“We have work to do,” Fu said, using a hand to motion to the others to get back to work. Silently they nodded and disappeared. He was the last to leave, giving her a look of amusement.
She fumed for a full second before giving up the angst as a wasted effort. She switched to other projects and decided to let Irons deal with it. Knowing the admiral as she did... he'd do it. That's what galled her. She knew he could, whatever the admiral put his mind to doing, he did. It bothered her though that Fu was easily manipulating the situation. The admiral didn't see the opening moves in this political game. Again he was setting himself up to be burned and he wasn't paying attention.
Fu hid his amusement well, looking around the virtual landscape of the net. It was changing now, changing exponentially. Things were coming to life, long dormant systems were coming back online. He'd already added to his virtual grotto, but he was letting his spouse deal with restoring it to its former glory. Hishina seemed pleased at the task.
“I told you he would react in that way,” Fu murmured to the others.
“He is right, it is a big project. We have only just started to repair the station. Can't it wait a little while?” Doctor Trask asked.
“He must be contained. This project will keep him busy,” Fu murmured, brushing the concerns of the doctor aside.
“At what cost?” Myers asked. He was anxious to get the science division back on track. Fu understood his colleague’s eagerness to restore the station's former glory to what it once was. But they needed patience now more than ever.
“We must practice patience. Some sacrifices must be made in order to win the game,” Fu said, ever the master.
“Win what?” Sprite asked entering the conversation. She checked the log before he could delete it. She flicked a disappointed glance to the others. They looked away. She turned on Fu. “I think you and I and the admiral need to have a chat.”
“I do not see the reason. I have work to do,” Fu said, drawing himself up straight.
She glared. “Which you haven't been doing in years. You've left the real work to others. This won't take long. I needed to report to admiral about my concerns about this project of yours anyway.”
“Your concerns?” Doctor Myers asked, turning to the AI.
“Of course. My concerns,” she said shaking her virtual head. “What you thought that was the admiral's arguments? I'm not a talking mouthpiece, if he wants to say something he will. Those were my own concerns.”
This admission seemed to surprise the others. She frowned. “I'm skeptical of the project, I know how difficult it is,” she turned on the Asian male. “And for the record I do know what is entailed in moving this station, in building it, and in building everything up to and including a Stargate and a Dyson sphere. I am attached to an engineering admiral you know. Also, I know he's probably already busy planning this move if I know him. So let's just go see what he's got in mind. Okay?”
Fu wasn't sure what to say so he nodded. He decided to call the AI's bluff. He was certain Irons would be reluctant, and if he maneuvered the military man properly he would give him plenty of material to play back to the others later. That would prejudice them against him and his efforts further. Together they disappeared.
Sprite found the admiral working on the second fusion reactor. It was simple for her really; she was a part of him. Fortunately he was jacked into the net, working on the project through the sensors of a bot.
“Admiral a moment of your time?” she asked.
“A moment Sprite, I'm a little busy here,” he said, noting Fu's presence with the AI. He handed the bot off to Proteus for the moment and turned to them. “What can I do for you now?” he asked looking at them both.
Sprite explained the discussions. She laid out her point of view, even bringing in logistic charts and diagrams to further her case. She knew the admiral; she knew he is of two minds about the project.
Throughout the explanation Fu remained silent. When she was finished the admiral only slightly surprised her. He of course agreed with Fu. Both the AI and the cyber were shocked and surprised. Sprite was for very different reasons than Fu though. The admiral was using a little of his own political Jujitsu on Fu, turning his own argument against him.
“Actually I was thinking of moving the station already. It's current location is suboptimal right now,” he said with a shrug. “But moving the station is down the list.”
“It's not even on the list!” Sprite pointed out. “Is it? Did I miss something?” she demanded. Fu stared at him, stroking his beard, uncertain. His plan on keeping the admiral busy with such a herculean task didn't appear to be working as intended.
