Condordia Veil - Main Airlock Chamber
Amelia pressed a button on the pannel next to the closed hatch, hearing a click and a faint hiss as the chamber's pressure equalized with the docking tube's. "I don't think the doctor noticed anything," she said to Crash, feeling the her eardrums being pushed in faintly as the pressure increased.
"I hope not... I would hate to have to affect them some how. Hacking them would be easy, but messy." Crash spoke calmly as It waited for the docking lock cycle.
"The doctor is also a Freespacer, like yourself, isn't she?" she asked.
"Sort of... They are a type two... I'm not. They are just better then a drone worker. Though this one seems to be better than that." Crash desired to find a net link, maybe It could scratch up more data on things, including who or what the doctor was, precisely.
"I didn't know you were that... Harsh," Amelia said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. There was a sudden click, and the light on the pannel that had been beeping red turned a constant green. She reached for the ladder, then started climbing to the hatch on top, turning its handle and pushing it out, revealing the docking tube. The astrogator pressed on, the sooner she was out of the tube the smaller the chance of anything happening, no matter how remote, was, "Don't forget to close the hatch when you're through," she said looking over her shoulder as she moved.
"By your command," Crash responded using the voice again. "Don't think my people harsh, we just have different levels of being. You have different ways of looking at yourselves. It is, I bet, why the Kittens hate us," Crash followed sealing the hatch and movign on, Its hand never leaving the pistol.
"I wouldn't do that to someone just to keep secret," the astrogator replied, twisting the handle from the other hatch and pushing it out, albeit with more effort. The lack of maintenance on most of the equipment in black moon showed, as the hatch was slowly being corroded on the edges by rust, and so was the simple, metallic hallway revealed once it was opened; only a few of the lights that were supposed to be working were on, leaving only a couple of small islands on the place.
"Well they would have had the same memories, just with me erased. That's all, I wouldn't hurt or do harm to them more then I would have to. As it is, I'm not sure if the doc isn't a Yammie spy... They did show up awfully quick to the show, didn't they..." Crash spoke as they continued walking, scanning for the base's wifi connection.
Amelia didn't say anything, but instead kept walking down the badly lit halway until she reached what looked like to be a double-doors to an elevator. She pressed the call button on the panel next to it and waited.
In the shared silence Crash followed, scanning around them making sure noone was going to jump them.
"Would you also do the same to me if you didn't know me?" She asked between the beeping noises from the elevator pannel.
"No... I cannot hack into biologicals... I would have watched you until either I was sick and tired of your attempts to kill me, and screw with you, until I threatened you into submission, OR have blackmailed you... Or I would have killed you..." Crash let out a rasping laugh.
"That's not what I meant," Amelia asked, but before she could press onto the matter further, the doors suddenly slid open, revealing an old and empty cargo elevator, tall and large enough that someone could fit a couple of small cars in it. "Also keep that hand off the pistol or people are gonna think you're going to shoot them," she said as she walked in, pulling the hood from her jacket up.
"I would... If someone comes within ten feet of you or me." Crash moved into the elevator, stopping right inside and turning so that he would be right at the frount when the doors opened again, like It had seen in a Vid once. "As for what you meant, yes I would do that to a living being, if it ment that both me and that living being would carry on living, if not I would leave and find a new place to hide,giving that other being a chance at life, but if it followed or tried to cause me harm or grive I would terminate them... Like the ones that attempted to harm you."
Amelia pressed another button on the panel once she was inside the elevator, making the doors close a few seconds later and feeling the old metal box lurch as it slowly ascended. She moved to back of it, pressing her back against the metal wall and crossing her arms once more, and as soon as she did that the elevator stopped, opening up to another hallway from where another ship had been docking, allowing its crew to walk inside, paying them little attention than a second look. She expectantly looked at Crash, waiting to see if the bot would indeed shoot anyone closer than ten feet.
Crash's had left hand whipped forward holding the doors open. in a very digital voice It spoke. "I am sorry, this car is taken. Please remove yourselves from this car, before I have to move on to opertive stage 2," it spoke calmly and matter-of-factly, and yet not sounding threatening.
The statement made Amelia suddenly turn towards the bot, wideyed, while the crew, composed mainly of Nepleslians, did the same but with a clear tension instead of the astrogator's apparent surprise. Before the situation could escalate any further, though, she got off from her spot, reaching for the not-spiderbot and pulling it by its free arm. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked in a hushing tone.
Crash mentally smiled, and in the same cold computer voice responded, "I am fufilling my duties and a Class three Bodygaurd, as your parents purchased me and programmed me to be." Its head turned slowly back to the group of Nepleslians. "Warning two: Please vacate the car. No further warnings will be given before operational stage 2 is activated." Meanwhile Crash was hacking the elevator's computer systems and started disabliing the safties.
The newly-arrived crew all started to turn to face the duo, almost forming a semi-circle in the relatively small space of the cargo elevator. "Stop that!" Amelia said sharply, trying to push Crash from blocking the elevator.
Crash slowly looked back at Amelia. "Is that an stand down order?" Crash responded, not budging from It's position.
"Yes!" Amelia exclaimed, looking over her shoulder towards the crew.
"Standing down." The bot seemed to shrink as Crash let the pneumatics retract a hair. "This countermands my orders. I will have to pass this onto your parents." Crash stood there laughing his lower back plate off at the whole situation.
Upon seeing the bot stand down, the crew simply turned around and continued to chat between each-other as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile, Amelia simply gave Crash an annoyed shove before leaning against the wall again as the elevator resumed its routine. The small confines started to fill up as more and more crews entered, crowing the place and squashing both Amelia and Crash against the wall.
Crash continued to move into a cornor as more and more crews showed up, finally It had Amelia pinned behind It in the corner. Crash stood a s a large metal wall between her and the crowd of unknowns. She had called Its bluff and It was found wanting. As they waited for the car to reach the main decks It sent a message to Amelia's Datajockey.
The astrogator felt the datajockey on her back vibrate once the new message arrived, but made no move to pick it, pinned as she was against the wall. She brought both of her hands up, pressing them against the back of the bot as the elevator slowly ascended.
The lights overhhead flickered, and a noise started to increased as the elevator moved to the place where it would disgorge its cargo. As the noise started to rise, anyone inside could more and more make it clear, a rising chorus of voices, like a well crowded area; Amelia's stomach turned, and she felt that familiar cold hand tighten itself around her gut when the elevator suddenly stopped. The doors slowly rolled open, bathing the inside of the metallic box with a bright yellow light from several incandescent lamps, and slowly both her and Crash could feel the ''pressure'' recede as the occupants left the elevator, making the astrogator breathe a sigh of relief.
The the car emptied Crash stepped out away from the corner giving Amelia a bit more room. It remained silent for the whole time, though it's head had been slowly scanning the car . Crash figured everyone here was just like the two of them, wanting to get off ship for some free time, and blow off some steam, but It was pretending to be a guardbot, and therefore that what what Crash did.
The view that presented itself to the duo when they stepped out of the elevator was somewhat breath-taking, in a suffocating way; crowds moved like a river on the circular concourse that presented itself when they left the metal box, but there was no order to it, and even to someone used to the tight confines of a ship like Amelia it was still enough to make her uncomfortable and starting to regret her decision. The placed looked like to be an old access tunnel to the docking shafts, although several stands selling food, guns and other, more illicit things were all around the sides, ready to sell to, or rip-off the more dumb, crews that visited the station. Added to that, and also making the place more cramped, were several abandoned transport vehicles that were pushed to the side wherever there wasn't a stand.
Crash stepped out before Amelia, and scanned the area. It was not pleased with the set up. It was too confined, with too many chances for people to harm them. It was worst then the ship inspectors. "Situation not defendable... Advise returning to ship..."
The astrogator didn't say a thing at first, wrinkling her nose at the smell of the concourse, it was a mix of exhaust gasses and bodily odours. "No, I'm already here," she said, stuffing both of her hands inside the pockets of her jacket. She started to walk towads the exit of the elevator, but hesitated, and removed one of her hands and gripped the not-spiderbot's wrist, "just make sure you map where we're going so we don't get lost," she added.
"By Your Command," Crash said as It stepped further away from the lift. "Where shall we start? I doubt grabbing a soda float in a nice shop is out of the question," Crash chuckled before looking back at her.
"We're already starting," Amelia said, watching the crowd move to and fro, looking for an 'opening' to get inside of it and become just another person going on about their business. There was also a keen interest showing on her face as she watched the many different kinds of people, as well as species, that inhabited the station or were simply passing through like her. It seemed that no matter how many places she had seen there would be always something to surprise her. "Let's go," the raven-haired woman said to Crash after a while, tugging the bot along as she pulled it by its metallic wrist.
Being jerked along, Crash went with it with out holding back. It kept his wifi signal weak, and hard to find. the whole fear of the Yami's still hunting It scared Crash quite a bit. If they could pick It out of this hell hole then they would come to destroy Crash. "There are a lot of people here, where did this place come from?" Crash called over the din of the crowds.
"I dunno, the yammies have destroyed it twice apparently but it keeps getting rebuilt every-time," Amelia turned around to say, almost having to yell to hear her own voice over the crowd. She pulled the bot so that it was besides her, making any exchange of words easier and simply followed the crowd along as they walked, watching the different stalls as they went past her. "Too much profit, I guess," she added.
"I guess... Before I would never lowered myself to coming to such a place. Though then I was living better... not on the run." Crash looked over at Amelia and nodded. "There is a shed that looks like they have suits."
"Too good to be with the normal folk?" Amelia asked, turning her head towards the stall that the bot had pointed. It only took her one look at the sign on top and on the prices to notice that it was a rip-off. "We should probably find a place deeper that has better prices, they're only gonna rip us off here," she said to Crash, shouldering her way through the crowd to try to find a way out of the concourse.
Nodding at Amelia's second response, Crash followed on for a moment before speaking. "It wasn't that I was to good to be with the normal folk, It was that I was stuck where I was.. on a planet that once was perfict for my kind. But last I hear The Kats destroyed the Lighthouse."
The duo moved through the crowd, finally going through a path that connected to the large concourse after several minutes. While the path was still in the same conditions as pretty much the rest of the station, it was considerably less crowded; instead of being constantly squashed against someone, they were at least a couple inches away from contact, the metal beneath them still reverbated with the sound of several steps, while a few sparse incandescent lights dotted the ceiling. One thing that instantly caught Amelia's attention was how different signs started to appear, "Steve's repair-shop," "Bob's burgers," and several other small small businesses started to appear, looking way more respectable and truthsworthy than the others, some even being two-stories high, embedded into the dark rock of the moon.
"Are you picking up any signals?" Amelia asked, back on her usual tone now that the cacophony from the crowd was a small way behind them.
"Signals?" Crash asked before realizing she was asking if It was reading the station's computer network. "No Sorry, I have been keeping it quiet, would you like me to check?" Crash looked around and saw the diffrent food places. "Would you like to eat?"
"Not right now, maybe on the way back," Amelia answered as the duo walked past a food stand. She felt her stomach protest and growl, but ignored it. The path they were in suddenly took a turn to the right, ending in a bifurcation that, surprisingly enough, led to a wide and tall tunnel made completely of metal and another one in the same fashion as they were in. Deciding to take the fancier route, the astrogator towed the bot with her.
