Plague Planet (The Wandering Engineer) (35 page)

“I guess this ties in with that then,” Julian said, one hand
raised. The others looked at him. “I had that case with the strange liver
function remember?” She nodded. “Well, doctor Nugo over in Brownsville is an
old friend, he actually referred the case to me. Someone came by and gave him a
computer and he checked and not only found what it was, but also a treatment.
That's why I was excited and came to see you.”

“Right. I'm betting you've got Irons to thank for that. You and
your patient if it works,” Marcus replied. The other doctor nodded. “Come on,
let's leave the lady alone then,” he said as he turned away.

Almost as if on Cue Helen's stomach growled. He turned back with
mischief in his eyes. She snorted. “Yeah, yeah, I'm coming,” she said,
gathering her purse up from the coat rack near the door. “Come on you three,
let's go eat and then I'll see if someone can get a hold of Irons again for me.
Maybe Hank,” she mused as they walked out. “I'll be seeing him tomorrow. I've
got to catch the red eye out to Hazard tonight.”

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

Helen Richards personally oversaw the placement of the pods in the
Rubicon warehouse the next day. She had a tech hook them up to the local power
grid. The ship had been generous, they had even thrown in the hover pallet and
pallet jack to move the pod cluster around. Or at least they hadn't asked for
it back. Most likely they wouldn't, and if they did they'd get some excuse or
another.

This was their second move, too many people had flocked around
Hazard General hospital to get word, disrupting the facility and annoying the
staff. People hadn't known the pods had been stored in the hospital's ambulance
garage until some motor mouth medic had let it slip and even showed his
girlfriend the pods.

She stuffed her hands in her pockets, wishing it would go faster,
she had other things to do after all. But she knew better, she knew some things
were worth taking time to get right. You didn't go off halfcocked with
medicine, so maybe they were right to dilly dally and look. At least they'd be
telling their grandkids about this event, she thought wryly.

One of the first things the work crew had done was take the pods
off the pallet of course. They'd left them on the bare dirt floor and made off
with the pallet and jack. She hadn't been happy about that, but the grapevine
had said it was Hodges's pay off to allow the pods to be transferred out of
Hazard City and to the warehouse district of Rubicon town.

Of course the location wasn't as secret and therefore not as
secure as she would have liked. Hopefully they'd thrown off some pursuit
though. The media had reluctantly agreed to not disclose the exact warehouse
the pods were in. She'd even gotten them to run a false story about how they
had dropped the pods off at the local infirmary... not that the local infirmary
really had the room for such a project.

She'd been tempted to divert the pods to a major hospital. She had
the authority, but she didn't want the circus to go along with it. Had she sent
the pods to say, Metropolis or oh, Gotham, or even Landing the people would
have turned it into a parade. Besides, she didn't have the facilities there
either.

No, she'd have to set up the facilities here, which meant
diverting them from other more needy projects. Since these people were on ice
they could wait, she thought. If the powers that be wanted them awake faster
than they could damn well provide her more resources to get the job done. Since
they were in no hurry, neither was she.

She smiled as she locked up and then dropped the keys into the
hands of the warehouse security guard. “No one in or out. That includes you and
your staff. I'll have someone check in randomly,” she warned, brandishing a
stern finger at him.

“Yes ma'am,” the hulking brute said, bobbing a nod.

“I'm serious now,” she held up a warning finger. The guy grimaced
and then nodded. She'd been sure to at least let him get a peek before they'd
locked up. Hopefully that would suffice. She didn't want some young idiot in
there tripping over the power cord and killing the people after all. Nor did
she want them posing for pictures or hitting the wrong buttons.

“We'll play it by the book ma'am. I mean doc,” the guy said. She
nodded firmly.

“See that you do,” she said, walking out.

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

Irons grimaced as he waited in the storied conference room. It had
a nice view of Gotham and the harbor beyond, but he really didn't care for
ground side views much. And he cared even less for cooling his heels.

“What's the problem?” he asked Sprite. They'd been kept waiting or
been shuffled from one department to the next. Someone named Earle had shuffled
him off to a Mr. Fox in the companies Applied science division. Apparently
Earle was busy trying to convert the tech company into a machine to build
weapons of war.

That really didn't make sense, there was no war on the planet,
unless you took into consideration the war between the mobs and the law. But
perhaps he wanted to branch out? Build machines and weapons of war for export?
That was entirely possible, Irons mused. Avalon was just a couple of jumps away
and they fought every year, most of the time just for the fun of it. If Earle
used the pirate threat as a potential goad, he may see profits in selling
weapons to passing ships who would then in turn sell them to others.

Of course that painted a big target on Epsilon, but Irons was
fairly certain the company, or at least it's C.E.O. was banking on the idea
that the defense network would ward off any possible invasion. Irons himself
however didn't see it that way, and he was reminded that others may not either.
Not everything went according to a C.E.O.'s playbook.

Apparently the other firm Sprite had singled out for his interest
was also involved in manufacturing weapons, the two companies and another an
upcoming utility company called Power's Inc. that wanted to diversify its
market share were dueling over who could make the most profit from the new
endeavor. War profiteers, he thought with a pang. He'd thought he'd had his
fill during the Xeno war.

At least they were here, confined to Epsilon for the time being.
He had no intention of setting up shop here either. The asteroid belt was too
sparse and diffuse, the fuel supply on the Jovian's also too diffuse... and he
just didn't like the cesspool here on the planet. No, he was rapidly getting
his fill of this world.

“I'm not sure what the problem is admiral, they're probably
looking to find someone else to foster you off on,” Sprite replied.

“Possibly,” he replied absently, staring out into the clear skies
beyond the thin untempered glass. “Any word from Prinz Zir?”

