2020-09-28: Sealab2020 4A Tanks a Lot
| Tanks a Lot | |
|---|---|
| The VEC Integrity is still in dire straights. They really need a replacement tank to get her back up and running. | |
| IC Date | August 31st, 2020 |
| Players | Eden Huxley (ST and as Frank), Midge, and Zelazny |
| Location | Aboard the VEC Integrity, near the Mariana Trench |
| Prp/Tp | Sealab2020 |
| Spheres | Weaver |
A few hours have passed and it's finally safe to breathe, the levels of oxygen saturation within the ship have returned to normal. The crew is less agitated and capable of thinking clearly, as they sit in silence of the oceans floor. Frank, perhaps due to his large size or metabolism is constantly hungry. Searching every nook and cranny for hidden food; constantly hitting up the replicators for more tomato soup or chicken broth. Apparently self aware of his hunger, he doesn't strain the machines with expensive requests but constantly eating. Perhaps he had a parasitic infection he wasn't aware of or they didn't feed him well back aboard the DeepWater base.
He paces with his large hunched over size, checking the weapons terminals for any indication of threats. "Hey... I was thinking of checking out that cargo hold. Mr. Zelazny, perhaps there is food in there or items we can salvage. I can look for your guy's stuff too.", spitting into his dip cup and pointing with it towards Isaac and Midge. "We could be stuck here awhile before the air runs out. Maybe find somethings to keep us entertained?", offering as the Australian Fishman looked about bored.
Zelazny has not really let Frank go for a single moment. The large man does not quite sit right with the Technician, even though he has done nothing but good so far. Its just something .. something about him. Something that has the otherwise very good-natured Isaac still be good natured, but with a watchful eye out for the lamprey-faced Genetically Engineered Lifeform. With the ship still very much in danger, but their immidiate life not so much in danger, he grabbed himself something to eat as well, while checking over to make sure his Ionic Cloth was not broken and making sure his DPDE device was still functional.
And that is what he is doing when Frank begins to talk, munching on some hardtack bread, "The cargospace? You sure about that? Well, we got most of the ship pretty secure. Suppose it can't hurt to crack the doors open and let you poke about in there. Grab yourself a plasmatorch and get cracking!" he says, a big smile on his lips. Midge looks alarmed. "I thought we were on track with that? So we're doing what now, waiting on rescue? Did we get any kind of signal that thats going to occur? I mean." She sighs in frustration. "We do need food I suppose that isnt frivolous in either case."
Frank points to the airlock, "If I undo your welds to the cargo bay doors. We will just flood the interior space with sea water again. My plan was to go out the hatch, you can open the exterior cargo doors remotely and I'd climb back on board. Maybe even be able to weld shut the leak from inside the cargo bay. If successful, we can potentially close the bay doors. De-flood the space and allow room for more oxygen aboard the ship. At least a couple more hours, maybe a day.", grunting and rubbing his back. "That's the plan mate. Because who knows when DeepWater will get back to us. Last transmission was from Jakob about four hours ago. Quite a few GENE's died out on the mud banks along with your captain. So who knows what's going on and when they'll get back to us. Things have been relatively FUBAR lately, but when are they not.", spitting into his cup. "Least I can do is buy you folks some more time if my plan works.", not really threatened by Zelazny's looks. Apparently he got treated poorly a lot due to his appearance.
"And this is why you want your Void Ship outfitted with the best possible aquatic motoring." Zelazny sighs. He thinks a few moments, to then give a quick nod to Frank, "Ok, sounds like a plan. I'll go get you a loadout for that and if you can repair the damage then we're .. well .. we're still in a pretty situation but at least we'll not die sooner." he glances to Midge, "And we do need food. Damn, she should have stayed with the ship. We're not enough Jackets on this ship to go out and die in the deep ocean."
Midge gets up, her foot is still not the best but she's trying. "I can help," she says. "I think once we have food in our bellies we need to talk about plan B, not just hope springs eternal." She winces as her foot goes down but follows along. "Im sorry, Im trying to be positive."
