Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (78 page)

“I
wish I had the keys,” she muttered.

“Ask
the admiral when he's awake,” a tech said.

“He
can't give them away. They are in his implants,” Regua replied.

The
tech shrugged. “Yeah well, it's an idea. Get implants of your own.”

“Um...
that's an interesting idea actually,” Regua replied thoughtfully. She nodded to
Riff and Gwen. They nodded back and did a quick tour as the others loaded up
cart loads of parts for them to take.

When
Riff and Gwen had gotten back to Ops the big Tauren Bull had chuckled at all
the changes. He was tired, barely on his feet but damn it was cool to bring a
dead place to life like this. Irons had taught them a lot, including how to use
and rely on the little cleaner bots busy cleaning centuries of grime and crap
off the walls all over the place. “Things are looking up!” Riff said
triumphantly. Gwen winced and smacked him. “What?” he asked rubbing the now
sore arm. She'd damn near knocked him over with that smack, that was how tired
he was.

“Never
ever say that. You'll curse us,” she said shaking her head mournfully.

“Really?”
he demanded.

“Too
late now,” she said with a theatrical sigh.

“No,”
he said. Then an alarm went off. “No way!” he said, looking around eyes wide.

“Told
you,” she sighed getting up tiredly. “Let's go. Stuck your hoof in your
mouth...” she muttered darkly giving him a dirty look.

“I
didn't mean anything by it!” he said, spreading his hands. “Honest!”

About
three hours into his six hour rest period the admiral was rudely awakened by an
attack on the perimeter. Alarms went off all over, pulsating and shrilling,
those that had been asleep awoke. He was up and out of the hammock but unsteady
on his feet. One guy had dumped himself down on top of the guy under him. They
were still laying there groaning in a pile of tangled misery.

Irons
raced out of the compartment, dodging around and even leaping one sleeper.
“Report?” he called.

Instead
of Sprite's immediate answer Proteus was there. “Intrusion in the established
perimeter,” the AI responded.

“How
bad?” the admiral growled.

Proteus
put up a map with a single red dot. “Single intruder. Small.”

Irons
slowed and then caught sight of a guard listening to his radio. He went over to
it. “Proteus patch that radio signal into me. I want to hear it too,” he
ordered.

“On
it. Done,” Proteus said.

“Stand
down. All clear,” a voice said.

“Stane?”
Irons asked.

“Yes
admiral?” the guard on the other end asked. Irons grimaced. He hadn't known
Proteus would open the channel. Sprite would have understood that he wanted to
listen only.

“Sorry
for the interruption. Sitrep?”

“All
clear admiral. Single intruder, child. Human child,” Stane reported. Irons
listened, standing there as Stane gave him a brief. It turned out to be a
probe, someone got a little trigger happy when a child snuck in and stole some
food. Fortunately the kid had gotten away without getting hurt. Good for him or
her, the report was sketchy at best. Angry Irons decided then and there to do
something about it.
After
he shut down to get some more rest. He turned
about and headed back to his rack.

Gwen
talked with Sid just after Stane reported in. She found out that they had
security systems in a lot of the station but some areas were better covered
than others. Some areas only had a few cameras or motion sensors. Sid seemed
disgusted by the lapse. The holo projectors were supposed to be installed in
every room and corridor, but instead were only in the docks, admin, reactor
control rooms, critical rooms, and the entertainment chambers. “Cost cutting,”
Sid said with a sniff. “Though I don't see how or why. We could easily do the
job ourselves if they would have let us.” He was starting to warm to the
admiral's get it done and who gives a shit about cost attitude.

“I
don't know,” she said shaking her head. “So you can see everywhere but can't
what? Be everywhere?”

“No,
oh no. Not even on a good day. No, we only have microphones where we have
holographic projectors for one. Well, there and a few areas where you would
want voice control,” Sid explained.

“Oh.”

“Besides,
a lot of the systems are well...”

“Old?
Deteriorated? Nonfunctional?” Gwen asked.

Sid
looked uncomfortable but then shrugged. “Yes, you could say that,” he admitted.

“Well,
unfortunately the repairs to the holo projectors are sort of down on the list.
Getting life support and gravity sorted out are up higher. The number one is
getting the EPS system fixed. Then the ODN lines and computer memory for
critical systems...”

Sid's
avatar nodded. “I know. I think some of us realized that but others are getting
eager. They want everything
now
. Right now. They are impatient. Which
is...?”

Gwen's
eyes narrowed and her fingers drummed against the console in annoyance. “Not
happening anytime soon. We're not miracle workers like the admiral. He's
trained some of us but we all know we've got a lot to learn. For instance none
of us have implants. Well, most of us anyway.”

“Really?”
Sid asked. He hadn't noticed until now.

Gwen
snorted. “Implant tech is proscribed. A locked down thing. Right along with
nanites and a lot of other tech. You have to have the keys and skills. If you
don't have both...”

“Then
you make do without,” Riff said shifting a console out of the way so he could
get behind it. “Which is what we're doing now until the admiral wakes up.”

Sid
nodded. “Which makes what you've been achieving even more remarkable.”

Gwen
nodded, pleased. “Thank you.”

“Hopefully
he gets some rest. I could tell he was bushed,” Sid said. “It's not good to try
to function when you are tired like that.” He had actually been surprised that
the admiral had crashed. He'd forgotten the need for sleep in the excitement of
the moment.

“Do
you sleep?” Gwen asked, clearly curious.

“Oh
of course,” Sid said. “We... all cybers, even AI sleep. We need the downtime.
For the cybers we need the rest so our organic bodies can recover... and so we
can remain sane. It's also a relief from stress...”

