New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) by Chris Hechtl

things
in. Some of it came from me." She gave him a long look. "I have a
moderate storage capacity," he explained as he tapped his right chest
area.
    "There's a crystal hard
drive in there, about a quint of data storage. Most of it's engineering stuff,
manuals, stripped down Encyclopedia Galactica, and such. Also my lectures and
military matters," he said.
    She nodded. "I was wondering
where you were getting the images and stuff, you never have time to make it,
some people were saying you were a god."
    He chuckled. "No, a mere
mortal, with a few tools," he replied. She snorted.
     
    “Okay, another one? What are
these for?” the tech asked as she stacked the LCD's carelessly.
    The other tech grabbed it before
it could slide off. “Careful you ninny!” She gave her a look and then pulled
the LCD off the pile and onto her cart. The hatch opened and a girl came in
pushing a cart dripping with broken parts.
    “Okay, so where does all this
go?” The blond asked.
    “Um, I don't know...” The
incoming girl looked them over. “Didn't you read the chart? Scorn dripped from
her voice. “The bridge dummy, we're working there today.”
    The replicator tech looked up
alarmed. “Oh. Wait! Isn't that dangerous?” she asked.
    “We're fixing the stuff that
isn't working, and pulling the broken stuff.” She looked the two over
scornfully.
    “Oh. Well, I didn't know,” the
tech was affronted.
     The blue haired girl took the
loaded cart and sniffed. “Make sure you recycle those. We're going to need it.”
She pushed the cart out.
    The replicator tech turned to the
parts girl. “Someone is putting on airs,” she said as she shook her head wryly
as she fed pieces into the vat.
    The other sniffed. “Snot.”
    She shook her head. “She didn't
have to be a bitch about it.”
     
    "So you’re the sparks of the
ship?” He turned to a grinning crew member.
    “Sparks?” the communications tech
asked, clearly confused by the term. He nodded. "Communications
tech," he explained.
    Her face cleared. "Oh
yes," she nodded; hand on her communication rig covering her ears. He
smiled. “Mickey mouse ears gave you away,” he said.
    She looked confused, touching the
earpieces again. “Oh. Okay,” she said, sounding distracted. He chuckled.
     
    “Why is there only the one holo
display? And why is the hull green?” Jennie looked over to the tech and raised
an eyebrow. She blushed.
    He waved to Jennie before she
could tell her to be quiet. “There are only three holographic displays because
it takes a lot of power to project them, and they lack the fine detail that a
2D display can do. That's why we have LCDs, as well as the clear glass LCDs,”
he explained. She hadn't seen the micro holographic emitters apparently. He
pointed to each on the bridge. “Also, things can be lost or misinterpreted in
the depths of 3D,” he explained. He pointed to the plot, and then waved his
hands to indicate the walls. “The green is a psych thing, it makes people more
relaxed and at home. Personally, I prefer battleship gray.” The girls chuckled
with him.
     
    "Shandra is it?" Irons
asked. They had been on the bridge for a while now, almost an entire shift. The
girls had made him take some time off for a meal. The girl looked up and
nodded. "Do you think you can handle a higher note?"
    She looked confused, then
excited. "You mean hyper?" she asked. He nodded.
    "Just bump up a note to
G," he suggested.
    She nodded and took a bite from
her fork. "Why?"
    He set his tray down. "Well
for one thing, it'll get us to our destination a lot faster."
    She looked him over while
stirring her salad. She picked out a cucumber slice then took a bite.
"There are more reasons?" she asked eyes twinkling.
    "Well, right now in the low
alpha band we aren't getting much time compression, and therefore we aren't
getting a lot of free electrons to the hyper collectors. If we can bump up a
note or two, we can double our power input," he explained.
    She looked confused.