Turn of the Pipes (A Redpoint One Romance) (3 page)

Her right hand trailed along a main water pipe
before it curved into the wall. A few more valves under strain, but
no breaks. What could be causing the problem? The station
automatically adjusted the water pressure to remain within
tolerances. She shouldn't have the problem at all.

She rounded a corner to find even more bots
waiting, finding the sheer number shocking. Her heart sank. A
congregation of a large number of bots usually meant a major
problem. For her, it usually meant the break of a water main or
something similar

Then she spotted circling holographic colors
around two bot eye-stalks. Rachel stopped at the edge of the
grouping of bots, calling out, "Tish?"

CHAPTER TWO

TISH'S HEAD POPPED out from a cavity in the wall, a dark
smudge under one eye. "Oh, hi. Where did you come from?"

Rachel adjusted the belt around her waist.
"Repairs and more repairs, one after the other. You?"

Tish made a face before disappearing back into
the cavity. "Mine are scattered all over the place. One of them
needs an EVA and I don't feel comfortable doing one by myself yet,
so I'm meeting Arthur back at the platform after lunch."

Along with a few minutes for soft whispers and
snatched kisses, she was sure.

Rachel shook herself, knowing she wasn't being
fair to her friend. Tish hadn't had a very happy life before she
came to Redpoint One. She deserved to be happy, and Arthur appeared
to truly adore her.

"Good luck on the repair," Rachel said, firmly
putting her mind back to business.

"Thought I would take care of the small
problem down here first. It was on my way back," Tish's voice
echoed back to her from the cavity.

"Odd your problem should be near mine." Rachel
held out a hand for the scanner and her bot set it in her hand.
"What problem are you working on? Maybe they are
connected?"

"Logic juncture failure." Tish reappeared with
a small gray box in her hand with a blue and red coiled cable
dangling out the back of it. "Taken care of now. By the way, you
had a bad valve down here. I sent some of the mini-bots inside the
pipe to repair it."

Rachel stopped in the process of scanning the
pipes with the thin scanner. "You already fixed the
problem?"

"We'll know in a few minutes," Tish said.
"Maybe the systems will compensate better for problems down here
now. Did you know the logic juncture was actually asking the
systems to raise fluid pressures in this area? What a silly thing
to do."

Which explained the valve failures. "Any idea
how long it's been doing it?"

"Not a clue. The Station is good at telling me
when something is wrong, but not always the details." Tish handed
the juncture to her bot, Violet, while giving Rachel a big grin.
"But, I don't have to tell you that."

"No, Ms. Newbie." Rachel stopped the scanner
over a valve.

The image clearly displayed a valve stuck in
the open position and several small bodies of bots working away at
it. A check of the database showed she'd installed the valve only
six months before. The newer valve should have no problems for a
good long time to come. Her scowl deepened. Did the station have it
in for her personally?

Tish joined her to look at the image. Another
miniature bot joined the others. She noted, "They aren't
panicked."

"No, and they have the problem in hand. Just
as well. I would have to shut down the sector's water to replace
it." Rachel dropped the scanner so that it bumped against her
thigh. "Time to go to the next problem. By the way, do you have any
plans next Thursday night?"

"Not that I know of," Tish said, a frown on
her face. "Did I forget a meeting?"

"No, I want to drag you along with me for a
little fun." The idea had been a spur-of-the-moment idea to divert
attention from herself, but the more she thought about it; the more
she liked it. Tish would love the ladies in the club and it would
help her meet even more people on the station.

"Should I be worried?" Tish asked, not smiling
at all.

Rachel handed the scanner to her bot. "Nope. I
meet up with a knitter's club at a bed and breakfast on one of the
rings. You can get to know a few more of the locals."

"I don't knit. Does anyone
anymore?"

"Some do, as a hobby," Rachel said. "Hand
crafts are all the rage. You only need to bring yourself. It'll be
fun."

Tish didn't look convinced. "Will you be
there?"

"Of course."

Tish's smile returned. "That's okay,
then."

Rachel's bot squealed, the pitch rising the
longer it went. The instant after it started, Tish's bots joined
in. Multiple robot arms and hands erupted from openings in the
backs of the bots, reaching out towards them.

Before Rachel could get her bearings and
figure out the cause, the hands pulled her legs out from under her.
The next moment she was sliding along the floor along with Tish, a
swarm of bots all around them, speeding out of the area. The sound
of a thundering crack echoed through the corridor just before a
funnel of water shot out from one wall to slam into the wall on the
other side of the corridor.

Right where Tish and Rachel had just been
standing.

A bulkhead slid closed at their feet, blocking
the water from view as it surged across the floor. The bots stopped
their mad escape, chirping and beeping at each other nervously.
Tish's bots clustered around her, while Rachel's bot ducked its
eye-stalks and peered up in her face.

"I'm fine," Rachel said, her voice
shaky.

"What happened?" Tish demanded, hugging her
middle and not even trying to stand up.

"A main broke. But, the valve was fine!" Then
she realized the spot. "No, it wasn't the valve. The break came
from further to the left."

Rachel used the cart to help herself get to
her feet which some robot had grabbed and dragged out with them.
She held a hand down to help Tish.