“One casual inquiry. Phoenix played them off, passing himself off
as crew. They were more interested in seeing if our crew was ground side than
in trade or communications.”

“Oh?”

“I'm not sure what they were up to. It doesn't matter, they're
scheduled to lift in a few hours,” Sprite responded. She was a bit bitter over
the whole fuel deal.

“Oh well, not our problem,” Irons replied with a shrug. He turned
as the brass doorknob turned. He rose as a black human male came in and smiled.
The old man had pockmarks on his face, steel gray hair, and a lively smile to
go with his polka dot bow tie.

“Sorry to keep you waiting Admiral, I was in another meeting.
Lucius Fox, pleased to finally meet you sir,” he said shaking hands with the
admiral.

“As I with you Mr. Fox,” Irons replied as they disengaged hands.
Fox indicated they sit. A secretary came in with a stenographer machine and
closed the door behind her. The admiral's eyes cut to the woman and then back
to Fox as he settled into a chair and crossed his legs and clasped his hands in
front of him.

“Now, how may we be of service here?” Fox asked politely.

“Well, I'm thinking it's more the other way around actually, I'm a
sleeper as you know, an Engineering admiral. I've been going around trying to
help bootstrap communities back from the dark ages and a friend pointed out I
should be looking to work with a company to get to more people. Someone like
you and your company,” he said indicating Mr. Fox.

“Indeed. A noble goal. What did you have in mind?” Fox asked.

“Well, I was looking into your power grid, but I also wanted to
hit just about every field. Microcomputers, sewer and waste treatment and
recycling, water treatment, medicine, and medical tech...”

“A lofty goal,” Fox replied with a smile.

“I've got a lot of blueprints and of course the manufacturing
steps for each on file,” Irons replied. He reached over to the holo projector
he had brought along and pulled out a microcomputer as well. “These were called
TV sticks for the past two thousand years. A microcomputer, wireless access
node, memory, and various means to plug it into devices such as this,” Irons
said plugging it back into the holo emitter.

Fox looked at the device, eyes finally lighting in interest. He
reached for it. Irons however pulled another device from his breast pocket and
handed it over. Fox turned it over and over in his hands, examining it's every
crevice. “Such a fascinating little device,” he murmured. He looked up. “And
you say it's a fully functional computer?”

“Yes and it can connect to others forming a wired and wireless
network,” the admiral replied with a nod. He pulled out more of the devices and
laid them down onto the desk. “I usually make a couple thousand and then hand
them out to teachers and doctors and other people wherever I go...”

“So easily made?” Fox asked, eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Well, I used a replicator, but I can give you one.”

“
Give
?” Fox asked, now shocked. Irons shrugged. “Are you
serious Mister Irons?”

“Sure,” Irons replied with a shrug. “I can make them.” He pointed
to the holo as Fox and the stenographer gasped. He cleared his throat and
pointed again. “Now, as I was saying, I've worked out the basics for various
tech and machinery as well as medical pharmacopoeia for you. I'm not charging
for it, it's all open source or should be at this late a date, but I will ask
that you only charge a minimum fee above the costs of making, installing, and
transporting it. I'd actually like that in any written agreement we sign,”
Irons replied and a smile to the stenographer.

The woman blinked and then started typing once more. Irons snorted
softly.

“You aren't looking to profit from this?” Fox finally asked,
studying the slide show.

Irons shook his head. “First off, I want this into as many hands
as possible, your population has suffered enough as it is. Secondly, I'm not
going to be around for much longer, I plan on being off world soon enough. I'm
also giving this technology to many different companies, so whoever gets it
into the market first has the advantage.”

“True,” Fox nodded. “I'll uh, have to have a list of um...”

“Sure,” the admiral replied with a smile. “Here, the files are on
each of these,” he said, feeling Sprite send the relevant data to each device.
“I'll leave you all of them to use. Also  a copy of this conversation for your
records,” he said, glancing to the stenographer. She looked up and blinked
behind coke bottle glasses.

He nodded politely to her and then to Fox. “You can reach me with
these devices. My e-mail contact is in them. I'll be on planet for some time,
most likely another week or so.”

“Thank you for understanding. You see, I need to run this by the
board and well...” Fox shrugged helplessly.

“I understand,” Irons replied smiling sympathetically. “I can show
you the basics, and show you step by step on how to access the other
information. I suggest you start small, with simple items easily made and then
build to more complicated devices.”

“A man should crawl before he can walk,” Fox replied with a nod.

“True even in my time,” Irons replied as both men got up. They
shook hands once more.

“We will definitely be in touch Admiral,” the man said, firmly
gripping his hand. The admiral nodded.

“Good. I want to help your people Mr. Fox. It's past time to move
to the next golden age,” he said firmly.

Fox nodded but he seemed dazed. His eyes kept going to the
hologram and the devices Irons had casually left behind. Irons nodded to the
secretary and then left. “A man after my own heart,” he heard Fox murmur as the
door closed behind the admiral.

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

Sprite was entirely too amused by the encounter as he left the big
gothic building's stairwell. Unlike others in the building he wasn't going to
be trapped in the deathtraps they called elevators. She smiled, virtual eyes
filled with mirth. “Now, you want to take bets on whether we'll get a call back
and how soon?”

“We didn't sign any sort of document, nor an NDA. I even let them
have the data gratis. I'm curious if we will. Hopefully they will see that as a
small taste and will be interested in more.”

“Possibly,” Sprite replied. “Fox is having a ball using the
computers. He's definitely a fast learner. Not only did he figure out the voice
address system, he also discovered the laser keyboard,” she said as Irons
exited the building.