Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (13 page)

“Yeah,
it makes a mess,” Sergio grumped with a small smile. The Admiral laughed.

“Yeah,
that too. Let's get this sorted out.” He waved as they heard the pitter patter
of feet. “Anyone who comes in gets drafted!” he called. The pitter patter
screeched to a halt. A face poked around the corner then they heard the kids
run off.

Sergio
laughed. “I wish I had thought of that trick a long time ago.” He shook his
head as he helped the Admiral pick up the tools.

“There
is something else to consider when you’re dealing with this. Sort of an after
affect of the wedge, shields, and your speed. See, the faster you go, the more
likely you are to hit something that could do damage to you. And at high speed,
that is what we would consider a bad thing.”

Sergio
winced, nodding.

“Now,
with the wedge, it creates a focused singularity in front of your tug. It sucks
in small bits of matter. Like say, dust and stray hydrogen atoms.”

“Okay...”
Sergio said looking up. He looked a little confused. Irons sat on the edge of
the work bench and crossed his arms.

“When
you get up to speed you've got this dust ball hanging around your wedge, and at
the singularity point, it's being crushed. All  that crap blocks your forward
view. But if you change course or speed... or shut the wedge off...”

“It
keeps going?” Sergio asked pausing in his clean up as well.

“Exactly,”
Irons said nodding. “and when it hits something...”

Sergio
paled and winced again. “Boom?” he asked.

“Depends
on what it hits and the speed it was released at. But yeah. Big boom. Big
enough that if you’re not careful you could destroy a colony, or even Anvil.”

Sergio
bit his lip.

“Or
a planet.”

The
kid looked up, eyes wide in shock. Irons nodded soberly. “That's how the Xeno's
were destroying planets in the early stages of the war. Simple thing. Run a
missile with a singularity up to near C, pointed at your target. It's called a 
C bombardment. Almost impossible to stop if you’re on the receiving end. It's
what happened to the two planets in this system.” He grimaced looking away.

“If
the wedge is on too long it's singularity can become self sustaining. Which
would take a hell of a lot of initial energy and matter, more than your little
tug is able to put out.”

“Oh.”

“But
that was another favorite planet buster the Xeno's used.”

“It
was?” Sergio asked, bending to pick up a wrench.

“Yeah.
But we figured out a counter. We discovered a simple thing, send another ship
on an opposing vector at the singularity. If timed right they would collide. Or
in some extreme cases, the wedges of two or more ships could rip the
singularity apart.”

“Oh.”
Sergio rose with the wrench. “Doesn't sound like a good idea though. What if
you missed?”

“It's
more like what if you don't get it right.” Irons grimaced. “Miss and it will
still hit the planet. If you don't knock it off course. Hit and the
gravitational shear would usually burst the ship's drive pods or rip the ship
apart.”

“Ew.”

“We
were working on gravitational counter missiles. But I'm not sure how well they
did in practice.” He grimaced then shrugged.

“Moral
of the story? Be damn careful with the emitters. Make sure you treat them with
respect, and make sure you clear the space around you, and your flight path.
Treat it like a weapon. Like it can be if you’re not careful.”

“Yes
admiral,” Sergio nodded.

“Now,
let’s get this sorted out and get to bed. Something tells me tomorrow is going
to be a long day.” Irons smiled as they went back to cleaning.

The
next morning he woke after his customary four hours of sleep and stretched. He
took the time to go through his training katas feeling his muscles un-knit. He
had been without exercise for a little too long; he knew he needed to get back
into shape, even if it was more for psychological impact over physical.

He
nodded as the family ate breakfast then hustled into the shuttle bay. Sergio
was already suited up and ready to go. “Remember what I said,” the Admiral
cautioned. Sergio smiled and waved. “I'm going for the rock forty thousand
clicks down by thirty three thousand out mom, don't worry.” He smiled to Anita
who nodded and jotted the information down on a pad.

