Chapter 6 - Rumors

“It was used as pet food” my new bunk mate told me.  “Pet food?” I questioned, arching my eyebrows.  “Yep, it had some enzyme in it that made the big things docile after they had been trained” she continued.  “What do you mean I've never seen a pet monster?” I asked.  “They were pretty common before the last big robot war, the one that made the huge crater where the Capital City on Calypso used to be, afterwards there were some whacked out genetic mutations going on with everything, even people and one of the mutations caused the creatures that had been or could have been trained before to not accept it anymore.”  She explained.  “So it’s not for people then?”  I asked kind of wide eyed, thinking that I almost had figured out how to make the stupid Nutrio Bars.  “No silly that would be like probably the worst thing possible to eat ..” she said making a gagging sound at the end.  I let it drop vowing to myself to never ever under any circumstances to eat any of the native vegetable fruit melon things again.

The conversation changed to stuff going on around the ship, gossip, rumors that sort of thing.  And eventually one of my bunk mates asked me if I was better now.  They had all been present in the female quarters when I showed up weeks ago.  I was still pretty much a mess when I was delivered there with all my belongings.  “You seemed really upset and distraught the day you moved in” she said with more than a little curiosity in her voice.  “Yeah .. we didn't want to get into your business right off but we have all been curious about what actually happened” added the Propulsion Specialist.  The Gunners Mate wasn't as tactful as the other two just asked “Is it true you were caught banging some well-known pirate guy that has a bounty on him on all the known worlds”?

They were all leaning forward now in a conspiratorial like way and scooting closer so we wouldn't have to talk at normal levels.  They really wanted to know the details, I could tell by the look in their eyes.  “Well” I sighed “It wasn't so much I got caught .. it’s that I told the Senior Officers about it”. “You .. what???” they all said at once.  “Yeah it’s kind of a big mess” I said biting my lower lip.  “I don’t believe it, Lisbeth, you seem so so so .. “ the Propulsion Specialist stammered searching for the right word.  “Naïve” said the Gunners Mate leaning back crossing her arms having found the right word for our mate.  I sat there nodding my head.  I had to agree with her on that point.  “And you told the Brass about the whole thing” asked the girl from the Engineering team.  They all got up from the table between our bunks, two of them dragging chairs and the third sitting down on the end of my bunk facing me.  Now we were really close together.  “So .. “ started the Propulsion specialist. “Details, Lisbeth, details, tell us what you did to get drug up before the Senior Officers ..” said the Engineer.  “Every juicy bit of it“ the Gunners Mate added.  They all leaned in even closer eyes wide and ready for me to spill it all.

I sighed again and looked at each of their expectant faces and started “Well it was a chance encounter that started out on the hanger deck at Athena Station.  I fixed his ship for him and he bought me dinner and we ended up in my quarters.  But please don’t get me wrong I don’t do stuff like that ever and I didn't tell the ‘Brass’ all the steamy parts.  But I will tell you this, he truly has to be the most beautiful man I have ever met and he is big all over, huge hands, size very large feet and his … “.  9 or 10 minutes later when I finished they were all siting there wide eyed open mouthed and maybe a little astonished at the amount of detail I put into the description of the whole night long experience.  After I had finished and was leaning back against the bulkhead the Gunners Mate grinned and said “Well .. maybe not that naïve” and we all laughed hysterically for a few minutes.

Not everything is perfect though.  I have been getting some unwanted attention from a few of the crew.  Like rude comments and suggestions that aren't so pleasant, at least not to me.  Sometimes people can be so crude especially if the rumors are flying ahead of you like crazy.  I heard one retelling of my Athena encounter that left me stunned.  Seems I was the moll of a whole gang of pirates, a sort of the pass around girl, and despite my seeming innocent personality am responsible for multitudes of misdeeds and possible murders. The story got pretty gruesome sexually and made me blush thinking that anyone would believe I was that kind of girl even for a microsecond.  I assured the person that retold me this version of the story that there was absolutely no truth to this at all.  Not sure she believed me though.  As we parted company she looked me up and down very suspiciously.  Or was that with jealousy?

But the one type of incident that repeated itself more than a few times typically came from some of the more loathsome males that heard what they wanted to hear in the rumors and confronted me about doing something special for them.  One time two guys blocked the gangway while I was on my way forward and were very insistent that if I was the type of girl that would do it anytime, why would hesitate to do them at that moment.  I must have turned a serious shade of red and when I tried to push between them to get on with my work one of them grabbed my arm and tried to stop me.  My magnetically chargeable steel toed boots are pretty tough and seriously hard, as he found out when I kicked him in the shin with all my 40 kilos behind it.  He let go and I went on to my duty station.  Anyways I hope this all dies down quickly and the rumor mill sets its sights on someone else.

All Hands Alert just went off gotta run …

Just another group of wanna be pirate types hitting us as we moved from the sphere of the planet towards the space station.  No serious damage and the gunners got some real practice.  They are becoming quite good actually if the rumors about that are correct.  I talk to my bunk mate that is one of the Gunners a lot she thinks the team is improving as a whole not just gunnery.  The way she puts it if they get the ship in the right place and respond to calls and propulsion works at its toppest efficiency being a gunner is easy.

