New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (4 page)

He shrugged. "Just making
conversation."

He stepped over a knee knocker
and ducked under a dangling cable. "Careful, that one's live," he
called out as Sprite indicated the right side guard was about to grab it. She
snatched her hand back.

"What's with your
suit?" she asked.

"This is a skin suit, or
battle suit," he answered.

"Why is it gray?" The
blond asked.

"Oh, sorry." He sent
Defender a command to return the suit to neutral white, but to leave his rank
off. "I was in combat conditions prior to my stasis and left it on."
He felt the hood mold itself into the neck ring.

"Replicator 1." He
paused at a door and hit the open patch. The door groaned and then stopped. He
sighed and grabbed with both hands. With an outward "Sah!" He pulled
the door apart. He stepped over the knee knocker and into the compartment. It
was huge, but the replicator filled most of it. On the other side of the
replicator was a large exterior hatch, designed to allow the crew to replicate
large components and take them out of the ship and apply them to other vessels.

 He turned to the command
station, reconfiguring his hand for access. "What are you doing?"

He didn't even look to the woman.
"Accessing the replicator’s computer."

"I told you it's useless. You
can't..." She stopped eyes wide as she watched his right ring finger morph
as he inserted it into the universal port.

 "Accessing," he said.
Her mouth closed with a clop. "It appears someone locked the replicator
into a diagnostic subroutine after it ran out of raw material." He turned
to her.

"Raw material?" she
asked dumbly. He nodded. "I thought they just made stuff out of thin
air?"

He shook his head. "No,
replicators just rearrange the materials into whatever they are told to produce
one atom at a time. They work better and faster with pure materials on a
molecular level though."

He turned to face the machine.
"It looks like someone didn't know that, thought something was wrong, ran
a diagnostic, and it froze." Proteus rebooted the software. Items began to
list across his view. "And then left it on, so it was sucking power for
years,"  he said wrinkling his nose. The left woman, a blond gasped. He
snorted. "Okay, let’s see, software fixed." He pulled up the
holographic interface. The lights in the compartment dimmed and the holo sprang
to life in the air in front of him.

"Molly?" he sent a
mental command for Sprite to open a channel.

A scratchy voice answered.
"Yes?"

"Hello again Molly, this is
Admiral Irons, we met earlier. I have permission from the Captain to make
repairs. I have replicator 1 online; if you have some raw material stockpiled
we can get to work replicating parts." She didn't answer for a moment.
"Molly, you still there?" he asked, wondering if the signal was
broken.

"Yes, that's wonderful! I'll
bring you a list!" she said excitedly and then cut the link. He sighed.

"Since we're waiting, what
say we bring in some of that debris and use it as a test bed?" He
indicated the hatch. The blond nodded. He went out and grabbed the first piece
he found. He gathered up several more, noting that the guards were not helping.
He sighed mentally. He brought them to the replicators open hopper, feeding
them one at a time into the gel. "The suspension gel is for the
nanites," he answered the blond since she had a questioning look. She
nodded.

A large chunk was taking it's
time so he plugged himself back in. "Lets see here, let’s start with parts
for the deflector shields." He scrolled through the menus until he found
some simple common parts and then indicated them. He hit enter. The tank began
to swirl.

"That's it?" the
brunette asked.

"No, it'll take a little
while. While we wait..." He went to the door and pulled open the access
panel. Crud had gunked up the gears and shorted the electric motor. Hydraulics
from the piston had leaked, and then built up. He sighed.

"We need a rag to clean this
out, and some air spray." He used the suit's air tank to blow some of the
debris out. "Let’s see, broken gear teeth, cracked hydraulics, split O
rings, ruptured hose..." He got up and entered the parts into the
replicator.

"Wait what about the
shields?" the brunette asked.

He smiled politely. "The
computer will do those next. The shield parts are common parts I entered to
make sure the replicator is working right." He indicated the tank just as
a part floated to the hopper. Gel drained away through the holes in the floor
of the hopper to be recycled back into the tank. The part had a shiny sheen.
"Okay, as soon as Molly is here..." He turned as he heard a noise.
"Nice timing," he said. He smiled as Molly hurried in, glancing at
the door.

