Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (32 page)

“Can
you get the armor moving? We can start with that section of the ship if you'd
like,” Sprite said to the Telerite.

Blur
looked from the holo to the admiral and then back again. Irons looked at
O'Mallory. The chief shook her head and pursed her lips. “She means taking out
the broken security system and replacing it with new,” she offered.

“Oh,”
the Telerite said.

“Probably
not all of it is broken,” Irons said. “Rats tend to chew through the wiring.
For some reason they like ODN cable. Something about the shredded plastic
making great nesting material I believe,” he said in disgust. He hated rats
almost as much as he did insects. Veraxin and T'clock were of course exceptions
to his phobia.

“Probably,”
the Veraxin said, signaling disgust.

“Are
they really born pregnant?” O'Mallory asked, wrinkling her nose.

The
admiral sighed and nodded in confirmation. “The wild ones are. Hermaphrodites,”
Irons said looking at their resident hermaphrodite. Blur blinked at him from
behind his sunglasses. “Diapause reproductive system too I believe.”

“Which
means?” O'Mallory asked wrinkling her nose.

“Baby
factory. They can control their reproduction. They can have as many as three
dozen babies in various stages of development at any one time. They can shell
them out rapid fire on demand. Something about having more rats out there to
distract predators or pass on their genes. I'm not sure,” he said with a
dismissive wave of a hand. “I'm no zoologist,” he said with a diffident shrug.
He only knew it because the only way to get rid of them was to know your enemy.

“All
right. We'll start on the starboard side aft and work our way forward. We'll
pick up where we left off and continue clockwise down the port side. If that's
okay with you?” The chief asked looking at the Telerite.

Blur
blinked repeatedly for a moment and then nodded. She nodded. “Okay then. I'll
scare up some electronics techs with nothing to do. I'll meet you in the hold
in twenty admiral,” she said with a nod his way. Irons returned the nod as she
left.

“I
too must depart. I need to rest and eat before my next shift,” the Veraxin
chittered. “Many thanks admiral,” he said, bowing politely and then moving off.

Blur
looked uncertainly around and then shrugged. “I'll meet you there. I have a few
things to attend to. Don't go in!” he ordered.

“Of
course not,” Irons said with a nod, turning away as the Telerite did. When he
was safely out of ear shot his arm fell and the holo ended with a sparkle.

“Want
to tell me why I need army powered armor?” he asked quietly.

“It's
a project?” Sprite asked, clearly amused.

“Sprite...”
he sighed. He realized he sighed way too often sometimes. It had something to
do with being around the AI he believed. Exasperation, yes that was it.

“It's
army issue. Sure it's not as good as marine armor, but it's something to go off
of. A template at the very least. And besides, I'd think it being in the hands
of say the military instead of
civilians
or oh,
pirates
would be
better?”

“Touché',”
he muttered. “You made your point commander.”

“Thank
you admiral,” she replied. “It will be waiting for a proverbial rainy day.”

“Thanks,”
Irons said with a nod. He dodged a crew with a loaded cart and then continued
on his way.

Esmay
demanded a rematch later that night. Sprite teased her about the only real way
to get good is to get beaten. “To get better you need to play against an
opponent that is your skill level or above. You'll never learn anything playing
against someone who flounders around blind, not knowing what they are doing.
It's no fun to be a bully and pound on someone who can't fight back,” Sprite
said.

“True,”
Irons replied with a nod.

“Then
prepare to get beaten,” Esmay said, turning her chair around and sitting
astride it. She cracked her knuckles in a big show of stretching and then
wiggled her fingers as she pretended to examine the board thoughtfully. She
picked up a virtual pawn and moved it out with a flourish. “Have at thee
sirrah,” she said with a grin.

“You
asked for it lady,” Sprite said with a laugh.

When
the game was finished Esmay was disappointed by the score, he had still beat
her three games out of five. But she felt good; she'd gotten herself in and out
of some tough scrapes with him.

“You're
improving,” Irons said, nodding as the board dissolved.

“Doesn't
seem that way,” she drawled. “You still beat me three out of five,” she said
sounding nettled by his comforting tone.

“True,”
he replied thoughtfully. She gave him a baleful look and then tossed a balled
up napkin at him. He swatted it out of the air with a laugh.

“I'll
get you eventually,” she growled dimpling and blushing.

“Eventually?
Hmmmm, well, I've been playing the game since I was two so you've got some
experience to overcome,” Irons replied.

“Damn,”
Esmay said shaking her head. She'd heard he was over a century in age...
that... the mind boggled at the thought.

“It's
not all spacial relationships and memorized moves. Sometimes it's the ability
to adapt, to change your plan or stick to a plan that wins the day.” He didn't
mention that reading your opponent and having a good poker face had something
to do with it as well. One thing at a time.

She
wrinkled her nose. “Adapt or stay the course?”
“I know it's hard to decide. Sometimes if it looks too good to be true it
usually is,” he replied with a smile.

“True.
I thought I had you there dangling my queen out like that,” she said with a
snort.

“I'm
not completely clueless,” Irons deadpanned. “You should try battlefield chess.
Or fleet chess. It's harder.”

“Harder?”
she asked looking at him. “You...” she shook her head, trying to wrap her head
around that. Tri-dee chess was hard for many people, translating a normally two
dimensional board into three dimensions and watching all the angles... but
adding even more variables to the game?

“It's
fun but a challenge,” the admiral replied. “Good practice for keeping your
track of a fleet engagement. That is difficult.”

“Oh
I bet,” she said with a nod.