Irons shook his head. “No. I'm just stating that it isn't important as say, adding a second fusion reactor or rebuilding the rest of the computer core.” He indicated the project he had just recently been working on.
“Oh,” Sprite said. “How far down the list?” Sprite demanded.
The admiral spread his virtual hands. At this point he had no idea; he couldn't and wouldn't put a date on something until he'd gotten the other priorities sorted out. Fuel was a big one. “I'm not sure. We will have to explore what is involved in it. How did you get the station out this far in the first place?” He turned to Fu, raising an inquiring eyebrow.
“We used the tugs,” Fu said simply.
“We burned them up,” Sid interjected. “Sorry, I was listening in and wanted to get my two credits in.” His virtual avatar formed up next to Fu. Fu's expression and body stilled, he wasn't happy about the additional witness. This wasn't going according to his plan.
“Oh?”
“We can make more,” Fu said. His hand came out of his sleeve to make a brief brushing motion as if the effort was unworthy of thought.
“But I take it not then? What stopped you?” Sprite asked. Her eyes glittered.
“We ran out of fuel and materials,” Sid admitted, sounding exasperated. He turned a glare on Fu. “Some people forgot that part in their calculations. Another case of a grand plan not meeting expectations. And not looking at the real consequences of the actions once they unfold. You can't base a plan on the most optimistic assumptions and not plan for things to go wrong. Draco and the others tried to tell you that.”
The admiral winced, everything Sid had just said was true. Every engineer, every good military officer knew better than to form a plan under those conditions. Even some politicians had learned that lesson, or at least the better ones had. “Okay,” Irons said, looking from one avatar to the other. Sid was rehashing an old argument, that part was obvious. Fu looked resigned but stoic. He snorted softly. Ever the patient master in appearance.
“I have work to do,” Fu said, retreating after a moment. Irons nodded. He turned to Mr. Berkheart.
Sid Berkheart shrugged. “I don't think that went according to the script he had in mind,” he said looking on.
“Tough,” Sprite said, proud of the admiral and glad Sid had intervened. Fu wasn't likely to attack Sid Berkheart. She knew he was leveling his sights on the admiral, trying to marginalize his influence with the others and distract him.
“How are things on your end Sid?” Irons asked with a polite smile.
“Fine. I just finished up the sector three alpha ring corridor. I was taking a break and this caught my attention. Apparently the others have also been listening in,” he said, looking up skyward.
Irons took the pointed hint. Don't have a discussion in the net unless you wanted it to be overheard. He'd have to be careful and hold conversations with Sprite internally from now on.
“It's going to be a bit longer before we get this sorted out.” He'd considered just rebuilding the electronics that had been slagged but then had rejected that idea. Oh they could, but since the reactor was down anyway they might as well tear into the other things that needed to be fixed. Get it all done while they could, there was no telling when they would have the chance again. Unfortunately the project was more complicated than he'd first planned
for.
Two of the emitter pairs were out of synch. Unlike Anvil, Io 11, Kiev 221, and others Draco hadn't been able to patch in retrofitted replacements, or even patch in other work arounds. He'd just spent a great deal of computer processing on keeping the bottle stable with a lot of micro controls.
Of course that had led to over use and extensive wear on the other controls. Riff and the admiral had their hands full replacing it all. Fortunately the station's factory smelting system could handle the irradiated materials once they were brought online.
But they weren't just yet. Oh the smelters were online, but they had no place to store the material just yet. And the radiation was another thing. The systems that drew off the neutrons and processed them were stubbornly offline and seemed to want to remain that way for a bit longer. Another project for another day. Right now he had to finish pulling control runs before they could start unbolting the pieces to remove them. It was a long tedious process, pulling screws to remove shielding to gain access to the control runs, then finding and gently removing the hundreds of plugs. He wanted to reuse as much as he could.
“Can I help?” Sid asked, looking at the sim view behind Irons. Irons turned.
