Tech Consult

Posted on Tue 29th Aug, 2017 @ 2:02am by

1,049 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Unity Week
Location: Bits and Bytes, Deck 641
Timeline: MD 3 - late afternoon

"Gahhhh!" Jonny shouted, "This blasted stupid thing!" He kicked the machine that stood in front of him.

"Jonny darling, calm down. I told you that you shouldn't have bought that stupid thing," Amanda stated, putting her arm around his shoulder.

He didn't even glance her a look, "Get me someone to look at this!!!" He stormed away, leaving Amanda by the contraption he had bought earlier that day.

Jonny's way of business was always shady. He had his contacts for doing business and this particular one offered a machine that would essentially replace some of the staff in the casino and thus save him costs. Saving money was something he liked very much. The machine would work alongside the holodeck in creating holograms that would do the jobs of all his staff. He couldn't tell you what the machine was called as he wasn't very technical minded.

It took him a couple of hours to calm down; once he was angry he would stay angry for a very long time. He found himself playing pool alone in the family games room, before Amanda stepped into the room. "I got an engineer out to look at that device," She said.

"Yeah?!" He grunted the reply.

"Charming," She muttered under her breath. "He said this is the problem." She passed him an object that was about 7 inches long, 3 inches wide with a similar look to a motherboard. "It's called a Coars-....Coarse....Nope it's gone. I cant remember what it's called. He said to try a place on the Promenade called 'Bits 'N Bytes'." She shrugged.

"Could he not have just got one for us?" Jonny growled, potting the black, before putting his cue onto the table.

"Apparently it's a rare item that isn't easy to get hold of. Hence why he said try that place," she said sarcastically back.

"I will just do everything myself then!" He stormed out of the room again, en route to Bits 'N Bytes.

Tieran handed his signature blue bag to a customer just as his door slammed open. His departing customer said a quiet, "Good luck, mate," and slipped out the door before it swung shut again.

Keeping his face pleasant, the Andorian asked politely, "How may I be of service today?"

Jonny frowned at the politeness from the Andorian, "I need one of these." He grunted, shoving the object onto the counter.

"Ah. A Core Sensor Field Polarization Drive ... or FPD, in the business. I think I have one of them in the back," he replied, looking over the part. "A little unusual for one to fail, though. What's it's purpose?"

"Do I look like an engineer?" Jonny ranted back. "I bought this device to essentially create holograms to replace my staff, but this part has failed!"

Ignoring the man's rudeness, Tieran took the pertinent information from his rant. "So it's part of a holographic mechanism, then. It really shouldn't have failed ... let me put it on my analyzer and see if we can find the cause. No sense throwing a good FPD after a bad one, if the machine using it is actually the cause of the problem."

The Andorian moved to another counter and slid the part inside a rectangular box about 30 centimeters long. "This won't take long," he informed his customer as he pressed buttons to input his requirements for analyzing the piece.

"So, you own a restaurant ... or perhaps a bar?" th'Elex inquired, more to distract the man than anything else. He looked as if he could easily have a medical problem as red-faced as he was. Of course, it was beyond the Andorian's abilities to truly understand what pink skin meant in its varying shades.

"A casino. It opened not long ago for the beginning of Unity Week," Jonny felt himself calm down slightly at the question.

"Sounds exciting," the Andorian responded, watching the readings from his machine. "I haven't been able to get out to see very much, but customers are reporting they are having a wonderful time. You have any good shows coming up at your casino? I don't really get the Terran games, but I like some of the music I hear played." He glanced up and smiled. "Your humor ... well, it's 50-50 whether I appreciate that!"

"Well the concert hall was packed for a classical music show, we have some plans for a play going in there soon. Arrangements haven't been made yet, just focusing on the poker tournaments that are happening. I'm trying to make the casino a venue for the annual Interstellar Poker Tourney."

A beep sounded and the box opened, sliding a platform containing the part up and out.
"This isn't so bad. I think I can fix it. A small spot of magic should put it right, if you 'd rather have this one fixed than pay for a new one."

"If you can fix it and I can save a few pennies, then yeah we will go with that," Jonny replied, much more calmly now.

"Right. Let me get my assistant to watch the counter, and I'll take care of it right now. It won't take long, so look around while you wait," th'Elex said. He disappeared into a doorway behind the counter and a red-haired, skinny humanoid with small forehead ridges, who looked about fourteen, came out.

"Hey, Pops, anything you need, just holler," the man said as he sat on a stool behind the exchange printer. Proudly pointing to his chest, he said, "There's nothing in this store that I don't know about."

"Anything you know outside of the store?" Jonny quipped.

"Ha, good one!" the genial young man laughed. "Maybe one or two things, but I doubt you'd be interested."

Tieran came back at that moment. "Good as new. Luckily, the unit uses gold wiring, and a little spot of nanowire cold welding took care of the problem. Pop this back in where it came out, and you should be up and running immediately." He handed the part back to King, looking exactly as it had looked when he disappeared with it. "No charge, but it's guaranteed to work."

"I will sure to be back if it doesn't!" Jonny quipped. "Honestly though, cheers for your help." He smiled, before turning and walking out of the shop.

 

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