"Ok..." Crash followed along looking at the other passageway before walking down after Amelia. "You sure there are better shops down here?" A whisteling sound came from him in a melodious tune.
"No, I'm just walking around," Amelia replied, walking faster through the much less populated hallway. The sides were composed mostly of houses, less ramshackle than the ones that they had passed by, although that wasn't much of an improvement in a place like Black Moon. Looking up for the signs, she saw a green pannel with the words"REACTOR 1" clearly painted in white over what was probably a street sign from another planet. As they walked further down, the hallway expanded, both in width and in height, opening up into yet aother concourse, although in a better condition than the one where the crews entered and left the station. Several neon signs dotted the sides as the the crowd passed by, and the big, circular metal wall from what was probably the reactor made the concourse come to sudden end.
Looking to her sides and drawing both herself and Crash from the middle of the crowd, Amelia randomly watched the passers-by, noticing for the first time that there were bouncers planted in front of the stores and the reactor, but whether they were to keep the security of the place up was something open for debate. "Do you have anything now?" she asked the bot.
"Anything? Oh you mean a signal.. let me check." Crash paused silent for a moment using the shitty communications system the bot contained. Oh how It longed for the spiderbot... "Yes Ihave a standard Wifi connection now. What would you like to know?" Crash started scanning for data on the Genocide that It belived was being carried out against Freespacers. There was nothing out there... Just a few references to a incedent and a few terrorist groups.
"Well, what do you want to do first, fix your other self or look for that new suit?" she asked.
"I would like to get the other bot fixed... This thing chafes... also I need the better communications systems in the spiderbot. I have found little so far." Crash answered a bit distracted. The guardbot stood there quietly as It worked through the slow dribble of information the net was dropping into him
"Well, just pick a place then, I"m sure someone here would sell the parts," she said.
Pulling up a map of the location Crash pointed to the left, and started leading the astrogator though a few twists and turns. "When we arrive tell them you have a Mk. XXV Spiderbot custom. Give them no information on where or why you have it, just hta you need the parts I listed to your Datajockey before. Also ask to see if they have a MK. XXIV or MK. XXVI version, Then inquire how much those would be.. I believe I have access to at least 3000 ks at the moment. It is slow going with this primitive body.." Crash spoke as the arrived in frount of a hole that filled the negative space beneath the reactor cooling unit.
"Gotcha'," Amelia said once they arrived at the store. The entrance was what appeared to be a large, rusted, circular pipe that was tall enough for even an ID-SOL to go through without trouble, and a simple sign that said "We sell parts!" decorated the top. To the side, there were also two smaller pipes with a ventilation fan on each, presumably to keep the place inside cool, while small piles of litter decorated the side. Hesitantly, Amelia reached forward, grasping the metallic door with a gloved hand and pushing it open. A doorbell rang out, declaring to anyone inside the shop that there were more potential customers as the astrogator and Crash moved inside, the former starting to inspect the wares that were on display.
A Man walked out from the rear of the shop, a back room. well a man, in the sense that the body from the waist up, a large sipderbot style below, and by walked skittered would be a better description. "Why hello how may I serve you today?" the man had skittered up pushing past Amelia to Crash in the Gaurdbot body.
"I'm looking for, uh..." Amelia said, pulling out her Datajockey and looking through the notes from what Crash had said, "parts to fix a mark twenty five Spiderbot custom, although a twenty four or twenty six will do, too," she said, scratching her head.
Crash stood there silently facing forward trying to ignore the Shopkeep at all cost.
The old manbox turned to look at Amelia. "And why wouel someone like you would what with a Mark twenty Five Spiderbot.. let alone the custom?" He stepped closer bringing his face with in a foot of hers "Hmmm?"
"Do you have it or not?" Amelia asked, leaning back as the old man leaned closer.
"i have a few leg conponites and a few plug in parts for the mark 25... As for the 24, 26, I only have a dead 26 right now, most of it's interior is burnt out... apperently It was killed during a Yamatain bust of a Freespacer terrorist cell." he shrugged and walked to the rear of the shop and pulled out two boxes, one contained a dozen legs and the other the whole external part of the 26.
Crash sent a message to Amelia as he watched the part boxes being set out.
Reading the message from Crash, Amelia raised her head from the Datajockey to stare at the shopkeeper, "Right, these are the only parts I need, though," she said, flipping over the datapad and presenting the screen to the old man,"you got them?"
With a nod the man went to the rear of his store and started pulling them and tossing them into a box. It took him a few minutes of mumbling about where he would find this or that. After a bit he came back out with the box. "Here you go, and would your Freespacer friend be needing anything more? An upgraded sensor field, plug and play holo/volumetric projector?"
Crash heard the bit about the projector and sent a message to Amelia to find out the cost on that one.
"I-I don't have a- there's no freespacer," Amelia stammered, caught off-guard by the shopkeeper. She didn't look at the Datajockey, still surprised at the old man; maybe he was just bluffing, but it still had gotten her anyway.
"Ok... so you are using a highend spiderbot body for what? A repare drone? I surly hope not... well what is it, do you need it to have to projector or the sensor system?" the man glance back at Crash before pulling out a pad to start up a sale's recipt.
"Yeah, I'll buy it too," Amelia said, glancing over the Datajockey and reading Crash's latest message, "how much do you want for it?"
"I will take 300 for the lot." The man said before totaling the whole purches up on his pad. "Anything else? We have excelent dd-ons for Gaurdbots... allow a girl like you not to feel so lonely at night." He looked her over crudely before finishing up the list.
The astrogator sneered at that, pulling out her credit chit and offering it to the shopkeeper. First the doctor said that, and then some shopkeeper, why did everyone had to say that.
Taking the chit from her, he ran it and handed it back. "Would you like a ticket? Also do you have to tools for your project?"
"No, and yes, I have them," Amelia said, waiting for him to hand her the parts. The sooner she was out of there the better.
"Ok then, there you go Luv' you need help carrying it to you place?" He waggled his eyebrows as he slid the two boxs over to Amelia.
"No," Amelia said flatly, grabbing both boxes and stacking one on top of the other. She carried them with relatively ease, considering how light they were, and quickly strode out of the store, not waiting for Crash.
Crash turned and followed her quitely, It had expected her to have It carry the box. Onc ethey were out of ear shot Crash stepped up next to her, "Are you ok? Why did you get upset over him offering an upgrade to this bot?"
The astrogator whipped her head back at the bot with a 'are you serious?' expression on her. Not wanting to discuss the logic, or lack of thereof, in the situation, she simply extended the boxes towards the bot, "let's just get out of here and try to find a new suit," she said.
"By you're command." Crash chuckled before continueing one towards the nearest suit sales men. The walk took them by the food again. Bob's burgers was in the middle of a light rush, causing steam of fresh cooked meet to drift out into the main area, along with fries that smelt like heaven. Crash walked through this all with out a second thought. It had given up that part of It's life years ago, though It did miss strawberry milkshakes. Meanwhile, Amelia felt her stomach rumble and protest again, but tried to ignore it once more; she was also surprised to see the same brand on another part of the station, maybe Bob's burger was a popular place in Black Moon, but despite that the astrogator only walked faster past it, leaving the tantalizing smell of cooked meat behind.
"Does your, uh, connection, point us to any place that could sell a decent space-suit?" She asked Crash.
"It does." Crash continued walking past the burger joint and back into another tunnel leading to a location that was labeled Reactor coolent drainage pools. The tunnel opened up into a large free and airy place. It was at least a 100 meters to a side, the pits were dry and filled with makeshift buildings and houses. Crash lead the way down and rickity ramp down to an ally. Not far was a Shop with the name 'Slappy's Slap Suit Emporium.'
"Crash..." Amelia started to say, reading the name of the shop. She really hoped that the shop wasn't what she was thinking it was. "I don't really think those are the kinds of suits I'm looking for," she said.
"Is too.... They are reported as a space suit store, and repair shop. I do not understand your concern I would lie or mislead you." Crash looked back at Amelia and came up with a plan that next they would hit an adult fun time center, maybe she needed the company of some one.
"Alright, arlight," Amelia said, approaching the entrance of the store. She hesitated for a while, simply holding her hand against the door, but then pushed it in, hearing a different kind of doorbell than from the last store, and stepped into the place.
Crash followed her in to the shop. It was indeed a space, hazmat, and eviomental suit shop. Crash would have had a shit eating grin if It had a mouth at all. "I told your so..."
"Yeah, right," the astrogator answered, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jacket as she walked around the store inspecting the suits. She needed something that would both be good and would fit the bill, since she couldn't spare much money right then, but could always upgrade things further.
It wasn't two seconds she was in the store before the shopkeep, Slappy himself, came bouncing up. "HOOOWW May I Help You!!! We Carry Every Type Of Suit You Could Ever Need!" he was a rather rotund man with a bushy mustache and a brown bulding top of his head.
Surprised at the shopkeeper's disposition at first, it took Amelia some time to answer him, "Hi, I'm looking for a custom suit," she said, straightening herself up, "you got any of those?" she asked.
"I could I could... What kind of suit... I got Anything you would like as a starting point then given time and funds I can create you what ever you need or want." he smiled and guestured with a wave of his arm and the walls that were covered with diffrent suits of diffrent makes and sizes.
"Something that is spaceworthy, but can give some protection without restricting the movement too much, you know?" Amelia said, approaching the shopkeeper. "All I have right now are those Dusk suits, and they're too tight and uncomfortable..." She trailed on, going more about the details.
===========================================
Sometime later found Crash sitting in a corner of the shop working on putting rights to the MK XXVI, trying to make sure that it could be salvaged and the guts to the old spiderbot could be installed into the newer body. Crash was getting impatient with the whole fitting and customization Amelia was going through, but he had things It could do while she flittered the time away. Fortunately, though, the ordeal was eventually over, and the bot eventually heard heavier steps coming his way.
"So, what do you think?" Amelia said, resting one of her hands on the belt of her newly acquired suit, while her other arm was wrapped around the helmet and waiting expectantly for an answer from the freespacer. The suit was somewhat armored, but not enough as to look like it had been made for the military of any nation. It was also very utilitarian, with large pockets in front of each calf and several smaller pouches around her waist, and all in all, it didn't look too uncomfortable. Another noticeable thing was the orange trim to it, which was by then clearly her favorite color.
"Very good. Looks like it will do you well." Crash replied as It started putting the parts back into one of the boxes before standing up. "Now Can we take care of your rumbling tummy? I have been hearing it since we first past the food court on the way to the bot shop." Crash looked back over at her, "My treat... just promise you will describe the milkshake to me."
"Thanks, and sure," Amelia said, smiling faintly as she tugged the strap of the duffel-bag she was carrying over her shoulder. Her clothes and bulletproof vest were inside of that, and it had come free with the suit with the purpose of storing it. "It wouldn't be the weirdest date I've been in," she joked to Crash as she pushed the door open, clipping the helmet to her belt so she wouldn't have to carry it around.
