More than just Power

[Nijil tr'Korjata 0]

More than just Power

A. Davis and N. tr’Korjata

 

Sky Harbour Aegis creaked and moaned. Repairs teams littered the decks as Nijil made his way to the Children’s Center. Crawling over and under debris is bad enough. The weight of the portable fusion reactor brought his journey to a standstill in places. “Portable” must have been an oversight in the designation, an engineer’s joke.

 

“Sir, can you look at this panel,” a much more junior officer asked from his crouched spot on the floor. Nijil stopped his walk, swinging the reactor to the ground.

 

“I am on my way to the Children’s Center, but, bah...let me look.” The engineer in him peered into the panel. Nijil sighed at the other engineer’s lack of understanding of the indicators from the display. “It’s a matter of routing around the damaged area until the other teams can repair it, Ensign.”

 

“How?”

 

Nijil let out a heavy sigh, “I’ll do it.” He flipped open the side panel next to the display. A code unlocked his access level, allowing a power route around the damage. “I must be on my way.”

 

“Thank you sir.”

 

Nijil nodded and started to pick up the reactor. At first it caused him to wobble, but the Ensign helped him secure the device. The lift to the Children’s Center was just around the corner. People lined the inner wall of the lift to allow the bulky reactor some space.

 

“Children’s Center,” he asked the lift simply. A few minutes and two Bolians later Nijil lugged his burden to the door where the Rihan orphans were housed. The entrance would normally be lit with lively color and lights. Since the attacks the minimal power to this section kept the children in perpetual darkness. The only sign of life was that of the door hissing open.

 

“Jolan tru?”

 

Dr. Davis turned toward the voice, then put aside the things she had been arranging and hurried over. "Nijil," She exclaimed with some anxiety, "it's so good to see you, but..." her hands hovered helplessly for a moment, "can I help? " Her arms dropped and she eyed the reactor with some suspicion, like it might explode if she even tried to touch it.

 

He shrugged. “This device is too large to simply hand off,” he answered, using both hands on the single handle of the reactor. “A type IV reactor is big, bulky, and long lasting.” He continued to hobble and wobble to the far wall where the power taps were hidden.

 

“Well, then… perhaps if I help in some other way?” She followed, clearing things - inanimate, and especially animate, in the form of children - out of the way.

 

“Make sure no one freaks out when I shut down the power to the center before I hook this up.”

 

“Of course.”

 

The reactor landed with a thud. He opened the interlocks and began the power up sequence. A familiar-to-his-ears hum filled the room. Soon it pitched higher and softer until no one could hear. Next he removed the panel.

 

“So, how was this place during our ordeal?”

 

Amanda turned from shooing a group of inquisitive children back to their duties. “It was… interesting,” she said with a forced smile. She moved closer, away from tiny ears, “I’m surprised we’re still here. I suppose I should have more faith.”

 

“An unlikely series of fortunate events saved us far more than faith.” He felt no reason to hush, but in truth he’d been yelling for more than a day. He’d yet to shut down. “There was a pressure build up of plasma in some of the lower sections I almost needed to manually purge.” He turned to her. “While I could have done it, my death would have been a byproduct. Such is the engineer’s life.”

 

A tiny, “Oh,” was all Amanda could muster, fairly stunned at the revelation. She swallowed hard. “I’m glad it didn’t come to that, Nijil. I…” her hands smoothed her skirt as her voice dropped to a sighing whisper, “...I’m glad.”

 

The room darkened. Audible “oh’s” came from around the corner. Someone else, probably Dr. Schawnsee spoke, telling them it was alright. His hands were silhouetted against the LCARS display lights as he worked to hook up the reactor. “I’m glad as well.” He paused to enter commands. “Did Annisha behave herself?”

 

“Oh, yes,” Amanda perked up, “she was quite a help with the other children. She’s an amazing young lady, Nijil, but I’m sure you know that.”

 

“As humans would say: scary smart,” he mused. “I just hope she found friends here, even if some of them only stay for a while.” He kept his back to Dr. Davis, though aware she was close. “She talks about you almost as much as Jy. I think like myself she had few run-ins with non-Rihans until arriving here. Oh, can you hand me the flow regulator, the stick with buttons on it?”

 

“The stick…” her eyes browsed the collection on the floor, “... with the buttons. This one

?”

 

“

Yes, thank you.” He took it from her hand and placed it close to a visible port on the panel. “These things don’t always self adjust.” He seemed satisfied with the progress so far. “So Annisha was no trouble? I was expecting something.”

 

“Oh?” she replied casually. “What kind of something were you expecting?”

 

He laughed. “Frozen room, tropical rains, bubbles filling the room.”

 

“But that’s exciting, Nijil. It’s so much better than sitting around, and it saves us the trouble of having to take the children to the holodeck to experience those things. Furthermore…” a finger went up and her Welsh accent came out full-blown, “it’s so much better for learning when those things happen naturally. And it was fun.” Her smile held a little mischief.

 

“Hmm. I am ready to apply the power.” Nijil waited for a moment and flipped the switch. The room lights and all others sprung to life. He looked all around to see the effects. “Good, this is a good sign. The test of an engineer’s mettle is not their work, but their work years hence.” Cheers where there once were ‘oh’s’ came from around that same corner.

 

When Nijil turned to Amanda, her smile was gone. Apparently they had been protected from more than any of them imagined. Beyond their safe room, the Children’s Home was disastrous. Though the structure was sound, PADDs, toys, equipment, and just about everything they used for daily life was strewn in disarray, much broken, some things completely destroyed.

 

“Thank you for the lights, Nijil. Now…” her lips pursed, “I don’t suppose you could help us with the rest?”

 

He looked nearly as shocked as Davis did. “I can, but I will need more more equipment, and a few more people. Taking Annisha to her own bed will have to wait.”