Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  “Oh, only at first. Initial set up to restart colonies nearby will cost yes. But once we get them going the growth will be exponential. With prosperity comes wealth,” she grimaced. “With prosperity also comes more mouths to feed as well. You organics breed like rabbits when you generate a surplus.”

  “And an AI doesn't expand to fill a void of memory space when it can?” Enrique asked. He was there as the Lieutenant Governor of the system.

  “Touché,” Sprite snorted. “I project that in the next three years the birth rate system wide will double. Which puts a large emphasis on reconditioning old habitats and building new ones.”

  “With wealth and prosperity comes depravity and corruption,” Smithy said sourly. The others looked to the AI. “Hello, I've had a few centuries of experience remember? There is always a group of people that want to sit at the top, do nothing and skim the profits to make themselves look fat. And cronies that circle around them to get any crumbs that fall from their mouths.” He waved a hand then held it out palm up and a holo of the port admiral appeared.

  “They will also make sure the status quo doesn't change and will jealously guard and protect it. Even to the detriment of the betterment of themselves. Short sighted individuals,” Smithy finished.

  “Put that thing away. It's enough to give anyone nightmares,” Sprite said waving her hand. “I agree, that with wealth comes a risk of people trying to take advantage of the system. Hence setting up the justice system and the checks now, while we're on the ground floor.”

  “Oh. Okay then,” Enrique nodded, looking to Andreas who shrugged. The others at the table nodded. “But that doesn't answer his other question, where is the Admiral and where does he stand in all this?”

  “The Admiral is a busy man. But he also pointed out this is a purely civilian affair and therefore outside his jurisdiction. He can of course help if called upon to do so, but only as a source of information and as an outside observer... Although I think he'll want to make some input on the defense budget,” Sprite shrugged.

  “You mean he hates meetings and reams of paperwork and copped out,” Enrique said sneaking a smile.

  Sprite opened her mouth to object then sighed and shrugged. The others laughed. She shook her head. “Yeah okay, you put the hammer right on the nail with that one.” She shook her head again.

  The Admiral tossed the tablet onto the desk top and sat back with a sigh. "That one’s done. I swear... paperwork. No matter the century some bureaucrat has to muddle things up with documentation and reels of red tape," he shook his head wryly. Took a drink of coffee then grimaced. "Cold." He got up to dump it.

  "Never let it be said that the Navy doesn't float on its own paperwork. That and coffee," Sprite said mischievously. Irons chuckled.

  “How'd your meeting go this morning?”

  “I think the economists are on board. We'll see how the assembly takes it when it puts it to a final vote tomorrow admiral,” she answered.

  “Huh,” he grunted.

  "Admiral, you need some down time. Some free time." He looked up knowing where this was going. The AI and even a few of the staff had been suggesting it.

  "Now look, we're rebuilding the navy... this is no time.."

  "Admiral, if I may, this is the perfect time," Sprite riposted. "Go get your pipes cleaned at that cat house. They offered you a free-bee! Look see! Your hormones are all out of wack again," the AI said presenting his vital signs.

  "That's not my hormones that me getting ticked," Irons said tightly and then sighed.

  "Too personal? All right, what about playing hooky? Take the launch out and do a spin around the ships?" Sprite suggested. Irons chuckled.

  "Just what the work parties need, me breathing down their necks and looking over their shoulders. They'd be afraid I'd jog their elbows or a surprise inspection," he smiled. He'd done that on his birthday and it had been fun. The last time he had done an inspection tour an annoyed super had gritted her teeth and politely suggested he find something, anything to do. He chuckled at the thought.

  "What about playing some sports? Or getting a work out? You're starting to get flabby," Sprite teased. Irons grimaced at that. People were always throwing food at him. He didn't need it, but he couldn't refuse it all the time. He grunted.

  "You've got a point there. All this paperwork, the Navy, ship reports, logistics, and the classes. I'm glad the term papers are done," he stretched a bit.

