New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (63 page)

He knew he had them hooked.
"I left instructions with Jerry the blacksmith and the T'clock clan for
the combines..." he said.

The purser nodded. "Yes, we
could come to an arrangement." She nodded. "Yes," she said
giving Irons a you've said enough look.

He smiled. "I was thinking
the shuttles you have in your spaceport graveyard would be nice," he
suggested.

The purser's lips formed an O.
She recovered. "Why would we...” she started to ask. He shook his head
minutely.

"They're doing you no good,
and with the parts we could repair more of our shuttles, or rebuild those. The
next time we come we could unload much faster," he suggested. She nodded
at this. "We can give you a couple holo emitters, a small replicator, a
pair of generators, some tools, six satellites, solar panels, wind turbines, a
couple water pumps, and tablets to display the lectures as well," Irons
said. The Delgado's leaned over to each other and began to whisper.

"They ain't doin us much
good sitting there rustin, we could plant that field..." she whispered
fiercely to him. Mr. Delgado looked up and nodded. "You have a deal."
He held out his beefy hand to the purser. She pursed her lips and then shrugged
and shook on it.

“Well, I better not run into you
again young man,” the Captain glared at Bart.

He looked eager to leave. “Oh you
won’t Captain, I promise.” He held up his hands to fend her off, looking
decidedly nervous.

“Good to hear,” she said
grudgingly. She nodded to the chief who escorted him aboard the shuttle. The
Captain turned her attention to the middle aged man standing nearby. “Leaving
us?”she asked. He nodded. “I thought as much, going to catch up with those
grandkids?” she asked.

He smiled. “Well, since your
doctor was so kind as to cure my cancer, and turn back the clock, I feel like a
whole new man,” he said. He waved to the cosmos. “I may do a little sightseeing
on the way.” The Captain chuckled. “You'll have to wait on Gaston for the next
ship you know Mister Vadross,” she warned him. The steel haired man smiled.

“I don't think that'll be a
problem. Your Admiral isn't the only one who can fix things. I understand
they're climbing the ladder of civilization with your help,” he said. He smiled
and waved to a crew member. She nodded politely then returned her attention to
him.

“Going to dabble a little before
moving on?” the captain teased.

Mister Vadross nodded. “I'll have
too if I don't want to starve.” They both chuckled. “Well, I see that I need to
board, goddess speed Captain.” He shook her hand then jogged up the boarding
ramp.

The chief stepped aside then came
down the ramp smiling. “My he has changed,” she murmured. she eyed her
grandmother. “Just think about what the doctor could do for you!” She watched
her grandmother's face go from amused to annoyed, then back to amused.

“Now don't you start,” she
growled.

“Come on grams, it'll be good for
you!” she urged. She waved to the chair. “Just think of it, no chair!”

The Captain nodded. “True, true.”
She waved her granddaughter into the lift before her. She entered then turned.
The chief jumped back out of the way. “Still, it has its uses, like keeping
annoying grand children on their toes...” she chuckled as the lift door closed.

"So, why did we really want
those beat up wrecks?" the captain asked as they watched the shuttles coming
up. The cargo shuttles had brought up the parts in two loads, now they each had
one shuttle slung under them, held with tractors.

"Well, as I said, parts. We
can also use them. Maybe repair and sell them down the road?" he
suggested. He waved to Jennie as she looked up from her tablet. She entered
something then nodded to them. They turned to watch the first unload.
"Besides, we seem to have lost four shuttles and my pinnance before
remember?" he asked. She nodded as the second shuttle set its cargo on the
deck, undocked and left for the next load.

"Well, replacing four wrecks
with ten is trading up I guess..." she sighed. "More junk."

He shook his head. "No, give
the teams some parts and they'll have them flying in no time," he said. He
waved. The airlock had closed and the girls were already swarming the pair. He
snorted.

"Are you going to take
one?" the purser asked suddenly wary.

"No, all but one are
civilian jobs, no military gear. Most of them are etops, without any
legs," he replied. She looked them over again. "I wanted the pinnance
because it had legs for an entire system."

She nodded. “What about the
launch? It's military,” she suggested.

