Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) by Chris Hechtl

course we can't do that until we get everything back
together. Most of the life support is also here, but I haven't gotten into that
as much as I would like.” He waved to the stack of parts near the door.
    “As
you can see, I've been a bit busy.” He indicated the drive.
    O'Reilly
nodded, rolling up his sleeves. “Let me at em. I'll get it sorted.” He went
over to the pile and began puzzling out pieces. The Admiral nodded.
    “Right,
Miss, if you could act as gofer, we can get things sorted out. Right now we
need two grav collars and the parts inside my replicator.” He nodded to the
girl. She rushed off. Junior snorted.
    “Sergio,
if you want to lend me a hand with this?” he motioned to the reactor. “I'll
just help my husband,” Mrs. O'Reilly announced.
    “She's
a life support tech too,” Sergio whispered when he caught the concerned look on
the Admiral.
    Slowly
Irons nodded. “Right. Okay, we need those collars!” he called looking over his
shoulder.
    “Coming!”
the girl grunted. He met her at the lock. Both collars were on the pallet. She
was sweating.
    “Bet
you're going to sleep tonight,” Junior teased. She grimaced and ran off.
Together they got to work.
     
    Hours
later the O'Reilly's reluctantly had to break off to go to bed. Junior was
having trouble staying awake and the girl had gone off to bed. Irons checked
his internal chronometer. “Sergio, take a break. I can get this.” He waved as
the boy nursed his cut hand. His hand had slipped and he had done a number
skinning his knuckles.
    “I
can get it,” Sergio started but the Admiral was already under the vehicle.
    “No
worries, I've done this before and remember, I've got implants. You don't,” the
Admiral teased. His arm morphed and he let Proteus lock the bolt down to the
right torque specs. “That finishes the engine wiring, we've just got the cab
and OMS fuel lines and we're ready for a test run. Your aunt and uncle did a
good job reassembling the life support. Go get some rest; you’re going to need
it in the morning,” the Admiral ordered.
    Reluctant
footfalls echoed out the airlock and down the corridor. He sighed. “Going to be
a long night.” He looked over the underside, taking his time, making sure
Proteus checked and double everything. He wanted to make sure everything was
golden. Just to be sure he checked each fitting manually. His life and possibly
the lives of thousands rested on doing this right the first time.
    When
he was done he started in on the cab. Had he been inclined, he probably could
have had Io replicate a new one. The way the chief had been drooling over the
weapons pod and fighter, he was pretty sure they would have built an entire tug
from scratch. He chuckled at the thought then froze. Perhaps it wasn't such a
stupid idea after all. He made a note of it.
    He
stepped back and scanned the cab, then laid his right palm on each identified
breach and felt the nanites go to work. It took several hours, but in the end
it was worth it.
    The
cabin's windows were stained, with some micro meteorite damage. It was amazing
how an artificial ruby matrix could be damaged. E equals MC squared eat your
heart out... he thought to himself.
    “Admiral,
I've intercepted an order from the Port Admiral to the exec ordering him to cut
power to this module as well as life support,” Sprite suddenly reported.
    He
stopped and stared up. “Did he get the message?” he asked.
    “No,
I sent it astray. It's in a buffer,” she replied, voice full of mischief.
    “I'll
bet. Okay, let's make sure it stays lost. Permanently. And any others as well.
Come to think of it, why don't you insulate this deck to make sure we don't
have any problems as well...?” he ordered.
    “I'll
do what I can, but I can't get into the security system outside this bay. It
may alert the station AI. It's crazy, no telling what it could do. I had to
fight it off when you had me play with the lights and grav earlier,” she
reported.
    “Great,
just