Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (14 page)

“You
go on without me,” the old man's withered voice said. The Admiral's jaw
tightened.

“Bump
up...”

“The
life support and heat, got it Admiral, I will do what I can. This deck is
getting ten percent more power in the Valdez compound over the rest of the cut
off areas. If word spreads...” Sprite left the thought for him to draw the
natural conclusion. He sighed.

“Right,
we're going to have company. A lot of it. What is the station's current
capacity?” he asked as the lift shifted to the left then continued its climb.

“Three
thousand three hundred give or take a dozen. It all depends on age, size,
gender...” Sprite started but he waved it off.

“Right,
okay, and current census?” He asked.

“Roughly
fifteen thousand I would estimate Admiral.” Sprite said quietly. He sucked in a
breath.

“We've
got five times the people we can support... I guess I should have been focusing
on the bigger picture instead of a damn dishwasher.” His voice was full of
anger and annoyance at himself. He'd let himself get distracted from the big
picture by his own desire for creature comforts.

“Not
your fault Admiral. We don't have sufficient data or access,” Sprite responded.

“Then
I should have gotten it!” he replied balling his fists and looking at the
bulkhead as he fought his emotions.

“How
soon until we start losing people?” he asked softly after a moment.

“A
couple hours for the decks that have been totally cut off,” Sprite reported.
“What about the asteroid we brought in?” he asked.

“Twenty
percent processed, but the luxury quarters are sucking most of the energy up.
Ops as well. In this sort of situation I do not see the logic in the wasteful
energy practices they are currently employing,” she responded. He felt a
gathering storm of anger then shook his head trying to fight it off.

The
lift ground to a jerk making him bounce before it settled to a stop. The doors
opened smoothly. A pair of guards on either side of the door looked in and
stared. “Buddy you got the wrong floor,” one of them said, hand on his pulser.

“Nope,
the chief medical officer ordered me to come by,” he looked at them. Defender
started his shields but he was focused on the guards. “I have an appointment.”
He started forward. One pushed him back with a hand to his chest.

“Just
a minute there dumb ass.”

He
took out a wand and started to scan him. The readouts went wild. He stepped
back and pulled his weapon. His partner followed suit. “Gentlemen, why don't
you put the pea shooters away, I'm not in the mood,” the Admiral snarled.
Warily they looked at him as one called for backup.

“The
reason your wand went off is because of my implants,” the Admiral said
casually. They looked at him in disbelief for a moment then snorted.

“Pull
the other one grandpa now stay put and don't move,” the leader snarled. The
Admiral shook his head.

Silently
he sent a neural impulse to his right arm, having it morph. He watched their
eyes widen. “As I was saying, my implants are the reason your security measure
went off.” Several more guards came running up. He looked them over.

“That's
the ass wipe that took Berneky apart,” one of them stage whispered.

“He
moves shoot him,” another said.

The
Admiral sighed. “Gentlemen, you’re starting to get on my nerves.” He gave them
a look he usually reserved for dire emergencies when obedience was needed.
Several gulped.

The
pitter patter of feet filled the sudden quiet. He looked to his left to see a
doctor in a smudged but serviceable white smock come up and wave them off.
“He's invited! Knock it off!” She waved as she got between the guards and the
Admiral. Reluctantly several stepped back.

“Are
you the doctor?” the Admiral asked. She turned and stared at his arm. He smiled
grimly then sent a command to morph it back to normal.

She
returned to the guards. “Stand down.” She grabbed the Admiral by the left arm
and half dragged him out of the lift and down the corridor.

“Well,
that was interesting,” he said. Her chuckle had a slight hysterical edge.

“In
answer to your earlier question, no, I didn't request you, I am Doctor Wanda
Harvest. Doctor Thorby sent me out as an escort.” She shook her head. “I was
supposed to meet you on your floor but I was delayed by a... well never mind.”
She led him down the corridor, making several turns passing well dressed people
and then down another series of corridors.

