Aboard The Argo
Engine Room
This is the beating heart of The Argo. The pulsar drive is located here, powering the ship. Much of the ship's conditions are monitored here and often dealt with before they become issues. Also located here are the fuel cells necessary in case of the pulsar drive's failure.
Kyarion entered the engine room, but since his shift wasn't about to start quite yet, he went and watered one of his plants, this one a tiny blueberry twig. After he had finished tending to the plant, he turned toward the computer screens and controls. "Good morning," he said to the person currently keeping watch on the systems. He started going over the information himself and concluded that everything was as it should be. However, he thought that there had been something odd about the information anyway, so he went over it again and this time saw what was awry. The output of the pulsar drive had increased significantly. "What? Output is increased! When this happened?" He put on his visor and started going through the system logs to find out the exact time the output had changed and how much faster they were now going. They would reach the unknown vessel sooner than expected, and Kyarion wanted to know how much sooner.
Tarke paused in shock. "Output has increased? I didn't notice it at all!" He plugged a finger into one of the computer outputs, and statistics started rolling across his vision. "Is it something to do with this other ship?"
"I could think so because it happened at about the same time."
Kyarion found the logs and started going through them. He also activated the intercom to tell Alec and Zhora what was going on. "Kyarion Kavarinen to Alec Polansk and Zhora Locklear. The drive's output increased and we are going faster. I will find out what happened, but this means we will arrive to the other vessel sooner, yes? How much sooner?"
Tarke continued to check through the system's statistics, the data rolling across his eyes. "It appears we are up on output nearly 20% - we're accelerating! The ship has been accelerating since... about 1am, yes, the time of the course change!" He unplugged his finger and looked over at Kyarion, pale-faced. "Can you reduce the output? Surely the captain will want us to conserve energy."
Coming into the engine room,
Zhora quickly made her way over to Kyarion and Tarke and joined them in looking through statistics. "So this has somethin' to do with the course change, huh? Really, what were the programmers thinkin' when they did this?" She then looked over to Kyarion briefly before zooming in on some details. "If this keeps up we'll reach that vessel a heck of a lot sooner than expected." Much like what Kyarion had done earlier, she activated communications to speak to Alec as well, "I think it would be best to try to override the programmin' here as well, reduce our acceleration to normal levels. We'll need the time to make sure we're prepared for this mystery ship were comin' up on."
Alec climbed up the ladder from the technical room, just as Zhora finished her transmission. "This wasn't anything I expected," he said as he came up to the other team members and also viewed the data. "Jesus, even if we cut the engines we'll be there in mere hours!" He looked to Kyarion. "See what you can do here. I'll have to reprogram this into our warnings as well." He pressed the tag on his collar. "Cockpit," he said, before continuing. "Active pilots, switch controls from auto-pilot to manual and slow us down if you can. Maintain course."
Some frustration could be detected in
Kyarion's voice as he went through the logs. "Warnings about these things should be coming automatically, in my opinion! It is important. Has someone pranked? Removed warnings?"
Alec shook his head. "It could be, but I have a feeling that this programming was left out specifically. I have a bad feeling..." He didn't continue on - the thought that the people who'd worked on the ship had actually
meant for them to come upon this ship without their knowledge was a terrifying thought.
What else did they keep from us? he thought.
And who's in on their side? He carefully considered the crew members he knew about. Would any of them have a secret agenda given to them by the UEG? "I'm going to sort out this programming now," he stated before heading to the ladder and climbing down to
Argo: Technical.
After seeing enough of the logs to know when the output had increased,
Kyarion started adjusting the systems to allow for the decrease of the output. Then he considered Alec's words again – he had thought the programming was specifically left out. That definitely raised some questions about their journey. Was meeting the other ship their purpose? But if that was so, why had that not been told to them in the first place? No matter what, the situation was rather exciting, which was a change from the general dullness. He wasn't sure if it was a good or bad change, but they would find out soon enough. "Kyarion Kavarinen to Alec Polansk. Want making us a countdown to meeting the unknown vessel? Would be useful knowing when exactly that happens!"
Alec's voice was vocalised in Kyarion's location. "If we continue at our previous speed then we should now be at the ship within a couple of hours, no more than three."
