New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (65 page)

He smiled and cut a forkful.
"I'm sure it's fine." He juggled the dripping interior, and then took
a careful bite. He smiled around his fork. "Tell your aunt she has a
winner."

The girl smiled for the first
time. "Thanks, I'll do that!"

He ducked and cut another piece,
hiding a small smile. "Apple pie I believe, my favorite." He had the
bite, and then looked up. "How did she know?" he asked curious.

The girl smirked. "Auntie
has her ways."

He chuckled. "Well, tell her
my compliments to the chef!" One of the girls giggled.

"Come in come in," the
Captain called.

He stepped into the Captain's
ready room and stood before her desk. "You wished to see me Captain?"
he asked. She turned from looking out the window to him. She was clutching a
mug of tea in her hands.

"I never get over it,"
she said.

He thought for a moment.
"The window?" She nodded. "A display," he said and then
nodded. All the exterior windows on the ship were actually LCDs. Now that they
had managed to repair most of the critical systems, the list had wound down to
the nonessentials, like the broken windows.

"Have a seat," she
said. She motioned to the chair beside him with her mug. She watched him over
the mug as he sat. "The doctor informs me the last two of his patients
have been successfully awoken from stasis and their wounds treated." He
nodded as she took a sip. Faith had been awakened some time ago but her
recovery was taking a bit long. She had a lot of neural damage to recover from
and her rehab progress was slow.

"He took your advice and
started slow, working on the patients with the least complicated and serious
injuries first." She set the mug down. “Faith is still in the regen tank
for a long dunk, he has her sedated. I understand she'll have a bit more
recovery in rehab before reporting for duty,” she grimaced. “He reports that
they'll be working on the Doctor next...” He nodded.

"Her organs are growing
nicely. I even took a peek when I was down there for my check up," she
said. She was acting more spry, moving around with much more fluid motion. Her
voice was still rough, but it had a new subtle strength to it. "He even
has me on an exercise regime now." She grimaced a moment, then chuckled. "I
thought in my dotage I'd be stuck in this chair getting sore, now I have a new
lease on life."

He nodded. "You’re a few
decades younger then I am Captain, I think you should have a long life."
He waved to the ship. "You've earned it," he said. She chuckled.

"If Faith pulls through the
next stage of rehabilitation as expected I want you to bring her up to speed on
the training programs," she ordered. He nodded. "I understand you've
taken an interest in Pyrax?" she asked. He felt surprise and it showed.
Her eyes gleamed. "You’re not the only one who can access a computer.
Being the Captain does have some privileges," she said with a small smile.
They both chuckled at that.

"Yes, to answer your
question, I was taking an interest in Pyrax. We should be as close to one
hundred percent without a full dockside refit, which isn't possible," the
admiral said.

She nodded. "What you've
done is work wonders." She touched a control on her desk. A holo of the
Pyrax system came up. He was again surprised, Sprite had it on file, but the
Captain's was current.

"I keep my important files
off the network," she told him. She tapped the keyboard in front of her
then sat back as the hologram played a movie. "Here's the system. I
identified twelve major space colonies, there may be more. They have inner
system trade with the station being the hub," she briefed him. The scene
tightened on a spindle shape, then zoomed in. When the scene stabilized the
station drifted in front of him. Battered, but he could make out lights along
her flanks. "It has a population in the tens of thousands, but watch out
for the port Admiral, he's a corrupt bastard." He felt his face freeze as
she scowled off to the bulkhead. "He's as corrupt and vile as they come so
watch it on station," she growled. He nodded.

"The next system after this
is Seti alpha 4, the doctor's home system," she said. He cocked his head.
She nodded. "Yes, I'll give him the chance to leave, with a load of
medical gear and supplies," she said to his unasked question.

He nodded wary. "Or..."
She looked up. "You could offer him a permanent posting, and offer to take
on his wife and children," he suggested. She froze, and then slowly
nodded.

"That might be worth it. It
would at least keep Dorah and Mindy busy," she growled. He chuckled as her
face scowled but her eyes gleamed. She punched up the controls and studied the
LCD facing her. "According to this, we should reach Pyrax in less than a
week," she said. She shook her head amazed. "I still cannot get over
the speed you got this old girl up to!" she said.