"I have a partial list
here." She waved a hand written note on what looked like paper.

"Okay, let’s see what we
have. Hold this," he picked up the part from the hopper and handed it to
the surprised blond guard. She fumbled it then caught it. The small parts for
the door were already coming to the surface. He stepped to the hologram and
showed a fascinated Molly what he was doing. "See we find the part here,”
he explained as he pointed to the screen. “Is that a mark 5 coupler?"

She looked at her list. "Uh
yes."

He nodded. "Okay, mark 5
coupler." He highlighted it and hit enter. The entry flashed. He entered
in a number of parts, this time three, then hit enter again. "Okay, I just
set it to make the part three times," he explained. He scrolled through
the parts menu highlighting parts from her list and adding them to the Que. The
menu balked after the fourth entry. "Okay, we need more raw
material," he said. He turned to her. She blinked at him. "Raw
material? Oh dear."

He smiled patiently. "We can
use the broken bits for some of it, and salvage a lot. If you could get work
crews bringing broken parts, like that old power cable, I can show someone how
to load them." She nodded eagerly and pulled out a communicator. She
turned to get some privacy so he turned back to the hopper. He pulled out the
parts and walked over to the open panel.

A crew member with a rag hanging
from her back pocket handed him the rag when he requested it. Eager they
watched as he wiped away the grease and grime, then used his air supply to blow
away loose bits. "Okay, next we cut power." He flipped the breaker
off. "Now we pull the parts." One by one he pulled the parts, brushed
them off, and then set them aside. One of the techs handed him the new parts
one by one. He looked up as he finished finding he was surrounded. Molly was
bent over, hands on her knees, watching avidly. He chuckled. "And finally,
we turn power back on, close the plate, and test it." He did so, and then
indicated to the guard to hit the switch. The guard scowled but did.

The door bucked for a moment,
then closed. He nodded. She hit the switch and the door opened again, this time
smoothly. "That should do for now," he said. He turned to the women,
then to two of them. "Think you can do that with some of the other stuck
doors?" he asked. They nodded. "Okay, go check things out. But be
careful; make sure there isn't vacuum on the other side first." That
sobered them as they left.

"Why mechanical
systems?" Molly asked hesitantly, pushing her glasses back onto the bridge
of her nose.

He smiled. "Nanites take
power to work. They're also a hazard, so mechanical is best when simple jobs
are in order," he said and then shrugged. "Sometimes the simplest
things are best. It's an engineering creed, keep it simple." She nodded.
He got up and motioned to one of the women holding the parts. "Here,"
he said and then pointed to the tank. He had her feed them into the tank, the group
ohed and ahed as the parts dissolved before their eyes. The security guards
snorted.

"Okay, now you've seen that
part." He pointed to the receiving hopper basket, filled with parts.
"Oh my!" Molly cried excited, positively hopping with glee. He
chuckled. "Okay ladies, let’s get busy," the girl said. Molly eagerly
snatched the parts up, looked each over, and then handed them out to different
crew members with quick orders.

He took the time to replicate a
coverall and duffel for himself. When the security guard noted the package she
curtly asked what he was doing. He explained he was going to change out of his
skin suit. He pointed behind the replicator, into the tight confine between the
stern bulkhead and machinery. She watched him, narrowing her eyes as he set the
duffel and coverall down and then began undressing.

Proteus unzipped the nanite seam
along his shoulder and the seam down his front. The skin suit vacuoles expanded
the suit, making it looser and easier to get off. The suit unlocked the
plumbing connections and his nanites sealed the ports. When he was nude he
heard a gasp and rustle.

He looked up to the guard, she
had turned her back. She took a quick glance his way out of the corner of her
eye. He could see her cheeks were flaming. He turned his head and picked up the
coverall as he set the skin suit down.

The skin suit automatically began
to fold, compressing into a neat package. He shook the coverall out, and then
put it on. It was his usual purple work coverall, covered in pockets, and
padded at the joints. He fingered the seam in the front, it sealed at his
touch. He left the collar open.