  Sprite laughed. "That's not the half of it. Horatio and I are intercepting ninety percent. Your copy is for your final approval most of the time." He nodded.

  "Do we have an estimate on the shipyard?" he asked after a moment.

  She paused. "Not exactly. The legislature is preempting the factory ship to work on the system expansion projects again. The shipyard was bumped back a bit. We've been building out of our own in house replicators," she answered. Irons scowled.

  "When did this happen?" he asked.

  "This morning while we were both busy it seems. The report is in your inbox," she said. Irons scowled shaking his head. "It's not all doom and gloom, we're recycling the radiators and broken bits from the battleship to make parts or to make scaffolding for a temporary dry dock. Proteus has a truss network design being built now. Fortunately your insistence on building our own industrial replicator and our own molecular furnace should let us continue building... if we can get the power and additional rare materials."

  "You're all sunshine you know that?" Irons asked.

  "I try Admiral. I try," Sprite said dryly. He chuckled

  .“How far along are we with that reactor?” he asked.

  “Not far enough. We've finished most of the systems and she should be powering up as soon as we get some software issues sorted out. Hopefully we'll have it done in a couple of days. A week at the outside if we run into anything major.”

  The Admiral nodded to himself after a moment. "What about this conference on my schedule for Friday?" he asked.

  "It's a combination show the flag, recruiting drive, and diplomatic effort. Apparently the colony admins insist you be there."

  The Admiral grimaced. He hated dog and pony shows. "Okay, I'll take the launch with me. Is Destiny about ready?"

  "She's passed her last trial. She's taking on stores now." The Admiral nodded. "She's scheduled to leave at the end of the week.” His brow knit.

  "Why so long?" he asked.

  "Not everything snaps to Admiral. Civilians march, or fumble along at their own pace. It's been said it's like herding cats." Irons chuckled at that.

  "All right, see if the Major would like a work out. I'll go change into my gi and meet him or some other patsy, I mean opponent, in the dojo."

  "Very well Admiral," Sprite responded sounding pleased.

  Thorn looked over the young woman sitting dejectedly at a life support station and hopped over. She hopped up onto the console and sat back. “Is there a problem here crewman?”

  “I dunno,” she sighed, flicking her hand over the controls. “Honestly this is make work.”

  Thorn scanned the controls then nodded. “Not exactly a task that takes rocket science, but it does serve its purpose.”

  “I just thought, I dunno. That I'd be doing something more you know?” she looked up and shrugged.

  Thorn cocked her head. “Such as?”

  “Oh I dunno, piloting a shuttle, fighting pirates, seeing new places. This is... boring,” she waved helplessly.

  “And do you know how to pilot a shuttle? Fight pirates or see other things?”

  “Well no... but..”

  “Have you tried to learn?”

  “Ah... no...” the girl seemed a little crestfallen.

  “You need to broaden your horizons young one,” Thorn bobbed a nod and crossed her three fingered hands behind her. She paced across the console. “I had a boring job like you. I was a deck hand on Maya. I had to work my way up to tactical officer.”

  The girl's eyes were wide. “You did Ma'am?” she asked s
urprised.

  “Of course I did. Everyone has to start somewhere, and we normally start at the bottom. That way we can prove we can handle the responsibility and that we're ready for more,” she waved to indicate the console. “This for instance. Redundant of course, the microcomputers and life support system can take care of problems before you can, but you can spot a small thing and a pattern of behaviour and report it. Things that the system would normally log and forget about.”

  “Oh,” the girl nodded.

  “And, while you’re doing this boring task, you can take the opportunity to broaden your horizons by taking on courses to put yourself onto the career path you wish to be on.”

  “Oh,” the girl blushed.

  “Have you checked out the library or the college courses?” Thorn asked softly.

  “Ah no ma'am. I guess I sort of forgot,” she hunched her shoulders.

  “Well, when you're off shift it would be the perfect time to do so. Think about what you want to do and set a goal. Talk to the college counselor and see if he or she can help you.”

