Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (39 page)

“Oh
shut up and give me something a lot stronger,” Irons said, pushing the stein
away. “A hell of a lot stronger. Preferably something over a hundred proof,” he
said.

“Did
you really get it on with a chimp?” a girl asked. He turned to her. She was a
bar wench, dressed in a blue waitress uniform and stained white apron.

“Don't...
oh spirit of space. Thanks Sprite,” he growled. “How the hell did you know
about that anyway? I was a kid. It was long before you were a gleam in your
programmer’s eye anyway!” he accused, addressing the screen.

Sprite's
head shot zoomed out so he could see her full upper body. She spread her hands
apart in supplication. “I overheard you and Admiral Henesy talking about it
when we first met. I believe the Admiral was ribbing you about it unmercifully
at the time.”

“Thanks
Sprite,” Irons sighed and shook his head.

“I
was curious about her asking how you did that one move. Apparently it made all
the rounds with the girls at the time. Something about a pile driver in zero g?
I was curious how that could be accomplished. I still am actually. I've tried
to run simulations but the physics involved...”

“Spirit
of... Sprite!” He bellowed, hands over his face. He could hear people laughing.
The bartender chuckled and came over with a shot glass and the bottle.  He
pinched the bridge of his nose. It was going to be one of those nights he
realized.

“Here.
I think you'll need this,” the bartender said, still chuckling. Someone slapped
the admiral on the shoulder.

“No
what I need is a mute button,” Irons growled taking up the bottle. “But this
will at least dull the pain,” he said as he poured himself a shot and then
downed the shot. He could hear the other patrons laughing. Someone slapped him
on the back again. He shook his head, feeling his cheeks and ears burning.

The
Captain and Cora called Numiria in to discuss the stasis pods twenty nine days
before they exited hyper. Numiria met them in the captain's wardroom. She was
nervous and off balance. When she entered the room she paused. The walls had
been redone; they were now white with discrete lights and holo projection emitters
showing the portraits of the previous captains. It looked nice. Better than the
dark purple trimmed walls from before. She hated vertical stripes.

The
council table had been refinished into a shiny mahogany and oak trim finish. It
gleamed in the light. The chairs had been remade. Some were still the same
chairs just cleaned and repaired. Others were chairs or other forms of seating
for the non Terrans of the council.

“You
like it?” Cora asked, smiling.

“It
looks great,” Numiria said, looking around. Obviously it had been a while since
she'd been in a meeting. She tried to remember the last one. It was last week,
they had one every day of course. But she normally attended virtually or not at
all. She liked to beg off because of her duties.

“I
like it. I wanted a beige carpet but the ship's crest works as well. Not that
you can really see it with the table on top of course,” Cora said looking down
at the floor. Numiria looked down and made polite sounds of agreement.

“The
captain will be with us in just a minute,” Cora said. “Rob's checking in with
something or other,” she said airily, waving a tiny hand as she sat. “Tea?” she
asked, smiling politely in inquiry.

“No
thank you,” Numiria said shaking her head. The captain came in and they both
turned to his entrance. He nodded politely and then motioned for her to sit as
he went over to kiss his wife.

Cora
smiled up at him as he kissed her and then sat in the captain's chair. It had
the ship's crest and his name embroidered on the back Numiria noted.

“I
see someone's been busy,” Numiria said with a smile.

“It's
been a learning experience. Now that I know what we can do I can't wait to redo
our quarters!” Cora said. Numiria's ears flicked in amusement as she shot a
look at the captain. He was reaching for his coffee mug when Cora had said
that. He hesitated and winced. Cora caught the wince and grinned a little at
Numiria. She winked, a sure sign she knew of her husband's annoyance at her
little projects. After a moment the doctor snorted softly.

They
started with small talk and then get to the heart of the matter. After a few
minutes though the captain got bored with dancing around the subject. “I know
you're wondering why you are here,” he finally said.

“I
didn't think it was for small talk. Or for practicing Japanese diplomatic
practices,” Numiria commented indicating the tea.

Cora's
eyes widened slightly. “Ooooh! Japanese! I wonder what a minimalistic viewpoint
would do to our quarters? Or oh, rice paper pagodas? I wonder where we can find
them? Maybe when we go shopping... I'll add it to the list,” she said bouncing
in the chair.

Again
the captain winced. Numiria hid a laugh with a cough. “Water?” Cora asked
concerned as she picked up a tablet off to her side and jotted a note.

“Yes
please,” Numiria said, getting up and going over to the small wet bar and
pouring herself a cup of water and then coming back to sit at the table. The
chair she had was comfortable, suited for a neo with a tail. She sat and tucked
her tail through the loop. She didn't have to feel like her tail was going to
fall asleep anymore.

“We've
talked it over,” the captain said. “We've agreed to a pilot program. The
program you've proposed I believe. I'd prefer that you start with only a few
people though. No more than a dozen or so,” he said, nodding to her.

 
Numiria was both elated and terrified. Her brown eyes
were wide as she stared at them. Cora smiled, stirring her tea. “Thank you,”
the doctor finally stuttered out. “I wasn't planning on doing them all at once.
More like one at a time. We're still not sure if we can save them all,” she
admitted.

“If
it can't be done, it may be best to leave them,” the captain said.

“Or
end their torment,” Cora said. The doctor sighed and nodded. Her ears flicked
and then laid flat for a moment at the thought of that. It was a hard thing for
a doctor to handle. They fought an endless battle against the reaper, one they
knew they would eventually loose. Dealing with that on a daily basis had driven
more than one medic to retire or worse.

“Some
of them are beyond even my help. Some of them are technically clinically dead.
I'm not sure why they were put into stasis. Sentimental effort to save them I
believe. I'm not sure. Whatever the case I will try to find a way to save
them,” Numiria said.