"Date?" Crash responded before stacking the two boxes under one of It's armsand then holding the other out so that Amelia coudl put her arm throught it. "Off we go?"
Chuckling, Amelia decided to go along with it, hooking her arm through Crash's before moving on.
As they reached the food court Crash spoke up after a odd walk, "What would you like to eat? There is plenty of diffrent foods here. There is one claiming to be selling steaks from an Azorean... Though I'm not sure that is true, if what I looked up is true..."
"Anything is fine, I don't want nothing fancy," Amelia said, picking up a random table and taking a seat on it. She dropped the duffelbag next to her, but placed her foot between the straps so that no one would simply grab the thing and make a run for it, that was Black Moon after all.
"Ok May i have your credit chit, I have transfered all i have to it. You are in control on all of the funds I had access to." Crash spoke as It thought through the diffrent places around.
"Wow, that's not my money!" Amelia said, leaning back from her seat, "I don't want it."
"It isn't much, and it's not like I have much access you spending money as it is..." Crash held out It's hand to recive the chit. "Plus I owned you for this body, and now you have the ability to get the stuff to upgrade the ship to make it easier for me to live in."
"Don't worry about the body, it was a gift like what you're doing right now, I would rather that you keep your money because I'm sure you can take good care of it," Amelia said, not budging by the request. "If all you wanna do is buy the parts to upgrade the ship then we can do just like we did for the parts, but I'm not taking your money."
"I never said you were... What ever i'll move the money... But I don't have an account anywhere right now... That money was sitting in a digital buffer on a old gaming site. So I have no where for it to go... I promise that once I take care of getting one, I'll move it." Crash tilted It's head before snatching her chit and heading over to a barrito joint. It wasn't long before Crash returned with a barrito the size of Amelia's head, a bowl of chips and a large soda. Tossing the chit on the tray Crash set it in front of Amelia.
"Crash..." Amelia started to say, fishing her credit chit from the tray. "I can't eat all that much," she said, eyeing the gigantic meal that the freespacer had brought her warily.
"And why not... You're eating for two now..." Crash spoke not realizing It claimed she was pregnant, but was meaning she was needing to tell Crash all about the food. "Just start eating, what you don't we can take back to the ship and you can have for later." Crash made It's chittering sound before pulling out the MK XXVI and it's old bot and started opening it up and transfering the parts to the new model.
"What's that supposed to mean!?" Amelia said, gripping the edges of the table. "Do you even know what that expression means?"
"it means you are eating for both of us." Crash said with out looking up from the delicate manuver of moving the main processor board over. "I havn't had one of those in years, it was one of my favorite. Figured i would share."
"Oh, right," the astrogator said, relaxing. It had just been a silly joke, after all, and the real gesture behind it was what really made her feel good about it. She tentatively reached for the large burrito, giving it an exploratory bite, but quickly regretted the decision. The astrogator's eyestarted to water, making she blink rapidly, and her face started to flush as she ate it, "It's really spicy!" she said.
"Yes it is, habeneros do that to it... Plus you won't be needing to feed the child in you for a few more months, I've only impregnated you with the one vial of genetic matter I had left in my spider bot, last night." This was followed by a few moments of silence before the chittering came out.
"That's not funny, jackass," Amelia said, taking a big gulp of the soda, which really didn't do much to stop the burning sensation. Maybe she should just stick to the fries.
"Ehh I thought so... though I should still have some on ice in a facility in the far galatic north... Prime stuff too, I did my best work before they helped me over to my new body...." Crash finished getting the board in place and started attaching the add-ins, like the new projector and sensor suit. "Also light beer is the best to kill the burn."
Not answering the freespacer, Amelia simply kept slowly nibbling at the fries and the Soda, not daring to touch the other spicy food.
Crash started humming a light pleasent melody as It finished loading in the last of the hardware. "There It looks like it could work now. though I might have a few minutes dealing withe the newer body's drivers." Crash proudly set it upright on the table and nodded. "Oh here a gift for you." It held out a hand with the blown fuse in it. "Here, this is what saved my life, I want you to have it."
"Thanks," Amelia said, taking out the proferred fuse. While someone might not recognize the value in it, she certainly did, being someone who collected those random tidbits for what they represented rather than they were. Noticing that Crash had finished fixing the spiderbot, she quickly grabbed one of the napkins and wiped the food from the corner of her mouth, "I don't think I can eat any more, let's get going," she started to say, pushing her chair back, "there's one last thing I want to do before we head back to the ship."
"Besides gathering your food for dinner?" Crash tilted It's head as he picked up everything and put it into boxes. Everything but the repaired Spiderbot, that It put into It's chest. Picking up the box Crash stood waiting for Amelia.
"Is that thing vacuum sealed?" Amelia asked, tilting her head towards the boxes.
"What my bot... It will be once I get back to the ship. I will use the airlock to depressurize and then I'll seal it up."
"No, I meant the box," the astrogator explained.
"umm... I don't think so... um..." Crash looked at the box and played with the flaps until a hissing sound was made. "I guess it does... Is there a reason it needed to?"
"Alright, put them here," Amelia said, grabbing the duffelbag next to her feet and opening it up. "You'll see," she added.
"Ok." Crash gently put the box in to the bag and sealed it, before picking it up and slinging it onto It's back. "Then if you are being secretive, lead the way."
"The thing is, we're not coming back the same way we came here," Amelia said, pulling the chair back in its place before starting to walk away, "but before I just want to get a few things for our next trip," she added.
"Ok." Crash followed just behind and to the right of her, so that It's gun hand was free. The humming started up as if Crash was pleased or something.
"Well, that's our first stop if you were wondering," the astrogator said, gesturing to what looked like to be a grocery shop on one corner of the food court.
With a nod Crash followed wondering what the women would need there. The ship had plenty of ration bars to last the crew months. "Do you need some kind of dip for the rations?"
"Something like that. I don't plan to get much," Amelia said as she walked into the store.
===================================================================
It wasn't 'not much.' By the time Amelia left the store, the Duffel-bag was stuffed full of goods, and the astrogator constantly shifted the strap on her shoulder, which was uncomfortable even with the relative protection from her new suit. There were also noticeably fewer people in the food court than when they entered the store, but not by much to consider the place to be deserted; at least she had gotten all that she wanted, and she would be set for a while. "Anything else you want to do around here?" she asked Crash.
Crash pulled the bag gently but firmly off of Amelia's shoulder and slung it over It's. "I don't think so, though It would be nice to have a box or something for my two bodies to be stored in when I'm not habatating them... Maybe something that could be set up in the computer bay."
"I'll think of something when we get back," the astrogator said, letting the duffelbag be removed again, "you don't have to carry my stuff around, you know," she added.
"I know I do not have to. But I am stronger and better equipped to carry it... like you having my cash in you account." Crash missed having a tounge to stick it out, but It was still better this way then with all of those wierd juices flowing about. "I can have one built for not much, though I might order it to have ready before the next time we come back here. Are we going to be based out of this place?"
"Probably not," Amelia said as they left the food court and went back into the ruckus the station. Black Moon, as it seemed, never slept. Standing right between the edge of the crowd, she turned around to face Crash, "can you detect any small exits that lead to the moon's surface?" she asked.
"I can... Though you know the ship is parked deep in a crator, and we will be exiting far above it..." Crash spoke as he was already pulling the map and diffrent area's to leave from from his connection. "There are three that will not vent the atmosphere of this area."
She gave the not-spiderbot a somewhat mischievous smile, "Yeah, I know," she said, excited to test out her new suit. At least if the thing wasn't working she could just stop the depressurization, come back to the suit store and do something about it, rather than finding out that it wasn't working when she was far away from the station. "Just take me there, I have a plan," the astrogator said.
"Ok.." Crash did that, Leading her to a airlock that A: wasn't that far off, B:One of the closer ones to the Ship, only a whole klick from the ship. "I do not have Manuvering Jets, I will not be able to do much more then plod along behind you."
"Don't worry, you won't need one," Amelia started to say as she followed the spiderbot, "the gravity here is only half as strong from what we're used to, but it's still there," she added, looking around and then back at the bot. "You don't think this is fun?" she asked Crash, somewhat worried.
"No... I think this is an interesting adventure... Life threatening to those here that might need air or atmosphere, but interesting none-the-less." Crash started humming again and when they reached the hatch to the airlock It reached out and held it open for Amelia.
Keeping quiet for most of the trip there, Amelia once again just watched her surroundings as she followed the freespacer. The metal hallways from the area next to the reactor were slowly being once again replaced with the black rock that the moon was made of, as a sign that they were indeed far from the main hubs of the station. The tunnels got smaller, barely four feet high and wide enough for a couple people to walk abreast, the air got more stale and the lights became more sparse and dimmer; it actually looked like they had left a station and went into an actual mine, which was what the station had been at some point in time, and the quality of the habitations visibly worsened as well.
"Thanks," the astrogator said, finally piping up. and stepping into what was actually a ladder shaft, several feet tall. "I think the airlock is actually up there," she said, turning back around to face Crash and pointing a finger up before grasping the ladder. She gave it a testing shove, looking to see if the thing would hold, and was satisfied that -depiste the thing being caked in rust- it barely moved. Amelia held onto the ladder and started climbing it.
Crash sealed the hatch behind them and started up behind Amelia. For some reason he kept having issues looking directly up at her, so he looked forward at the ladder rungs. "These are a bit corroded... Someone needs to come and take care of these... Should I seen an anonymousmessage to the Moon's managers?"
"Don't bother, I don't think they even care, or that there even is such a thing," Amelia said, surprising even herself on how she wasn't even breathing heavier from the effort, only to rememeber her previous comment about the gravity. A few minutes later, she could see a faint incandescent light up top, or rather the light projected by it. With a grunt, the astrogator climbed out of the ladder, stepping into the dust-caked metal floor when she reached what looked like to be a narrow platform, leading to another circular hatch in front of her. Instead of going directly for the hatch, she stopped, looking around at the place, "I think this must be quite the spot," she said when Crash reached the top as well and gestured to the metallic struts that produted out from the rock wall; there were several marks stenciled, painted or scratched into the dark metal, usually things like "bob was here" or "Steve hearts Stacey."
Crash met up with her after a few steps, It glanced at the writings on the wall before looking over to her. "If you decompress the area, I will vacuum seal my bot before stepping out. Then I just need to hook it up to the ship's core to jump start its internal power systems." Crash popped the hatch on It's chest and pulled the MK XXVI, "Wouldn't want moon dust in my parts..."
"You want to move the ship?" Amelia asked.
"No.. why would you ask that? All I want is to plug the spider bot into the ship's power core, then use the ship's power to star the core of my bot here..." Crash responded.
"Oh," she replied casually as she got on her knees next to one of the metal struts. "Just hang on a second," she told Crash, dusting off a spot on the metal that wasn't scratched before fishing something from one of her pouches. The astrogator pulled out a small, straight metal object that ended up with a hooked end, which she used to slowly scratch the metal surface.
Standing there with the spiderbot under It's arm as Crash leaned off to the side trying to see what Amelia was up to. He soon found out what he wanted, as the astrogator whiped the dust with her hand and blew the air out of her lungs to clear whatever she didn't get with the first few swipes: scratched into the metal was written "Crash and Amelia were here."
