“Yes I can fix it” I said as I looked at the two
Wastelanders towering over me. I moved
my inspection tool over the control system of the Revive Station paying close
attention to the little hologram hovering above the display. The energy weapon the Drones had used to
disable the major power systems in the Mothership didn't do physical damage but
disrupted all the electropositive circuitry throughout the ship. I don’t really know how they targeted those
specific components but it was very effective.
I knew the parts needed to fix the Revive Station were in the spare
parts cabinets located in the Engineering Section just across the deck from
Medical.
I pointed across the deck to Engineering with my homemade
pulsed quanta generalized inspection tool and said “I need to go over there and
see if I can find stuff to do the repairs.”
Mitch stepped aside I lowered my head not daring to look at him and
walked quickly over to Engineering. I
opened my pad and did a quick search for the location of the electropositive
components. Luckily, I found the proper processor,
modulator, comm component and the security module that matched the set in the
Revive Station right where they were supposed to be. Taking the parts I headed back to
Medical. It was pretty creepy stepping
over the dead bodies of my crew mates. I
tried not to think about it and opened the panel on the riser next to
Revive. With little effort the
components were replaced and I was about to power the unit back on when the
woman with Mitch put her hand over mine and said, “Not just yet. They still have some time before death is
permanent.” I looked at her wide eyed
then to Mitch feeling more than just a little confused. Mitch dug into his bag and produced a
triphased transmitter that looked like it had been modified with some not quite
standard components. “Attach this between the electropositive communication
component and the electropositive security module” he said. I took the oddly configured component and did
as he instructed.
“OK can I turn it on now?”
I asked. The woman took a small
handheld device from her belt and did something to the display. She looked at the control system and said
“Now turn it on”. I touched the control
that would bring Revive back online but it stayed dormant. I started to open the panel to inspect my
work but woman held up the device and said “I can finish the startup sequence with
this”. She turned to Mitch and said “How
are we doing for time?” Mitch took a
quick glance at a display attached to the armor on his left forearm then said
“The Drones have the containers loaded and are standing by.” “I’ll power them
off on the way” said the woman as she turned briskly on her heel and headed
aft, back the way she and Mitch had entered.
Mitch turned to me and said, “Do you have armor?” I shook my head negative. He paused for a moment looking over my head
towards Engineering. Then he put his
hand on my shoulder and guided me out of Medical in the direction the woman had
taken. When we got to the view port that
overlooks the hanger deck I noticed a new opening had been cut through the
bulkhead. Mitch put his arm around me
and jumped down 20 some meters to the hanger deck. When we landed he sat me down gently. I looked around and there was a Vega Class
Privateer that just barely fit inside the hanger. Standing idle at the rear of the ship was a
cluster of Drones. The woman was already
close to them with her light sword activated.
She took one or two swipes at each Drone sending metal parts off in all
directions.
“We don’t have time to find you a suit and a set of space
attachments so I’m afraid you will have to ride with the cargo.” Mitch said.
I looked up at him and blinked my eyes and stammered out “What ..wait
a .. I .. I .. don’t want to go with ..
with .. you!” I turned to head back up the ramp but he put his hand on my
shoulder and steered me to the cargo door on the Privateer. The woman was just coming back down the ramp
and saw us approaching. She was just
about to press the exterior contact that closed up the compartment when we got
to the ship. “Hold a sec Raven” Mitch
said calmly. The woman turned and looked
from me to Mitch and shook her head.
Mitch led me up the short ramp into the ship’s cargo area and scanned
the containers secured to the deck. All
of the containers were equipped with climate controls. As he opened the container closest to the
cargo door I noticed the shimmer of a person headed for revive across the deck
from the ship, then two more shimmers further aft.
After Mitch had made some adjustments to the controls on the
container he opened the access way and pushed me inside. “Stay calm” He told me patting the access
panel “and don’t try to open this or we will have a problem. More specifically you will have a
problem.” Then he followed with “This
should take a little less than an hour”.
As he turned to leave I said in a shaky voice “This is kidnapping you
know.” He didn't look back or even pause
as the access way into the container closed.
There I was locked inside an utterly dark shipping container. I stood there for a few moments in total
disbelief as the darkness seemed to soak into my every pore. I closed my eyes tightly and tried not to cry
or scream or just explode. After a few
moments of hugging myself tightly and sniffling, I pulled the modified laser
cutting tool out of my back pocket and thumbed the power on. The laser flickered for a few moments then
steadied into a wide cone of greenish blue light. The pallets and boxes around me were neatly
arranged and I found a spot to sit down between to large plastic crates that
fitted into the locking grooves in the floor.
