Chap. 401 Building the nest

“The thing that perplexes me,” Evvelin said, “Is how I missed it all these years. I admit that sometimes this computer stuff befuddles me, but I should have seen that someone had changed my rosters and duty assignments.”

Christa scrolled through her data.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but, I don’t even know where to start with that.”

Jansen said, “Let me check something. I’m going into your database, Evvelin,”

Admin’s Chief was getting used to it. “Stop apologizing! I already said I’m fine with it, THIS time,” she said, “I want to get this all sewn up so I can send this Wendall off to the mines.”

Jansen was silent for several long moments, then turned to Data.

“Sir, I am seeing something but I don’t know if it means anything.”

Data looked over her shoulder and said, “What?”

She scrolled through her archives of assignments, looking for the missent ones. She pointed out the codes-and the thought that had been nagging her, just under the point of understanding, popped up.

“Oh. OH! I think I have it!”

She felt a swell of pride, I still have SOMETHING on par with Christa.

“Look here. Oh, I think I know. Please tell me if I’m right.”

“WHAT?”

“Every time this Wendall sent a reassignment, almost always to Maintenance, well, am I correct in seeing that there’s no code showing it came from Engineering?”

“Huh,” Data said, and Christa said, “You’re right, I’m not seeing it, either. I’m seeing something odd, a different code altogether.”

“Me too. It’s, ummmm..”

Data saw it. “I know what that is. Ah-this lout is far more clever than we thought. But he screwed up today.”

“Oh?”

“I’m thinking that in the past, when Wendall changed your assignments, Chief, he sent it to the starship, rather than straight through the datalinks. Datalinks aren’t database, they’re communications. So, by bouncing it off the starship, that origin code is deleted.”

“Yes!!” Jansen said, exultant. “But he forgot. He FORGOT that the datalinks are down! See, here, this one, today’s! it says E5031!”

“Eeeehhheeeeee!” Christa shrilled in victory.

“Got ‘im”, said Lord D’nis. Now that I know him, how am I going to eviscerate him?

Data touched Crista’s shoulder. “Pull up Engineering’s duty roster, please?”

“Both last night’s and this morning’s?”

“Yes,” he said, “You read my mind.”

Engineering’s evening roster showed three names, none of which were Wendall’s or had anything to do with opening the building or repairing a water line.

Its morning roster showed six. One of them was Wendall, with two others assigned to ‘Repair water line.”

“Isn’t that cute,” Raylan said, “Wendall has exempted himself and yet here he is, and two mates, I’ll wager, to work on a water line.”

“It’s odd, though, that he’s actually doing work, this time,” Grafton said. “If he’s not done this in the past, but is now, there’s something about a water line that he wants fixed NOW.”

“It’s a real task, Maintenance’s ticket shows it.”

“Why would he actually WANT to do work?” Christa said, “He’s already managed to slime out of any work ‘til now.”

Jansen said, “It’s the building he’s interested in.  7006 Regulus. Maybe it’s his quarters?”

Evvelin recalled Wendall’s profile.

“No. He, his partner and their two kids live at 1907 Mirsaz.”

“And 7006 Regulus is ‘unoccupied’”

Her anger was growing. What’s infuriating is that I don’t really recall your name, Wendall, and I used to pride myself on knowing everyone in Landing that isn’t a child. You’ve really, really been clever. You’re a little tunnel snake, you cheat.  And that’s doing tunnel snakes a disservice. You’ve been dinking around in my database since the thing was changed, and I never knew it. 

Oh, the more I know, the more I have plans for you, you arsehole, she thought.

At that moment, Engineering’s new chief walked in. She looked frightened and was visibly trembling. She bowed low to Lord D’nis.  “My lord, I apologize, I beg your pardon for what one of my staff has done. I beg of you to believe me, I had no idea of this.”

Everyone felt her panic, her obvious distress.

Lord D’nis held up his hand. “I believe you, ma’am. Right now, as you see, there are several of Landing’s Chiefs here, tracking down the lout who did this. He’s been very busy. It’s far more complex than I can follow, but this lass, Christa, and Jansen and oh, everyone here has been picking this Gordian knot apart. Do you have someone named Wendall working for you?”

