Cosmic Dash: Pause & Effect

Day Two: Part Two

Surface of The Crush Force: Hour 37

Guugel was onto his second antenna now, technically third, as Blu and Bucketbot had guided him through the process via the first antenna in exchange for a small blow-torch. It was a laborious explanation process, with Guugel frequently needing to use a small tablet to communicate his messages to the robots and for them to communicate with him. The little robots had a far greater grasp on technology than Guugel had, particularly because they spent so much time with Dash, and they understood his various mechanical quirks. With the tutorial completed, the robots borrowed a few tools from Guugel's kit and wandered off on their own, to what end he had no idea.

Traveling from ship to ship erecting the antennas had made one thing perfectly clear... spacers were not particularly observant of the outsides of their ships. That was one thing Guugel would bring up with Dash later on: The Strike needed some sort of surface-based security scanner to prevent the very sort of stuff Guugel was currently engaged in. He wouldn't be engaged in it for much longer, of course. He only had a single antenna left to install.

The little Wot made his sweep of his immediate area for any security, and content to move on secured his tools, unslung the grapple rifle from his shoulder, and took aim at the next ship. He wound the small lever on the gun to charge up the electrical pulse that would shoot through the magnet, repelling the grappling line away from the reel. He pulled the trigger, felt the vibration of the electricity traveling through the magnet and then was pleased to see the head of the line sailing cleanly to the next ship where it collided with the hull and stuck to it. Guugel jerked the rifle to ensure the line was hooked to the ship and then satisfied, began to pull himself over. Due to his size and weight, the grapple remained in place, and reeling in the line had the effect of pulling him to the point of contact. As he approached the ship at a steady pace, he threw out his feet, magnetic boot soles aimed squarely at the surface of the other ship.

Then he noticed the patrol ship.

The patrol ship was a tiny, two-person vehicle that belonged to the Jump-Gate Authority and Guugel watched it move from ship to ship, creeping ever closer as he helplessly reeled himself to his target. He continually turned to track the ship's position until now the ship was located behind his point of view. He whipped around to see it, not realizing where he was until he collided with, and bounced off of, the hull near the grapple-point. He scrambled and tightened his grip on his gun, swung around and threw his feet to the hull, feeling the slight buzz in his feet from the magnetic energy making contact. He scrambled to detach the grapple-line, swung the rifle over his shoulder, and kept his body as flush to the hull as he could as the patrol ship studied his position.

"Oh man, oh man."

He considered possibly tapping into his telepathy, but at this point, it was safer to simply do nothing. That turned out to be the right course of action as the patrol ship swooped past. It wasn't worth going any further now, this ship would have to do for the final antenna. He reoriented himself and made his way to the communication beacon.

Marken's Bunk: Hour 38

The kitchen smelled heavily of various cuisines and Marken found himself in his element. It wasn't readily apparent, but he was an anxious person. He didn't show it much, though, thank goodness, but there was always a tension in his stomach and the only time that ever really diminished was when he was at a stove, oven, or working a mixing bowl. Of course even now, in his element, the tension was there... all thanks to Dorian.

There was a feeling of annoyance and guilt that he had been dealing with since yesterday. His attempts to forge a bond with the young Grey had failed, spectacularly so, and he had only dug in deeper trying to connect with the kid through food. Marken loved food. It could be simple, complex, poor, rich... Food could be anything. It was universal... well, maybe not. Guugel didn't necessarily eat "food." Maybe the analogy was flawed, maybe the approach was all wrong?