"A new break? I didn't sense a problem when I
came into that area. I should have." Tish took in a shuddering
breath as she used Rachel's helping hand to get to her feet. "The
stream of water could have cut us in half."

"Or slammed us into the other side of the
corridor. Either way, it would have hurt." Rachel stared at the
bulkhead. "Get the feeling the place is falling apart?"

"I've had that feeling since I arrived.
However, this is the first time I've felt threatened by the
station."

Rachel glanced up towards the ceiling. She
didn't sense any animosity from the station. Nothing seemed out of
normal from that quarter.

Tish shook her head. "No, not that way. I
mean, well." She stopped, her features screwing up into an
expression of frustration. "I'm not sure what I mean. Okay, what
now? How do we fix this?"

"I fix it. I'll shut off the sector, drain the
corridor, see about finding the problem." Which would most likely
take all day. So much for the big long list of repairs she wanted
to finish today. "Don't you have an EVA to get ready
for?"

Tish started, glancing down at her ID band.
"Goodness, the time. You're right. I'm repairing one of the
self-defense modules. No pirates are going to get a chance at us
again."

Rachel smiled. Tish held a personal vendetta
against the pirates now. She had to admit she felt more secure
knowing Redpoint now had someone watching out for those systems
full-time, along with the computer systems controlling them. Now to
make the internal systems as intact as Tish was making the
outside.

She reminded herself again of her department's
importance in the day to day running of the station as calls
started coming in. Then came a call from Arthur to check the
progress. Sector representatives and then Director Stemski himself,
all wanting to know when the water would flow again.

They should consider themselves lucky to have
water back the same day.

Rachel didn't know how it happened, but the
pipe failure occurred between the valves and joints. The solid
lengths were supposed to be the strongest parts of the system. How
did metal so thick suddenly give way with so much corrosion lining
the inside of the pipe without anyone, including the repair bots,
knowing?

The horrifying thought of massive metal
fatigue or corrosion prompted another call to Arthur.

"I've seen no evidence of similar damage,"
Arthur said as soon as she expressed her fear.

In the background she heard Tish's voice.
Rachel rested against the pipes, rolling her tired shoulders. "Are
you on the EVA?"

"Yes. I'll ask Damien to inspect his systems
to see if he finds anything similar," Arthur said.

Rachel tried to explain she hadn't seen any
previous signs prior to the break, but ultimately stopped. From the
conversation coming from the other side of the ID bracelet it
sounded like Tish and Arthur must have come up on a problem area.
She knew what it felt like to be distracted by the needs of the
station, so she severed the connection.

She continued her inspection of the pipe until
the heavy-duty robots arrived with a replacement pipe. The large
hole in the side sported jagged sides. Parts of the edges curled
outwards, probably from the force of the water.

"I want the pipe saved for inspection," Rachel
told the two large robots hoisting it into place. One of them gave
a low beep, acknowledging it heard her. Too bad it couldn't tell
her if it understood.

The repair bots swarmed over each end of the
pipe, securing it to the joints. Rachel checked the repaired valve
that had originally been the reason for her arrival, and once
satisfied with all the new repairs, turned back on the
water.

She heard the water surge into the pipe. She
stayed at the end of the corridor as the pressure rose, all while
watching the reaction of the bots. None of them appeared nervous,
so she opened the valve all the way. A few more minutes and she was
satisfied with the completed repair.

With almost the entire work-day gone. She said
towards her bot, "Shall we try the next repair closest to our
location?"

Only after they arrived in the new area did
she remember they were in the location of the requested mystery
repair. Mysterious it turned out to be. One valve stuck, and then
suddenly working again. Then another valve further down the pipe
locking open.

Rachel followed them all, working each in
turn. Again, all the fresh-water pipes, but this time the problems
lingered in the smaller pipes supplying individual blocks of the
sector. Even as Arthur and then Damien called her about residents
complaining about water issues, she chased them down.

Her bot hissed at the pipes. Rachel concurred.
She wanted to hiss at it, as well.

Rachel stood back as the valve cleared,
glaring at the next valve down the line. As the valves before, it
locked open a few minutes later.

"Get the feeling we're chasing a moving clog?"
Rachel asked. Her bot hissed again in response. "Problem is, what
could be clogging a fresh water pipe?"

Rachel was done playing games. The problem
moved in a predictable manner, which meant something moving through
the pipes even if she couldn't seem to be able to capture an image
of it on her scanner. She knew of one way to pin it down, even
though she didn't like the idea of going to the big
hassle.

With a call for more bots, Rachel closed off
the valves on either side of the new problem valve. With the
problem contained, she worked at a joint on one side of the problem
valve.

Her bot continued hissing, to the point Rachel
stopped to look down at it. The bot stared at the valve, stopping
only when it realized Rachel had stopped. It gave a questioning
chirp.

"If this is dangerous, I need to know about
it," Rachel said.

Her bot handed her a joint release tool with
another chirp. Rachel looked between the valve and her bot one more
time before starting to work on it again. Her bot might not like
something, but it wasn't reacting as if there were danger in the
area.