Broken Generator

[paper_stars]

Jodie would be greeted with that smell of stale hot air, and the kiss of darkness as she stepped into the large room. She could make out a wall of tools, and off to the side she was barely able to make out the outline of computer monitors. The room itself was literally as large as a two car garage, as she walked forward she placed her hands out in front of her so she wouldn’t run into anything. Jodie found it a true shame.. this facility was wonderful, it nearly had everything they needed.. but she figured they wouldn’t get to stay here very long to enjoy it.

It was never meant to go so long without people, a thousand years was a long time..so long she couldn’t really phantom the thought, it seemed like yesterday.. time itself felt like it had no meaning.. they slept for so long. Their families.. what happened to them? Were they evacuated with everyone else? Were they even still alive? And the people in space..if they were still out there..

She sighed a bit as her hand brushed over the counter.. smooth, clean and uncluttered. Faint memories tickling back into her mind, memories of her father’s garage and all the cars he had. The hot rods, those were the best.

In a way, she hoped her mother and her brothers were dead.. the government wouldn’t just put a huge facility under ground with a group of highly intelligent people for no reason.. nor would they evacuate people into space. Jodie feared, that something bad had happened.. and she really did hope none of her family had to suffer.

If she could have.. she would have stayed back with them, lived out the rest of their lives..together no matter how long it would have lasted. In truth, she didn’t want to be here.. maybe none of them did.. what did they know anyway?

Was there anyone else alive? What happened to their world..and what where Bio-morphs. She had this aching feeling, that when they did go outside.. the stupid generator is going to be more trouble than it is worth.

Not all of them needed to go outside, right? She can fix it sure.. if it did happen to be –dangerous- outside, it would be smart if just a couple of them went out.. “sure..” she snickered, she’s the crazy one.. she automatically volunteered herself without a second thought.. then again, she didn’t have much of a choice either way.

As she fumed around in the dark, she was looking for some sort of locker..or closest that would have clothes.. no way she was gonna go out there in a hospital sort of gown.

[Toneh]

The hanger was utterly devoid of life, the emergency lights were running , but they were dim, and only worked to fight back the darkness, they were not made for a person to actively work, but rather to find their away around the facility with out planting a nose into a wall. The bay it self was seemingly devoid of any life. The vehicles how ever, for some odd reason were in absolutely pristine condition. Their was no sign of any kind of decomposition in in any of the materials. It was as if somebody had stayed behind and baby sat these things for centuries.

Any question about who had gone through so much trouble would have their question answered. Behind Jodie she would hear a sharp buzz. When she turned around their would be a small snake like camera lenses in her face. It was attached to a very long cable that snaked down and into the chassis of a robot that stood about three feet tall, and had robotic treads mounded at the base. It resembled a mobile tool box, that had a digital monitor attached. The machine was built like a tank, rather then the thin plastic shells, this thing was built using heavy steel plates, and a large closed panel. Behind the snake like camera lenses was a similarly built clawed hand holding a green mechanic’s jump suit with a Tee shirt inside of it, as if offering it for her to take it.

Two more similar robot’s illuminated the bay with their own external light sources. One of them inched closer and was holding a wrench and a Phillips head screw driver, and a socket wrench in it’s slender clawed hands, offering them out to Jodie.

Another closed in holding what appeared to tiny hand held TV, with a key pad under the small screen. They would surround her, but not be threatening. To them this was a moment they had awaited for centuries, this was the return of human hands, a chance for them to quit doing routine maintenance, and to do some real work.

[paper_stars]

Being that she was bent over at the time she heard the noise, her body gave a sudden jerk up and the back of her head smacked into the underside of the counter. “Ooooie….” She whimpered as she took a step back . “son of a monkey.” She hissed through her teeth as she lightly touched the back of her head as she turned around to face to face with a camera eye. “Uh….hi”

She squinted as her noodle throbbed from the unpleasant bump she suffered now. “Ohhh clothes.” She smiled a bit and reached out to take the jump suit and the tee..however she paused before she did so as the two other bots came sneaking out. It was a little disturbing..she felt like the cartoon character from ice age when all the little rainbow colored sloths surrounded him.

She smiled, this was what she has been waiting for. As the robot crept closer to her with the tools her grin would grow.
She was nearly becoming ecstatic.. this was literally living her childhood dream.. being around robots, robots that seemed life like.. as though they had ghosts. The idea nearly made her laugh..she would too, if it weren’t for the dire situation at hand.

