New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (22 page)

He nodded. "What do you
mean?" he asked as he set the tool kit down and studied the compartment.
It had the usual mix of grime and wear, but also mixed with fluttering tufts of
fur.

"The empire started growing
about a hundred years ago. We didn't even hear about them until three years
ago. They started with a pair of freighters, but they're growing," she
explained. She pulled a rag out of her bag and began wiping a vent cover.
"I think they started some nasty bigotry about that time too." He
froze, making a mental connection and not liking it one bit. "What
sort?" he asked quietly. He carefully wiped the control surface, leaving
streaks of grime.

"People started picking on
aliens. I mean non humans."  Jennie replied in irritation and then sighed.
"I don't understand it, they're in this mess right along with us, why make
trouble?" she grumbled as she unscrewed the vent cover plate.

He grunted. "It's an old,
ancient social dynamic." She looked at him so did the guards. "We
have a history of resenting those different from us. Most species go through it
at one time or another; humans have a tenacity to hang onto it though," he
sighed and turned to them.

"People wanting power use it
too," he explained, eyes hard.

Jennie fumbled her screwdriver.
"What do you mean, people in power?" she asked.

"Well, people like Hitler,
Mao Senjun, and the Xeno’s," he said darkly. The three of them had blank
looks. "Each of them blamed people different then the baseline to the
public during times of social depression. Over time they built a following and
rose to power. People always need someone else to blame." He said with a
grim look.

"And they would take out
their frustrations on the ones they picked on," he continued after a
moment. He shook his head.

"Oh," Jennie said
softly.

"I don't understand, the
Talasians were nice people, a littler reserved, and they looked weird, but they
helped out here, they even spoke basic!" one of the guards said. He looked
up with tired, world weary eyes.

"It doesn't matter to a
bigot. All they care about is using them as an excuse to gain power, or hurt
them," Irons replied.

She blanched. "That's
sick," the other guard said.

He nodded. "Yeah, it is.
Without someone else around, bigger and stronger, they could grow into a big
problem," he said. Jennie nodded.

"Yeah, I always wondered
about all the pirates. There's a lot more of them lately," she said. He
jacked in then digested that simple statement.

"Probably bad. If it's
linked to the bigots, they could be using piracy to fund their activities to
gain power," Irons replied. The guards gave him a long look. "They
steal from other colonies, blaming them for their lot in life and justifying it
anyway they can. Then share the booty with the public at home. It keeps the
public on the hook, sharing in the guilt and building resentment for the
victims," he explained. One of the guards grunted.

The galley was the usual mad
house for lunch. He was amused to see a line at both the counter and the food
replicators. A girl was busy busing tables, looking rather flustered as she
stacked dirty dishes onto a cart. He shook his head. "Have a seat Admiral;
be with you in a minute," she said. He sat and watched the group. The
girls in line chattered gossip, a few glanced his way. He nodded politely.
"Here you go Admiral," the waitress said. He started to turn but his
eyes locked onto the ceramic mug the waitress set in front of him.

"That's different," he
observed. He picked it up by the handle and turned it around.

"You like it? It's from New
Haven," she said. She curtsied and left.

He admired the rich red and black
painting on the front. It was quite beautiful, with some hint of yellows in the
sunset. "Nice." He took a sip and then took another look at the
waitress. "Bit early for beer though," he snorted.

"Admiral, you've just
ingested traces of lead and mercury." Proteus reported.

 He looked over to the stein and
carefully set it down. "Poison?" he asked. He glanced at the mug
warily.

"Not enough to be lethal in
those doses," Proteus responded. "But they build up over time."
He nodded.

"Source?" He glanced to
the kitchen.

"Checking historical
records..." Sprite replied. That was unusual, Irons thought. He sighed and
sat back as Sprite scrolled images and text on his HUD. "Found it, New
Haven. According to the records they are a recent addition to the circuit. They
export ceramics, as well as paint."

He nodded tracing a finger on the
outside of the stein. "Proteus check the levels of toxicity at my finger
tip," he murmured. He felt someone behind him. Defender brought up a rear
view of the girl busing tables.

