Stranded - Departure
27 Jul 2024Kasumi Goto
"Could I have stayed longer, if I wanted to? Yes. But that's the key - I didn't. I was just making my way back to the Bubble and getting broad scans on interesting worlds, from orbit. Had the landing been planned, or part of a larger research initiative, though, you can bet I'd have been there for a lot more time. Who knows, maybe I'll even try something like that again, in the future... but under more controlled circumstances."
I was still making my way back to the ship, just about to reach the lake again, when I felt something funny at the back of my head. And EDI called out to me just a moment later.
"Kira, I have detected a Thargoid vessel near the ship."
"A... Thargoid? Out here?" It would have been an understatement to say I was a little disbelieving.
"That is what basic readings from the sensor array suggest. I cannot ascertain what type, however, as it is not yet fully operational."
"Uh... ok. What... is it doing?"
"It currently only appears to be scanning the ship, and shows no signs of hostility."
I didn't answer that and just continued to drive forward, until I had the cave in view. While I wasn't too alarmed, it didn't exactly comfort me either... especially since I had a Thargoid sensor onboard, and Thargoids generally didn't particularly like that. But I wasn't an ordinary human either, then, so maybe I'd be allowed to get away with it. Especially since my intention was to return that device to them, once I had an opportunity to.
What I saw when I looked toward the cave, the Scorpion pointed toward it, was not an Interceptor. Looked too small for one - but it wasn't a 'Scout' either, the dimensions didn't match. When I recognized some oddly pointy bits rotating around the central 'body', I quickly identified it as a Glaive.
'What is one of those doing out here?', I wondered, and kept a very close eye on what it was doing. A sort of scanning beam lingered over my ship, and I could 'sense' that it was communicating with the Thargoid sensor onboard. To what end, I couldn't tell, maybe for some data on this particular ammonia world. After about a minute, the Thargoid ship turned away and began speeding upward, quickly disappearing beyond the clouds. Just as well, because I would not have had much chance of getting away from one of those zippy things if I needed to... and crashing on the surface once was enough.
The rest of the drive back was uneventful, at best, and I hadn't lost any tires during the venture, either, even if I could probably have made it back while missing one. But I couldn't say I felt too much at ease knowing the Thargoids were watching out here, too, especially not with one of those Glaives being what checked my ship out. It possibly implied that there was a Titan nearby here, somewhere, but evidently not moving or it would have been extremely obvious on the FSS. Couldn't say I particularly felt like looking for one either, given that it would be like searching for the needle in the haystack, and I had no reason to 'visit' one either. The implications, though, were... interesting, more so when this was rather in the direction of the galactic core, not any of the directions which the other Titans had come from.
I had more pressing concerns, anyway - which was, to get off this planet. After my almost unfortunate encounter with some of the native wildlife, that neutron radiation storm mess, and now this evident monitoring of the Thargoids, I had less and less reasons to remain here any longer than was necessary. But, before that... I'd have to fix up that damned Frame Shift Drive. And be sure it wouldn't explode again - so, after getting the Scorpion back into the hangar, I put myself to that. It was the only manual repair left to be done, unless I had to do some convincing for the Scarab bay doors.
First thing I did was to drop by the chamber of that drive unit. Hadn't really cleaned up, so it was still a right mess, but I was just not bothered and would probably leave that for a proper maintenance crew, aside from any space I needed to work. Toolbox also still sat where I'd left it at. I contemplated the damaged drive, unpowered, for a moment, with my hands on the hips.
"EDI... figure out what made this blow up, yet?", I asked, wanting to cover that first, before I started anything else.
"In fact, I have.", the AI replied, lighting up a hologram just above the device - some kind of internal schematic. "It required a thorough analysis of every component, intact and damaged - or destroyed - but I was able to discover the cause. It appears to have been caused by a sub-standard component in the assembly, which wore out faster than intended in the design specifications. Under normal operating circumstances, this would not have occurred, but damage induced through neutron star overcharge resulted in it failing where it should not have, as you attempted to disengage the supercruise overcharge function in the system. This resulted in a catastrophic system failure as safety systems failed to engage and isolate it in time, due to the mentioned sub-standard nature of the component. Were this not the case, a backup would have been activated in its place."
I raised my right hand to the side, then put it back on the hip again. "... how do I know it will not happen again?"
"It would be complicated to explain, but the reaction only occurred specifically through that component, in its specific location. I have accessed the machine and deactivated it, though you may wish to remove the remains, nonetheless, as a precaution. The backup system for it was not significantly affected, so I will be able to reactivate it with some minor automated repairs, and request a full replacement once in a dock. But you will have to do some of these repairs yourself."
