08-29-2016, 06:25 AM
Chewing on the meager fare spat out by the nutrient synthesiser (Chip had laughed on seeing her face, then patted her on the back and told her that she’d get working on it sooner rather than later), the two of them headed into the afternoon sun.
The northern quadrant was mostly empty at first glance, wide open tarmac and bare dirt stretching out from the research building. The occasional warped remains of a solar panel stood as lone sentinels, gazing crookedly at the sun.
Carmelita turned to Chip as they stood in the shade of the research building.
“So, what needs doing?”
Chip gave a grin, turning two of her eyes towards the fox.
“We’ll have a look at one of the broken ones, I’ll show you what needs fixing, you memorise the structure, then you duplicate them while I install them. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?”
Giving a nod, Carmelita followed Chip into the blazing heat. The two of them crossed the hot ground as quickly as they could, arriving in the shade of the broken solar panel as quickly as they could.
Chip began showing Carmelita the undersides. The solar panels were mounted on big, tubular mounts that allowed a functional solar panel to track the sun through the sky and anchored them into the earth. Chip requisitioned a shovel from Carmelita’s omnilium and began digging to reveal the latch mechanism while Carmelita had a proper look at the wiring and panel. She braved the direct rays of the sun to brush loose dirt off the panel itself, revealing a few cracks and broken connections even she with her basic understanding of electronics could fix.
A flash of memory, something down in a bunker with an escape pod, hit her almost physically. A hand to her head she staggered back beneath the shade of the solar panel. Chip looked up and frowned.
“You okay?”
Carmelita nodded slowly. Chip stared at her for a few minutes before getting back to cleaning up the connectors.
After half an hour, the mechanisms were revealed fully. Chip showed Carmelita how they needed to be fixed, and then the two of them heaved the solar panel out of the ground and laid it on the earth.
Chip asked for several repair tools, holding out her hand while Carmelita tried her best to summon the correct one. Sometimes it would take several tries, and when Chip asked for a biwave calibrator she ended up having to guide Carmelita through the process of building one from scratch.
As the sun was setting and the day’s heat was evaporating, the two of them finally finished repairing the solar panel. Carmelita stepped forwards and pushed her omnilium through the whole structure, the intrinsic piece of her existence memorising and cataloguing every bit of the structure. As she did so, Chip marked out where the rest of the connectors were, allowing for the full field to be reinstalled.
Working under freshly summoned floodlights, they got to work, shovels in hand, opening up the old holes. It was tiring, but necessary to keep warm as the temperatures dropped dramatically. After three hours of digging, the entire field covered in regularly spaced holes.
“Looks like we should call it a night,” Chip said. “You alright with that Carm?”
Carmelita nodded. She turned towards Chip, a question on her lips.
“So Chip, how’s Al3x?”
The tri-eye smiled in the wan light.
“He’s not that bad, thankfully. He’s got a sense of humor, an eccentric way of talking and seems to have his chip’s screwed in straight.”
“I meant in terms of health, but glad to know you like him.”
Chip spluttered a little and Carmelita let herself laugh a little before the two of them headed back to the control tower.
---
Once back, Al3x greeted them with a cheerful wave. He appeared to be playing solitaire.
“So our two heroines return from the dusty trail. How’s it going out there?”
“Not too bad,” Chip replied. “I should be able to install them as fast as Carm can summon them. We’ll have the field ready by tomorrow mid-morning then I can head inside and reinstall the junction box we’re missing. Then you can run a systems check and we’ll fix any broken wires that are left in the grid.”
Carmelita nodded and gestured for Chip to take her hammock. At her protests, the Inspector insisted, reminding the girl that she’d had rougher nights in the field.
She stayed up, waiting for Chip to begin snoring, before turning to Al3x.
“Okay, I need you to be straight with me. What sort of favours are you looking for?”
The AI smiled, the sand making up his avatar circling faster.
“Nothing ridiculous, Inspector. I have a few leads on some hardware I’d like, probably lost in an abandoned site, and there are a few personal issues I wouldn’t mind a second set of hands on, but I’m not going to ask you to go kill someone or anything like that. I checked the Imperial public records and all the soldiers stationed here have either retired or moved on, in either sense, mind you. At some point, I’m going to need someone to remove this base’s existence from Imperial records. Last thing any of us need is some Imperial bureaucrat finding out about it and leveraging us into the dirt over it.”
