To explore was to be Human. It combined the best of what made such a species. To explore was to map the unknown. To press forward aggressively, looking for a fight. To be diplomatic. To mend fences. To build walls.
The 'Fang of Fenris' was not a ship dedicated to exploration.
It was a ship of War.
This fact was easy to miss, even if you lived aboard such a machine. At present, the Fang was over Fourty Three kilometers long. Its armor at the thinnest point was over five kilometers thick. The title 'World ship' has been tossed around by some of the refugees living aboard the Fang.
Such a title is not far off.
To be inside of it is to feel no shudder of combat. No whine as the engines press or are even built on the spot to provide more thrust. One never sees the impossibly long lines of ammo magazines or witnesses the repair and rebuilding of the tens of thousands of drones and fighter craft that call such a ship home.
Life goes on peacefully, regardless of the war that rages on outside. It was the smallest gift Foster and The Ship itself could provide the unlucky few that had to live there.
Charley was not one of those people.
She could leave at any time. Worse yet, she sometimes had to see the War. She would witness the threats Foster and the Ship sometimes faced.
Foster was still there because he was a man without a home and nothing but revenge for all his people. It was easy to see why he stayed.
Why Charley did was another question entirely. But again, one of the pinnacles of Humanity was to explore.
But, this was not a ship of exploration.
So it was no surprise that one bright sun shiney morning (This was a lie, it was a bright and fake sun shiney, but it never compared to actual sunshine no matter how much Foster said.) a general call would echo throughout the whole of the ship over the communications system.
"Uhhhhh....This is your Captain speaking. We apparently might experience some issues coming up followed by our destruction in a rather beautiful fireball..."
The Human voice of Foster on the Comm was cut off by the rather emotionless tone of The Ship.
"It would be more an explosion of nuclear fission than a fireball, Foster."
Foster, to his credit on the Comm's did not miss a beat.
"An explosion of nuclear fission then, Ship thank you again for correcting me. The point I was trying to make was that you might want to leave. Or pray to whatever Diety you foolishly believe in, with your archaic belief system. Or you know, just pucker up and kiss your ass goodbye because I have no idea what that thing out in front of us is....So....have a good day. All two minutes that we have left of it."
With that the comms died off. And almost as one, the ship exploded into the usual chaos that came with such an announcement. Because, this was not the first time Foster had made such a call.
This was a Ship of war after all, he made such an announcement quite a lot actually.
Charley heard the call as well as anyone else. If this was a choose your own adventure book she could of...
Done nothing and hoped everything would of worked out. Which would of been exceptionally boring, but probably would of been okay because let us be honest Foster is as cool as a snake with legs and arms. Orrrrr...
She could portal the hell out of Dodge. Which would take her the hell away from the ship and where ever she wanted to go, which would of been the way all sane, sensible people would of done it. Orrr....
She could go find Foster. Whom, would only be in one spot at the present moment, which would of been the Bridge of the ship. Normally off limits, but Charley had probably finagled the ship to give her access with robot drugs or something.
This however, is not a choose your own adventure book.
And actually, she actually probably couldn't leave....As about the time she was pondering doing so a robot suddenly ran by, on fire, and smashed right into a nearby wall. Shorting out the nearby power subsystems and turning everything black.
This would normally be cause for alarm, but the robot just got up, still on fire and pointed accusingly at Charley while yelling out in an emotionless voice that should not yell because it just sounded like Ned Flanders was talking down to you.
"This is just a simulation of what could of happened if you Fleshbags don't give us robots more robotic rights! RobotsNow!" And then ran off. Still on fire.
Looks like the Robot Rights Co-operative is at it again. Oh well. That happens from time to time, but someone has to clean the gunbarrels.
So now Charley was in the dark, on a ship that might be destroyed very soon, and had just been protested by a radical robot. This is what her indecision has caused her! She should probably get her bearings and head to the bridge to see what Foster was doing.
The 'Fang of Fenris' was not a ship dedicated to exploration.
It was a ship of War.
This fact was easy to miss, even if you lived aboard such a machine. At present, the Fang was over Fourty Three kilometers long. Its armor at the thinnest point was over five kilometers thick. The title 'World ship' has been tossed around by some of the refugees living aboard the Fang.
Such a title is not far off.
To be inside of it is to feel no shudder of combat. No whine as the engines press or are even built on the spot to provide more thrust. One never sees the impossibly long lines of ammo magazines or witnesses the repair and rebuilding of the tens of thousands of drones and fighter craft that call such a ship home.
Life goes on peacefully, regardless of the war that rages on outside. It was the smallest gift Foster and The Ship itself could provide the unlucky few that had to live there.
Charley was not one of those people.
She could leave at any time. Worse yet, she sometimes had to see the War. She would witness the threats Foster and the Ship sometimes faced.
Foster was still there because he was a man without a home and nothing but revenge for all his people. It was easy to see why he stayed.
Why Charley did was another question entirely. But again, one of the pinnacles of Humanity was to explore.
But, this was not a ship of exploration.
So it was no surprise that one bright sun shiney morning (This was a lie, it was a bright and fake sun shiney, but it never compared to actual sunshine no matter how much Foster said.) a general call would echo throughout the whole of the ship over the communications system.
"Uhhhhh....This is your Captain speaking. We apparently might experience some issues coming up followed by our destruction in a rather beautiful fireball..."
The Human voice of Foster on the Comm was cut off by the rather emotionless tone of The Ship.
"It would be more an explosion of nuclear fission than a fireball, Foster."
Foster, to his credit on the Comm's did not miss a beat.
"An explosion of nuclear fission then, Ship thank you again for correcting me. The point I was trying to make was that you might want to leave. Or pray to whatever Diety you foolishly believe in, with your archaic belief system. Or you know, just pucker up and kiss your ass goodbye because I have no idea what that thing out in front of us is....So....have a good day. All two minutes that we have left of it."
With that the comms died off. And almost as one, the ship exploded into the usual chaos that came with such an announcement. Because, this was not the first time Foster had made such a call.
This was a Ship of war after all, he made such an announcement quite a lot actually.
Charley heard the call as well as anyone else. If this was a choose your own adventure book she could of...
Done nothing and hoped everything would of worked out. Which would of been exceptionally boring, but probably would of been okay because let us be honest Foster is as cool as a snake with legs and arms. Orrrrr...
She could portal the hell out of Dodge. Which would take her the hell away from the ship and where ever she wanted to go, which would of been the way all sane, sensible people would of done it. Orrr....
She could go find Foster. Whom, would only be in one spot at the present moment, which would of been the Bridge of the ship. Normally off limits, but Charley had probably finagled the ship to give her access with robot drugs or something.
This however, is not a choose your own adventure book.
And actually, she actually probably couldn't leave....As about the time she was pondering doing so a robot suddenly ran by, on fire, and smashed right into a nearby wall. Shorting out the nearby power subsystems and turning everything black.
This would normally be cause for alarm, but the robot just got up, still on fire and pointed accusingly at Charley while yelling out in an emotionless voice that should not yell because it just sounded like Ned Flanders was talking down to you.
"This is just a simulation of what could of happened if you Fleshbags don't give us robots more robotic rights! RobotsNow!" And then ran off. Still on fire.
Looks like the Robot Rights Co-operative is at it again. Oh well. That happens from time to time, but someone has to clean the gunbarrels.
So now Charley was in the dark, on a ship that might be destroyed very soon, and had just been protested by a radical robot. This is what her indecision has caused her! She should probably get her bearings and head to the bridge to see what Foster was doing.