"I figured ..." My tone indicated I was still really not looking forward to it. There was a lot of delicate machinery involved here, and quite a bit of fumbling around in those constrained spaces, which having a really big breast would not make easier, at all. But at least my big backside wouldn't be an obstacle here. Probably not, anyway. I looked the whole thing over, again, and sighed, lowering my head momentarily. "Fixing this... it, it will take time."
"I have already begun to create replacement components, though I would start by replacing damaged power delivery systems first, then the more delicate machinery, as you will not have as much space to work with, otherwise."
"I... guess. Just - going to follow... your guidance, here." I turned to walk back out toward the printer, muttering as I did so. "Achilles is going to hear about this when I get back ..."
I went back and forth between the chamber and the room with the printer a few times to have everything that was already assembled readily available, in a not-quite-neat pile separate from the junk scattered around, which was at best going to be good for recycling. Then, with the help of those tools from the box, I started by pulling out the damaged or outright destroyed power cables and some other unidentifiable mess, ditching it on the ground to my right, creating a new junk pile, just far enough to not be an obstruction. I quickly got to the culprit behind my predicament, a roughly hand-sized chip that was... little more than melted electronics, at this point, identified as some kind of regulator component by the analysis tool. Didn't need to be too worried about anything happening with the FSD completely isolated from the power flow, until repaired.
"Something so small, and yet, you gave me so much trouble."
I tossed it onto the junk pile, and continued poking around until the scanner no longer found anything faulty. My workings had also uncovered something that didn't quite look entirely human-made.
"Pf. I always did think... those idiots really did stick a piece of Titan machinery in there."
Just reverse-engineered enough to not cause corrosion damage, and be compatible with human machinery. Although how much of the FSD was really human could be argued, considering it was the result of Thargoid tech reverse-engineering as well... but a lot more stable than the ride with an overcharge drive. I looked up at the closest - surviving - camera.
"So, EDI... if there is anything in there I cannot replace, then what?"
"Then you may have to hope that a passing ship notices the distress beacon and stops for it.", she answered. "The probability is slightly higher due to the presence of the neutron star, even if it is one that was not yet discovered by another explorer."
"I guess, I could just build it... if this doesn't work, at least."
I'd kind of forgotten the Scarab's distress beacon component in the Scorpion, but it was just as well there, anyway, until or if I needed it. Some modification would also probably required to make it compatible with the ship's comm systems, and not just risk burning its circuits out from being attached to more powerful equipment that used - and thus supported - more energy.
"It is likely that the other major components were not too damaged by the malfunction, if the data I am receiving from the internal sensors is accurate. So I may be able to repair them, or restore basic functionality, at least.", EDI then mentioned. "However, any replacement parts created by the ship will not be of the same quality as those made by the original manufacturer, so I would still request thorough repairs once you return to inhabited space."
"Was ..." I pulled a few power cables out of the pile of repair parts and put them on an intact part of the housing. "... planning on it."
Before starting with the hard part, I looked at the exposed reverse-engineered piece of Titan drive technology. I could have sworn I'd 'felt' it communicating with the Thargoid sensor down by the cargo hatch, on more than one occasion... didn't really want to know what about. Or what was getting transferred through that link. At least that part of the drive wasn't broken - I could not have replaced it if I wanted to, and I would have, because the overcharge feature for supercruise was quite convenient. Though it also annoyed me to learn it wasn't the experimental piece of Thargoid machinery stuffed into the FSD design, but sloppy engineering that had caused the failure. Maybe I'd just gotten unlucky, given that I hadn't heard any such complaints in a widespread manner - or really at all - but if Achilles had any kind of customer portal in which to provide feedback, I'd be giving them a piece of my thoughts in that regard... once I had a connection to those networks, again.
I stopped getting distracted by that line of thinking and began to work on the repair job. It wouldn't get done today, or even tomorrow - it was just too complex for that, and even if I could have done it within that time period, I would probably just end up taking more time to give my brain a break from the headache of fixing the most advanced machine in the whole ship... because, even with guidance from EDI, it would still be a hard task. And likely a frustrating one. But I probably would get it done... eventually.
The one thing that I wouldn't be replacing was that component which caused everything to explode. As far as I was concerned, a more qualified engineer or mechanic could look at the problem, and the backup system would have to hold until then.
A few days later ...
I finished welding on the last piece of the FSD's outer cover, completing the repairs which I had gotten started on a couple of days ago, and lifted the mask I was using to shield my eyes.
"So, EDI, what do you think? Is it going to hold?"