He grunted. “Again, no legs.” He
shook his head. “I promised Jerry I would go down one more time and see the
city,” he said. She nodded and waved as he boarded the shuttle.

He looked out over the cliff to
the city below. It was in ruins, covered with plants. The once great spires of
metal and glass were corroded and failing, plants were growing into the gaping
maws where glass once was. "Tentacle vines." Jerry said nodding to
the city. "When our ancestors hid during the war, they abandoned the
cities. This is the only one that survived. A nuclear air burst nearby
contaminated the ground and water for hundreds of kilometers," he sighed.

"The tentacle vines took
over.” He slapped his hat against his thigh. "Damn weeds," he
growled. He stomped on one growing out of a rock. "They get into cracks
and spread the crack apart as they grow looking for water and nutrients."
He shook his head. "We have a devil of a time keeping them at bay. We
import some natural extract Seti alpha 4 makes to help deal with it. Stuff
hates it," he said as he spat.

The Admiral studied the fallen
city. He could see pieces crumbling... some flying lizards and a couple
near-deer. "The animals have taken over I see." He nodded to a
near-deer in a doorway.

The blacksmith nodded.
"Probably a bad thing, there's been a lot of mutations in this area.
Radiation," He grumbled "We probably shouldn't linger." He
looked over the area nervous.

"Admiral, no radiation
detected beyond normal background from this distance," Sprite reported.

"So, they didn't use
strontium 90 enhanced nukes," Irons murmured. He looked over the city once
more. "Maybe the air burst was intentional?" he asked.

"Why?" Sprite and Jerry
asked.

He turned to Jerry. "To get
the people to run. Get them to run and they abandon the city. The Xenos might
have wanted to occupy it or something," he said. He shrugged.

Jerry nodded slowly.
"Maybe."

The admiral checked Sprite's
radiation counter on his HUD. "According to my readouts there's no jump in
ambient radioactivity. I would have to sample a building and the water to be
sure though."

Jerry looked confused. "You
can do that?" he asked.

The Admiral smiled. "I can
do a lot of things."

He turned and looked up to the
sky. "You know, you could trade for a Geiger counter,” he suggested.

Jerry's eyes sparkled.
"What's that?"

The Admiral waved to the city.
"A radiation detector. You could use it to check the ruins. If there's no
radiation you could scavenge for parts, or strip areas for metal. But you would
have to be very careful of things falling," he cautioned. The Admiral
thought for a moment. “If you provide more water to the Io, they could also
move more of the asteroids into safe orbits, maybe even bring some down safely
for you to harvest.”

Jerry nodded. "I'll take
that up with the council," he said firmly. He looked relieved. "The
nearest iron mine is running dry. Miner thinks the seam shifted or
something," he sighed.

"Well, there's a lot of raw
material right there," the Admiral waved. "It looks like someone's
been scavenging the suburbs on this side of the city; the houses and buildings
have been torn down.

Jerry nodded. "My great
granddad did I think. He and the council." He smiled. "You may have a
point; think I'll go talk to the council," he said. He turned and got on
the horse. "You comin?" The Admiral studied the ruins for a moment
longer then nodded.

Jennie jumped to the side as the
little robot flew by. "What was that?" she asked.

He looked over to her and then to
it. "Hull inspector. I just had it replicated. Think of it as an exterior
version of the cleaner robot," he replied.

She waved her hand. "Do we
really need it?" He turned to her. "Yeah, okay, we do," she
sighed.

"I'm working on a few other
designs as well," he said.

She gave him a long glance.
"Dare I ask why?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.

He shrugged. "A couple are
tugs, but a few are gophers," he said. She looked confused. "It means
a person or droid that brings things for the workers."

"Oh." She nodded then returned
to removing the panel.

He peeked into the open hatch to
the wardroom and nodded to Mindy as she looked over. "Oh Admiral, we're
almost done here," she said. The girl on the ground was cherry red,
obviously embarrassed. The girl practicing CPR on her was blushing as well.

"Looks like you’re doing
well. Carry on." He nodded to the class. He turned to see his class
standing around behind him.

"Okay ladies the first aide
course is running a little long, what's say we adjourn to..." he paused.