  “Oh. But people like Sergio, ah I mean Lieutenant Valdez just...”

  Thorn shook her head. “Sergio was a pilot before he could walk. He's also done some mechanical engineering and even helmed our good Firefly here,” she waved to the ship. “But yes, now he's the top fighter pilot. Is that where you would like to be?”

  “Well, I thought so, but I couldn't hack the training program. And I don't have proper implants.”

  “Some people learn better with hands on instruction. You may find that flying a fighter isn't as fun as you think. How about I see if we can get you a copilot flight to find out?”

  The girl stared in disbelief then grinned. Thorn tried hard not to shiver at the look. “Oh could you?” the girl gushed, her voice timbre rising in pitch. Thorn winced. “Yes ma'am!” she smiled, straightening her shoulders.

  “All right. Keep plugging away here, don't screw up and I'll see what I can do,”

  Thorn said, hopping off the console. She bounded to the door then paused to look over her shoulder. “Just remember, today you're doing something boring but who knows what the future may bring?” She flirted her tail.

  “Hard work, discipline, a good attitude and an eye on tomorrow. Keep those things in mind and you'll go far.” The girl nodded eagerly as Thorn trotted out.

  “Well, that went well,” she murmured in her native tongue.

  “You have a knack,” Firefly said over her link. He'd made a notation in her file that she was expanding her role beyond her assigned station now that she'd settled into the duties comfortably. She had settled in remarkably quickly for an organic, her small stature had thrown some of the crew at first but her sharp mind had taught them to not take her for granted over the past several weeks. Expanding her role could be good or bad. Sometimes other officers didn't like poaching. In this case good, she had a knack. “Are you bucking for morale officer?” the AI asked humorously.

  “Don't even go there. I've got enough on my plate as it is,” Thorn answered, dodging the feet of crewmen as she went down the corridor. She leapt a knee knocker, landed on all fours on the other side then crouched in a corner as a crew member came by pushing a loaded cart. She knew better than to get near the gravity effects of a floating cart. They flattened you to the deck like a melon dropped down a shaft.

  “Still, what you did was admirable. That young woman has seemed depressed lately. I was about to report her.”

  “She just needed a push in the right direction. Give her a little coaxing to help her along and we'll see.”

  “Well, from her earlier behavior she was more of a wallflower and social butterfly than someone interested in getting the job done and bettering herself. I am curious if what you said will stick.”

  “So am I. I take it that's why she's in the dead end plodder post?”

  “That and we don't have to worry about her mucking anything up if something goes wrong and she is day dreaming. I'll see if I can push her along as well. I've got a few other candidates in mind that could use similar pushes if you’re up to it.”

  Thorn chuckled as she continued on her way. “Sure, I've got time. Just don't expect me to be happy when they smile.”

  Sprite walked the virtual hall and paused near an open door. She heard voices debating with some heat about an engineering problem. She poked her virtual head in and hid a smile.

  Avatars of a handful of college students were debating the repair of an exploded diagram. She wasn't an engineering expert AI like Proteus, but to her it looked like a drive pod. The voices tapered off in a microsecond as the kids noted her presence.

  “Can we help you with something?” a young woman asked, flicking a beaded end of her braided black hair.

  “Sorry, just heard raised voices,” Sprite said. “Is that a drive pod assembly?”

  “Yes, do you ah, know anything about them?” a young elf asked. Sprite frowned.

  “Unfortunately I have only limited experience with engineering matters. I prefer software myself. One moment,” she looked up and opened a channel to Proteus.

  “Where can I get an avatar like that?” the girl stage whispered to a friend.

  “That's no normal skin you dolt, that's an AI. That's the Admiral's AI,” her friend whispered back.

  “Oh,” the girl's eyes were round. She turned to Sprite. “You're an AI?”

  “Yes,” Sprite said nodding. She turned as Proteus appeared. The AI preferred a shapeless blob of mercury as an avatar in the virtual world. The blob bent and moved back and forth. The kids reared back.