“Yes sir, I do, I’m still learning all my staff, but I do know him. He is in charge of personnel management, duty rosters and taskings in Engineering, he was doing that when I took over. I asked him if he would like to be re-assigned to a position more in line with true engineering, but he said no, he is happy in that position. So, I’ve  left him in it that position-for the time being.”  

“Where is he today?”

“He put a note on the day’s task board that he and his two teammates are  tasked to do some repairs to a water line. I’m still fuzzy on what division does what, I would have thought that was Maintenance’s arena. But my lord, I’m so sorry you had to send me a message informing me of my lack of knowing my own SOP. I’ve failed you, and Landing.”

“I wouldn’t call it a failing, Chief. A division as large as yours has a lot of working parts, and I’d be surprised if you’d grasped the entire thing in just two short weeks. I used to say, if it works, don’t fix it, and so far, things in your division work.  Except for this rascal, Wendall, who, apparently, has been going into other division databases to make unauthorized changes.  But you’re still going to have to face the Council.  I won’t speak for my fellow Council members but I am fairly certain your facing them will be merely a thing of protocol. As for Wendall? Well, our genius techs here will show you just what he’s been up to.”

Christa gave her the thumbnail summation of Wendall’s crimes.

“I see,” Chief Kendra said. She stopped trembling with the knowledge. Her blood ran cold. “I see.  Honestly, I’m not surprised. In the short time I’ve been here he’s been just this side of insubordination. His attitude is one of contempt for me. He questions everything I say, with a heavy dose of sarcasm. I’ve been so busy trying to pick up the reins of this job! I was told that the former Chief was medically retired by the healers after being transported to Cove Hold’s Healer Hall. Thus I’ve had literally no briefing, and had to push admonishing Wendall into a lower priority. It’s not as if he’ll change! I’m certain his attitude is due to my age and my gender, but I assure you, I am no pushover. Whatever the Council decides on punishment, I’ll fully back up and add some more of my own. I do NOT like getting messages like the one you sent to me this morning, my lord. And I very much appreciate your showing me aspects of my SOP that I haven’t read. Yet.”

Chief Evvelin smiled and nodded. Yes, you’ll do nicely, she thought. I’m sure, given a whip and spurs, you’ll have that knothead straightened out in a week. Maybe I’ll forego immediately sending him to the mines or the islands, I’ve not decided which just yet. I’ll let you toy with him for a while, just to make you feel better.

Jansen smiled at the Chief, but a nagging thought was swimming just under the surface of her mind. You have something important to note, what IS it? Come out, come on, it’s okay.

“I’ve been thinking of the significance of this jerk insisting on repairing a water line that might be supplying 7006 Regulus.  It’s not his quarters but he and his friends are interested in it. Why? We think we know it’s empty, but is it? Really?” she said.

“Um…”

“Christa, I need you to guide me. I want to go into Housing’s database, please? Lead me?”

Christa beamed, so proud to have all these adults treating her like an expert she could hardly bear it. She looked at Data. He smiled and nodded almost imperceptibly.

She hovered over Jansen’s shoulder, teaching her how to, as Jansen thought of it, crack the coding like it were an egg.

“And there you are. Housing,” Christa said. She patted Jansen on her back. If she wasn’t merely a teen, I’d think she was patronizing me, Jansen thought for a split second, but I DID ask, and she DID teach me.

“Thank you, Christa. You are truly my master,” she said, magnanimously.

“Ummm,” Christa said, blushing. “Not really. This is just a game for me.”

Jansen typed in 7006 Regulus.

“Is it empty? Maybe it was two years ago, but now? Let’s see what Housing says about 7006,” she said.

The data poured out.

“What…what does that say?” Evvelin said.

“Well, it says, that this building was first set up by the colonists as a ‘hydroponics lab’. It has a fully equipped bathroom, but also, I think this code here, “re-p” means all useable equipment was ‘repurposed’, meaning, I guess, removed from the building and sent to others. Otherwise, it’s now ‘unoccupied.’ I’m not sure what hydroponics is but I know I can find out.”

