Plague Planet (The Wandering Engineer) Read Online Free Page A

pulled together well,
each using their specialties or interests to better themselves. He wished them
well.
    There were a dozen major cities on the main continent. The cities
were at the pinnacle of civilization as the forefront of technology and
industry. Most were still clawing their ways out of the dark ages. Most were in
the early twentieth century in terms of style and level of technology.
    But the impact was mainly centralized, only a little of its impact
was filtering down from those with the most money to other classes. There
apparently was a growing middle class; they were based in the industries and
construction workers building the towering buildings in the cities. So far
unions had only a minor impact on the industries. The capitalists still reigned
supreme.
    He'd wondered how they'd gone so long without a pirate raid.
Epsilon was a better target than say Centennial; after all it had a tech base
close to the twentieth century. Phoenix pointed out a series of ground defense
installations, one per continent. Each was on a mountain in a mountain chain.
The energy reading danced around; most likely they had a central fusion reactor
with decoys or a series of micro reactors. Keeping them up and running would
deter any pirate, after all one of those planetary class energy weapons could
tear a cruiser apart at an AU out.
    Also, each had a good sized city nearby. Most likely because the
fusion reactors needed to power the defensive guns was tapped to power the city
when not in use. Also, he was fairly certain they needed parts to keep them
running. That partially explained the steep port fees, it wasn't all graft
then.
    Indeed, he'd been challenged when they'd entered orbit. He'd been
told to pay the port fees, they were non-negotiable. He'd grumbled but agreed.
It wasn't like he had any other choice. At least they scaled them to the ship
size.
    Nineteenth and early twentieth century medical technology, radio,
rail ways, and even flight had made a comeback over the past twenty years.
There were of course teething issues integrating such ancient technology... and
reinventing much of it and its' supporting infrastructure... More modern
technology was haphazardly strewn around the planet, mainly centralized around
the protective planetary defense communities or the space ports. The people
there jealously guarded it too.
    The vehicles and other transportation methods were a mix like any
colony. It was better than Gaston, which only had animals, wind, boats, or
bicycles to transport people or goods. Here there were the usual mix of animals
for riding or pulling carts, but also steam locomotives, and early automobiles
were mixed with elderly air cars and primitive aircraft. There were steam ships
plying the oceans and waterways, Sprite had pointed out a casino paddle boat
the American Queen. She'd apparently picked up an article about how it had
burned in the middle of a river killing hundreds of people who hadn't been able
to escape. There was something to be said about knowing how to swim, he thought
with a pang.
    Pockets of modern Federation technology were here and there on the
planet, but with little knowledge of how to repair or maintain it, let alone
power it all, they were not in use. So it would of course break down over time
he realized. No new computers but plug and play with what they've got had
attritioned their parts supplies, no wonder they were so interested in outside
trade. Trade with ships had sparked renewed interest in repairing and
rebuilding their tech base. No one had that ability in the sector until he had
arrived on the scene. Lately better education and an interest in repairing tech
had sparked an engineering explosion. People were reinventing tech all over the
place.
    Eventually Destiny or another ship from Pyrax would come along and
really kick things off. Hopefully soon he thought.
     

Chapter 2
     
    There were three space ports, the primary one was in a county
called Hazard on the main continent.