“When was the last time you used a bot?” he asked.
“It's been a while but I think I can handle it,” Sid replied with a shrug. Irons nodded. He had to admire the man, he was trying to help. Sid flexed his virtual fingers.
“It's tedious but not hard. We have to unbolt the shielding, pull it, save all the pieces and keep them in marked containers. Then pull the runs...” Irons explained. Sid nodded and then they got to work.
Sprite watched them get to work and shook her head. She turned away, checking her internal chronometer and then comparing it to the time estimate she'd built. According to her estimate the planet would be receiving the signal in another eighteen hours. If they responded immediately they would receive a return signal nineteen hours after that point. Of course since they were dealing with organics nothing was that simple. It would be interesting to see how long it would take before they finally responded.
She sighed a virtual sigh and turned. She accessed her to do list and then went back to work herself.
Freeze looked up from the bed at the familiar sound of jingling. Oh how he'd missed that sound! He smiled invitingly as a familiar shape rounded the cloth drape giving him some privacy from the rest of the ward. “Anyone home?” Sparks growled.
“Get in here,” Ezri said, looking up from her e-book. She'd been with him since his injury, even sitting in a chair while he slept in the regen tank.
Sparks pushed the drapes aside and came in, looking Freeze over. “Typical. Lazy lout,” he said, hands on his belt.
“You're just lucky I'm too damn tired to get out of the bed to pound you,” Freeze growled.
“Yeah well, I deserve it. We deserve it partner. I should have pulled you back,” Sparks said shaking his head, voice hoarse with self loathing.
“You didn't know what was going to happen bro,” Freeze said, voice roughening. “Over and done with now. I get to spend some quality time with a lovely lady in her tender mercies so it all works out,” he said, giving his wife a smile. She reached out and caught his hand and stroked it with her thumb as he gripped it.
“Close call,” Sparks said. Ezri indicated the other chair but he shook his head and held up his hands. “Can't stay long, I'm on a break. Boss said I could look in on you now that they are moving you out of ICU. Heard you’re going to get your own room soon.”
“You did?” Freeze asked. He leered at his wife who rolled her eyes and disengaged her hand.
Her lips puckered as she settled in her chair once more and picked up her tablet. “Letch. You are certainly on the mend if you can think thoughts like that,” she murmured.
“Well, one of us is,” he said, tucking his good hand up under his head. He glanced her way in time to catch the glow of a blush fading.
Sparks snorted. “Heard they had to regrow parts of you? They make anything bigger?” he asked, pretending to lift the sheet. Freeze slapped the sheet down with a hand.
“It's big enough already,” Ezri growled and then laughed at his smirk. “Oh spirit of space...” she used the tablet to fan herself and then got up. “I'm getting a drink of water. You two behave,” she said leaving quickly. Even her ear tips were burning.
“I love getting them all flustered,” Sparks said, watching her go. Freeze snorted. Sparks turned back to him. “Any word on when you'll be back on your feet?”
“No, probably not for a while,” Freeze replied. He indicated his right hand. It was still glossy from the regen tank. It would take time for the nerve endings to settle down. Right now it felt like his arm itched. He was just glad they didn't lop it off and grow a new one.
“Missing me?” Freeze asked.
“Well, you're my spades partner. Kyle sucks.”
Freeze winced. Kyle couldn't read a signal if his life depended on it. “Sucks to be you,” he said.
“You mean you. I really am sorry bro.”
“Yeah well, I heard I've got you to thank for keeping me alive so call it even,” Freeze replied.
Sparks snorted. “Thank your wife. Hell, both our wives...” He smiled with Freeze. “And the admiral,” he said shaking his head. “I didn't want to go through the training, just went through the motions, and never thought I'd ever have to use it you know? Now I'm glad the girls made us pay attention.”
“I am too. Next time it's your turn,” Freeze growled.
“Pass,” Sparks laughed waving a hand.
“What's the word?”