“Flight
plan has been approved,” she replied looking up.

He
sighed. “Yeah, well, first up is a stop at the tank farm to top off. No way am
I going anywhere without more fuel.” He climbed into the cockpit. The Admiral
and family stepped out of the shuttle bay. The kids waved as the lock door closed.

“Pick
me up! Pick me up!” The little boy jumped. O'Reilly chuckled as he hefted him
up to his shoulder. Deidra picked up his sister. They waved. Sergio waved back
then went back to the controls.

“Atmo
evacuated. Door opening. Safe flight Sergio,” Anita called over the com. He
smiled. “Back by dinner mom, I promise.” She nodded as he tapped the controls
and the craft drifted up then out of the bay.

“Well,
we have to get off to our shift. You kids need to hustle or you'll be late for
school.” O'Reilly hefted the kids then pretended to drop them. The kids
squealed until they were caught.

“Again
again!” they called eager.

Deidra
laughed. “Maybe later pumpkin, now mommy has to go work.” She ignored the
"aw"s and set them down by the front door.

“What
are you going to do now Admiral?” Anita asked getting a thread barren sweater
on over her shoulders. He shrugged.

“Oh,
this and that, check the station out a little, maybe look for work. I may dig
into the junk pile too.” He waved it off. She gave him a look then shrugged and
left.

“So
what are you going to do today?” Sprite asked.

He
shrugged. “Dig into the refresher and kitchen and fix everything I can this
morning then go walk about after lunch.” He smiled as she sniffed.

“Typical.
Can't put the spanners down for an hour without going into withdrawal,” she
teased.

He
chuckled. “You know me so well.”

“I
should shouldn't I?”

“Admiral,
I've done what I can for the local deck computer net, the station AI restricted
most of my access beyond it. Everything in the core is now under a five hundred
twelve character read only password protect I can't access.” Sprite sounded
exasperated. He shook his head.

“Okay,
what about the exterior scans we took yesterday. Can you compile what we have
with the information from the station net and the Io's scans and give me a hull
map with damage control assessment? Give me two versions, an over all and a
deck by deck.” He set the part he had been cleaning down and looked at her on
his HUD. She seemed a little chagrined.

“Make
work you mean?” She asked. His eyebrow rose. “Aye aye Admiral,” the AI
responded, monitoring his emotions. “I'll get it done,” she sighed.

It
took nearly two hours to get the dishwasher sorted out. Fortunately the manual
was embedded on a firmware chip inside. Once he found it he uploaded the plans
for the broken parts to the replicators and it was then just a matter of
putting the parts in and testing it out.

The
ultrasonics in the bath were a bit more straight forward. The flickering
gravity plate was a bit trickier, but he managed a partial fix. He made a note
to get it replaced later. No way was he going to have waste in free fall at the
wrong moment. He did his business in the bath then left whistling.

“Now
what?” Sprite asked. He shook his head.

“You
have better ideas?” he asked looking up. She swirled onto his HUD. “Admiral,
this station if falling apart. Literally. I've been monitoring the com traffic
for the past three days; apparently the last fusion reactor is on its last
legs.”

She
uploaded what data she had. “I was monitoring the radio net earlier and there
was a call for paramedics in engineering, it seems the chief engineer
collapsed.” The Admiral winced as he made his sandwich.

“Bad?”
he asked.

“You
could say that. I hooked a ride and got a weird echo. Admiral he's a sleeper
like you.” The Admiral froze, sandwich in his hands mouth open.

“That's
interesting. Why didn't you tell me earlier?” he asked with a bite to his
question. He took a bite of the sandwich then put it down suddenly not having
an appetite.

“Because
I just found out when I tagging along. Main engineering is on it's own
subsystem so I couldn't get in. The paramedics were passing through our deck
when I caught on. I pinged the paramedic team's electronics and piggy backed into
their communications so I could tag them. I got a fleet personal IFF
transponder. I zeroed in and discovered who he is.” She pulled up a window and
a fleet identity faded in.