"Accessing. Nanites
deployed. Samples acquired....processing...one moment. Testing complete. The
lead and mercury is in the paint and glass like substance," Proteus
reported. He nodded.

"I have a reference Admiral,
actually two of them. The first comes from a historical database, the other
from a holo novel," Sprite replied.

He blinked. "Holo
novel?" He heard a clatter of plates behind him and instinctively turned.
The blue haired girl was blushing furiously as she picked up broken plates from
the ground around the cart. "Correct. Historical drama. It seems to be
accurate. The novel is about a Renaissance painter who uses vermilion, a basic
red shade," the AI reported. He nodded. "It has high concentrations
of mercury, which causes poisoning over time. The painter got it from licking
his brush tips."

The Admiral made a face.
"And the lead?" he asked.

Sprite scrolled up a reference
then played it back at normal speed. "According to the full version of the
Encyclopedia Galactica you uploaded, lead was used in early formulas for paint,
glass, and pottery glaze," Sprite concluded. He grunted.

"Okay,” he said. He looked
over to the girl looking at him oddly. He smiled at her confusion.
"Wireless communicator," he said in way of explanation. Her face
cleared. "Make a note to alert the doctor and purser," he murmured.
He watched as another person got her dinner and then stood by the counter.

In a moment she received another
platter. Carefully she juggled it with her own to his table. "Hungry
Admiral?" she asked. He nodded, not surprised it was Jennie.

"Thanks Jen, I'm
famished."

She set the platters down and
grinned. "I'm not surprised since you worked an entire shift without
eating!" she teased. He chuckled as he picked up a fork.

"So why isn't he here?"
the Captain asked, annoyed.

"I believe he's trying to
recalibrate the starboard sensor arrays," Molly answered, looking up from
her tablet. "Navigation said they're out of alignment still."

The tiny black haired navigator
gave a confirming nod. "To calibrate them properly he said we need to launch
a buoy at fixed distances, but we can't do it now, so he's trying to do the
best he can until we can," she explained. She gave the Captain a nod. 

"Page him, I want him
here," the Captain ordered, giving the security Chief a commanding look.
The blue haired Amazon tried to glare, but failed.

"As you wish Captain,"
she muttered after a moment. She flipped open her communicator and made a call.

The Captain looked up and around.
"While we wait, let’s see how things are going. How is our fuel supply holding
up?" she asked as she turned to Leri.

The white haired woman smiled.
"A lot better since we sealed the breached tanks and patched the leaks.
We're at forty two percent," she replied.

The Captain nodded. "And the
sensors? You mentioned something about recalibrating them?" She turned to
Shandra with an inquiring eye.

Shandra nodded. "We're still
having problems with the starboard sensors and of course we haven't tested the
repairs to the hyper sensors, but overall we're doing better than I have ever
seen." She flicked the tablet controls for a moment. The lights dimmed and
a hologram appeared over the table. Some of the department heads gasped. Taki
sat back, chewing on her toothpick. Leri looked like a kid in a candy store,
flicking her hand back and forth through the hologram.

"Well, it looks like you've
been busy," the Captain commented, taking a sip of her tea.

"Oh not me Captain, the
engineer did this. He just showed me how to use it," Shandra admitted. She
gave a shrug to the security Chief who glared. She used her hands to turn the
projector. "You see, this is our ship," she explained. She pointed to
the center icon. "Port sensors are on line, and we have a running plot
here." She cupped the port side of the ship.

"What's that fuzz on the
other side?" Leri asked.

"That's the starboard side.
Like we explained, the sensors are out of alignment so we need to fix
them."

She pointed to the planet.
"Once we get things sorted out we'll be in much better shape. I doubt any
pirate could sneak up on us." She gave a triumphant look the Chief as she
sat back.

"Indeed," the Captain
said, hiding her smile with her cup. "And what about the internal
sensors?" her gravelly voice didn't quite hide a note of satisfaction.

"We're making progress
there, but they don't have the same priority as the exterior sensors. Those are
a lot simpler to make and install," Shandra said as she touched the
controls on her tablet. A moment later a deck plan of the ship came up.
Sections of the ship were color coded in blue, green, yellow, and red.
"The red areas are areas of the ship without sensors or that are open to
space," Shandra shivered. "Yellow means areas with limited coverage.
Blue and green mean ninety to one hundred percent coverage."

