Destiny's Choice (The Wandering Engineer) (28 page)

“Spit
it out Everette, I don't have all damn day, people to see, techs to throttle
with paperwork and all that,” Bailey said dryly.

“Yeah
chief,” the computer tech said, cracking a smile. “We were wondering about the
yard,” his attention turned to Irons.

“Ah,
your bailiwick I believe,” the chimp said crossing his arms and sitting on a
stool.

“What
about the yard son?” Irons asked.

“Ah...”

“How
did you build it? I mean so fast!” another kid said cutting in.

“Trays,”
the tech said. They turned to him. He pointed to the replicator. “You can make
more than one item at a time in a replicator. You fill the tray. Or stack it.”
He was proud of himself, he had remembered that in class.

“That's
one way,” Irons said nodding to the tech. “But I'm assuming you mean
everything? Structure and such?”

“Yes
sir, it went together fast! I mean, not at first but then faster and faster!”

“Well,
we used truss and universal nodes for the basic structure. And we didn't use
the tray method for them,” he shook his head to the tech who looked surprised
as the class.

“Huh?
Come again?”

“Well,
we did and we didn't. What we did was use the replicators on the factory ship
and Firefly to make molecular furnaces and extruders.”

“Um...”

“He's
saying he made a dedicated bot that makes the truss pieces,” Bailey
interpreted. “And just those pieces. I'm right, right?”

“You
are,” Irons said with a nod to the chief. “We made three. Each of them made
truss pieces and nodes. All they need is power and the processed materials.
Then they churned them out around the clock.”

“Oh.”

“Seems
simple enough,” one tech said, glancing at Everette. The computer tech wrinkled
his nose.

“Sometimes
the simplest things are the easiest way to go. Quick, cheap, and you get
results,” Bailey said nodding.

“Right,
so we made a jig out of bar stock and then we had people tacking the pieces
into sub-assemblies, and then combining the sub assemblies into larger and
larger structures. Once our people got the hang of it it went together well,”
Irons explained.

“But
people don't do it anymore. My sister was on that crew and she got transferred.
Something about a bot?” a young veraxin asked.

“Right,”
the Admiral said with a nod. “Once we had things going we built drones to help
put the pieces together, and robots to handle the sub-assemblies. That way we
can put our people on the more complex tasks,” he said.

“Saving
the replicators for other more important stuff. And the people did the stuff
the bots couldn't,” Everette said nodding and turning to the group. They nodded
back.

“Right.
Hephaestus built an extruder to make plate so we could tack it on over areas.
It also made dedicated extruders for wiring and plumbing,”

“Yes
my sister became a rigger and welder for plumbing and electrical,” the veraxin
said bobbing a nod.

“Right.
Once we had the core structure together people knew what they were doing and we
turned them loose. The yard is growing exponentially now.”

“What
about since you're not there?”

“What
about it?” Irons asked the replicator tech.

The
kid looked down for a moment then back to the Admiral. “I heard replicators
don't work without you around,” he said and then blushed.

“No
they work, they worked fine when I wasn't in Pyrax last year, and the seven
centuries while I was asleep. What they wont do is build from the proscribed
list. Anyone who tries it will end up with the replicator shutting down and
eating itself.”

“Ouch,”
Everette said wincing.

“Yeah,”
Irons said nodding. “But my not being there does put a crimp in our building
schedules. Commander Logan and the yard dogs, that's slang for yard workers, no
offense...” he shot a look at the veraxin who bobbed a nod. “They had just laid
down the first three ships, including a factory ship.”

“Seriously?”
Everette goggled at him as the group broke into furious muttering and excited
chatter. Irons smiled waiting it out.

“Yes,”
he said as they calmed down enough to hear. “Yes, we were well on our way to
getting Prometheus done when this mess cropped up. But unfortunately I didn't
get the chance to build the parts that no one else can.”

“Oh,
well that sucks,” a kid said shaking his head.

“Exactly.
I did have time to build most of the critical parts for Hecate, one of the
escorts. They should be able to get her done with work arounds. But after that
they will be stuck building structure or rebuilding basic things on the Bismark
and other ships that are still laid up.”

“That
sucks,” Everette said making a face.

“Yes,”
Irons said nodding.

“You
can always ship the parts back Admiral,” Bailey said rubbing his whiskered chin
thoughtfully. They turned to look at the chimp. He shrugged under the
collective gaze. “I'm just sayin' you know, you could do that. We or another
ship could haul them back,” he finished. The group turned their attention back
to Irons.

“That
is a distinct possibility chief, one I'll have to consider carefully,” The
Admiral said, crossing his arms and putting his head down to think. “Very
carefully.”

“What
about, well, you know, how you built the ships?” a kid asked.

“What
about them?” Irons asked looking up.

“How...”

“How
did we do it? Sub assemblies. We start one piece at a time from a blueprint and
build them into sub assemblies and then combine them. We built segments called
blocks. Each block contained everything it needed in the room. All there and
ready to go. We just had to slot it into place, weld it, and then connect the
fittings and electricals.”

“Oh.”

“We
used the replicators to build transhab fabric extruders, and they make the
inflatable habitats. We also used the plate and truss extruders to make bays
for the sub assembly areas. Here,” he held up his right hand and concentrated,
sending a signal.

His
palm morphed into a holo projector. His fingers curled up to help with the
image. “Can someone dim the lights?” he asked looking to the kid near the
switch. The young woman nodded and turned, touching the controls.

