Project N - IC

[Lilraaos]

Esther found Diana's enthusiasm to be infectious. Smiling widely, she retrieved her brown book to show to the other girl.

"Its a book full of recipes and little notes and the natives species, this will be really helpful when we go out into the field!" She explained, then looked curiously to Diana, "How can this machine play music? Is it like a music box with gears and a little metal sheet?" She questioned, curious. Though music or machinery was not her forte, it always made her happy to listen to other people talk about the things they loved.

[padfoot]

Cal slapped the cover back on the scanner and pressed her hand against it. The little light turned green and the door to the kitchen slid open smoothly. She laughed and set to work screwing the over back into place. Esther will be happy now she can get into her kitchen. her helping hand snagged her tools of the floor as she stepped into the kitchen to find the generator access.

 

She had found it. A little unlabled door in the rear of the dark kitchen lead her into a large room with four macines in the center. They looked uch like large front loading washers with a cradle of cable extending from the ceiling and into the top of each one. Cal left the door propped open and walked to a dusty termial and tapped a few commands with the keyboard. The screen flickered to life with a eerie gren glow. This was an old computer, Cal bet her left arm that this was the problem they were having. She set to work, plugging herself into the termainal and running diagnostics

 

 

[Felixr2]

-BUMP-

[padfoot]

Cal retracted her diagnostics cable and tapped a few more commands on the dusty keyboard. It seemed that the power banks on these generators were infected with a virus. Cal loaded up the standard correction file and ran the program to clean the system.

 

'that should do it" she said, dusting her hands off.

 

Without warning, she was plunged into darkness. A arc reflector light snaked over her shoulder and switched on, creating a cone of visibility in front of her. She checked the console and the warning

emergency grid restart 26%

 

Cal groaned and rubbed her face. How could she be so stupid? She forgot that the virus elimination protocol required a full sector reboot. Luckily for her and all the food in the kitchen that it wouldn't take long to restart. Cal cracked her back and packed up her tool belt.

 

She locked the access door and left the kitchen behind him. The lights in the mess hall were also out. It knocked out more than she thought. At least the whole facility wasn't down. She checked her to do list and decided the solar fields needed her attention. She could use the fresh air as well.

[Lilraaos]

"I can't wait to see what you do with it!" Diana responded, matching Esther's enthusiasm. She watched as Esther opened the book, giving an appreciative nod or smile at the little notes or sketches. "Its been a while since I've seen anyone write anything in cursive." She commented on the flowery hand writing that seemed to have been abandoned back on Earth.

"Yes but thats sort of fitting, isn't it?" Esther answered exuberant, "By colonizing this planet, we're making history! Maybe one day this planet will be populated and people will look back to us as its founders!"

Diana laughed good naturedly, not quite understanding Esther's need to make her mark but at the same time finding it a bit enduring.

"What about your device that plays music without electricity?" Esther wondered,

"I haven't quite figured it out yet, I wanted to come see you first. Do you want to come to my room and see?" Diana asked, interlacing her fingers' into Esther's hand and leading the other girl out of her room and toward's Diana's eagerly. "I think that perhaps there is a disc that has been engraved already and a stylus of sorts, connected to the machine follows the engraving and the machine produced a different pitch when the stylus hits different parts of the disc and since the stylus is following a path laid out by the engraving, it produces music!" Diana explained zealously, making sure that she was using terminology that Esther could understand- she wasn't trying to show off, she wanted her friend to be able to follow along.

"That sounds really complicated." Esther remarked as Diana pulled out her card for the scanner. There was a green flash as Diana's card was confirmed and the two young women stepped into the room.

Diana strolled over to the machine and carefully selected a black disc, placing it into the gramophone. She placed the stylus on the disc before stepping back next to Esther's side as soft music filled the room.

 

[padfoot]

Cal stepped out into the alien sun as she corssed the west courtyard to get to the solar farm on the edge of the compound. The map she pulled up on her mini taskmaster showed a shortcut through the airfield. She was crossing the expanse of tarmack when she heard a strange noise drifting from the personel transport ship grounded not far from her path. Cal stopped to listen more closely.