"What about boat bay
1?" Sprite offered. He shook his head. "Electronics bay four on deck
two?" she suggested.

He nodded counting heads.
"Okay, since there are only ten of us, let’s go take a look in electronics
bay four on deck two," he said. He waved to the lift. Some of the girls
looked amused.

"Another hands on
class?" Jennie asked. He shrugged.

"Would you rather have that
sort of hands on?" he asked. He waved in the direction of the wardroom.

Jennie peaked as they passed then
straightened and blushed furiously. "What in the world?"

He grimaced. "Mouth to mouth
resuscitation the old fashioned way." A few of the other girls gurgled and
looked. A few who had passed the door paused and made their way back to take
another peek.

"Voyeurs," he said in
mock disgust. "Come along ladies..." he said voice rising
suggestively. He leaned over to Jennie. "Remind me to make a couple CPR
dummies for her..." he said quietly.

Jennie smiled impishly. "Oh,
I dunno, looks like fun just the way it is." He looked down to her startled.
She blushed but grinned.

He sighed. "Et tu
Jennie?" he growled. She giggled.

"Okay Admiral that's the
last one," the cargo master said. He looked up to the two meter cylinder.
Solar panels were folded along its flanks.

"Six of them, why six?"
Leri looked the satellite over.

"Four equatorial, two polar
orbit," the admiral explained. He studied the satellite, monitoring
Sprite's internal scan on his HUD. "Each satellite will cover a section of
sky... and ground." She nodded. "With six we can cover an entire
planet. That'll allow the people on the ground real time weather and satellite
communications, and allow us to talk to them," he said.

He smiled as the purser entered
and stopped. "WOW! I knew they wanted them, but I never knew we could do
it! Are you sure it's worth it?" she asked. 

He nodded. "Oh yes, they'll
get a lot of use out of it."

"I thought it would be
smaller?" She waved to the giant cylinder.

"I uploaded a smaller
version, but those have a short lifespan with limited uses, these can last a
long time, and have a lot more abilities," he explained. He nodded to
Leri. "As I was telling Leri, they can use it for weather and
communications. Also seismic and other sensors. They can also detect ships
coming near which should give them some warning of pirates."

She nodded. "I left a back
door in, so we can access the network and see what it's seen, and check the
system from a safe distance," he said.

She looked relieved. "I like
it," she said firmly. Then her eyes glinted. "Checking up on the
competition." She smiled to Leri who also smiled.

"Yeah good idea." He
shook his head.

"What ever works..." he
said softly.

"Oh my goddess what a
rush!" an ecstatic Shandra smiled blindly as she moved around in the tank.
The glow from her suit harness and tank made her ethereal.

"Too much for you?" the
Captain asked concerned.

"Not on your life! This is
so much fun!" Shandra pointed and tapped at a virtual keyboard. After a
moment she seemed to be swimming. "I love it! It is almost as good as
sex!" she gushed. The Captain chuckled.

"Well, I wouldn't go that
far," someone in the background murmured.

The Captain snorted. "I take
it you're adapting well to Gamma band and we can proceed?"

Blindly Shandra nodded.
"We're in the C note, moving up, now to D...” The Captain watched the holo
projector. The tangle of hyperspace seemed to pick up speed. "Taking her
to E..." The ship shuddered a little.

"Just some turbulence from
the frequency shift, locking it down now," Kendra reported, tapping at her
controls. The ride smoothed.

"Taking her to F..."
Slowly Shandra worked them up into the A Note.

"I can't believe this,
Captain, at this speed we're going to shave months off of our journey! We'll be
there, this can't be right, in under five weeks?!” The navigator looked
stunned.

"You've plotted a safe
course this time?" the Captain asked.

The girl hastily checked her
course then nodded. "Yes, everything seems to be in order. We'll have to
keep an eye on things though." She watched as Shandra swam, ducking around
tangles and twisting through strings.

"Damn, that looks like fun.
Quite a work out though," Lessa said.  Shandra was in her glory. "How
do we relieve her when it's time?" She turned to the Captain concerned.
"It's not like she can fly us there the entire trip, it'll still take a
couple weeks!" She shook her head.