Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (3 page)

The
refresher was clean as usual. The fixtures were recycled, most likely from a
freighter. The chrome was flaked off the plastic around the seams. "Mind
the floor plate, it likes to fluctuate every hour or so!" Jorge called.

He
looked down. "Right." He shook his head at the wiring hanging from
the ultrasonic emitters. "So much for the easy way." Carefully he
washed his hands with the gray water, wrinkling his nose at the smell.

"Nasty.
You don't want to know what is in it Admiral," Sprite reported.

"Yes
I do, but not now." The Admiral replied as he shook his hands. He wiped
them on a towel and exited the chamber.

"All
clean?" Mrs. Valdez inspected him just as she would one of her brood. The
girl hid a smile. Jorge chuckled. "He didn't get a chance to get his hands
dirty," he replied.

The
Admiral chuckled. "Yet."

 Mrs.
Valdez steered him to an empty chair. Two other children came running in and
sat down after having their hands checked. "Aunty is on shift working a
double, she can't make it," one of the girls reported.

An
older man came in and hung his hat on a peg near the door. "I'm just in
time?" he asked with a smile.

"Hi
uncle Mickal, nope, you’re just in time!" the pig tailed girl called with
a smile.

He
chuckled. "All righty then, I'll just freshen up...” He waved to the
others. After a few moments he returned. "I see we have a fresh face at
the table." He smiled politely to the Admiral then held his hand over the
table. The Admiral hastily set the bowl of lettuce down and shook his hand.

"Nice
to meet you; Mickal right?"

The
man nodded. "Mickal O'Reilly, last of the O'Reilly clan. I'm a life
support engineer," he smiled.

"Fleet
Admiral John Irons," Irons returned. The man's eyes widened.

"Is
that a fact? We're dining with living legends now?" He looked over to
Jorge who nodded.

"The
Admiral is a sleeper. Juanita's ship brought him in," Jorge explained with
a small smile.

He
smiled to the Admiral as his wife placed veggies on his plate. "That's
enough dear," he growled. She sniffed.

"You
know you need to set a good example for the kids," she said softly. The
kids smirked. Mickal chuckled until she put even more on his plate.

"Hey
now!" He replied suddenly mock indignant. The kids giggled. Jorge smiled.

 "You
need all the veggies you can get too!" Mama Valdez replied. "Clean
your plate." She smiled. Her smile had teeth to it, the teeth of a command
to be obeyed. Hastily he nodded.

After
dinner the kids were put to work cleaning the dishes while the adults sat
around the table. He could see the kids glancing their way and paying more
attention to what was going on with the adults then with the dishes. "You
said the Io has been rebuilt?" Jorge sighed. "To see her in her
prime. We need to get that tug sorted out so we can." He shook his head.

 "Not
going to happen, it will take a month to get help from engineering Shelby said,"
Junior sighed.

"She'll
be long gone by then." O'Reilly grimaced.

 "Well,
if you want a look..." The Admiral got up and went to his bags. "Do
you have a picture now?" O'Reilly asked genially.

The
Admiral smiled. "Something like that." He pulled out his holographic
emitter and set it on the table.

"Holo
emitter?" Jorge asked. The Admiral nodded. The kids stopped cleaning and
came up behind them. He smiled and turned it on. Sprite uploaded a 3D image of
the Io 11. It sprang to life then began to slowly turn around her X and Y axis
like a top. The kids oohed and ahed.

"We
had our hands full with the hull and exterior repairs; Juanita did an excellent
job keeping her crew safe." The Admiral pointed out the damaged areas.
"She's about as good as we can get outside a dry dock. Her drives have
been fully restored and she can get into the low octaves of Gamma band
now." The Admiral explained the highlights.

 The
group watched and listened in fascination. He pulled up a holo of Juanita
working. Mrs. Valdez clutched at her husband's arm. "Here is Juanita
working with a crew. I have a few others including her doing the intro to EVA
speech with a group of rookies." He smiled. "I can upload them to
your home mainframe and you can watch them or dump them on a chip." He
shrugged.

