Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (29 page)

“Yup,”
Blackhawk sighed, taking his seat. “That we are. Good.”

“Yeah
well, all that shifting around inside the cargo bays has made her wonky. Watch
for it. She feels different,” Mark warned as Blackhawk reached out and touched
his controls.

“Really?”

“Shifting
of mass. Center of gravity is a bit off. It's not bad, it's gradual, but you
can tell.”

“Slow
on the helm?”

“Not
so much. Just different,” Mark said. Which was true, they had been moving
people slowly but were now picking up speed as the new quarter designs were
roughed out.

“Something
else to get used to. Okay,” Blackhawk said as he took his hat off and racked
it. “Let's see how she handles then,” he said, stretching his fingers and then
taking the yoke. “I've got it,” he said, using a finger switch to transfer
controls to his station.

“Station
one has the helm. Logged,” Mark said formally. “Good. I so need to hit the
crapper.” He slapped Blackhawk on the shoulder. “Enjoy you lucky redskin,” he
said getting up.

“Okay,”
Blackhawk said, flicking his eyes to Mark and then back to the screen. He
grimaced as he had to pitch the ship over to avoid a tangle and follow the
plotted course. “Fun,” was all he said.

“Finally
getting around to me?” Numiria asked early the next morning. “Should I be
touched or honored?” she asked sarcastically.

Irons
froze as he entered the infirmary. He'd really meant to help out here a long
time ago, but had been swamped by other projects. Apparently that didn't go
over well with the resident medic. Either that or the good doctor was being
territorial... or sarcastic. “Did we come at a bad time doc?” He looked over to
his class. Sharon and Fara shrugged. He had them and about a dozen other
people. Most of them didn't quite realize what they were in for with this
project. It beat sitting around staring at the bulkheads however.

Numiria
flicked her ears their way. Her eyes bore into a few people before she looked
away. “Not at all. I've got nothing better to do than to watch people tear my
work space apart and then leave it a mess,” she growled.

“I
don't go where I'm not wanted doc,” Irons told Numiria.

“Most
of the time,” Sprite interjected into his ear. He shrugged it off.

“If
you want me gone I'm gone. I thought you wanted repairs made and new
equipment,” he said indicating the door.

The
jackal's eyes widened. “You're serious?” He nodded. She straightened and
scratched at an ear. Irons saw the signs of a canine who was embarrassed.
“Sorry. Didn't need to bite,” Numiria said. “Muzzling myself now,” she said
making a zipping motion over her mouth.

“Not
a problem. Where would you like us to start?”

“Well...
I was hoping you could do something about the layout. I've got a slow period
now so maybe we could see about this. What I'd like...”

She
tapered off unsure. Irons smiled. “We've done what we can in a lot of the other
departments. I understand the chief blocked out at least ten days for you so
we're at your disposal.”

“I'm
flattered,” Numiria said dryly. “A whole ten days? For little ole me?”

The
admiral tried hard not to roll his eyes. Numiria's sarcastic streak was in full
force today apparently. “You were talking about layout. Do you want to start
there?”

“What
I really want is new equipment. But I know that's too much to ask for,” she
sighed shaking her head. He cocked his head.

“I've
been constantly complaining about the working conditions for years. It's about
time someone did something about it. Though you did say you can't do much.”

“Doc,
we can do a lot with what we've got. Starting with broken equipment. If you
have any I think we can use it to either melt it down to make a new functional
piece or we can make parts for it... or if you've got spares we could melt it
down and make something else on your wish list.”

“Wish
list huh?” she asked. She looked around the infirmary. It was dark; some parts
of it had no light at all. Some parts had too much ventilation, others had no
heat. Some areas had no power... they had to run extension cables. The walls
were rough cut, patched over and most of the metal was raw. There was a leak
from the upper deck that stained one wall and ceiling panel. The floor was the
same way but covered in spills that had etched in to stain over the centuries.
Yes, the idea of an upgrade was appealing.

He
spread his hands. “Would you like the infirmary arranged by specialty? Surgery
suite? Imaging? Better imaging equipment for that matter? MRI? Gravity scanner?
Ultrasound? Endoscopes? X ray machines?”

Her
eyes studied him. After a moment one manicured nail tapped on the metal tray
next to her. Finally her ears flicked. “Yes to all of the above.”

He
slowly smiled. “Then let's get started shall we?”

The
first day was spent blocking out and planning what she wanted and how they
would spend the next nine days achieving it. He used a holo emitter and a cad
program to design the space. They did an assessment of the equipment on hand.
The chief had sent in techs to repair equipment, when she could, but not on a
steady basis. Most of the equipment was misaligned or not even up to
calibration standards. Irons class was kept busy playing gopher most of the
morning.

After
lunch Irons spent the afternoon hooked up to one piece of equipment or another
assessing it and either recalibrating it or designating it as scrap. They dug
into the storage bays, pulling out old equipment and tools and going over them.
Anything broken beyond repair was cataloged and then sent off to his
replicator. As they moved along his class picked up on the basics and started
doing the rough assessments on their own. Irons always has the last word
however.

Anything
not repairable was stripped of anything useable like paddles, cables, or probes
and then sent off for recycling. Waste not want not. And why replicate
something that still functioned?

“When
am I going to get any of that back?” she asked near the end of the shift.

“Some
of it will be later in the evening. I'm not sure,” Irons turned to Jen who had
just come in with a plastic container. “Or some now,” he said nodding his chin
her way. Behind Jen was a pair of students carrying additional plastic tote
boxes. Numiria turned and blinked.

“Well
that was fast,” she said. Slowly she smiled.

“It's
not equipment doc, its medical supplies you had on the wish list,” Jen said
with a smile. She proffered the box to the medic. Numiria pointed to an exam
table. Jen set the box down there and then opened the lid. “I need the box back
for the next load. It's easier to carry a bunch of stuff than handfuls.”

