Dare, page 4
part #15 of Galactic Cyborg Heat Series
What was he doing here? Her annoyance kicked in. “How’d you get in? It was locked.” She felt uncomfortable with him looking at her equipment.
“Cyborg.” He told her. Nicky wasn’t sure if that was meant to explain anything. “This is not like the schematic. Why not?” Nicky moved around him picking up her data pad automatically, doing a system’s check. She didn’t have to explain anything to him. He didn’t own the Station. She stopped. Maybe they did now?
He didn’t move but she could feel him staring at her. Waiting for her to answer. Nicky put the pad down, clearly, he wasn’t going anywhere. She walked around her equipment putting her thoughts into some order and started at the beginning.
“Re-circulating air is problematic and an art to get right. Unless you want to throw tens of thousands of credits at it monthly but, who can afford that right? So they cut back on everything and its cheap and crap and often close to poisonous. When I was shipped in, the Station’s air supply was tainted by 27% and it was barely half full. The filters didn’t work well, and it needed to be refuelled every three years or people started dying and before that, they went a bit crazy. Space sickness had become a bigger problem. I’d done a fair bit of research and experimentation and found some success in cleaning air that was problematic, without having to change it all out or replacing it all. It also worked for longer before needing to be changed completely.” She shrugged, “My work isn’t cheap but in the end, even a blind man could see it was cheaper to buy my services than keep restocking it.”
“How does it work?”
Nicky, with some incredibility turned towards him. He wanted her to give over her life’s work? “You don’t actually expect me to give you that information do you?”
“We need to know how to work it, if something happens.”
“You don’t need to, I’m here. I own the patent. You cannot use it,” she told him roughly. He stared at her. It was annoying, he did that a lot.
“We do not wish to take it from you female, simply to understand it.”
Nicky carried on working through her systems. “You’re the new guys in charge. Get me a contract and I’ll consider it.”
Dare wanted to smile at the female, she continued to surprise him. He had no idea what she was thinking at all. He kept trying to get a line on her, but kept coming up short. It was both exhilarating and frustrating in equal measures. When was the last time a female was a challenge? he asked himself, but he already knew that answer. The data flowed. Not since his early days after birthing. Not since his training. The female was an enigma and she’d made her demands. He would get her what she needed and then….
She carried on ignoring him in the hope that he got the message and got lost. Running the diagnostic on the filters she made sure they were working as they should. Then the water tanks. Finally, she looked over to him in frustration and found him gone. He’d left after all, and she hadn’t heard him go.
How did they move so bloody quietly?
***
Dare sat before the Admiral. He’d taken up office space in what was now, their new security headquarters in the Gallerea. Having taken over several of the empty shops surrounding the old security office, they’d enlarged it while compensating the people who had owned them and relocating them to shops that were now no longer wanted, it was a good deal all around. Security was now, a large complex next to medical that had also been expanded, with departments on two other levels. What had been there before was woefully inadequate if the Station was to fully function. Their new offices ran the Station systems as well as security on every level and a platoon was now stationed on both docking levels. All senior Cyborgs had offices as we as a Cyborg Council’s meeting room.
“You’ve read the reports. The air here is unique. You have the stats. It runs almost in pure quality, the content has elements of being land based. It’s clean of bacteria, fresh and nothing about it feels stale. The quality is better than ours,” the Admiral told him. Dare gave a nod. They all knew that to be true. Their internal systems automatically scanned the air for toxins and recorded the data into their storage node. Not only did it smell fresh, it was. “She is not an Earth Corp employee?”
“No,” Dare answered. “She was contracted at the price of a complete refuel to modify it to make it work. It does.”
Pain whistled. He was sitting with the Admiral on the other side of his desk. “She didn’t come cheap.”
Dare felt something warm flood him. It registered as pleasure. He was happy she had bargained well?
“And now she wants to bargain again?” the Admiral asked.
“She’s smart. Her contract is not with us and we are the new order. I think she is more concerned that we would steal her invention.” Dare told him.
“When was the last time the Station was refilled?” The Admiral asked, Pain glazed over accessing the information from the Stations mainframe.
“23 Years ago.”
The Admiral nodded admiringly. “She got 20 more years out of it and its still going strong. Give her the contract. Double Earth Corps. They hoped for 12 years and she gave them 20. I doubt they paid her. The invention is hers. Make sure it’s registered with every jurisdiction.” Dare stood to leave. “See if it will work on our ships. We’ll pay for that too.” The Admiral told him. Dare gave a nod and left.
He’d got what he came for and Pain would deal with the contract and send it to her. She’d accept it or not. It was her choice. Once, he’d have said he could influence the outcome of that, now, he doubted it.
***
Satisfied everything was as she’d left it, Nicky headed back to her rooms recalling what it had been like on arriving at the Station out of stasis. One taste of the air and she knew she had her work cut out. She’d asked for rooms on the engineering level and they’d thought her crazy. Living accommodations were four floors up they’d told her but she’d insisted. If she needed to get to the air quickly, she needed to be near it, not relying on lifts to get her there. Her logic was sound and eventually they’d listened. It was either that or she got back on the transport. They’d soon caved, clearing out some storage rooms and re-designing the space for her. With the entrance off the corridor, it was the perfect location.
