Plague Planet (The Wandering Engineer) (84 page)

4 multifaceted eyes, 2 six shooters that shoot nanite gobbler bullets.
feared for his ability and the nanites. has 2 true arms on sides that wrap
around torso under vest.

the true hands do the real shooting. heavily augmented, can detect
scans.

later hired to kill Irons.

Irons kills him just before leaving.

Media:

Jerry Richards:
EDP reporter who tracked Irons down for series of interviews. Ex
wife is Helen Richards.

Perry White
: editor of the Epsilon Daily Planet. (EDP). Wears a suit with
vest.

Lois
: Senior reporter for the EDP, tough, gets into trouble.

Clark:
Senior reporter for the EDP, glasses, bumbles, nice guy.

Jimmy Olsen:
photographer for the EDP and occasional source. freckle faced
short gangly photographer.

Cat
: Brunett, suave, sexy woman. Mousy minx, glasses, tease and
flirt. wants to be a fashion/gossip reporter works as a secretary.

Owens:
reporter for the herald

Parker:
competing photographer for bugle

Others:

Wally Wart:
aerospace engineer. (airplane mechanic) Short stooped over Human.

Luke:
Airbus pilot. Teenager with acne. Nutty driver usually.

Doherty: sam Doherty,
farmer. 50's. lives just outside Sin city, poe'd over hank and
crew using site for drone.

Dewey Keeper
, portly short inventor/engineer/scientist. White hair, bushy
white mustache, blue eyes and glasses. Dresses in a rumpled gray suit. walks
with a cane with a snowflake on the pommel.

Audrey Halfston,
black hair, yellow dress, green bonnet. 40's. talker, user. used
Irons to talk about stuff and charge him for drinks.

Snorphlax:
gashg sewer engineer of New Chicago

My blog:

http://cyberforge3d.blogspot.com/

Interesting web
comics:

http://www.schlockmercenary.com/

http://www.vexxarr.com/Index.php

http://www.sluggy.com/

And I can't forget my
friend Mechmaster's Dalek comic:

http://www.mechmaster.co.uk/cg-lair/daleks_page1.htm

My cousin's blog:

http://bossymoksie.wordpress.com/

Tech:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_car_(aircraft
)

 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_on_a_chip

http://liliputing.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volumetric_display

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Hydroelectric+Power+Plant

http://www.sainsmart.com/sainsmart-ss808-pc-on-a-stick-for-android-4-1-dual-core-1-6-ghz-a9-processor-1gb-ddr3-8gb-internal-storage-dual-wifi-module-on-board.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activated_carbon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_vehicle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_aircraft

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-25_Pawnee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-36_Pawnee_Brave

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm_robotics

http://baibook.epfl.ch/slides/SwarmRobotics.pdf

Medical:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_engineering

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluteus_maximus_muscle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluteal_muscles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_muscles_of_the_human_body

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outbreak

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endemic_(epidemiology
)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_viral_nasopharyngitis_(common_cold)#Transmission

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathogen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_hazard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazmat_suit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_pressure_personnel_suit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_disease

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_biology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_gene_synthesis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_engineering

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiviral_drug

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccination

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/human-biology/blood2.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_germicidal_irradiation

http://io9.com/5988198/tuberculosis-and-leprosy-thrive-by-pretending-to-be-viruses

Implants:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-inflammatory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immunosuppressive_drug

 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_electrode_implants

http://www.uweb.engr.washington.edu/research/tutorials/woundhealing.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosthetics_in_fiction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implant_(medicine
)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyborg

 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroprosthetics

http://www.mindcontrol.se/?p=7811

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_implant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_interface

Other:

 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Uniformed_Services_Oath_of_Office

http://www.yourguidetoitaly.com/popular-foods-of-italy.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_of_Sinope

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLEhh_XpJ-0

Book: World-Building
by Stephen L. Gillett copyright 1996

Characters:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snidely_Whiplash

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?176083-N-75

http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Asklepios.html

Anthro:

http://anthro-glamour.deviantart.com/

http://pythosblaze.deviantart.com/gallery/8392936#/art/Solaximara-132378607?_sid=687e8abf

http://teiirka.deviantart.com/art/Broken-319696610

Here is a short (I
did say
short
!) story titled Salvage. It introduces a new character to
the Wandering Engineer Universe whom you will see in other short stories and in
future books.  The short story will be in 13 Degrees of Separation, a short
story compilation. (I hope, I may have to break it into 2 books!)

