Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (26 page)

“Are
you okay Mr. Warner?” The captain asked looking at the exec.

Warner
nodded. “I think we're good sir.”

“All
right then. I'll retire to my quarters. Dismissed with my compliments shift
one. Good job everyone,” he said, sounding proud. He got up and walked out. The
shift followed him out murmuring amongst themselves.

Esmay
checked the computer and tracked Irons down. He was up to his elbows in a
project. She wasn't sure what he was doing but it looked important. Blackhawk
was ready to interrupt but a look from the chief made him back down. “There is
plenty of time Jeremy. Another time,” Esmay said.

“Right,”
Blackhawk said with a nod. He glanced back to the working engineers and then
back to her. “I thought we had it tough.”

“Everyone
is doing their part,” Esmay said, looking back herself. “Some more than others
in some ways,” she said. She thought dimensional math and way point
calculations were tough. Sure it was mentally tough but what they were doing?
She wasn't sure who had the easier job now. Some of the engineers looked really
knackered.

“True.
Come on; let's go get that meal and a beer. I'm thinking porridge.”

“I'm
thinking a nice syntha-steak myself,” Esmay said picking up the pace as they
made their way to the galley. “Screw a salad. I want something with substance.”

“A
steak huh?” Blackhawk chuckled, rolling his broad shoulders and turning from
side to side as they passed people moving about in the companionway.
“Ambitious,” he said. His mouth watered involuntarily at the thought. He hadn't
had a decent steak since his last shore leave on New Texas.

“I
think it can be arranged,” Esmay said with a grin as she looked at him. He
turned and cocked an eyebrow her way. The grin widened. “I just so happen to
know that Irons repaired the food replicators in Galley three. Since he did and
I found out the code for a steak...”

“Can
we get a baked potato too? With corn?” Blackhawk asked, picking up the pace.

“Maybe,”
Esmay teased. “If you can get your lazy ass moving faster,” she said.

He
reached out to swat the little pixy but she danced out of reach. He rumbled a
chuckle and picked up the pace himself.

O'Mallory
turned as she heard the click clack of nails approaching her. She caught sight
of the jackal doctor and sighed.

“Yes
doc?” she asked, leaning against the console behind her. She crossed her arms.
“Something I can help you with?”

“No,
well, yes. You need to get some rest. All of you. Good work. Now doctors
orders. Get some rest.”

“I
can't stand all my people down doc,” O'Mallory said with a laugh. “We do have
work to do. The ship doesn't run well without someone watching over things.”

“A
hand on the tiller I believe is the expression. Agreed. But you dear chief are
getting some rest. One shift,” Numiria said, holding a finger up. “Preferably
two, but I know you won't be able to be held to that. I'll settle for one at a
minimum.”

O'Mallory
looked over to her people. The Tauren Torg nodded. She caught Gwen's nod of
agreement and then shifted her attention away. Yvonne caught her looking and
nodded as well. “Go chief,” she said. “We've got this. Gwen and I'll do fine.
Go get some food and rest and I'll enjoy being a pain in the ass in your
absence.”

“When
aren't
you a pain in the ass?” O'Mallory asked, brushing her hair out of
her eyes again. “I could use a shower,” she admitted.

“Yeah
cause you stink,” Yvonne said, wrinkling her nose. “Git. I'll hold the fort
here. If I have a problem I can't handle I'll call.”

“Fine
fine,” she said tiredly. She gave the doc an amused look. Numiria nodded as her
ears flicked in amusement. “What?”

“That
was easier than I expected. Now where is the admiral?” Numiria asked.

“Going
to chase him off to bed too I suppose?” O'Mallory asked.

“It's
only fair right?” Numiria asked as the first shift crew murmured with the
second and then moved off to the exit hatch.

“Now
that you mention it yes. It's one way to get the man to slow down so the rest
of us can catch our breaths and try to catch up,” O'Mallory mused. “He's all
over the place. I think we need to get some downtime and refocus.”

