Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (103 page)

“Now,
for your personal satisfaction you now get to see me toss the admiral around
the mat,” he said as the two circled. The class was backing up a respectful
distance. Some were standing, others took a lotus position.

Irons
had a feral grin on his face. “One of us will get tossed around you mean,” he
said.

“Ah
shit,” Savo said as their hands began to whirl.

Sprite
seemed smug the next morning. Irons wasn't really up for it, he wasn't sore,
just edgy. He took his morning cup of coffee and sat down with a tablet in
front of him to read the morning news.

Now
that the station was set up and it's communications were back on line the media
was now involved. A few intrepid media outlets had transferred some of their
young idea people to the station. Since most of the media was print based on
the planet he like a lot of people weren't sure how well the transition would
work. After all, the station didn't use nor need newspapers.

Fortunately
one of the electronics techs had caught on to their frustration in the library
and had pointed them in the E-book direction. It had taken several days but the
set up had been worth it. They still needed a good copy editor but they were
doing a bang up job now that they had their feet under them.

Toni
Chambers was currently the only video news outlet on the station. She was
harried running from one place to another to cover this or that story or
interview. He didn't envy her and he did his level best to avoid her.

Of
course half the news was from the planet right now, the other half was all
focused on the station. Most of the local section detailed the various projects
ongoing or coming online, with the occasional interview of a person of
interest.

He
hadn't been interviewed. He'd considered it, but hadn't been approached yet.
That was something to think about right there, Sprite was right. Something was
off about that. Normally he had reporters all over him because of his status.
He didn't mind not having them, but it was decidedly odd to be ignored. Toni
Chambers had attempted once but then had been pulled off by her boss to handle
another story.

“Something
on your mind this morning Sprite?” he asked as he took a sip of coffee. It was
good to see her a little chipper.

If
anything her smile widened slightly. “I picked up a few more pieces of military
equipment. They were going up for auction but I did a swap.”

“Auction?”
Irons asked raising an eyebrow.

“They
have them monthly ground side. I picked up some minor pieces and a hundred tons
of milspec computer parts. They are most likely junk but you never know.”

“True,”
Irons replied thoughtfully. “Anything else?”

“Some
milspec replicators that have been initialized. Two small ones, the same make
and model as the one in your launch. The auctioneer said they were locked
down.”

Irons
made a face. That could mean anything from locked down but still functional to
an inert shell. Still it was the thought that counted here.

“I
also picked up some sensors, a marine drop pod, some pieces of army issue
armor, and a couple of other things.” She scrolled a list on his HUD. He
recognized a few items. A few others he recognized when she brought up an
image. Most like the ordinance cart and emergency generator were battered but
he could do something about them later.

“Good,”
he said with a nod.

She
made a sour face. “I think they are on to me though, someone was jacking up the
price when I started to bid.”

“Pattern
bidding,” Irons said with a nod.

She
sighed. “I tried to use shell companies but it didn't work.”

He
wasn't sure how the hell she was planning to pay for all this. Hopefully she
wasn't charging it to the station account, he had enough headaches. “That means
anything else is going to be driven up,” Irons replied with a sigh. “Try to
focus your efforts on naval equipment. Specifically if you see any construction
equipment let me know.”

“I'll
keep that in mind,” Sprite said making a tick check on a virtual clipboard.
“What about ordinance?” she asked looking up.

He
pursed his lips. Most likely the ordinance had shut down and scrammed when it
fell into civilian hands. Well, hopefully at any rate. He nodded reluctantly.
“Bid on it. Also any ordinance handling equipment, that sort of thing. How old
is this stuff anyway?”

“More
than seven hundred years of course,” Sprite said with a smirk. He snorted.
“Beyond that?” she asked, shrugging helplessly. “We'll find out when it
arrives.”

“Shipping?”

“It's
taken care of admiral,” she said.

“And
how are you paying for all this?” he asked.

“Um...
well... it's um...”

He
paused, knowing when she was suddenly caught in something she didn't want to
admit. “Spit it out commander,” he growled.

“I
sold some information and agreed that you'd do a series of interviews for an
exclusive club.”

“Oh
great,” he sighed setting his tablet and cup down in disgust. “And?” he knew
there was more to it than that.

“I...
agreed to do some replicating. Nothing illegal. I've been doing it on your off
time with your launch.”

“Oh?”
he asked, raising an eyebrow. He hadn't been to the launch in some time. He'd
serviced it a week or so ago and then left it alone.

“Parts
mostly, though someone wanted a stone Venus statue with their own face on it
for some odd reason. It's at the dock waiting to be shipped.”

“Oh.”

“No
worries admiral,” she said.

“Sprite
I don't mind you branching out and using military hardware to do it since you
are getting hardware in return. Just try to keep me in the loop,” he said.

“Will
do,” she said, sounding a little chastened.

“That
being said, good initiative. Next time ask before you involve me though,” he
said.

“I'll
try,” she said, smile returning. There was a slight twinkle in her eye. “You
know the old rule though...”

“Old
rule?”

“Better
to ask for forgiveness then permission,” she said, smirk widening.

“Cute,”
he said, giving her a tight lipped smile. “Anything else to report?”

“Not
much, the station's doing okay. We've got some issues with reactor four and
reactor five's still having issues. I think leaving Riff to his own devices
with it might have been premature.” Riff was now chief of power for the
station. He was still feeling out the job apparently.

The
admiral shrugged. “He needs to learn. Some people learn best by doing. By
making mistakes, digging themselves a hole and then figuring out how the heck
to get out of it.”

