New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (11 page)

He smiled as he unscrewed the
broken screen. “This one is broken, so I can pull it.” He finished unscrewing
it then pulled it out. He unhooked the cable and pushed it back. “Okay, one
down.” He set it aside and went to the next.

Molly looked to what he was
doing. “Pulling the broken screens?” she asked. He looked up and nodded. “Okay,
I'll get the other side,” she said as  she moved to the other station.

“Just don't jog my elbow.” The
helms woman said.

Molly nodded. “Definitely not.”
She started in with the communication station. Trisha watched her for a few
moments, handing her tools, then took a screwdriver and went to work on the
engineering station.

"So, you’re using a civilian
grade navigational module?" Irons asked as he worked.

Shandra nodded, hands carefully
guiding the joystick. "The Captain got it from a wreck. The one built into
this ship was dead," she explained.

He nodded. "The purge,"
he said. He looked over to the module. It had been plugged into the universal
ports, and then strips had been tack welded around it to strap it to the deck.

"Purge?" Shandra asked.

"When the ship was damaged
beyond immediate repair the Captain and ship's AI purged the net. They wiped
the navigational systems, star charts, science sections, and ram to keep it out
of enemy hands."

He waved to the damaged system.
"When we finish rebuilding the network hardware, I'll clone the civilian
module into the new one and compile it with the data I have and what we pick up
on sensors from now on," he explained.

She looked confused. "Clone?
I thought cloning was a thing you do in medicine?"

He chuckled. "Well, when
computer tech was in its infancy, a lot of medical terminology... That means
words, came into it because they meant similar things. Like viruses. And
cloning."

She nodded in sudden
understanding. "A clone is an exact copy. We can leave the old hardware
right there as a backup in case the new one fails or is damaged," he said.
She nodded again.

"That would probably be
good, but the Purser may want to trade it," she cautioned.

He shrugged. "Not my
decision."

 "So, if most of the ram and
AI are gone, how do we have computer software and records?" she asked
suddenly.

He looked up. "Well, some of
it's hardwired into the systems. Some were copied when people plugged things
in. Some of it came from me." She gave him a long look. "I have a
moderate storage capacity," he explained as he tapped his right chest
area.

"There's a crystal hard
drive in there, about a quint of data storage. Most of it's engineering stuff,
manuals, stripped down Encyclopedia Galactica, and such. Also my lectures and
military matters," he said.

She nodded. "I was wondering
where you were getting the images and stuff, you never have time to make it,
some people were saying you were a god."

He chuckled. "No, a mere
mortal, with a few tools," he replied. She snorted.

“Okay, another one? What are
these for?” the tech asked as she stacked the LCD's carelessly.

The other tech grabbed it before
it could slide off. “Careful you ninny!” She gave her a look and then pulled
the LCD off the pile and onto her cart. The hatch opened and a girl came in
pushing a cart dripping with broken parts.

“Okay, so where does all this
go?” The blond asked.

“Um, I don't know...” The
incoming girl looked them over. “Didn't you read the chart? Scorn dripped from
her voice. “The bridge dummy, we're working there today.”

The replicator tech looked up
alarmed. “Oh. Wait! Isn't that dangerous?” she asked.

“We're fixing the stuff that
isn't working, and pulling the broken stuff.” She looked the two over
scornfully.

“Oh. Well, I didn't know,” the
tech was affronted.

 The blue haired girl took the
loaded cart and sniffed. “Make sure you recycle those. We're going to need it.”
She pushed the cart out.

The replicator tech turned to the
parts girl. “Someone is putting on airs,” she said as she shook her head wryly
as she fed pieces into the vat.

The other sniffed. “Snot.”

She shook her head. “She didn't
have to be a bitch about it.”

"So you’re the sparks of the
ship?” He turned to a grinning crew member.

“Sparks?” the communications tech
asked, clearly confused by the term. He nodded. "Communications
tech," he explained.

Her face cleared. "Oh
yes," she nodded; hand on her communication rig covering her ears. He
smiled. “Mickey mouse ears gave you away,” he said.