"All readings suggest that the components are connected properly and should be functional.", she informed me. "However, it may be wise to power them up temporarily, to be sure."
"Alright. Sure." I moved to the nearby maintenance console, in front of which I had installed some improvised shielding... mostly, from sparks in case something broke. I had fixed this thing once already, after the crash, and didn't want to do it again. "Powering up... hope nothing explodes."
The lights on the exterior of the machine lit up, and a hum started coming from it as it powered on, steadily growing louder until it filled the chamber, its ground slightly vibrating under the active machinery. Then it settled again, becoming a relatively ignorable, even calming background noise. Considering I was not getting showered in pieces of metal while alarms shoved themselves into my face and ears, and the lights on the exterior of the drive remained green, it seemed like everything was good to go.
"Now, isn't that something you like to hear.", I thought out loud, not quite able to hide the satisfaction in my voice.
"Running preliminary diagnostics... all systems appear to run at nominal parameters.", EDI announced. "I will require another day to perform test runs, and ensure everything is running without faults."
"That's okay. I have, some... other plans, still, anyway."
I packed up the tools and the welding mask, placing them inside of a locker located in the same space as spare parts and all that stuff. Couldn't imagine a better place to keep those... then I darted off to the room with the fabricators. I'd tasked one to make me two corrosion-resistant recipients, for different purposes, both of which I'd be taking with me. One for liquid storage, the other... simply to carry some fruit and such. I had a 'free' day, and I'd be making full use of that.
For a start, I went for a change of clothes, although it visually didn't look any different to my regular apparel... it was in fact clothing made from local fibers that wouldn't just get eaten if I sweated while in the ammonia-compatible mode. Came with a bra, too, made entirely out of fiber... mostly because I personally wasn't quite sure if a plastic clamp at the back would be safe. Safe for it, anyway.
I put those things on in the airlock, along with some special boots that wouldn't risk getting damaged from the inside either, leaving my regular stuff in the corridor. I wasn't totally sure how it would react if it were exposed to the exterior environment, particularly the cold, without the suit protecting it, so best not to try. Likewise, the special yet unremarkable clothing had itself a unique storage compartment in which it was kept at an ideal cold temperature, to prevent degradation as much as possible.
I stepped out of the airlock, already prepared for the environment. There was a light drizzle as I stepped out from underneath the overhang, and it seemed like the best way to prove that I could wear this clothing out here safely... because it wasn't getting disintegrated and leaving me totally exposed. But it would still get wet, unfortunately - not much of a way around that. Carried my two recipients on the pants - they weren't going to go anywhere anyway, considering what was holding them up.
First stop, lake shore. I had some ideas regarding this, but before anything else, I just... scooped some of the liquid ammonia up with the appropriate recipient. I gave it a cautious smell, first, but it wouldn't be any different than the lake. Which, as far as I could tell, didn't have much of a smell. Or, at least, it was no different to the scent of humidity on an Earth-like world, to me, right here.
I circled the fluid around a little to see if it carried anything in it, and contemplate if this was a great idea. Given that this was a world in a fairly natural state, the water... liquid, by itself, was liable to be clean, but I had to have thoughts regarding any bacteria possibly in it. That, and I wasn't completely sure how it would taste... so I carefully put the tip of my tongue in. Didn't burn, or anything, and I was not immediately put off by a putrid taste, nor did it burn. If anything... it was also just like water, in tasting like nothing special. I downed a gulp of it, carefully, then decided that was enough of a test and emptied the rest back into the lake.
For my next idea... I took off my clothes, except underwear, at first, and dipped my toes in. Quite literally. The bit of shore I had was rocky, but once in the lake it was more of a sandy-muddy ground. And the temperature of the ammonia was... not terrible. It wasn't hot, maybe not even quite warm, just about good enough to go in and not make me pull back immediately because I hated cold water. And, by extension, cold ammonia in a liquid state, by local standards anyway.
I ditched my underwear and decided to walk in completely. Hadn't exactly thought of any swimwear for this environment, but who was going to be watching me here, anyway? Certainly no humans, for whom it would have mattered.
The worst part of submerging myself wasn't the sensitive spot around the hips, but when my belly began to come into contact with the ammonia, and it really didn't like that. Couldn't exactly be sure why, I just knew it felt like I was dipping it into ice... then, there I was, stood almost up to the chest in the lake... still keeping an eye out. I'd seen some rather big 'fish' in this lake, and kind of didn't want to put to the test if they were the carnivorous kind. But maybe they weren't surface dwellers, because I'd barely seen them after that initial sighting - or they only became active once the sun rose more. Right now, it was still the morning hours of the world. More in the afternoon, for me.
