The Ship Engines

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A massive fluctuating, undulating, rhythmic machine that powered the ships. Seemingly deceptively small at first, the real powerhouse is hidden out of view behind six feet thick walls. From then on the engines stretch, the insides hidden from view by what looks like a much too thin casing; beyond that are the thrusters. They couldn't use gas to propel the ships, so instead a magnetic force is created by the engines to propel the ship forward by creating small radioactive explosions. The shocks are small and end quickly, as the particles are incredibly volatile, so you are quite safe to stand on the areas around the engine, but if anyone was caught in the atomic blasts they'd turn into goo.

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The lift from the engineer's quarters opened with a slight whirring noise. Kai was the first to get out, immediately clipping her line to the catwalk. The beating of the ship's heart was only disrupted by a clanging noise that sounded every six seconds by Kai's estimation. Half of the time it was louder and reverberated the catwalk as the engine tried to get restarted. Kai went over to the control panel and pressed some buttons quickly and the banging stopped, as did an entire quarter of the engine. "We need to hurry and get it back online before the other engines try to compensate...Which will be in ten minutes." She smiled back at the commander.

Wondering just WHAT he was doing down here, Rhod nodded at Kai and waited for her to lead the way as he looked around, his own clip scrapping reassuredly loudly on the catwalk. The sound made him know he was safe, made him sure he was locked into place. "You lead the way" he said to Kai confidently.

Kai turned to look at Rhod and giggled. She went over and disconnected him for a moment before fixing his clip and reattaching it. "You had it upside down." She turned and hurried down the catwalk towards the engines.

"Confident, isn't she?" a soft voice whispered close to Rhod's ear so she wouldn't have to yell. Vesper smiled at him where she was standing very close behind him, her own clip in place and correct, having followed Kai's example. She had put hand hand on his arm, comforting, but the drawing feeling was absent. "You have a good crew," she complimented before nodding that they should continue.

Rhod nodded at Vesper, but the half smile betrayed the fact it wasn't the crew he doubted. Still he turned forward and took a few steps, trying to make up for the obvious timidity in their movement by making them long steps. He listened to his link as they moved, glad that there were other people here to keep checks.

Kai slid down the ladder, her long hair practically floating around her. She landed with grace, making less noise than one would expect. She unclipped herself from the catwalk lead and reclipped to the engine's line. "You two coming down or going to stay up there and watch? It's a better vantage point but you won't be able to see everything."

"I had better come down" rhod said slowly, biting his lip as he gripped the the ladder rungs tightly. He decided to go down the old fashioned way, instead of just plummeting as Kai had.

"I've no need to know how the engine works," Vesper said kindly. She gave a little wave. "I shall wait up here." She stepped over to the edge of the catwalk and sat down, her legs hanging off the edge.

"Right" Rhod mumbled, reaching the end of the ladder and quickly clicking his link onto the walk again. He followed after Kai quickly, moving quickly to try and get close to her; he needed someone to catch him after all. "Are we ready?" he asked her, breathing slightly deeply.

With expert precision, Kai went to work on removing the broken part. It was a gear that seemed to be missing several teeth. She handed it to Rhod and smiled. "We'll need to bring that up to my workshop with us." Ka'aias moved again, crouching low against the catwalk and reaching her arm into the machine. She bit her lip much as any human would do when trying to reach something that had fallen out of reach. With a triumphant "Aha!" she pulled her arm out, her hand grasping several peices of metal. She shoved them into her belt and looked at Rhod. "Now for the fun stuff."

"Fun.. stuff?" Rhod asked, trying to grin confidently at Kai "And what do we need to do for that?" How she could reach into the machine like that, without fearing for her arm being ripped free, Rhod would never know.

Kai made a small hand motion and freed the machine part that had been strapped to her tool belt. Holding it up against the engine, she looked at Rhod. "This is always easier with two. I need you to hold this while I reconnect it."

Rhod nodded slightly and reached forward, trying to hide the tension in his face as his hand slipped into the machine adn he held on tightly to the piece that had fallen free. He hoped she hurried this up, she was one of the best mechanics around, but that didn't always mean they were fast.

Up on the catwalk, Vesper was smiling gently down at them, and glanced at her watch. She sighed a bit, but still kept her small smile. She was sure Kai new what she was doing. "Three minutes," she called, laying her hands back on the edge of the walk, looking completely unconcerned.

Sparing Vesper the smallest glance, Kai nodded and pulled another tool from her belt. This one she connected to the energy outlet in her arm and started reconnecting the part, her hands becoming almost a blur at the speed she was using. It was the matter of half a minute before she pulled back and nodded. "Done." Ka'aias unclipped her safetly harness from the catwalk and looked up at Rhod. "The control panel up the ladder, hit combination 1 3 6 and then the red button, that'll start the engine up again." That said, Kai slipped over the edge of the catwalk, 'monkeying' her way to another part of the engine. She started picking up more of the broken metal pieces that had fallen.