Salvage

Senka system, Two
years after the events in Fools gold.

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

Sixteen year old Mairi Jersey swore again as she picked at the
controls. It didn't due to take one's ire out on your own ship, bad things
happened then. But she didn't know how to vent other than turning the air blue.
She glanced at the heater in subconscious reflex as that thought hit her. Nope,
just fine, 18 degrees C. She ran her hand through her blue hair under her knitted
cap before resetting it on her closely buzz cut head. She was a spacer born and
bred, she had no need for hair. Hair just got in the way, she just wished she
was bald in times like this. Of course if she'd let it grow out like her mother
she could sell it, but that was a pittance.

She was also a bitter asteroid miner, she thought with a disgusted
sigh. Here she was, out and about picking up salvage. She should be happy she
realized, but the unfairness of the universe still bothered her. There really was
no justice, even though she'd turned it somewhat to her advantage. Maybe, if
she got back alive that was.

A few months ago, a ship passing through had brought news,
momentous news. News that effected their home system even though they hadn't
known the full story four years ago. They all knew about the pirates, they
rarely stayed long these days. Stories of the pirates passing through the
system tended to annoy her, but at least they were just passing through now,
not using the few and far between habitats as target practice anymore. Word of
Irons and how he'd been picked up in their system angered her however.

He should have been their find, their sale to another group, or
used to help benefit them! But no, some damn freighter jockey had literally
stumbled onto his pod while being chased by pirates! Pure dumb luck! Sometimes
she cursed the spirits for such things. Why could others get so lucky when
people like her who desperately needed the luck had none?

Her mother had pointed out that Irons had been here all along and
no one had found him. That wasn't her point, she'd fumed. Trust her mother to
see both sides of the situation. But her mother had been right, Irons was out
of the system anyway. It wasn't like he'd return, not to a death trap of a
system like this one.

Now she fumed again, picking through the wreckage. She'd found
some choice bits, stuff she'd packed onto her hull or marked for later
retrieval. Digs... damn him, she had to be careful, he too had gotten wind of
where Irons had been picked up.  She checked the long range.  He'd tagged her
on her way out, she was sure of it. She couldn't go all evasive either, she'd
had just enough juice and life support for a straight shot out.  She couldn't
linger long either, not unless she wanted to become a part of the funeral
cloud.

Uncle Edgar had provided some of the data, for his usual fee of
course. She curled her lip in disgust. The man had no respect for family.  None
at all.  Even when he had her work at the bar to pay for her mother's tab he
still didn't cut her a break.  He'd even charge her interest if the debt ran
overlong. At least she had the data though, the course data from both ships.

Edgar hadn't twigged onto what she was doing, or at least hadn't
said anything out loud. He'd just watched her work on the problem on an old
tablet. She was good with math and good with navigation. What she'd been after
was what she'd thought of after she'd heard the story about Irons and gotten
over her initial resentment.  If Irons had been picked up... then maybe there
was something else out there. Another survivor perhaps?

She'd triangulated the debris cloud from the path of the two
ships, the unknown pirate and the so called Io 11.  By back tracking along
their course she'd found the wreckage strewn across millions of kilometers in a
glob emanating from a central point.  Indeed, some of that same wreckage had
already passed through the system or had been picked up over the centuries. But
apparently not all of it. She was eager to get her fair share.

Digs was a slike, a slime ball grifter who tended to have
wandering hands and a total lack of appreciation for proper hygiene.  He tended
to drift between the small asteroid and moon colonies in the system.  There
couldn't be more than a thousand people left in the system and of course he had
to be one of them. She still couldn't believe how low he'd sunk, hitting on her
of all people!  He was also shifty, and she wouldn't put it past her for him to
follow her.  She regretted the slip she'd made talking to Uncle Edgar the
bartender.  She'd wished she'd had the foresight to do it away from the bar. 
In hindsight that might have been her undoing.