Reaching forward and scratched a little spider and a girl with her new spacesuit on, with just Crash's finger. "There," It said with a slight smile in It's voice, while Amelia got up and placed the metal lockpick back into its pouch.
"Yeah," she said, then turned back around to the hatch. "I think the actual decompression chamber is after this," the astrogator added, grasping the handle of the hatch and twisting it, unlocking the round, metallic door. She pushed the thing back, revealing a dark, although functional room, there was a simple panel on the side, which looked to be completely analogic in contrast with the Veil's digital systems. Another thing that also caught her attention were the footprints that showed on the dusty floor, apparently that place had seen a lot of movement recently.
Without further ado, Amelia stepped into the chamber, unclipping the helmet from her belt and putting it on. She twisted the headgear to one side, then to the other and heard the click that she was looking for, there was a moment of pause and then the holographic display came to life, showing some trivial information as she reached to the side of the helmet and toggled the flashlight on..
Following along, Crash sealed the hatch again behind itself. Once The woman put on her helmet Crash switched over to It's comms unit. "I believe we are ready for depressurization, I'll get the spiderbot sealed quickly and back into my chest cavity, then we can go moon hopping as you wished."
"Okay," Amelia answered, moving closer to the panel to inspect it. "Man, I haven't seen one of these in along time," she said, wiping off the dust from the panel's metallic surface, only the really, really old systems still used analogic devices such as that as a primary choice instead of a backup one. That route had probably been built before the moon became a settlement, when it was still a mining station. The astrogator flipped a switched, finding what she wanted, and almost instantly a periodic, rumbling sound reverbated through the room as the pumps started to suck the air out. Her HUD started flashing, warning that the atmospheric pressure was decreasing, and as soon as it left the 'safe' levels the emergency air canisters from her helmet popped in, although the oxygen tank on the back of her suit was what really provided the breathing air at that moment.
"Well, this really works," she said on the comms, breathing a sigh of relief and letting her hand go from the pannel.
"Well that is good." As the air left Crash watched the gauge drop the needle. Once it hit red and then bottomed out It opened then closed the hatch of the spiderbot, then secured the secret clasps that locked the body shut. "I am good to go." With a quiet hum Crash set the spiderbot back into It's chest and moved to get the exterior door for the suited girl.
"Alright," Amelia said, moving to the airlock that would lead out onto the surface of the Black Moon. Instead of a handle, the locking mechanism was a valve, which took her some time to twist and turn to open. There was no sound, just the vibration from the airlock as it slowly was pushed outwards.
She carefully stepped out onto a small metal platform, looking around at the vast black surface of the planetoid, while the Graveyard hang on the sky ominously as the moon rotated around it, with the white star behind the Black Moon casting its light onto both of the objects. "It's a somewhat nice view," the astrogator commented idly.
"Yes it is." Crash spoke as It stepped out behind her, and sealed and recycled the airlock. "Reminds me of something in the past." A chitter came from Crash, it may not have been the sky It was commenting on. "The ship is that way, in a crater.
"Realyl? What does it remind you of?" Amelia said, dropping from the platform onto the lunar surface. The drop had easily been some three feet, but it only felt like she was dropping from less than that thanks to the gravity. A small cloud of dust rose once her feet planted themselves on the soft ground, but quickly dissipated by the time she was standing straight.
Crash stepped off the platform and fell a bit faster, but only a bit. The bot's mass was a bit more then Amelia's so with out wind resistance, more speed. "It was long ago on a evening like this..." Crash cut Itself of and started walking towards the ship. "Anyways. It was like this..."
"Hm," Amelia answered, moving along the uneven terrain. The gravity was only half of the normal, so it meant that she could move with some ease while not nescessarily jumping like in the novels that she read. "Did you enjoy it?" she asked, walking upwards on a slighty sloped patch of terrain.
"I did when it lasted." The bot every so often would jump and hover a few meters up, before falling back down in a little clouds of dust. Crash was acting all the much like the childish prankster It started off as while in the spiderbot.
"Ah," the astrogator replied, "I like it because of the quiet, there's no noise to bother you," she explained.
'True, but it isn't all that quiet if you can hear other forms of wavelengths. It is quite loud out here." Crash Chuckled mid jump. "That and the radiation bouncing off of the Graveyard causes chimes and whistles."
"Good thing I can't listen to it, then," Amelia said after a while, placing both hands to find purchase so that she could keep climbing up a very steep slope. Once she got on top, however, she could see that she was actually standing on the edge of the very large crater, and the docking shaft where the Concordia was docked was almost right in the middle of it. A few metallic poles jutted out from the edges of the circular shaft, with blinking lights attached to their end with the intent of guiding spaceships in.
"Do you want to?" Crash responded as It looked over the crater's lip. The series of catwalks and ramps wrapped around the perimiter of the shaft. "I can pump the feed through a filter and then send it via this radio signal."
"Right, sure," Amelia said, appreciating the view as she leaned against a tall rock outcrop. She was in no hurry to get back to the ship.
So It did. The haunting 'music' played over the comm as Crasn sat down dangling Its legs over the edge. "Its sounds like that I hear all the time, but out here with out the ship interfearing with it, it's nice."
"I see," the astrogator said. It made sense that an artficial being like Crash would pick up those waves, specially the electromagnetic one and perceive them. "It's kinda like... You know? When you're inside a ship and it's all quiet but you can hear all the stuff working on the background?" she asked.
"Yes... But I can hear that background noise as easily as you can hear me talking to you now. But your background sound is what to me is this when I'm in the ship.. though when I'm the ship's computer the sensors allow me to hear a lot more. Trillions of stars all singing for me." Crash kicked his legs back and forth as It talked, occationaly looking over to her.
"That's... Interesting," Amelia replied, crouching down besides where Crash was sitting. She didn't say much else for a couple minutes, simply staring at the barren landscape pensively. Eventually, the astrogator stood up again, pulling out her datajockey to check on something, "Thanks for coming along," she said to Crash.
"It...It has been my pleasure.. I've been alone for quite a bit of time. Awakening to my universe and plans tossed to the wind." Crash turned It's head towards her, slowly It rasied a hand and placed it lightly on her shoulder.
Amelia opened her mouth to speak, but closed it when no words came out, instead just staring down at the docking shaft in the middle of the crater.
Crash sat there silently staring down at the ship in the distance, it was a good plan, but this seemed to lead to better adventures. Worst case they'll come up against a ship Crash could take over and leave on... But right then it seemed the best plan was to enjoy the company and see what it would bring. That and It still needed to get her to eat a double fire bomb barrito.
A single beep sounded inside her helmet, making the astrogator stare down at the Datajockey that she was holding, "I've got half a tank of oxygen left," Amelia said, looking at the datapad's screen and breaking the silence, "I think we should go back to the ship," she added. Time had really gone past in a hurry, and although the single oxygen tank could provide enough air for a long time she doubted that the shopkeeper had topped it when he sold the suit. Putting the pad back in one of her pouches, the astrogator dropped down from the lip of the crater, slowly sliding down and bringing a small avalanche of small rocks with her until the slope evened out more, allowing her to walk in the shade that it cast. Another thing that her suit's sensors also showed was that by simply not being directly exposed by the star, the temperature had dropped a couple hundred degrees.
Crash followed by just pushing off of the lip and falling to the walkway behind her. "If you need me to, I can toss you at the ship..." Crash joked as It carried the bag and started humming the same music of the stars.
"Thanks, but no," Amelia replied, walking down the narrow metallic surface until they reached the side of the mineshaft that had been converted into a place where ships could dock. It had been just as she assumed, there were catwalks all around the sides of the circular shaft so that the crew could move around to work on the ships, while every now and then where was a small metal stair leading down into another level of catwalks. The place also wasn't completely unoccupied, some of the dockworkers could be seen moving around in their spacesuits, either on the catwalks or on the hull of the ships that they were working on.
Going down a short set of stairs, Amelia planted her feet on the catwalks, leaning against the railing and looking down the shaft. Some levels down, she could see the Concordia Veil, as well as notice the damage done to the ship. "It took quite a beating," she said.
"She did.." Crash answered as it walked down the path. "Though It would have been worse if you guys tried to run away from that mining ship... Though most of it looks like a can of spray paint and a few plates of metal and she'll be good as new... Well as she was before the attack."
"And a new turret," Amelia commented, letting go of the railing and walking towards the first ladder.
Crash nearly tripped. "A new turret?"
"One of the turrets got busted during the fight," she reminded the bot.
"Right... I thought you were meaning another one past the one needing fixing..." It laughed as it looked back down at the ship.
The astrogator leaned towards the rock wall of the shaft, giving some space so that two dockworkers could pass by. The spacesuit clad workers didn't spare a second look at the duo, and kept going on about their business as she started going doing the first set of stairs. All along the different levels of catwalks there were loose metal cables or empty boxes, most likely used by the workers to replace the parts that they couldn't fix, or store these parts. The woman examined that in silence as she kept going down the metal stairs, drawing closer to the Concordia.
At each of the ladders Crash waited for Amelia to climb down and step out of the way before It stepped forward and fell to the platform. Each of these caused a cloud of dust to be shaken free from the metal. As they walked, Crash worked up the nerve to finally ask, "What did you do before coming here?"
"I suppose I never really told you," Amelia said, looking back at the bot. "Besides being a navigator, the other jobs I took ended up badly, just like the last one," she said, remembering about Nepleslia Prime and Kennewes, "I guess I just don't have luck for these sort of things," she added.
"Oh really? Well we know you're not a good asassin.. Or I would have been nothing but a minor glitch in the memory buffer... What other jobs did you do?" Crash was quite interested in hearing, though everyother time It had asked she had growled at It.
"This one time I picked up a job in Nepleslia Prime, I was supposed to be with a group and check out what was supposed to be a wreck somewhere off in the countryside," Amelia said, stopping as she turned to go down another set of stairs, "but just as we left our shuttle we were attacked by pirates. Can you believe that? In Nepleslia Prime." There was an incredulous tone to her voice, although it had also gotten very serious.
"I do believe it. Nepleslia had and has a high crime rate. If you give me a few minutes I can download you the most current stats that I can find." Crash responded, not realizing the retorical nature of the question.
"Don't bother," Amelia said. Soon enough, both of them were in the same level as the Veil, and all they had to do was go around the circular catwalk to reach a spot where they could find an airlock to get inside the same hallway that they had reached once they left the ship.
"Well we have arrived back to the ship... I would like to thank you for such an nice outing Amelia... for a pet you are not too bad." Crash shifted the duffel over to It's left side, so that it's pistol hand was still open. Back to the pretending to be a bodygaurd bot.
"You're delusional," Amelia said once the airlock had cycled open. She twisted the helmet, hearing the click that it had unlocked and removed it, clipping it back to her belt. "But thanks for coming along too," she added.
Crash winked one of the lights of It's eyes. Quietly, It followed her into the ship.