 

Roop! Roop! Roop!

 

It sounded like the muffled barking of a dog. Cal changed her course and walked cautiously towards the ship. Its smooth black hull blocked out the sun as she grew closer. The sound was growing louder and she was sure that it was a dog now. She reached out and flipped up a seemless hidden panel. Inside was a board with two buttons, one red and one green. Cal mashed the green button and activated the emergency exterior cargo hatch access.

 

The cargo hatch had swung open like the mouth of a huge insect and Cal stepped up to the ramp, "Hello! Is...your dog ok?!?" she called into the ship. The barking stopped and was replaced by rapid clicking. She didn't have to wait long. A great dane came trotting from inside the ship and stopped at the top of the ramp. Cal and the dog made eye contact confused eye contact for several seconds. Cal then akawardly pat her knees, "Uh...here girl?" she called.

The dog did not move.

Cal waited but when the dog was defiant, she gave up and walked to it.

 

Cal crouched by the dog and pet her head, "Hey girl, Who the hell are you" she said in the voice people use on cute dog. Her fingers followed a collar around her neck and checked the issued id.

"Oh! You're a boy! Well I'm sorry sir" she said to the dog, "And Bugle's your name. nice to meet you Bugle."She stood back up and peered into the ship. She didn't remember there being a dog on board when they took off. Then again, Cal didn't exactly socialize during the flight. She chose to go into the cold sleep shortly after they left earth.

 

Dog or no dog, something was happening inside that interested him a lot. The dog trotted off and went to the door on the opposite side of the cargo bay. Bugle turned and looked back at her with his droopy face. Cal got the picture and followed the dog into the depts of the ship.

 

Inside was dark and the thin beam of her snakelight and a emergency light every hundred feet or so was the only defense against the total darkness. As she followed the dog she began to run. Somewhere ahead she finally heard it. The distinct Whoop Whoop of a failing vitals monitor. By the time she reached the cryosleep wing she was in a full on sprint. The noise was defining now. How did no one else hear this?!?

 

Cal sprinted to the pod flashing red and punched in her staff id. The screen changed to display the occupant's vital signs. There was still a heartbeat but it was erratic. Oxygen levels in their blood were dropping. Cal figured it out seconds later.

 

"! He's soffocating!" She yelled to the dog and looked up, "They cut the power to the ship without checking the cryosleep wing! The morons! "

 

Cal switched back to the main menu and started his wake up sequence. The door wasn't responding to the open command though. She feared that was the cause of the malfunction. The auto-wake-up didn't engage, his oxygen ran out and his door was jammed. Whoever this was was having a terrible first day on Naghu. Well, until Cal found them.

Her helping hands whirled to life and started gathering tools from her belt. She didn't know medical systems so she was helpless to do anything to the patient directly. Her only hope was to try to find the problem.

 

She worked quickly, removing the access panel and looking around inside. Since the ship was grounded and in a stable environment, there was no need to keep pumping oxygen. Unfortunately for this poor soul, the cryosleep pods were on the same system as the rest of the ship. There were suppose to be backup tanks.

 

There! Cal located the tanks and checked the dial. Empty. She guessed that's why the alarm was going off. She stepped back from the panel and looked at the beading frosted glass front of the cryopod, He ran her hand through her hair and looked at Bugle.

 

"I need to get him out."

 

The dog barked in response.

 

"Your right. I should pry the door open."

Cal narrowed her eyes and her helping hands dropped the tools they were holding. The claw arm poked inside the pack they were attached to. It withdrew the claw with a much thinner tip, perfect for prying. Cal stepped forward and jammed the thin tip where the tow doors met. The powerful hydraulics began to pry the doors open. At her feet, Bugle was barking and digging at the base of the pod. She managed to wedge her fingers, all 15, into the gap and pry with her remaining three arms. The servos in her arm whirled from the strain. Already Cal could hear the air rushing into the gap. With a single burst of power, Call pried the door completely open and stepped back to avoid the dense fog rolling from the freezer.