New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (44 page)

Trisha nodded. Her face was
gaunt, and slightly pale. "Let’s get some of the bugs out. I need to work
in the mainframe and zap a few bugs that are cropping up, and rewrite a few
modules so we can use the equipment more efficiently. Shandra wants me to help
clean up that simulator program too," he said. Molly nodded. She sighed
softly. "Okay then, let’s get to work ladies." She turned and
blushed. "And gentleman," she said pursing her lips in a smile. He
bowed over his cup.

 The others dispersed. "Taking
it easy on us?" she murmured as he lingered.

"A little. All those double
shifts can cause brown outs or burn outs. I think we need to take it easy for a
couple days and get the bugs out, let people relax and let their bodies unwind.
Throw too much at them and they could break, or overlook something and have an
accident," he replied matter of factly.

She shuddered. "Yeah, we've
had a few in the past couple days, all minor."

He nodded. "We should get
some time off for some of the crew too, maybe have a party or something to let
them unwind," he suggested.

She nodded. "I'll talk to
the morale officer, see what she can do," she said.

He saluted her with his cup.
"You do that, I can't stand politics," he grimaced.

She grimaced as well. "Me
neither." He chuckled as she left.

"Awe, not more of this crap
again! Ever since we left New Texas it's been the same crap," Jennie
sighed, looking over her tablet. The Admiral sat back looking over his. He took
a sip of his coffee and listened with half an ear. The griping had begun the
second day and was getting worse every shift.

"So, if you don't like it,
switch with someone,” he finally suggested.

Her face took on a thoughtful,
then mischievous look. "Sure!" She snatched his tablet from his
fingers, and then dumped hers in his lap.

"Thanks!" She got up
and grinned. She waved as she picked up her toolbox and walked out.

He was frozen with the cup at his
lips. He took a sip then sat back. "What ever works I guess,” he said
amused. Trisha looked apprehensive. He waved her concern off."Oh don't
worry about it. I don't mind. She might when she gets to the sewage cleaning
part," he said with a tight lipped grin.

Trisha's eyes went wide, and then
she began to giggle. "Yeah she just might."

He looked over the tablet.
"Okay, next on the agenda... window repair?" He looked up in
disbelief. "You’re kidding right?"

The guard deadpanned then
shrugged. "I'm just the escort."

He sighed. "Okay, let’s get
this over with." They came up to the indicated quarters and clicked the
door bell.

"Yes? One moment," an
anxious voice replied. He could hear shuffling inside, and then the door
opened. A woman was there, shouldering on a kimono. "Yeah, can you do
something with that?" She had her back to him. He looked over to where she
had pointed. There was a set of curtains.

"I don't know what you’re
talking about?" He stepped into the quarters. One of the guards followed.

The woman spun. "Oh
Admiral!"

She waved. "I didn't know
they'd assign this to you!" He waved it off.

"I traded work assignments
with Jennie for the day," he replied. He stepped over to the curtains and
pulled them back. A window out into space was there. "Nice." He could
see an image of a virtual planet revolving below. "It's working fine. What
seems to be the problem?"

The girl looked confused. "I
can't sleep; can you board it up or cover it over with something else?"
she asked.

He studied the controls.
"Why don't you just shut it off?" he finally asked.

She looked confused. "You
can't shut a window off can..." He tapped a button as she said this and
the window blanked. "You...okay, maybe you can. How'd you do that?"
she demanded. She came over and studied the window.

"It's not a real window,
it's a LCD screen," he explained. He pointed to the controls. "Think
of it as a big screen. You can get a look out, or other things."

 She looked over to him.
"Like what?"she asked, folding her arms in front of her.

He tapped the controls.
"Well, let’s see here, someone loaded a beach on Cancun..." He tapped
the control and a beach scene came to life in the wall.

Her eyes widened in appreciation.
"Oh wow! You can even see the tree branches swaying."

He smiled. "Palm trees.
There are also speakers for sound and music," he replied. He tapped the
controls again. An airless moon came up.

"Oh, I don't like that...”
Then the virtual sun crested the lunar horizon, blinding them with light. She
reared back shielding her eyes. "Well, that'll wake you up in the
morning," she said. He chuckled tapping the controls.