“This
place is a bit brighter and cleaner than the other decks,” the Admiral observed
dryly. “With heat too.” He looked at his escort. She was sweating.

“Yeah,
you get used to it. This is what the entire station should be if the lazy
people in engineering could get their acts together.” She waved her hands for a
moment then blushed. “Oh sorry.” He shook his head. They entered a door with a
giant red cross on it.

“We're
here,” she said unnecessarily. She motioned him past the ogress posing as a
nurse at the front desk and down an adjoining hall. “This way.” She waved him
into a corridor with a series of doors.

She
went down several doors then paused at an open one. “The doctor will be here to
see you shortly.” She motioned to him to enter. Sheepishly and a little amused,
he did. He examined the stark blank walls, metal stool, and examination chair
as she closed the door.

“Sprite?”
he asked.

“Scanning.
No weapons detected in range. No sign of sleepy gas emitters either. No energy
signs beyond low power medical or life support,” she responded. He nodded. “And
the computer?” he asked.

“One
moment... ping sent... Now that is interesting!” He sighed as she paused. He
closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall.

“What?”
he asked when she didn't respond in an appropriate interval of time.

“Oh
sorry Admiral, I'm in. Wi-Fi node in the hall is functional. It is hard wired
to a central net that is outside the normal station net. It is a sickbay
computer. Hmmm... Typical civilian firewall and passwords.”

She
opened a window. “They didn't even use a DNA or optical scanning lock, it's a
simple eight character keygen password... cracked. I'm in. Not much beyond
doctor's notes on patients and some teaching texts.” She seemed disappointed.
He shook his head.

“There
are a couple additional databases, one on medical literature, another on
training, and another on personnel. Do you wish for me to access anything?”
Sprite asked.

“No,
wait, yes, check the patient and personnel files, log the names, faces, and
relevant data for later. Get me a chain of command report so we can start
shaking things up. Then check the system over and debug any errors you find.
Set up a bot to run routine maintenance as well. Restore their firewall.
Exchange data with the data module while you’re at it.” He shook his head. “Any
day now...” he sighed patiently, looking at the door.

“Nurse
incoming. She's pushing a small equipment rack, looks like equipment to take
vitals,” Sprite reported after a few minutes. He was impatient and tried to
hide it as the door opened.

“I'll
just be taking your vitals then the doctor will see you in a few minutes. She
is with another patient. Please have a seat.” She indicated the medical chair.
He sat on the edge.

“All
right,” he said amused. His lips quirked in a smile.

With
expert hands she hooked up the BP cuff to the machine then wrapped the cuff
around his right arm. “Miss you’re not going to get a reading with that
there...” He laughingly tried to ward her off but she hushed him. She pressed
the button and stuck a probe in his mouth. He sighed and tried not to smile.

“Hush.
We're taking your vital readings so the doctor has a baseline to compare. Not
that people in the sticks have ever done that. I bet you've never been in a
real hospital in your life let alone met a real doctor. You’re going to meet
the best doctor in the galaxy so you be on your best behavior....” She continued
dithering on until the machine beeped.

She
pulled the probe out of his mouth and he looked at her amused as she looked
confused at the equipment monitor. “Spirit of space what's wrong with this
thing now!” She tapped the buttons. The cuff re-inflated. He chuckled.

“I
could save us both a lot of trouble. BP is one twenty over seventy five, pulse
is sixty eight; temperature is ninety eight point seven degrees Fahrenheit.
Weight is eighty kilos, two point one grams. Height is one hundred and seventy
nine centimeters,” he tried to explain to her back. She turned about.

“Now
how do you know that?” she asked amused. “Did someone tell you that or did you
see it in a movie?” she asked. She tapped the controls and they again reported
an error. She frowned.