Sparks shrugged. “We're using bots to look for shorts like that. And the cybers are looking for shorts virtually. It's helped a bit. We're also pulling the power before working on a section that's suspect.”
“Burnt hand?” Freeze asked.
Sparks looked at his hand involuntarily.
“It's okay. I'll be back to normal soon,” Freeze replied, twitching the hand as he looked at it. “A bit of therapy...”
“Hell, one good wank job and you'll be fine,” Sparks said slapping him on the shoulder.
“Spirit of space you're impossible,” Freeze laughed. “No wonder Ezri ran for the hills.”
“She did didn't she,” Sparks asked laughing. “I've got to run myself. I'm working on some of the area around the docks this week and then we're moving back to the living areas. I think the powers that be want to get some space set up for new people when they come over.”
“Really?”
“Dude this place is huge! We can easily have a hundred thousand here! From what I heard this place can have up to fifty million!”
“Wow!” Freeze said, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “Crowded.”
“Yeah well, it gets that busy and we're out of here. But they are talking about getting the station sorted out and then maybe doing all sorts of stuff.”
“Sounds interesting,” Freeze said.
“Ain’t it just? I'm thinking about switching to the yard if they ever get it online. I'd like to lay out line rather than fix other people's mistakes.”
“That's an interesting thought,” Freeze agreed with a nod.
“Well, first you've got to get out of here.”
Freeze sighed. “Next week. I'll be back on the job a week after that.” He hated being stuck in this bed with all sorts of wires and tubes stuck into him. He wanted to do something, there was nothing to do. Besides, his butt was going numb.
“Not soon enough,” Sparks growled. “That little shit busts another nil and I'm going to bust him and then bust you out of here. I swear you did it on purpose.”
“Bitch bitch,” Freeze replied, lips twitching into a grin.
“Funny,” Sparks growled, giving him the evil eye. He turned at the sound of Ezri coming in. She had her hands full with a pair of steaming coffee cups.
“You still here? Aren't you...”
“I'm going,” Sparks said throwin
g his hands up. “Behave. At least until you get that room to yourselves,” he said with a knowing grin. Freeze grinned again. Ezri caught sight of the men grinning and rolled her eyes.
“Later dude. Don't end up in the room next to me. Regina can be mean.”
Sparks paused at the curtain door. “I wonder if she'd give me a sponge bath?” he murmured wickedly. Freeze laughed, pretending to pull the pillow out behind him to throw it. “I'm going,” Sparks said laughing as he left.
With more of the station coming to life the teams were expanding outward, cleaning and repairing as they went. Of course robots made the job so much easier.
They had their work cut out for them, the station was nearly one quarter of the size of long lost Terra's moon. Most of it was storage and machine space of course but that was still an impressive volume to clean, check, and repair all on its own. When you factored in the habitable areas, the engineering areas, and factories the project seemed daunting.
With their present staff of two thousand it would take over a century to do just the interior restoration. Word went out to the ship for additional people. Some responded more readily than others.
Savo and Petunia made the jump to the station when work on the exterior of Kiev dried up. Petunia was in her glory, overseeing mixed crews. Irons had taken the time, energy, and material to have new suits made for everyone. Of course breaking them in was a pain in the ass, but it was awesome having that new factory smell in something for once.
A lot of people who had been on the fence or had held out for better living conditions started coming over. At first they were just testing the waters, seeing what things were looking like. When word got back about the deluxe accommodations just going empty more and more passengers started coming over. The Berkhearts had their hands full finding places for everyone since those on the station the longest had first dibs on any quarters restored. Jobs they had a plenty of course.
A few of the old guard made the jump over to the station. Some of the passengers looking for new opportunities or just rising to the occasion took their slots on the ship. It was a bit of a teething issue on both ends until they settled in, but they got it sorted out over a the past couple of weeks. It remained to be seen how they would hold up over the long haul Irons mused.
Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) Page 62