He smiled. "It wasn't just
me Captain, you have a good crew," he said.

She nodded. "Well, we'll be
in Pyrax for less than a week that's all I can tolerate of those port
fees," she grimaced sourly.

"Johnny Appleseed!"
Sprite said suddenly.

"Don't do that!" he
snarled as he stilled his hand. "I need to focus here." He returned
his attention to the microscopic manipulations his hand and Proteus's nanites
were performing. When he finished he sat back with a groan. "Okay, now
what?" he demanded. He tapped the controls.

"Sorry Admiral, I just
realized your plan," Sprite replied. He looked confused.

"Plan?" He stood up and
stretched. Hours remaining still during micro or virtual manipulation took more
concentration, and therefore more energy out of him, then entire shifts on his
feet.

"Yes, this ship, a mobile
manufacturing center, and now the school slash university?" Sprite
responded. "Not to mention the doctor and hospital..."

He sighed tiredly. "Your
point?"

An image was projected onto his
HUD. "So, this," a Terran stood before him, wearing a pot as a
helmet, and carrying a sack. "Johnny Appleseed. I indexed his file a
moment ago and the connection was made."

He shook his head. "Do you
need your neural net recompiled?"

Sprite projected herself onto his
HUD. "No," she replied. She shook her head. "Routine diagnostic
shows my network is working at eighty nine percent efficiency."

He grunted. "So, who's this
Appleseed?" he asked. He leaned over and pulled out a canteen. He took a
sip.

"He's a character from
American Mythology. According to the myth he went across the North American
Continent to spread apple seeds. Therefore his name," Sprite responded. He
nodded.

"Okay, I get it. And you see
our work on this ship and connected the analogy?" he asked. After a moment
he nodded.

"Yes Admiral." She
waved and a star chart appeared. "This is the circuit the Io 11 takes. Now
if they make a small but significant impact on each world, and build it up over
time..." He watched as the worlds changed color. "Each color shift
denotes a change in civilization level. The time index is one to twenty,"
she explained.

He nodded. "Good, I'm glad
you’re catching on." He stood up and gathered his tools.

"You share head space, you
think you know a guy..." Sprite grumped good naturedly.

"When were you going to let
me know?" she finally demanded.

He chuckled. "It's not my
fault you’re slow sometimes," he teased. He waved to the door controls.

"Cute," Sprite
responded. "You do realize that all your eggs are in one basket right? If
anything happens to this ship..."

He nodded to the guards and
pointed his box to the lift. They followed him silently. "One more reason
to move on," he sighed as they entered the lift and the door closed.
"But not just yet. Deck two."

"So I hear you've be'en
muckin about wit my engines?" a voice heavy with a scottish bur cut
through the normal chatter in engineering.

Jennie looked up and squealed.
"FAITH!" She grabbed the woman and danced around. Some of the other
techs looked up, a few came over.

"Easy, easy, not so hard or
you'll put me right back in der doctor's clutches!" Faith said.

Jennie giggled, brushing tears
from her eyes. "I'm so glad you're okay," she sniffled. A few of the
other girls did too.

"You have so much to
see!" She waved her arms around.

Faith looked around and smiled.
"In good time." She nodded to the techs. Some stepped back, smiles on
their faces. A few returned to work after giving her a thumbs up. The Admiral
finished the diagnostic and then straightened. The cluster of girls had moved
out a few meters.

"I wish Molly could have
seen this," Jennie sighed, saddened.

Faith patted her shoulder.
"I'm sure she'll look in on us from time to time lass." She nodded to
another tech who came in. "I like the new look, that's the greatest
compliment to Molly anyone could have done." She nodded to the coveralls.
"I'll have to get another set," she said. She smiled down at her worn
outfit. "Mindy saved this for me, but it's a bit tighter then I remember,"
she said, smiling wryly. A few girls chuckled at this.

"I see you've made the leap
to tech status," The Admiral waved a hello to Jen and Tara.

