Read Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) for Free Online

go.”
    Junior
followed him as he led the way down the hall through the busy living quarters
and into his room. Junior looked around. “Don't get used to it.” He growled
softly. The Admiral ignored that as he set his load down on the floor then
pulled out his micro battery.
    “What's
that?” the teen asked.
    “Superconductor
battery. The replicator draws a higher voltage then the wall current can dish
out. So I have to use this to step up the power. I will recharge it later. I
have a micro fusion reactor to do that since you’re in a power crunch.” He
plugged the battery into the replicator then fed in each of the parts. He
jacked in and waved to the young man. “You can set them down here. I will get
to them in a bit.” He waved. The young man hesitated.
    “Junior!
Wash up and eat! Your shift is in twenty minutes young man!” his mother called.
The young man hastily set the electronics down then rushed out of the room. The
Admiral chuckled softly. “You too Admiral!” He looked up with a grimace. It had
been fifteen months and nearly seven hundred and thirteen years since he had a
human keeper. It looked like Mrs. Valdez had chosen to adopt the role. He shook
his head.
    “She's
got a point Admiral, you do need to refuel. Let the machine handle what it has.
It won’t work any faster with your brooding over it,” Sprite remonstrated. He
chuckled.
    “All
right all right, two mother hens, what did I do to deserve this...” He sighed
getting up.
     
    The
family split up to their various shifts after breakfast. The Admiral nodded as
he and Jorge were left alone. The kids, two were apparently relatives, a niece
and nephew of Mrs. Valdez's sister and her husband O'Reilly were taken off with
the pig tailed girl to school in the greenhouse. From what they said they were
going to spend the morning harvesting cabbage before doing basic math after
lunch.
    Mrs.
Valdez had a bounce shift; she was trying to exchange it with someone else. She
cast worried glances to Jorge occasionally. They seemed to bounce off the
patriarch. He kissed her softly before she left.
    “So
about this list...” Junior asked.
    “I
uploaded it to your tablet.” Irons pointed to the tablet on the counter. Junior
looked at it.
    “When
did you...” he started as he got up. He picked the tablet up and started to
scroll through the menu. “When...” He looked up.
    “It
has Wi-Fi. So do I.” The Admiral smiled. “Do you folks have coffee?”
    He
looked over to Jorge who shook his head. “We import it but it goes to the
engineers and luxury quarters. We can't get our hands on any.” He sighed.
    “No
problem, I can fix the food replicator later.” The Admiral waved dismissively.
Junior mumbled as he read the list.
    “I
think I can get a few of these before my shift...”
    His
father shook his head holding out his hand. “I'll do that. You get to work.” He
waved. Junior frowned at the Admiral but then handed over the electronic device
and left.
    “Yes,
yes, I see... most of these are minor parts. I think I can get to them while
you tear down the engine,” Jorge looked up after reading the list.
    The
Admiral smiled. “I've got a part in the replicator, let me pull it and put
another in then we can get started.” He got up and put his dishes in the sink
with the others. “Dishwasher is down too?” he asked. Jorge nodded as he limped
out.
    It
took most of the morning to pull the melted coolant system out to get to the
top of the engine. Most of the damage was in the port plasma field injector.
The starboard was fused, from the looks of it had been that way for some time.
He grunted as he looked over the damage. The ship must have pulled hard to
starboard. It would have taken a lot of piloting skill to keep it going in the
direction you wanted. His estimate of Sergio went up a little. But not much.
    Jorge
came in occasionally, carrying a part and laying it out nearby. He had taken
his hand tools to the junk yard. The Admiral was glad,