Destiny's Choice (The Wandering Engineer) (10 page)

“So,
you ah, can make nanites?” the medic asked.

“Yes.
Replicators are nanites in jars. We just went over this Bryan. Pay attention,”
Bailey growled testily. “Or next time get notes from a classmate. Honestly,” he
mock growled.

“I
think I see why you miss these dinners now chief,” the captain said dryly. He
chuckled. “Although you do have a tendency of making things lively. Well it was
an informative night. Good evening.” He got up. The rest of the compartment
shot to their feet at varying speeds as he left.

“Gave
the old man quite a lot to chew on,” Sprite said over his HUD as Irons and
Bailey left.

“Oh
shut up,” Irons sighed.

“Any
ideas as to why you're so popular all of a sudden Admiral?” Bailey asked as he
toyed with a stylus.

Irons
paused as he came into the office. “Come again?” he asked, taken aback. The
morning meeting was becoming something of a  habit with the two of them.
Something he probably should break but didn't have the heart to do. He was
human after all. He needed social contact with others as much as they did.

They
were little more than a week out from Pyrax. At their current speed it would
take another three solid months before they got to Agnosta. He was torn on what
to do about that. They had the ability to get into Beta band easily enough.
He'd checked the hyperdrive over personally, it was a little rough but it could
handle the higher octaves of Beta with a little coaxing.

He
wasn't sure what to do. He didn't want to interfere with the crew and make
himself a pest. But on the other hand he didn't want to spend the next twelve
long laborious boring weeks bumbling along in the lower alpha band octaves
either.

“Maybe
saving the day again and replicating all the stores had something to do with
it,” Harry suggested. Every day he worked with the Admiral he gained a little
more respect for him. Irons wasn't sure if it was something from him rubbing
off on him or his boss's ready acceptance of Irons that was doing it. He didn't
know and didn't care. Whatever worked.

He
would have been surprised to find that it was really his wealth of knowledge
and his willingness to use it to help the ship and the crew that had impressed
Harry. His willingness to roll up his sleeves and get dirty had cemented his
opinion to the assistant chief and a few of the others. Those that thought he
was kissing up or brown nosing were grumbling only a little. Anyone who did it
within Bailey's hearing ended up doing shit jobs that they reeaaaally didn't
want to do.

“Not
likely. Charlie is still a prick.”

“All
accountants are, I heard,” Harry said. He glanced at the Admiral for
confirmation. Irons nodded mock serious.

“Which
is why I've been a little too busy to help him,” the Admiral replied with a
half smile. After all, why should he help a guy who was an ass? Who had no
respect for you or the title you held? Who wanted services from you without
anything in return? No amount of help was going to change the guy's attitude so
why bother?

“And
why I'm cutting back on replicator use. Wear and tear, fuel consumption, etc.”
Bailey said with a smirk. He had gotten into the game since that fun dinner
three nights ago. He'd picked up on the Admiral's excuses right off and had
backed him up to the hilt.

“Your
prerogative chief,” Harry said shaking his head. He was pretty sure a fight was
looming and didn't want to get caught in the cross fire. Best leave it to those
who were willing to duke it out while he kept things running as smoothly as he
could.

“You
better believe it,” the chief said sitting back and using his tingle toes to
swing his chair back and forth. “But any ideas about this?”

“About
what? My sudden popularity? I didn't know I was suddenly popular again,” Irons
said bemused. He took a cup of coffee from the desk when Bailey pointed to it
with the stylus and then saluted the chimp with it.

“He's
talking about the invite to supper with the other officers,” Harry deadpanned.

“Really?”
he asked amused. “Didn't we just do that?”

“They
specifically asked for you believe it or not. Charlie did I mean.”

“Trying
to butter me up?” Irons asked amused. He hadn't heard anything from Sprite...

“Maybe,”
Harry snorted. “I wonder if he figures if he kisses your ass, or at least makes
a show of it to the others, that you'll suddenly be helpful again?” He grinned
slyly and made puckering sounds.

“Fat
chance of that. Charlie couldn't charm a used parts dealer,” Bailey said
wrinkling his nose and chuckling. “The captain put his request in too, so we
can't get out of it. We've got eight hours to get some work done. Let's see
what we can do before we need to knock off.”

“Going
to go there covered in grease and grime and smelling all sweaty and like you
rolled in crap again boss?” Harry asked, shaking his bald head.

“It's
a thought,” Bailey said, grinning at Irons. The Admiral rolled his eyes and
sighed.

“So,
this implant thing, does it hurt?” the purser asked as they ate. Irons was
surprised that the purser was making an extra effort to not only be civil but
genuinely curious.

Irons
was glad he'd taken the time to shower and prep. They'd finished early. Bailey
had grumbled but someone else had apparently intervened and he'd shown up just
behind the Admiral looking fresh but slightly damp. He had also been grinning
though.

“No,
you're under for it. Or it's a nanite pill,” Bryan said amused. He'd finally
taken the time to look the various procedures up. It had been fascinating
research.

“It
depends on the implant actually,” Irons said before the purser could say
something else. His wide eyes were amusing but he knew that their was a shocked
element there so he deflected it. “There are several grades of civilian and
military implants.” Bryan nodded at that. He wasn't sure about it all, but it
did look interesting.

“Oh.”

“Right
now the only other people on this ship to have implants are your hyper
navigators,” Bryan said, indicating Clark. The navigator nodded. “I mean our.
Our. I meant our.”

“Really?”
Ed leaned forward as he glanced down the row of people to the kid. The young
man flushed. “I didn't know.”

“Well,
you were all supposed to get military grade implants at one point,” Irons said.
“Bridge officers and chief noncoms.” The others were silent as they digested
that tidbit. From the looks on their faces some were feeling anxious, a few
curious. One or two relieved. He wasn't sure if it was because they'd dodged a
bullet or missed an opportunity.