“We
didn't come at this decision lightly. And it will have a consequence,” the
captain rumbled.

“Oh?”
Numiria was surprised and suddenly wary. She felt like the other shoe was about
to drop. She didn't have long to wait.

“We
are going to hold off on allowing pets again. At least for the time being. Also
we are keeping a moratorium on breeding.”

“Cora!”
Numiria stared at them. “Captain!”

Cora
winced and then sighed elaborately. “It's for the best. We can't really afford
the extra right now. Rob, I mean the captain is right. We're going to need the
extra life support for those you awaken,” she patiently explained.

“It's
also an incentive for some people to leave,” the captain rumbled. Numiria
stared at him.

“We're
also considering Chief O'Mallory's proposals. I think the asteroid one is a
shoe in. We're not so sure about the station or ship idea but it is a
possibility however unlikely. A station is actually more practical and doable,”
the captain said sitting back.

“You
mean without the admiral's help,” Cora said, turning to her husband.

“He's
not going to be with us forever dear,” the captain replied looking at her.

Her
eyes searched his for a moment. “True,” she finally admitted and then nodded.
She bit her lip. “So we do need to use what we've got. And learn as much as we
can while we have him onboard.”

“True,”
Captain Chambers admitted.

“Speaking
of which...” Cora nodded to the medic. “On a different subject, I heard you've
integrated the elves into the infirmary. I'm glad.” She shot her husband a
glance and then looked at Numiria again. “We're both glad. We need more
departments to follow in your lead.” Cora complimented her on taking on the
Elves. “Long overdue,” Cora said.

“Yes
it is. I wish I'd known sooner,” the doctor sighed. Bloodknife had lived.
Unfortunately the surgery had been an incomplete success. He was paralyzed from
the waist down, for now at least. She'd repeatedly assured him and Light Touch
that they would do everything they can to repair the damage and to make him
walk again. Light Touch had taken it on as a personal project. They knew it
could be done; they just didn't have the right skills and materials to pull it
off. At least not yet.

The
captain looked uncertainly at the two women. “Have any more come forward?” he
finally asked.

His
wife nodded but her face was sad. “I've had a few reports. Unfortunately people
have shown their bias without thinking which has poisoned the effort,” Cora
sighed.

“We
need to educate our own people more,” Numiria said firmly. “So this doesn't
happen again. Damn it we're a community.
All
of us. Elves are a part of
that community too and deserve to be... to be heard. To stand up for themselves
and to follow their dreams,” her tone was savage with emotion. Cora's eyes
widened in surprise at such vehemence from the normally quiet doctor. The only
time she had ever heard the doctor like that was when she was standing up for
her patients. She had really been touched by the elven situation.

“I'll
look into it,” the captain said gruffly as he looked away.

“I
understand a few elves have talked to O'Mallory about becoming engineers. She's
taken them all on and put out the word for anymore to join up. They can't shift
big equipment, but they can get into places we can't... and you don't need to
be big to program or diagnose something.”

“What
about working the console?” The captain asked, quirking an eyebrow skeptically.

“See?
That's the very ignorance we need to overcome. FYI, they
can
work a
console. And a keyboard. Or a tablet. It's hard for them, but they can. But if
we can make equipment interfaces scaled to them it's even easier for them.”

“Huh,”
Cora said, looking thoughtful.

“I
heard one of them wants to become a helmsman,” Numiria said, looking at the
captain.

The
captain blinked in surprise. He looked at his wife uncertainly.

“It
doesn't take a big person to fly the ship captain. Just the right skills. I
heard another is into ops. That same helmsman kid wanted to be a pilot for a
while. I wonder what he could do with a ship?” she asked.

“Well,
we have the time to find out don't we?” Cora said with a firm nod. The captain
hid a wince. Something told him his entire world was getting turned upside down
again. He wasn't sure how he could blame the admiral for this one, but he...
no, they were right. The elves were a part of the community. If they wanted to
participate more, they'd find a way to integrate them. Maybe the admiral's
suggestion of sims could work here? He thought to himself. He firmly decided to
look into it.

Irons
ran into Savo later that afternoon. He didn't mean to, he was checking out the
new dojo that O'Mallory had put in while he had been busy fixing the recyclers
with Lobo. From the look of things someone with experience had had a hand in
its design. It had an Asian feel with the rice paper dividers but had mats on
the floor decorated in a ring and the ship's crest. The walls had old posters
of martial arts masters. Some were actors though. Movie posters that had been
lovingly kept.

Savo
was there in a Gi and not happy about the admiral's intrusion. He dismissed his
class and scowled at Irons as he came in wearing his own crisp snow white Gi.

“What
are you doing here?” The chimp demanded.

“I'm
here for a bout. I thought I'd see who the best on the ship is,” the admiral
replied looking around. Savo had a black belt on and moved like he was a
natural. Interesting.

“That
would be me,” Savo said, eying him with scant favor.

“You?”

“I'm
the Kiev martial arts master.” Savo replied. He was still not amused by the
admiral's intrusion but his eyes gleamed when Irons asked for a practice bout.

“Okay...
think you are up for a bout? I can come back if you're too tired after the
class,” Irons said.

“No,
the opportunity to work out our difficulties is too rich to pass up. You're on
baldy. I'll make sure a mop's handy to clean you up off the floor,” Savo said,
stretching and bouncing on his toes as he rolled his shoulders and neck.

“Oh
you think so huh?” Irons asked, tossing a pair of towels near. He watched the
chimp bounce up and down and roll his neck, shaking his fists.

“I
know so,” Savo said. “Bring it.”