=END=
Amelia pressed a button on the pannel next to the closed hatch, hearing a click and a faint hiss as the chamber's pressure equalized with the docking tube's. "I don't think the doctor noticed anything," she said to Crash, feeling the her eardrums being pushed in faintly as the pressure increased.
"I hope not... I would hate to have to affect them some how. Hacking them would be easy, but messy." Crash spoke calmly as It waited for the docking lock cycle.
"The doctor is also a Freespacer, like yourself, isn't she?" she asked.
"Sort of... They are a type two... I'm not. They are just better then a drone worker. Though this one seems to be better than that." Crash desired to find a net link, maybe It could scratch up more data on things, including who or what the doctor was, precisely.
"I didn't know you were that... Harsh," Amelia said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. There was a sudden click, and the light on the pannel that had been beeping red turned a constant green. She reached for the ladder, then started climbing to the hatch on top, turning its handle and pushing it out, revealing the docking tube. The astrogator pressed on, the sooner she was out of the tube the smaller the chance of anything happening, no matter how remote, was, "Don't forget to close the hatch when you're through," she said looking over her shoulder as she moved.
"By your command," Crash responded using the voice again. "Don't think my people harsh, we just have different levels of being. You have different ways of looking at yourselves. It is, I bet, why the Kittens hate us," Crash followed sealing the hatch and movign on, Its hand never leaving the pistol.
"I wouldn't do that to someone just to keep secret," the astrogator replied, twisting the handle from the other hatch and pushing it out, albeit with more effort. The lack of maintenance on most of the equipment in black moon showed, as the hatch was slowly being corroded on the edges by rust, and so was the simple, metallic hallway revealed once it was opened; only a few of the lights that were supposed to be working were on, leaving only a couple of small islands on the place.
"Well they would have had the same memories, just with me erased. That's all, I wouldn't hurt or do harm to them more then I would have to. As it is, I'm not sure if the doc isn't a Yammie spy... They did show up awfully quick to the show, didn't they..." Crash spoke as they continued walking, scanning for the base's wifi connection.
Amelia didn't say anything, but instead kept walking down the badly lit halway until she reached what looked like to be a double-doors to an elevator. She pressed the call button on the panel next to it and waited.
In the shared silence Crash followed, scanning around them making sure noone was going to jump them.
"Would you also do the same to me if you didn't know me?" She asked between the beeping noises from the elevator pannel.
"No... I cannot hack into biologicals... I would have watched you until either I was sick and tired of your attempts to kill me, and screw with you, until I threatened you into submission, OR have blackmailed you... Or I would have killed you..." Crash let out a rasping laugh.
"That's not what I meant," Amelia asked, but before she could press onto the matter further, the doors suddenly slid open, revealing an old and empty cargo elevator, tall and large enough that someone could fit a couple of small cars in it. "Also keep that hand off the pistol or people are gonna think you're going to shoot them," she said as she walked in, pulling the hood from her jacket up.
"I would... If someone comes within ten feet of you or me." Crash moved into the elevator, stopping right inside and turning so that he would be right at the frount when the doors opened again, like It had seen in a Vid once. "As for what you meant, yes I would do that to a living being, if it ment that both me and that living being would carry on living, if not I would leave and find a new place to hide,giving that other being a chance at life, but if it followed or tried to cause me harm or grive I would terminate them... Like the ones that attempted to harm you."
Amelia pressed another button on the panel once she was inside the elevator, making the doors close a few seconds later and feeling the old metal box lurch as it slowly ascended. She moved to back of it, pressing her back against the metal wall and crossing her arms once more, and as soon as she did that the elevator stopped, opening up to another hallway from where another ship had been docking, allowing its crew to walk inside, paying them little attention than a second look. She expectantly looked at Crash, waiting to see if the bot would indeed shoot anyone closer than ten feet.
Crash's had left hand whipped forward holding the doors open. in a very digital voice It spoke. "I am sorry, this car is taken. Please remove yourselves from this car, before I have to move on to opertive stage 2," it spoke calmly and matter-of-factly, and yet not sounding threatening.
The statement made Amelia suddenly turn towards the bot, wideyed, while the crew, composed mainly of Nepleslians, did the same but with a clear tension instead of the astrogator's apparent surprise. Before the situation could escalate any further, though, she got off from her spot, reaching for the not-spiderbot and pulling it by its free arm. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked in a hushing tone.
Crash mentally smiled, and in the same cold computer voice responded, "I am fufilling my duties and a Class three Bodygaurd, as your parents purchased me and programmed me to be." Its head turned slowly back to the group of Nepleslians. "Warning two: Please vacate the car. No further warnings will be given before operational stage 2 is activated." Meanwhile Crash was hacking the elevator's computer systems and started disabliing the safties.
The newly-arrived crew all started to turn to face the duo, almost forming a semi-circle in the relatively small space of the cargo elevator. "Stop that!" Amelia said sharply, trying to push Crash from blocking the elevator.
Crash slowly looked back at Amelia. "Is that an stand down order?" Crash responded, not budging from It's position.
"Yes!" Amelia exclaimed, looking over her shoulder towards the crew.
"Standing down." The bot seemed to shrink as Crash let the pneumatics retract a hair. "This countermands my orders. I will have to pass this onto your parents." Crash stood there laughing his lower back plate off at the whole situation.
Upon seeing the bot stand down, the crew simply turned around and continued to chat between each-other as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile, Amelia simply gave Crash an annoyed shove before leaning against the wall again as the elevator resumed its routine. The small confines started to fill up as more and more crews entered, crowing the place and squashing both Amelia and Crash against the wall.
Crash continued to move into a cornor as more and more crews showed up, finally It had Amelia pinned behind It in the corner. Crash stood a s a large metal wall between her and the crowd of unknowns. She had called Its bluff and It was found wanting. As they waited for the car to reach the main decks It sent a message to Amelia's Datajockey.
Code:
.for the record I have never attempted to harm anyone for my own personal safety or advancement. Only in defence of others.The astrogator felt the datajockey on her back vibrate once the new message arrived, but made no move to pick it, pinned as she was against the wall. She brought both of her hands up, pressing them against the back of the bot as the elevator slowly ascended.
The lights overhhead flickered, and a noise started to increased as the elevator moved to the place where it would disgorge its cargo. As the noise started to rise, anyone inside could more and more make it clear, a rising chorus of voices, like a well crowded area; Amelia's stomach turned, and she felt that familiar cold hand tighten itself around her gut when the elevator suddenly stopped. The doors slowly rolled open, bathing the inside of the metallic box with a bright yellow light from several incandescent lamps, and slowly both her and Crash could feel the ''pressure'' recede as the occupants left the elevator, making the astrogator breathe a sigh of relief.
The the car emptied Crash stepped out away from the corner giving Amelia a bit more room. It remained silent for the whole time, though it's head had been slowly scanning the car . Crash figured everyone here was just like the two of them, wanting to get off ship for some free time, and blow off some steam, but It was pretending to be a guardbot, and therefore that what what Crash did.
The view that presented itself to the duo when they stepped out of the elevator was somewhat breath-taking, in a suffocating way; crowds moved like a river on the circular concourse that presented itself when they left the metal box, but there was no order to it, and even to someone used to the tight confines of a ship like Amelia it was still enough to make her uncomfortable and starting to regret her decision. The placed looked like to be an old access tunnel to the docking shafts, although several stands selling food, guns and other, more illicit things were all around the sides, ready to sell to, or rip-off the more dumb, crews that visited the station. Added to that, and also making the place more cramped, were several abandoned transport vehicles that were pushed to the side wherever there wasn't a stand.
Crash stepped out before Amelia, and scanned the area. It was not pleased with the set up. It was too confined, with too many chances for people to harm them. It was worst then the ship inspectors. "Situation not defendable... Advise returning to ship..."
The astrogator didn't say a thing at first, wrinkling her nose at the smell of the concourse, it was a mix of exhaust gasses and bodily odours. "No, I'm already here," she said, stuffing both of her hands inside the pockets of her jacket. She started to walk towads the exit of the elevator, but hesitated, and removed one of her hands and gripped the not-spiderbot's wrist, "just make sure you map where we're going so we don't get lost," she added.
"By Your Command," Crash said as It stepped further away from the lift. "Where shall we start? I doubt grabbing a soda float in a nice shop is out of the question," Crash chuckled before looking back at her.
"We're already starting," Amelia said, watching the crowd move to and fro, looking for an 'opening' to get inside of it and become just another person going on about their business. There was also a keen interest showing on her face as she watched the many different kinds of people, as well as species, that inhabited the station or were simply passing through like her. It seemed that no matter how many places she had seen there would be always something to surprise her. "Let's go," the raven-haired woman said to Crash after a while, tugging the bot along as she pulled it by its metallic wrist.
Being jerked along, Crash went with it with out holding back. It kept his wifi signal weak, and hard to find. the whole fear of the Yami's still hunting It scared Crash quite a bit. If they could pick It out of this hell hole then they would come to destroy Crash. "There are a lot of people here, where did this place come from?" Crash called over the din of the crowds.
"I dunno, the yammies have destroyed it twice apparently but it keeps getting rebuilt every-time," Amelia turned around to say, almost having to yell to hear her own voice over the crowd. She pulled the bot so that it was besides her, making any exchange of words easier and simply followed the crowd along as they walked, watching the different stalls as they went past her. "Too much profit, I guess," she added.
"I guess... Before I would never lowered myself to coming to such a place. Though then I was living better... not on the run." Crash looked over at Amelia and nodded. "There is a shed that looks like they have suits."
"Too good to be with the normal folk?" Amelia asked, turning her head towards the stall that the bot had pointed. It only took her one look at the sign on top and on the prices to notice that it was a rip-off. "We should probably find a place deeper that has better prices, they're only gonna rip us off here," she said to Crash, shouldering her way through the crowd to try to find a way out of the concourse.
Nodding at Amelia's second response, Crash followed on for a moment before speaking. "It wasn't that I was to good to be with the normal folk, It was that I was stuck where I was.. on a planet that once was perfict for my kind. But last I hear The Kats destroyed the Lighthouse."
The duo moved through the crowd, finally going through a path that connected to the large concourse after several minutes. While the path was still in the same conditions as pretty much the rest of the station, it was considerably less crowded; instead of being constantly squashed against someone, they were at least a couple inches away from contact, the metal beneath them still reverbated with the sound of several steps, while a few sparse incandescent lights dotted the ceiling. One thing that instantly caught Amelia's attention was how different signs started to appear, "Steve's repair-shop," "Bob's burgers," and several other small small businesses started to appear, looking way more respectable and truthsworthy than the others, some even being two-stories high, embedded into the dark rock of the moon.
"Are you picking up any signals?" Amelia asked, back on her usual tone now that the cacophony from the crowd was a small way behind them.
"Signals?" Crash asked before realizing she was asking if It was reading the station's computer network. "No Sorry, I have been keeping it quiet, would you like me to check?" Crash looked around and saw the diffrent food places. "Would you like to eat?"
"Not right now, maybe on the way back," Amelia answered as the duo walked past a food stand. She felt her stomach protest and growl, but ignored it. The path they were in suddenly took a turn to the right, ending in a bifurcation that, surprisingly enough, led to a wide and tall tunnel made completely of metal and another one in the same fashion as they were in. Deciding to take the fancier route, the astrogator towed the bot with her.
