesn't look likely,” she said.