Tara set her toolbox down and
grimaced, rubbing the small of her back. "Okay, that thing's heavy! Even for
me!" She grimaced at Jen's chuckle.

"Welcome to our world."

"So, you're on Jen's
shift?" Irons asked.

Tara smirked. "Nothing gets
by you does it?" she growled.

He smiled. "Only the obvious
from time to time," he joked. He shrugged as they chuckled.

"Yes, miss butter fingers
was assigned to me, to my everlasting horror," Jen rolled her eyes in mock
horror.

Tara rounded on her. "You're
never going to let me live that down. I miss one handball catch and I'm butter
fingers for life?" she mock demanded.

Jen grinned. "If the shoe
fits..."

 "Look who's talking little
Miss Klutzy," Trisha teased.

Jen groaned, hands over her face.
"You would bring that up."

It was Tara's turn to grin
evilly. "Oh, I didn't hear this, just how did she earn this
nickname?" she asked.

Jen rounded on Trisha as she
opened her mouth. She shook her finger. Trisha's mouth closed with a clop.
"Perhaps it's a story for another time and place," she smiled at Jen
who wrinkled her nose.

"Never would suit me just
fine,” Jen scowled. They all laughed at that.

 "Now I know why the Captain
feels so old, dealing with you pups," the Admiral smiled.

"Pups?" The gravel was
unmistakeable. "You're quite correct Admiral, putting up with these pups
has put years on this old body of mine," the captain said. She waved to
her seated form but her eyes twinkled. Tara came to attention. The captain
looked at her with a twinkle in her eye. "Keeping you busy I see, I'm glad
you're finally doing productive work. I think Bart missed doing KP."

Tara grimaced but then nodded.
"Aye Captain, thank you."

The Captain nodded. "Carry
on." She moved away down the corridor.

 “Admiral, I still don't see the
comparison between shield technology, gravity emitters and subspace plasma
engines, I mean, I get the whole shield and gravity thing but the rest?” Faith
shook her head as she traced her fingers along the holo. “It still trips me to
actually feel something.” She shook her head as she took the virtual engine
apart.

“Okay, back oh, in the early 21
^st
century scientists built the first magsail,” Irons said. The Admiral moved the
image of the engine aside and uploaded another.

“What's that?” Jennie asked. “It
looks like a, well; I mean I'm not sure what it is!” The ancient craft rotated
around on each axis.

“Magsail ship. Actually, the very
first, the Hudson I believe.” He used his hands to move the hologram to the
center of the table, and then expand it.

“What are these hoops?” Faith
asked intrigued.

“Those are near room temperature
superconductors. They're the magsail,” he explained.

She nodded tracing them. “Wires?”
She looked over to him and raised an eyebrow. He chuckled.

“Superconductors. You see, the
craft induced a charge on the wires, they were then...”

“Magnetized!” Jen said snapping
her fingers. “Yeah, I get it, superconductors 101.” He nodded to her.

“Well, for the rest of us who
didn't take the class?” Faith drawled.

Jen smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“The magnetic field did two
things. First it shielded the crew from solar and cosmic radiation. In doing so
it acted as a sail. The solar wind would push on it, giving it a net
acceleration,” the Admiral explained.

“Ah, okay, now I see where this
is heading,” Faith nodded.

“Right, it was primitive, but
when the early space craft were coasting, they could generate some delta V,
that's delta velocity, or acceleration, in a desired direction, like a wind
driven ship,” he continued. Both women nodded.

He waved the ship to one side,
and then pulled up the engine of the Io. “Now, when mankind made the
breakthrough to force emitters, one of the first proposed uses was a gravity
drive.” He pulled up a solar system.

“But you said in class it didn't
work, it only works when the two objects are close to each other,” Jen said
slowly, looking at the holos then back up to him for confirmation.

He nodded. He smiled as he noted
the crowd that had gathered around. “You're right, the further away, the more
power needed, the less acceleration. But when a scientist, Doctor Smythe
proposed crossing a plasma engine with a force emitter....” He straightened and
waited for the fireworks.

“The ship pushes against the
plasma exhaust, and since it is close to the ship and exiting, it gives a net
delta V,” Jen finished.