Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  The jackal smirked, wrinkling her muzzle and twitching her long ears. “Just figured I'd stop by and let you know you can't get rid of me that easily,” she replied.

  O'Mallory eyes her suspiciously. “You reading my mind? They teach you some new trick in all that sleep teaching?”

  The jackal laughed, shaking her head. She was relaxed, mainly because despite her workload she had scheduled plenty of downtime for sleep teaching and was pretty religious about keeping that time period and not interrupting it. Her gold earrings chimed. “No silly, you are too easy to read. I just thought I'd let you know Lobo's happy here. We're even talking about having pups now that we can.”

  “Figured it out?”

  “Well... sort of. I talked with...” she looked around to the amused engineers around them. “You know, I'll talk about it later.”

  “Over lunch?” O'Mallory asked.

  The jackal smiled as her ears flicked forward. “Deal. Usual place and time?”

  “Deal,” O'Mallory said with a nod of approval. The news made her feel elated. It was like the sun had crested the horizon of that distant blue marble and a great weight had been lifted from her chest. Her eyes pricked a little in relief.

  “Great then. See you then,” Numiria said leaving.

  O'Mallory watched her go, feeling a glow of relief. She rubbed at her stinging eyes and then sniffed. It felt good that her best friend was sticking around. There had been a lot of changes since the admiral had shown up. She wasn't sure she liked some of them but some she loved. Apparently she had to take the good with the bad and move on.

  “Yvonne,” she said turning to her assistant. Yvonne waved from across the room. She was still dealing with her grief but she seemed to be getting a handle on it more and more. At least she hadn't turned into a complete mess, just a minor one. She was slightly bitter over the events on the station but seemed to be coping. “Check on the drive one more time. I think we'll be heading out soon so we need to be sure. I don't want any egg on our face if something goes wrong.”

  “Yes chief,” Yvonne replied with a nod.

  “Right then,” she said turning. Yvonne she knew she wasn't going to lose anytime soon. The woman had a deep hatred of the station itself now. It was weird, Yvonne was bitter over the loss of her son but didn't blame the people she blamed the station itself. Go figure, she thought. “We've still got a hole to fill in graveyard shift I think. George has a couple of iffy spots. Any prospects?” she asked, reigning in her wandering thoughts to focus on what was important.

  “I... you know I'll get back to you on that,” Yvonne said, tapping her chin with her index finger as she thought.

  “Do that. In the meantime let's see if we can track down Lobo and overhaul the recycler plant on deck four again. I'm getting more complaints of a noxious smell. Then we'll work on the control runs to the aft shield emitters. They are still a little hinky and I don't like that...”

  There was a meeting with the tribal elders over jobs later that evening. The station council was not very sympathetic as each tribal elder took a turn to lay out their collective viewpoint. Romeo was civil; Juliet tried to be the peace maker. Y'ru wasn't happy about the direction things were trending towards and seemed to be the aggressive spokesman.

  Politics were rearing their ugly head Irons realized. The station council was now asserting its control, flexing its muscles in a display to get everyone's attention. The tribes really deserved a say in their future, he realized that. He wondered if some of the council members did as well. Most remained quiet, allowing Fu or D'red or someone else talk.

  He looked around the council room, taking a head count. Doctor Trask was constantly busy now and was apparently going to miss the meeting again. The Berkhearts were here since it is a human resource problem. Averies was there but looking decidedly bored. He had data scrolling on a holo behind him, rude but an obvious statement that he had other more important things to be doing with his time.

  Kenny Kennet was a sycophant of the Fu's. He'd kiss their ass and vote whatever they told him to do, like half of the rest of the council. He liked to fawn over the Fu's though which apparently disgusted some. Irons wondered sometimes if it stroked Fu's ego. None of the AI were present. Myers wasn't there again either.

  Doctor Trask and Myers had been missing a lot of meetings lately. Both for their own reasons, but it was annoying sometimes. Trask he could understand, she was a doctor and that was a vital service. But Myers sulked if science wasn't on the agenda... Which normally it wasn’t. If it was, he dominated the discussion, laying out his point of view and then browbeating the others into following along. Or at least tried to do so anyway, most would be nice to his face but then vote their conscious in a secret ballot. He'd seethe and sulk for the following day getting little if nothing done.

  The AI had their own reasons for being busy. Dealing with organics was tedious for some, what organics hashed out in hours a group of AI could hash out and reach consensus on in microseconds. He didn't blame them for missing this even if they did have the spare cycles to attend. No doubt they were auditing the meeting with a bot though. He wished he could but he had to put the actual face time in. Again another aspect of politics he hated.

  He listened with half an ear, absently studying the tribal elders. Each of the leaders had a second with them, a witness or exec, he wasn't sure which. All of them were dressed in green station uniforms but didn't look completely comfortable in them just yet. Juliet was wearing her hair up in a pony tail and had a necklace of Dilgarth teeth. Romeo had a Dilgarth claw knife belted to his right hip but didn't have the necklace of teeth he had sported when he and Irons had first met.