“It’s a way of growing plants in nutrient filled water,” Grafton said, “That’s how the starship crews grew food while enroute here from Terra. I’m almost certain it was something they did when they first got here, because even though they had seedstock for edible plants such as vegetables and fruits, trees, shrubs, even livestock feed like hay and oats from Terra and Vulcan. But seeds, of course, need a year, maybe longer, to adapt to the soils and then grow into something we can harvest and eat. It only makes sense, then, that for the first year or two, most of the food grown here at Landing was via hydroponics.”

“And Honshu,” Raylan said. “I think I remember hearing that they shifted the vast majority of technological equipment and big machines to Honshu, before the mountain erupted. Thank the stars they did, or we’d really be in a fix, technology wise.”

“True,” Grafton said, “We may even have perished as a colony. It makes sense, then, that the hydroponics lab probably used an awful lot of water. I’m betting that the water line that needs repair is going to the former lab.”

“But why so much attention on an empty building?” Evvelin said.

Jansen’s mind suddenly revealed the nagging thought.

“I have it! Yes!,” she said, happily grabbing the thought. “I know where to look,” she said, more to herself than the others. “I feel like a sneak, but I’m already deep in hacking land, I may as well go all the way with this.”

“With what?”

“Ssh,” she said, only later realizing she’d shushed several Chiefs AND a lord councilman. Using the procedure Christa had just taught her, she opened Supply’s database and quickly found 7006 Regulus’ data.  

“Aha. This is why. Look! Two years ago, ‘someone’ began very slowly requisitioning stuff from supply. Big stuff. A refrigerator. Furniture. A klah pot. Pots and pans, knives, spoons, mugs, trenchers.  Bunks! An oven, light fixtures, all of them delivered to 7006 Regulus.”

“Any guess as to who might be requisitioning it?”

Jansen cackled in delight. “Wellllllll, if I’m reading this code correctly, it’s “E 5031.”

There was a moment of satisfied silence.

“‘“Dooni dooni kononi be nyaga da”, Grafton said.

“What in the world is that?”

The headman laughed. “It’s an old proverb from a place called Mali on Terra. It means, ‘little by little the bird makes her nest’.”

——————————————————————————–

“Wouldn’t it have made more sense to just start from that building over there, rather than me digging all over the commons looking for a water line?” P’jar asked.

Team Leader looked at him from his comfortable spot on the ground.
“Now you see why I dislike dragonriders, Pee Jar. You ask stupid questions.”

P’jar, standing, moved so that the sun was shining directly into the man’s eyes. I could easily kill you with my bare hands, he thought. Which might be what you’re trying to get me to do, lose my temper. Then you’ve got me.  So, I might as well play you like you’re trying to do to me.

“Stupid? Perhaps. Especially when your two so called teammates have both vanished. But not so stupid as to taunt a man with four shovels available to him to bash your shaffing head in.”

“You can try, Pee Jar. But I’m quick with a dagger, faster than you can blink,” the man said, wishing he hadn’t laid down on his dagger side.

“Give it a go, then. You hurt me, you’ll be facing off with my dragon, who’ll be more than happy to eat you.”

Falconth, would you please roar? This lout is angering me.

Within seconds, Falconth roared. Raventh and Motanith did so a moment later.

The man gulped, but continued,

“That’s shaffing nonsense. I know enough about dragons that I know they won’t hurt a human.”

“True. A LIVE human. Dead? You’re just so much fresh meat. If you want to die, I’m more than happy to oblige. But you’re right. I don’t want him eating you. I don’t want to poison him.”

Team Leader sneered. “You got nuthin’, Pee Jar.  You don’t dare kill me. Threatening me with your dragon shows it. You are assigned to me, you start digging until you find that water leak.”

“Fine. I’ll start at that building.”

Team Leader got to his feet. “No! I mean, no, you’re wasting my valuable time. There’s nothing wrong in that building, it’s empty, we opened it two years ago. I’m ordering you to find that leak, it’s here in the commons. I know it.”

P’jar contemplated the man. He’s hiding something about that building, Now I HAVE to get into it.

“No problem. If it’s not the building, then show me where the leak is.”

“It’s YOUR job to find it. It’s MY job to supervise.”

P’jar saw the shadow of a hovering fire lizard behind the team leader’s head. He forced himself to keep from looking up. A fire lizard. Only one, so it must be either Siskin or Fafhrd.

It is Fafhrd, Falconth said, I heard this loud human threaten you and he heard us roar. He will send to his master.

