Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (44 page)

“I
won’t ask for details doctor. I was just interested in the project.”

“Will
you consider joining the group therapy?” Numiria asked as they saw Light Touch
come out of a room and stand attentively near the door. The Warners steered
themselves toward it and her.

“I'm
a little busy doctor,” Irons said demurely.

“I
have nothing better to do,” the lieutenant said looking over his shoulder to
them. “We'll help,” he said patting his wife's arm. His wife nodded.

“How
did this happen?” Irons asked.

“Virus,”
the lieutenant said with a snarl. “The captain of the time asked us to look
into a defense sat for a colony. It was a contract. They wanted to get the
satellite back online since it had an onboard antimatter reactor.”

“Ah,”
Irons said in understanding. “Fueled?”

“Yes,”
the lieutenant said. He groaned as he helped his wife into a seat. “Damn I hate
getting old.”

“Peter
Pan complex,” Irons teased.

“Don't
joke about it until you've tried it admiral,” the lieutenant growled. He looked
over his shoulder to Irons as he rubbed the small of his back. “No offense
sir.”

“None
taken,” Irons said, hand up.

“Anyway,
we where jacking in when we got slammed. It seemed they neglected to tell us
the thing had been set up by a paranoid nut job. We didn't have time to show
our implant signature. The damn thing fried us on the spot. I only caught the
corona; Rasha took the brunt of it.”

“Ouch.”

Taylor
turned a guilty look at his wife. “My fault. I should have taken lead,” he said
feeling guilty all over again. His wife shook her head firmly. One withered
hand stroked his cheek. He rumbled a sigh. “Okay so you were the better
cybernetic tech. I still...” she shook her head even more firmly than before.
He sighed again. “Okay. You win. You're right it's over and done with now,” he
said.

He
caught the youngsters look and snorted. “Old argument. It helps when you
already know the script,” he said. Irons hid his amusement.

Irons
waited until they were seated in the room. The lieutenant took a seat on the
exam table. The ensign sat nearby. Irons watched as the staff hooked up
monitors to the lieutenant and then came in. “Are you ready lieutenant?” he
asked.

“Do
you want a chair admiral?” An orderly asked.

“No,”
Irons said shaking his head. He held out his right hand. The lieutenant took it
and shook it.

“Thank
you admiral. Whatever happens, thanks.”

“We'll
do our best. Right Proteus?”

“Wait,
Proteus?” Doctor Numiria asked behind him. Irons turned to look at her over his
shoulder. He smiled.

“Sprite
is my adjunct. She handles data, software and other tasked. Proteus is my
engineering AI. So,” he said nodding to the lieutenant as he laid back and got
comfortable. “I'll be jacking into your cerebral implants directly. Hopefully
you won’t feel anything,” he said.

“Hopefully,”
the lieutenant said, wincing as the admiral took a universal cable up off the
nearby tray and plugged into a port on his arm. Irons held the other end of the
cable up. “Last chance to back out lieutenant,” he said.

“Just
a second.” The lieutenant got up and kissed his wife long and thoroughly. She
smiled beautifully at him, stroking his cheek. He looked into her eyes for a
long moment before Numiria cleared her throat.

“Okay,”
the lieutenant said, climbing back onto the table with some difficulty. “I'm
ready now,” he said, settling in.

“All
right then,” Irons said. He plugged the jack in and felt Proteus and Sprite
leap.

Data
was flowing through the cable; he could feel Defender slamming up firewalls.
After a moment there was a fast request from Defender and the third AI entered
the lieutenant. Irons cocked his head.

“What?”
Light Touch asked.

“All
three AI are in the lieutenant. Apparently something is amiss,” he reported.

“Should
we unplug?” Numiria said reaching for the jack. She blinked as what he said
registered. Three? Three AI?

“I
ffeeeeellll wiiierd,” the lieutenant said and then seemed to relax explosively.
After a moment his eyes fluttered and then lowered. The doctor looked at his
readouts and then back to him. “He's out. Unconscious. Odd.”

Irons
felt helpless, he was out of the fight and was an observer like the other
organics in the room.

Proteus
focused on the hardware damage as the other AI focused on the software. Nanites
flowed through the cable into the body of the lieutenant.

“The
damage is extensive,” Defender said. The security AI was handling the security
overrides, holding the Cerberus program at bay and keeping it from lobotomizing
the lieutenant.

“Software
and hardware. Whoever set this up was thorough and sadistic,” Sprite responded.
“Memory is trashed.”

“On
it,” Proteus responded. Fortunately the lieutenant had a standard junior
officer's class implant. The memory was melted down in seconds and then
reformed into new hardware.

“Thank
you,” Sprite said, loading files. “Firmware?” she asked.

“Firmware
firewall had held but was cut off from the rest of the net by a malfunctioning
UART,” Proteus responded before Defender could. They knew something of the
implants had survived since the Cerberus program had activated the moment they
had jacked in. That was why Defender had been drawn into the mess. “The UART
was the first thing I fixed,” it said.

“Which
is why I am here,” Defender responded. When Proteus had repaired the UART the
firmware embedded in the lieutenant had activated a suicide Cerberus despite
Sprite's key. He however had the override to the override. “Firmware is reset.
I am withdrawing,” he replied.

“Thank
you,” Sprite said, feeling the AI retreat to the background.

“Breakers
are repaired. Power systems were destroyed. I am rebuilding them now,” Proteus
reported. Nanites flowed through the body of the lieutenant. “Does the admiral
wish to repair cellular damage as well?”

“No.
Focus on the implants for now,” Sprite stated. “But log the damaged tissue. The
organics can deal with it,” she ordered.