Frank looks to Midge, "Ahh, I can't on good conscience have you go back out there with that bum leg of yours, ma'am.", spitting into his cup. "You can ask your XO, but my votes a negative.", shrugging and following Isaac. The genetically altered fishman really didn't need gear for the water and depths. But a plasma torch would be hand and probably a comms check to make sure channels were good with his sub-dermal implant.
Zelazny is quickly off the chair, the DPDE holstered at his hip as he moves to grab some gear for Frank. Most of the stuff is ready to go, so he quickly comes back with a kit for the large man (including a short range com unit), "Here. And you're right." he looks to Midge, "I am fairly certain I can get suits going for you and me both, but I don't think that is ideal right now. We need a plan, as you say. Once we have a plan, then we can go outside. If we don't hear back from the team in, say, half an hour to an hour, we will have to do something." he nods once to Frank, "You're clear to leave the ship and head to the cargobay. Good luck." then he looks to Midge again.
Midge stands in indecision for a moment. She winces on her next step then just moves back to the chair she was propped in. "Fine I'll just get in the way. I didnt have much for snacks just coffee. Sorry. Are we unable to move or are we just unable to use sonar? I might have a work around." She looks at the other man. "Good luck, Frank."
Frank thanks Zela for the gear, does a comms check and heads into the airlock. <<You never get used to the cold down here. I've been in it a thousand times or more. Each one makes me want to piss myself.>>, he groans over the mic while the airlock flooded with water and stabilized for him to leave. Heading into the abyssal ocean. The dark crushing depths as headed towards the back of the ship.
Isaac acknowledges the comms check, <<You're coming through loud and clear. If anything happens to you, give a shout. I can come to you, but it will take some effort." He's still to use his aquatic suit procedure! Oh, how's he is itching to use it. He looks to Midge instead, "Yeah, we're still unable to move." he goes to grab his own set of tools and gadgets, moving over to start repairing some broken panel, "What work around did you have in mind?" Midge looks up sharply. "Wait wait! We are getting something." She hobbles closer to read the encrypted message. "Its from Deepwater. Theyre going to fabricate a ballast for us but they need the dimensions or the model number of the original. We also will have to figure out how to remove the old one and get rid of it. What should I say?" She looks excited now as there appears some hope of saving the crew, not just Frank.
Frank is slurping water and slowly treading his way back to the cargo bay. <<Nearly there, Isaac. You can probably open the cargo bay doors when ready.>>, waiting in the cold dark with only a tiny flash light to guide his darksight under the water. <<When I'm inside. We can close the doors back up. I found dinner out here.>>
Isaac stops what he is doing by the panel, leaving one of his hyper-drivers lodged in the panel, "Wha?" he looks over to Midge, "A signal?" he stands up and wanders over, "Well, isn't that something." he reaches for his computer-pad, "Specs should have the model and make of the actual tanks." he ponders, "But to get the old one out? That will be worse. Frank can go out there but he can't do it alone. I will have to go outside as well." Finally, he can use his Procedure! Excitement! <<..uuh, right! Yes, the cargo doors. Opening them now. Also, we might have more work for you once you are done in there.>>
To this, Isaac accesses the controls for the cargo doors via his pads uplink, to get them open, totally forgetting to pull the specs for the tanks as he got a new thing to poke at.
Midge looks so happy. She likely mistakes Zelazny's eagerness to try out his snazzy invention as survival instinct as that is what she is doing. "Be careful out there Zack. That thing, I dont think its dead. Its...hungry. Lets hope missiles for breakfast made it want to lick its wounds for awhile but, eyes up right?"
Frank climbs the ramp to the cargo bay and gets on board the ship. <<Yeah, there's some damage in here. I'll get to work on welding it tight. Once Issac gets back here with me, he can try to deflood the spaces. Make sure we got a proper seal.>>, he sounds a bit happier and not as gruff with things going right for once.
And with that, Isaac has completely forgotten to give Midge the specs for the ballast tanks. He's off before anything else can be said, to find his nanobot capsules from the Engineering section. He also finds a helmet for his Ionic Cloth, "Well, this should be interesting!" he secures the DPDE in its holster. He quickly moves to put the capsule on a makeshift bench he's made earlier for work, to then pick up his pad again. With this, he interfaces with the capsule. He punches in a few programs, "Well, that should be it." he takes a breath, "Wish me luck!" he calls out, taking the capsule and hooking it on to his Ionic Cloths belt. He then hits RUN on the pad...