“You’ve given me a lot to sleep on,” Carmelita muttered quietly. She left the AI to his games and curled up in a comfortable patch of floor, hoping for as restful a sleep as she’d had that morning.
The northern quadrant was mostly empty at first glance, wide open tarmac and bare dirt stretching out from the research building. The occasional warped remains of a solar panel stood as lone sentinels, gazing crookedly at the sun.
Carmelita turned to Chip as they stood in the shade of the research building.
“So, what needs doing?”
Chip gave a grin, turning two of her eyes towards the fox.
“We’ll have a look at one of the broken ones, I’ll show you what needs fixing, you memorise the structure, then you duplicate them while I install them. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?”
Giving a nod, Carmelita followed Chip into the blazing heat. The two of them crossed the hot ground as quickly as they could, arriving in the shade of the broken solar panel as quickly as they could.
Chip began showing Carmelita the undersides. The solar panels were mounted on big, tubular mounts that allowed a functional solar panel to track the sun through the sky and anchored them into the earth. Chip requisitioned a shovel from Carmelita’s omnilium and began digging to reveal the latch mechanism while Carmelita had a proper look at the wiring and panel. She braved the direct rays of the sun to brush loose dirt off the panel itself, revealing a few cracks and broken connections even she with her basic understanding of electronics could fix.
A flash of memory, something down in a bunker with an escape pod, hit her almost physically. A hand to her head she staggered back beneath the shade of the solar panel. Chip looked up and frowned.
“You okay?”
Carmelita nodded slowly. Chip stared at her for a few minutes before getting back to cleaning up the connectors.
After half an hour, the mechanisms were revealed fully. Chip showed Carmelita how they needed to be fixed, and then the two of them heaved the solar panel out of the ground and laid it on the earth.
Chip asked for several repair tools, holding out her hand while Carmelita tried her best to summon the correct one. Sometimes it would take several tries, and when Chip asked for a biwave calibrator she ended up having to guide Carmelita through the process of building one from scratch.
As the sun was setting and the day’s heat was evaporating, the two of them finally finished repairing the solar panel. Carmelita stepped forwards and pushed her omnilium through the whole structure, the intrinsic piece of her existence memorising and cataloguing every bit of the structure. As she did so, Chip marked out where the rest of the connectors were, allowing for the full field to be reinstalled.
Working under freshly summoned floodlights, they got to work, shovels in hand, opening up the old holes. It was tiring, but necessary to keep warm as the temperatures dropped dramatically. After three hours of digging, the entire field covered in regularly spaced holes.
“Looks like we should call it a night,” Chip said. “You alright with that Carm?”
Carmelita nodded. She turned towards Chip, a question on her lips.
“So Chip, how’s Al3x?”
The tri-eye smiled in the wan light.
“He’s not that bad, thankfully. He’s got a sense of humor, an eccentric way of talking and seems to have his chip’s screwed in straight.”
“I meant in terms of health, but glad to know you like him.”
Chip spluttered a little and Carmelita let herself laugh a little before the two of them headed back to the control tower.
---
Once back, Al3x greeted them with a cheerful wave. He appeared to be playing solitaire.
“So our two heroines return from the dusty trail. How’s it going out there?”
“Not too bad,” Chip replied. “I should be able to install them as fast as Carm can summon them. We’ll have the field ready by tomorrow mid-morning then I can head inside and reinstall the junction box we’re missing. Then you can run a systems check and we’ll fix any broken wires that are left in the grid.”
Carmelita nodded and gestured for Chip to take her hammock. At her protests, the Inspector insisted, reminding the girl that she’d had rougher nights in the field.
She stayed up, waiting for Chip to begin snoring, before turning to Al3x.
“Okay, I need you to be straight with me. What sort of favours are you looking for?”
The AI smiled, the sand making up his avatar circling faster.
“Nothing ridiculous, Inspector. I have a few leads on some hardware I’d like, probably lost in an abandoned site, and there are a few personal issues I wouldn’t mind a second set of hands on, but I’m not going to ask you to go kill someone or anything like that. I checked the Imperial public records and all the soldiers stationed here have either retired or moved on, in either sense, mind you. At some point, I’m going to need someone to remove this base’s existence from Imperial records. Last thing any of us need is some Imperial bureaucrat finding out about it and leveraging us into the dirt over it.”
“You’ve given me a lot to sleep on,” Carmelita muttered quietly. She left the AI to his games and curled up in a comfortable patch of floor, hoping for as restful a sleep as she’d had that morning.