"Ok..." Crash followed along looking at the other passageway before walking down after Amelia. "You sure there are better shops down here?" A whisteling sound came from him in a melodious tune.
"No, I'm just walking around," Amelia replied, walking faster through the much less populated hallway. The sides were composed mostly of houses, less ramshackle than the ones that they had passed by, although that wasn't much of an improvement in a place like Black Moon. Looking up for the signs, she saw a green pannel with the words"REACTOR 1" clearly painted in white over what was probably a street sign from another planet. As they walked further down, the hallway expanded, both in width and in height, opening up into yet aother concourse, although in a better condition than the one where the crews entered and left the station. Several neon signs dotted the sides as the the crowd passed by, and the big, circular metal wall from what was probably the reactor made the concourse come to sudden end.
Looking to her sides and drawing both herself and Crash from the middle of the crowd, Amelia randomly watched the passers-by, noticing for the first time that there were bouncers planted in front of the stores and the reactor, but whether they were to keep the security of the place up was something open for debate. "Do you have anything now?" she asked the bot.
"Anything? Oh you mean a signal.. let me check." Crash paused silent for a moment using the shitty communications system the bot contained. Oh how It longed for the spiderbot... "Yes Ihave a standard Wifi connection now. What would you like to know?" Crash started scanning for data on the Genocide that It belived was being carried out against Freespacers. There was nothing out there... Just a few references to a incedent and a few terrorist groups.
"Well, what do you want to do first, fix your other self or look for that new suit?" she asked.
"I would like to get the other bot fixed... This thing chafes... also I need the better communications systems in the spiderbot. I have found little so far." Crash answered a bit distracted. The guardbot stood there quietly as It worked through the slow dribble of information the net was dropping into him
"Well, just pick a place then, I"m sure someone here would sell the parts," she said.
Pulling up a map of the location Crash pointed to the left, and started leading the astrogator though a few twists and turns. "When we arrive tell them you have a Mk. XXV Spiderbot custom. Give them no information on where or why you have it, just hta you need the parts I listed to your Datajockey before. Also ask to see if they have a MK. XXIV or MK. XXVI version, Then inquire how much those would be.. I believe I have access to at least 3000 ks at the moment. It is slow going with this primitive body.." Crash spoke as the arrived in frount of a hole that filled the negative space beneath the reactor cooling unit.
"Gotcha'," Amelia said once they arrived at the store. The entrance was what appeared to be a large, rusted, circular pipe that was tall enough for even an ID-SOL to go through without trouble, and a simple sign that said "We sell parts!" decorated the top. To the side, there were also two smaller pipes with a ventilation fan on each, presumably to keep the place inside cool, while small piles of litter decorated the side. Hesitantly, Amelia reached forward, grasping the metallic door with a gloved hand and pushing it open. A doorbell rang out, declaring to anyone inside the shop that there were more potential customers as the astrogator and Crash moved inside, the former starting to inspect the wares that were on display.
A Man walked out from the rear of the shop, a back room. well a man, in the sense that the body from the waist up, a large sipderbot style below, and by walked skittered would be a better description. "Why hello how may I serve you today?" the man had skittered up pushing past Amelia to Crash in the Gaurdbot body.
"I'm looking for, uh..." Amelia said, pulling out her Datajockey and looking through the notes from what Crash had said, "parts to fix a mark twenty five Spiderbot custom, although a twenty four or twenty six will do, too," she said, scratching her head.
Crash stood there silently facing forward trying to ignore the Shopkeep at all cost.
The old manbox turned to look at Amelia. "And why wouel someone like you would what with a Mark twenty Five Spiderbot.. let alone the custom?" He stepped closer bringing his face with in a foot of hers "Hmmm?"
"Do you have it or not?" Amelia asked, leaning back as the old man leaned closer.
"i have a few leg conponites and a few plug in parts for the mark 25... As for the 24, 26, I only have a dead 26 right now, most of it's interior is burnt out... apperently It was killed during a Yamatain bust of a Freespacer terrorist cell." he shrugged and walked to the rear of the shop and pulled out two boxes, one contained a dozen legs and the other the whole external part of the 26.
Crash sent a message to Amelia as he watched the part boxes being set out.
Code:
> Find out what it'll cost for both..if it is less then the 3k then buy it, I'll cover you once we are clear of this place... hell I'll have ti all transfered to your accounts in a few minutes.Reading the message from Crash, Amelia raised her head from the Datajockey to stare at the shopkeeper, "Right, these are the only parts I need, though," she said, flipping over the datapad and presenting the screen to the old man,"you got them?"
With a nod the man went to the rear of his store and started pulling them and tossing them into a box. It took him a few minutes of mumbling about where he would find this or that. After a bit he came back out with the box. "Here you go, and would your Freespacer friend be needing anything more? An upgraded sensor field, plug and play holo/volumetric projector?"
Crash heard the bit about the projector and sent a message to Amelia to find out the cost on that one.
"I-I don't have a- there's no freespacer," Amelia stammered, caught off-guard by the shopkeeper. She didn't look at the Datajockey, still surprised at the old man; maybe he was just bluffing, but it still had gotten her anyway.
"Ok... so you are using a highend spiderbot body for what? A repare drone? I surly hope not... well what is it, do you need it to have to projector or the sensor system?" the man glance back at Crash before pulling out a pad to start up a sale's recipt.
"Yeah, I'll buy it too," Amelia said, glancing over the Datajockey and reading Crash's latest message, "how much do you want for it?"
"I will take 300 for the lot." The man said before totaling the whole purches up on his pad. "Anything else? We have excelent dd-ons for Gaurdbots... allow a girl like you not to feel so lonely at night." He looked her over crudely before finishing up the list.
The astrogator sneered at that, pulling out her credit chit and offering it to the shopkeeper. First the doctor said that, and then some shopkeeper, why did everyone had to say that.
Taking the chit from her, he ran it and handed it back. "Would you like a ticket? Also do you have to tools for your project?"
"No, and yes, I have them," Amelia said, waiting for him to hand her the parts. The sooner she was out of there the better.
"Ok then, there you go Luv' you need help carrying it to you place?" He waggled his eyebrows as he slid the two boxs over to Amelia.
"No," Amelia said flatly, grabbing both boxes and stacking one on top of the other. She carried them with relatively ease, considering how light they were, and quickly strode out of the store, not waiting for Crash.
Crash turned and followed her quitely, It had expected her to have It carry the box. Onc ethey were out of ear shot Crash stepped up next to her, "Are you ok? Why did you get upset over him offering an upgrade to this bot?"
The astrogator whipped her head back at the bot with a 'are you serious?' expression on her. Not wanting to discuss the logic, or lack of thereof, in the situation, she simply extended the boxes towards the bot, "let's just get out of here and try to find a new suit," she said.
"By you're command." Crash chuckled before continueing one towards the nearest suit sales men. The walk took them by the food again. Bob's burgers was in the middle of a light rush, causing steam of fresh cooked meet to drift out into the main area, along with fries that smelt like heaven. Crash walked through this all with out a second thought. It had given up that part of It's life years ago, though It did miss strawberry milkshakes. Meanwhile, Amelia felt her stomach rumble and protest again, but tried to ignore it once more; she was also surprised to see the same brand on another part of the station, maybe Bob's burger was a popular place in Black Moon, but despite that the astrogator only walked faster past it, leaving the tantalizing smell of cooked meat behind.
"Does your, uh, connection, point us to any place that could sell a decent space-suit?" She asked Crash.
"It does." Crash continued walking past the burger joint and back into another tunnel leading to a location that was labeled Reactor coolent drainage pools. The tunnel opened up into a large free and airy place. It was at least a 100 meters to a side, the pits were dry and filled with makeshift buildings and houses. Crash lead the way down and rickity ramp down to an ally. Not far was a Shop with the name 'Slappy's Slap Suit Emporium.'
"Crash..." Amelia started to say, reading the name of the shop. She really hoped that the shop wasn't what she was thinking it was. "I don't really think those are the kinds of suits I'm looking for," she said.
"Is too.... They are reported as a space suit store, and repair shop. I do not understand your concern I would lie or mislead you." Crash looked back at Amelia and came up with a plan that next they would hit an adult fun time center, maybe she needed the company of some one.
"Alright, arlight," Amelia said, approaching the entrance of the store. She hesitated for a while, simply holding her hand against the door, but then pushed it in, hearing a different kind of doorbell than from the last store, and stepped into the place.
Crash followed her in to the shop. It was indeed a space, hazmat, and eviomental suit shop. Crash would have had a shit eating grin if It had a mouth at all. "I told your so..."
"Yeah, right," the astrogator answered, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jacket as she walked around the store inspecting the suits. She needed something that would both be good and would fit the bill, since she couldn't spare much money right then, but could always upgrade things further.
It wasn't two seconds she was in the store before the shopkeep, Slappy himself, came bouncing up. "HOOOWW May I Help You!!! We Carry Every Type Of Suit You Could Ever Need!" he was a rather rotund man with a bushy mustache and a brown bulding top of his head.
Surprised at the shopkeeper's disposition at first, it took Amelia some time to answer him, "Hi, I'm looking for a custom suit," she said, straightening herself up, "you got any of those?" she asked.
"I could I could... What kind of suit... I got Anything you would like as a starting point then given time and funds I can create you what ever you need or want." he smiled and guestured with a wave of his arm and the walls that were covered with diffrent suits of diffrent makes and sizes.
"Something that is spaceworthy, but can give some protection without restricting the movement too much, you know?" Amelia said, approaching the shopkeeper. "All I have right now are those Dusk suits, and they're too tight and uncomfortable..." She trailed on, going more about the details.
===========================================
Sometime later found Crash sitting in a corner of the shop working on putting rights to the MK XXVI, trying to make sure that it could be salvaged and the guts to the old spiderbot could be installed into the newer body. Crash was getting impatient with the whole fitting and customization Amelia was going through, but he had things It could do while she flittered the time away. Fortunately, though, the ordeal was eventually over, and the bot eventually heard heavier steps coming his way.
"So, what do you think?" Amelia said, resting one of her hands on the belt of her newly acquired suit, while her other arm was wrapped around the helmet and waiting expectantly for an answer from the freespacer. The suit was somewhat armored, but not enough as to look like it had been made for the military of any nation. It was also very utilitarian, with large pockets in front of each calf and several smaller pouches around her waist, and all in all, it didn't look too uncomfortable. Another noticeable thing was the orange trim to it, which was by then clearly her favorite color.
"Very good. Looks like it will do you well." Crash replied as It started putting the parts back into one of the boxes before standing up. "Now Can we take care of your rumbling tummy? I have been hearing it since we first past the food court on the way to the bot shop." Crash looked back over at her, "My treat... just promise you will describe the milkshake to me."
"Thanks, and sure," Amelia said, smiling faintly as she tugged the strap of the duffel-bag she was carrying over her shoulder. Her clothes and bulletproof vest were inside of that, and it had come free with the suit with the purpose of storing it. "It wouldn't be the weirdest date I've been in," she joked to Crash as she pushed the door open, clipping the helmet to her belt so she wouldn't have to carry it around.