Jorge
nodded as the scene concluded and faded out. "Thank you for this, for
seeing our girl safe and happy." He smiled. Mrs. Valdez looked up and
nodded.

"She's
a good leader with a good head on her shoulders; you did an excellent job
raising her," the Admiral smiled.

"Junior
why don't you show the Admiral around while we look over your sister's
message." Jorge waved to Junior.

O'Reilly
smiled. "I'll be along in a minute lad. Admiral." He nodded as the
two got up.

The
Admiral followed the sullen young man out. "You've seen the shuttle bay,
this way to storage." He waved. They toured the storage bay, machine
shops, the closed lock doors to two other shuttle bays, small living quarters
and ended up in the giant junk yard room.

"Wow."
The Admiral looked around and smiled. He spotted several familiar ships. Sprite
pointed a few details out. There were shelves around the perimeter of the room,
but it looked like the center pile had taken over. He was curious if this was
stuff they had traded for, or stuff they had gathered from outside. It was
definitely a magpie nest.

"I
can't turn the lights on; we're in a severe power crunch right now."
Junior said.

"Yes,
your mother mentioned it earlier I believe." The Admiral said as he
examined a pile of parts. The junkyard was filled with damaged and junked gear,
but it was organized. He studied a battered fighter. "She'll never fly
again," Junior replied, catching his glance.

"You
never know." The Admiral shrugged. "You are working on the tug, is it
the only one your family has?" He turned to the young man.

Sergio
nodded. "We have two other bays, but they are empty so I didn't bother
show them to you."

Irons
nodded. "That's a lot of space for a small family." He followed the
young man out into the hall.

"Yeah,
we supplied the station with most of the water it needs. And we have it because
we can pay our rent. Most of the time," Junior growled face down, hands in
his hip pockets. He kicked at a cable for a moment.

The
Admiral's mental antenna quivered at that last bit. "It has been hard to
make ends meet with your dad injured," the Admiral observed. Junior
growled. "His injuries are extensive. That arm is broken in two places and
not healing correctly. His knee cap is broken. His internal injuries are not healing
well either. He is running a temperature, a clear sign of infection," the
Admiral observed.

Junior
stared at him. "How do you..."

O'Reilly
entered ducking through the lock door. "So what'd I miss gents?" He
smiled at the two of them.

The
Admiral waved. "Just getting the lay of the land. Junior was showing me
the family parts pile." Irons smiled and nodded politely to the young man.

"Right
he's interested in the old ships in there," Junior replied slowly trying
to get his bearings.

"I
remember you playing in them a time or two," O'Reilly chuckled. "For
that matter, your pops and I did too when we were hiding from grandam," he
chuckled. Junior smiled. "She's a beaut isn't she? Pity she's only good
for parts." O'Reilly shook his head sorrowfully.

"Not
necessarily. I can fix her," the Admiral replied.

"You?"
Junior goggled at him.

"Sure,
not a problem. It just takes time and effort." He smiled at the young man
as Mickal rubbed his chin while looking him over.

"That
may be... that may be." He smiled. "Come on, it's time for
desert." He slapped Junior on the shoulder. The young man winced.

"We
really should get back to the bay..." Mickal steered them into the living
quarters.

"Admiral,
I have a proposal for you." Jorge was sitting in his chair at the head of
the table. He nodded his head to a chair. "Sit, sit." The Admiral
sat. "Our daughter told us about some of the things you did; she said
you’re a miracle worker. Well, we need one here." Jorge sighed.

"I
understand things are tight with your injuries. It is hard to compensate when a
family member is injured," the Admiral cautiously replied.