“Which
also keeps you sane. Is that why the others went loco?” Riff asked.

“I
have no idea,” Sid said spreading virtual hands. “It's a running theory. We've
got a lot of them now.”

“Moot
point. They were beyond help,” Gwen said with a shrug. “Which is just as well. We
wouldn't of been able to help them much.”

“Oh,”
Sid said quietly.

“At
least not for a very long time. But with your help we might get better,” Gwen
said diplomatically.

“That's
true,” Sid said brightening a little.

“You
said there are a few people other than the admiral with implants?” Emily asked
entering the conversation.

“Sleepers,”
Riff said, hunkering down to look under a panel. He yanked it off and grimaced
when it warped a little.

“Sleepers.
Stasis sleepers. People found in stasis pods like the admiral. We've had our
share over the centuries. Actually we've probably got the record. We've got
over nine hundred on the Kiev. Admiral Irons rebuilt our sickbay so doctor
Numiria has been busy repairing and waking those she can.”

“Repairing?”
Emily asked, eyebrow raised. She wished Megan could be here to hear this. She
saved the recording for her.

Riff
nodded. “Some go in injured; others were our friends and family who went into
stasis...”

“When
they had a lot of radiation. Or were badly hurt,” a tech finished for him. “I
got to see my great great great before she passed. The radiation had done too
much damage. Doc couldn't save her. She wanted to stay out and die in peace.”

“Oh,”
Sid said quietly. Emily looked torn. “If they had been here we might have been
able to do something,” he said.

“Really?
Like what?”

“We've
got a state of the art hospital here. Three of them actually. One specialized
in cancers and nanite repair,” Sid replied proudly.

“Or
she could have entered the net and become a cyber like us,” Emily said looking
away.

Riff
looked up from under the console. Gwen pursed her lips and then tugged on a
long ear. “It's a thought,” she said, exchanging looks with Riff. She for one
wouldn't want to be a ghost.

“We've
got a few coming over eventually,” Riff said. “People with implants I mean. The
Warners should be coming over soon. If they aren't here already.”

“They
are old. I don't see why they are interested in coming here,” Gwen said.

“They
want to help. And the admiral is an old friend. I say let them. Stay out of
their way, they are liable to run you over,” a tech said with a grin.

“True,”
Gwen said with a snort. “Let's see what we can accomplish before Irons wakes
up. I'd like to see if we can get enough done here so he can focus on other
more important areas,” she said.

“Memory
core two is almost finished,” a tech said looking up. “I got the report a half
hour ago.”

“Good.”

Sid
and Emily brightened. A full and
brand new
memory core would double
their current memory. Now they had to find a way to keep the others from
fighting over the spoils.

The
Warners made their way over. They were excited, too excited for words
apparently. They hug their son in the boat bay and then climb on board with the
other volunteers.

“We've
got a lot like that,” Numiria said, coming up beside the exec. Her husband Lobo
was with her. Warner turned to her politely. She nodded her muzzle and flicked
her ears to the departing shuttle. His eyes shifted to it. “People like them.
The older set are interested in going.”

“Oh?”
Lobo asked.

“Not
all of course. But some. I think it's the excitement. The challenge,” Warner
said.

“And
it's helping the admiral,” she replied knowingly.

“That
too. They all seem to have a bond with him. We do as well,” Warner said turning
back to the station. “I wish they'd let us do it though. Step back. Keep their
wisdom for us.”

“Let
the young lead the way? I think they did that here. But they aren't going to
sit in a chair and age while staring at a bulkhead anymore. Swapping stories of
the past... dad's tired of doing that. You've really helped them,” Warner
replied.

“I
know. Their antigeric treatments helped some but they aren't as spry as they'd
like to appear,” she said.

“I
know,” he said with a snort. “Mom's not all that great. I can tell. She's still
not talking.”

“Oh
she talks. Just not a lot. I think the speech damage did a lot of psychological
damage. Psycho-somatic possibly,” Numiria said. “She will get better with time
and practice.”

“I
don't know doc, I'm not cleared for that sort of thing,” Warner said with a
grin. The doctor snorted and twitched her long ears. He shrugged. “Mom's a
survivor. Dad too.”

“They'll
be fine in other words?” Lobo asked. He was worried about some of the people
going. A few were old friends. His old boss had decided to go over and make a
new start. He wished Bart and Lisa all the luck in the world.

“I
think so. I wish I could go with them in some ways,” Warner said.

“Why
don't you?” she asked. Lobo stared at the exec.

He
shook himself and then sighed, seeming to deflate a little before his shoulders
set. “I thought about it. By my duty is here. Besides,” he said turning to the
Neos. “I'm in love. And I've been rather firmly told she's staying put here.”

“Oh?”
Numiria asked with a forward set of ears and canine smile. “Put you in your
place?” she asked amused.

“Woman's
prerogative,” he growled. She chuckled.

“Are
you going over there?” Warner asked finally.

“Me?
No, the captain forbade it. I'd like to visit the medical infirmary though. And
their supply rooms,” she admitted. “Visit with a couple dozen friends and a
bunch of empty hover pallets.

“Oh
hell, you and me both,” he said with a grin.

“I'll
see if one of the medics can send us some stuff.”

“Probably
way past the expiration date doc,” Warner warned her.

“Probably.
But equipment? Tools? Files?” she asked.

He
nodded. “True. I'll pass it on as an order. But only stuff they don't need. Or
at least not right away,” he said.

“We're
not sending much to them. I kind of hate the idea of asking them to send stuff
back,” Lobo said.

“We're
sending some of our best and brightest. Some of our people who won't be coming
back,” Warner corrected.