Read Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) for Free Online Page B

chief was coming up behind him. Warily he turned to her.
He motioned the guards back with the weapon, as she approached. She looked at
the stunner in his hands and slowed but didn't stop. The guards hung back,
clearly at a loss on what to do. He's surprised by that.
    He
looked around with his enhanced vision and nodded to O'Mallory as she entered
behind him. “Sprite sitrep?” he asked.
    “Main
power is down admiral. Kiev only had what charged plasma and battery power it
had on hand to power the ship. Solar is out.”
    “Oh?”
    “Too
diffuse. We're also in the shadow of the planet for the next few minutes.”
    “Lovely.
Chief,” he turned and nodded to her. “Can you get me that list and start
clearing the way to the reactor? I'll need that material as well.”
    “Your
little ship can't power everything and replicate parts too admiral,” O'Mallory
said uncertainly. He shook his head.
    “Essential
services only. Bare minimum. Tell everyone not to eat, eating uses up oxygen.
Don't open and close any airlocks. Cut life support to any space not occupied.
Cut power to the grav emitters. Cut the heat exchangers or dial them back on
the sunny side. Cut back on the pressure if possible. Try to remain calm and
keep a cool head. Tell them to keep a clear path from the bay to the reactor.”
    “All
right,” she said nodding. Barry came in behind her. “Barry go with him,” she
nodded to Barry.
    “We
trusting him?” Barry asked as he looked at the admiral.
    “I
think we don't have a choice,” O'Mallory said, looking Irons up and down. He
cocked his head. “I saw what you did in the corridor, good work for such a
short time and little to work with.”
    “Corridor?”
Barry asked, clearly confused.
    “Corridor
outside his quarters. Quarters cleaned up too I suppose?” O'Mallory asked.
    “Of
course,” Irons said turning to return the way he had come. “I wasn't going to
live in a pigsty if I could help it. Ship shape and bristol fashion is a navy
tradition,” Irons said with a half smile.
    “I
see,” O'Mallory said, nodding again. “Warner won't give you any shit. At least
he'd better not. I haven't a clue on how to get the reactor back up. We've only
had a flame out twice in... Well...”
    “I
better get going. Let the reactor core cool. Do what you can with what you've
got. Get me that list. Start with essentials but don't limit it if you have to.
Get me that material now.”
    Yvonne
came up the tube and paused looking at them. She looked at Irons and then to
her boss. “Boss what do we do?” she asked near tears.
    “We
roll up our sleeves and get to work,” Irons growled. He handed over his work
bag. “Tools and a cleaning bot inside. Put the bot to work cleaning. It will
flag areas that need repair. Make sure it's bin is cleaned out when it needs
it. Do you have a reactor bot?”
    “One,”
O'Mallory said with a grimace. Yes one elderly broken down reactor bot left. It
barely functioned and was a bitch to control.
    “Then
we'll have to build or repair another. One is suboptimal for repairs. Get the
parts I gave you going. Get the parts they were going to replace out. Start
working on that.”
    “We
need a lot more of those force emitters,” she said. “Control runs are okay but
we've got a lot of problems with...”
    “Heat
damage?” he asked. She nodded. “Carbon-Carbon can only deflect heat for so long
before it begins to ablate under the plasma. Get a wifi link up so Sprite and
Proteus can get in and help.” He turned. “I'm on my way.”
    “Proteus?”
she asked, turning back to him. He paused at the lock door and smiled. “My
engineering AI. You really didn't think I just had one did you?” he asked
amused. She blinked at him in shock. He did a quick morph, letting his right
fingers flex and change into various tools and then back.
    The
crew and O'Mallory's eyes instinctively locked onto the motion then widened in
shock and surprise at the sight. “Yeah...” she drawled, eyes