Thank you

I do not want to eat the loud man. It would make me sick.

I don’t want you to, either.

Now glad to have a better witness, P’jar pushed. “I refuse.” He dropped the shovel.

“You refuse? You are willfully disobeying a tasking, set by Administration? You’re disobeying Lord D’nis’s reminder? I just want to hear this so that I can relate it to the Council.”

“Yes.  I refuse to dig another hole. I’m tired, you know? Just like your mates. They didn’t dig more than a spoonful. You haven’t dug so much as a pebble. Where did they go? You’re no leader, you’re a bully. I’ve spent several hours digging holes for a water leak that you were assigned to repair, and you’ve not done a bit of work, just bloviated. Just as the other louts have done.”

“We’re not refusing to do the work.  My coworkers are doing more important things. YOU were assigned to do the manual labor. I was just sent to FIND it.”

“So find it. Let’s try checking that building, first.”

“I said NO. Don’t even go near that building, it’s no concern of yours. It’s empty. Finding the water leak, it’s HERE, in the commons, is your task.  Now I’m going to go and find that map, and I will be back. Probably after lunch. Keep at it.”

“Whoa, whoa, jerk. You’re saying I have to wait here for you? While you’re stuffing your face? Probably take a nice long nap after lunch?”

Um, the man thought. If I leave him here, he’ll be in that building sure as sunrise.

“Are all you dragon riders whiners? Fine. Go get lunch. Be back here at thirteen hundred. This time be ON TIME, Pee Jar.”

P’jar picked up his shovel and tossed it onto his shoulder. Then he headed for the buildings on the other side of the commons. Once out of sight of the team leader, he sat down in the shade of a storage shed. I don’t need to watch to see if he leaves, he thought. I’ll ask Fafhrd.

The bronze fire lizard appeared over his head.

“Did you get that, Fafhrd? Did you send what he said to your master?”

The bronze fire lizard chipped an affirmative.

I have to get a fire lizard, he thought. K’ndar’s, Francie’s, even Grafton’s are just so handy.

I would like one Falconth said, Raventh and Motanith have them as friends. I would like a friend like theirs.

I’m not your friend?

You are me. I am you. But you are not a fire lizard.

He laughed. That is true. I will think about getting one.

He’d waited a good ten minutes before getting up.

Falconth, ask Fafhrd where is the loud man?

 He sees the loud man, that one is going into the dining hall right now.

Ah, P’jar thought, a long walk from here. Good.

Do you think Fafhrd is willing to come back to me? I am going into the building and want him to witness for me, I need him to send back to Grafton. Will he do that, for me?

I don’t know. I will ask. He’s just a fire lizard, but still, he is a bronze, you know.

Aye. Which is why I prefer browns. More brains.

Falconth laughed.

——————————————————————————–

“It’s about bloody time one of you yobs showed up. I’ve not had a shower in three days.”

P’jar gaped at the scantily clad young woman in the doorway.  Behind her, he could see a nicely furnished quarters. A large screen on the wall opposite showed a page from the database.

“I, uh, I’m sorry, I…” he blundered, astonished.

He saw Fafhrd appear from between behind her. Ah, that is a clever beast, he thought, he’s checking the place out from the inside.

“You’re here to fix the water?”

“Uh, no, ma’am, I’m sorry, I was looking for um, um, 7003 Regulus, isn’t this 7003?”

“No, you dolt. It’s 7006. Wendall called for repair four days ago,” she snapped. She was VERY pretty, he noticed, but had that air of elite superiority that just pissed most men off. “What have you been doing, napping? You people are lazy.”

“I’m sorry to bother you, ma’am. I’m not Maintenance, I’m new here. Sorry.”

“Well, let SOMEONE know that the water’s not working and I do NOT like going without bathing. I’m of noble blood, after all.”

“I’ll do my best,” he said, turning, to keep her from seeing his victory grin. Just before he heard the door shut behind him, he heard her say, “You’d better, dumbarse.”

Fafhrd re-appeared, chittering. It sounded like extreme satisfaction.

“Thank you, Fafhrd,” he called.

The bronze chipped and flew off.

“Well,” Grafton said to the others, his delight at Fafhrd’s images so tickling he could barely keep from laughing. “The stew truly thickens.”