Destiny's Choice (The Wandering Engineer) (49 page)

The
drive file opened, changed to a fusion drive. The engines highlighted, and
changed from a class 1 to a class 3. Irons smiled.

“See
there Proteus is anticipating my reaction based on previous experience with me.
Correct?”

“Yes
Admiral.”

“Do
you have enough information?”

“Do
you have a set range? Communications? Fuel capacity? Life support?”

“Normal
for class,” he answered.

“Preliminary
design sketch completed Admiral, do you wish to review it?”

Irons
nodded. The silhouette filled in to a 3d holo of a launch. It rotated a full
360 then spun on it's Y axis 360, then sections of the hull were cut away. After
a minute the display ended with the launch being taken apart into sub
assemblies.

“Even
sub assemblies. If we take this far enough Proteus can write a program to
replicate the parts and assemble them. It has each sub assembly broken down in
one terrabyte system files. They can be scaled to fit any application.”

“Isn't
that innovation? No wait, you said a template,” the girl frowned.

“Yes,”
Irons nodded. “Spread sheet work order by priority,” he ordered. The
spreadsheets formed and then indexed automatically.

“But
how does it do the individual sub systems. Life support for example.”

“That's
just it. Each subsystem is a standardized system. Proteus just scales it to the
desired need. There isn't anything new about it. No new drive, no revolutionary
communicators, no micro hyperdrive,” he answered, looking at the students. “I'm
not asking Proteus to think of anything new.”

“A
micro hyperdrive is not possible with the craft selected. However if you scale
up to a pinnace and drop the crew capacity to 4 then it becomes possible,”
Proteus reported.

Irons
nodded looking at the holo of the avatar then to the group. He shrugged.

“Interesting,”
Bailey commented then nodded to each of the AI. “Thank you for your time. We've
got some work to do tomorrow, so I'm for bed.”

“Yes
it is getting late,” Irons sighed.

“I'd
like a copy of that though Admiral. It might come in handy some day. Who knows,
maybe we can build it as a side project,” Bailey said catching a few eager
looks from the group.

“Could
we really?” a young woman squealed, bouncing up and down.

“Really,
really. But you have to eat all your vegetables and go to bed on time,” Bailey
teased grinning at the young woman.

She
rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at her boss. “Funny boss. A riot.
Laugh a minute. I want in. Boy, something like that would be wicked cool to
do.”

“And
working on a starship isn't enough for you?”

“I
hear it palls after a while,” she said grinning at him.

“Funnnny,”
he drawled in reply as some of the group snickered.

“Building
something with my own two hands though. Something we can use. Or sell...” she
grinned.

“Yeah,”
Bailey snorted then nodded. “I know just the feeling you're talking about. He
turned to the Admiral. “So how about it?” he asked.

“Sure.
Most well run crews pick side projects to work on to keep busy and to keep
their skills up to date. It also lets them learn new things and gives them
something productive to keep them both occupied and something they can sell,”
he said. Bailey rolled his eyes at him. He shook his head. “Sorry, TMI, I know.
The plans and general templates will be on in the mainframe. I'll upload the
work order and spreadsheets and I'll even throw you a bone and have Sprite do
some sims to make sure she's a solid design.”

“Hey!
How'd I get involved in this!” the AI protested. Irons looked at her with one
eyebrow raised. “All right,

 all
right. I'll have to run the sims when most of the crew is down and the Destiny
AI isn't too busy doing routine maintenance though.”

“Cool.”

April
schooled her face as she walked down the companionway. Ever since the last
attack the Admiral had been a little distant with her. She was pretty sure he
was trying to keep her at bay to keep her safe. It hurt but she understood his
reasoning.

She
had to admit to herself she hadn't expected their relationship to last. She'd
expected a one night fling really. What Irons hadn't realized was that she'd
had it in for him since before they had left Pyrax.

It
wasn't just his rugged good looks and charm. It wasn't the sad looks he
sometimes had and tried to hide. It wasn't the uniform, though his ass did look
good in it, she thought with a fleeting smile.

She
hadn't expected the chiseled body of an ancient Greek god either though she
should have. Sure she was into older men and he was appealing because he was a
celebrity and old but again, not quite on the mark.

She'd
known he was sophisticated and had experience. A lot of bed experience. She'd
always been charmed by older more sophisticated partners. Male or female. She
liked it that her lover wasn't a greenhorn, bumbling around, unsure what to do.
The Admiral combined the best traits of both actually, the wisdom of an older
partner, well versed in bed, but also the youth and energy of... hell, ten, no
a hundred men in bed! She smirked a little, slowing her pace. She shifted the
tablet under her arm and looked over her shoulder. Yes her camera bot was still
following. Good.

Goddess
of space she was glad that thing hadn't been on when she and Irons had been
together. On any of the numerous times. She was a little fearful of what she
was going to say to the boss when he found out. Willis had rather snidely made
the same comment yesterday.

Her
thoughts returned to Irons again as she put the fear of the future away. After
all, it was the future, and she would deal with it then. Irons... she smiled.

No,
it was his giving nature that had first charmed her, like probably half the
women in Pyrax. His personality, his open heart and get it done attitude. He
had a charm about him, an aura that had to be felt. Like he challenged those
around him to be better than themselves by showing how giving he was. It was
humbling.

She
hadn't seen his dark side, though she'd seen recordings of it of course. He
could be a frightful bastard when he wanted to be, cold and dangerous. Again,
appealing to some, not really to her.