“Thousands
of ships, their individual status, the enemies, their status from what we can
get from the sensors... what they are doing and what we're doing... plans
within plans... and anything floating around to watch out for or use as a weapon
or cover. Yeah, it's complicated.”

Her
eyes were wide as she stared at him. He sat back and picked up his stein of
beer and took a swig. When he set it down she was still staring. “Of course
that's the simple version. When you start adding additional variables like
mission objectives, fixed and orbital defenses, enemy intentions and civilians
in the battle space it really gets nasty.”

“I
think I'm glad I was born in this time and not yours admiral. No offense,” she
said shaking her head. A few people around them nodded or murmured agreement.

“It's
different I'll give you that,” Irons replied.

“What
was it like?” Esmay asked. “The golden age of the Federation I mean! Was it
everything they said it was?”

“Depends
on what they said it was. Was it perfect? No, far from it,” he replied with a
laugh. “We had our warts. Disease, accidents, pirates, terrorists, protestors,
politics. We had a lot more people, and a lot of tech you currently do not have
now. The constitution. Things I took for granted as a given then are hard to
come by now. But things are changing. Slowly.”

“Really,”
she said looking around.

“Really
really. Here,” he indicated the wardroom. “We've been repairing this ship
right?” She nodded. He nodded back. “I was picked up by Io11 in the Senka system.
I worked with the female crew to restore her even more than what we've done
here. Granted we had fifteen standard months where as this...” he shrugged.

“I
heard something along those lines,” Esmay said.

“Yes
well, I got off in Pyrax and did a bit there too. There are some good people
there holding the fort and putting things right. By now I think they've
expanded beyond the system if they stuck to the plan. Hopefully they have.”

“Huh,”
she said. He was reluctant to get into discussing Pyrax and was kicking himself
for bringing it up.

“We're
getting there,” Irons said with a smile. “Give it time.”

“All
good things come to those who wait?” Esmay asked getting up and busing her
plate and cup.

“You'd
be surprised what the future will bring if you keep a positive mindset. Today
is only the beginning of a brighter future if we work together,” Irons said
nodding.

Esmay
looked around and then nodded. “I'll keep that in mind,” she replied. Irons saw
motion off to the side and turned. A party of elves were around a pair of
Talasians. One of the elves looked his way and turned to glare. After a moment
the others turned to glare as well. Irons pursed his lips and gave them a
polite nod. It wasn't returned. He shrugged the cold looks off as he turned
away.

He
saw elves climbing in the ducts overhead to drop down with their group. One
spat something to fast for him to follow in the crowd. The new group turned to
look his way and then back to the others. Some of them went out, moving in
between the larger patron’s tables and chairs.

One
of them paused at the hatch door to turn and glare at the admiral before
leaving. Esmay caught the look and turned to the admiral. “Wonder what that's
about?” she asked.

“No
idea,” Irons replied with a shrug. He was wondering the same thing. He usually
got along well with alien allies. Come to think of it, he hadn't had much
exposure with the elves on Kiev. He'd been aboard the ship for two months now
and he rarely saw them. They tended to go out of their way to avoid him in
fact. He pursed his lips, trying to think of a reason before giving up.

“I'll
figure it out later,” he said. “Another match?” he asked. “Best four out of
seven?” he smiled invitingly to her.

She
huffed a sigh and shook her head. “Unfortunately, I've got a shift in the morning,”
she said mournfully, handing off her tray to a busboy. “Otherwise I'd love to
pin your ears back,” she said, ducking her head to hide a smile.

“Sure
you would,” Irons drawled with a chuckle. “Another time then. Good evening,” he
said with a nod.

“Evening
Admiral,” she replied with a polite nod on her way to the exit.

Kiev
had three greenhouses and several other compartments to supply the crew with
fresh food and plant related products. One was run by Numiria. It was a
converted utility closet down the companionway from her office she used to grow
medicinal and food herbs.

The
second greenhouse was a rectangle two decks high. About a kilometer of cubic
space designed to grow food for the crew. Now that the food replicators were
online and there was power that space was in doubt.

The
largest greenhouse was over three decks tall. It was a converted cargo bay and
was nearly two kilometers of cubic space. It was oval in shape and did double
duty as a park for the crew. Along the sides of both upper floors were railings
and walkways. The upper two decks had quarters and balconies overlooking the
open center. In the center of the greenhouse was a Cornucopia tree, also known
as an Ever tree.

A
Cornucopia tree was a genetically engineered plant, made from the RNA up as a
plant of wonder, the culmination of farming science spanning back eons. It grew
every kind of fruit and vegetable on it's limbs. Vines wound around the main
trunk and larger limbs and draped down like willow leaves. These too were also
covered in fruit. The tree was huge, about a meter in diameter and was up to
the ceiling and spreading out to cover it. It was really outgrowing the space.
Roots and branches had become a problem. Branches and vines could be pruned but
the roots were spreading into the ship's systems, breaching some of them. The
plant was persistent in its search for nutrients and water.

Over
the centuries they had many problems with the tree. Still it was treasured for
its age and the cornucopia of food it produced.

A
fourth space was a swamp for the Gashg crew. It served as part of the recycling
for the ship while also growing edible mushrooms. It was two compartments wide
and connected to the other greenhouses. Moss and lichen grew on the walls. It
was a constant headache for the life support techs. Mold and mildew loved to
spread from there into the ship's systems.

Of
course with all the greenhouses they still didn't have enough food to feed a
population of nearly six thousand. So Blur traded for additional stores when
they arrived in orbit of a planet with a surplus. Usually they would trade for
enough to either use in the future or sell some to their next port of call.