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

looking back and forth.
O'Reilly was already gone.
    “Judging
from the external tanks under it, the food replicator has been jury rigged into
creating different pastes and water. Without a closer look I would say either
the electronics or software has faults. Lights, heat, gravity, and ultrasonics
are also in need of various stages of repair I can list them...” Proteus
trailed off.
    The
Admiral smiled. The AI knew when to give details, and when not to. “Pass for
now. One thing at a time. Obviously coffee is not going to be one of them.” He
looked longingly at the food replicator then shook his head.
    “I
want a closer look at that tug, I need to get into her systems and get a handle
on what we are up against.” He turned down the hall not even bothering with the
lights. His visual implants picked up the ambient light from the living room,
giving him more than enough to navigate.
    Entering
the bay he took a quick look then climbed up to the cab. He ran his hand along
the side, feeling the craters. “She's been through a lot. Shields are out from
the feel, I think this one is an asteroid hit.” His left hand rested on a
patch.
    “Confirmed,
Admiral, this hull doesn't have pressure integrity. Some of those patches leak.
There are cracks as well,” Proteus reported. He nodded.
    “I
thought I'd find you here.” Jorge's gravelly voice made him turn.
    “Just
trying to earn my keep,” the Admiral replied. Jorge chuckled softly. Junior
came in and palmed the lights on. His father blinked at the sudden change in
light.
    The
Admiral noted Junior putting away his stunner. “I could have sworn I locked
that door...” Junior said softly.
    “You
did,” the Admiral replied. Junior looked up at him. “I'm an engineer. Don't
worry about it.” The Admiral waved his right hand. He sent a mental command and
Proteus morphed his hand into a torch.
    Jorge
looked away as he morphed the hand back. “I'm going to jack in and see what I
can get off the computer,” he told Jorge who nodded. The wounded man was
clutching his crutch and sweating. The Admiral nodded to Junior, then jerked
his head to Jorge then over to a crate. Junior nodded slowly.
    “Come
on Papa; let's get you sitting so Mama won’t yell.” He escorted his father over
to the crate as the Admiral palmed the lock and climbed inside.
    “Our
family has relied on that tug for generations to keep us out of debt and to
give us a home,” Jorge explained rather loudly. The Admiral grunted as he
checked the cockpit. It was clean, most likely because dirt in null gee did
nasty things to people and electronics. Even an eyelash could blind someone
under acceleration. There was a lot of wiring, and only minimum controls hooked
up. Most of her controls were jury rigged from other things. The joystick was
from a fighter he noted. From the lack of wear, it looked like a new addition.
    “I
was hurt... in an accident,” Jorge continued his explanation. “Sergio here has
been flying and repairing the tug.”
    “Obviously
no Wi-Fi,” he observed dryly. Proteus identified an ODN cable and placed a
carat over it on his HUD. He nodded. “Right. Go to it,” the Admiral replied
taking the indicated fiber optic line with his right hand. His nanite AI
automatically linked it to his network through his nanites while Defender threw
a firewall up.
    “I'm
in. There is a lot of software damage and electronics out. Also some software
conflicts,” the Admiral reported out loud. Jorge grunted.
    “Repairs
initiated Admiral. Diagnostic scan in progress. Error, viruses in the
navigational ram buffer. Sectors two hundred and twelve through twenty five
corrupted. Non essential data has over written the navigational suite and the
virus is a rabbit,” Sprite reported. He grunted.
    “Let
me see...” he ordered. Sprite fed him an image. He sighed. “Looks like someone
overwrote your navigational software with porn. It was infested with a virus
which has corrupted some of your systems,”