Now, without anymore hesitation she snatched the jump suit and tee from the toolbox lookin feller. “Lets get some work done.”

She stripped of the little gown, letting it fall down her slender shoulders and slid past her hips as she wiggled it free to puddle around her feet. There was no doubt she needed a shave, with little prickly hairs on her legs, and an unkempt curly forest of red hair growing between her legs and of course let’s not forget a bit of armpit hair.

She pulled the tee shirt on and found that it was actually just a tad bit to tight across her breasts, which in turn made the shirt barely able to cover her belly button. “Mmm… lovely.” She mumbled as she pulled the jumpsuit on without any panties.. who has time for panties?

As she zipped up the front of the jump suit she found that one of the other little bots was holding something, when she bent down to look at it she nearly kissed the thing “My computer!!” she snatched it up and examined it closely.. perfect shape.. oh what a relief.. if it hadn’t been so well kept, she would have had to make another one and start all her files and programs from scratch again. “Ohh thank you, you guys.” She said as she lightly patted the top of the robot’s head. Jodie didn’t really even realize what she was doing, she was already growing easily comfortable with the bots and treating them more like they were someone, rather than something.

Jodie sat the little computer down on the counter and she started it up. “Lets see exactly what we are dealing with, with this generator.” She didn’t want to go out there, in the dark not knowing what the real problem was.

Once her computer started up, she established a link between hers and the mainframe of the building. Her little computer would have full battery, and it would be much easier to access the information she needed rather than talking circles to the ‘dumb’ computer.

So basically, what she would do is run a diagnostics on the generator being it was connected to the building and the mainframe Jodie would be able to see what exactly is wrong with it. All she really needed to know was how many wires and fuses she was going to need.. it would really suck if the whole thing needed to be replaced..which is more of a reality than anything else. The damn thing was over a thousand years old.. of course it needed to be replace.. it probably needed an entire new system, hell the solar panels probably needed to be replaced also. The data she was being showed was not something she wanted to see, the damn thing was barely near fixable.

She also figured if they did go out there.. it was going to be worse than what her readings are showing her. Worse than the data she pulled from the main frame.

“Okay, we need flash lights. Fuses, wires.” And a brand new generator. “A soldering iron.” She sneered as she pushed the computer closed and turned back to the little bots. “got that? Wires, power fuses.” She wondered if they could bring her those..”Soldering iron”

She glanced out the door, to the vehicles. The smaller ones would be better.. but, it’d be a very bad idea to start them up and let them run.. “Shit..” if they started them up, that would deplete more of the oxygen.. they would have to open the door first and then start them up.

[Toneh]

The three robots immediately set about grabbing all the equipment she had gathered. Tools, fuses, additional solar panels. Not a single requirement was missed as they scattered in all directions and picked apart the hanger for every scrap of material they could find. They stuffed the items in their bodies. Including the Solder. They had torches built in to their bodies for her use, so it would not be much of a problem taking them into the field with her. They would cut down the time it would take for her to complete the job. What was looking like an all day thing was going to be cut down into perhaps thirty minuets with the little guys following instructions.

They finished gathering the equipment, and sitting looking at Jodie much as they were when she turned away. She would have heard them moving around through the items they had organized eons ago. So when she turned back to see if the were getting the equipment, the job would have already been finished. One of the Robots saw her glance over at the vehicles. It began expelling an unintelligible gibberish as it rushed over to one of the quads. The machine vanished on the Quad’s right flank. But the rumble of its engine soon reverberated through the hanger bay. The machine’s engine turned over as if it was brand new. Their was no ticking, or tapping overt he motor, just the loud powerful growl of the machine’s engine.

“BEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEEP!” soon sliced through the air, loud enough to make a red headed human cover her ears.

[Neru Amhran]

(OOC: Coming from research lab near medibays.)

"Alright, it's a right up here and then a left aaaaand two hundred yards into the hanger's centre complex." Lu Lu said as she whizzed about on the small PDA screen, wearing a burgundy bath robe and slippers. "Thanks Lucretia. Are you sure I can do anything though?" Dr. Iverson said as she ran along the corridors. It was highly unadvised in this darkness, but the corridors were clean as a whistle thanks to those little robots.