As soon as I was wedged between the crates I felt the ship move and seconds
later felt the familiar vibrations associated with warp flight.
I squatted there with my chin supported by my palms my
elbows locked between my knees and vibrated with the rest of the cargo. I tried to think of how I could possibly get
away from these maniacs. But all my
schemes would eventually be checked off as stupid or as ineffective as wishing
I could fly. I felt so totally out of my
element and alone. Why the heck would he
kidnap me for goodness sake? That didn't make any sense at all. I continued to
run through all that had happened during the last several hours, in my
throbbing head. And I was dirty from
crawling through the innards of the ship and I stunk like something terrible.
The warp flight seemed to take a lot longer than the routine
flights I am used to or maybe it was the fact that I was in the container but when
the shaking finally stopped I knew we were out of warp. I didn't move though as that seemed
pointless. He would either let me out
eventually or not. I hoped that my worst
case fears were not true, that he was taking the only witness to their crime to
some remote place to dispose of her desiccated body. I thought desiccated because I was all of a
sudden very thirsty which I added to my increasing mental list of immediate
miseries. I don’t actually know how long
I was in the container before I felt a slight sensation telling me we had
landed somewhere.
Since the containers are pretty much air tight and sound
proof I couldn't tell what was going outside of the confines of my dark prison
but after what seemed like forever I felt the container moving. It was obviously on some kind of gravatic
lift being moved down the ramp of the privateer. I tried like he said to ‘stay calm’ but I was
really anxious about what was going to happen next.
When the access way of the container was finally opened I got
up blinking my eyes at that sudden harsh glare of light pouring through the
opening. I saw that his silhouette
appeared to be reaching for me. I put up
my hands to fend him off which I knew would be futile but instead felt a
plastic bottle. “Drink” was all he said
as he turned and walked away from the container. I opened the bottle and gulped down several
mouthfuls of water. After attaching the lanyard
on bottle to my pouch I walked out of the container my hands shielding my eyes
from the blinding lights around the staging area. I looked around and thought ‘staging area of
what’.
We were in a gigantic cave.
I heard the thrum of powerful engines behind me, turning quickly I just
caught a glimpse of the privateer disappearing around a bend in the cavern. My first thought was ‘great they have left me
here’. The cavern seemed to stretch out
for kilometers in all directions there wasn’t much to gauge scale by but it was
enormous. When I looked up the ceiling
appeared to be covered with what looked like fog.
There were raised platforms on both sides of the staging area. Off in the distance through the haze I could
see several quads parked side by side.
The size of the place was overwhelming.
As I completed a full 360 degree turn taking in the cavern I
spotted Mitch and that Raven woman by some peculiar looking terminals. I didn't know what else to do so I walked
over to join them. On the way I tried
to count the number of containers stacked around but quickly lost track and
just shook my head at the wonder of it all.
I knew these guys were criminals but gosh if all this is loot they are
mega big time pirates. When I got close
enough to see what they were doing I noticed the name Villre Star stenciled on side
of the unit powering the terminals. That
name was familiar in some way but I couldn't place it at the moment. I stood a little distance from the
Wastelanders not wanting to seem as anxious as I actually was. Eventually they finished and Mitch motioned
for me to follow him.
We entered a small building near the quads and he went to a
set of lockers opening them one after another.
When he found what he was looking for he pointed at the open locker and
said “Get suited up we will be in the quad for over 5 hours”. Then he turned and walked out of the
building. I just stood there for a few
moments letting absolute emotional shock at what was happening take hold of me.
I eventually and honestly quite unaware that I had done so began to
numbly put on the several sizes too large armored flight suit.
6 hours later
A little over 5 hours after leaving the small moon sized asteroid we landed in a secluded spot on a
planet. I pulled off the flight suit and
left it under the wing of the quad then opened my pad but there was no signal
to be had just the local apps active warning.
While Mitch and his partner in crime loaded the single seat vehicles
with the small containers from the storage of the quads I looked around for
anything familiar. The place we landed didn't have the faintest trace of familiarity, which was odd because when one lands
on any of the known planets they tell you where to land as directed by customs
authorities, census takers and all that.
This place was definitely off the grid.
