The Cursed World, part 2
25 Sep 2022Jacob Church
"Commander...Commander? Jacob?"The ships computer had never called me by my name before.
"JAKE!"
I woke and sat bolt upright, hitting my head on the girder that I'm sure wasn't there before...or meant to be there.
"Ow! Ya bugger" I exclaimed, rubbing the new cut I'd just opened on my forehead. "What is it comp?"
"Sorry to wake you commander, but I'm picking up a signal, they're contacting the base asking about you"
"Well, respond then"
"I...I can't, Commander. The comms system won't let me. Running diagnostics....ah, it seems we can receive signals, but we can't transmit"
Oh great, I thought. Things just keep getting worse. "Will it be a simple fix, comp?"
"I think so...well...I think I know how you can fix something together, although it might just be a rescue beacon for now..."
"Okay, what do I need to do?" There was no way I could deal with this heat much longer, and I was in desperate need of water.
"If you can get to the afms module, there's a circuit board that can be jerry rigged to the comms module to force it into sending out a pulse. It's not *much*, but it just might get someones attention"
The trouble was, the afms module was buried under a ton of twisted metal. I sighed and got up, this time making sure that girder didn't get me again. This was going to be hell. That mess of metal was going to be heavy, what with the gravity being about 60% higher than on Earth.
"Comp, I don't suppose the crane in the cargo holds is still working?" I asked hopefully.
"Let me just check, commander."
From deep within the ship a metallic screech echoed, followed by a loud crash
"Okay, tell me the bad news" I sighed.
"Actually commander, it's good news. That noise was the 5E rack being pushed out of the way...oh wait..."
"Oh, for Azuras sake, what?"
"Nothing...it's just that the rack fell onto the afms. Not to worry though, the crane works!"
I struggled my way to the crane controls, squeezing my way through the mess of twisted metals, avoiding the ducts that were leaking out hot, noxious gasses that would cook me even quicker than this damned planet - which was broiling me slowly but surely. After an hour or four, I had cleared enough scrap to find the afms and remove the circuit board.
Fortunately, the comms system was under the dash in the cockpit , and within 10 minutes i had cleared out the fractured remains of the board and fitted the replacement.
"Try now Comp." Please, in the name of every God that humanity had worshipped, please let it work...
*Beep*
*Beep*
"Commander, it's working!"