Sound proofed, insulated, with a new bathroom and kitchen. It ended up bigger than the normal rooms and she’d been able to have a work area in the corner to do minor experimentation on filters and cleaning air. The early days had had its own problems.
She’d arrived to find people having Space Sickness, disease making the rounds and some suffered from lack of oxygen. Parts of the Station didn’t get enough air. Some populated areas weren’t supplied enough. It was a mess. The circulation system was shot and hadn’t had any re-investment. The filters didn’t work well, and the equipment was crap. After doing several diagnostics on the systems and tests, she’d wasted no time telling them exactly that and started talking to the people working and living in those areas.
She moved emergency air vents in that had stood idle in storage and gave them her assessment. Unless they stripped the old out and started again, the Station was dead in three years. Earth Corp hadn’t taken the news well. She could remember the stony reply she’d received. She didn’t mince words, lives were at stake. She could fix the air, but unless the equipment could deal with it, it was a waste of time. That hadn’t gone down too well with those on the Station either, they’d thought she would be some miracle cure. She quickly removed that idea and gave them a list of what she needed, and they’d bulked at it.
Nicky hadn’t backed down. Do it or not, it wasn’t her problem. Her contract was clear, she had free reign to get it working. The Station had to provide what she needed, or she could leave. They’d begrudgingly accepted. Nicky knew they didn’t really believe she could deliver what she’d promised but it allowed her to work. And gradually fixing problems she’d never come across before, over time, it had evolved to what they had today. A working, filtering, refreshing Air Drive system that carried no bacteria.
As she opened the door, her data pad pinged. Contract agreed. Was that price real? Plus, a hefty maintenance fee and an additional contract if she could do the same for the air systems onboard their ships. Nicky stood shocked. She was wealthy! The credits were staggering. She couldn’t help grinning. Looked like she’d be sharing her info after all.
***
Dare went back to work. He and his team had work to do. Making his way to the lower of the two docking bays, he gave orders over his neuro net to get things started. Commandeered pirate ships needed gutting and re-configuring. They would now be Cyborg vessels in their fleet. Each would be updated with the latest tech. All evidence of being a pirate ship removed. New engines added, old accommodations revamped or cut away. New tech added. Computer systems ripped out and handed over for investigation, new systems put in. Those ships worth keeping, would be allocated to a Commander, those no good to them, would be sold on. The credits would help build the empire.
He stepped out of the lift to the sound of metal on metal, work had already begun. It wasn’t the first time they’d had to do this. Make something work that wasn’t theirs. But then, they’d never actually been given any ships to start with. They’d had to take them. With blood and fire and he expected, they’d be doing it again very soon. No one liked giving away resources and the pirates had lost a lot of ships on this raid and Earth Corp had lost a Station. When, whoever was in charge found out, they were going to be pissed. Dare smiled. He looked forward to seeing them.
The design changes agreed by the Admiral streamed across his optic. His men would have the same information and be directing the work. He could see panels being pulled out. The metal would be repurposed. Nothing was lost. Moving quickly, he joined his lead team. “How’s it going?”
“No heat signatures so we started gutting it.” Blade told him. He was one of the few that had not stuck with their four-digit identification. He was very good with a blade, Dare recalled and knew his neuro net no longer worked, Dare gave a nod. It was a good size ship. “How many will it hold?”
“300 Plus.” Blade told him. It could take a troop carrier, that was good.
“Good, pull up the schematics, I want to go over them.”
***
He was driving her crazy. Days had turned into weeks. Question after question after bloody question! She’d tried to avoid him, but he was so damn quiet that she hardly ever got the chance before he was standing right there!
It made her nervous. She knew he wasn’t stalking her, but it did feel a bit like it. He’d explained his orders. The Admiral, now she was under contract, wanted to know how it all worked. How they could implement it into all their ships. She understood the order, he’d given her a Contract with it clearly laid out. It wasn’t like it was any big surprise and he had paid her extremely well. But still, she kept looking over her shoulder expecting to find him standing there. He wanted to know everything. What was this point of this? How did that work? What did that add to the functionality? How did it appear to be fresher? Arrrrrr, she felt like screaming.
She enjoyed working on her own, having others around her were a distraction while she was experimenting. They didn’t get what she wanted or understand it, so she preferred to go it alone. Experiments needed time and space. It took some risk if you wanted the reward. But he was an annoying itch she couldn’t scratch. Always around, brooding, watching. What the hell did he want! Nicky turned and there he was. Standing to one side watching her check one of the Air Bath machines. Turning away she gritted her teeth, rolling her eyes thinking about throwing the tablet at him knowing it was probably a waste of time. He’d only move too quickly for her to hit him. Nicky closed her eyes and took a few calming breaths, then turned. Slamming down her data pad. “What do you want to know this time?”
