Blake followed Jager down the rows of tubes. The second to last row had a tube showing lifesigns that were all in the green on the monitoring device.
"He alive!? How do we get him out?"
"You sure you want him out, Chief? We don't know what his heads like, not after what's been done to him."
" I DONT GIVE A FUCK SOLDIER! You will get him out of that god damn tube in a manner that has the highest chance of survival! DO YOU GET ME?"
"Aye aye Sir! I will consult with Neo and return with a solution briefly, sir!"
Blake didn't reply. His orders had been given. They would be carried out to their conclusion without him now.
Jager returned less than two minutes later, his fingers rapidly playing over the monitoring device. As he finished, liquid flushed from the base of the tube, draining through the grated floor.
The body inside sagged as gravity took hold of it.
Jager then tilted the tube so it lay flat. "The tube is sealed against vacuum sir. Neo is prepping the medical bay back on the ship as we speak. This man has oxygen for another hour at least." He then lifted the tube and placed it on the Grav Sledge that had followed him in.
30 minutes had them back at the Aubrey. As soon as the cargo bay was pressurised, Blake ran ahead. An Area near the Engineering Bay had been set up as a medical bay, past the now wide open area in the process of being refitted. Only one medical bot was set up. Blake ran straight to it and started upgrading the unit. He finished as the patient came through the door.
"Remove yourselves from the med bay please. Jager. Stay." Neo almost barked these instructions. As they all left, the med bay doors slammed shut behind them.
20 minutes later, Neo had an update.
"He has a device implanted in his brain sir. Near his Caudate Nucleus, in the centre of his brain. The Medical Droid at its current level, is unable to remove the device."
Blake already knew some kind of medical procedures had been performed on the man. All the bodys on the operating tables told him that much.
"Will he die with it in there? What's it doing?"
"The Med Droid does not see any degrading effect from the device. It does have a transceiver that could receive transmissions. The source is unknown. All the Med Droid could do was shutdown the devices ability to accept those transmissions."
"OK that's good then. What else do we know about the guy? I understand that a naked man wouldn't give you much to go on."
"His name is PFC Sebastian Bates. Dominion Republic Marine Corp.
21 years old.
1 year service.
Reported Killed in Action. Antics System.
That system is a substantial distance from this location, sir. He did well to travel this far while dead. "
"Was that a significantly detailed guess, Neo?"
"No, sir. PFC Bates has a Personal Data Chip implanted. Standard Dominion Republic Marine Corp practice for body identification."
That was a lot more information about the patient than Blake expected.
"How long till he wakes up?"
"Approximately 12 hours to regain consciousness at a safe rate. This will include counselling by myself. I will include the caveat of not knowing his mental state until he awakens."
"How long does Booth need to finish? We're not going for all the list items anymore, we're only taking what we need.
"Ensign Booth reported needing one more day at the outside. Most likely less than half that, sir."
"Fine. Can the repair bots be used to secure the cargo in the bay?"
"Of course Sir. I have set them to task as we speak."
With that, Blake had no more to do till Booth returned.
"Jager, you did well today. A credit to the Corp."
Jager just nodded and continued his self imposed guard duty of the med bay.
All Blake really had to do was investigate his construction skill.
Pulling the bin of circuits out and dropping it on the workbench, he started sorting through them to see what he had.
Advanced Diagnostic
Repair Bot Processing Circuit Board
Damn! Another one.
Advanced Diagnostic
Repair Bot Power Plant Circuit Board
Hmm Power plant and Processing. That might work. Nothing to lose I guess
Combine Circuit Boards Yes/No
Yes
Repair Bot Advance Power Plant Processing
100% Functional
20% Power Efficiency Increased
Another winner.
"Neo, are parts and circuit boards a commonly sold commodity?"
"Yes Sir. Shape and size of bots may differ, so parts will vary. But the circuit boards are all interchangeable. So they are plentiful. Only their functional condition changes. Would you like me to send out bots to scavenge parts for stock?"
"Yes please. Will we have storage space?"
"Certainly sir. The lower deck cargo bay is almost complete. We have storage aplenty."
Blake went back to combining circuit boards, just to see what he could create.
Not ever combination was possible. Processing Speed and Articulation didn't go together for example.
The movement of an articulated leg was finite.
All the circuits were from repair bots. He could start buying junk electronics when he returned to Selene. The population was large enough to avoid suspicion, and his sale prices would generally be set for selling to companies.
Or maybe straight to Mira Vex? He didn't care too much about getting rich.
You know you're playing with these circuit boards so you don't think about who is to blame for those experiments. The ring leaders would be dead by now anyway.
"They fucking better be, for their sake."
With nothing else to do, Blake wandered the ship, inspecting the progress of the refit.
The passageway aft of the med bay opened up to a space easily 100 metres across just outside the engineering bay, the aft airlock was the only familiar fixture.
This ship really is quite large, the twin hull made it the usable space alot smaller than was actually available.
Blake walked over to the exposed hull section next to the airlock and opened his repair skill by raising his hand.
Repair Diagnostic
Hull Section 100% Functional
Upgrade Yes/No
He dropped his hand, ending the upgrade without starting. The ship already looked in excellent condition for its age, which may or may not draw attention. He didn't want anymore at the moment.
The engineering bay doors opening at that moment broke his train of though, it was too late to be concerned about the appearance of the Aubrey anyway. Done is done.
Booth came through the hatch, looking tired but pleased. He enjoyed playing with any kind of tech, the more often the better.
Maybe I should leave more damaged items around for him to repair? Or even let him pull apart some upgraded stuff, so he could see what the actual improvements are.
"Aaron, good to see you." Blake made him jump a little, not expecting someone to be there, nor the results of the ongoing refit.
"Hey boss, works coming along round here I see. Neo says we'll be shipping out, now that I've pulled the salvage we were after.
He said we picked up a survivor too."
Blake smiled at Booths energy. He was a different person to the scared man who first came aboard.
"Yeah. You could say I've had enough of this place for awhile. We've got what we need, and more than enough extra salvage. I just want out of here. What's the condition of the Gamma Deflector and Wave Cyclotron?"
"Fried captain, as expected. They are designed to do that, it saves peoples skin melting of them."
"Good to hear " Blake said, laughing at Booths description of necessary safety protocol.
"Get yourself fed, cleaned and rested Ensign. You've done some good work here. The rest of the crew can fill you in on the details of one Pfc Sebastian Bates."
Blake let Booth go on his way.
All Blake was left to do now was wait.