  Y'ru had a headdress on, one made up of feather's he'd picked up from somewhere. The headdress was old. It took Irons about a minute to finally realize it's origin. When he did he snorted softly. It was a chorus girl headdress from one of the casinos. The Veraxin must have inherited it at some point. He wore it like a bonnet, with Dilgarth talon claw knives belted on bandoliers across his upper chest.

  His practiced eyes studied the weapons. Of course they were useless against the cybers but that wasn't really the point was it? To the cybers they were contemptible, weapons which they as pacifists hated. To the tribes they were links to their heritage. The disconnect was a big one there. Of course some of the cybers would use the presence of weapons against them.

  Fu quietly but firmly pointed out that the tribes were uneducated and therefore were given only tasked they can reasonably understand and perform. “Menial tasks are the best way to prove what you can do. Obviously if you cannot handle such simple tasks you are not ready for more responsibility.” He can be such a pompous ass Irons realized, watching him sit there on a cushion, arms folded before him.

  Nettled the tribal leaders were ready to object before the admiral interjected to smooth things over. “The path to knowledge can begin at any stage of life,” Irons pointed out. All eyes turn to him. “I suggest you...” he indicated the tribal leaders and then the council. “We invest in additional education for the tribes along with more sleep teaching headsets. Meanwhile the tribal elders should encourage their people to learn more. Also human resources can look into finding small assistant jobs to let your people grow into positions of authority over time,” he suggested looking at the Berkhearts. Both nodded to him. “Let them see the job and what it entails as an assistant, learn what is required, and then slowly shoulder more of the responsibility.”

  “That is a wise idea,” Y'ru nodded signally second level agreement. “I know of several positions where one of our people could take over and free up the person doing the job for other tasks.”

  “Please send a list to the Berkhearts,” the admiral smiled, nodding to Sid and Emily. Both nodded back but were noncommittal.

  Doctor Trask arrived in a swirl of light. She apologized softly as she took her seat. “Sorry I was late. I noted the topic of discussion and thought I'd put my two credits worth in,” she said, nodding
a bow to those in the room.

  “What's that?” Sid asked, leaning forward to see her.

  Doctor Trask cocked her head. “Well, I think we need more routine medical checks and Ident implants.” She glanced at Sid and then looked expectantly to the elders.

  The tribal elders were clearly disturbed by the suggestion at first. Romeo scowled. Juliet looked at him and then to Y'ru.

  Doctor Trask noted the resistance and smiled politely. “It is a relatively painless exam. There is a blood test but that's the most pain you should get. The rest is simple. A physical exam to see if there is anything wrong, if you feel pain and where. Scans of your body to see if there is anything wrong. The scans are with a machine outside your body, you've seen it,” she said indicating Y'ru.

  The Veraxin nodded. His granddaughter had been scanned after being injured. He had been present for it. A ring had scanned her leg and then a view of the interior of her leg had shown up on a screen for all to see. “As far as the implant goes, all you have to do is swallow a pill for the implant. You'll do fine,” she told them waving a dismissive hand.

  Resentment over being treated as children lingered in the air and body language of the tribal elders. They left wordlessly when the meeting ended. After the meeting a few of the council talked about the resentment and how to deal with it. The admiral listened with half an ear, uninterested. They were not interested in his opinion lately anyway.

  Lately his opinion of the station council had soured. Some of the more pragmatic and realistic people had turned over their positions to idealists or turned in a proxy to the Fu's. That was annoying. He regretted leaving the station council in place and actually nurturing them. He'd thought it would be a way to get the other cybers to participate but now he regretted their interference.

  He wasn't a member of the council of course; he was an outsider without voting powers. The Fu's and their peace-nicks had emphasized that as soon as the station’s situation had finally stabilized and the council had formally reconvened.

  Of course the tribes were seeing some of that as well. They weren't happy about the situation and who could really blame them? They were being treated like children. The more they expressed their resentment and complained or acted out the more the peace-nicks pointed to that behavior as the reasons for why they were treated as they were. It was a classic catch twenty two situation.

  Eventually the people from Kiev were going to twig to the fact that they had no representation in the running of the station either. When that happened things would really get interesting, the admiral thought with a half smile. Definitely interesting and possibly ugly if the council handled things as they were currently handling them... which meant poorly.

  Sprite talked to Irons through the HUD as he left the council room. “I honestly don't think this is going to work out,” she said. Her internal projections were nearly even, she projected that half of the tribes would assimilate into the station. The other half would either become so resentful they would act out and be marginalized or they would leave. Hopefully they would leave.

  The admiral shrugged. He was fairly certain that he was being monitored so tried to keep his side of the conversation light. “It's a work in progress I admit. I didn't expect everything to be perfect right out of the gate Sprite. Good things take time, patience, and hard work to get them on track and keep them on track.”

  “I still don't see it happening.”

  He paused in the ante room near the empty secretary's desk. He sighed after a moment. “It won’t for some. Some are too wild, too set in their ways. I imagine that some of the tribe will go to the planet eventually. They may be happier there. Some will cling to their identity out of a need for stability. Others will throw themselves into the system and will become depressed at how far behind they are or will assimilate completely.”