Rhod nodded slightly at Kai, going over to the ladder, reclipping again and moving up the ladder quickly. He found the control panel, scanning it for a second before tapping in 1 3 6 and slamming a finger on the red button. "That do it?" he called out back to Kai.

As the engine started, Kai had enough time to climb back to the catwalk and make her way to the ladder. "Perfect!" she said to Rhod, beaming at him. "That patch should last awhile. It'll give me time to repair the part and replace it. And we won't be dead in the water, so to speak."

"Great" Rhod called down, not helping the smile that crossed his lips "When will you have the part ready by? Speed really isn't of the essence but I get twitchy if the Engines basically got a plaster covering up the problem."

"I'll have it by breakfast tomorrow. It'll have to wait because I have to finish that thing for the security officer, but that shouldn't take too long." Kai climbed the ladder, joining them on the catwalk. Without the clanging, the heartbeat of the engines could be clearly distinquished. Ka'aias was so comfortable here that she didn't think twice about insinuating that she wasn't going to sleep. Not that that was anything new to her.

"Just look after yourself alright, we've got quite a while to go on this journey." Rhod patted her shoulder lightly and squeezed it in a friendly manner "We need you up and running in case of an emergency really appears, so try not to tire yourself out too badly."

Kai stared at him for a moment then giggled. "Sir, I doubt that my being exhausted will ever be a problem as I don't sleep. I recharge for an hour or so, but that's about it." She smiled at him. "But I appreciate the concern. Don't worry, though. The only danger I'm in is overheating. I can fix that no problem by amping up my cooling and loosing a few more layers of cloth."

"Ah... well" Rhod scratched his head for a moment, trying to think of something to say "I suppose my only thing there is please don't get so disrobed that it becomes... distracting for the others." He wondered just how much she meant by saying she'd strip down; he also began to wonder if modesty was one of the first things to suffer in this day and age.

"Oh, I wouldn't disrobe in front of everyone. Maybe if there were a few collegues that knew about Cypers..." She trailed off, mumbling to herself. It was a moment before she stopped and shook her head. "Nope, probably not even then. Too many vids on human girls who look my age and-" She cut off with a half giggle. "Sorry sir, yes, I'll be careful of my disrobing."

"We all read the handbook, sir," Vesper smiled as she stood on the catwalk with them, dusting off her butt unnecessarily. "I'm sure we are all aware of ship etiquette." She clasped her hands in front of her again, smiling at Kai as if looking for support of her claims, to assure the commander.

"Good... good" Rhod said slowly, rubbing his head slowly and starting to move towards the exit elevator "Remind... remind me to read that later."

"Yes, we know about ship etiquette." Kai smiled at Vesper, thankful that someone at least could say what she meant. Ka'aias headed towards the elevator as well. "Have you read the report on Cypers yet?" she asked the two. "Doesn't really help at all. Just a bunch of facts. It says nothing about our individual personalities."

"I found that out after the first few pages, but yes I have managed to struggle through it. That's why I came to you here today" Rhod itterated "I never find those things useful, feel more like instruction manuals than anything..." In some cases it almost HAD been an instruction manual.

"Yeah," Ka'aias said quietly. If it hadn't been for the dual tone in her voice, that one word probably wouldn't have been heard. It was the first time she wasn't loud. "They made us and didn't expect that individual personalities would follow."

"Really? Well that's a massive oversite... and flaw kinda" Rhod said, chewing on his lip as he stood in the elevator adn waited for Vesper, so they could head back up "I mean... why no personalities? Or at least individual ones? You're a person after all..."

"We weren't meant to be." Kai said it rather matter of factly. "We were meant to be biological computers, nothing more. Problem solving, personalities, quirks...never programmed. We were supposed to be something else. But it all worked out, I think."

"Wouldn't want you any way but what you are," Vesper agreed as she stepped in with them, a soft 'excuse me' coming from politeness, not wanting to be in their way. She was beginning to think she should return to the medical area, but then again, she wasn't sure the commander was alright just yet. Didn't the doctor want to check all of them again? She supposed that would satisfy her worry. When they stopped in medical bay, if the doctor gave the commander a thumbs up of health (the image made her lips quirk a bit of a smile) then she would accept it and let him go on his way alone.

"I definatley think it worked out" Rhod said firmly, stepping to the side to allow Vesper in "You're a person, and should be treated as such." Reaching out he gently pressed the button on the lift, making them rise up slowly towards the Facility Quarters.