The Project

The Project

It was supposed to be simple: fix a substation.

But the project had already taken more than two days longer than estimated.

Chas decided it would be quicker to fly the V/STOL out and check on the problem himself than to keep trying to get messages through the spotty network.

When Chas arrived at the site, he was met by the woman in charge of reworking the substation.

“Look, Mr. Williams,” she said, “the substation wasn’t the only problem.”

Chas looked past her at the Iron Horsemen and robots working around the equipment.

“Then why are we two days behind?”

“The pharmacy.”

“What about it?”

“Their distribution panels failed when we brought the power back up. They were old—older than some of the people working on them. We couldn’t just repair them. We had to tear them out and rebuild the distribution system.”

Chas frowned.

“So we fixed the substation and broke the pharmacy?”

“No,” she said. “We fixed the substation and discovered the pharmacy was already broken.”

“You can call me Chas. What’s your name?”

“Vicky Harper.”

“Look, Vicky, it doesn’t take two days to replace a distribution panel. What else was done here?”

“We didn’t replace a panel.”

Chas waited.

“We replaced all of them. And half the wiring between them.”

“That bad?”

“Worse. Some of the insulation crumbled when we touched it. The breakers were obsolete, nothing we had would fit, and the bus bars had to be fabricated from scratch.”

Chas looked toward the pharmacy.

“When?”

“By sunset.”

“And then we move on?”

Vicky smiled.

“If nothing else breaks when we turn it on.”

Something did.

When they brought the pharmacy back online, the cooling cabinet compressor screamed in protest and shut itself down.

Chas looked at Vicky.

“You had to say it.”

“I know.”

One compressor had seized completely. The other kept tripping its overload. A robot spent most of the morning rebuilding the refrigeration system.

When Chas returned, he found Vicky watching the temperature inside the cabinet slowly drop.

“What else have you done here?”

Vicky pointed toward the refrigeration equipment.

“That.”

“That wasn’t on the work order.”

“Neither was letting twenty thousand dollars’ worth of insulin spoil.”

Chas looked at her for a moment.

“Anything else I should know about?”

Vicky smiled.

“Do you really want to ask me that?”

“Sure, Vicky. What’s wrong?”

“You zap in, fix the big problem, and leave. But most of the time there are other problems—smaller ones. Things that, with just a little work, could make a bad situation a whole lot better.”

Chas shook his head.

“We’re trying to help the most people we can with limited resources. I’ve got a list of requests that grows every day. Most of these repairs wouldn’t even be looked at by the utilities for months.”

“I know.”

“Then you understand.”

Vicky looked back toward the pharmacy.

“No, Chas. I understand your list. I’m not sure you understand the people on it.”

Chas thought about it as he started to climb into the V/STOL.

“Link, was she right?”

“Yes.”

There was a pause.

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

Chas looked at Vicky as she stood there.

“Look, Vicky, I have an appointment in four hours with the mayor of Sinclair Junction. They want more support.”

He nodded toward the V/STOL.

“You can come with me and make your case while I fly back to the Hacienda.”

Vicky looked at the aircraft.

“You’re serious?”

“Unless you want to walk.”

She climbed into the sleek craft.

As the V/STOL lifted away from the pharmacy, Vicky looked over at him.

“How many people are on your list?”

“Hundreds.”

“No, Chas. How many people?”

He glanced at her.

“What does that mean?”

“That’s exactly my point.”

The V/STOL settled onto the pad at the Hacienda.

Vicky looked out through the window.

“This is the Hacienda?”

“This is it.”

She watched two robots cross the yard carrying what looked like part of a transformer.

“You live here?”

“Among other things.”

Chas climbed out.

“We have a couple of hours before I need to leave for Sinclair Junction. You hungry?”

“I could eat.”

They took lunch to a table overlooking the yard. Nothing fancy—sandwiches, chips, and iced tea.

Vicky watched a robot disappear into one of the buildings.

“How many of those do you have?”

“Enough.”

“That sounds like an answer from somebody who doesn’t want to tell me.”

“It is.”

Vicky smiled.