"Date?" Crash responded before stacking the two boxes under one of It's armsand then holding the other out so that Amelia coudl put her arm throught it. "Off we go?"
Chuckling, Amelia decided to go along with it, hooking her arm through Crash's before moving on.
As they reached the food court Crash spoke up after a odd walk, "What would you like to eat? There is plenty of diffrent foods here. There is one claiming to be selling steaks from an Azorean... Though I'm not sure that is true, if what I looked up is true..."
"Anything is fine, I don't want nothing fancy," Amelia said, picking up a random table and taking a seat on it. She dropped the duffelbag next to her, but placed her foot between the straps so that no one would simply grab the thing and make a run for it, that was Black Moon after all.
"Ok May i have your credit chit, I have transfered all i have to it. You are in control on all of the funds I had access to." Crash spoke as It thought through the diffrent places around.
"Wow, that's not my money!" Amelia said, leaning back from her seat, "I don't want it."
"It isn't much, and it's not like I have much access you spending money as it is..." Crash held out It's hand to recive the chit. "Plus I owned you for this body, and now you have the ability to get the stuff to upgrade the ship to make it easier for me to live in."
"Don't worry about the body, it was a gift like what you're doing right now, I would rather that you keep your money because I'm sure you can take good care of it," Amelia said, not budging by the request. "If all you wanna do is buy the parts to upgrade the ship then we can do just like we did for the parts, but I'm not taking your money."
"I never said you were... What ever i'll move the money... But I don't have an account anywhere right now... That money was sitting in a digital buffer on a old gaming site. So I have no where for it to go... I promise that once I take care of getting one, I'll move it." Crash tilted It's head before snatching her chit and heading over to a barrito joint. It wasn't long before Crash returned with a barrito the size of Amelia's head, a bowl of chips and a large soda. Tossing the chit on the tray Crash set it in front of Amelia.
"Crash..." Amelia started to say, fishing her credit chit from the tray. "I can't eat all that much," she said, eyeing the gigantic meal that the freespacer had brought her warily.
"And why not... You're eating for two now..." Crash spoke not realizing It claimed she was pregnant, but was meaning she was needing to tell Crash all about the food. "Just start eating, what you don't we can take back to the ship and you can have for later." Crash made It's chittering sound before pulling out the MK XXVI and it's old bot and started opening it up and transfering the parts to the new model.
"What's that supposed to mean!?" Amelia said, gripping the edges of the table. "Do you even know what that expression means?"
"it means you are eating for both of us." Crash said with out looking up from the delicate manuver of moving the main processor board over. "I havn't had one of those in years, it was one of my favorite. Figured i would share."
"Oh, right," the astrogator said, relaxing. It had just been a silly joke, after all, and the real gesture behind it was what really made her feel good about it. She tentatively reached for the large burrito, giving it an exploratory bite, but quickly regretted the decision. The astrogator's eyestarted to water, making she blink rapidly, and her face started to flush as she ate it, "It's really spicy!" she said.
"Yes it is, habeneros do that to it... Plus you won't be needing to feed the child in you for a few more months, I've only impregnated you with the one vial of genetic matter I had left in my spider bot, last night." This was followed by a few moments of silence before the chittering came out.
"That's not funny, jackass," Amelia said, taking a big gulp of the soda, which really didn't do much to stop the burning sensation. Maybe she should just stick to the fries.
"Ehh I thought so... though I should still have some on ice in a facility in the far galatic north... Prime stuff too, I did my best work before they helped me over to my new body...." Crash finished getting the board in place and started attaching the add-ins, like the new projector and sensor suit. "Also light beer is the best to kill the burn."
Not answering the freespacer, Amelia simply kept slowly nibbling at the fries and the Soda, not daring to touch the other spicy food.
Crash started humming a light pleasent melody as It finished loading in the last of the hardware. "There It looks like it could work now. though I might have a few minutes dealing withe the newer body's drivers." Crash proudly set it upright on the table and nodded. "Oh here a gift for you." It held out a hand with the blown fuse in it. "Here, this is what saved my life, I want you to have it."
"Thanks," Amelia said, taking out the proferred fuse. While someone might not recognize the value in it, she certainly did, being someone who collected those random tidbits for what they represented rather than they were. Noticing that Crash had finished fixing the spiderbot, she quickly grabbed one of the napkins and wiped the food from the corner of her mouth, "I don't think I can eat any more, let's get going," she started to say, pushing her chair back, "there's one last thing I want to do before we head back to the ship."
"Besides gathering your food for dinner?" Crash tilted It's head as he picked up everything and put it into boxes. Everything but the repaired Spiderbot, that It put into It's chest. Picking up the box Crash stood waiting for Amelia.
"Is that thing vacuum sealed?" Amelia asked, tilting her head towards the boxes.
"What my bot... It will be once I get back to the ship. I will use the airlock to depressurize and then I'll seal it up."
"No, I meant the box," the astrogator explained.
"umm... I don't think so... um..." Crash looked at the box and played with the flaps until a hissing sound was made. "I guess it does... Is there a reason it needed to?"
"Alright, put them here," Amelia said, grabbing the duffelbag next to her feet and opening it up. "You'll see," she added.
"Ok." Crash gently put the box in to the bag and sealed it, before picking it up and slinging it onto It's back. "Then if you are being secretive, lead the way."
"The thing is, we're not coming back the same way we came here," Amelia said, pulling the chair back in its place before starting to walk away, "but before I just want to get a few things for our next trip," she added.
"Ok." Crash followed just behind and to the right of her, so that It's gun hand was free. The humming started up as if Crash was pleased or something.
"Well, that's our first stop if you were wondering," the astrogator said, gesturing to what looked like to be a grocery shop on one corner of the food court.
With a nod Crash followed wondering what the women would need there. The ship had plenty of ration bars to last the crew months. "Do you need some kind of dip for the rations?"
"Something like that. I don't plan to get much," Amelia said as she walked into the store.
===================================================================
It wasn't 'not much.' By the time Amelia left the store, the Duffel-bag was stuffed full of goods, and the astrogator constantly shifted the strap on her shoulder, which was uncomfortable even with the relative protection from her new suit. There were also noticeably fewer people in the food court than when they entered the store, but not by much to consider the place to be deserted; at least she had gotten all that she wanted, and she would be set for a while. "Anything else you want to do around here?" she asked Crash.
Crash pulled the bag gently but firmly off of Amelia's shoulder and slung it over It's. "I don't think so, though It would be nice to have a box or something for my two bodies to be stored in when I'm not habatating them... Maybe something that could be set up in the computer bay."
"I'll think of something when we get back," the astrogator said, letting the duffelbag be removed again, "you don't have to carry my stuff around, you know," she added.
"I know I do not have to. But I am stronger and better equipped to carry it... like you having my cash in you account." Crash missed having a tounge to stick it out, but It was still better this way then with all of those wierd juices flowing about. "I can have one built for not much, though I might order it to have ready before the next time we come back here. Are we going to be based out of this place?"
"Probably not," Amelia said as they left the food court and went back into the ruckus the station. Black Moon, as it seemed, never slept. Standing right between the edge of the crowd, she turned around to face Crash, "can you detect any small exits that lead to the moon's surface?" she asked.
"I can... Though you know the ship is parked deep in a crator, and we will be exiting far above it..." Crash spoke as he was already pulling the map and diffrent area's to leave from from his connection. "There are three that will not vent the atmosphere of this area."
She gave the not-spiderbot a somewhat mischievous smile, "Yeah, I know," she said, excited to test out her new suit. At least if the thing wasn't working she could just stop the depressurization, come back to the suit store and do something about it, rather than finding out that it wasn't working when she was far away from the station. "Just take me there, I have a plan," the astrogator said.
"Ok.." Crash did that, Leading her to a airlock that A: wasn't that far off, B:One of the closer ones to the Ship, only a whole klick from the ship. "I do not have Manuvering Jets, I will not be able to do much more then plod along behind you."
"Don't worry, you won't need one," Amelia started to say as she followed the spiderbot, "the gravity here is only half as strong from what we're used to, but it's still there," she added, looking around and then back at the bot. "You don't think this is fun?" she asked Crash, somewhat worried.
"No... I think this is an interesting adventure... Life threatening to those here that might need air or atmosphere, but interesting none-the-less." Crash started humming again and when they reached the hatch to the airlock It reached out and held it open for Amelia.
Keeping quiet for most of the trip there, Amelia once again just watched her surroundings as she followed the freespacer. The metal hallways from the area next to the reactor were slowly being once again replaced with the black rock that the moon was made of, as a sign that they were indeed far from the main hubs of the station. The tunnels got smaller, barely four feet high and wide enough for a couple people to walk abreast, the air got more stale and the lights became more sparse and dimmer; it actually looked like they had left a station and went into an actual mine, which was what the station had been at some point in time, and the quality of the habitations visibly worsened as well.
"Thanks," the astrogator said, finally piping up. and stepping into what was actually a ladder shaft, several feet tall. "I think the airlock is actually up there," she said, turning back around to face Crash and pointing a finger up before grasping the ladder. She gave it a testing shove, looking to see if the thing would hold, and was satisfied that -depiste the thing being caked in rust- it barely moved. Amelia held onto the ladder and started climbing it.
Crash sealed the hatch behind them and started up behind Amelia. For some reason he kept having issues looking directly up at her, so he looked forward at the ladder rungs. "These are a bit corroded... Someone needs to come and take care of these... Should I seen an anonymousmessage to the Moon's managers?"
"Don't bother, I don't think they even care, or that there even is such a thing," Amelia said, surprising even herself on how she wasn't even breathing heavier from the effort, only to rememeber her previous comment about the gravity. A few minutes later, she could see a faint incandescent light up top, or rather the light projected by it. With a grunt, the astrogator climbed out of the ladder, stepping into the dust-caked metal floor when she reached what looked like to be a narrow platform, leading to another circular hatch in front of her. Instead of going directly for the hatch, she stopped, looking around at the place, "I think this must be quite the spot," she said when Crash reached the top as well and gestured to the metallic struts that produted out from the rock wall; there were several marks stenciled, painted or scratched into the dark metal, usually things like "bob was here" or "Steve hearts Stacey."
Crash met up with her after a few steps, It glanced at the writings on the wall before looking over to her. "If you decompress the area, I will vacuum seal my bot before stepping out. Then I just need to hook it up to the ship's core to jump start its internal power systems." Crash popped the hatch on It's chest and pulled the MK XXVI, "Wouldn't want moon dust in my parts..."
"You want to move the ship?" Amelia asked.
"No.. why would you ask that? All I want is to plug the spider bot into the ship's power core, then use the ship's power to star the core of my bot here..." Crash responded.
"Oh," she replied casually as she got on her knees next to one of the metal struts. "Just hang on a second," she told Crash, dusting off a spot on the metal that wasn't scratched before fishing something from one of her pouches. The astrogator pulled out a small, straight metal object that ended up with a hooked end, which she used to slowly scratch the metal surface.