"Hell, lend a helping hand. I would but I'm not one of those robots. Hey there big boy~" Lu lu called out of the small PDA speaker as the pair passed a bot which was cleaning a corridor. "Don't get any ideas Lu, leave that to me." Olivia warned as she tucked the PDA into her pocket and ran full speed into the hanger bay.

Looking about it took only a full five seconds to notice something horrifying. An engine start. "Hey, shut that thing down!" Olivia yelled over the roar of the engine as she ran to the quad and to the driver's door, expecting to see a human being, but only finding a service bot. She promptly made the 'kill it' motion and looked around for someone organic, preferably human and living.

[paper_stars]

“Oh no no no wait a second” she said as the little bot went over and turned on the quad. The machine revving up with power and pushing out that toxic smoke; at least the hanger was big enough that the toxin wouldn’t affect them so much..for the time being.

She did throw her hands up over her ears as that loud sound sliced through the air, no doubt the sound coming from the overly excited little robot.

As she started out of the ‘garage’ she stopped and cringed as a woman run up to the machine and told the robot to kill the bike. “Oi.” Jodie sighed a little bit, almost in a way feeling like it was her fault.. that she was responsible for the little guy starting the bike.

“Sorry!” she called as she also ran up to the bike and reached over before the robot could to turn the thing off. Taking full responsibility for the little guy’s actions. “He..just got a little excited I think.” Jodie eyed the thing for a moment and even made half a motion of wagging her finger at it in a scolding manner. “He knows I’m gonna have to go out there soon to fix this little power outage.” She side eyeing the robot a bit more to make sure he wouldn’t attempt to turn the bike on again before she turned her eyes to the other woman.

“but uh…” she paused for a moment and then she held out her hand “Putting that all aside for a second, I’m Jodie Caulfeild. “ she grinned sweetly at the other woman, the first person she’d actually be able to get a real introduction in with. “Your uh… resident gear head.” She would bat her eyelashes playfully and give a small shrug of her shoulders at the same time.

“What’s your name?”

[Neru Amhran]

The woman in question was wearing a long white lab coat, black button up blouse, bluejeans, and sneakers. Something about the lab coat yelled either medic or scientist. The lack of scrubs narrowed the possibilities. Standing next to a quad, she seemed a little out of place. Then again, sterile lab coats often were in mechanic bays.

"Oh I wanna seeeee!" came a energetic voice from the woman's pocket. With that the woman shook her head and let loose a soft chuckle. "Pleased to meet you." She said as she placed a hand on her pocket and pressed a button on the side to mute the PDA's AI. "I understand, I've seen a few of the robotics around here." She said as she nodded a little. "I'm Dr. Iverson, but if you'd rather, Olivia works too." Olivia said as she let a soft smile spread across her face. "The PA said there's a power outage and I'd like to help. I need to get my lab running." She explained.

It was then that Lu Lu piped up again. Obviously she knew how to turn off mute on a PDA. "Oh and I'm Lucretia, the girl who lives in this woman's pocket." Olivia sighed and shook her head a little. "Sorry, that's an overzealous AI program." She grumbled as she took out the PDA and held it in her left hand. "Lu Lu, meet possibly the only non-smoker we've met thus far. Unconfirmed though." She said. On the PDA's screen was an animated teenage girl currently in a tank top and boxers.

"Helloooo~" Said the energetic program as the sprite jumped around and waved.

"Well Jodie Caulfeild, what can I do to help?" Olivia said as she crossed her arms over her immodest bosom and arched an eyebrow. "I'm a research analyst, but I'm also a free hand. Direct me as you see fit." She said as she tucked the PDA which was excitedly yapping between her breasts. If anything managed to deaden the sound of a PDA speaker, those would do to at least cut the noise to a mumble.

[Zach Kaiser]

At no point did he think this assignment would be a remotely easy or simple one, but even considering the circumstances things were a mess and it was quickly giving him a headache. He knew this was a bad idea, he'd suggested that the entire group should be familiar with each other, already trusting each other, and he'd suggested a few groups that matched those criteria but all that had been frustratingly denied.

They had a power outage, a little girl whom should have had no business being with them, and everyone seemed to be running around doing whatever they wanted rather than being organized.

He had a plan, though: get generator online, get the computer going, gather everyone to get a view of the circumstances, and take control from there. Some of the personalities seemed...brusque, to say the least, and he prayed there was no one with serious problems with authority on board.