She looked confused, touching the
earpieces again. “Oh. Okay,” she said, sounding distracted. He chuckled.

“Why is there only the one holo
display? And why is the hull green?” Jennie looked over to the tech and raised
an eyebrow. She blushed.

He waved to Jennie before she
could tell her to be quiet. “There are only three holographic displays because
it takes a lot of power to project them, and they lack the fine detail that a
2D display can do. That's why we have LCDs, as well as the clear glass LCDs,”
he explained. She hadn't seen the micro holographic emitters apparently. He
pointed to each on the bridge. “Also, things can be lost or misinterpreted in
the depths of 3D,” he explained. He pointed to the plot, and then waved his
hands to indicate the walls. “The green is a psych thing, it makes people more
relaxed and at home. Personally, I prefer battleship gray.” The girls chuckled
with him.

"Shandra is it?" Irons
asked. They had been on the bridge for a while now, almost an entire shift. The
girls had made him take some time off for a meal. The girl looked up and
nodded. "Do you think you can handle a higher note?"

She looked confused, then
excited. "You mean hyper?" she asked. He nodded.

"Just bump up a note to
G," he suggested.

She nodded and took a bite from
her fork. "Why?"

He set his tray down. "Well
for one thing, it'll get us to our destination a lot faster."

She looked him over while
stirring her salad. She picked out a cucumber slice then took a bite.
"There are more reasons?" she asked eyes twinkling.

"Well, right now in the low
alpha band we aren't getting much time compression, and therefore we aren't
getting a lot of free electrons to the hyper collectors. If we can bump up a
note or two, we can double our power input," he explained.

She looked confused. "But
won’t that take power?" she asked.

He nodded. "Initially, but
the higher note means an exponential increase in electron collection. Once
we're there we can use the power to run the drive."

She nodded. "I'll take it to
the Captain. Are you sure we're up for it? I thought we had a lot of structural
damage?" she asked.

He took a bite of his sandwich.
He chewed for a moment then swallowed and nodded. "We can handle another
note. I'm not comfortable going into beta band without more work and without
more training," he said.

Her eyes lit and she bounced in
her chair. "You’re serious aren't you? Beta!"

One of the other girls shook her
head. "We'll never get this rust bucket that high!"

The Admiral waved it off.
"Oh sure we can, we just need to complete some repairs first. This is a
military ship, she can handle it," he said, the galley had gotten quiet as
he explained.

"With this ship's
replicators we can fully restore her. Once she's back on line, and with the
right skills, you can take her all the way up into the A note of Gamma if you
can handle it," he said, looking around the compartment.

Shandra's eyes were wide.
"Oh my goddess." Someone dropped a fork. Then the murmuring began.
The chatter grew and grew. He ignored it to take another bite.

 When he swallowed he held up a
hand. The chattering quieted. "So you see ladies, with a lot of work, and
some learning, you can have the fastest ship in the galaxy," he said with
a hint of challenge in his voice. The cheers rang the compartment. The guards
looked concerned for a moment, but Tara's face broke into a grin.

"Can we fix the shuttles
too?" a girl asked.

He gave the small blond girl a
nod. "Sure, I don't see why not. You can make more too," he said. Her
eyes danced. She grabbed another girl and hugged her.

He finished the sandwich as the
compartment rang with happy chatter. He bussed his tray to the counter and
followed Shandra out. "Well, that went well," he murmured.

"Can we really do it?"
Shandra asked.

 "Think you can handle
it?" he asked, another hint of challenge in his voice.

She straightened. "I come
from a long line of spacers, I'll do it."

He nodded. "Okay, bring it
to the Captain, I'll be in engineering." He waved as Tara escorted him
off.

A few minutes later the Captain
came on over the overhead. "Admiral, do you really think we can do
this?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

He looked around to the watching
crew then nodded. "Yes Captain, we're ready when you are," he said,
knowing Sprite would open the channel.

There was a pause. "Very
well then," the gravel voice replied.

In a moment Molly looked up from
her console. "Power is increasing, ten terawatts, ten point one, we have
transition! We're in G note! Power is leveling off, and dropping!" she
said as she looked up astonished.