Was it a good time for a swim? I couldn't say. But, after enjoying just letting fresh air get to the skin in spots where it wouldn't often reach - mostly, the breast - for a while, I went in completely, with a similarly unpleasant experience for my upper half getting into contact with the liquid. And I set off, just swimming around with standard strokes. Definitely had a bit less resistance than water, this - which matched up with the rough memory of ammonia having a lesser density than the other substance. Some way along the shore, direction sunrise - wasn't west on this planet, but I couldn't remember what it was either - I noticed some light equipment set up around it. Things that looked like... primitive racks, with those weird spears on them. Fishing equipment of those natives I'd found signs of a few days ago? Seemed to be the most likely possibility.
I eventually got lazy and just let myself float around, finding another benefit to all of the fat tissues in those particular spots of my body - they made for great improvised flotation devices, making staying on the surface completely effortless. Seeing me swimming and floating around with that shape would have to be quite a weird sight, too, if another species even had similar kinds of biological impulses as a human. Before I went back to shore, after maybe an hour or two of enjoying my time out in the lake, I fully dipped my head in, because that felt nice too, and I could almost feel the strong cleaning effect of the otherwise corrosive liquid, removing all kinds of undesirable substances from my head, and hair. Maybe I could just build myself a dedicated room to it as well, because I wasn't sure it had felt that clean in a while. The storage and required cooling systems for the ammonia and a bath that could hold it... as well as the corrosion-resistant pipes, those were another matter, but this exploration trip alone would probably be able to pay for that. If I decided to go down that route - but this experience was making me think it wasn't a terrible idea.
I shook like a wet dog once I got back to shore and out of the lake, with an arm around the upper half to keep the disproportionate weight up there a little more stable. I didn't really have much to dry myself off with, here, that wasn't the clothing I still wanted to wear. So... I just had to wait until I was naturally dry enough to put it all back on, just taking in the view. When the world wasn't showing its teeth, it was almost serene.
The next few hours were spent just walking around, picking up some fruit from the trees and eating it, though it didn't quite have the same sweet taste - perhaps, because the warmer and longer days were passing already, thanks to the short orbital period of the planet - and some berries, or what looked like them, anyway, from a couple of bushes... actual bushes, not a creature trying to pose as one. Though I didn't eat said berries, just out of precaution, despite curiosity telling me to.
And I encountered more of the strange rabbit-like animals, some of which were quite curious about me, and keen to follow around. Maybe because of the potential food I was carrying around in a box, or because, as I had been told when asking EDI about it, because they appeared somewhat domesticated. "The organism shows signs of being used to the presence of other species", "Possibly domesticated by an intelligent indigenous species", and some other things in that direction... I was just happy to have some cute-looking, sort of fluffy companions, even if only for a while. Because it had to end somewhere, and I definitely noticed that there were beginning to be a lot more of them around as the sun rose up, while some of the less-friendly creatures began to roam around, albeit giving me a rather wide berth for the most part.
Likewise, I was beginning to feel like I just wanted to return to the ship, and be lazy in it, maybe look at some more of the stored media on the ship's computer, or play something on it. First I had to wait out the switch to a different environment, though, which was... less exciting, and by the time it was through, I'd apparently been awake for ten, maybe twelve hours already. Feeling rather sleepy, I went for a nap after putting clothes and the box with the local foods into the cold storage unit, then ate something, and kept myself entertained with vids until it was time to fully shut off.
On the next day - by my time scale - it was beginning to be evening on the planet, judging by the deeper purple-red shade seeping through the atmosphere, and not many clouds to hide it, just enough to absorb the color and look quite pretty. Of course, I only noticed this after my brain 'powered on' and I opened the shutter of my cabin to get a view of the outside, while I stuffed some more food into myself, and read up on the status report of the FSD - all of EDI's checks had come through as 'green', which I assumed meant everything was working fine. Vehicle hangar was all cleaned up and sealed, the soil from inside it returned to the ground it belonged to. So it was time to depart... soon.
There was one last thing I wanted to do before that. Just... take in the view one more time. I went out in my Artemis suit, wearing a helmet on top for the seal, stopping just before the overhang ended. The sun was going to set over the forest in... maybe around eight hours, but I'd already be long gone by that point. So I just took in the moment, as the world itself was also beginning to wind down, and it was just... quiet. A little bit of noise from the animal world, splashing water, a light breeze... the only thing I missed was breathing in its fresh air, but it wasn't something I wanted to do now. I let out a long breath.
