Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (40 page)

“Just
remember, you asked for it,” Irons said, coming onto the mat and bowing.

Later
Savo nursed some nasty bruises, amused and a little put out that the admiral's
bruises faded in seconds. They hashed out the misunderstanding after Sprite
replayed the entire incident. Savo commented about making himself a drunken
ass. “Well, that makes two of us then. Though you were thoroughly drunk at the
time. I wasn't so I don't have that excuse,” the admiral replied.

“I
remember you were nursing a beer,” Savo commented.

“True.”

“Let
bygones be bygones?” Savo asked holding out a hand. Irons took it. The chimp
tried a squeeze play but he was gripping Iron's artificial hand.

“Deal,”
Irons said, not squeezing.

“Shit
man, what are you made out of Iron like your name?” The chimp asked, still
trying to squeeze.

“Oh
that hand? Well...” Irons grinned and signaled a demo morph. The chimp yelped
and jumped back in surprise as the hand morphed. His brown eyes were wide in
fright. He shrieked a curse. The admiral grinned and held up the hand as it
returned to normal. “See? All better.”

“What
the hell??”

“I
said I'm from another time remember?” Irons asked. Pulling one over on the
chimp had made him feel almost as good as the bout. Hell, maybe better.

“Damn
man, too much,” Savo said, shaking his head.

“Sorry,”
Irons said with another smile.

The
chimp gave him a disgusted look. “No you're not so stop snickering or I'll
pound you again.”

“You
can try,” Irons said with a feral smile. “I've been around the mat for longer
than you've been
alive
,” he said.

“You're
still not as strong as...” The chimp's eyes widened as the smile on Irons grew.
“Okay... maybe you are. Shit.”

“Hey,
it's who I am,” Irons said with a shrug. “We done here?” He meant the pissing
match.

“Yeah,”
Savo said, sounding a little pouty. He looked away.

Irons
slapped his shoulder. “Come on then, I'll buy you a beer. Then I'll beat you
again at darts.”

“You're
on. All but the last bit. My hand eye coordination sucks,” the chimp said.

“Surrre
it does,” Irons said with a laugh as they headed out of the dojo. The chimp
snagged a pair of white towels that had seen better days and tossed the admiral
one. It slapped him in the face. Irons laughed as he caught it before it fell
to the deck.

The
chimp mopped at his face and then wrapped the towel over his shoulders. “Come
on then. Let's go change and get snookered.”

“Deal,”
Irons said with another smile.

Over
beers Savo told the admiral that he was an MP. “Shore patrol,” Irons agreed
with a nod. He'd already known that since he'd seen Savo in the black uniform
the other night.

“Yeah
well, wasn't always that way. I was a cargo ape on my last ship. Sorta didn't
care for the job, but it was a job. Better than grubbing in the dirt you know?”
Savo said with a shrug. He took a swig as Irons nodded.

The
chimp set the stein down and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Ah,”
he said. Irons smiled. “Yeah well, I got into a couple of nasty bar fights. I
loved pounding grounders. Wiped the floor with them. Got carried away though, I
gave our own security a run for its money too. Gave a few beautiful shiners,”
he grinned at that. Irons snorted.

“I
can imagine,” he said.

“Security
chief at the time, Mitt told me I fought so well he was recruiting. I thought
he was joking. Turned out he wasn't.” The chimp took a swig of beer and then
wiped his mouth again.

Irons
chuckled at that. He shook his head. “If you can't beat em, join em.”

“Yup!”
The ape slapped the admiral on the shoulder hard enough to make him wince.

“So...
other ship?”

“Not
from the Kiev,” the chimp said setting his stein down after taking a pull.
“Sucks that our ship broke like that. She deserved better.”

“What
happened? I heard a ship broke down and the captain pulled the crew off.”

Savo
scowled bleakly. “Them that survived. Reactor shit the bed. Happens a lot now.
No one like you around to fix that sorta thing. Say, you gonna go around and do
that with all the ships?” he asked. His voice was starting to slur.

“It's
a thought,” Irons said with a small smile. Sprite was on his HUD. She looked
horrified. She kept shaking her head and mouthing the word no over and over.
Irons feral grin intensified. “Is the ship still in one piece?”

“No.”
The chimp sighed. “Life support failed right before Kiev showed up to bail us
out. Sucked losing half the crew like that. My darling Petunia stuck me in a
suit with her. Saved my furry behind. Itched for a week though,” he said
sounding a little annoyed. Chimps hated being stuck in clothing. Most Neo’s
didn't appreciate being in clothing or in a full suit for long. Even the
thought of being unable to scratch had a many coming up with a case of the
hives.

“I
can imagine,” Irons said nodding as the chimp took another swig.

“Anyway,”
he said setting the stein down a little hard on the coaster. “When we were
pulled off O'Mallory and her boys and girls tore into the ship. Took whatever
wasn't nailed down or welded down. Everything and anything. Fire sale!
Everything had to go. I didn't give a doodly, saved our asses so they could have
the shirt off my back if they wanted it,” he slurred. Irons pushed him upright
as he swayed.

“Didn't
do much though. Luckily you came along to bail us out,” the chimp said grinning
again. “I ever thank you for that?” he asked.

“I
think you just did,” the admiral replied with a small smile.

“Right.
So, I... um...” he blinked blurrily and reached for the stein handle. It took a
few times before he got it. He tried to get a drink but his coordination was
off and he ended up wearing more than he drank. He wiped at his face and then
snorted. The snort shook his whole body.

“What
happened to the ship?” Irons asked, righting the chimp again. No wonder he was
better as shore patrol over a drunk. The chimp couldn't hold his liquor worth a
credit.

“Ship?
We're on it right?” The chimp looked around confused. He saluted someone. The
other guy gave him the finger. The chimp's fur bristled and he started to get
up. “Hang on; I've got to teach someone some mann... man... less... um...”