He smiled. "We can dial back
the reactor now, to say thirty percent," he suggested. She nodded,
punching in commands.

"With this speed our
adjusted time of arrival is four point five months," Lessa the navigator
on duty reported. Some of the crew cheered at that.

"Good work ladies,
Admiral," the Captain drawled. "They can fix the drive but can't fix
my chair...” she grumbled good naturedly as she cut off the overhead.

Molly grinned. "So, now we
work on getting her into the next note?" she demanded.

The Admiral nodded. "But
first, let’s check the systems for any instability or damage. Once we're done,
we can start working on the next set of priorities," he suggested.

Molly grimaced. "That could
take hours!" She stood up and stretched. He gave her a long studying look.
"Okay okay, I know when I'm beat," she said. She sat back down.
"I'll check the power systems while you focus on navigation, Jennie, check
the computers. Trish..."

"Life support, yup already
on it," Trish chirped with a smile.

"Show off," Molly
muttered.

"I've got no issues with the
sub-light drive. Replicators are on line. No issues with deck two," Crew members
began to call out their reports.

"People, let’s get
organized. Check your station, see that green box?" Irons asked. The girls
looked. “Type in your report, it will go to Molly and the bridge," he
said. The girls nodded.

A few pecked at the virtual
keyboards, a few looked tentative or confused. Their crew mates helped them.
"Okay, either some are having trouble, or weren't doing their jobs
right," he murmured to Molly.

Molly grimaced. "I had a
feeling some couldn't read," she sighed. "Just another thing to work
on." She glanced over the reports. "We have a plasma leak on deck
five, and sickbay is reporting two casualties," she said, now sounding
concerned. He shook his head.

"Damn," Molly grimaced
a moment later. "They look to be minor," she said, eyes scanning as
more information was added to the report.

He tapped his internal schematic,
and then fed it to the screen behind him. He turned and traced his fingers over
the plasma conduits. "Okay, the breech is here, so..."

Molly looked over.
"Rerouting EPS now," she said. She tapped in the controls.
"Ashley, lock down EPS relay... five on deck four and EPS junction valve
2A on deck five," she ordered.

The blue haired girl looked up
then nodded. "I got it," she said professionally. She tapped at her
controls.

"Breach has been contained.
Looks like a pinhole leak," Molly said as she sighed in relief. Crisis
averted for now she thought.

"I'll check it out when the
area has been vented," the Admiral muttered.

"Obviously we need to work
on the EPS a bit more before we go any higher," Molly said.

He sighed. "Yeah."

"It'll be a couple more days
before we can get into note A. We need to make a few adjustments." Molly
looked over to Shandra who nodded eagerly. "We're moving at a faster clip,
it's a bit harder to keep in control." The deck shivered.

"Amazing that you've made
such progress so soon," the Captain nodded to Molly.

"Oh we're just getting
started! Once we nail down the shield frequency issue, and that plasma leak we
should be in A note... If all goes well we could shave another couple of weeks
off our journey time!" Shandra grinned. "Won’t they be surprised to
see us!" she said excitedly as she sat back, sipping her tea.

"Yes, won't they. How soon
are we going to arrive?" the purser asked suddenly.

The raven haired navigator Lessa
looked at her notes. "At current speed, um, in four months." She
looked up.

"And what season will it be
there?" Vanessa asked.

"Um...” The woman tapped at
the tablet. "Um..."

"Here let me," Shandra
leaned over and tapped in the query. They both looked up after a moment.
"Mid fall."

The Captain netted her fingers
together. "Just in time for harvest eh?" she smiled. "That
worked out well," she said. She gave the purser a knowing smile. "If we
can get into the next note we can shave another two to two and a half weeks off
our time," Molly replied as she adjusted her glasses.

She rubbed at her bicep.
"Sore?" The doctor asked.

"Oh, I strained it. It'll be
fine in a couple of days," she shrugged. The ship shuddered. "I'd
like to get us to the A note, according to the Admiral it's the sweet spot of
each band," she said. She stood up. "I need to get going, I have to
check on the EPS conduits to deck five. Something there is hinky."