Hours Later

I finally figured out the mining amps and located a blueprint for one of the easier to make versions.  Now I have 2 blueprints in my book and have been collecting materials for these things for the last couple of weeks.  I hope to be able to give them a go next time I have some time planet side.  And yes that Captain has finally agreed to let me off the cargo loader when we are on a planet.  I do love exploring new places and have had the chance to see quite a few interesting sites.  I need a quick snack before going back on duty.

My pad says it is 36 hours later but my internal clock says it has been at least a week.  Must sleep but I need to do a journal entry of the last day or so while still sorta fresh in my mind. 

All seemed well like any other normally scheduled run with everyone at station waiting in Standby.  Then we dropped out mid warp with a huge slam that made the whole ship ring like an enormous bell.  I was helping out in propulsion and we all just looked at one another.  There was no damage then all of a sudden the lights went out.  The normal red glow of propulsion dimmed to a dull grey from the flickering emergency lights.   

The Engineering Officer in charge told everyone to be quiet and activated the comms, but there was no answer from Command.  He tried the other stations and nothing.  Comms were obviously down throughout the whole ship.  The Officer turned to the crew at hand and said “Maintain your stations I’ll be right back”.  No one responded as he jumped over the railing and disappeared around the propulsion intermix console.  

A couple minutes later he was back.  He pointed at me and one of the other repair crew and said “You two with me”.  “Aye Sir” we replied in unison and headed off at a run behind the Engineering Officer.  When we got to the blast doors leading up to the Reactor he stopped and pointed at the mechanism that drives the door.  He said “Here and here”.  The other repair tech aimed his RK at the two points on the mechanism the engineer indicated but nothing happened, it wasn't damaged just not being powered.  Then we moved over to the hatchway that leads to the inter ship televator.  The lack of power had caused both doorways leading to the platform to slide open partway.  So the 3 of us leaned on the down part of the doors and forced them into their pockets. 

The televator was dark and the usual sound wasn't coming from the floor.  Just the tiny emergency halogen lamps on either side of the door way were on, barely illuminating the platform.   “Looks like we are stuck here for the moment” the Engineer mumbled aloud.  I could see him smoothing his hair like he did when in deep thought.  He looked around the compartment and motioned the other crewman to follow him.  He said “Give me a boost up so I can open this ceiling panel”.  The crewman made a stirrup with his interlocked fingers and the Engineering Officer stepped up and undid the latches and let the panel open downward.   Then the Engineering Officer pulled himself up into the void above the ceiling.  He looked back down and said “Wait right here” to the crewman and to me he said “Wasp go get my tool kit on the aft scaffold of the inner discharge port”.  I dashed away the back side of the Propulsion unit and found his kit strapped to the scaffold with a wide leather belt.  I pulled it free and ran as fast as I could to the televator platform.

When I got back to the televator the Engineering Officer was gone and I stood next to the other crewman looking up at the ceiling.  A few minutes later the Engineer returned and leaned out of the opening in the ceiling so we could see him.  He said “I think we can get to Command Deck from here if we had a light of some kind.  If not we will have to feel our way.  Give me a minute to see if I can get around the inertial confinement tubes without falling down the shaft.”

 

He was gone for about 5 minutes and returned.  He leaned out of the panel again and said “I can get around them but not much further” he paused a moment and said “Wasp are you claustrophobic?” “No Sir .. I mean I don’t think so” I replied looking up at his worried face.  “Crewman lift her up to me” he said and I stepped into the crewman’s hands and he pushed me up towards the Engineering Officers outstretched hand.  I handed him his tool kit when it was stashed behind him he pulled me up into the ceiling.  It is usually pretty dark in this area anyways but now it was pitch black.  We scooted back from the lighted rectangle above the televator and Engineering Officer spoke softly to me as he rummaged in his kit.

 

When he found what he was looking for he said “I’m about to show you something that you will never do again nor will you tell anyone I showed you this.”  I sat quietly paying attention to what he was doing.  He held his low power laser cutting tool between us and twisted the projector housing off the business end and pulled the feedback coupling and the power regulator out gently.  He looked up to make sure I was watching and pulled the feedback coupling out of the power regulator he flipped the feedback coupling around 180 degrees and reinserted the reconfigured parts back into the cutter.  He laid the cutter down and took a pointed tool from his kit and pressed the focus lens out of the projector housing and reattached the projector housing to the cutter.  “OK” he whispered “when you turn it on in this configuration make sure the power control is set to minimum”.  He showed me the proper sitting and then pointed to cutting tool away from us turned it on.  “Notice when you turn it on the laser will be a bit erratic for a moment then will flare into wide low intensity beam, pretty dim actually but you should be able to see well enough with it.”  “Yes Sir” I said nodding my head. “And Wasp don’t move the lever much off minimum power or we will have a nice finger sized hole through everything between it and outside and the cutter will likely melt in your hand.” He said with a smile and continued “Seriously though leave it on minimum power and you should be able to see just fine. Ready”?  I nodded my head and crawled across the pipes and conduits after him. As we crawled forward the Engineering Officer told me what he wanted me to try to do when I got to the third confinement tube raceway.