Can't say it was the nicest world I've been to, but... not terrible., I 'thought', clearly directing it at the other half of 'me', in my head.
Yeah., she 'responded'. Best thing about it is those cute fluffy rabbit-things. Would totally have taken one as a pet, if not for them needing this cold to live.
Could always return. We know where it is, now.
Yeah, right. Just a casual fifteen thousand light years from the Bubble, just come out here every year. Not a big deal.
You're ruining the moment.
I just continued to contemplate the landscape in silence, listening to its quiet, compared to the activity in human space, watching its wildlife go about, before it was lights out for this planetary day. Who knew how many other species still existed on it... I really wished to stay longer and look at it more, but this wasn't any kind of organized research expedition, so I didn't have the capability to do research on any sort of meaningful scale. And, at the same time, I would have been long back in the Bubble by now, if not for that accident leading to me having to survive on this world for... however long it had been. So I was ready to move on and get back to inhabited space as I knew it, as well.
My feet carried me back to the ship, straight to the cockpit, leaving the helmet in the airlock. I began running a low startup sequence, 'wake' the ship up gently, and let detailed pre-flight checks be run. Fuel tank - was still about half full, so I'd be able to make the jump to the next system. Or return the neutron star and get the supercharge - which had certainly worn off by now - to continue on my original route, again. The next jump was a main sequence star, anyway, as I remembered.
Date - early in July. So I'd been here for a week and a half, maybe a little more... for the most part, I'd only been using the ship clock, needing it as some kind of reference to figure out how much time had actually passed, because my biological impulses were very much still oriented after the environment in which humans had originally evolved. Or maybe ten to twelve days wasn't enough to get used to 48 hour cycles, because apparently this hadn't been too much of an issue for me in Duamta.
"Well... I guess, this is it. For here, anyway."
I started up the ship's thrusters. Gently easing it back out of the cave's opening, I saw a flock of bird-like creatures come out of the trees, flying off toward the mountain range above and behind me. Thrust looked stable, so I retracted the landing gear and powered up shields, FSD and sensors fully. Comms were active too, but only short-range, apparently, for in-system communication. Another thing to get fixed once I was back in human space. Or to get working if I happened to crash again, but hopefully not.
It felt like there were figures on the other side of the lake observing me, or the strange metal thing taking off into the sky, as I pushed the throttle forward and pointed the nose of the ship upward, aiming for roughly a 45 degree angle climb out of the atmosphere, letting flight control systems handle ship stability as it ascended. I used external cameras to observe the planet's features below as they grew smaller, first the grass becoming an indistinguishable mass of brown and black, then the forest, followed by the lake turning into a brown spot next to a mountainous region. I'd definitely gotten a bit lucky that I neither landed in it, nor those mountains, which would have made my life significantly harder... or just not possible at all. Hard to survive when you're dead.
There were even what looked like plots down there, fields in which to grow crops, maybe. Definitely made by those natives, for whom this construction had to look almost like magic. Hopefully, just seeing it alone wouldn't end up disrupting their developing culture or civilization.
I turned my attention away from the surface, mesmerizing as it was to watch it get smaller and less defined as it moved underneath the ship, instead looking ahead, at the colors present in the atmosphere as I passed the upper cloud layer. The sun was a lot more visible without as much refraction from the atmosphere, and there were some other interesting colors mixed in up here, blue and green being two of them. It'd soon be thin enough for me to engage the FSD... hopefully, without it blowing up. But I levelled the ship out for a moment, just to observe the beauty, because this wasn't a sight I got often, or really took much time to appreciate.
I'd done my job well. When I hit the supercruise switch, once the safety light turned off, the machine sprung to life without so much as a hitch. Was not yet tempted to try the overcharge, though... and maybe it would then be faster to just jump right to a system within around sixty light years, in the right direction, of course. Then, let the route plotter do its thing from there.
Before I jumped, I got some distance to the ammonia world, and just turned the ship to be able to look at it again. This one's atmosphere wasn't quite dense enough to be extremely obvious to the eye, allowing a fairly clear view to the surface, and it reminded me that, hostile to humans as they were, these worlds did hold a beauty of their own. I bookmarked this location, then started charging the FSD for the first jump.
I would be back in the Bubble within a day, or two. Now, my exploration energy had definitely been all used up, and I just wanted to return as soon as possible... with maybe a little bit of scanning of worlds of potential interest here and there, along the way.
I'd also be making absolutely sure that the FSD wouldn't drop below 90 percent integrity again from the neutron supercharging. And then give Achilles the news.
My ship zipped into hyperspace, sending me off on the journey back home. Little did I know what awaited me once I got there.