Starship 1

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Sorry, I know it's a short one.
And yeah, I'm glad some enjoyed it.
It's, as always, a pleasure writing for you.

(And a slight update)

=

The next time he woke it was to a alarm.

At first he, against all sense, thought it was a ship, but then he realized it was her Ladyship’s suit. As soon as he could get his suit to it he could see the warning telltales flashing, some of them into their last stage of violet, signaling the suit's utter state of malfunction. And there was nothing he could do, nothing. If it had been the model he had trained with maybe, maybe, he might have been able to do something, but her suit was a Royal, state of the art, and so different from anything he had worked with.

But his suit seemed to know?

Suddenly he found it moving, closer and closer, at the same time as it started to unfold something that most reminded him of a giant plastic wrap. Circling the other suit, it more or less wrapped the suit up, then stopped as if considering its next move. Jeff was surprised, but thinking of it, it made sense. Probably all suits had some sort of emergency program coded in for the possibility of some other suit malfunctioning. And her suit was after all a Royal, all lesser suits slaved to its system.

Maybe it was the suit that was directing his, too?

All of a sudden the wrap started to inflate forming a corridor into which his suit moved, sealing it off behind itself. And then the suit started to talk, instructing him in what to do, explaining that the wrap now was air filled and a temporary chamber. After listening to the suit, Jeff swore softly to himself.

Yes, there was a way, but it involved cannibalizing his own suit, leaving only hers. For a short moment he didn’t know what to do, it was not that he was scared, as much as he just wasn’t prepared. But to his own surprise his hesitation was over almost before it had started.

Leaving the suit's protection and under the supervision of it, he started to strip down the malfunctioning power pack from hers. It was hard work, and as the suit had told him there was a time limit to the wrap, he tried to move as quickly as he could. As he was working he could see her eyes start to move, Janelle slowly waking up from her self-induced coma, and hurrying even more he just barely finished as she opened her eyes to look at him, questioning his presence.

“Jeff.” she said questioningly, her eyes a golden sheen in the weak light reflected from the wrap.

“Your highness?”

“Are we saved, then?”

“My Lady, no, sorry, just a minor malfunction, don’t worry. I’m already done. And your suit is as good as new.”

He tried to smile reassuringly as he picked up the tools, turning back to his own suit. There wasn’t really any use telling her the truth, was there? Their chances had been astronomically slim at best, and his, less than that now.

His suit would still be able to function after a fashion, but on a vastly reduced power count, meaning that it was just a matter of time before the cold would start to creep in, turning the air into a condensed liquid, and him into a corpse. But he knew the suit would see to him before that. He waved to her, smiling again as the wall once more closed upon him, watching how the suits, now in tandem, sucked in what air there was left, leaving nothing to space, the wrap melting away into a nothing.

“Suit.”

“Yes, Jeff?” It had a dark contralto voice, almost as if belonging to some classical opera. Jeff had been introduced to opera by her highness, and although he found it mostly boring watching them on the Tri-D, he hadn’t really had the heart to tell her, instead forcing himself to suffer through them with a smile. After all, she was only trying to entertain him, not that he could understand why a highborn such as her would take such an interest in him.

‘A valkyria’ he thought, almost pleased.

“Don’t tell her about what happened, it won't help. And increase both our sleep cycles to maximum. And one more thing, don’t wake me unless you think there is something I can do, please.”

He wondered if the suit would understand, maybe he should have expressed it clearer.

“Yes, Jeff, unless you can make a difference I will not wake you up. And Royal agrees to your conclusion.”

So they were talking, were they? He wondered just how smart those suits were, sometimes it felt almost as if it was a human he was talking to. He didn’t know why, but found himself adding. “And suit, you have done a goddamned good job keeping me and the Lady Janelle safe, thanks for everything.”

“No problem, Jeff. It’s been my pleasure working with you.”

‘Yes,’ he thought ‘as good as human those suits, and if his was this smart, how smart then was hers?’

He looked down where his ringlet once had sat. There was still a small discoloration where it had been, but it was gone, assimilated they told him, and he missed it. The Argel had been his friend, the closest to one he ever had known. And as he felt the sleep come over him his thoughts started to wander again.

‘Maybe death isn’t that bad?’ he thought drowsily as he felt himself slipping under, not if he could dream it away.

==

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Comments

Oh please tell me there's more!

It's so good, and well written and interesting-don't end it here!

Please!

Wren

Wish I could promise you

Wish I could promise you that Wren, I've tried before, and failed.
But I will write.

A Yoda moment

I almost had a Yoda moment. (There is no try. There is do or do not, not try.) On the other hand I know just how hard it is to write. I will say I'm enjoying this very much. The disconnects makes perfect sense considering the hopeless situation. I too want to see more and offer all the emotional support that I can. This is good stuff!
Go Yor go!
Go Yor go!
Go Yor go!
:)
hugs
Grover

fear your muse ^^

Very interesting, I hope your muse will hunt you with a frying pan :P

Thank you for writing,
Beyogi

Suit...

By the makers of HAL?

Still I really liked it though. If you continue that's be great, but if not this was a real treat for all of us.

Great writing.
*Hugs*
Bailey.

Bailey Summers

I see so many possibilities here.

So I won't go into my own speculations just now. I could tell that Jeff can't see ringer any longer because Ringer is part of him now.

Wonderful. Hints, stray thoughts of the character, and all the speculation that brings.

Well done so far. I'll look forward to more of this one for sure.

Maggie