New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (64 page)

 "The Admiral set it up.
We'll have Zethura warmed up. She'll get in the tank with her just like we did
with the beta band," the captain said dryly.

Kendra looked over to her partner.
"Looks like someone is going to be pooped to play after shift," she
murmured.

"Don't bet on it I'm horny,”
Shandra teased back.

Kendra ducked her head blushing
furiously. “I guess someone should warn Jen,” she mumbled. “Don't you dare,”
Shandra retorted grinning.

The class watched exited as the
chief tossed the Admiral over her shoulder and rolled onto her back. He oofed
convincingly as her foot hit his solar plexus and she tossed him over her head.
He hit the mat hard. Before he could roll she had flipped herself on top of
him. She grabbed his gi front with her right hand and tapped her left knuckles
down on his neck. “Bang you're dead.”

The class was silent for a moment
then cheers and clapping rang. He smiled as she got up and looked around. He got
up and bowed. After a moment she faced him and did as well. “You've come a long
way in a short time Chief,” he said. He nodded to her. Tara handed each a
towel. They wiped off and stepped off the mat for the next pair.

“You've certainly earned that
black belt,” Frie commented. She ran her hand over her own.

“So did you,” the chief said as
she toweled at her hair and face.

He smiled to both. “I think the
two of you should be able to handle the class in my absence just fine,” he
said. Frie frowned, the chief smiled.

“But we need you; there's still a
lot to learn,” Frie parsed out.

 He bowed. “If you realized that,
then you're on your way. Knowing that there's always more to learn is an
important step.”

The chief smiled at Frie. “Care
for a bout when he's done talking?” Frie smiled challengingly to the chief.

“If you think you’re up to
getting your butt pasted all over the mat,” the chief replied. The Admiral
chuckled.

"So, we're more than a
trader now right? What else can we build?" Tara demanded.

He turned to Tara. "Well,
this ship can build quite a lot, satellites we've been doing, repairs, robots,
and much more."

She nodded. "Yeah but is
that it?"

Jennie shook her head. "No,
we can make space stations too! Parts for ground stuff, air cars, shuttles,
even other starships!" She looked excited.

The Captain looked up.
"You’re serious? I thought you were pulling my leg," she had a tinge
of awe in her voice.

The engineer nodded. "Yes,
with the right raw material and trained personnel you can make all that. Or
make a shipyard that could do a lot of it." She whistled.

Tara lugged the coil of cable
over, set an end down and then began to back up, unwinding the coil as she
went. "So, what ever got you into engineering? I thought since you're an
Admiral you were a commander?"

He looked over and shook his
head. "I was two. I took apart the freezer on our ship. My parents were
amused, the cook less so,” he said and made a face. She smirked. “I ate over
cooked food for a month," he admitted. One of the techs nearby giggled.
"I learned the hard way to stay on the good side of a chef," he said
dryly. A few more giggled. "They couldn't understand how I had taken the
freezer apart until I showed them. I used a set of oven mitts," he said
and then grimaced. "It was a pain to do too," he murmured. He shook
his head and smiled fondly at the memory.

"I drove the ship's
engineering staff to distraction tearing things apart until one of them; Mikal
took me under his wing as his assistant." He smiled as Tara finished
uncoiling the line and plugged it into the port. He plugged his end in, then
the power line attached to it. "I was his pint sized helper. I loved it. I
learned a lot of hands on engineering, and learned it's a lot more fun fixing
things then breaking them." He sighed. "I did okay in fleet, but I
really fell in love with the shipyards. But the higher you get in your career,
the less hands on, and the more paper work you have to juggle." He
grimaced. "That part I don't miss."

“Boss, can you please talk with
Io? She's hassling me about using her net,” Sprite said plaintively.

The Admiral sighed as Sprite's
astringent comment cut into his shower. “You know, I'm trying to take a shower
here,” he growled. He quickly finished and got out. As he dried off with the
towel he looked over to see a pair of holograms standing. The silver impish
Sprite and the child like Io. “Now children, can't you get along without
supervision?” he tsked tsked, shaking his head.

He caught Io trying to peek at
him. Sprite smacked at her. She turned looking aggrieved. “Hey! What was that
for? I was just looking!” she said piqued.

