Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (95 page)

A
month into getting the station online and things were looking up. Howi wasn't
happy about his recent trip to the infirmary though. He'd learned the hard way
to look away when grinding a weld.

Ralph
the machinist sleeper turned machine shop head steward on Kiev put in for more
safety glasses and safety equipment after hearing about someone getting a shard
in their eye while grinding a weld flat on the station. His delivery was
received with mixed amusement and resignation from the crews on the station.

His
acid comments about safety that went along with the package percolated through
the crew and then to the station. He'd done it before but it hadn't taken
apparently. It took someone getting injured before they stopped being lazy and
firmed up on discipline and safety. They would be firm for a while and then
become lax over time when nothing happened he realized. Irons reinforced the
safety lecture with his agreement and chagrin about not bringing it up sooner.
Gwen and Riff grumbled but reluctantly agreed it was necessary. It was better
to have people spend a couple hours learning to be safe over losing them for a
period of time to recover from something avoidable. Or losing them all together
if heaven forbid something even more serious happened.

Ralph's
intervention brought him to the attention of the station council. They tried to
entice him over but he wasn't interested until they shifted their focus to
Betty. Betty was interested in the job they offered, she had always been
interested in becoming an entertainment director. When she has a pillow talk
with him they both agree to make the move.

Chief
O'Mallory is seriously annoyed at the poaching. The competition for experienced
personnel is starting to get to her. Ralph however has a fix; he had spent the
past several weeks training up his replacement. O'Mallory grumbled but stopped
objecting when she noticed Betty and Ralph holding hands on their way to the
shuttle.

“Have
a nice life,” she told them with a nod.

“We
intend to,” Betty told her over her shoulder with a smirk and twinkle. “Right
hon?”

“Definitely,”
Ralph replied with a smile to her.

On
Tuesday of week five since the station had come online there was a fire on the
station. It was the second fire since their arrival, but much more serious than
the first, involving several hundred meters of corridor this time. Only a
handful of people were trained to handle fire fighting at the time so it was a
dangerous situation. Not many fire fighting systems were online yet which
complicated the situation and escalated the danger quotient. Without a way to
contain it quickly Gwen had to evacuate the area and clear the atmosphere.
Vacuum sucked the oxygen out, killing the fire. The investigation was conducted
quickly to find out what went wrong.

It
turned out to be an electrical fire. Not really a surprise for most, the wiring
in the station was a jumbled mess. Throw in the damage and animals chewing here
and there and they were ripe for things like this. “We're going to have them,
that's the problem,” Irons replied when he heard the news. “I was actually
expecting more by now. We've been lucky.”

“Lucky?
Two hospitalized is lucky?” Gwen demanded. She didn't like it that they had an
acetylene tank explode. Someone had left it there when the fire broke out. If
she'd been on hand she would have yanked the damn thing. Four other people had
been treated for smoke inhalation and then released. They were lucky no one had
been killed.

“They
aren't dead right?” he asked. Gwen scowled. He spread his hands. “The best we
can do is examine how it happened and do our best to prevent it from happening
again. In other words learn from it. And yes I know, electrical fires are pretty
common on a station of this age and size. We can still try, and we can still
train our people on how to respond to one.” He was actually surprised they
hadn't had a plasma breach. Io 11 had its share of them when he had been
aboard.

“We
don't have...”

“We've
got the people. What about a mixed team?” Irons asked.

“What
do you mean?”

“I'm
talking about integrating some of the tribes into this. Tap a few. It's not
that hard. We can sleep teach some who are interested. They can learn to read
as well. It will socialize them and show them that we think they are important
enough to keep in important positions. Show them how to protect their home and
community. Show them and others that they can do important jobs.”

“I
have been hearing flack about that. That they are pretty much useless,” Sid
said. He'd obviously forgotten their last talk after that meeting with the
tribal elders, Irons thought with a scowl.

“And
there you go. I seem to recall some of you cybers were human resource people.
Do you think they can oh, say hunt around, find some jobs and match them up to
those not busy with something to do?” The admiral said pointedly. He tried to
keep his tone light and slightly teasing.

“I
can pass it along,” Sid said with a grin. He caught the pointed hint Irons was
bashing over his head.

“Please
do,” Irons said with a nod.

Kiev
left six weeks after they moved in to deliver her goods and to pick up
volunteers and materials from the planet. “Don't be long, it's lonely out
here,” Gwen said in parting. She like some of the other Kiev people were a
little anxious over the ship leaving. They now had no fall back point. Marlena
had yet to return with that damn long range shuttle. She said it had barely
made it to the planet and she wasn't coming back until it had been rebuilt. She
knew how much bullpucky that was.

“We
won't,” M'runi replied. Gwen watched the ship leave with misgivings. She wished
the station could follow. It would, but not for a long long time. She had an
inkling of what Irons had in mind. But he wasn't talking for some reason so she
didn't say anything either.

“They'll
be back,” Riff said, patting her on her shoulder. She reached up and gripped
his hand for a moment. “We're here and we're family,” he said.

Now
that the station was semi functional most of the passengers on the Kiev had
transferred over before the ship had left. Those that wanted off the cramped
ship and steady employment anyway. Many were people who wanted to have more
children, and the station offered plenty of room for their families to take
root and grow.

Seven
thousand people of various species all on the station. It was quite a change
for ship and station alike. A change all were slowly adapting too.

The
ship still had a couple of hundred people on board, all essential crew and
their families. From what he had heard through the grapevine it was very
different for them. It was quiet, for some too quiet. They were even talking
about ripping out some of the habitats and returning the ship to a full bulk
freighter again. Go figure.

