Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (89 page)

Two
of the emitter pairs were out of synch. Unlike Anvil, Io 11, Kiev 221, and
others Draco hadn't been able to patch in retrofitted replacements, or even
patch in other work arounds. He'd just spent a great deal of computer
processing on keeping the bottle stable with a lot of micro controls.

Of
course that had led to over use and extensive wear on the other controls. Riff
and the admiral had their hands full replacing it all. Fortunately the
station's factory smelting system could handle the irradiated materials once
they were brought online.

But
they weren't just yet. Oh the smelters were online, but they had no place to
store the material just yet. And the radiation was another thing. The systems
that drew off the neutrons and processed them were stubbornly offline and
seemed to want to remain that way for a bit longer. Another project for another
day. Right now he had to finish pulling control runs before they could start
unbolting the pieces to remove them. It was a long tedious process, pulling screws
to remove shielding to gain access to the control runs, then finding and gently
removing the hundreds of plugs. He wanted to reuse as much as he could.

“Can
I help?” Sid asked, looking at the sim view behind Irons. Irons turned.

“When
was the last time you used a bot?” he asked.

“It's
been a while but I think I can handle it,” Sid replied with a shrug. Irons
nodded. He had to admire the man, he was trying to help. Sid flexed his virtual
fingers.

“It's
tedious but not hard. We have to unbolt the shielding, pull it, save all the
pieces and keep them in marked containers. Then pull the runs...” Irons
explained. Sid nodded and then they got to work.

Sprite
watched them get to work and shook her head. She turned away, checking her
internal chronometer and then comparing it to the time estimate she'd built.
According to her estimate the planet would be receiving the signal in another
eighteen hours. If they responded immediately they would receive a return
signal nineteen hours after that point. Of course since they were dealing with
organics nothing was that simple. It would be interesting to see how long it
would take before they finally responded.

She
sighed a virtual sigh and turned. She accessed her to do list and then went
back to work herself.

Freeze
looked up from the bed at the familiar sound of jingling. Oh how he'd missed
that sound! He smiled invitingly as a familiar shape rounded the cloth drape
giving him some privacy from the rest of the ward. “Anyone home?” Sparks
growled.

“Get
in here,” Ezri said, looking up from her e-book. She'd been with him since his
injury, even sitting in a chair while he slept in the regen tank.

Sparks
pushed the drapes aside and came in, looking Freeze over. “Typical. Lazy lout,”
he said, hands on his belt.

“You're
just lucky I'm too damn tired to get out of the bed to pound you,” Freeze
growled.

“Yeah
well, I deserve it.
We
deserve it partner. I should have pulled you
back,” Sparks said shaking his head, voice hoarse with self loathing.

“You
didn't know what was going to happen bro,” Freeze said, voice roughening. “Over
and done with now. I get to spend some quality time with a lovely lady in her
tender mercies so it all works out,” he said, giving his wife a smile. She
reached out and caught his hand and stroked it with her thumb as he gripped it.

“Close
call,” Sparks said. Ezri indicated the other chair but he shook his head and
held up his hands. “Can't stay long, I'm on a break. Boss said I could look in
on you now that they are moving you out of ICU. Heard you’re going to get your
own room soon.”

“You
did?” Freeze asked. He leered at his wife who rolled her eyes and disengaged
her hand.

Her
lips puckered as she settled in her chair once more and picked up her tablet.
“Letch. You are certainly on the mend if you can think thoughts like that,” she
murmured.

“Well,
one of us is,” he said, tucking his good hand up under his head. He glanced her
way in time to catch the glow of a blush fading.

Sparks
snorted. “Heard they had to regrow parts of you? They make anything bigger?” he
asked, pretending to lift the sheet. Freeze slapped the sheet down with a hand.

“It's
big enough already,” Ezri growled and then laughed at his smirk. “Oh spirit of
space...” she used the tablet to fan herself and then got up. “I'm getting a
drink of water. You two behave,” she said leaving quickly. Even her ear tips
were burning.

“I
love getting them all flustered,” Sparks said, watching her go. Freeze snorted.
Sparks turned back to him. “Any word on when you'll be back on your feet?”

“No,
probably not for a while,” Freeze replied. He indicated his right hand. It was
still glossy from the regen tank. It would take time for the nerve endings to
settle down. Right now it felt like his arm itched. He was just glad they
didn't lop it off and grow a new one.

“Missing
me?” Freeze asked.

“Well,
you're my spades partner. Kyle sucks.”

Freeze
winced. Kyle couldn't read a signal if his life depended on it. “Sucks to be
you,” he said.

“You
mean you. I really am sorry bro.”

“Yeah
well, I heard I've got you to thank for keeping me alive so call it even,”
Freeze replied.

Sparks
snorted. “Thank your wife. Hell, both our wives...” He smiled with Freeze. “And
the admiral,” he said shaking his head. “I didn't want to go through the
training, just went through the motions, and never thought I'd ever have to use
it you know? Now I'm glad the girls made us pay attention.”

“I
am too. Next time it's your turn,” Freeze growled.

“Pass,”
Sparks laughed waving a hand.

“What's
the word?”

Sparks
shrugged. “We're using bots to look for shorts like that. And the cybers are
looking for shorts virtually. It's helped a bit. We're also pulling the power
before working on a section that's suspect.”

“Burnt
hand?” Freeze asked.

Sparks
looked at his hand involuntarily.

“It's
okay. I'll be back to normal soon,” Freeze replied, twitching the hand as he
looked at it. “A bit of therapy...”

“Hell,
one good wank job and you'll be fine,” Sparks said slapping him on the
shoulder.