Standing there with the spiderbot under It's arm as Crash leaned off to the side trying to see what Amelia was up to. He soon found out what he wanted, as the astrogator whiped the dust with her hand and blew the air out of her lungs to clear whatever she didn't get with the first few swipes: scratched into the metal was written "Crash and Amelia were here."
Reaching forward and scratched a little spider and a girl with her new spacesuit on, with just Crash's finger. "There," It said with a slight smile in It's voice, while Amelia got up and placed the metal lockpick back into its pouch.
"Yeah," she said, then turned back around to the hatch. "I think the actual decompression chamber is after this," the astrogator added, grasping the handle of the hatch and twisting it, unlocking the round, metallic door. She pushed the thing back, revealing a dark, although functional room, there was a simple panel on the side, which looked to be completely analogic in contrast with the Veil's digital systems. Another thing that also caught her attention were the footprints that showed on the dusty floor, apparently that place had seen a lot of movement recently.
Without further ado, Amelia stepped into the chamber, unclipping the helmet from her belt and putting it on. She twisted the headgear to one side, then to the other and heard the click that she was looking for, there was a moment of pause and then the holographic display came to life, showing some trivial information as she reached to the side of the helmet and toggled the flashlight on..
Following along, Crash sealed the hatch again behind itself. Once The woman put on her helmet Crash switched over to It's comms unit. "I believe we are ready for depressurization, I'll get the spiderbot sealed quickly and back into my chest cavity, then we can go moon hopping as you wished."
"Okay," Amelia answered, moving closer to the panel to inspect it. "Man, I haven't seen one of these in along time," she said, wiping off the dust from the panel's metallic surface, only the really, really old systems still used analogic devices such as that as a primary choice instead of a backup one. That route had probably been built before the moon became a settlement, when it was still a mining station. The astrogator flipped a switched, finding what she wanted, and almost instantly a periodic, rumbling sound reverbated through the room as the pumps started to suck the air out. Her HUD started flashing, warning that the atmospheric pressure was decreasing, and as soon as it left the 'safe' levels the emergency air canisters from her helmet popped in, although the oxygen tank on the back of her suit was what really provided the breathing air at that moment.
"Well, this really works," she said on the comms, breathing a sigh of relief and letting her hand go from the pannel.
"Well that is good." As the air left Crash watched the gauge drop the needle. Once it hit red and then bottomed out It opened then closed the hatch of the spiderbot, then secured the secret clasps that locked the body shut. "I am good to go." With a quiet hum Crash set the spiderbot back into It's chest and moved to get the exterior door for the suited girl.
"Alright," Amelia said, moving to the airlock that would lead out onto the surface of the Black Moon. Instead of a handle, the locking mechanism was a valve, which took her some time to twist and turn to open. There was no sound, just the vibration from the airlock as it slowly was pushed outwards.
She carefully stepped out onto a small metal platform, looking around at the vast black surface of the planetoid, while the Graveyard hang on the sky ominously as the moon rotated around it, with the white star behind the Black Moon casting its light onto both of the objects. "It's a somewhat nice view," the astrogator commented idly.
"Yes it is." Crash spoke as It stepped out behind her, and sealed and recycled the airlock. "Reminds me of something in the past." A chitter came from Crash, it may not have been the sky It was commenting on. "The ship is that way, in a crater.
"Realyl? What does it remind you of?" Amelia said, dropping from the platform onto the lunar surface. The drop had easily been some three feet, but it only felt like she was dropping from less than that thanks to the gravity. A small cloud of dust rose once her feet planted themselves on the soft ground, but quickly dissipated by the time she was standing straight.
Crash stepped off the platform and fell a bit faster, but only a bit. The bot's mass was a bit more then Amelia's so with out wind resistance, more speed. "It was long ago on a evening like this..." Crash cut Itself of and started walking towards the ship. "Anyways. It was like this..."
"Hm," Amelia answered, moving along the uneven terrain. The gravity was only half of the normal, so it meant that she could move with some ease while not nescessarily jumping like in the novels that she read. "Did you enjoy it?" she asked, walking upwards on a slighty sloped patch of terrain.
"I did when it lasted." The bot every so often would jump and hover a few meters up, before falling back down in a little clouds of dust. Crash was acting all the much like the childish prankster It started off as while in the spiderbot.
"Ah," the astrogator replied, "I like it because of the quiet, there's no noise to bother you," she explained.
'True, but it isn't all that quiet if you can hear other forms of wavelengths. It is quite loud out here." Crash Chuckled mid jump. "That and the radiation bouncing off of the Graveyard causes chimes and whistles."
"Good thing I can't listen to it, then," Amelia said after a while, placing both hands to find purchase so that she could keep climbing up a very steep slope. Once she got on top, however, she could see that she was actually standing on the edge of the very large crater, and the docking shaft where the Concordia was docked was almost right in the middle of it. A few metallic poles jutted out from the edges of the circular shaft, with blinking lights attached to their end with the intent of guiding spaceships in.
"Do you want to?" Crash responded as It looked over the crater's lip. The series of catwalks and ramps wrapped around the perimiter of the shaft. "I can pump the feed through a filter and then send it via this radio signal."
"Right, sure," Amelia said, appreciating the view as she leaned against a tall rock outcrop. She was in no hurry to get back to the ship.
So It did. The haunting 'music' played over the comm as Crasn sat down dangling Its legs over the edge. "Its sounds like that I hear all the time, but out here with out the ship interfearing with it, it's nice."
"I see," the astrogator said. It made sense that an artficial being like Crash would pick up those waves, specially the electromagnetic one and perceive them. "It's kinda like... You know? When you're inside a ship and it's all quiet but you can hear all the stuff working on the background?" she asked.
"Yes... But I can hear that background noise as easily as you can hear me talking to you now. But your background sound is what to me is this when I'm in the ship.. though when I'm the ship's computer the sensors allow me to hear a lot more. Trillions of stars all singing for me." Crash kicked his legs back and forth as It talked, occationaly looking over to her.
"That's... Interesting," Amelia replied, crouching down besides where Crash was sitting. She didn't say much else for a couple minutes, simply staring at the barren landscape pensively. Eventually, the astrogator stood up again, pulling out her datajockey to check on something, "Thanks for coming along," she said to Crash.
"It...It has been my pleasure.. I've been alone for quite a bit of time. Awakening to my universe and plans tossed to the wind." Crash turned It's head towards her, slowly It rasied a hand and placed it lightly on her shoulder.
Amelia opened her mouth to speak, but closed it when no words came out, instead just staring down at the docking shaft in the middle of the crater.
Crash sat there silently staring down at the ship in the distance, it was a good plan, but this seemed to lead to better adventures. Worst case they'll come up against a ship Crash could take over and leave on... But right then it seemed the best plan was to enjoy the company and see what it would bring. That and It still needed to get her to eat a double fire bomb barrito.
A single beep sounded inside her helmet, making the astrogator stare down at the Datajockey that she was holding, "I've got half a tank of oxygen left," Amelia said, looking at the datapad's screen and breaking the silence, "I think we should go back to the ship," she added. Time had really gone past in a hurry, and although the single oxygen tank could provide enough air for a long time she doubted that the shopkeeper had topped it when he sold the suit. Putting the pad back in one of her pouches, the astrogator dropped down from the lip of the crater, slowly sliding down and bringing a small avalanche of small rocks with her until the slope evened out more, allowing her to walk in the shade that it cast. Another thing that her suit's sensors also showed was that by simply not being directly exposed by the star, the temperature had dropped a couple hundred degrees.
Crash followed by just pushing off of the lip and falling to the walkway behind her. "If you need me to, I can toss you at the ship..." Crash joked as It carried the bag and started humming the same music of the stars.
"Thanks, but no," Amelia replied, walking down the narrow metallic surface until they reached the side of the mineshaft that had been converted into a place where ships could dock. It had been just as she assumed, there were catwalks all around the sides of the circular shaft so that the crew could move around to work on the ships, while every now and then where was a small metal stair leading down into another level of catwalks. The place also wasn't completely unoccupied, some of the dockworkers could be seen moving around in their spacesuits, either on the catwalks or on the hull of the ships that they were working on.
Going down a short set of stairs, Amelia planted her feet on the catwalks, leaning against the railing and looking down the shaft. Some levels down, she could see the Concordia Veil, as well as notice the damage done to the ship. "It took quite a beating," she said.
"She did.." Crash answered as it walked down the path. "Though It would have been worse if you guys tried to run away from that mining ship... Though most of it looks like a can of spray paint and a few plates of metal and she'll be good as new... Well as she was before the attack."
"And a new turret," Amelia commented, letting go of the railing and walking towards the first ladder.
Crash nearly tripped. "A new turret?"
"One of the turrets got busted during the fight," she reminded the bot.
"Right... I thought you were meaning another one past the one needing fixing..." It laughed as it looked back down at the ship.
The astrogator leaned towards the rock wall of the shaft, giving some space so that two dockworkers could pass by. The spacesuit clad workers didn't spare a second look at the duo, and kept going on about their business as she started going doing the first set of stairs. All along the different levels of catwalks there were loose metal cables or empty boxes, most likely used by the workers to replace the parts that they couldn't fix, or store these parts. The woman examined that in silence as she kept going down the metal stairs, drawing closer to the Concordia.
At each of the ladders Crash waited for Amelia to climb down and step out of the way before It stepped forward and fell to the platform. Each of these caused a cloud of dust to be shaken free from the metal. As they walked, Crash worked up the nerve to finally ask, "What did you do before coming here?"
"I suppose I never really told you," Amelia said, looking back at the bot. "Besides being a navigator, the other jobs I took ended up badly, just like the last one," she said, remembering about Nepleslia Prime and Kennewes, "I guess I just don't have luck for these sort of things," she added.
"Oh really? Well we know you're not a good asassin.. Or I would have been nothing but a minor glitch in the memory buffer... What other jobs did you do?" Crash was quite interested in hearing, though everyother time It had asked she had growled at It.
"This one time I picked up a job in Nepleslia Prime, I was supposed to be with a group and check out what was supposed to be a wreck somewhere off in the countryside," Amelia said, stopping as she turned to go down another set of stairs, "but just as we left our shuttle we were attacked by pirates. Can you believe that? In Nepleslia Prime." There was an incredulous tone to her voice, although it had also gotten very serious.
"I do believe it. Nepleslia had and has a high crime rate. If you give me a few minutes I can download you the most current stats that I can find." Crash responded, not realizing the retorical nature of the question.
"Don't bother," Amelia said. Soon enough, both of them were in the same level as the Veil, and all they had to do was go around the circular catwalk to reach a spot where they could find an airlock to get inside the same hallway that they had reached once they left the ship.
"Well we have arrived back to the ship... I would like to thank you for such an nice outing Amelia... for a pet you are not too bad." Crash shifted the duffel over to It's left side, so that it's pistol hand was still open. Back to the pretending to be a bodygaurd bot.
"You're delusional," Amelia said once the airlock had cycled open. She twisted the helmet, hearing the click that it had unlocked and removed it, clipping it back to her belt. "But thanks for coming along too," she added.
Crash winked one of the lights of It's eyes. Quietly, It followed her into the ship.
=END=