“See,
the slips are octagonal cylinders with these box shapes connected to the outer
faces. These are the sub assembly bays,” he said as the holo of the yard
appeared and then zoomed into a slip. It slowly rotated as the group gathered
around, eyes wide. “We used the replicators to make dedicated part factories.
They churn out parts like the extruders. Then we put the pieces together. Once
you have the assemblies going you transfer the finished ones to the central bay
to put the ship together, from the center out.”

“Oh,”
Everette said. He exhaled softly, watching the holo.

“I'll
upload this to the mainframe since it's hard for some of you to see clearly,”
Irons said.

“Now
once we've got the basic ship done we transfer it to a fitting bay to make room
for the next ship to be built. The fitting bay fits the bits together, adds
other things, and runs tests. Once she's passed she transfers to another dock
to take on limited stores and then she goes through her builders trials,” he
explained.

“Where,
wow,” a woman said in the open hatch. “Where to start? What the frack comes
immediately to mind,” she said, hands on her hips.

“Impromptu
bull session Cecily don't think anything of it,” Bailey said.

“Chief?”
she asked looking towards the chimp's voice. She couldn't see him through the
crowd.

“Over
here,” he said raising a long simian hand and then pointing down to where he
was.

“Oh,
okay,” she said coming in. “What's this about?”

“Q
and A about the yard. Got any questions?” Everette asked amused.

“Yes,
no... um...” They laughed at her confused expression. She shook her head.
“Okay, I got one, where did you get the blueprints for the yard and the ships.
Hell the individual parts alone let alone the entire ships!” she said.

Irons
smiled. “I'm an engineering Admiral, so it is all stock in trade for me. I can
pull designs from my sleep,” he said.

“Which
he sometimes does,” Sprite said dryly from the console speaker. They turned to
the voice and then back.

“Sprite
adding her two credits worth,” he said shaking his head in amusement.

“I
have some blueprint plans in my memory. A lot of it is modular and can be
scaled for the ship in need.”

“Plug
and play. Got that,” Bailey said with a nod. “We've got some of that. Hell this
ship was held together with prayer and rigger tape until we fell into your
hands,” the chimp said.

“Right.
Well, we also picked up some bits from Io's surviving memory modules and
Firefly of course,” Irons said.

“Oh
yeah, forgot that,” Cecily said shaking her head.

“Most
replicators have parts in their memories. At least the good ones. They have
generic part designs in their memory.”

“They
do?” the replicator tech asked surprised.

“Of
course,” Irons said nodding. He went over to the replicator and checked.
“You're idle?” he asked. The kid nodded.

“Okay,
how about...” Irons said. The holo went out and he jacked in. “How about this?”
he asked.

“What
are you doing?” the tech asked surprised.

“Well,
chief Bailey suggested it,” the Admiral said. In a moment the tray was covered
in growing shapes. He unjacked. The kid looked at the read out and then up at
the Admiral.

“Fuel
injectors? For a fusion reactor?”

“Right.
I used my access code. These are for the yard, but you can have a couple for
spares here chief,” he said turning to Bailey. The chimp nodded and then
smiled.

“Thanks
Admiral, don't mind if I do,” he said.

“I'll
make up some parts and lease a cargo hold. You are right, Destiny can bring the
parts back for Commander Logan and the teams there. They can put them to good
use in the ships. I'd like to see some of those ships out here,” Irons said
waving.

“Yeah,
I gathered that,” the chief said.

“Can
I get into the navy? Get this?” the replicator tech asked waving to indicate
the Admiral.

“You've
got two options. You can go full time career, or you can apply for a reserve
posting. Since Destiny is in the naval reserve you could argue that you should
have a reserve posting.”

“Destiny
is? Wait, since when?” one of the kids asked. The babble of voices started up
again. Accusing eyes turned to the Admiral as they quieted.

“Destiny
and Hephaestus, in fact all the former pirate ships were inducted in the Navy
as reserve ships. I thought you knew that. Your captain should have been in the
reserve but he declined the honor,” he explained.

“I
thought we were part of Pyrax?” Everette asked.

“You
are and you aren't. You see the Pyrax government leased the use of Destiny.
Technically they haven't paid for it yet, nor the factory ship. We were arguing
over that when well...” he indicated the ship.

“Oh,
gotcha. One of the reasons they ran you out of town I suppose,” Everette said
nodding. “Too cheap to pay the bill.”

“Possibly,”
the chief said, he got off the stool and smacked his hands together. “Well this
has been fun kiddies, but I've got more stops to make. Let's get a move on
Admiral, I know you've got plans for the afternoon,” he moved to the door.

“If
you have any questions you can check the wiki on the mainframe or shoot an
e-mail to my account. I or Sprite will answer,” Irons said as they walked out.
He heard the kids murmuring over that. He snorted at the chimp who shook his
shaggy balding head. “Okay chief, who do we drop in on next? Or should I say
drop in on someone and get dropped in on ourselves?” he asked amused.

“Funny.”

They
made the rounds around that deck then moved on. Irons went through the motions,
nodding politely to people but not saying much.

“Something
on your mind John?” the chief asked as they entered the lift.

“What
makes you say that?” Irons asked amused.

“Cat
got your tongue, that's why,” the chief said with a sniff. “You're a billion
kilometers away.”

“Something
like that. I'm thinking of another metaphor. Another saying.”

“Oh?
Do tell,” the chimp said crossing his arms again. He jutted his chin out.

Irons
snorted. “Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and
you feed him for life,” he said.

“Ah.
And the connection is...”

“We've
been thinking about sending shipments of parts and survival gear down to the
colonists. What we really should be doing is sending them teaching material and
the equipment to make their own stuff,” the Admiral explained.