Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (53 page)

“It's
possible. If the people inside don't object. I bet we could turn this place
around in a year.”

“Oh,”
Yvonne said and then went back to looking at her station.

Before
allowing anyone in Irons deployed a set of newly replicated hovering sensor
bots. Military grade of course. There were three, each a meter in diameter.
They each had weapons and robotic arms tucked away in bays in their body. They
deployed centimeter sized relays at corners and intersections. The relays picked
up and repeated radio signals between the team and the bots.

“Listen
up,” Irons said as the last bot cycled through the airlock. “I haven't detected
any sign of nanites or pathogens but that doesn't mean the station is safe.
Stay in your suits, play it safe. The first task of the bots are to map a path
to the other shuttle.”

“Roger,”
Barry said. “What's it look like in there?” he asked.

“Rough,”
Irons said. He could see the video feed from each of the three bots through his
implants. The station was a mess, dark and filled with broken bits. There
weren't any bodies, just suspicious stains that the flood lights illuminated.
One of the stains looked like it had been licked. Not a good sign. Fortunately
there weren't any heat signatures around the docking port.

“I'm
still not getting anything from the station net. If there is even an active
station net,” Sprite informed him. He looked at screen three. Sprite had taken
it off mapping to plug into a nearby computer terminal. The terminal was
powered down. The bot plugged in its own power and then started feeding
commands as the system tried to boot.

“Easy
there Sprite, civilian grade. Let it go through POST first at least,” Irons
cautioned.

“It's
filled with viruses,” Sprite sighed in disgust. “I've got a partial map and
nothing else,” she replied

“Good.
Wait, nothing?” he asked.

“The
viruses overwrote just about everything else. The map was hardwired.”

He
nodded. “Oh. Partial map?”

“Yes.
Part of the file was corrupted though,” she said, sounding annoyed.

“Great,”
Irons said. “Can you clean it and add it to what we know before uploading it to
the others?”

“Working
on it now admiral. I'll have it in five minutes or less,” Sprite answered,
sounding distracted. Irons nodded. That would have to do.

“Load
up on spare lights and batteries folks. It's dark as spit in there. No lights
except what comes from the florescent safety paint and the port hole windows,”
the admiral ordered when Sprite signaled she was done a few minutes later.

“Great.
What's the atmo like?” Yvonne asked. Irons was being very thorough and security
conscious. He was also moving slower than she expected.

“Thin.
It's about ten degree's C in there so it's tolerable for brief periods. It
would be like being on top of a mountain. There are a lot of nasty trace
chemicals. Most likely from burned wiring,” Sprite informed them.

“Great.”

“Not
much water vapor in the air. I am picking up signs of droppings though,” Sprite
said. Yvonne and the security team froze. Savo looked at the other shooters and
then rammed an ammo clip home into his pulser.

“Recent?”
Irons asked the AI.

“No,
not fresh from the look of it,” Sprite replied. He watched bot two pause near a
dropping pile to poke it with an arm for a moment. It took a sample and then
returned to mapping. “So far the map checks out,” Sprite reported.

“Good,”
Irons said, watching bot one place a relay on a wall at eye level.

“No
sign of nanites. No bodies either.”

“Interesting,”
Irons said. The lack of bodies wasn't so worrisome on its own. But droppings meant
something feral in the station. But then again it could have been left behind a
week ago, or six centuries ago.

“Anyway
we can get power in there?” Yvonne asked. She was looking at the tablet in her
gloved hands. The screen was split into four; the three viewpoints of the bots
and the fourth screen had a map of their whereabouts.

“No,”
Irons replied shaking his head. “At least not yet. I brought along a spare
generator but I don't want to tap it here. Why?”

“Because
there are a lot of jagged edges in different places that could hole a suit,”
she said, watching a bot hover over an open access panel. The view shifted to
look down. It was a long long loooong way down. The light didn't reach bottom,
it was an inky ominous well. “It looks like something chewed its way through
the deck here,” she muttered.

“Lovely,”
Adam muttered. “What else do we need?” he said.

The
radio crackled. “Kiev to away crew, what's the hold up?” the communication's
tech asked.

“We're
using robots to scout the area,” Yvonne said, not looking up from her screen.
“Just give us some time. I don't want to wander around blind.”

“Roger,”
the communication's officer replied sounding impatient.

“Think
we should get going?” Adam asked.

“They
can damn well wait. I'm busy here,” Yvonne said. She muttered something as a
camera panned over claw marks. Irons caught them on his HUD and winced. That
was definitely not a good sign. A lot of aliens could make claw marks like that
but only a few were dreaded and feared. And for good reason. Hopefully they
were long gone.

“Admiral
don't you think you should put the rest of your suit on?” Gus asked. He
indicated the admiral's bare right arm. Irons smiled.

“I'm
covered son. Don't worry about it,” he said patting him on the shoulder as he
climbed out of the pilot's chair. Already his helmet was morphing around his
head. Gus stared wide eyed. Irons turned. “Coming?”

“Yeah
uh, sure,” Gus said getting up hastily and following.

Irons
paused in the central bay. The room was crowded; he had more people than the
launch usually took on. That was fine. He nodded to the security people
brandishing weapons. Everyone had some sort of side arm. He picked up spare
power and life support packs instead.

“Aren't
you going to arm up admiral?” Gus asked, taking a pistol and checking it
carefully under Adam's quiet eye. He glanced at the big guy but the guy just
nodded his chin to him to pay attention to what he was doing.

“No,
I'm more heavily armed than any of you,” Irons said quietly, picking up the
spare generator by the shoulder straps and shrugging it on. He was tempted to
carry an additional weapon but the spare generator had to be carried by
someone. Besides, with it handy he could tap it whenever he needed.