When they were finished Mitch waved me over to his
vehicle. I stood there glaring up at him
with the most menacing stare I could manage.
He just smiled that wish-he-would-stop-it crooked smirky smile of his
and offered me his hand. When I refused
to take it he picked me up and shoved me in the stowage of the vehicle.
Several hours later
I ache all over from being bounced around in a metal box
attached to the back of a really noisy vehicle.
I probably have bruises on my bottom as well. The ride was like he tried to hit every large
rock and hole in the ground he passed on the trip from where we landed to where
ever it was we were going.
When we finally stopped after what felt like hours, I sat in
the relative quiet of the vehicle storage area for a few long moments. When the door finally opened there he stood
long leather coat and all. I frowned at
him and said for about the 10th time “This is kidnapping you
know”. He just chuckled and stuck out
his hand to help me out of the vehicle storage.
I didn't take it and hopped down to the ground on my own. A quick look around and it was apparent we
were in an even more out of the way place.
Pretty landscape and all that, the buildings looked old, not like worn
out old but ancient.
Behind us the other vehicle ground to a stop. The hatch opened and a tall fierce looking
woman climbed down. This was actually
the first time I had seen Raven without her armored flight suit. When she turned her long leather coat opened
to reveal a thin muscular frame. At her
right hip was a large hand gun in its holster.
On her left I could see the hilt of her light sword sticking out of its
carbon nano tube scabbard. She was
attractive but she had a hardness about her that sent a chill down my
spine. After she had retrieved her bag
from the cockpit of the vehicle she walked toward us. Her face was unreadable but I saw a hint of a
smile at the edge of her mouth. Her hair
was different than it was on the wanted poster.
In that image it was like close cropped blond fuzz, now it’s long and
black. As she approached she tied her hair back into a tight ponytail but a few unruly
wisps poked out here and there.
“I was just on with Stalker and the Reverend they took out 2
Infiltrators near 796 / 759 and scuttled the Privateer in the Dropship debris
field. Now are in a Quad headed this way, eta 8 hours.” She stated.
Then she tilted her head slightly in my direction and said “And,
Tracker, explain to me again why we brought this puny with us”. “There is a reason for everything,
Raven. Come let’s get these
Mechanomatrix Adapter Units to Thinker.”
He chuckled, his now annoying laugh, lifting his overly large flight
bag. They both turned and headed for the
large structure we had stopped in front of.
I stood there for a few moments looking around. OK, so in the middle of god knows where with
no idea how to get back to where I was.
Options: Stand here. Run. Go inside.
While running seemed like the right thing to do at the time I knew from
previous excursions to new planets that the local flora and fauna are typically
not friendly to, as Raven put it, punys like me. I watched the two Wastelanders walking away,
their long strides carrying them quickly towards the entrance of the building. I tightened the strap on my small pouch and
hurried after them. Running was still an
option but I needed more information before attempting that.
Mad Scientist - Wastelander Thinker Barrett
Mad Scientist - Wastelander Thinker Barrett
Thinker was in a lab like room with tons of sophisticated
equipment surrounding him. In the center
of the room were 2 large tables pushed together to form a very large work
bench. Scattered over the entire work
surface were parts of robots. Several of
the big pieces looked like Drone Coordinators or maybe Drone Communicators I
had seen in pictures someplace but I couldn't really tell for sure since they were
more or less in a pile in the center of the work area. Around the sides were cleared off spots with exotic
looking electronic equipment attached by triphased wires and connectors to
smaller robot parts.
Mitch sat his bag down and brought out several devices I had
never seen before. Thinker, an older guy
with a grey crew cut, took the devices and said “Ahhh .. here we go. Did you guys have any trouble?” “No worked just like you said it would”
replied Mitch. “The other loot stashed
in the Mine? Don’t guess there was much interesting in that lot was there?”
Thinker asked quickly following with “And who is this miniature person?” I decided right then I didn't like him very much. Mitch turned to see me
standing there looking irritated. He
said “This grumpy looking miniature, as you call her, is Lisbeth”. “Hmmmm .. well this is truly out of the
ordinary Tracker. What exactly is her
purpose for being here?” Thinker asked
looking me up and down like he would an empty robot carcass. Raven stifled a giggle and said “Think I have
asked him that myself. So why did we
bring this thing with us?” She turned
away from me with an arched eyebrow and frowned at Mitch. “Well obviously she is your new assistant
Thinker” Mitch beamed.