“True,”
Numiria said, nodding to a nurse who got off her stool and came over. She
started cataloging the new material. By the time she was done the nurse was
smiling slightly.

“Good,”
Irons said with a nod. “Next batch coming anytime soon Jen?” he asked. Jen
paused with the box tucked against her hip and turned.

“I
think we've got the MRI scanner now. I think that's what Martha said it was
before she went off shift. It's big and has a lot of parts so it's sucked up a
lot of material. We should have the last part in a half hour or so. You'll have
fun putting it together I suppose.”

“Cool,”
Numiria murmured.

“Well,
since we're about done here, you need your bay we'll go over the plans and go
take a look at the other infirmary.”

“The
other one?” Numiria asked. “I forgot about it.”

“Well,
you'll remember it soon enough. You're going to have to shift over to it
tomorrow remember? We're going to need to clear this space so we can work here.
I don't want anything getting contaminated or a patient getting hurt if
something happens.”

Numiria
nodded. “Okay,” she said with a look at the nurse. “Get the second shift on
that when they report in. I want them to start shifting if it's slow. And don't
slack off.”

“Okay,”
the nurse said. She wasn't sure how the second shift would take it. Second and
third shift were coasters. Everyone on board knew that the doctor was on first
shift so they came then to get treated. Third shift was just about dead since
it was the night shift. All they did was hand out band aids or triaged someone
until the doctor could be woken up to take over.

“You
can get the cargo techs to lend you a hand I bet. If you contact the bridge or
whoever is in charge of them I bet they can get work parties organized to give
you a hand with the grunt work. Save the medical staff doing the heavy labor.
They just have to supervise.”

“Yeah.
But the cargo people will break stuff,” Numiria said, frowning. She wasn't
happy about that idea, but she knew her people could only shift so much.

“Find
out. Anything they break take it out of their hide. And of course anything
broken...” He indicated the patiently waiting Jen.

Numiria
followed his wave and then nodded to the fabrication tech. “Yes, true,” she
said. “Thank you Jen. Bring the loads to infirmary two from now on. I'll let
them know you're coming,” she said.

“Okay
doc, you say so,” Jen replied with a nod as she left.

“How
much can you get done? I mean in the time allowed?” She studied Irons.

“Tear
down is easy. Running the power and life support properly will be interesting
but we'll get it done. The frills?” He shrugged. “We might have to compromise
if the schedule suffers. The fun part is going to be getting the compartment
torn up and reworked to work better.”

“Ah,”
she nodded. More than one floor panel wasn't up to holding the weight of her
equipment. They had marked each and knew to avoid them. Having that repaired
would be great. They wouldn't have to worry about where they could walk or
wheel equipment.

“Fixing
someone else's mess can be dirty and tricky doc. It takes a lot of time and
patience. Which...” he shrugged. “We've got plenty of right now. Time I mean.
Sixty seven days until we reach Antiguan space. Plenty of time.”

“Okay,”
Numiria said with a nod. “We'll start shifting now then. I'll take a load over
to the other infirmary and wake them up,” she said.

“How
are we going to put all this in there? It's full too!” a Veraxin orderly asked.

Numiria
gave the Veraxin a look. “We'll make do. We always do.”

“You
could go through there and pick out the stuff to recycle beforehand. Make room
and all,” Irons mused. “We're going to be doing that compartment next week. Or
the week after anyway,” Irons said with a shrug.

Numiria
stopped packing a box and turned to stare. Irons realized the others were
staring as well. He shrugged. “Something I said?” he asked innocently.

“No,”
Numiria said shaking her head. Her ears were forward. “No, not at all,” she
said returning her attention to the box in front of her. “You're right. I just
need to get used to the changes.”

“Triage
doc. Triage the equipment. We'll work on it. One step at a time,” he said,
patting her on the shoulder as he walked out. She looked at his hand and then
followed him with her eyes as he left.

Unfortunately
trying to shift everything in one shift turned out to be overly optimistic. It
took four and a half shifts to clear out the sickbay, pull the equipment, empty
out the store rooms, exam tables, lights and everything they wanted to salvage.
Everything was cleaned out, from the nurse’s locker room and lounge to the
doctor's office.

What
couldn't fit in the other infirmary was stored in storage nearby. When it was
all done O'Mallory and a demolition crew moved in and started carefully pulling
out the life support, power, and plumbing.

Irons
stood by, pouring over the new blueprint with the doctor and exec and making
himself available if they ran into a sticky situation. Numiria was getting
excited about the project, griping about some of the problems with her old
office and wistfully smiling at what the new infirmary would be.

Since
they had cleared the storage bays and the deck space above and below the space
already they had planned out a three deck infirmary with a cad program. The
lower deck would be for imaging, office space, surgery, the locker room, full
bath complete with showers, and the staff lounge. The second and actual main
floor would be the largest. It would have the waiting room, triage center,
treatment rooms, and around it more storage. In the back of the room would be a
large elevator designed to shift patients on gurneys between floors.

The
third floor would be for rest and recovery. It would be set up in wards, since
they didn't have the room for individual rooms. There were four wards with the
duty nurse's station in the center. Small storage closets would be in between
each ward to try to deaden some of the sound.

With
Proteus's help the plans went surprisingly easy. Proteus even generated wiring
diagrams and plumbing plans for the crew to follow. O'Mallory was surprised by
the simplicity of construction with blueprints. With the plans the AI generated
a manifest. They had exactly what they needed to build the new infirmary from
the materials they had recycled. With a little logistics juggling they had just
the right parts on hand when they needed them and not too much that they crowded
themselves and the surrounding area.