The
implants... she admitted that the implants and the AI had thrown her for a
while. She'd been determined to at least meet him and get an interview on the
trip. He didn't know that his playing hard to get on the first leg of their
journey had turned a casual crush into something a bit more. Something that had
been hard to dampen with professional ethics.

And
now this. Her journalistic instincts told her she was onto something. She had
been with the Neo's but it had obviously turned out to be a dead end. He hadn't
said as much. In fact he hadn't been sharing his side of the investigation with
her at all. Sometimes that bothered her. She realized why of course. The only
way they could get back together and move on was to catch this damn assassin.
To scoop them. She was on the trail, she could feel it.

She'd
realized something was off about some of the crew and especially the delegates.
She'd narrowed her focus to Mayfair and Willis briefly.

Mayfair
had a sour attitude toward the Admiral, most likely due to the patronage of
someone that had been behind his exile. She wasn't very bright, she'd picked up
on that. She pretended to be sophisticated but it was obvious after the first
interview that the woman was completely out of her element.

Willis
on the other hand... there was something off with that woman. She'd thought it
was jealousy, she'd heard that Willis had been staking Irons out. Mayfair and
Willis had been conspiring to keep most of the women and passengers away from
Irons. She'd come to realize that after a few stories she'd overheard. She knew
they weren't true, the people telling them probably did as well. But of course
since it was so juicy they had kept spreading them.

She'd
seen the way Willis had looked at Irons. The way she now looked at April
herself. It wasn't jealousy, though she may disguise it as that. No there was
something else there. Something more she couldn't quite put her finger on, and
unfortunately her hunch didn't have anything to back it up.

Willis,
unlike her boss, was smarter than she looked. And she obviously took pains to
hide it, which was interesting. She preferred to hide behind her boss,
whispering suggestions and occasionally giving her a helping hand. After what
had happened in the talks with the Agnostan's April had realized who was really
calling the shots with the Pyraxian delegation.

But
how to prove something was wrong with the woman? If she made an accusation
without a shred of proof she'd undermine herself. There was an old story Knox
had told them in journalism class. Something about a boy crying fox. No wolf.

Willis
was a smarmy back stabber. She knew that now. She'd talk all nice, buddy, buddy
to you, charm the pants off you and then gladly shove a stiletto in your back
when you weren't looking.

That
thought had made her pause and shiver a little. It was a little too close to...
but she couldn't narrow it down to one suspect. No, not yet. Willis was just
one. But she was... oooh! She clenched her fingers into claws, wishing she
could rip and claw.

Willis
was also now spreading some rather vicious stuff about her, something that
she'd only just picked up on in passing an hour ago. She wasn't happy about
that. If she had the chance she'd claw the bitch's eyes out and rip her hair
out at the roots.

Which
undermined her yet again. She wondered if that was why the woman had done it in
the first place? Did she know something April didn't? Did she know April was
closing in on the assassin without realizing it? No, she needed to know more.
She wasn't sure if she was on the right track but she had to follow it and see
where it led.

“Ladies
and gentlemen please remain seated or prone while we enter hyper in three, two
one....”

Irons
rolled his eyes as he watched the ship's energy build and then gravitational
forces focused at the bow ripped at space time. When the countdown got to one
the ship leapt into hyperspace.

He
set the tablet down beside him, his right hand tucked up under his head,
supporting it. Oh, he could sit up, but why bother.

He
had tried to avoid April, to maintain some distance between them. She'd seemed
hurt at first, but then she'd seemed to accept it. He wasn't pushing her away,
just holding her at arms length until the threat was over. He hoped she understood.

He
wasn't going to stop her if she came by though. Random acts were just that,
random and therefore hard to predict by any predator.

The
ride was bumpy for a moment then smoothed out. “And we're stable. You may now
move about the ship in an orderly fashion. Thank you for flying Destiny. Have a
good day,” the comm clicked off loudly. He snorted at the humor.

They
were on their way to Briev. He tried to place the name, but April came in and
interrupted his thoughts. One smile and all thoughts of where they were going
left him. So much for a briefing from Sprite. It could wait. They had time,
lots of it.

The
next morning she had an appointment so he went to his usual class. He nodded
politely as the usual suspects came in and sat down.

They
discussed aliens. How they got 121 different alien member species of the
Federation, and dozens of protectorates and a few banned species in the in 400
years the Federation had existed. “Most of the members are due to exploration.
The problem is that it caused a major crisis. Worlds were being contacted. Most
weren't space exploring yet. That led to a problem. Due to open source
requirements, the data on them was shared with the public at first. The species
were a minor celebrities for some time, then they were exploited because many
aren't very high on the civilization tree. If they were on a growing trade
route they were invested in by mega corps and taken advantage of.

Others
learned to invest in new aliens. They would get them hooked on new tech. That
would destroy local industry and economy, sometimes causing world wars or major
unrest at the least. Some would sell weapons.

To
pay for it the natives would indenture their planet. Terran liberal politicians
likened it to taking advantage of Indians during the settlement of the American
continents by the Europeans. Selling beads for land and goods.

Some
would become so indentured they would become slaves to mega corps. Some mega
corps got the idea to appeal to Federation for relief. They had a scam going. A
neat one too. They would hook an alien, then guide them through the relief
process. Their pet senators would be guided by lobbyist handlers to help. They
would get money from the Federation to pay back part of the loan, but never all
of it. Interest would continue to accrue.

Finally
the economy couldn't bear it anymore and the public put it's foot down to
further hand outs. That led to liberals exposing the practice and ramming
through changes when they got control of the government. They rammed through
the prime directive.