He put the skin suit boots back
on, they were a little tight with the coverall, but adjusted after a moment.
"There, that wasn't so bad now was it?" he asked, not even looking up
as he stored the suit in the duffel then slung it over his shoulder. T

he woman gave a jerky nod.
"If you’re quite finished?" she asked. 

He nodded. "Yup, time to get
back to work."

They came around the replicator
and into a crowd. Dozens of women were there, all talking at once. Some were
holding broken bits, others talking about their gaudy costumes. "What's
this?" he asked the guard.

She looked over the crowd, and
then tightened her jaw and pursed her lips into a thin line. "You started
it. When they heard about the replicator, the ship's grapevine went
berserk," she said. He snorted.

There was a fight brewing in
front of the controls, women were fighting over outfits. He sighed. Another was
brewing in front of the replicators tray, two women were in a tug of war over a
dress. "You may want to get some help and break this up," he
suggested helpfully. He went over to the replicator and shouldered a girl
aside. She squeaked. He ignored the glare as he locked the replicator down and
stopped the dresses currently in production. He turned to face the glaring
girl.

"NOW HEAR THIS!" he
said, Sprite automatically augmenting his voice with sub-sonics and bass. The
compartment noise instantly stopped in stunned silence. "Better, much
better." He turned to the girl beside him. She backed up. "Now,
ladies, this machine is not a toy, and is required to repair the ship. The
Captain has instructed me to help you repair the ship." Some of the women
with their mouths open closed them. A few looked confused, but others began to
nod.

"Now, the replicators
require raw material and power to function. So of course our priority is to
repairing the ship," he said patiently. He gave one woman a nod.
"Once we have the priorities sorted out we can begin work on other
items." A few of the women nodded, backing out. He knew they were sensing
he was about to put them to work and smiled inside. "Now, since you ladies
are not busy with anything, we shall begin to repair the ship. You just
volunteered to help." Two had managed to ease out of the compartment.

He snorted. "I see two of
you ladies have already gone to help." They backed in; the lithe and
lethal body of the security Chief now filled the doorway. He nodded as Molly
came in behind the Chief. "Each of you please get your orders from Miss
Molly over there...” he pointed, "or your senior officer or noncom if they
are here. Now, let’s get to work."

 He turned to the controls,
flicking the queue back to his priority list. The Chief approached from behind,
he felt his back itch. Defender didn't like it either and said so. "What's
going on here?" she asked, demanding. The noise began to die down once
more.

"Repair team got a little
out of sorts, they lost track of what's important," he answered
diplomatically. He nodded to the group as Molly handed off a part with
instructions to the two women pushing the pallet. "Miss Molly and the
guards are working on it," he nodded his chin to Molly. Molly looked up,
waved, and then went back to her discussion. The Chief glared.

"Can this thing make
weapons?" she asked him, hands on her hips.

He turned from the controls.
"Ordinary civilian replicators can't. However, this is a naval one, so
yes, it can. However, it takes a fleet officer's authorization to do so."

She cocks her head. "Not
good enough let me see," she said as she elbowed him aside. She flicked
through the controls, and then pluged in an external device, most likely a
flash drive from the look of it. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Adding my security
protocols to it." He sighed and shook his head as she triumphantly
finished with a flick of the enter button. He shrugged. It wasn't like he
needed weapons anyway. Besides, everything she just did could be undone by him.

“Let’s see,” He tapped in
commands to replicate a series of ODN coils. The fiber optic lines will be
needed to replace the broken ones in engineering. After the chief left he
replicated a basic tool set then took his gear off to engineering, guards in tow.

He pulled the hatch cover off,
set it aside and looked within. "What do you think you’re doing?" a
female growled. He felt a restraining hand on his arm. He looked up and over to
the dark woman. "I'm going in there, I need to fix the control lines and
bypass the downstream leak." She looked at the crawlspace. "Look, you
can try to follow me in, but it's tight quarters and dangerous," he said,
patience wearing thin. She shivered.