Of
course the habitat areas in Kiev would come in handy to run people from the
planet to the station right about now. Four or five grand a pop? Riff thought
with silent amusement. It'd take a week one way but it would add a nice healthy
addition to their growing population.

He
snorted at the thought.
Their
population. Apparently he was already
setting down roots here. Gwen looked over her shoulder to him as she squeezed
his fingers. “What?” she asked.

“Just
thinking about the future and things,” he said.

“Oh?”
she asked turning slightly to look at him.

He
shrugged. “Never mind. We've got reactor two up. Regua's after me to get the
EPS conduits to some of the other fabricators and replicators online. Has the
admiral gotten anywhere with the shields?”

Gwen
frowned. “I think he's been looking them over. I'm not sure.”

“Check
please. I've got a feeling we'll want them up sometime soon.” She looked at
him. He shrugged. “I mean when we start moving the station.”

“Oh
yeah,” she said and then pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I'll um, I'll ask,” she
said. “If I forget ask him at the next meeting,” she suggested.

“Will
do,” he said removing his hand. “I've got to get to work.”

“Behave,”
she admonished.

“Don't
I always?” he asked with a grin. She snorted. “Okay, sometimes?” he said again
this time with a roguish twinkle. She snorted again and shook her head. His
chest rumbled in a deep chuckle. “That's what I thought,” he said as he left.

Sparks
and Freeze worked on the recyclers the first day Freeze was out of the
infirmary. They didn't so much work on the actual recyclers as they did on the
compartments that they were housed in. They had heard that Kiev had reached
orbit of the planet the day before and people were lining up to get to the
station. That meant they needed more livable space for everyone when they got
here, hence their current occupation.

Sparks
hated recyclers for good reason. So did Freeze, the damn things stank and the
stench tended to cling to their clothes for ages. They nodded to some folks
they know in passing but no one lingered for long, they all turn up their noses
and beat a hasty retreat when they get a whiff. They knew a few people in the
tribes but they were still in an us versus them mindset. The apprentices were
helping some but they were also a pain in the ass to train. They did some
really stupid things too sometimes.

When
Admiral Irons came by they had a brief talk. Sparks and Freeze shook his hand
and thanked him for the training as well as the opportunity to be on the
station. Sprite apparently let him know about the accident while they were
talking because he asked if they were okay. Both men nodded.

They
each have two apprentices from the tribes. They don't like it, so they have the
kids do the fetching and carrying to keep them busy. They also have bots to
help do that now. The constantly have to think of something to get the kids out
of their hair. Irons is amused but told them to be patient. “Maybe get the kids
to help with minor things.”

“Oh
we do. But they are green.” Sparks replied. He tried hard not to roll his eyes.

“Everyone's
green at the beginning. Remember that. Remember what you were like when you
first started the job. How your boss had to handle your mistakes. Don't hold it
against them much. Try to be patient. They'll get better in time if you
encourage them,” the admiral replied and then clapped Sparks on the shoulder.
Freeze grunted.

“We
are. But oh boy do they try my patience!” Sparks replied, this time rolling his
eyes. Irons smiled politely.

“Spades
tournament coming up?” he asked suddenly. Freeze looked up and blinked. The
admiral snorted. “Good luck gents.”

“Thanks
admiral.”

“I'll
let you get back to work then, I don't want to slow you up and ruin your pace,”
he said retreating. They waved as he left. An otter tech nearby complained
about the constant relentless work. Sparks doesn't know the guy but his
constant mustache twisting is getting on his nerves. The guy has a monocle and
has a stiff upper lip attitude. “Ollie knock it off,” Freeze said tiredly as a
rant went on for too long.

The
otter shut up when both old hands grumble about fur in the equipment. The
Terrans exchange amused looked as the grumpy otter went somewhere else down the
corridor out of earshot.

Barry
was finally happy; he managed to take the yellow school bus shuttle down to the
planet to make regular runs to bring people back up. They were moving quickly
to transfer goods and people to and from the ship. The shuttles were getting
overhauls in transit from orbit to the station that way they would be ready
when they arrived... hopefully.

The
captain wanted to be out of orbit and back to the station in under a week. He
was pulling up about a hundred and twenty people on each run, three times a day
weather permitting. He was fairly sure they weren't going to meet their
deadline.

He
had sent a crew down to Eternia to service the shuttle there. Low and behold it
was fine; Marlena had been a bit sheepish about all the hoopla. He'd taken it
gracefully but hadn't offered her the pilot's seat to take it back up. She'd
been a bit wistful about that but then Randor had called her over with a
problem. Barry had turned and took the shuttle back up loaded with people eager
for a new life.

The
day Kiev left orbit there was a third fire, this time Howi is the luckless
idiot who started it. He had been patching a bulkhead and had accidentally ignited
a pile of trash nearby with sparks. The trash smoldered at first and then
burned, setting off a chain reaction. Since the oxygen is high and the nitrogen
is low in the area there is a flash over. Some of the people were hurt. Howi is
a bit singed but he had been wearing protective clothing so he was treated for
heat exposure and smoke inhalation and then released.

A
quick investigation of the fire after it is put out pointed out the problem. A
safety brief is held the next day. From now on work crews would clear trash
before
welders came in. They would also pump more nitrogen or other buffer gases into
the compartment and lower the oxygen level to try to prevent another flash
over. Crew chiefs do daily mandatory safety checks from now on.