My smile is strained, my expression pinched. "Now you're out of repertoire, Dai." I'm almost saying the words along with, so my speech has some hesitation and stumbles, exactly like when you're talking at the same time as someone else. Focus, Mei. I rub the bridge of my nose. "I need to... set up a psi block. Very soon. I want to see. The planet's orbit, demea— ah, and to see if we can triangu— triang— er, tri-ang-u-late on that damned emitter." I need some water. Keep it together, Mei.
Ksenia,Boots sighs. Actually frakking sighs. "Shit, K, I don't know... alright, I know. I forgot to take my frakking pill. No big deal, usually, but I just... maybe I should let them install the mod."
Mei, most everyone seems to look at you with concern. It is Church, however, who speaks up. "Ensign Mei, is there anything we can do to help? You seem... in distress."
I straighten my back. I speak a little slower than my usual enthusiasm. "It will get worse. I don't know how bad it will get. We need to move back out of range. Short words help."
Am I strong enough to block this? I could EVA while they approach, but... I don't want to be that alone. It's a little daunting. A smile breaks through at the wordplay. I'm usually dauntless.
Boots has some kind of condition. Great. Well, it has nothing to do with this thing then, so I just toss it aside for now. Mei's little stammering scares me a little. I mean sure, this shit's annoying, but I slept by the Mag-lev tracks, so I learned how to put shit aside.
Or maybe the cybernetics is helping. Or it's Mei's psi talents. Frak, I don't know. "Our mission is to figure this out. How do we do our job if we move out of range?"
I pause for a moment, then add, "Is there a shuttle or a pod on here? We could split up."
Dai responds to you, Ksenia,"There's an escape pod, as you know, but I won't operate the ship without it. No room for a shuttle, as we're gravity-well capable."
Church chimes in. "Perhaps we should adjourn and give Ensign Mei the opportunity to establish some... dichroic... some defenses?"
I nod, accepting it. If they're all going to flake out, then it's a waste to stick around here until Mei has a defense. Let's move to a safe distance. I'll wait for Mei to say, make it official.
While I'm waiting, something strikes me. I pull up the reports on the last ship. Did they code the twenty three words they heard? Any overlap between their words and mine? Mei said a word not in my sequence. Church said a word not in my sequence. Are we all hearing different words? Are we maybe hearing snippets of the same long speech?
Concentrating, still measuring my words. "We can't do our job, K, if I'm out out. Think about when we're next to it." I have some defenses, but some is leaking in. "Psi block will be more good if I build it out of range."
Ksenia, Mei, the conversation goes on for a bit. In the end, it's agreed. The Stalker Jane moves off perpendicular to the elliptic of the system, out far enough that the star is the merest speck on the sensors. The words die down, become nothing for most in the ship's complement, and the merest whisper for Mei. You're in the cold of space, burning fuel, waiting...
Comments
[Mei]
My smile is strained, my expression pinched. "Now you're out of repertoire, Dai." I'm almost saying the words along with, so my speech has some hesitation and stumbles, exactly like when you're talking at the same time as someone else. Focus, Mei. I rub the bridge of my nose. "I need to... set up a psi block. Very soon. I want to see. The planet's orbit, demea— ah, and to see if we can triangu— triang— er, tri-ang-u-late on that damned emitter." I need some water. Keep it together, Mei.
Mei, most everyone seems to look at you with concern. It is Church, however, who speaks up. "Ensign Mei, is there anything we can do to help? You seem... in distress."
[Mei]
I straighten my back. I speak a little slower than my usual enthusiasm. "It will get worse. I don't know how bad it will get. We need to move back out of range. Short words help."
Am I strong enough to block this? I could EVA while they approach, but... I don't want to be that alone. It's a little daunting. A smile breaks through at the wordplay. I'm usually dauntless.
[Ksenia Cribbage]
Boots has some kind of condition. Great. Well, it has nothing to do with this thing then, so I just toss it aside for now. Mei's little stammering scares me a little. I mean sure, this shit's annoying, but I slept by the Mag-lev tracks, so I learned how to put shit aside.
Or maybe the cybernetics is helping. Or it's Mei's psi talents. Frak, I don't know. "Our mission is to figure this out. How do we do our job if we move out of range?"
I pause for a moment, then add, "Is there a shuttle or a pod on here? We could split up."
Church chimes in. "Perhaps we should adjourn and give Ensign Mei the opportunity to establish some... dichroic... some defenses?"
[Ksenia Cribbage]
I nod, accepting it. If they're all going to flake out, then it's a waste to stick around here until Mei has a defense. Let's move to a safe distance. I'll wait for Mei to say, make it official.
[Ksenia Cribbage]
While I'm waiting, something strikes me. I pull up the reports on the last ship. Did they code the twenty three words they heard? Any overlap between their words and mine? Mei said a word not in my sequence. Church said a word not in my sequence. Are we all hearing different words? Are we maybe hearing snippets of the same long speech?
[Mei]
Concentrating, still measuring my words. "We can't do our job, K, if I'm out out. Think about when we're next to it." I have some defenses, but some is leaking in. "Psi block will be more good if I build it out of range."
--END SCENE--