New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (53 page)

"That's great. What about
the engines?" Molly asked.

She sobered. "Well, we're in
the middle of the first overhaul cycle; it'll be a while before they're
finished. I just hope nothing nasty comes knocking before they're back
up," Jen said and then shivered.

 "Well, fortunately the
neutrino and tachyon detectors are on line, so we should be okay," Molly
answered, looking over her board. "Wow! He even fixed the hyperdrive! If
this is right, we should be going into the B note of Beta when we leave
here!" Her voice was filled with awe.

"Really?" Jennie leaned
over studying the screen's read outs. "That's amazing!"

“We need a lot more structural
repairs before we can get to Gamma though,” Molly sighed.

“You always have to take the
downside and be a wet blanket,” Jen grumped.

He reached down and petted the
tom in his lap. The cat raised its head, accepting the praise and then laid it
back down, closing its eyes in contentment. "Are you here because your
motor needs a tune up?" he teased, smiling softly.

Molly chuckled. He looked over to
her. She had a kitten in her lap. "I never get over how cute they
are," she said.

He nodded. "I'm glad the
Captain kept up the tradition," he said. She shrugged.

"Well, we didn't have them
at first, but when a shipment of grain ended up bringing stowaway rats, we
didn't have a choice," she wrinkled her nose. Jennie leaned over her seat
and looked at her display. She pointed to a readout, murmured an okay, then
left. "The purser wasn't happy, she didn't see a profit, but when a rat
fried itself in the deck four wiring, she saw the light," she giggled
suddenly. "Or should I say didn't? After all it cut the lights in that
section."

He chuckled. "I bet she
likes trading the kits though," he observed, stroking the soft pelt. She
nodded.

"But getting them away from
Dorah is a pain!" she replied with a grimace. She shook her head, smiling,
adjusted her glasses then looked at her display. "So, things are looking a
lot better, sensors are now aligned to within ten percent tolerance, better
than we've ever gotten. Jennie said the EVA team has finished replacing the
starboard and keel shield nodes, so we should hit the A or B note of Beta band
when we leave," she reported. He nodded.

"I said it's time for you to
leave!" a female voice snarled.

He heard a scuffle and shouts. He
rounded the corner at a trot and paused. "What's going on here?"
Sprite fed subsonics into his voice. The scuffle stopped abruptly. They sorted
themselves out into a handball team and a group of spacers. "Ladies?"
he growled. The morale officer came pounding up behind him, as did a security
team. One of the guards must have called when he had first heard the noise.

"We need to practice,"
one of the handball team members said. She like her team mates were wearing
padding of patched or improvised gear.

"So do WE!" Nancy said
looking indignant. "We have a spacewalk in an hour and need to go over the
motions," she said.

He nodded. "Good idea."
He turned to the moral officer. "Not my call though, the rec deck is your
domain," he said. She looked confused. All three women looked at him. He
grimaced at their expressions. They began to argue.

"Sprite open a channel to
the port boat bay," he said softly.

There was a click and then;
"Port aft boat bay, Michelle here. What can you do me out of today?"
the girl asked.

He smiled. "Michelle? This
is the Admiral, do you have anything scheduled in your bay for the next
hour?" he asked.

He waited as she checked.
"Um, no, a work crew is scheduled for next shift... Why?" she asked.
He watched as the trio's argument became heated. "Nancy needs a place to
practice. Do you mind?"

She cleared her throat in
surprise. "No, no problem," she said.

He nodded. "Okay, I'll send
them over there. Admiral out." Sprite closed the channel. He cleared his
throat. A second throat clearing didn't work. He smacked his hands together
with a loud clap. That did it. The trio and the others froze. "Thank you
for your attention. Nancy," he turned to her. "I just got off the
line with Michelle in the port aft boat bay, it's free and you can practice
there," he said. The moral officer looked confused. "If of course
that's okay with Miss Cortez?" he gave her an inquiring look. She looked
to the team then nodded sheepishly. "Okay, ladies, let’s get this sorted
out."

"Do you know how long we'll
be here for?" the blond tech asked Molly as she shouldered the wave guide
up.

