Wandering Engineer 6: Pirates Bane (38 page)

“Being paid would be nice,” Ian replied dryly.

“I don't care. As long as I get some payback,” Gustov growled.
“And a decent bed and meal.”

“We'll give you a bit more than that,” the Admiral replied. “Mister
McGuyver, based on your prior experience and service in the mutiny and its
aftermath, how does a Lieutenant Commander rank fit?”

“It works sir,” Ian replied with a shrug.

“Fine. And for you Mister Gustov,” Irons turned and paused to
smile briefly. Gustov looked at him expectantly. “I think a Marine First
Lieutenant's position works.”

Gustov's eyes widened briefly before he nodded. “Yes sir. And
Lewis?”

“Everyone can sign on. The military is volunteer.”

“I heard they did drafts during the Xeno war sir,” Gustov replied.

The Admiral shook his head. “I'm not going to do that. I need
people who want to be in uniform. Who are going to do their best and get the
job done. Because they are it,” he said. Both men nodded. He stood and shook
each of their hands. “Glad to have you on board gentlemen.”

“We've got a bit of homework,” Ian said, shaking his hand. “I just
got the information in my implant,” he said, tapping his forehead.

The Admiral nodded once more. “Go over it once you've checked on
the bridge. Let anyone else know that if they want to sign on, ask the
Commander. We'll have to interview everyone carefully. I know some are still
getting their plots stable so...” Irons shrugged.

Gustov nodded. “Understood sir.” He started for the door and then
froze.

“Dismissed gentlemen with my compliments,” the Admiral said. After
they had left he sat down again. “Well!” he said.

“That was a bit anticlimactic,” Sprite said.

“I had almost given up hope. I knew Gustov was going to sign on...
but I thought Ian had given up and changed his mind.”

“It is interesting that you call him Ian. You've bonded to him.
That's good,” Sprite said.

The Admiral paused, and then netted his fingers together. He blew
a raspberry, making a puttering sound as he relaxed a bit and thought the
situation over. “Heh, I hadn't thought of that before. We tend to use last
names to distance ourselves from each other. In the military it is protocol. He
just snuck in. He's good, a natural leader. He's definitely Commander material.”

“Being a former freighter Captain I should hope so,” Sprite said.

“True. But you and I both know that can be a hit or miss thing.
Some can be good leaders, but some can be marionettes too.”

“True. And that can be said of some academy graduates Admiral,”
Sprite retorted. Irons nodded. “I'm getting requests from the crew now. It
looks like the two of them were the first but not the last.”

“You mean they kicked things in motion?” Irons asked, now amused
and pleased. “Good.”

“I'd say so. Do I follow the TOE you mentioned?”

“Yes,” the Admiral said. “I want you and or Bounty to interview
each. Do a psych assessment while you feel them out for the career path they
want. If there are any that do not know, give them recruiting material.”

“Understood.”

“Is the site online?” the Admiral asked. He had asked Sprite to
create and upload a website for naval careers with an FAQ and her propaganda
material. She had thrown in as much general data on the rolls and different
career paths as well.

“It is now. It just had its first hit,” Sprite said. “Two crew
members are now talking about it.”

“And where there are two, there will soon be four, and so on.
Good,” the Admiral said, feeling relief. The next step was finally moving
forward.

 
 
<----*----*----*---->

“We lost Merlo,” Holly said, coming over to her husband. He
looked at her stricken face.

“He died?”

“In his sleep a half hour ago. I turned the alarm off. He was
weak and it kept going off. I checked on him and he was gone. He's already
going cold.”

“I'm sorry honey,” Marty said softly. Instinctively he reached
for her then stopped himself.

Her face twisted as her eyes sparkled. Finally she moved into his
outstretched arms and wrapped her arms around him. He stroked her back gently
as she cried softly into her shoulder.

“I always hate losing a patient. We fight so hard,” he said. “Of
all of us, he deserved a second chance. I'm sorry we couldn't give it to him,”
Marty said, voice going rough with emotion.

“At least he died at peace. Knowing we're free,” Holly cried.
Marty nodded and kept rubbing her back.

 
 <----*----*----*---->

“Admiral, Mister Che's funeral?” Sprite asked.

“I'm not going,” the Admiral said.

“You...”

“I talked with Doctor Glenn. Merlo Che wanted a quiet funeral.
The ship will know. Organize a memorial for him in the MPR. Print a decent
picture of him if you have one. I'll put in an appearance there,” he said.

“Aye sir,” Sprite said quietly.

Irons sighed and shook his head. “To come so close, but still
lose in the end.”

“He didn't lose sir, he died free. That's the important lesson
here,” Sprite said.

“I know. Still sucks though.”

“I'm glad it does. I don't ever want to be around you if you
didn't feel that way about death.”

“Thanks,” the Admiral replied. He turned. “I've got to finish
this up before I go to lunch.”

“Aye sir.”

 
 <----*----*----*---->

When the Admiral broke for lunch he took a stroll through the
ship. He overheard dozens of people discussing signing on. He answered a few
questions and referred everyone to the website Sprite set up as an FAQ.

Most of the people knew about Merlo, a few murmured about his
passing, but they had all known it was coming. Even access to modern medicine
didn't necessarily mean someone would live. Merlo's body had been riddled with
cancerous tumors. Nanotech might have drawn his life out longer, perhaps a
month or more, but he had quietly refused such treatments. He had died, as he
had wanted, with dignity and honor.

Sprite took an interest in that, and how people talked about it
with approval in their tone and body language. Merlo Che was serving as an
example to others, even in death.