“Well,
first off, you’re using antiquated equipment even in my time. Second, you’re
using it on the wrong arm.” He flexed his right arm, and then held up his left.
“This one is the real one.” He wiggled his fingers. She looked at him confused.
He shook his head as he keyed the morph program.

She
reared back with a screech, knocking over the stool and equipment kart. He
tried hard not to laugh as she fell on her ass. She screeched again then
crawled past him and ran out. He shook his head. “Does this mean I can go?” he
called after her leaning forward.

“Admit
it. You so enjoyed it,” Sprite said sounding maliciously amused.

Pounding
feet answered his reply. “I guess that means no,” he chuckled as a burly male
orderly came in.

“What's
going on here?” he asked. The Admiral chuckled, waving his cybernetic arm. The
orderly stared, backing away.

“I
was trying to explain why she wasn't getting any readings and had to
demonstrate.” The Admiral shrugged as he morphed his arm back to normal.

“That,
thhaat's not possible!” the man stuttered, eyes wide. “Doc! Doctor Harvest! Doc
Standish! Doc Thorby! Somebody!!” he called over his shoulder then backed out
hastily as the Admiral removed his BP cuff and stood. “Wait here now,” the man
said nervously hand out, palm up.

“As
amusing as this is, I really do have better things to be doing right now,” the
Admiral replied. More footfalls sounded in the hallway. The nurse returned
pointing rather agitatedly at him. Another nurse was with her, as well as a red
haired doctor. “Hhhis arm it cha cha changged.” She waved frantic.

“It
wasn't like that!” She threw her hands out pointing as the nurse and doctor
looked from her to the Admiral and back. Then they looked at the first orderly
who nodded confirmation. The Admiral chuckled.

“Would
it save us all a bit of trouble to let you know I am a sleeper from another
time?” he asked. He held up his right arm again and the first nurse shrank back
with a moan. The Admiral tried hard not to sigh.

“Superstition
on a space station from medical personnel? Now I've seen everything,” he said
dryly. He shook his head. “Miss, it's a cybernetic limb. I have three
actually.” He morphed the arm once more. The red haired doctor stared at him
while the others goggled.

“It's
a bit more advanced then the mainstream cybernetics were during the early
stages of the Xeno war. Experimental actually. I can't get into the technical
details even at this late a date.” He smiled as his hand morphed back.

“Are
you Doctor Nara Thorby?” He turned to the red haired woman. Sprite lit a green
light on his HUD. She nodded. “Care to let me know why I am here?” he asked
politely. “I do have work to do, it seems the station has a power crisis.” He
waved as the light flickered.

“Angie,
go check on the life support equipment and the tank, make sure that hiccup
didn't cause a problem.” She physically grabbed the hysterical nurse and turned
her by the shoulders then pushed her away. The nurse glanced back once then
moved off rapidly.

“Ben,
I got this, go back to your duties.” She patted the burly orderly on the
shoulder. The orderly nodded and left glancing back at him until he was around
a corner and out of sight. “Mandy, why don't you...” She turned to the last
nurse.

“Right,
go check on Logan, then check to make sure Angie and Ben settle down.” She
walked off shaking her head.

“You'd
think a cybernetic implant wouldn't shake up a nurse,” the Admiral said softly.
The red haired doctor gave him a sharp look then sighed. She took the ancient
stethoscope in her hands and stuffed it in her breast pocket.

“Let's
talk in my office.” She waved him to the door.

“Sure.”
He stepped out then down the hall.

“You
know where you’re going?” she asked amused.

“I
have the station's blueprints in my memory Doc. Unless you changed things,
that's a storage closet, over there is the corridor to surgery, there is the
primary nursing station, there is a break room, and here is your office.” He
pointed to doors and corridors ending up at a hard wood door.

She
gasped a little then chuckled. “My you are efficient.” She smiled then passed
him and entered the room. He followed. “Close the door and take a seat,” she
ordered. He turned and closed the door as she moved around the desk and sat
down picking up a tablet.