"No idea. Probably a week or
two. I'm betting a week. Looking for shore leave?" Molly teased.

"I wouldn't mind a little.
But I think we have a lot planned right?" the tech asked.

Molly grunted and then gasped as
she slid the bolt into place. "There! Yeah, we're going to try to tear
down the hyperdrive and give it a full overhaul. We're also going to repair
those cracked spars," she replied.

Terrie blinked. "I thought
we did that already? Is it possible to break it down?" She blinked then
looked at Molly with surprise. "I didn't know anyone could do that!"

Molly smiled. "The Admiral
can. We fabricated the parts, just need to take it off line and repair it. In
fact, he's working on the hyperdrive now," she said. The ratchet slipped
through her fingers and clanged to the deck below. "Dang!" she said.

"Hey watch it!" a pixie
voice called up.

 "Can you get that for me?
Our hands are full."

A tech grumbled and handed it up.
"So, going to the class tonight?" Terrie asked.

"Oh, I already saw that one.
I am going to try to get the engineer to start a new one on wave propagation
theory in hyperspace," Molly replied.

Terrie looked confused. "Hey
wait, I missed the last two basic classes, don't get him off in a tangent. I
need to get some rest you know," she grumped.

Molly snickered. "Oh, don't
worry, I overheard him talking to Jennie, I think she's going to do the basic
course so he can work on the next step with us," she grinned. "I'm so
glad we have the chance to learn all this! Beats staring at the bulkhead or
gossiping any day!" She ran her hand over the glistening new parts.

"Yeah, there's that,"
Terrie responded.

"Do you think he'll get off
here?" she asked after a long moment. She sounded worried.

Molly shook her head. "This
is an agrarian world. The only ones who come here are us. There'd be no point
to it. The Admiral's a born spacer," she said. Terri sighed in relief.

“Admiral, can you pass me that
torch you’re using?” Trisha asked him, not looking over to where he was. He
finished the nanite weld of the AC duct then pulled his hand up so she can see
it.

“I would, but I'm kind of
attached to it if you know what I mean?” he said.

She looked over irritably then
chuckled. “Oh sorry, I forgot.”

He shook his head, smiling. “What
do you need?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I need a
tack here, here...Oops!” she said and then grunted. The duct shifted, as she
shifted her hands to point. She manhandled it back into position. “And up here.
Once it's tacked I can get my welding gear and finish the job,” she said.

He nodded. “Okay, hold it.” He
flattened his left hand onto the duct to steady it and then began to tack at
the indicated spots.

“Wow, I don't feel any heat, and
there's only a little light! How can you do that without gas or welding wire?”
she asked.

He finished the next tack and
looked up. “Nanites.” She gasped a little and reared back. He sighed. “Nanites
are robots, nothing more. I control them. They aren't going to destroy the ship
or kill everyone,” he explained.

She tried to absorb that, but he
could tell she was having trouble. “Check out the database when you go off
shift,” he said.

She nodded woodenly. “I'll do
that.”

He nodded locking eyes with her.
“See that you do.” He couldn't help slipping into command mode, He was getting
tired of the ancient fear eroding his working relationship with the crew. It
had taken some weeks to get over their phobia when they found out.

The hatch opened and the girl
reared back startled. “What's that?” She watched fascinated as fractal shapes
spun in a complex web. “Oh my!” She looked over to Shandra who was wearing a
virtual headset and had a set of goggles. “Oh wow...”

 Shandra was motioning, acting
like she was swimming. “What are you doing?” the girl asked. Shandra shushed
her. “Don't shush me!” Indignantly the girl came into the room and looked
around. “What is that?” she demanded. Shandra hit a tangle and the holo went
red then burst into a bright flare. The girl eeped and reared back.

Shandra pulled the goggles up and
glared at the intruder. “What?” she glared.

The intruder looked around
blinking furiously. “What was that?!?” she asked motioning to the holo.

Shandra shook her head.
“Simulator. Flight simulator.” She looked over to the intruder. “What do you
want?” she asked testily, setting the gloves down and picking up a glass of
water for a drink.

The girl looked around then stood
straight, shoulders back. “Sorry, the Captain asked me to find you.” She waved
to the communicator. “For some reason no one could contact you,” she said.