He stepped towards her. “Good morning female. I do not wish to disturb you.” The female huffed impatiently. “A bit bloody late for that,” she mumbled under her breath. Dare heard her perfectly and held back his grin. Watching her fascinated him. She did not respond like the other women who engaged him but when she looked for him, her emotions heightened. She didn’t like him being there or anyone else. He watched her without her knowing, getting irritated with anyone who interfered. The only tell-tale signs were her voice and physical movements. Both, got short. Her senses continued to give him nothing. He fleetingly wondered what it would take to make her…… responsive. Then shut that down quickly as his body unexpectedly responded. That was a complication he did not need.
“Too late you have,” she told him with some edge to her voice.
Dare smiled this time. He liked her challenge. He was Cyborg, it called to him.
Nicky held back the impulse to roll her eyes again. He was doing that smiling, knowing thing. She was beginning to dislike that, a lot. Like he had all the answers and clearly, he did not because he kept asking her! The man, no male, Cyborg, was a pain in her ass. “Please explain it all to me again. There are things I did not understand the first time.”
Nicky raised both eyebrows and stared back at him. “Seriously? You want to go with that? A Cyborg who records everything is saying he missed something? Don’t believe it. It will take hours.” She bit off.
He shrugged. Nicky frowned, it was a very human thing to do. “I have plenty of time,” he told her.
She wanted to tell him to go to hell, but she didn’t. Tell him she ran her own show and hide in some work, there were no damages or faults to fix. It was all running smoothly. She had no excuse to say no. Nicky sighed. “This way,” she told him. Knowing they’d be no getting rid of him until they’d been through the entire thing again. The sooner she got it done, the sooner he’d be gone.
Walking through the complex equipment she started at the beginning. The big in-take valves and housing. Huge machines that were fed by the re-circulated air. She explained basic thermodynamics to him, that heat rises. With it so did the warmer air. Warmer air that people breathed out or created. A system of vents throughout the Station in the ceilings of each floor, the structure of the Gallerea globe, pulled the air up and into them. It mixed with the work and leisure going on around it, cooking, drinking, machinery, visiting ships, sleeping stale air and it all lifted naturally into the air where it flowed into the ceiling extractors of every section. This was pulled through the miles of piping and eventually brought to the intake machines. Standard normal re-circulating machines big enough to cater to the whole station. She looked up at him to make sure he was still with her. “We good so far? Normal re-circulation, right?” He gave her a nod.
She told him about the poor air quality when she’d arrived. How people were ill, space sickness and disease. The machinery not up to scratch and how she’d been able to get them to bring in the good stuff or make what she needed. She patted the two house size housing units in front of her. It had been a good start, she told him and went on to talk about the composition of the intake machines and how they worked. What they did and how the end product was vastly different from what came in. She spoke about the safeguards, the sterilisation of the molecules and the safety features. She looked over and found him right next to her. She looked up at him again. He was so damn tall, and broad. He gave her a nod. “So in theory,” she told him, “that’s all you need to do and you could re-circulate the air after that.”
“But that’s not what you do,” he told her.
She moved on along the system. “No. I do better than that and it brings a whole new element to its delivery. This machinery is in its 24th year, so is the oxygen, I’ve never had to swap it out.” She didn’t bother checking he was with her. She knew he would be. She checked the stats on the first Air Bath. It looked good. She explained that re-cycled air had its own problems. One, it smelt re-cycled, it was a reminder that you were not on solid ground simply because it didn’t feel fresh and could lead to space sickness and two, the air didn’t last and broke down too quickly. That was costly. The question was, she told him, how to make it more viable.
Dare watched her in her element. She’d been pissed at him for asking to hear it again. She was telling him everything he’d heard her say before. He’d not missed a thing, not that she knew that, or did she? He hadn’t missed the comment about his ability to record everything. She was right, everything she’d ever said to him was recorded in his data banks and he could retrieve them anytime he wanted. No, he wanted to watch her describe it all to him again. See the look on her face. The information was useful, it would add to his knowledge, but he wanted to see her in her element, see her reactions, or lack of them. It was not logical, and he had a need to understand it. Why was he driven to seek the information he needed?
She explained what she’d found out in her research before coming to the Station, that the air performed better if it was washed. Not only that, it needed to be stronger, so she mixed it with H2O and it gained stronger molecules. The oxygen had a higher composition. So she added a water bath to the process with a cleaning agent. Then found that if the water was heated, other elements, such as oils that clung to the air passed through the water, removing them from the air itself. Then she passed it through two other air baths one cooler with lavender essence and another colder still, this time with lemon. She’d had both elements shipped out in huge quantities. And the seeds of both. The air passed through a hot drying stage, then a cooling stage and she came to the end where the pipe went up a floor. A section of filtration units pulled the air through the system and up. The air was fresher now, she told him confidently but that wasn’t the end. It still didn’t give the feeling of being earth bound and she’d found that that, was the essential element preventing Space Sickness.
