Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) Read Online Free PDF Page A

down and she grimaced. He motioned for her
to try and she stalked over to the shuttle hatch. Irons was fairly certain
she'd fail too but then Irons realized she was holding a ground line and a
security bypass in one hand. That changed things.
    Alarmed,
the engineer started the preflight on the shuttle, beginning to warm up the
impellers and shields. If he turned them on in the chamber it would turn it
into a death trap, the shields would shatter bulkheads and send the parts in
the bay out to ricochet and spall everywhere.
    He
hesitated and then decided to hold off. “Warn her off Defender,” he murmured,
watching the woman as her hand reached out with the ground near the hatch.
    “Warning,
intruder warning. This is a Federation naval vessel protected by Federal law.
Any attempt to access or tamper this vessel without authorized consent of
Admiral Irons will activate weapon systems. This vessel will defend itself,”
Defender said over the audio from the launch.
    Undeterred
she stepped to the shuttle and tried the hatch, then hunted for the keypad. She
began punching in numbers, then pulled out a screwdriver and started to take
the panel off. The ground line she had taped to the shuttle skin prevented her
from getting zapped.
    Admiral
Irons immediately got up and unjacked and then started stuffing his duffel.
Things were going south fast. It may be time to get the hell out of dodge.
    “Sentry
at the door now Admiral,” Defender reported.
    “Fine,”
Irons replied.
    Angry,
the engineer turned to leave the room anyway but then paused. He has a better
idea. He turned back to the shuttle feed and activated a sonic alarm. The
shattering scream knocked the woman back and many people behind her fall to
their knees in pain. The AI cuts the alarm then ordered them to leave. Several
members of the crew manage to get to their feet and stagger out. The woman
hesitated, but he gave a curt countdown to reactivate the alarm. She
immediately threw her tools down in disgust and left the bay.
     
    “What
the hell was that?” Barry asked, rubbing Leia's shoulders as the woman tried to
recover from throwing up uncontrollably. Vomit stained the front of her
coverall. Its aroma was getting to the others. More than one person was doubled
over, holding a hand to their abdomens and another to their mouths as they
tried to get away. The audio nightmare had been too much for many of them.
    “Sonic
alarm. I've heard of it but never experienced it,” Quinna said, puckering her
lips and sticking a finger in her ear to clear it. She winced, feeling a major migraine
coming on. She thought of reporting to the captain with the delay and the
headache got a lot worse. Great. There was no recourse of course; she had to do
her duty. She turned and searched for a working comm. panel.

ñ Chapter 2
     
    The
housekeeping robot reported it has completed the corridor, and was returning
just as the last of the crew exited the bay. This was going to be interesting
he thought as the hovering robot came to his door. He watched through its feed
as it came to the door, and the startled guards hesitated as it activated the
door and entered the room. It hovered over to him and he grabbed it, and then
looked at the guards. “Can I help you gentlemen with something?” he asked
casually. One looked at him in disbelief, but the other snarled and slapped the
door key pad, shutting the door. Shrugging the engineer went back to packing
his gear, and then changed into his skin suit.
    “Skin
suit?” Sprite asked as the shoulder seal wove itself into his arm.
    “Security
precaution,” Defender responded. “Prudent. If they attempt to remove the
atmosphere he will be protected.”
    “We
would have protected him anyway,” Sprite said.
    “That
remains to be seen. It is still wise to be cautious,” Defender responded. “I
have used the house cleaner robot to access the security system in the corridor
outside,” Defender reported.
    “Show
me,” he said packing