“Good
idea. When you're tired like this you get sort of scattered. Fresh eyes chief.
Fresh eyes,” Numiria said, rubbing her shoulders.

“Okay.
You talked me into it,” O'Mallory said suppressing a yawn. Her last cup of
coffee had been hours ago.

“I
tell you what. You get some rest and we'll talk in the morning. We haven't had
breakfast in ages.”

“Deal,”
O'Mallory said, hugging the jackal. The jackal turned her head away and
wrinkled her nose. O'Mallory snickered letting go.

“Sorry,”
she murmured as the doc waved a disgusted hand in front of her nose.

“No
you're not you witch,” Numiria sighed. “You know my sense of smell,” she
growled.

“Maybe,”
O'Mallory said with a grin as she walked to the waiting hatch. “Just a little
payback doc for being a busybody,” she teased.

Numiria's
eyes narrowed. “I'll remember that,” Numiria replied. “I'll have to think of
something appropriate to wake you up in the morning.”

“Oh
there's a thought,” O'Mallory said pausing at the hatch. “You do want me to go
to sleep right? Not sit in bed quaking at what you're going to do tomorrow?”

“I
can always sedate you you know,” Numiria growled. O'Mallory gave her a mock
fearful look. The jackal growled more. O'Mallory laughed and left.

“Pepper
in her coffee?” Yvonne murmured to the jackal. Numiria turned to her and then
flicked her ears in amusement.

“I
was thinking hot sauce myself.”

Yvonne
made a face. “Cruel doc. Cruel.”

“I
know.”

“Remind
me to be there with a camera when you do it,” Yvonne said. “So the rest of the
crew can see it. She ran us ragged. She deserves it.”

Numiria
stared at Yvonne for a moment and then giggled. “Okay you're on.” She shook her
head chuckling as she left.

The
next morning O'Mallory came in with a cup of coffee disappointing the waiting
crew. She gave Yvonne a wary questioning look. Her assistant gave her an
innocent look and then held up her cup of coffee and then pointed to the plate
of demolished eggs in front of her.

“Hmmm...
we've got eggs?”

“Synthetic,”
the assistant answered, pointing to the food replicator. O'Mallory looked from
the food replicator to the bored looking cook. She went over to the cook and
picked up a plate, loaded it with some fruit and then sat down at Yvonne's
table.

“Doc
find you yet?”

“She's
busy with a radiation case,” O'Mallory answered. She took a sip from her mug.
Yvonne looked at it and then away. O'Mallory had nicked the captain's mug a
long time ago as a running prank. The captain hadn't twigged to it yet. It was
amusing to the engineers to have pulled one over on the stuffy lazy bridge
crew.

Not
that they were lazy right now. Far from it. Now that they were in hyper the
bridge crew had to be on its toes all the time. It was going to be a long one
hundred and thirty days to Antigua for them.

O'Mallory
smiled as Irons passed her peripheral vision. She picked up a grapefruit and
started cutting at the rind, one eye on Irons as he picked up a plate with an
orange on it and then went over to the food replicator and ordered a couple of
energy bars and a cup of coffee.

“Anyone
sitting here?” he asked coming over.

“By
all means, sit,” she said, moving over to allow him to pull the chair out. The
crew around them looked up but then shrugged it off. Irons had been accepted by
the crew.

“Nice
that everything is running smoothly,” Irons said as he sat.

“I
haven't checked in yet,” O'Mallory admitted. She glanced at Yvonne. “Who's
minding the store?” she asked.

“Gwen.
She's fine.”

“If
you say so,” O'Mallory said with a shrug.

“I
checked chief. I know you did when you got up,” Yvonne said. She'd figured out
that the chief had a tablet with her that showed her the ship's status.

“Maybe
I did,” the chief admitted as she popped a piece of grapefruit into her mouth
and masticated it. “Maybe I didn't.”