“True.”

“Net?”

“All
quiet. Lieandra's bringing another group in later this afternoon. Kiev's
finally got her emitter problems sorted out. I'm doing some work with them so
I'll need you to jack in when they get back.”

“More
people. Great,” he said with a head shake. They were finding that only half of
the people arriving intended to work. Most wanted to find some scam or get rich
quick scheme and then head back to the planet loaded with gold or credits.
Quite a few had been stopped trying to loot the station. More than one person
had been caught trying to steal or “borrow” a shuttle or tug to go prospecting.
It was annoying for some, downright dangerous for those involved. They had no
idea what they were getting into.

Proteus
opened the log file for the next replicator they were tasked with bringing
online and paused. The time-stamp… the last time-stamp was after the dark time,
less than fifty years ago. Apparently Draco had tried to use the replicator,
recognized the problem with the control… this wasn’t the first log he’d come
across he realized. Defender had done a thorough job of sanitizing Draco’s
influence but this… he needed to speak with the admiral.

“Admiral
a moment?” the AI asked.

“Proteus?”
the admiral asked in surprise, sitting up. “Is there a problem?”

“Of
a sorts admiral,” Proteus replied, noting it’s fellow AI attending the
conversation. “Black out,” the AI said to Defender.

The
security AI scowled but checked. He flicked a couple bots out of the
apartment’s security system and then locked it down. “We’re secure,” he replied
after a second.

“We’ll,
you’ve certainly piqued my curiosity,” The admiral said, setting his cup of
coffee down. “Care to explain?” he asked.

“Admiral,”
Proteus said. “Sprite, Defender. I have been in the net looking at the logs and
have come to a conclusion. The AI Draco was not insane.”

“That…”

“Let
me finish,” Proteus said, cutting off Defender. “I have compared the civilian
AI to Fuentes. Our experience with Fuentes was our first with a technically
insane AI. Draco however doesn’t meet the same criteria.”

The
admiral frowned, looking at the three AI on his HUD. Sprite looked sullen and
hurt. She glared at Defender. Proteus’s blob bobbed up and down. Defender’s
eyes glowed red. “I have proof,” Proteus said opening a file and sharing it
with the other AI before opening it for the admiral. “Based on this, Draco was
still functional and was fulfilling his function as the station’s primary
engineering AI. He was attempting to keep the station functional and was not
insane.”

“A
log book is hardly evidence of sanity,” Defender replied.

“Unfortunately
it and the other files and stories the tribes have exchanged and our own
interaction with the AI are all we have to go on. Based on that I have to
reluctantly conclude that the destruction of the AI was in error.”

“I…”

The
admiral held up a restraining hand as he scanned the document. He wasn’t sure
what Proteus was driving at. The log was a simple entry, Draco had recognized
that the replicator was down, cut off from… he paused as it hit him. The AI’s
statement was coherent, understandable, in other words logical. There were no
emotional overtones in the log, no mistakes, it was clean.

“I…
did not… I…” Defender turned to Sprite. “I apologize Commander, it appears I
was in error.”

“I…”
Sprite seemed to swell but then stopped. Irons sucked in a breath and then let
it out as she turned accusing eyes on him.

“The
error was mine. I gave the order. I didn’t know at the time. I wish we had
reached out, tried to contact and better assess the AI’s sanity but I was
afraid that letting the AI know we were here would be dangerous.” He frowned,
looking away.

“They
say hindsight is twenty twenty,” The admiral finally said. “And friendly fire
is the toughest thing to handle. I think we’re all going to be haunted by this
one. Proteus, I thank you. Please file a report. Sprite…”

“I…
yes admiral?” Sprite asked dispirited.

“It’s
not your fault,” he said eyes locked onto hers. She frowned. “I’m serious
commander. We went with what we had at the time. Hindsight like I said. Now we
know. Please treat any files from Draco as clean not corrupted. Scan them and
then use them as needed. Don’t hate me or yourself. I gave the order.”

“I…
Admiral I shouldn’t of been so zealous,” Defender grudgingly admitted.

The
admiral pursed his lips. “Perhaps lieutenant but the damage has been done. The
best we can do now is learn from it and move on. Make sure it doesn’t happen
again.”

“Agreed,”
Sprite said. She turned, eyes shifting. What Proteus had reported had opened up
old wounds again. She’d have to think about it.

As
the station's interior was repaired more and more businesses became interested
in opening up franchises on the station. A few of the industrial corporations
sent out exploratory feelers. Some were up and coming sons or daughters wanting
to strike it out on their own and prove themselves. Bert Bertoli was one such
young man. He'd come up with a couple hundred tons of materials, most of it
flour and seasonings. He'd mortgaged his soul to follow this dream.

He'd
had a hell of a time finding people to work for him. It was fairly obvious
early on that if he didn't use butler bots for his staff his pizza parlor would
never open. Since the admiral was partial to pepperoni pizza he'd helped out,
tossing in a couple butler bots and even coming by to repair the heater in the
pizza shop's massive oven.

Bertoli
had been so thankful for his generosity he'd offered the admiral a lifetime of
free drinks on the house. Irons had chuckled but then shrugged it off.

Of
course Bertoli wasn't having it all his own way. Down the strip a sub shop was
about to open for the first time on the station. The sub shop owner was in a
friendly competition with Bertoli for now. It would be interesting to see if
the competition remained friendly or if it became heated. Or they might just
combine their businesses, after all that had been known to happen a few times
Irons mused.