Kyarion acknowledged Alec's message and kept adjusting the systems. "Well, if the pilots will be decelerating, they should be able to do." Now that he wasn't quite so concentrated on his work, he noticed that Zhora was still around. "Hey, Zhora! Needing anything?" he asked and looked at her with his visor on.
As everything was seeming to be handled,
Zhora took a step back from the machines before her. With a small sigh to herself, she watched as Kyarion and Alec did their thing, and even as the captain exited himself to take care of what he needed to do. While she was adept in helping when it came to the general welfare of anything mechanical and things made of flesh within the ship, she could easily say that those two knew more about their specific interests than she. However, she was glad to be of help so decided to stick around for a bit longer simply to see if she was needed. When Kyarion turned and spoke to her, Zhora turned her face to the male and offered him a smile. "Actually, could you teach me a bit more about the pulsar drive? I'd like to be able to understand a little more in-depth about how it functions." Well, she couldn't very well understand more if she didn't ask to be taught.
Tarke snorted at Zhora's comment. "This thing isn't quite so simple," he said, and then smiled at her. "No offence. I barely know how it works and I look after it."
Alec's voice came up through the jumpsuit communicators of Zhora and Kyarion. "This is Alec. Let me know of anything odd that goes on. We're having too many surprises for any normal day."
Kyarion pondered what to reply to Zhora, though then Tarke spoke before him. He grinned a bit. "That is true. But I can teaching you some things about it even if it is complicated. And teaching is the best way to learn, yes? I will remember better after teaching!" He then listened to the message from Alec and acknowledged it. "Starting with basics of pulsar drive theory is okay?" he asked and then started going on about that exactly. He mostly spoke and showed diagrams on the screens of the system. Simultaenously
, he performed a thorough diagnostic on the engines since doing that didn't particularly need his attention and it was something that should be done, especially since Alec wanted to know about anything odd.
At Tarke's first remark, Zhora couldn't help but feel a pang of minor annoyance at the male. Of course she knew the machine wasn't anything ordinary. After all, it almost effortlessly powered them through space and that was no simple feat. However, she mentally shrugged it off and nodded in Tarke's direction. "Yes, of course. I know it's complicated machinery." Hearing the all-too-familiar notification before Alec spoke to them once more, she nodded to herself at his request. He was absolutely right, there were way too many coincidences going on in such a short time span to take things lightly. When Kyarion stated that he would teach her a little more, Zhora gave her companion a smile. "Thank you. I don't expect to surpass the two of you in knowledge, but being able to understand it even just a bit more would be fine." Listening to him speak and show her visuals of the things he said, Zhora nodded her head periodically and was completely enraptured in what he was saying. "There really is so much behind all of this, huh?"
"Yes, and drive's comprehensive theory is very difficult because is almost impossible to illustrate it via analogy that is making sense," said Kyarion. "I can't hope making it fully understandable. But at least we did not get to the extremely difficult parts yet!" He looked through a few intermediate reports of the diagnostic. "Do you want to hear next topic? Or is your shift starting soon?" he asked from Zhora.
Alec's voice was amplified through the ship's intercom: "The unknown vessel we were heading for is within camera range. Please report to the cockpit if you wish to see it. Alec out."
Tarke jumped slightly at the sudden intrusion of Alec's voice. "Oy. I'm not sure I want to know what it is. You two can go if you want," he said to Zhora and Kyarion. "I'll keep an eye on the drive."
"Oh, I am going!" said Kyarion and got up. "Will you?" he asked from Zhora and waited to walk with her if she was coming. He then headed to Argo: Horticultural.
Zhora nodded appreciatively at Kyarion. She really was glad that he wasn't looking down on her, but instead doing his best to teach her basic theory. However, before she could reply to his question she heard Alec's voice announcing the upcoming arrival of the strange ship. Once his voice stopped and Kyarion's chimed in once more, she gave the male a smile and began walking after him. "Of course!" She then ducked behind him into Argo: Horticultural.
Accessible locations from here:
Argo: Horticultural (accessed via doorway)
Argo: Technical (accessed via ladder)
* Aboard The Argo * Argo: Start * Argo Characters * Argo Rules* 
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