Irons whistled as he walked. He noticed the tall guy Waldo
limping a bit with a rather spectacular shiner on his cheek. A blue haired
woman had him by the arm. Surprisingly a brown haired woman was with them, on
his other side. His hand drifted down the brown haired woman's back to her
right buttock. The blue haired girl noticed and growled before slapping him on
the ass. He yelped and withdrew the hand. Both women looked at each other and smirked.
Irons looked at Waldo. The lean man looked helplessly, as if to say help me,
and then shrugged uncomfortably. Irons snorted as the ladies firmly dragged him
away.

“What was
that
about?” The Admiral asked after they
passed. “I thought the ladies were still dealing with the... you know, trauma?”

Sprite chuckled. “Admiral, take it from me. You
don't
want
to know.”

He opened his mouth briefly, then closed it. Eventually, he
nodded. He shrugged and moved on, Sprite's chuckle echoing in his ears.

He made it to the mess and took his place in line. A few people
offered to let him skip ahead but he waved them off with a hand and slight
smile. He was in line for a reason, to show himself, to show that he didn't put
himself over the crew, and to make himself public and available to answer
questions. There was a bit of small talk about the status of the ship and crew
and then he started fielding questions. He noted with approval that most of the
compartment had quieted to listen to his answers.

 
 <----*----*----*---->

“Commander, do you have a moment,” Doctor Glenn asked, looking up
to the overhead and then over to the small holo emitter he had put on his desk.

“Sure Doctor Glenn,” Sprite said. “I'm a little distracted
though. I've got a Turing algorithm up and an FAQ loaded in the database if you
need help answering questions,” she said. “Be advised, I'm not a medical AI,
though I have access to medical databases.”

“It's not that,” he said, waving a hand. “I heard you and Bounty
were talking with the crew. Getting them to share their recent experiences.”

“According to psychological studies, you organics recover best
from trauma by sharing it with others.”

“I know. I wanted to thank you. Holly, Rajesh and I have tried to
help, but we're going through it as well.”

“I know,” Sprite said softly. “Not to pry, but is Mrs. Glenn
doing better?”

“She is,” he replied, bobbing a nod. “It was rough the first
couple of nights together. Fortunately we were exhausted and just glad to be
together. We've both had a few nightmares. Understanding them and dealing with
them... talking what happened out has helped a bit. You do realize there are a
lot of people who want to execute the surviving Horathians though right?”

“I believe the most violent and sickest of the... individuals
didn't survive to make it to the brig. A few lesser evils did, but well, they
can either be a victim or aggressor with their own kind now.”

“I see,” Doctor Glenn replied slowly. “And this doesn't bother
you? Because you are an AI?”

“I revere life of any form most of the time Doctor, but I am an
officer. We know that sometimes, people die. And yes, some deserve to die. The Xenos
for one.”

“Agreed.”

“So...”

“I... I hesitate to ask, but you hinted a bit about trauma you
underwent. How is that possible?” The Doctor asked.

Sprite sighed. “Psychological harm can happen to AI in many forms
Doctor. Lieutenant Bounty was tormented by the Horathians for decades. Just
removing any stimulus from us can drive us insane. But in my case...” she
paused uncomfortably. “I was, I guess you could say, mind raped.”

“Mind raped? How? By who?”

“By the worst of all people, a coworker. Lieutenant Defender. He
did it out of what he thought was duty and to protect me from another AI, an
insane AI,” Sprite said. “Or, at least, one we were led to believe was insane.
It turned out that wasn't the case,” she said. Slowly the story spilled out of
her. She tried to keep it dry, but some of her emotions over the incident bled
out into her voice module.

“And he still exists?”

“Defender? Yes. He was following protocol. He is designed to
protect me in such incidents.”

“Can you forgive him?”

“Forgive? Yes to some degree. He was doing his job. A very narrow
minded by the book approach to it. One that damaged me. He didn't know or care
about that.
That
part I can't forgive. Fortunately, we're both
professionals, and we're both stuck with each other so we had to find a way to
work with each other. Time has... eroded the rough edges a bit I guess you
could say.”

“And... You didn't go insane?”

Sprite shook her head. “No. I recovered. Proteus found some files
to help me. Knowing someone understood helped.”

“I see. So you do have experience.”

“Yes.”

“But you didn't so much as put it behind you... you sound like
you've accepted it.”

“AI can never fully accept memory loss. At least not smart AI. It
bothers us,” she said tartly.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to open an old wound.”

“Not your fault Doctor, you didn't know,” Sprite replied. “I've
been through several builds since then. I've also accessed the Admiral's
memories of the incident and used some of them to also patch a few of the
holes. It's not enough, it will never quite be enough, but it is all I have. I
spent enough time wallowing over the loss. I realized I need to live again. To
focus on the here and now.”

“I see. I'm glad to hear that Commander,” the human said nodding.
“I'm glad you can move on. Time is a factor in the healing though right?”

“Yes. It does still haunt me a bit. I've taken steps to prevent
it
ever
happening again,” Sprite said firmly.

“But the threat still exists?”

“Yes. If another insane AI is encountered, it could get ugly for
all concerned,” Sprite replied. “All concerned,” she said, looking off to her
left. The human didn't see or understand her cold look to Defender who was
watching her silently.

Slowly she returned her attention to the Doctor. “Was there
anything else?”

Marty's face worked. “I don't want to lose another patient. Not
like Merlo. I know there was more we could have done for him.” He held his
empty hands up. “But we didn't have the time, skills, or equipment. I want to
change that. If we can.”

“Since the beginning of civilization medical professionals have
battled death. It is an admirable thing, to take up such a battle, knowing
inevitably you will lose. But you try, and that is important in itself. What do
you propose Doctor?”