“Manners.
You can later,” Irons said, pushing him back onto the stool. “The ship? The one
you were on before this one?” he prompted.

“Oh,
yeah right, the Bakersfield niner something or other. Forget. Forgot. Doesn't
matter. Scrap now. Couldn't stabl... sabi.. stabi...” His brows knit in confused
concentration.

“Stabilize?”
Irons suggested helpfully.

The
chimp tried to snap his fingers but failed. He rocked a little teetering.
“Yeah. That. No, not good. Ship went down. Go boom. Big boom.”

“Ouch,”
Irons said wincing. So much for that. Well, it had been a long shot anyway.

“Yeah.
Sucked. Big explosion. Pretty though,” the chimp said and started to slip like
a rag doll off the stool. Irons caught him as he slumped. He tucked his arm
over his shoulder and turned his head away from the foul breath.

“Come
on Savo; let’s go put you to bed.”

“Bed?
Wife... ah shit. I'm drunk ain't I? She's going to kick my fuzzy ass up between
my ears again... Petunia! My big beautiful flower of love... be gentle!” he
said raising a hand to the sky and then letting it fall.

Irons
sighed as he hauled the chimp out the door. He winced as the chimp began to
sing off key in his ear. He checked the map Sprite helpfully put up on his HUD.
It was going to be a long damn trek to the ape's quarters.

When
he got to the quarters he paused, not sure what to do if the gorilla was
inside. From the heat signature his implants was showing him she was. Great. He
pressed the admit key.

“Coming,”
her voice called. The hatch opened. He watched her grunt in annoyance. “What
again?”

“Not
much for him to do right now,” the admiral replied propping Savo up.

“He
needs another hobby,” she said as Irons hauled the chimp in over the hatch
comer.

“He's
consistent I guess,” Irons said as the chimp snored. Irons hefted him over to
the couch the gorilla indicated. He set the chimp down and propped his arm up
onto his chest. The chimp grumbled a little and scratched absently.

Irons
straightened; glad his implants took care of any muscle aches and pains. “He
can sleep there,” Petunia said with a growl glaring at her partner. “Serves him
right,” she said in disgust, towing him with one bare foot.

“Thanks
admiral,” she said turning to him. Irons caught the chimp peaking with one eye
opening. The faker. He just didn't want a fight he realized. He hid a snort.

“No
problem. It wasn't much trouble.”

“Did
he take a swing at you?” she asked, suddenly concerned.

“No,
I mean yes but well...” he shrugged.

She
looked at him in confusion. “Should I be jealous?” she asked amused.

He
held up a hand. “No, not like that,” Irons laughed. “He and I had a bout in the
dojo. Sort of worked out our differences. He's a good guy. Good fighter,” he
said, rubbing his jaw.

“Should
I be jealous or concerned?” the gorilla chuffed.

“Not
for me. I've already recovered. He's going to have a bit of strain here and
there and some tender spots for a while,” the admiral replied with a small
smile.

She
chuffed in amusement as she turned to her partner. “That's nothing then. Our
last bedroom session did more damage than that,” she said smiling a tight
lipped smile. Irons hid a laugh with a cough.

“Um...
okay then. I'll ah, just be going. Have a good evening ma'am,” he said walking
backwards to the door.

“Thanks
again admiral,” she said, looking his way and then back to her supposedly
sleeping mate.

“Yeah...
what an interesting romance that must have been,” Sprite drawled as he made his
hasty retreat. Irons chuckled.

Numiria
started a general health and welfare checkup of the entire crew twenty eight
days before they were to exit hyper. She used it as a cover to get into the elf
compartment with Light Touch to check on things... and to look for any more
hidden aliens or people on the ship. “It's a big ship doc. A lot of places to
hide,” Ezri cautioned.

“Then
we'll take our time searching it. And we'll get with ops to help if we must. I
don't know why they are hiding anyway. It's for their own good,” Numiria said
firmly.

“Yeah
well, I'm not too keen about meeting a dentist. No offense,” an orderly said.
The doctor had become keen on oral hygiene after reading about implanted
replacement teeth and trying it out on a few unsuspecting patients and some of
the staff. It had worked out but it had been a painful experience for the
patients.

Working
their way through the crew over the next several days allowed Numiria a final
practice run before they started on the sleepers. She addressed a lot of
medical ailments. Most were minor; a few were major issues that the physical
had caught in early or mid level stages of development.

 She
worked out general treatment methods and trained her staff. She was encouraged
by Light Touch and a Veraxin she had taken on as another advanced student.
Light Touch did well as a general practitioner but she was exceptional as a
surgeon. The Veraxin Chilly was also good in surgery but even better as an
anesthesiologist. He seemed to be able to sense a patient's level of
unconsciousness instinctively. With a proper foundation of learning he was
shaping into a fine doctor.

She
was starting to realize having more than one doctor on hand was a good thing.
Especially since they each brought different views and skills to the team.

Martha
nodded to the admiral as he climbed out of his launch. “Just in time ladies,”
he said, smiling and nodding politely to each of them.

Martha
turned back to see Jen coming in behind her at a trot with Fara and their
Veraxin compatriot Regua. The elf Tinker Bell was riding Regua's centaur back.
She hopped down and gave the Veraxin a nod of thanks.

“What's
this about?” Jen asked. They were the newly created fabrication department,
something the council had finally approved of only last week. They still needed
three or four more people to round out their approved rank structure. Jen had
been going over the interviews. A lot of people had applied for the postings,
more than a hundred. It had been both gratifying and scary to have that many
people interested in their work.

“Well,
I've got a surprise for you,” Irons said, motioning for them to follow him
around his shuttle. Martha looked at the others. Jen shrugged.