Shandra froze then carefully set
the glass down. “I shut it off,” she muttered. She looked over to the girl.
“Did she say what she wanted?”

The girl shook her head. “Well
you're late for the meeting...” she said.

Shandra looked up alarmed, then
to the digital time display. “Damn!” She hastily pulled the goggles off then
ran her fingers through her hair. “Damn!” She checked the mirror.

“You're fine, you better get
moving and not keep them waiting,” the girl said.

She nodded. “Crap, I didn't even
take a shower,” she muttered. She rushed out the door. The girl followed her.
They jogged down the corridors to the lift. Two other crew members told Shandra
she was late.

She grimaced. “Going to catch
it,” she sighed. In the lift she hit the bridge button and sighed again. The
messenger nodded. “So what were you doing? Flight simulator? Is that what
navigating is like?” She waved like Shandra had been doing.

Shandra nodded. “That was a
flight sim for Gamma band. Actually, the highest octave of gamma band.”

The messenger's eyes widened.
“Why?”

Shandra looked her over.
“Eventually we'll get to it.”

The girl nodded. “How did you get
that?” She cocked her head.

 Shandra grinned. “Where else?
The engineer set it up for the navigators and helm crew.” She chuckled as the
lift stopped. “My stop,” she said. The doors opened and she left.

“Good luck,” the messenger called
as she left with a wave.

Jennie handed him a fuel line
just as the shuddering began. The ship pitched up, then shuddered some more.
"Not good," she said. Tools clattered to the deck. Jennie swore.
"Definitely not good. If this much is getting through the inertial buffers,
Admiral, I think you need to get up there." The ride smoothed out.

"No, they can handle it
without me jogging their elbows," he replied.

He plugged one end of the fuel
line in and screwed its cover on. "Okay I have this end," he said. He
wrapped the braided fuel line down over a series of clips, and then clicked
them in place.

"Okay. I have my end,"
Jennie replied. "Think she'll fire now?" she asked.

He stepped back looking at the
shuttle. "She should," he said and nodded. The ship shuddered again.

"Hmm... bumpy ride,"
Jennie commented, staggering.

"Turbulence," one of
the girls called.

"I think I'm going to
hurl," one of the girls replied.

"Admiral to the bridge!
Admiral to the bridge!" the overhead voice had a hysterical edge to it.
"Not good," the girls looked up alarmed.

"Okay, finish up here; I'll
be back in a bit," Irons ordered. He wiped his hands on a rag then raced
out. The guards followed, but he managed to make the lift well before them.
"Sorry."

He tapped the emergency close and
rise. The lead guard swore but waved him on. "Deck one, bridge." The
lockout flashed, and then disengaged. The lift screamed upward. Obviously
someone on the bridge was in control. His knees buckled as it stopped.

"Bridge," the computer
reported. The doors swished open.

"Admiral get in here,"
the captain growled. He staggered through the door and then stood up. His eyes
immediately locked onto Shandra.

She was in a virtual suit,
hovering in a cylindrical tank. Wires ran down her hands and neck to her back,
then up to the ceiling. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked,
stepping around to see the Captain. She nodded to the view screen. He turned to
see a tangle of gravity webs. "Hmmm...” the ship shuddered. "Admiral
help me!" Shandra pleaded. A tangle hit the port side, the ship bucked.
She was obviously a little over her head, or thought she was. So much for the
high octaves of Beta and Gamma.  So close too, they were near break out into
the next system! She needed more seasoning.

He grimaced. "Well, that'll
have to be fixed." He shook his head. "Shandra, I can't take over,
the delay between us shifting would be fatal. I'll have to walk you through
it," he said soothingly. He went over to the tank and jacked in. He
recognized some of the problems right away. "Navigation, get with the
program, plot us a course up and out of this mess!" he barked.

"Do it," the Captain
backed the order. The girl hastily obeyed.

A red line appeared on the plot.
"Navigation work with sensors, keep a running plot, and adjust our course
heading if needed. Kendra, shift power from the stern shields to the bow and
port side,” he called. "All right Shandra, you see the path? Follow
it," he said.