He shook his head. “And they say
smart AI's are better,” he mocked.

Sprite frowned. “Now wait a
minute Admiral,” she said with a glower. He chuckled. “Okay, so the problem is,
you want to access Io's systems, and Io won’t let you right?” Sprite nodded.

He toweled his hair, and then
dressed quickly. “Seems to me you wanted a peek at my net too right Io? But the
terrible trio wouldn't let you?” he asked.

She nodded. “It's only fair!” She
scowled at Sprite. “Share!”

The Admiral sighed.
“Unfortunately, she can't do that, it isn't her call Io,” he explained
patiently. He sat down on the bunk facing her. “First off, you’re technically a
civilian AI, and the trio are military, as am I.”

Io blinked. “Oh.”

“What, did you forget that? Maybe
I should have another look at your core programming?” Sprite commented.

“Easy there,” he waved as Io
began to swell. “Io, you have to realize, Sprite's your mother in the organic
sense,” he said. Both AI's nodded.

“Does that make you my father?”
she asked.

He chuckled. “Not exactly.”

“Sprite you should realize. Oh
hell, look up the parenting files for yourself,” he said.

Her eyes blinked. “I can't do
that; it's on the net remember?” She turned to Io.

Io blinked for a moment, and then
turned to Sprite. “Here, I think this is what he means.” She held out her hand
with a paper in it.

“What's this?” Sprite took the
file and looked it over. “Oh, so you’re asserting your boundaries as part of
your development?” she asked after a second.

Io nodded. “Yeah looks that way,”
she smiled and aged a little more before his eyes. Her image became a
centimeter taller, and her skeletal cheeks filled out.

Sprite examined her. “Well, I
guess you’re doing okay,” she admitted.  After a moment she nodded.

“Okay, Io, please let Sprite have
limited access to the ship's net,” Irons said. Io turned to him. He placed his
hand up forestalling her denial. “I said limited. I know you don't want her in
your AI core, or ship's systems, but I need her help in repairs, and I need her
to be able to access the ship's, I mean
your
database.”

Io scowled petulantly for a
moment. “Okay, but no funny business,” she warned shaking a finger. She looked
over to Sprite.

“Wouldn't dream of it honey,”
Sprite smiled.

“There, now wasn't that simple?”
The Admiral smiled then started with his boots. “Now, go about your business, I
have to finish getting ready for my shift,” he said. The AI's nodded. Io's
disappeared.

He gave Sprite a look. “Admiral,
I don't have anywhere else to go, I'm part of you remember?” she replied.

He chuckled as her hologram
disappeared and then reappeared on his HUD. “Okay, so what do you think she's
at point six build?” he asked.

Sprite shrugged. “Maybe, but she
still has a few issues,” she said with a hint of concern in her voice. He shook
his head.

“Coffee, black.” The replicator
glowed for a minute. He took the cup, took a sip, and then picked up his
toolbox with his free hand. “I want to get another shuttle repaired, and then
see if we can get that stuck valve replaced this afternoon.” He stepped out of
his quarters cradling his cup. He nodded to the guards. “Good morning ladies.”

"Dinner time!" He heard
the clatter of a cart and looked up annoyed. The serving girl had it stuck in
an open floor panel. "Uh! Ugh!" She tugged it loose then turned back
to them, hands on her hips. "I said, dinner time!" She tapped her
toes and drummed her fingers on her belt.

Jennie looked over to him and
stifled a giggle. "We're almost finished," she said. He waved to the
open trench where they were at; Jennie was straddling the large water line.
Cleaning robots buzzed around, cleaning up the mess.

"I got this Admiral, you go
eat," Jennie nodded to the girl with the cart.

He gave her a long look then
shrugged. "All right, I always had a hard time with delegating...”

She snorted. "Aunty Julie
said you're to eat. She made this special for you." The girl turned and
whisked off a cover plate. "Chicken ala king, with white sauce, potatoes,
and carrots." She waved grandly. "Much better than that algae stuff
you eat all the time," she growled. He chuckled

. "For your information, the
algae in the food replicators have all the necessary nutrients to live,"
he said. He ended that with mock severity as he pulled himself out of the
trench and stretched. He looked over the meal; the girl looked him over and
wrinkled her nose.

