Plague Planet (The Wandering Engineer) (34 page)

“They should check the people in the stasis pods out before they
wake them. It's only prudent after all,” the AI replied.

“True, but we're on a colony. A backward colony.”

“Yes, but that has already been established. Apparently the
director of medicine has put her foot down. She doesn't want them to attempt to
wake someone who may have been put into stasis because they were terminally
ill.”

“Thought it was a derelict?” Irons asked.

“That doesn't necessarily mean anything. Remember Kiev 221?”
Sprite reminded him.

The admiral grunted. She was right. Kiev had had hundreds of
sleepers in her holds. All had been injured or ill when they'd been put into
stasis over the centuries. A ship could have such a cargo, morbid if they were
dead, but entirely feasible.

“Okay, ideas on how to get in touch with the medics? Should we go
to the top or what?”

“I would suggest contacting Doctor Richards directly, yes,” Sprite
replied. “The tricky part isn't getting her, it's getting her to
listen
to you,” Sprite replied, already looking into making the call.

“True,” Irons replied. “Place the call.”

“Already working on it sir,” Sprite responded.

...*...*...*...*...

There was a click and then the secretary waved to her. Helen
smiled. “What is it?” she called from her desk. She was a bit frustrated, Salt
only knew the general location of the Daniels. She wanted to send someone in
after them, but he didn't have a clue which direction they had went. Buzzing
the area with the little bush plane to let them know to come out was the only
option. But getting them to 'olle olle in free' was difficult, both of them
resented it when she interrupted their vacation time. She admitted that from
time to time she'd abused that, dispatched them to what was thought a major
outbreak only to turn out to be a sniffle fizzle. But this time it was
different, it really was critical... she needed them to check out the
sleepers... but there was no telling
them
that of course.

She sighed, running a hand through her bangs in frustration. She
had the door open, and her windows, the better to catch the slight breeze. They
were having a light cooling spell, and she wanted to enjoy it. Being in the
stuffy office sucked. She kept thinking about getting a ceiling fan or box fan
in here sometime. She looked at the wind up clock on the wall. She was
perilously close to lunch so it had better be quick. She didn't want to work
through another lunch, the low blood sugar it caused gave her a headache.

“Some crank on the phone. He's interested in the sleepers and said
he has some means to help with them. He's willing to trade for the
opportunity,” the secretary responded pointing to her own phone.

“Oh?” Helen replied, raising an eyebrow. “And you left it to me to
let him down?”

The woman spread her hands apart in supplication. “Far be it from
me to turn down help doc, that's up to you remember?”

“True,” she said thoughtfully. “Just what is he offering?” she
asked.

“Why don't you ask him yourself? I put him on hold. Line two,” the
woman said, pointing to her new phone.

Helen looked down at it. She'd just received it from a
communications company in Gotham. It used some material called Bakelite for the
handle. It was black, with buttons. One was pressed in.

“Fine then,” she responded, waving the woman away. She shook her
hair away from her right ear and then picked up the handset. “This is director
Richards, to whom and I speaking with?” she asked.

“This is admiral Irons. We've never met doctor, but I'm offering
my services.”

“I heard. Can you tell me why you are interested in doing so?” she
asked, toying with a stylus. The name was familiar.

“Personal interest in the sleepers doctor, I'm willing to provide
my services in exchange for helping them,” the man replied.

“I can't give out any information about patients,” Helen replied,
scowling blackly.

“Understandable doctor, that's part of your profession. But I can
be of assistance with technical matters since I'm an engineer.”

“Oh?” she asked, amused. No one on the planet had experience with
the stasis pods. They weren't even sure how to read the vital signs on the
things. Something seemed off so she was hesitant to open the pods. Right now
they were stored until she found a way to do more research on them. “You're an
expert I suppose?” she asked humorously. She toyed with the coiled phone cord.

“You could say that,” Irons replied with a hint of amusement in
his voice.

“I'm sorry, I'd have to get government approval to bring you
on-board. Since you aren't a member of my staff, I doubt I can do that,” she
finally said.

“Pity,” Irons replied and then shrugged. “All right, I've also
been attempting to get a meeting with you.”

“Oh?” suddenly Helen was wary. She didn't like having her very own
personal stalker. “Why is that?” she asked.

“Nothing criminal doctor, and no I don't need treatment,” Irons
replied patiently. “I'm...” he fought a sigh and started again. “Now look, I'm
not going to be here very long. I'm leaving soon so I figured I'd lend you a
hand before I left.”

Helen finally got it, the guy was looking into using the stasis
pods to survive some terminal illness. “I doubt the pods are available for your
use,” she said.

“Doc, can we get off the pods here?” he asked, sounding a little
testy. “I'm not interested in the pods themselves, I'm interested in the
welfare of the people within. But getting back to what I was talking about, I'm
trying to meet each leader and help their department. I was going around to
local clinics helping but a friend pointed out that was counterproductive.”

“Oh?” Helen asked, now confused.

“I mean, sure I'm making a local impact, but not a big one. You
however are in a position to do so. Tell me, have to gotten the packages from
the ships processed yet?” he asked.

“I'm not sure I can discuss that,” she said warily. “I'm sorry,
I'm very busy and my time is limited.” She glanced at her open door.

“I gathered that doctor. I was just wondering if you received all
the materials and if they are being put to good use.”

“Are you a reporter?” she asked suspiciously.

The admiral laughed. “No, I'm an offworlder, doctor.”

“Oh. Oh!” her eyes flared wide as she made connections. “So, when
you said you wouldn't be here long... You meant you were returning to your ship
not dying...”

“Dying? Doc I'm fit as a fiddle,” the admiral replied with a
chuckle. “I wanted to make sure you received the packages from Io 11 and my
ship the Phoenix.”