“Really?”
Bailey asked amused. He set his fork down. “What changed that?”

“Well,
they come with a naval reserve posting. Either commissioned or
non-commissioned,” the Admiral explained.

“You
don't say,” Ed said sitting back. He glanced at the captain who pursed his
lips.

“So
what if we don't want a reserve slot?” the purser asked.

“Well,
Destiny is a naval reserve vessel actually, it was supposed to be mandatory for
her crew,” Irons replied.

The
captain's eyes narrowed. “I seem to remember something about that. A memo or
something. I don't recall anything beyond it.” Apparently he had thought that
it had been quietly dropped. No it hadn't, the Admiral thought with a small
smile.

“But
induction into the military is voluntary,” the Admiral said in explanation.
“Since your crew was formed around the old one a large percentage of the crew
were not interested in joining up,” he explained. “It put us in a bit of a
quandary that never got sorted out before departure.

“So
no implants?” Bailey asked. “Doesn't seem fair,” he scowled. “I don't remember
hearing about that. I would have liked to have at least been asked.”

“That's
because you had your head buried in repairs or classes chief,” Clarke said
softly.

Bailey
scowled but he was too honest to not admit that what the gangly navigator had
said was true. “True.”

“Well,
you as individuals can still sign up when you get back to Pyrax,” Irons said.

“So
we'd get implants? And rejuv?” the medic asked, perking up at that. He'd been
curious about that.

“Anti
aging, treatments for diseases, corrections for medical flaws, implants, and a
basic education are standard. And rank and an extra pay check. You will have to
make yourself available for duty a minimum of twice a year. Usually that duty
consists of training exercises. You would also be subject to recall if there
was a combat or other emergency situation.”

“Oh,
so the only way to get implants is for you to join the military? Seems kind of
biased don't you think?” the purser asked snidely.

“Every
job has it's perks,” Bailey said. Ed looked thoughtful.

“I
seem to recall that the governor was getting implants?” the captain asked,
wiping his lips with a linen napkin. “You mentioned that at the last supper a
few days ago actually.”

Irons
nodded. “Yes, individuals in government can get civilian grade implants of
varying grades. Also medical personnel,” Irons said, nodding to Bryan. “I
believe doctor Thornby was enacting that now. Anvil also upgraded it's
engineers and core officers to implants as well. But if you're a civilian and
the outfit you work for won't spring for it... well, you can of course save
your money and purchase a basic ident link. And a rejuv package,” he shrugged.
He didn't mention that he could make the ident kit here if he wanted to do so.

“Really?”

“I
believe it was being put into action before we left. In it's initial stages of
course. The pilot program was in the Anvil college.”

“Getting
your licks in early?” the purser asked. It wasn't quite snide but close. Either
he was trying to tone it down and not succeeding fully or he had a perpetual
chip on his shoulder. Or a stick up another part of his anatomy Irons mused.

“More
like putting it in the hands of those that can use it the most and for the best
of the system,” the captain said with a nod. “The young who can adapt quickly
to the change and those willing to better their education. Wise,” he nodded and
took a sip of wine.

“Exactly,”
Bailey said with a nod. Come to think of it he had heard something about it. A
kid in a class had something. He couldn't remember all of it though. He'd been
busy learning about drive mechanics at the time.

“So,
how can we...”

“You
should be able to get a package when you get home to Pyrax. Your pay is in
escrow now. Or should be,” Irons said. He shrugged. It would be interesting if
and when they got back to find that someone had stolen the money. Or that it
had never been escrowed in the first place because someone thought they were
dead.

“Oh,”
Bryan said, suddenly thoughtful.

“I'll
have to think about that,” Bailey said, rubbing his chin and tugging his ear.
“I'd kinda like them I think,”  he glanced at Irons who nodded.

“They
definitely come in handy chief.”

“Ah,”
Ed nodded. “I may as well.” The purser stared at him in shock. He smiled. “I
believe they would come in handy in my line of work.”

Irons
looked at the chief of security. “For you definitely Chief. There are different
upgrade packs for security personnel. There is a file on the information server
somewhere. That is if that virus didn't over write it.”

“If
it has I am sure I can... um, yeah, it was trashed,” Sprite said. “I've
uploaded a new copy for you and sent each of you a link to it.”

“Thank
you ma'am,” Ed said with a nod and look to the ceiling.

“Don't
mention it.”

“Hmmm...”
Ed reached for his tablet but the captain gave him a short shake of his head.
“Sorry, forgot, no computers at the table,”  he mumbled. He tucked it back
under the table. Irons had to snort at that. It sounded exactly like what he
had said to his mother more than once growing up.

“Bryan
you can check the inventory, you may find the Destiny ident chip packages in
your stores. If they even made it aboard,” Sprite said from the overhead. They
looked up. Irons was surprised as well.

“Ident
package?” Ed asked, clearly interested.

“Simple
implant chips the size of a grain of rice. They identify crew to the ships
computer. Their location, and they can give them access to restricted areas. Or
restrict access from areas they shouldn't be in. You were supposed to have them
before you left but it was another thing put off.”

“Oh,”
the security chief said, eyes alight. “That sounds very promising,” he said,
giving the chief engineer, and then the captain a look. Bailey looked a little
nonplussed and then shrugged. His people had to be everywhere if they wanted
the ship to continue to fly. He tapped his chin, they had been forced to chase
a few bored civilians out of areas they shouldn't have gotten into. Most had
been exploring, a couple had been looking for a love nest. One had been taking
apart a recycling plant to make a still. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea
after all. The last thing he needed was someone getting into something they
shouldn't.