Ep0.5 - Texas/Chihuahuan Desert -'Scraps'- Closed
Jan 12, 2012 5:55:23 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2012 5:55:23 GMT -5
The sun was high and fixed in a clear, punishingly hot sky. Everything living lay panting in the shade, including the kangaroo rat squatting under a coarse bush that offered protection from predators as much as from the heat. It was a prime spot during the day, and he shouldn't have been able to wander into it, let alone not need to defend it. The reason for this became abruptly clear when the ground beneath him gave a hydraulic hiss before flipping up 90 degrees. Most of the way to a coronary, the rat scurried-hopped away at top speed without looking back to see what had happened.
With a wheezed rumble of effort, Cleaver hauled herself out through the topside hatch of the buried ship, giving the stuck-on desert floor a cursory glance before her optics picked out the fleeing rodent. A half-smile and the old medic directed her voice back into the hole, though her optics scanned the horizon to confirm the solitude that the ship's sensors had told her.
"Another kangaroo rat. Airborn at least fifteen feet. Survived."
They had a chart. It was stupid and childish but Primus is was boring around here sometimes, and it made Reflector happy. So it made Cleaver happy.
Not waiting for a response from the quiet little mech waiting inside, Cleaver turned her bulk towards the small rock formation that was the subject of her daily pilgrimage, some hundred yards from the ship. It was flickering in fractals today
"Reflector, gonna need you to take a look at the holo-emitter on this fragging thing today. Playing up like I don't know what..."
She slammed the flat of one bladed arm into it with a scowl. The emitter blinked out for a few seconds, revealing the fixed sensor array and satellite dish, before coming online again in the shape of a large phone box. Cleaver, through vocaliser, vents and engine sound, sputtered inarticulate shock and anger.
"That is not funny you asanine glitchmouse - get up here now!"
With a wheezed rumble of effort, Cleaver hauled herself out through the topside hatch of the buried ship, giving the stuck-on desert floor a cursory glance before her optics picked out the fleeing rodent. A half-smile and the old medic directed her voice back into the hole, though her optics scanned the horizon to confirm the solitude that the ship's sensors had told her.
"Another kangaroo rat. Airborn at least fifteen feet. Survived."
They had a chart. It was stupid and childish but Primus is was boring around here sometimes, and it made Reflector happy. So it made Cleaver happy.
Not waiting for a response from the quiet little mech waiting inside, Cleaver turned her bulk towards the small rock formation that was the subject of her daily pilgrimage, some hundred yards from the ship. It was flickering in fractals today
"Reflector, gonna need you to take a look at the holo-emitter on this fragging thing today. Playing up like I don't know what..."
She slammed the flat of one bladed arm into it with a scowl. The emitter blinked out for a few seconds, revealing the fixed sensor array and satellite dish, before coming online again in the shape of a large phone box. Cleaver, through vocaliser, vents and engine sound, sputtered inarticulate shock and anger.
"That is not funny you asanine glitchmouse - get up here now!"