"Okay, it looks like there
are some twenty different scenes in the memory card," he said.

She looked it over. "Show
me," she ordered. He patiently explained how the controls worked. She
tried it a few times.

"If there's nothing
else?" She didn't even look up, totally engrossed in the movie playing out
on the screen. The guard was watching too. He chuckled, motioning her out. She
had her eyes glued to the screen and watched it as she walked out.

She bumped into the other guard
and turned. "Oh, sorry," she said to her partner.

The other guard glared.
"You’re supposed to be keeping an eye on him, not the girl..." she
reminded.

 "I wasn't watching the
girl, there was a movie," the guard said and shook her head.

"What if the Chief had
caught you?" the second demanded and then shook her head.

The second guard blushed.

"No harm, no foul. No harm
done," the Admiral interjected before the argument got out of hand.
"Okay ladies, next is... a broken shower on deck three." He waved to
the lift. "Shall we?"

"So, we managed to get the
valve locked down, and she pushed the button..." Molly smiled maliciously
as she entered the galley with Jennie.

"Let me guess, back
flush?" Jennie demanded.

Molly giggled. "You betcha,
right in her face!" Jennie joined in the giggles. The two of them stepped
over to the counter and ordered. Their tray arrived and Molly scooped it up.
Jennie grabbed the drinks. "So, anyway, oh hi Admiral!" Molly tried
to wave, but nearly unbalanced the tray.

"Careful with that!"
Jennie cautioned.

The Admiral looked up from the
tri-d board and smiled. "Ladies, in for a late lunch?" he asked. He
made a move on the board, and then leaned back as they set their tray down at
the table.

"Ran into a messy problem in
the deck eight life support," Molly admitted. The girls waved. "Yeah,
I can smell it," he wrinkled his nose.

The girls grimaced.
"Sorry."

"Who are you playing
against?" Molly nodded to the board.

"The computer." He
studied the board and made a move.

"I'll have to challenge you
to a game sometime," Molly said. He turned to Molly who was grinning.
"If you’re up to it," she teased.

He nodded. "Check
mate."

She studied the board.
"Oh," she said quietly. Her face was no longer amused. He smiled.

The galley door opened and
Shandra leaned in. "Admiral, we're ready."

He got up. "All right, be
right there," he said. He nodded politely to the two girls.

"What's up?" Molly
asked, taking a bite of her salad.

"We're working on a
simulator for the higher bands of hyperspace," he explained.

Jennie froze. "So that's why
the computer's running so hard!"

He shrugged. "Well, that and
I'm recompiling a few segments of programming, and rewriting the neural
processor tree to get crude embed AI," he added. Jennie's mouth went
slack.

Molly sighed. "Obviously, I
need to brush up on my computer techno speak," she said in disgust. He
chuckled. "Ask Jennie, I think she knows." He waved as he left with
the guards.

"Admiral, I'd like to thank
you," Anita said as he walked down the corridor. He had just finished up
with a satisfying session with Shandra. The girl came over, holding up a pair
of goggles. He nodded. "It isn't the same as skiing for real..." she
said.

He smiled politely. “But it
helped with the home sickness?" he asked.

Anita nodded. "Yeah."
She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

He stiffened, more from fighting
off Defender's automatic defenses then in surprise. "Thank you!" she
whispered in his ear and then gave him a peck on the cheek.

He hugged her back. "No
problem," he said. He patted her back.

"What's going on?"
Trisha asked, looking out of the door.

"Nothing nothing!"
Anita said, breaking the embrace and smiling fondly at the Admiral.
"Thanks,"she mouthed and left.

"What'd I miss?" Trisha
asked amused.

He shrugged. "Did you get
the heater fixed?"

She shook her head. “No stripped
screws," she said, clearly disgusted.

He grimaced. "Okay, I have a
tool for that." He motioned her back into the compartment.

"Admiral, you’re going to be
mated in two moves," Sprite reported as he looked over the game carefully.
The 3D chess set wasn't new to the crew, the rules were.

"Hmmm."