She pointed to an icon.
"See, that's Jennie, the engineer and Tara coming now." The icon
approached the door to the conference room. The chime sounded.
"Enter!" Shandra called out triumphantly, ignoring the glare from the
Chief. The door whooshed open and the trio entered.

"Reporting as ordered
Captain. Do you need something fixed?" Jennie asked, brandishing her
toolbox and tossing the Captain a jaunty salute with her free hand.

The Captain smiled. "I
wanted to hear how you three are doing. It seems we have you to thank for a lot
of our miracles on board lately," her gravely voice had a hint of approval
in it. Jennie blushed. The Captain glanced at the guard. "You can go Tara.
He's safe enough with us."

Tara glanced at her boss, then
came to attention and about faced out of the compartment. The Chief's face
became wooden. "So, you were recalibrating the starboard sensors?"
the Captain asked, ignoring the Chief.

Jennie nodded. "Well, trying
too. We really need to get a buoy out to do it right." She blushed a
little then glanced up at the engineer who nodded.

"That's the best way to do
it in the field with the equipment on hand. Once we get it sorted out at fixed
distances we can calibrate it to the moons and planets in the system using the
database as a reference," he explained. Of course he left out the part
where they would probably have to replace a lot of the sensors. Jennie bounced
a bit. "We have a buoy on the list, but it's not a priority. We were talking
about working on the next project until the list gets to it."

Molly winced. "It's quite a
list. Going to be a while," she looked apologetically to the engineer who
shrugged.

"I expected it. We might get
away with using the shuttle craft," he said.

One of the women looked up.
"What do you mean?" she asked coolly.

He shrugged. "Use it in
place of the buoy. Send it out at a fixed distance. We have the specs on file,
so we can use it to do a rough calibration," he explained. She nodded.

"Is that a what do you call
it, squid?" Molly asked.

Jennie looked over to the open
hatch door. "No, it's an epsilon octopus. Well, technically, it isn't an
octopus since it has a dozen arms instead of eight."  It felt good to know
something someone else didn't.

She watched the creature flit
about in the air. "How is it moving?" Molly asked, watching it.

"Are those spikes?"
Another girl came in following Molly.

Another followed. "What are
you watching?" she asked. The octopus creature settled on the projected
ocean floor and changed color and texture.

"Hey where did it go?"
the last one asked bewildered.

The Admiral came in behind her.
"Checking the alien archives?" he asked with a smile. He nodded to
Molly and Jennie. Jennie nodded and switched the holo projector off.

"So what was that?"
Trisha asked.

"Epsilon octopus. Well, not
really an octopus, but you get the idea," Jennie explained as she took her
seat. She looked up to the Admiral who nodded.

"They're...excuse me,"
he sighed in familiar pain. "They
were
," he emphasized the
were. "were a sentient water dwelling species, one of five in the
Federation."

The girls looked amazed.
"Like the Dolphins and Ssilli?" Molly asked.

He nodded. "They were quite
amazing actually; some may still exist in oceans of the colonies...if they ever
made it there."

He grimaced.. "They were
primitive tool users when the Telerites found them. Apparently an illicit
trading outpost was established. We didn't hear about it until the Ssilli got
wind of it. They weren't happy,” he said ruefully. He shook his head rueful.

"Why?" one of the girls
asked.

"Well, we, excuse me. The
Federation
had just passed the prime directive, which means any species not
of a certain level of civilization should not be contacted, and not given
technology above their current level."

He walked behind the desk and set
a tablet down. He pulled out a computer module. "Interestingly enough, the
Telerites didn't know they were sentient for years, only when one of the water
dwellers came out of the water with a spear did they even take notice." He
shook his head chuckling softly. "The octopi are like the Terran octopi.
They can change their skin color and texture. Each of their arms is a
decentralized neural network, capable of rudimentary decision making. They
could do a lot, but when action was required like moving, the central neural
network and cerebral cortex could override them."