Jorge
nodded. Mrs. Valdez patted him on the shoulder. "I'd like your help with
the tug. In exchange we'll give you room and board here," Jorge replied.
Irons nodded. "Sounds good," he replied then thought it over for a
moment. “I'll get the tug as close to factory new as I can, in exchange for the
right to trade from your junk pile... and to pick a ship of my own from the
junk pile.” He looked at Jorge.

Jorge
blinked. “Factory new?” He asked. “Not possible.” He replied with a
disbelieving snort. He leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “Never in a
million years.” The Admiral smiled as he got up and went over to his bags. He
rummaged around for a moment then pulled out a box and set it down on the
table.

“What's
that?” Junior asked, just beating O'Reilly to the question. O'Reilly closed his
mouth and shrugged.

“Micro
industrial replicator. With it, power, raw materials, and my implants I can
replace a lot of parts on the ship,” the Admiral explained. The replicator
expanded to quadruple its size.

“But
not anything larger than that,” Jorge pointed out. Irons smiled.

“That
is why I added the trade part. I may have to trade parts to rebuild the engine
once I strip it down.” Jorge grunted and nodded wearily. Junior looked mulish.

His
mother rested her hand on his shoulder, then on his fathers. “Do it.” She
nodded to him. “You can do this?”

The
Admiral smiled. “Yes ma'am. It may take a couple days. Stripping the engine
down and going over her to find micro cracks will take the longest amount of
time. A frame up restoration with factory new parts would make things go a lot
faster though. Even without all new parts, with the right parts and the plans
reassembly is a breeze.” He smiled to her encouragingly. She nodded as she
looked at her husband.

“All
right, we'll give you your shot. I am not sure how we can rebuild it to factory
trim though,” Jorge sighed.

“Still,
it would be nice,” his daughter replied. He smiled. The other kids were getting
ready for bed. The matriarch kissed each on the forehead and then sent them to
the nursery.

“Do
you want the one tug or do you want a second built?” the Admiral asked Jorge.

The
men looked startled. “Let's just go with the one now.” Jorge chuckled.

“Okay,
but one last thing. We trade with the ship for medical care. Your medical care.
That part is non-negotiable.” The Admiral stared into Jorge's eyes. Jorge
seemed to get angry, then his wife placed her hand on his arm and the fight
oozed out of his eyes. “All right,” he replied gruffly.

“This
way you can also see your daughter.” The Admiral smiled to the matriarch. She
smiled back. “I am certain the captain will negotiate in good faith, Juanita
has been a hard worker.” He nodded to her parents. Jorge nodded.

 Junior
looked confused. "Where is he going to sleep?" The parents gave him a
look. He started to look mulish then relented when O'Reilly patted him on the
shoulder. "Cheer up lad; it's not the end of the world." Junior
sighed and tried not to glare at the Admiral.

"It's
your fault the tug is broken anyway I seem to recall," Jorge said lightly
as he glanced at his son. The young man stiffened then sighed.

"Yeah
right." He shook his head. "I'll move my things." He went off
down the hall.

"He's
a good lad. Get the tug up and he'll come around. Eventually," O'Reilly
said. Mrs. Valdez nodded.

The
Admiral followed O'Reilly back into the first shuttle chamber. The young girl
was singing as she swept. She looked up with a guilty "Oh!" and
flushed crimson.

The
Admiral smiled and looked at the craft. "She's been through quite a
lot." He looked the small tug over.

"Yeah,
well, Junior has been adding his share of dings and dents. Every generation
gets the chance it seems. Him more than most though," O'Reilly teased.

 "I
heard that!" Junior called from the cockpit. Irons laughed.

"Yeah,
normal for any teen. Stretching their wings for the first time tends to get
things knocked over, bent or broken... sometimes the person the wings are
attached too as well." He smiled.

O'Reilly
chuckled. "Seems you know the feeling eh?"

The
Admiral smiled. "I could tell you stories that would burn my ears. If I
was so inclined. But... we have a sick lady to fix." He indicated the tug.
O'Reilly chuckled.