And so he would enter the large room, a man who appeared to be in his late twenties at first glance but was in fact in his mid-thirties. He was blonde and had his hair cut in almost a bowl cut, wearing a loose, white button-up shirt with a green tie and a pair of brown slacks.

Despite his exasperation, he kept his face somewhat neutral and friendly. "Did I hear you say you're our technician?" he asked.

[paper_stars]

“Of course I understand..” her lab running, yeah.. it along with everything else would only be able to run for so long. Jodie pressed her lips together in thought for a moment.. how would she tell them? Or rather.. she could just tell the so called person who’s suppose to be in charge of them and that person can tell them..oh yes, that sounds like a good idea—she paused as a grin spread across her face at the little voice coming from the woman’s pocket. “Oooo hi there Lucretia” Jodie would wave at the little image on the PDA.

“Oh yes, most defiantly a non-smorkerrrr….” She glanced to the side for a moment “well.. weed probably doesn’t exist anymore.” She said in a teasing manner. Though as the woman crossed her arms over her chest, Jodie could help but stare at them and then glance down at her own which weren’t exactly that small either.. She grinned “nice..”

“Ehm.. well, really I’m not sure if it would be safe out there ya know..I mean, I dunno.. I don’t know what the extent of the damage is until I actually get my hands---“ she stopped as the rather good looking, clean cut man entered the hanger with them.

Too clean… a suite, as some might call him. Like the way people call the police pigs. “Yeah…” Jodie lightly raised her hand in the air. “Guilty as charged.”

“I’m Jodie..um..” she pressed her lips together for a moment. “ as you can see our generator is out and we need it on. The whole.. oxygen thing coming into play. Plus that girl..” she motioned towards the med bay one where she was resting. “..I’m not a doctor but I’m sure having the power to the equipment will help whoever takes care of her better understand her condition. “

“I can fix it…” however there was a but at the end of that small sentence, a but she was just a bit worried to speak out loud.

[Neru Amhran]

There was a soft chuckle as the woman took a soft breath. Looking to Jodie she smiled and nodded. "Well, no smoking in my lab, and if Lucretia's internal time versus the system time means anything, we've been asleep a long time. Longer than we should have been." With that she noticed the other woman stare at her bosom.

"All natural, and thanks." She commented as she smiled. Glancing over to the man in the suite, Olivia involuntarily frowned. Men in suites meant paycuts, project audits, project shutdowns, and the dreaded pink slip. Or in this case, even more bad news. With that Olivia kept quiet. She wasn't who the man wanted, and she didn't want to be.

"I have a bad feeling." she murmured as she retrieved the PDA. It was still speaking excitedly. "Hey, Lu Lu, I'm going to have to shut you off for the time being. Sleep well love." She said as she pressed the power off button. "Aww.. G' Night.." The cheerful voice said softly.

"Heh, if she's what I would hope to have had if I had a daughter." Olivia explained as she slid the PDA into her pocket. Not was the time to listen, and it was hard to concentrate when a hyperactive AI was turning on and off the vibrate feature on the PDA where it was.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Christoph Zalien," he replied to Jodie's introduction. He glanced at the other woman briefly, nodding to let her know he was acknowledging her, but right now Jodie was the one he truly needed. He was slightly curious about the AI, though--he hadn't been aware that there was anything that advanced yet.

"But...what?" he asked the gear head, picking up on her cue. Right now, that was the most pertinent problem; they were going to leave here in the near future, but in the meantime they had to get situated a little bit while the planned and prepared.

The fact that she had some idea of what she needed to do was certainly relieving; at least someone was doing a little thinking.

[paper_stars]

Jodie stared at him for a moment after he told her his name.. it sounded, familiar. In fact Jodie wouldn’t be surprised if she had come in contact with him, or just passed him in the hall in one of the government office buildings. Then again, she’s sure she’d remember such a handsome guy. “uh..oh well, the bad news is.. the damage is pretty.. extensive, about a thousand years worth.. I’m not sure if you were informed when you woke up..” she paused and glanced at Olivia as she turned off the PDA “But something malfunctioned and set our wake up time 700 years longer than the original..” she waved her hand in the air a bit, as she found that she was rambling a tad.

“Any rate, I can fix it sure.. but the best I can do is have it working for three days max.. if we’re lucky four. I t would give us enough time to get the information we needed from the computer’s main frame, maps, data and so on. We have the vehicles and the trailers we can take plenty of supplies with us..” again she was rambling, so she pushed her lips together to help her stop talking for a second, and get back on the subject at hand.