“Spirit
of space you're impossible,” Freeze laughed. “No wonder Ezri ran for the
hills.”

“She
did didn't she,” Sparks asked laughing. “I've got to run myself. I'm working on
some of the area around the docks this week and then we're moving back to the
living areas. I think the powers that be want to get some space set up for new
people when they come over.”

“Really?”

“Dude
this place is huge! We can easily have a hundred thousand here! From what I
heard this place can have up to fifty million!”

“Wow!”
Freeze said, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “Crowded.”

“Yeah
well, it gets that busy and we're out of here. But they are talking about
getting the station sorted out and then maybe doing all sorts of stuff.”

“Sounds
interesting,” Freeze said.

“Ain’t
it just? I'm thinking about switching to the yard if they ever get it online.
I'd like to lay out line rather than fix other people's mistakes.”

“That's
an interesting thought,” Freeze agreed with a nod.

“Well,
first you've got to get out of here.”

Freeze
sighed. “Next week. I'll be back on the job a week after that.” He hated being
stuck in this bed with all sorts of wires and tubes stuck into him. He wanted
to do something, there was nothing to do. Besides, his butt was going numb.

“Not
soon enough,” Sparks growled. “That little shit busts another nil and I'm going
to bust him and then bust you out of here. I swear you did it on purpose.”

“Bitch
bitch,” Freeze replied, lips twitching into a grin.

“Funny,”
Sparks growled, giving him the evil eye. He turned at the sound of Ezri coming
in. She had her hands full with a pair of steaming coffee cups.

“You
still here? Aren't you...”

“I'm
going,” Sparks said throwing his hands up. “Behave. At least until you get that
room to yourselves,” he said with a knowing grin. Freeze grinned again. Ezri
caught sight of the men grinning and rolled her eyes.

“Later
dude. Don't end up in the room next to me. Regina can be mean.”

Sparks
paused at the curtain door. “I wonder if she'd give me a sponge bath?” he
murmured wickedly. Freeze laughed, pretending to pull the pillow out behind him
to throw it. “I'm going,” Sparks said laughing as he left.

With
more of the station coming to life the teams were expanding outward, cleaning
and repairing as they went. Of course robots made the job so much easier.

They
had their work cut out for them, the station was nearly one quarter of the size
of long lost Terra's moon. Most of it was storage and machine space of course
but that was still an impressive volume to clean, check, and repair all on its
own. When you factored in the habitable areas, the engineering areas, and
factories the project seemed daunting.

With
their present staff of two thousand it would take over a century to do just the
interior restoration. Word went out to the ship for additional people. Some
responded more readily than others.

Savo
and Petunia made the jump to the station when work on the exterior of Kiev
dried up. Petunia was in her glory, overseeing mixed crews. Irons had taken the
time, energy, and material to have new suits made for everyone. Of course
breaking them in was a pain in the ass, but it was awesome having that new
factory smell in something for once.

A
lot of people who had been on the fence or had held out for better living
conditions started coming over. At first they were just testing the waters,
seeing what things were looking like. When word got back about the deluxe
accommodations just going empty more and more passengers started coming over.
The Berkhearts had their hands full finding places for everyone since those on
the station the longest had first dibs on any quarters restored. Jobs they had
a plenty of course.

A
few of the old guard made the jump over to the station. Some of the passengers
looking for new opportunities or just rising to the occasion took their slots
on the ship. It was a bit of a teething issue on both ends until they settled
in, but they got it sorted out over a the past couple of weeks. It remained to
be seen how they would hold up over the long haul Irons mused.

Things
were looking up, he thought, looking at the station's master plan. The
schematic had a lot of black lifeless areas but tendrils of light where people
were at were now stretching out from the core. Things would go even faster when
they heard from the people of Antigua he thought. He checked the chronometer.
They had sent the signal out and should have received something an hour ago.
Apparently someone ground side had either missed the call or had bucked it up
to someone else and they were thinking of a response. They just had to be
patient and wait on an answer.

“I
don't think he really thought that out,” Sprite said as Irons readied himself
for bed later that evening. He was now moved into a newly renovated manager’s
suite. The suite still had some stains on the carpets but was useable.

It
was an office suite of course, he didn't care. He'd used a bot to relocate some
bedroom furniture to it to make it more comfortable for now. His improvised
armor was now back on his shuttle. With the station's replicators now online he
had moved his shuttle out of the view port and into a boat bay. He wanted to
service the ship but right now just didn't have the time. Or really the energy.
All the work on the station was exhilarating but exhausting sometimes.

He'd
been offered some of the VIP quarters but had turned it down. It was
inconveniently located far from the center of the station... and it didn't have
the linkages to the station's systems like these quarters had.

Also
he was never one to put on airs unless it served a purpose. Showing people that
he didn't really want to put on airs but wanted to get down to the repairing of
the station helped speak his case for him to a few of the still neutral
parties. Sprite was fairly certain the VIP quarters had been offered to get him
as far from ops as someone could. She'd realized she was being very cynical about
it but the thought fitted into Fu's pattern of behavior.

“Not
following,” he said turning down the bed. It was a simple affair, white linen
sheets and a blue comforter. He looked around. The room had beige walls, a
neutral color to help people stay calm. Or at least that was the theory. He
preferred navy gray and green. At least it wasn't white, white was just too
cold and clinical for his tastes. He looked up. The room had a false ceiling,
popcorn, something he hated. As an engineer he preferred to see the piping. It
wasn't the lack of ascetic... it was a functional thing. If they were exposed
you could see them and catch leaks before they became a serious problem.