“CPO
Horatio Logan, noncom, class of... hmm, wait, he's from my time! I know him!”
The Admiral stopped stunned.

“Yes
I don't have any data on him though beyond that.” Sprite reported, testy.

He
chuckled. “He was before your time. I vaguely remember him.” He shrugged.

“Are
you going to eat that?” Sprite asked. Mechanically he picked up the sandwich
and ate it. “Before you ask, he was stable when they moved him, from what I
could determine he was suffering from extreme exhaustion, implant fatigue,
dehydration, and old age,” Sprite reported. “I couldn't get into the
paramedic's equipment; I didn't want to do any damage to them that would...”
The Admiral held up his hand.

“Agreed.
Good thinking.” He tried to think. “How is Sergio doing?” He asked after a
moment. He finished the sandwich then put his cup in the dishwasher. Time for a
test run. He turned it on and winced at the starting grind, then nodded as it
leveled off at a purr.

“I'm
not sure. I got a peak an hour ago... I think he is okay, but that damn
civilian AI slapped me out of Ops so I didn't get enough of a look to be sure.
The station's sensors are myopic.” She sighed in disgust. He chuckled.

“Add
it to the list. The bottom of the list.” He shrugged.

“Hmm,
that's interesting; we're getting a com call from sickbay,” Sprite reported.
“Coincidence?” he asked.

“Doubtful.
The only guy with implants goes down, and then you show up?” The AI said
sounding sarcastic.

“You
need to work on your sarcasm... at a later date Sprite.” He looked up.
“Understood. Routing call now.”

“Um
hello? Is this thing on?” a voice said.

He
sighed. “Yes who is this?” he asked.

“This
is chief medical officer Nara Thorby I am looking for the guest of the Valdez
family?” She sounded stuffy.

“Speaking.”
The Admiral didn't volunteer anything. He wasn't sure if what had happened to
the goons had filtered to the Port Admiral or not, but the most likely path was
through sickbay given the injuries he inflicted.

“Yes,
well, um, I was going over your entry records and we have no record of your
medical files. We need a medical scan for our records. Please come to sickbay
right away,” she said the last with a hint of arrogance of her rank. He nodded.

“Right
away doctor.” He closed up the tool box, rinsed his hands under the
ultrasonics, then put his toolbox into his room.

“Any
indications of trouble?” he asked.

“Do
you mean is this a trap?” Sprite asked. “No idea,” she replied after a moment
of calculation. “Voice analysis does not indicate malice. There is a hint of
curiosity, and a little anxiety,” Sprite reported, opening a window to display
the timbre changes on his HUD. He waved it away.

“Power
reserves are at ninety three point two four percent Admiral. Good thing you
recharged last night,” Defender reported. 

He
snorted. “All right, let's not keep the lady waiting. Sprite plot me a course.”
He locked up as he exited the module.

“I
don't think any of the Valdez clan thought to give you that code. Glad I did.”
Sprite sounded smug. He looked around the corridor, feeling his long range
sensors sweep the shadows for trouble, and then nodded.

“They're
going to be curious about how I got it. Remind me to make some more repairs to
the module electronics so they can draw the proper conclusion,” he said softly
as he passed a thread barren beggar lying on the floor.

“Is
it just me or is it a lot chillier in here than in the module?” the Admiral
asked watching his breath in front of him. “Dimmer too.” He looked around.

“Gravity,
lights, heat, and life support have been severely cut in the lower decks
Admiral. I've managed to keep a trickle of power going above what Ops are
letting us have,” Sprite reported. He grunted.

“Is
the trickle only to us?” he asked as he made it to the deck lift. An old man
stared as he punched the security code in and the doors ground open. He waved.
“Need a lift?” he asked. The old man shook his head vehemently then seemed to
reconsider. He shuffled forward then sat down heavily and shook his head.
Iron's jaw tightened.