Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (47 page)

“Thank
you,” he said bowing with his hand over his heart. “I've met some of your
people in my travels. I'll have Sprite send you an e-mail with their locations
and contact information.”

“Thank
you, you are most kind,” the elderly alien said. She seemed to sigh. “I had
wondered if my species had been snuffed out.”

The
admiral shook his head. “No. But they are scattered. I believe someone with
your skills could help prevent inbreeding and other problems as well.”

Her
antenna bobbed up and down in unison. “Another wise idea.”

“I
try,” Irons said with a smile. “Where there is life there is hope. Remember
that,” he said.

“Indeed
I will. Thank you admiral,” she said. Irons nodded and withdrew to leave her
with her thoughts.

Irons
looked at the growing class. Now that they had the worst of the systems under
control he could dedicate more time to teaching. The teaching had become more formal
since they now had better classrooms. Apparently that was getting around. More
and more people were joining his impromptu classes. Some of the classes were
standing room only.

The
history professor, Kyle Tyler was getting into teaching as well, but in an
informal setting. He usually peppered people with questions about life in this
time period and then had to reciprocate in return. When that happened in one of
the galley's he drew quite a crowd in very short order.

He'd
been amused that the Kiev had a formal educational system in place. Amused and
a little impressed. The Veraxin teacher was good, but she was overwhelmed and
stuck to the basics. Reading, writing, and arithmetic. Other classes had been
spotty; they had limited data on some subjects. Some things had to be learned
on the job, hands on was still the best teacher, but they also tried to handle
the boredom of transit by educating themselves as much as possible.

Most
of the on the job training was handled in apprentice fashion. That meant the new
recruits were hazed with odd jobs and gopher tasks while given the occasional
explanation on how things worked... or didn't work. Usually each lecture was
peppered with curse words from the teacher as they tried to fix something
broken. Sometimes the student was thrown into the deep end, asked to handle an
almost impossible task and allowed to sink or swim. When they failed, and most
generally did they had to learn from their mistakes. Some lost confidence right
away and quit, clearing a hole for someone else to fill.

There
were groups who got together to watch old movies as well. Fan festivals.
Hobbyists, and all sorts of activities to experience. He was glad that part of
spacer tradition had been kept alive. It made his job a little easier.

“Admiral,
about cetaceans... I was wondering why they make such good hyper navigators.
I'd think that they wouldn't because they aren't natural tool users,” the chief
asked.

He
smiled a little. He had half the bridge crew on hand here including a few of the
navigators. He was curious if she was doing this for real interest or to tweak
someone's nose out of joint. Most likely tweaking Esmay.

“I've
been asked that question before but let's get to the root of it. We, that is
Terrans, Veraxins, and a handful of other common species are generalists. We
can do many tasked, but not all of them, and not all as well as a specialist
can.”

“Now
a water born species has the gift for moving in three dimensions instinctively
because of their biology. With cetaceans as you brought up it's an evolutionary
adaptation to a water born environment. That translates over very well for
hyper navigation,” he explained. Behind him the holo projector showed images of
dolphins sporting in their natural environment. It pained him to know that they
were gone. Such a terrible waste. Perhaps the geneticist could do something
about that? Doubtful but he made a mental note to bring the subject up sometime
if they crossed paths again.

“Um...”

“Okay,
let's look at an example of their biology.” He held up his palm and then
pointed to the holo projector beside him. After a moment the lights dimmed and
a three dimensional object floated there. It looked like three interlocking
tubes, one on each axis. Each was a different color.

“Now,
this is the inner ear of Terrans. Each loop is an axis, X, Y, Z. Fluid movement
in the ear tells hair thin sensors the position of the body. Some other species
have this, but others have different systems.”

The
holo spun in place then a cross section was cut away. “Now inside each hoop is
a fluid. When the body moves it moves. When it moves it stimulates nerves on
the inside wall of the hoop. This is translated by the brain to tell it the
orientation of the head and body.”

“Ah.
Like a bubble in a level?” O'Mallory asked. He wondered where she had gotten
that analogy. She didn't have a level in her tool kit. At least not that he
knew of.

“Correct,”
he said with a nod. He waited for the murmurs of amusement to die down.

“Now
Terrestrial humans have larger inner ears. These allow us to move on land in
three dimensions quickly. But terrestrial beings only deal with movement in two
dimensions normally.” Beside him the holo projector showed a human falling flat
on his face. The class snickered.

“Um...”

The
holo changed back to the inner ear. “To compensate for this, when whales went
back to the seas their inner ears shrank.” He used his fingers to shrink the
holo. “Smaller and smaller so they wouldn't be disoriented by movement or
position. This allowed them to adapt and overcome their environment.”

“Um...
how does this relate to the...”

“I
was getting to that. Since they aren't disoriented by moving in three
dimensions they adapted well to moving in hyperspace with the right translation
for their sensory nerves.”

“Like
swimming in water?” she asked finally catching on.

“Right.”

“What
about birds? They fly in three dimensions, I mean air. Why...”

He
shook his head. “Birds can be good hyper pilots but are... well flighty,” he
shrugged at O'Mallory's amused expression. “There are some sentient species who
were fliers. But most lost the ability in trade for better intelligence. Also
birds are oriented differently than ocean dwellers. They expend energy but
inevitably return to the land. Cetaceans continue swimming, shutting off half of
their brains for sleep but continuing to function.”

She
blinked in surprise. “Wow.” She shook her head. “Learn something new every
day,” she murmured.