“Fair enough.”

Chas took a bite of his sandwich.

“All right. You wanted to make your case. Make it.”

Vicky put down her sandwich.

“You’re treating every request like it’s a broken machine.”

“Most of them are broken machines.”

“No. They’re people with broken machines.”

Chas leaned back.

“There’s a difference?”

“A big one.”

“Explain it.”

“You repaired the substation because it helped hundreds of people. That’s good. But if we’d left yesterday, the pharmacy would have had electricity and still lost its insulin.”

“We can’t inspect every refrigerator connected to every substation we repair.”

“I didn’t say you should.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“Give the crew a little discretion. When the main job is finished, don’t automatically pack everything up and leave. Give them a few hours to look around.”

Chas considered it.

“A few hours becomes a day. A day becomes two days. Meanwhile somebody else is waiting.”

“Sometimes.”

“Most times.”

“Maybe. But sometimes those few hours keep twenty thousand dollars’ worth of insulin from spoiling.”

Chas was quiet.

Vicky picked up her sandwich again.

“You’re very good at fixing things, Chas.”

He waited for the rest of it.

She smiled.

“You’re not nearly as good at fixing problems.”

Chas stared at her.

“I’m beginning to understand why you’re two days behind schedule.”

“And I’m beginning to understand why you need me.”

Chas almost laughed.

“That is a hell of an assumption.”

“No,” Vicky said. “That’s an observation.”

“Link, add Vicky Harper to the meeting.”

“In what capacity?”

Chas looked at Vicky.

“I haven’t figured that out yet.”

Vicky smiled.

“I have.”

There was a pause.

“Chas, who is Link?”

Chas stopped eating.

“What?”

“Link. You keep talking to him.”

“Oh.”

“That’s your explanation?”

Chas looked toward one of the screens.

“Link, say hello to Vicky.”

“Hello, Vicky.”

Vicky stared at the screen.

“Where is he?”

“Everywhere.”

She looked back at Chas.

“That is not an answer.”

“It’s the best one I’ve got.”

“Is Link an AI?”

Chas hesitated.

“Sort of.”

“Sort of?”

The screen lit up.

I PREFER COMPLICATED.

Vicky stared at it.

Then she looked at Chas.

“You have a complicated AI running your Hacienda?”

Chas took another bite of his sandwich.

“You wanted to know why I need you.”

The mayor spread a map across the table.

“We need the water treatment plant restored first.”

Link answered before Chas could.

“Restoration is estimated at thirty-six hours using four robots and six Iron Horsemen. Approximately eleven hundred residents would benefit.”

Vicky looked at the map.

“What happens to those eleven hundred people without it?”

There was a pause.

The mayor looked at her.

“What do you mean?”

“Do they have water?”

“Some.”

“How much?”

Link answered.

“Current stored capacity is approximately forty-one percent.”

“That’s a number, Link. Are people going thirsty?”

Another pause.

“No.”

“Then what happens if we don’t fix it today?”

Link answered.

“Stored capacity will become critical in approximately five days.”

Vicky nodded.

“Okay. What else?”

The mayor pointed to another location.

“The community center. Part of the electrical system burned out.”

“People?”

Link answered.

“The facility normally serves approximately three hundred residents per week.”

Vicky shook her head.

“I didn’t ask how many people use the building. I asked about the people.”

Chas looked at her.

Vicky turned to the mayor.

“What are they using it for now?”

The mayor hesitated.

“It’s where we’ve been putting families whose homes don’t have power.”

“How many?”

“Thirty-seven people. Twelve are children.”

Vicky looked at Chas.

“Does the building have air conditioning?”

“Not anymore,” the mayor said.

“Bathrooms?”

“Yes.”

“Hot water?”

“No.”

“Refrigeration?”

“One refrigerator. It isn’t working.”

Vicky looked back at the map.

“So your water plant can wait a day.”

The mayor started to object.

She pointed at the community center.

“That can’t.”

Chas looked at Link.

“Is she right?”

“Yes.”

Chas sighed.

“I’m getting tired of hearing that.”