Molly tapped her fingers on the
arm rest; she had a smug smile on her face. "Well?" she demanded. He
shook his head. The crowd around the table murmured.

His eyes narrowed. "Got
it," he said thoughtfully. He pointed with his index finger to a knight,
then to a space two levels up and one to the left. "There," he said.

She studied the board, gleaming
eyes suddenly narrowing. "Hey wait...I thought I had you..." she said
in growing concern. He smiled and sat back. She sighed after a long moment.

"Okay, let’s see about
this!" She took the knight with the queen. The knight burst into a
holographic explosion of light and debris.

He smiled. "You sure about
that?"

She sat back and rubbed her
glasses. "I, um, I guess so," she said, now unsure.

He smiled. "Okay, too
bad," he said. He pointed at his bishop two levels down, then up to the
queen. The bishop took the queen, who burst into a nova.

"Damn! Why didn't I see
that!" she said, suddenly aghast. He smiled again. Some of the girls were
muttering. Molly waved their chatter away angrily.

When the murmuring didn't quit
she rounded on them. "Will you chatter heads knock it off? I'm trying to
concentrate!" The murmuring died down. "I mean honestly, all the yada
yada!" she muttered touching her king. She looked at the Admiral who
smiled enigmatically. "Oh no you don't you’re not taking me that
easily," she growled. She paused her right movement and went to the left
and down. "There!" she said. She sat back. "Your move," she
said, now unsure.

He sighed theatrically, shaking
his head and tsk tsking. She groaned.  "Molly Molly, and you were doing so
well!" He motioned to his queen. "Have at ye!" The queen moved
in up against the king. "Check Mate!" he said.

She stared at the board. The
audience was silent. "Wait, can't I take her?" she demanded. He shook
his head. "Look at the bishop, it's covering her," he said.

She looked up, and then traced
her finger down the diagonal path. "Damn!" She sat back
"Damn!" She reached in and flicked her king he toppled over to
explode in virtual sparks and ruin. "You win," she admitted. She
shook her head. "Should have known better to play a strategy game with an
Admiral!" she said. Some of the audience chuckled. He shrugged.

"Actually, I'm better
skilled in engineering then strategy," he admitted and then smiled.

"Oh gee, thanks!" Molly
sighed, shaking her head. The audience dispersed. She looked up to the see the
board on the big screen. "Damn! Did this go over the entire net?" she
demanded. The Admiral put on his best innocent expression. She growled at him.

"Well, maybe," he
admitted. He spread his hands apart. She shook her head.

"Never going to live this
one down," she said in disgust.

He chuckled. "Some master
strategist you are," Jennie teased, coming up behind Molly and cradling a
drink. Molly snagged the drink and took a sip. "Hey! That's mine!"
Jennie protested.

Molly smiled and took a sip.
"Not anymore!"

Jennie chuckled. "Okay, I
deserved that." She shook her head.

"You shouldn't tease someone
if you’re in arms reach." the Admiral observed sitting back. "So,
want to know what you did wrong?" he asked Molly. She waved him away.

"No, I'd rather not see my
humiliating defeat replayed over and over again. I'll figure it out," she
said. She shook her head and walked off.

Jennie sat down in her place.
"So, I see you’re having a bit more fun, life isn't all playing with your
spanners?" she asked.

He smiled. "Something like
that."

She smiled back. "Good to
know. I hear the next port of call is a medieval colony Avalon, but we should
be able to make some drive repairs while we're in space," she said. He
nodded. "You want to get the hyperdrive to Gamma?" He nodded again.

 “I've tuned the hyperdrive
twice, rebuilt her twice, we've replaced the cables, and most of the computer
circuitry and it’s ready,” he said.

A waitress set a drink down in
front of him. "Thanks," he said to her. He picked it up and took a
sip.

"Think the old girl can take
it?" Jen asked.

He smiled as he set the cup down.
"Of course, we still have a ways to go on H&A before we can go to
Gamma, but we shouldn't have a problem getting into F note of the beta
band," he said.

She nodded, looking thoughtfully
at the board for a long moment. "I heard you gave the navigators a
simulator program to practice on," she finally said.  He nodded.
"Actually, I saw the computer cycle time in the logs and asked about
it."