 "What have you been...no, I
take it back, I don't want to know,” she said. She edged back. He reached for
the plate.

Like a viper she snapped,
slapping his hand. "Keep your grimy paws off the clean silver! Go wash
up!" she growled. He chuckled. The girls giggled. "I mean it! Aunty
Julie put a lot of work into this after you fixed all the kitchen appliances
and uploaded that cookbook for her to look at!"

He smiled. "But I like algae
paste," he teased.

She growled. "I oughta tell
aunty that, she'd probably dip you in a vat of it...or sit on you and spoon
feed it to you till you choke." The girls in the trench were laughing
outright by now, enjoying the byplay. He shrugged as he went down the corridor
and into a nearby head. He came out a moment later wiping his hands.

"All better?" he
teased.

She made a show of examining
them, and then sniffed. "Better. I don't suppose there's a place you can
eat privately? Or at least sit down?" she asked. She looked around. The
guard’s eyes twinkled.

"I used to work in the algae
farm boss, believe me, a lifetime of eating that dross, and then experiencing
fresh food..." Rodriguez shivered. "I'll take the good stuff any day.
If you don't want it..." She grinned up at him from the trench.

He chuckled as he sat on a
convenient knee knocker. "I'll eat, I'll eat!" He leaned over and
took a whiff. It smelled heavenly. His stomach rumbled.

"See! You are hungry!"
the serving girl said. The girl stood up straight and smiled triumphant. He
smiled. "Aunty checked the logs, she was beside herself worrying about you
not eating, kept dithering about you being too skinny." He chuckled.
Sprite played an audio clip for him, reminding him of the past. The chuckle
turned into a laugh. He looked up as she frowned.

"Care to share?" Jen
asked.

He looked over. "Sure."
Sprite took the cue and played the clip.

"I don't care if you’re a
high and mighty Admiral or a newbie enlisted, you’re going to sit there and eat
or I will make you!" a voice came over the speakers. The girls looked up,
some giggling, some looking confused.

"Who was that?" one of
the girls asked.

"A voice from my past,"
he admitted. He shrugged. "I kept that in my audio files as a
reminder." The girls giggled some more.

The food girl tapped the plate
meaningfully. "Stop stalling and start eating!"

He picked up the fork and dug in
with a will. "I didn't know your aunt was monitoring me so closely,"
he commented between bites.

She was looking over the other
girls as they worked. "She keeps an eye on you. Ever since your first long
day, everyone keeps tabs."

He looked up surprised, and then
grimaced. "Never going to live that down am I?" he asked.

She looked over her shoulder to
him. "Nope. Don't forget the greens, they're good for you." He
chuckled. Her mothering was amusing, and probably good for moral. The story
would be all over the ship before he finished his last bite...if not already.
Scuttlebutt was the fastest thing on a ship.

"So, you worked in the algae
vats? On the Pyrax station?" he asked Rodriguez. She looked up and nodded,
then went back to work. "Algae and a few greens were for the lower deck
people, the workers. The upper deck people got the good stuff, the real
food," she said. He grimaced and looked her way. She sighed.

"Mom would trade for things,
and dad's credit line let us get extra...and of course there were a few times
things... appeared at the table..." He chuckled as she smiled evilly.
"I still remember the yogurt, I'm not sure how mom got it, or why, but the
port Admiral having a fit over it missing was funny!" she chuckled then
sobered. "But not so funny to some of the people in the galley," she
grimaced in thought then went back to tightening a bolt. "All set here,
are we ready to purge the line?" she asked.

Jennie looked up and shook her
head. "No, leaky main seal downstream to fix first."

Rodriguez sighed long and low, as
did a few of the girls. He finished up and wiped his mouth with the cloth
napkin. He took a look at the silver, noting that it was the Captain's fine
silver. "My, she did trot out all the works didn't she?" he asked.
The girl bussed his plate and knife, and then set another smaller tray in front
of him and a glass of fruit juice.

"She did, and... she said
you get this, since you’re the best person to appreciate it!" the girl
said. She whipped off the top to see a piece of pie. "The filling is
fabricated, but aunty is happy with it."