“Oh. Yes, we're still processing them now. From both ships
actually,” Helen replied absently. She felt strange, she didn't know what to
expect next from this conversation. She was still ready to hang up, but idle
curiosity made her keep listening.

“What about the software?” Irons asked.

“Software?” Helen asked, confused. Something in that made her go
from bored and ready to hang up to mildly interested.

“I sent along software as well, doctor. A complete medical text as
well as a hard copy back up. The complete medical dictionary, just about every
medical file I and Io 11 could get our hands on,” the admiral replied. “I
didn't have a copy of the material from Pyrax but my AI did get a lot from
Antigua Prime. Petabytes of data doctor.”

She sat up straight, eyes wide in shock. She hadn't made the
connection until now. “You...”

“Yes. Me,” he said with a slight hint of humor in his voice.

“What did you say your name was?” she asked, rubbing her brow, now
irritated at herself.

“Irons. Fleet Admiral John Henry Irons, Federation Navy. Also
currently captain of the Phoenix,” Irons replied.

She closed her eyes, wincing slightly and mouthed an Oh. “I
apologize sir, I didn't place the name,” she said formally and very carefully.
This was the guy Hank had talked about she realized.

“It's okay doctor. Perfectly understandable. I gather you have a
lot on your mind,” he said, sounding sympathetic. She winced.

“You helped Hank McCoy.”

“And others. I'm doing my best doctor. That's all any of us can
do.”

“Ah, but not many aspire to that virtue my good sir,” she said.

“True, but we can only hope that someday they will. As I was
saying, both ships sent along a great deal of material and data for you.”

“You seem to know a lot about what we got from Io,” she said,
rubbing her brow. “The dealings with each ship is normally kept confidential,”
she said.

His laughter startled her. “Sorry doctor,” he said over the
scratchy phone. “I'm sorry, it's just I was a passenger on Io 11 a few years
ago. In fact they found me in a stasis pod much like your soon to be new
patients that the Prinz Zir is delivering to you.”

“You were?” she asked, now dumbfounded.

“Yes,” Irons replied. He related the story of how the ship found
him in Senka five years ago. Slowly she accepted he was who he was saying he
was. That revelation connected with others, he was a true El Dorado, a sleeper
all were searching for. The ones in the pods...  his voice continued on and
finally penetrated her astonished thoughts. “I spent over eighteen months with
them doctor, I taught them and together we repaired the ship to almost factory
new. When we were doing so I also hit upon the idea of the care package with
the captain and purser.”

“Ah, I see,” the woman replied, stalling. She rubbed her brow. It
was a lot to take in all at once... and on an empty stomach to boot.

“I refurnished their medical bays. The regen tanks were tricky but
we got them sorted out.”

Her eyes went wide. “You...”

“I'm a Federation Engineering Fleet Admiral, doctor. I can't make
medical nanites but I can rebuild or even make other medical tech. Or make the
factory equipment needed to make those pieces of equipment,” Irons replied.

“Ah, I see,” the woman said once more. She bit her lip. A trio of
doctors were waving urgently at her. She sighed. “I'm afraid I'll have to cut
this conversation short Mr. Irons, I have a medical emergency,” she said.

“Perfectly understandable doctor. Please call Phoenix when you'd
like to arrange a meet. I'd like to help your people while I am here. But I'm
not going to be here forever,” he said.

“You have done quite a lot Mr. Irons,” she said, waving a paper at
the trio. She scowled and had her hand to the headset. “I thank you for what
you did with Hank.”

“He's a nice guy,” Irons replied.

“I'll try to be in touch soon,” she said getting up. “Good day
sir,” she said and hung up. “What?” she said, glaring at the trio.

“We wanted to know if um, you wanted to go to lunch,” Marcus said
sheepishly. Ted Zane smiled.

Her eyes flashed. “You interrupted an important call for something
like that?” she snarled. She picked the phone up and then sighed at the dial
tone. “Damn it!” she slammed the receiver back down.

She glared again at the trio who hunched their shoulders. “Do you
have any idea...” she seethed, taking a deep breath in and out, trying to
cleanse her anger over their juvenile antics. “Do you have any idea how
important that call was?” she demanded, clearly seething.

“I thought it was some guy interested in the sleepers?” her
secretary asked, coming into the office behind the trio of doctors. She put
papers in manila envelopes down onto her desk. “At least that is what it
sounded like to me!”

Helen closed her eyes and rubbed her brow. Finally she flicked her
hair and opened her eyes. “I thought so at first, but it turned out he's a
sleeper, so he's naturally curious.”

“Oh.”

“Furthermore, that was Irons.
The
Irons. The guy who's been
going around the continent fixing stuff for everyone. He was in the middle of
offering his services to me when you three clowns,” she gritted her teeth as
she glared once more. “Interrupted me,” she ground out.

“It's my mistake ma'am, I thought you'd want the interruption,”
the secretary said in a small voice.

“Dawn, just... go finish what you are doing and go to lunch.”

“Was he really talking about helping?” Marcus asked.

“Yes. He's done all sorts of stuff for the various clinics and
infirmaries in the towns he's visited so far. I've gotten all sorts of good
reports. He's not only fixed everything they found for him, he also upgraded
power grids and gave them a microcomputer with all sorts of stuff on it. Good
stuff, stuff you'd give a lot to get your hands on.”

“Yeah, I'd say it was important,” Ted said with a sigh. “Sorry
Ma'am,” he said.

“It's over and done with now,” Helen replied with a sigh. “I don't
even know how to get back in touch with the man! That's what's so frustrating!”
she growled. “He said something about his ship, I don't know how to call a
starship!”