“Damn.
That thing must be two hundred and fifty kilos!” Yvonne said, shaking her head.
She'd seen how strong the admiral was, but it still boggled her mind that a
Terran could easily lift that thing.

“No
problem,” Irons said. He adjusted the straps and then nodded to the team.
“We're going to pressurize each ship above what's out there. The positive
pressure should keep anything from migrating into the ship. We're also going to
keep the airlocks closed so don't panic when the door closes behind you.”

“Roger,”
Barry said over the link.

“Keep
a cool head and know your surroundings. It is
extremely
easy to breach a
suit in there. Watch for the cables as well. They may not look live, but looks
can be deceiving.”

In
groups of two they cycle through the lock and into the station's lock. Power
flowed from the shuttles into the locks, allowing them to function. However
centuries of spot welds from exposure to the sun had locked the doors good and
tight. It took a bit of grunt work to get the outer doors open and closed again
each time.

“Note,
fix that,” Yvonne grunted under the strain.

“If
we stick around,” Adam said. “Which I doubt.” He was looking around nervously.

“I
dunno, it's a fixer upper but it's got enormous potential,” Irons said.

Adam
gave him a look. “Enormous is right. A fellow can easily get lost in this
warren. The place is a maze.”

“And
we're the rats,” Franko muttered. Irons turned. Rat was right in the electronic
tech's description. He was long and lean with a rat like face. He constantly
twitched his nose and had a hard time keeping still. His eyes were black and
beady. He had short brown hair on his head, shaved on the sides but a bit poufy
on top. His limbs were stick thin. He looked about ready to collapse under his
twenty kilogram load of equipment and suit pack.

“Try
to keep up Franko,” Adam said looking back his way. He wasn't sure why the guy
was trying to haul that much gear. Maybe he was showing off for the girls. He'd
tried to hit on Yvonne and Fara a few times, maybe he thought if he proved he
was a big strong man he'd get his foot in the door. Fat chance.

“Stuff
it Adam. I'm fine,” Franko snarled, shifting about. “I don't see why we have to
be in suits though. It's a pain in the ass.” He'd actually planned on running
light but Yvonne had said she wanted the kit bag and everyone else had grabbed
something else. Irons had that damn monster generator so that left Franko
holding the bag. Hopefully he could dump it out and snag something good when no
one was looking.

“I
for one don't want to be exposed to disease,” Yvonne said as an aside, still
focused on the tablet. She oriented herself according to it, turning left and
right. “They are all over the place,” she muttered.

“What
is?” Adam asked alarmed.

“The
remotes,” Yvonne answered.

“One
of them is set to find the other shuttle. The other two are spiraling out in a
mapping mission. I've tasked one to find power sources and computer terminals.
Actually they all are on the lookout but I want to keep the bot three on task
until it's linked up,” Sprite explained.

“Ah,”
Yvonne said, nodding. “That explains why,” she said, looking over her shoulder
as the lock cycled again. Another pair of people came through, looking around.

“Damn,”
Gus said, looking around.

“Thought
you were supposed to stay with the ship?” Yvonne asked. Irons looked back and
sighed.

“He
was. Too late now,” he said. He didn't want Gus going back in case something
was in here. At least not until he had a report. From the look of Gus he was a
little scared but not willing to go back either.

Gus
motioned to go back but Irons shook his head no. “No, you'll contaminate my
ship. You're here now. I can keep an eye on her with my implants anyway,” he
said.

“Oh,”
Gus said, shoulders hunched.

“It's
done and over with now lad. Move on,” Irons said, returning to look around the
companionway.

“There
is a loader bot up ahead. And a hover pallet,” Sprite informed him.

“There
is?” he asked.

“Bot's
passed over them,” the AI reported, playing back the imagery. “Both have been
scavenged,” she said.

“Which
doesn't tell us much. It could have happened today or centuries ago,” Yvonne
said looking up. “This is cool and all but we're not getting anywhere,” she
said.

“We're
waiting on everyone. I don't want to go off and have people get separated and
lost,” Irons cautioned. She nodded. Fortunately the last person cycled through.
She nodded to the guard. “You are on babysitting duty?” she asked looking from
the guard to Savo. Savo looked back and gave a thumbs up. The guard seemed to
sigh but stepped in front of the lock and stood there.

“All
right then. Destination admiral?” Yvonne asked.

The
admiral pointed in the direction he wanted to go. “The loader bot. I want to
access it. From there I'd like to link up with the other shuttle and then hit
admin. We need to get a handle on this station. See if there really is anyone
sentient still alive on it.”

“Do
you think it's a pirate's den?” Sprite asked. Irons paused with the crew. He
looked back to Savo who was pursing his lips.

“Now
there is a thought. If pirates knew it was here it would make a lovely place to
store loot. Spare equipment, fuel, maybe even spare crew or prisoners. Keep a
wary eye out people.”

“Roger,”
the crew responded.

They
paused at the loader a few minutes later. Irons knelt next to it and jacked in.
He ignored the others as they stared at the robot.

“Never
seen something like this,” Derrick said.

“What
a bot? Course you have,” Franko said with a sniff.

“No
man, this. It's got forklift arms,” Derrick said. Which was true. The loader
bot was two meters tall, stocky, with green and yellow plastic cover plates
over the limbs and torso. It's head was a cylinder with lenses and sensors
built in. The torso was broad; it seemed almost too big for the smaller legs.
The robot looked a little like a caricature of a gorilla. This one however had
some interesting claw marks here and there. It's head had been torn up and it's
power supply was missing.