“Yeah
right,” Yvonne said giving her the eye. “Now that you're up I am going to rest.
It's been a long twenty...” she turned her head to look at the clock. “Wow, has
it really been that long? Twenty nine hour day for me.” She shook her head and
looked at the admiral “I don't know how you do it,” she said.

“Practice
and necessity,” Irons replied in between bites.

“If
you say so,” she said amused. She got up and policed her plate. A few of her
crew got up and followed her out. Others stayed and talked quietly.

“No
game on?” Irons asked.

“Game?”
O'Mallory asked.

“Or
show. Galleys sometimes have a vid screen set up in the corners of the room all
synched to show the news or a show or a game. Pre-recorded of course,” he
explained.

“Oh,”
O'Mallory said and then took a sip of coffee as she thought about that.
“Interesting. No we don't have that here.”

“Huh,”
Irons said with a noncommittal shrug. He went back to eating the protein bar.

“How
can you eat that stuff?” Numiria asked, leaning over his shoulder. “It's...”

“Food
doc,” he said looking at her. “I've eaten at the best and worst restaurants.
I've lived on ration packs for months at a time. It's all fuel to me now.”

“Oh,”
she said shaking her head. She smiled to the chief and then went over to the
buffet. She picked a ration of bacon but put it back. She picked a piece of
chicken up and then went to the food replicator and ordered other things. She
came back with a plate of food.

“It's
good to be a predator,” she murmured sitting. Irons looked up to her then down
to her plate before snorting. “I know I know... it's a lot of protein...”

“I
know the drill with Neo’s doc,” he said amused.

“Oh.”

“Radiation
case?” O'Mallory asked as the doctor settled in Yvonne's abandoned seat.
O'Mallory cradled her cup in front of her with both hands, letting the warmth
relax her. She felt good, like all was right for once. It felt strange.

“Radiation.
I've got another case. Cancer. Tumors all over. I'm... well we don't have a
spare pod...” she sighed.

“Exposure
on the hull doc? Or long term exposure?” O'Mallory asked concerned. She really
wanted to know who but she didn't want to be down in the dumps all day.

“Since
she's never been out I'd say long term. I'm not sure how she got it though.
That's the strange thing.”

“Some
people are more vulnerable to radiation than others. Genes have more protection
but it's finite.”

“Protoplasmic
life forms,” Sprite said with a sniff. The others in the room looked around as
the bay quieted.

“Sorry,”
Sprite said sounding chastened. Irons shrugged it off as people looked his way.

“Don't
look at me folks; Sprite is a person in her own right. But...” he looked up to
the overhead. “I do want to remind the commander that radiation is damaging to
organics but does rather nasty things to electronics too,” he replied.

“Touché'”
she replied still sounding chastened.

“Hey
you asked for it,” he replied. “Teach you to get on a high horse about
something.”

“Knock
that superiority complex right out of me?” she asked sounding amused.

“Not
on your life. Or mine. I know it and you know it.”

“True,”
she said coyly.

“As
you were saying doc,” Irons said, turning his attention to the doctor.
“Radiation. She could have been near the outer hull.”

“Why
is that important?”

“Higher
radiation dosage there doc.”

O'Mallory
looked at the doctor as the room quieted again.

“Say
that again?”

“Some
parts of the ship are more protected than others. You know that right?” They
nodded. “But not as well as others. This is a freighter after all; the holds
aren't designed to protect the crew from radiation exposure. Normally inert
stuff is stuffed in them not people. Over time you can be exposed. That
exposure is cumulative.”

“True,”
the doctor said. “That's why we limit exposure around the reactor.”

He
shook his head. “Not just the reactor doctor. Cosmic and solar radiation are a
problem as well. A good solar storm plays havoc with a ship and its crew if
they aren't protected.”

“Which
we are.”

“Not
quite. You are
now
but you weren't
before
. At least not very
well. The shields weren't working well at all. Some areas had very little or no
coverage.”