“Basically, I gotta go outside and fix it. Its dark, um.. I don’t know what’s out there. I don’t think a lot of us should go out there in fact.. being our group is so… tiny.” She was suggesting, since she really wasn’t in any place to make the ultimate decision alone.. or at all in fact. “these little guys..” she motioned toward the robot next to the quad. “Already gathered the things I needed, prolly be able to take them outside with me..” she gave a small shrug of her shoulders.

“either way, I gotta go out there some time.. we have a few hours of air left if even that.” She glanced at Olivia again. In truth Jodie was concerned, she didn’t want the.. rather lovely woman to get hurt because she came out to help her. Jodie would feel sooooo bad if that happened.

“What do you think?” she turned her attention back to Christoph.

[Neru Amhran]

"That explains why Lu Lu's internal time conflicted with the external system time." Olivia said as she held the PDA close to her. In an odd way, that piece of obsolete technology housed something special to her. Something precious to her. With that she sighed and shook her head. "Listen, I know I'm more or less useless out in the field, but I know someone who isn't." She oscillated a little, a slight worried expression on her face.

With that she pressed the power on button on her PDA. A moment passed and there was a chime. "Lucretia, pull on some panties and coveralls. I have a favor to ask." There was a tired yawn from the PDA. "Yes?"

"In my hand was stolen secret government technology approximately a thousand years ago. Yet, Lu Lu here is by far one of the best diagnosis and field technicians as far as electrical systems and software development, even if she is obsolete." Olivia explained as she held out the little PDA, on it was Lu Lu's sprite, trying to fit into a pair of overalls. Her bust didn't like being confined.

"One..moment.." Came the little voice. "Alright, I want you to help Jodie here. Be safe though, ok?" Olivia said as she bit her lip. An awesome day was turning out to be shitty.

[Zach Kaiser]

There were a few moment silence while he considered everything said to him. Seven hundred years later...that was far too long to some kind of error in the system. Did somebody deliberately leave them frozen longer than the initial plan? And if so, why?

It also bothered him that the AI was stolen from the government, as his workplace was supposed to prevent that kind of thing from happening, but that was something to be overlooked for now...and something to keep in mind for later. He needed to know each member of the party could be trustworthy, and while his first impression was that the woman had the best of intentions, he needed to be sure.

But first and foremost was the generator. A few hours of air would not be sufficient time to get everything in order to move locations, so getting it repaired was the first priority. He nodded to Jodie. "Sounds like a plan. I'll go with you--I'm no soldier, but I've trained with small arms. Whatever else you think you need, take it with." That included both the robots and the AI.

"Do we have sensors on the outside? Is the air safe to breathe, and clear of radiation?" he asked as he walked to one of the weapon racks. He picked out a pistol and belt holster from the wall, checked the various parts of the gun to ensure that it was functioning, loaded it, and armed himself.

[paper_stars]

Jodie blinked a little bit and smiled at Olivia “Oh well, I don’t think she’s that obsolete.. given our current predicament. “ she did smile however, even at the worried expression on her face. Jodie would reach her hands out and place them around the PDA, but also in the same instance holding onto Olivia’s hand. “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to her. She’ll be safe, and a great help.” She reassured with a nod of her head. “I promise.” A grin would flicker across her face for a moment “Besides.. I can always fix her if she does break.” Then with a wink she would let go of Olivia’s hand and turn her attention to Christoph.

“Oh sure, someone outside with a gun.. real reassuring. “ that just means something bad might really actually happen, she pondered. Shaking her head with a little sigh. “Right I got what I need.. mainly. “ She glanced over at the robot whom had so readily gathered the things she needed.

“Well from the information I got before the system went down, the air is breathable and there isn’t any radiation. It’s also a tad chilly, in the 40’s I believe.” She shrugged her shoulders at that and glanced at the quad. “It’d probably be best to take the smaller vehicles out.” Her lips pressed together as she spun around and mounted the bike. “One?” she glanced over to Olivia one last time as she pocketed her PDA in the pocket that sat on her breast, then she winked at her before looking away. “Or two? I don’t mind sharing my ride.”

Given the situation was a serious one, Jodie still had a light humor.. she couldn’t help it, she knows the situation is serious, and she is being serious about it.. but she figured a little bit of humor and fun doesn’t hurt either.