And with that, the Nanobots in the capsule begin to interface with the built in systems of the Ionic Cloth. The Cloth really is a marvel of Void Engineer technology. So hard to make, though. So few of them left. But they are such marvelous multipurpose dresses, built to be used with any number of Procedures and in conjuncture with so many different Devices. The nanobots in this case begin to follow their Enlightened Procedure programming, reinforcing the material and adjusting key positions. His helmet and suit gets sealed up, and along his back, part of the suit suddenly buldges outwards as if a built in hose was grown within it. The capsule that the nanobots came in takes on a different use as well, suddenly becoming a device to handle oxygen intake and carbon emissions, <<Ok, I am done with my suit. I am grabbing my kit and heading out, Frank.>> he calls over the comms. He then starts to walk for the airlock, <<You got the ship, Midge.>>
Midge is hoping against hope that Zelazny will be successful. She watches him go making a fist reminiscent of Rosie the Riveter and giving him a smile. She chews on a pen as she waits with her bad leg doing nothing and hating every moment of it when all she can do is think which equates to worry. <>
It's so dark once stepping through the airlock and it's impossible not to feel the cold and pressure bearing down on you. Like falling on the moon - yet weighing a ton. It takes Zela some time to adjust to the conditions down here outside the ship. But off into the void he goes, rounding the ship and inevitably the cargo bay. Climbing aboard the ramp he can see Frank welding in the distance trying to repair a hole in a wall. A giant translucent squid egg behind him as he worked, apparently found in the darkness. He waves and continues his task, shielding his face or rather his eyes from the bright light of plasma.
Isaac comes to a stop the moment he's out in the water, his hand holding on to the handle by the airlock and refusing to let go, <<Oh, I don't like this. I prefer space.>> he looks around a bit, trying to get his bearings, <<Oh, baby. You don't deserve to be belly up. We'll get you fixed soon..>> he says over comms. Speaking to .. the ship?
He begins to move along the hull then, once he can finally get his body to respond to his mind. Slowly letting himself move into the cargobay, he comes to a stop, <<Whoa! Frank.. what the hell is that!>> he calls out, reaching down to try to get to his DPDE device. That egg was not exactly what he expected to see!
Frank points to the cargo bay doors, <<Close the doors Isaac. We'll be safer with the doors closed.>>, focusing on welding and actually doing a bang up job. He must have experience in doing under water welding before. Turning back around him, <<Oh, the egg? Yeah... Big Judith must of laid it. She does that occasionally. Figured we could cook it up for dinner. Make one hell of a omelette. Or sell it too Mr. Klieg the CEO back at DeepWater, he pays a pretty fortune for these things. They're worth some serious money.>>, going back to work. <<Getting closer to being done, Isaac. We can maybe test it out soon. Make sure everything is holding.>>
Isaac turns around slowly in the water, almost scared to move knowing the crushing depth being held at bay only by his own Enlightened Procedures. He begins to close the door, <> Once the door is closed, he turns around to start moving towards Frank. He breaks out his own tools, <<Well.. you're.. almost done. Well, lets get the last part done.>> he then begins to dig into the repairwork, trying to ignore the egg.
Midge laughs as she gets Zelazny's transmission. <<Just get me the model number so I can send it to Deepwater.>> Her fingers clack on the keys letting control know they have a technician on scene. Standby for part information. <<Good job Zack. Lets get that number and get the hell out of here..Dinners on me when we get back, no seafood.>> She waits, and she waits, and anxiety gives way to pragmatism as Zelazny takes too long for her liking. Her foot hurts but that doesnt affect her typing speed. Fingers fly over the keys researching different ballast models until she recognizes the one. "There you are! I got you!" She keys the mic. <<Bring it in Zack. I cross referenced the model with last years accounting reports. Im sending the match to Deepwater. We're going home.>>