“Indeed,”
he replied with a small nod.

“Are
there any birds that can fly ships?” Esmay asked.

“The
strider Pteradons,” Sprite said, interjecting herself. He looked at her holo
image and nodded.

“Sprite
is correct. Pteradons were or are a species that had flight with intelligence.
They were however self evolving and giving up their flight status in favor of
greater terrestrial abilities.”

A
holo of a Pteredon appeared in the holo. They creature's arms were out. It had
flaps of skin going from wrist to small arms connected to the hips. They formed
glider wings. They had a short flat tail and quadruple jointed limbs.

It's
neck was quite long, terminating in a massive head. The head had a massive
scalloped sided beak, with jutting teeth. The back of the head had a crest that
stuck out. It was covered in a fluffy down. The holo moved after a spin, coming
to life to look at the viewer and then to preen itself.

“From
the Galactic Encyclopedia,” Sprite said.

“The
head looks too big for the body. Like it can't support that weight,” Esmay
said.

The
admiral shrugged. “You'd be surprised. Pteradons have a boron mesh like bone
structure. Honeycombed. The bones in the skull have pockets for lighter than
air gases. They can also inflate sacks on their legs and torso to help them
gain lift.”

“Must
be bad when they need to pass gas,” someone deadpanned.

Irons
had to chuckle with the class over that. He nodded as the humor subsided. “It's
an... interesting experience. They look like they have a Terran style tuxedo
coat on from the rear. I actually commented about it one time in their
hearing.”

“Oh?”

“The
ambassador made a joke about it. He was amused by the comparison and had
apparently heard it before.” He smirked. “That and being called air heads.”

“Ah.”

“So
you've met what? Most of the sentient species of the Federation?” The chief
asked sounding amused.

He
laughed, shaking his head. “Not a chance. I've met quite a few I admit, but not
all. Some were on interdicted status and some I avoided.”

“Interdicted?”
a student asked. “Dare I ask?”

“Dare
dare,” someone off to the left teased. One of the helmsman Irons thought.
Blackhawk. The name floated above his head on the admiral's HUD.

“I
think he just did so hush,” O'Mallory said, looking at them with a pointed
behave look and then turning to Irons.

“Interdicted.
When a species is sanctioned for crimes, it can be interdicted. It's the second
most severe penalty the Federation government will do to a species,” the
admiral explained, tucking his hands behind him, completely sober and serious.

“Um...”

“Let's
take an example,” Sprite said and the projector changed to a bipedal mole like
creature. It had a rat tail but had scales. Two arms, two legs, two eyes, a
broad muzzle and head, very little sign of a neck, jowls, and a pot belly.

“Salamander,”
Irons said nodding.

“Are
they related to the Telerites?” Esmay asked. They looked similar from a
distance.

“Only
in being a nuisance sometimes,” Irons growled. He never did get along with
Telerites. Most of the ones on the Kiev kept to themselves fortunately. All
except the cargo master Blur.

“More
troublesome than that admiral,” Sprite said. She turned to the class. “The
Quapjl or Salamanders as they were more commonly known as are or were a species
of religious fanatics. They were incredibly narcissistic. They clung to
believing that they were the chosen species of their deity and therefore the
rightful rulers of the universe.”

“Okay...”

“It's...
okay; Terrans and other species go through this stage too. A form of
xeno-narcassism. In fact Terrans clung to it for nearly a century after
achieving space flight. But as we grow, we grow out of it. It is part of a
species growth to adult status,” the admiral explained patiently.

“Okay...”

“The
salamanders would proselytize their religion where ever they went, sending
missionaries. Most were incredibly annoying. They abused the First amendment
shamelessly,” Sprite said in disgust. She hated spammers.

“Um...”

“The
right to worship as you pleased. The freedom of religion clause. The problem
was their freedom to express their religion ended when it was forcibly
inflicted on another person without their consent. Which after a while when the
Salamanders realized they weren't getting many converts they started to do.”

“Um...”

The
admiral's jaw set grimly. “In other words, they brainwashed people. Some were
willing, they were poor and would wander into a mission and for aid would
convert over to the religion, giving themselves to a higher purpose in exchange
for food and shelter. For those into it, that's not a bad thing. The problem
was they started using it to perform terrorist acts.”

“How...
Why would anyone allow this?” Esmay asked in disbelief.

“The
government is or should I say was slow to act and required proof. Also the
Salamanders were members of the predator union, a faction of the government
formed by species that were predators. The union covered for them for a while,”
Sprite replied with a disgusted sniff.

“Over
time though the IG office started to get complaints. more than they could hide.
It became a mess,” the admiral added.

“A
few scandals were also in the media. Like Mr. Dorsey who turned over his entire
shipping company and fortune over to the Salamanders,” Sprite growled. “And the
AI.”

“Right,”
Irons said, turning from her holo to the group. “AI were being attacked and
some were reporting attempts to suborn them. The attacks were traced to supporters
of the Salamanders.”

“The
clincher though was when they got in on that species the 84572 frogs and
forcibly converted them to their religion.”

“Brainwashing.”
Irons nodded as he looked at the class with hard eyes. more than one student
sobered and sat up straight. “They tore a ripe species, one on the cusp of
space flight and force fed them their view on the universe. They tied the poor
sods up in knots, damaging them mentally and physically. Destroying their
economy and entire world view.”

“They
also went a little too far with the subliminal messages and that attack on a
school,” Sprite added.