  “How do you know this?” Sid Berkheart asked, interrupting the admiral. Irons looked up as Berkheart appeared before him. The emitters the human resource manager was using were out of alignment. There was a line and some fuzz in his center torso. “Sorry, eavesdropping I know.” He held up his hands to indicate he didn't mean to offend. His image flickered a bit.

  Sprite shot Irons a knowing look but he ignored it for now. He shrugged, cleared his throat and then responded. “Not a problem Mister Berkheart. To answer your question, psychology, training, and experience. From history I'll point out to you the native Americans. From personal experience I'll point to what I've seen in Pyrax.”

  Sid blinked. “Oh.”

  Irons rubbed his chin. “The tricky bit is to give the tribal leaders enough authority to allay their fears of being marginalized and their resentment over being supplanted by the council. Perhaps in time one or another can even join the council?”

  Sid blinked at him a few times and then whistled softly. “Fu wouldn't like that. It's possible though.” He was fairly certain that Fu would actively oppose such a proposal. After all the tribes were barbaric, having to hunt and gather on the station for most of their existence until Irons had arrived. Most of the tribal leaders had been elected to their positions because they had either bested their competition in battle or had bested more than one Dilgarth.

  Romeo sometimes wore a black hat festooned with the teeth and claws of the predators. It reminded him of a hat an Australian wore in some ancient film series. Something about crocodiles. Fu of course hated the hat and hated the display.

  Juliet occasionally wore a necklace of teeth and claws or had a claw attached to a chain around her wrist. The tribes were proud of their heritage and clung to it despite being provided modern clothing. That was another bone of contention with the Fu's.

  “I know. You need to give them a say in their future or it will be a royal problem for a long time. They live here too and have lived here for ages like you. They unlike you did represent their people and their interests. It's hard to grasp for both sides I think. But sometimes you have to deal with things as they come and go. They need to understand limits and that they aren't going to get everything they want all at once. It's just not possible.” He realized he was flip flopping on the issue but couldn't help it. He understood both sides of the argument.

  “Something Fu has said,” Sid responded with a tight lipped smile.

  The admiral nodded. “Then he of all people should understand. I think you are in human resources; can you give some of the tribal leaders supervisor positions? Assistant postings?”

  “I don't know.” The Berkhearts were still assimilating the changes and the new personnel roster. They didn't have a true handle on the skill sets of many of the people on the station. Obviously the Kiev had the better people, but they were still woefully under trained compared to someone prior to the Xeno war.

  It would be nice to have someone from that time period. Well more anyway. They had a couple of hundred sleepers but most were elderly or infirm. It galled him that back before the Xeno war they had the pick of the litter, weeding out any undesirables and focusing on those with the best pedigrees, the best education and the highest levels of motivation and experience. Now they were left with dregs.

  “Please consider it carefully. Also consider accelerating the educational initiatives. That will also help in the long run,” the admiral said.

  “I'll certainly consider it,” Sid replied cautiously with a nod. He wasn't ready to commit to the idea without first talking with Emily and a few of the others though.

  “Please do. Good day,” Irons said with a polite nod as he left.

  As crews continued to do inventory, the shops and stores all over the station were cleaned out. Yan Fu insisted on a hard count on everything that they take and recycle. Irons was amused by the act but not amused at how it slowed the work down. He couldn't really object so he shrugged it off.

  He didn't see the harm, but he didn't see the need either. Sure they could pay out insurance money... or compensate the survivors if there were any. Currently there were less than a dozen people on the sta
tion who might be owed anything... all were cybers. Could that be it he wondered? No, none owned the shops, he thought.

  Perhaps he intended to compensate the descendants of the survivors? Again that didn't make sense. How could they tell who was owed what? Sure they could run a DNA scan, but it would take months to sort it out, and seven hundred years of... no that didn't make any sense either.

  Of course they had recently found a group of survivors in stasis pods. The pods had been powered by their own emergency generator when the grid failed. Apparently Draco had fed the pods power and refueled the generator whenever it could. The people in the pods were having a rough time integrating with those from this time period. He felt for them, he knew what they were going through after all.

  There were a dozen sleepers; all were family members of some of the managers. Eight of the 12 were kids under the age of puberty. That was a particular hard thing for the staff to deal with. The kids were traumatized by the loss of their families. Fortunately two of the older kids were teenage siblings of two of the others and of course all the kids knew each other so they had someone to bond to and help them adjust. Still it was going to be a rough ride knowing that your world has been turned upside down and your family is gone.

  Draco had deleted the files about them on the net. They'd literally stumbled over them when someone had traced a power line to an unmarked room. The tech had found them and then had shaken like a leaf for some time. He'd later admitted that he had been about to cut the power line until he'd decided on a whim to trace it to see where it led.

  Most of the materials being recycled were consumer goods that they really didn't need. Toys, furniture... electronics... anything that could be recycled and wasn't needed was up for recycling right now. They could always make more later. That had been how the tech had stumbled onto the line, he'd been tearing apart the area.

  Could that be it? Irons thought. No, that didn't make sense either. He shrugged the thought off and went back to work.