“Tissue
damage to the bridge is extensive,” Proteus reported. “I'm not a medical AI.
I've repaired some of the damage. There will be bandwidth issues.”

“I've
done what I can. Are you finished?” Sprite asked.

“Withdrawing.
I will wake the patient,” Proteus reported.

Sprite
felt the human's consciousness awaken. She felt it fumble around in confusion
before settling. She reached out and touched the old man's linkage. She felt
his pain receptors flare and shook her virtual head. It wasn't complete agony
but accessing his implants would be painful for the lieutenant. It was
something they would have to work on.

“Can
you hear me Lieutenant Warner?” she asked through the link. He gurgled a reply.

“Please
focus your efforts on the linkage,” Sprite informed him. “Focus your thoughts.
Concentrate.”

“Yes,”
he said slowly through the link. “It hurts,” he finally ground out.

“I
know. How about this?” she asked, sending a signal to his visual cortex. He
blinked and then clumsily used the mouse pointer she had put up in his vision
to draw an N.

“I'll
take that as a no. You are lucky lieutenant,” she said. He winced. “I am
withdrawing so you can heal.”

“Well?”
Irons asked as he felt first Proteus and then Sprite return.

“Mission
is a partial success,” Proteus responded as the lieutenant gurgled. Irons
looked down at him.

“Partial?”
he asked, concerned for his friend. He felt Sprite return fully a few seconds
later.

“Yes,”
she reported. “He has auditory and data damage. His IO needs repair. His visual
cortex implants seem functional. The tissue around his implants have been
inflamed again so he will need time for it to heal.”

“Something
is better than nothing,” Irons said.

“Or
death,” Sprite replied. Irons looked at the others. The lieutenant had fallen
asleep again.

“He's
okay,” he said turning to the others. “Or should be. The implants have been
repaired but there is tissue damage. Scar tissue. He's probably in some pain so
it's best he sleep it off.”

“Headache,”
the lieutenant mumbled. Numiria leaned over and administered an analgesic for
him.

“That's
to be expected actually,” Sprite said from the admiral's arm. “He has some
damage to his auditory sensors. That is the cause of his pain. Keep an eye out
for inflammation please.”

“I
will,” Numiria said with a nod.

“And
next,” Irons said, removing the jack and smiling to the Ensign.

“Admiral,
I've logged damage to the lieutenant. A report is in your inbox,” Proteus
reported. “It should be repaired by the doctor.”

“Okay,”
Irons said. “Doc, you've got a file coming your way. Tissue scan from Proteus.
Damaged tissue to repair.”

“I'll
have Light Touch look into it,” she said with a nod to the elf. The elf looked
up from the foot of the bed and then nodded.

The
ensign was set up on an exam table next to the lieutenant's. She was made as
comfortable as she could be before the admiral jacked in.

The
procedure went quickly, now that they knew what to expect the AI moved quickly
and orderly. Instead of immediately repairing the IO and triggering the self
destruct Proteus went to work on other areas of the ensign, repairing
everything up to the UART damage. When the damaged memory was repaired Sprite
moved in with a firmware emulator to load the software.

“Almost
done,” Proteus reported. “Repairing the UART now. Be prepared for a Cerberus
attack,” it reported.

“On
it,” Defender stated bluntly, setting up a virtual firewall. He started pinging
the UART.

“What
are you doing?” Proteus asked.

“Sending
the recognition signal.”

“I
will focus my efforts on the receive side first then,” Proteus said.

“Do
that,” Defender said.

The
Cerberus program erupted when the UART was fully functional but as quickly as
it came to life it settled back down into dormancy when the handshake protocol
registered.

“Finished
with implant repair. The ensign requires a competent nano surgeon to repair the
brain damage remaining,” Proteus reported over the admiral's speaker.

“We've
done what we can. The rest is up to you in other words,” Sprite said as the AI
withdrew.

“All
right,” Numiria said. She stared at the ensign.

“With
treatment and time she will recover. How far is anyone's guess. She is better
off than she was before. I believe the Ensign was in considerable low grade
pain for decades. I have repaired some of the damage. She needs a lot more
repair however,” Proteus reported. “A report is filed for you doctors,” it
said.

“Thank
you. All of you,” Irons said softly. He saw the green lights on his HUD and
nodded. He pulled the jack as gently as he could and then unjacked his arm and
coiled the cable.

“So...
that's that?” Light Touch asked.

“Hardly.
The implants are repaired. The tissue damage is only partially repaired. Then
there is the therapy. They also have other medical issues that can be dealt
with as well,” the admiral said.

“I'll
look into those,” Numiria said. She nodded to the nurse in the doorway. “Keep
an eye on them. I want someone to check on their read outs every fifteen
minutes and make a manual note. No slacking off,” she ordered firmly.

“Understood
doctor,” the nurse said with a nod. Light Touch, the Jackal and Irons left
quietly and made their way to the doctor's office. They were met by an anxious
looking John Warner.

“They
are all right. Resting comfortably,” Numiria said, answering the unwritten
question all over his face. He visibly relaxed. She smiled a little, flicking
her ears. “They will need time to recover.”

“All
right,” he said with a nod.

“If
you are willing to get implants still I think we can do it,” Numiria said.

“Today?”
he asked surprised. He looked back the way they had come.

“Not
today if you are distracted. Though I understand there is little to the
procedure,” she said.

“Just
swallowing a horse pill,” Irons said. “Been there, done that.”

“Um...”

“In
my time it was SOP. Anyone traveling in space had to have one. For that matter
anyone with a bank account had to have one,” the admiral explained.

“Oh.”

“Simple
thing. I'm sorry we can't do more. If you want more you'll have to go to Pyrax.
They have been making a lot of strides there.”