At last I squirmed my way through the maze of cables going through the innards of the ship and was hanging beside the third set of inertial confinement tubes.  This set of tubes route power to the guns on the Command Deck and pass through the aft part of the crew quarters near the Medical Section.  I stopped and listened carefully for any sound.  Quiet as a tomb.  OK just at the end of the crawl way past the big Power Regulator he said there would be an access panel that allows routing high energy cable connections to the engineering section for whatever reason.  Watch out for the big coiled cables .. they should have covers over the ends but check before crawling over them he had cautioned.  OK .. looks good big covers on the terminations of the cables.  The panel is just here.  Pull the lever on either side and it will slide open.  The panel slid to the side and I poked my head into the Engineering Section.  Dark.  I played the laser across the floor and pulled myself through.  When I got in I sat there for a few second before pulling the inside lever to close the access way.

Looking around the room at all the apparatus in various stages of disassembly I noted the door was securely closed.  I started to get up and give it a shove to see if it would open when an oddly shaped red lighted profile passed in front of the window.  I sat there quietly and thumbed to switch to power the laser cutter off.  The odd shaped shadow turned away from the door and walked towards the crew mess area.  I held my breath as it took the form of a Robot Drone.  I scooted back and thought about opening the access way and getting out of there but I couldn't move.  I didn't even dare blink.  There were a few more shadows passing the door and I inched myself away from the wall scooting on my butt to the table in the center of the room.

I peeked around the leg of the table at the knee joints of another Drone standing in front of the door.  There was a loud thump and I about jumped out of my skin but the door didn't budge.  The Engineering Officer told me that if power was off this particular door would be really hard to open but I could use the laser cutter on one click up from minimum to cut through the latching relay that secures it.  I was hoping the Drone didn't know that.  Then it turned and walked towards the televator.  I didn't know what to do I just knelt there wanting to be somewhere else.  Then I looked through the window at the medical section where the revive platform sits with the entire med center surrounding it.  There were bodies everywhere but mostly piled up on the revive pad.  No one was moving and no one was reviving.  This was disturbing in so many ways.  Did the Robots disable the revive and then kill everyone.  That wouldn't be right if the bodies were all over the stupid thing.  OK OK OK .. so maybe they killed everyone and kept killing them on the revive platform until they got the revive disabled.  This is not good.  As I knelt there trying to figure out how to get out of this mess alive a brilliant flash filled the area blinding me for a few seconds.  Then another and another, the robots were moving towards aft firing back at the flashes.

I couldn't hear a sound other than one stray blast that hit the door jamb by Engineering reminding me to keep my head down.  Then there were 2 people with light blades walking into the Drones chopping them to shreds.  Both were wearing glistening black armor with a full set of open space attachments.  The whirling blades made quick work of the Drones and the blades were turned off.  The smaller of the two shrugged off their pack and dumped the contents on the floor and quickly spread it into two piles.  The larger person picked up what I saw to be a pressure patch for fixing hull breaches.  Large hull breaches.  They split up and obviously went to work fixing the access way the robots had used to enter the ship.  I don’t know why but I knelt there not moving. I wanted to stand up and clap but somehow I got a feeling I best remain unseen.  In about 10 minutes the couple reappeared and went to the environmental control panel outside of Medical and made some adjustments.  I noticed the blinking red light inside Engineering next to the door turn from red to yellow then flickered to steady green.  When it turned green the door to Engineering slid open.

The two people turned to see what that meant.  The shorter one turned back towards Medical and started clearing bodies off of the revive platform.  The larger one walked towards Engineering with hand gun drawn.  I grabbed the edge of the table and pulled myself up. As I stood I raised my hands over my head and closed my eyes.  Nothing happened.  When I dared take a peek the large person was standing there with hands on hips head back like they were laughing inside of their helmet.  I lowered my hands slowly pushing the laser cutter in my hip pocket.

When I looked up at the face plate of his helmet I gasped out loud and took a step backwards.  It was Mitch.

Go to--> Chapter 7 - Cargo

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Disclaimer Part

None of the characters in this story / role play are real in the sense that this all takes place in a virtual world.  None of the events depicted are real, come on its in space on a huge Mothership.  Really?

The real parts are as follows:

The environment in which I do my role play is a game called Entropia Universe.  Which is made by Swedish company called MindArk.  MindArk has not authorized me to speak for them in any way nor do I intend to.  But I will tell you it is a very fun game and it truly is what you make it.

Entropia Universe is a free to play game with a real cash economy.

Here is a link to Entropia Universe - Planet Calypso

The Motherships do exist in the game and are owned and operated by individuals.  The fleets of ships that Wasp works on are all part of the Entropia Fleet Alliance.  These folks are pros at getting you across space in an efficient timely manner.  They offer routine scheduled flights every day of the week. 

Here is a link to the EFA Website –  Entropia Fleet Alliance 

Oh and when you aren't reading my blogger or even when you are listen in on  Atlas Haven Radio <-- click here for link.