  “What the heck is that?” the elf asked, eyes wide, hands up.

  “Kids this is Proteus, Proteus this is a study group of engineering students.”

  A pod morphed into an eye stalk then turned onto Sprite. Data flowed between the two AIs. After a moment it turned back to the kids and stared.

  “Running a diagnostic sim?” the AI asked. The elf nodded.

  A grizzled older man waved an arm through the holo. “See we've got this here harmonic to work out. It'd be a snap if I could see it for real.”

  “Not necessarily. Sometimes diagnostics isn't just done with the mark one eyeball. Sometimes even computers need to be fine tuned by skill and adapted to real world conditions. The mark of a good engineer is the ability to adapt on the go,” Sprite said nodding. “So you've eliminated the obvious?”

  “Yeah. See here, the wave guides got some nasty harmonic here and here...” the elf turned and touched areas on the three dimensional schematic. Ripples appeared from the points he touched. “See when they get together they cancel out here and here. But here they blend together forming a bigger wave.”

  “Resonant harmonic,” Proteus said, nodding it's eyestalk. “Which means...”

  “Which means what?” a student asked impatient.

  “Dummy, if you expect them to hand it to us we're never going to learn it. It ain't like they are going to be out there with us holding our hands and doing our job for us,” a girl said elbowing the annoyed student.

  “Essentially correct. However I am an engineering AI so my purpose is to build, diagnose, and repair problem hardware. I have no teaching subroutines.”

  “Are the harmonics supposed to be there?” the elf asked after a moment of study.

  “You tell me,” Sprite said, crossing her arms. The elf turned to the side and used his fingers to open a text window. A virtual keyboard appeared in front of the window. He brought up a text file and did a search.

  “Yes. There is a resonant harmonic of two point five nanometers required between wave guides four F and four G. This has...” he hopped around his window and reached for the resonant signal. The girl with the braid reached up and touched it just before he had to leap. “Thanks.”

  “Ah yes. Three point one nano... that can't be right,” the elf said turning to his classmates.

  “So this wave emitter four F is out of synch. I get it. But ...” the girl said
excitedly. Sprite smiled and turned to Proteus.

  “See it's fun teaching them,” she said in a side channel.

  “For you. I am not designed for fun. I am programmed to engineer.”

  “Then consider this an engineering problem. Engineering them to go out and build and repair things like you can do. Just... slower,” Sprite said smiling.

  Proteus looked around the lounge and nodded. Other groups were working at various projects.

  “Just go around and give them hints here and there. Not the answers, just push them in the right direction then move on when they start to pick up on it themselves.”

  “Understood,” Proteus replied, moving off. Sprite nodded. She waved a good bye to the kids but they didn't even look up as she left.

  “Kids these days. Well, at least they are staying out of trouble. Speaking of kids I better check on my own...”

  Irons studied the manning chart with a little sense of satisfaction. Things were coming along, slower then he'd like, but he knew he couldn't push things too hard to fast. Training was still an issue. He had to remember he had green horns, despite seven months of training under their belt. They wouldn't be up to one hundred percent for a year or more. The people currently in place would also be at a disadvantage to those in the college programs now. That was something to be addressed down the road.

  G-1 Ops was currently being manned by Commander Vargess. G-2 Intelligence was still open, though he had a couple promising candidates in mind. Unfortunately one was a former ROTC student with an interest and background training in Intel, but she was still feeling her way through the monumental changes time shock had wrought. Unfortunately that had also pointed to deficiencies in the young woman's world view. They needed someone who could adapt with change and not get stuck in one point of view. The last thing they needed was to be steam-rolled by something no one saw coming because they refused to accept it or was deep in a funk.

  He shook his head and gently set the thought aside. G-3 schools, or training was coming along. Matilda had recognized the need for a separate person to run the schools and personnel department. She'd taken the reserve commission, mainly for the retirement benefits. As a lieutenant commander she oversaw both the Anvil college as it's dean and G-3.