I stood there shaking my head wondering what bombshell would
drop next. Thinker looked me up and down
again this time with maybe a thousandth of a gram more interest. He leaned back and said “Does she have any
skills?” Mitch turned to me and said
“Give him your inspection tool”. I
opened my pouch and pulled my inspection tool out of its special pocket and
handed it to Thinker. He rolled the
device in his finger tips and moved the magnifier from his forehead to cover
his right eye. He studied the inspection
tool with his trained eye. Then he laid
it on the bench and started taking it apart.
All I could do is stand there and watch as he dissected the thing that
took me almost a year to scrounge parts for.
When he had it apart he nodded his head and grunted. He put it back together with dexterity that I didn't think possible with hands as large as his. When it was back together he turned it on and
moved it over one of the robot heads on his bench. “You made this?” He asked
still looking at the holographic diagram of the inside of the robot head
floating above the tool. I nodded my
head affirmative. He turned to me
handing back my inspection tool and said “Did you think about using an advanced
VisioMem instead of that old standard VisioMem?” I shrugged and said “Sure I thought about it
but you don’t find those in the junk people toss out”. “Clever adaption of standard holo module
though what did you get the intensity amplifier out of?” I couldn't help myself suddenly I was leaning
on his bench babbling about what all the parts came out of and how many basic
filters I had physically shredded to get the density required construct the standard matrix that confines the quanta.
As we talked he showed me the beginnings of a project he
called “Shoving it up their metal hind sides”.
When I looked around Mitch and that woman Raven were gone. I don’t know how many hours passed as I
watched Thinker work and listen to him talk about tech that was light years
ahead of my comprehension. Occasionally
though I did get it and got a glimpse into the mind of a true evil
electromechanical mad scientist genius wizard.
Finally he said “Lisbeth you catch on quickly, clever girl”. I looked at him and said “Well I have been
taking things apart more and more or less putting them back together successfully
since I can remember”. He laughed and
said “What do your mates call you? I
know everyone has a nickname of some kind or the other.” “Most folks call me Wasp” I grinned in
response to his question. He laughed and
said “Let me see your pad for a second”.
I handed it to him expecting him to tear it apart as well but he just
sat it down on the bench and laid his pad beside it. He pushed them together and spoke a command to
his pad and both lit up and went through a routine I had never seen on my
pad. When my pad finally caught up with
his and the word sync was displayed on both he handed mine back to me. “Now you can find stuff we might need to get
this mess turned into something to raise a little hell with in Robotville.” He
said with a soft laugh.
Several hours later
My butt is dragging the floor behind me. I don’t think I can keep my eyes open for
another second but still Thinker is going like the madman he obviously is. Don’t these people sleep? I sat at the bench and yawned with my whole
body. Thinker noticed and said “You must
still be on a 24 hour cycle. Need to get some sleep?” I nodded and he got up and led me down a
corridor to a small room with a tidily made bed and a refresher that opened
onto a courtyard. He waved his hand at
the bed and said “You can bunk here Wasp, I’ll carry on for a few more
hours. When you get up come back to the
lab and we'll find something to eat.” I
nodded and went to the bed.
But before I went to sleep I started working on a plan for
escape. OK what will you need to get the
heck away from these crazy people? The
first thing that came to mind was a weapon.
I looked at my pad for location of weapons in the compound. There were literally hundreds of weapons of
all sorts none of which I had the skill to use.
Some I even doubted I could even manage to lift.
I did a quick scan of my professional levels and told my
pad to locate a weapon suitable for my current skill level.
As it did the search of all the items Thinker
had given me access to I looked at my attributes. Fudge I am a puny compared to these guys.
Finally the pad sighed and opened a screen that was a little
bit confusing to start with as it looked like museum inventory. So this place was an old castle or something once
upon a time. The only weapon, even in
the old junk down in the cellar, that I could use was a long curved blade
called a Falx and I almost didn't have the skills for it. There was a club like thing but it was longer
than I am tall so that one didn't count.
OK so all I have to do is get to the cellar and find this Falx thing and sneak out unnoticed. “How hard
could that be” I sighed looking at the chronometer on my pad. “Close Journal” I moaned and muttered under
my breath “Gahh .. 36 hours” and my eyes closed on their own.
Chapter 8 - Robots
<<--------------------------------------~O~-------------------------------------->>
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
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.
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