Quonx returns to his baseline: missing everything but the scenery.
Dakoyo starts 'tinking' on the security robot with his battlestaff.
Gazigaz manages a glancing blow that seems to be more effective than it should have been.
The robot swivels back and forth at its waist as it chooses a target, ultimately spinning to face Nako as the most dangerous creature and nearly blasts his face off with a point-blank shot from the arc emitter built into its arm.
Nako swings his flame doshko rapidly, but only the second strike seems to do any significant damage to the bot.
Combat! Round 4. Bold may act.
Security Robot OF DOOM (-29 hp) (charge 4/20) (r1)
Dakoyo (-14/-5) (reflective armor)
Gazigaz (-12/-6)
Nako (-18/-10; fatigued)
Quonx (-5/-0)
"HER BASELINE WEIRD NARRATIVE VOICE!" yells Quonx at noone in particular.
"MOAR BLASTING! USE ELECTRICICAL ATTACKS IF YOU HAS THEM!"
"ACK I DON'T HAVE ELECTRICAL ATTACKS FIRE USUALLY WORKS FINE!!!" Now extremely frantic, she swings and swipes again.
for
for
Everyone except for the fiery red soldier misses their shot. Even Nako misses her first swing entirely. The second swing, however, carries significant 'oomph.'
The robot suddenly freezes in place. The large rent that Nako just placed in its chest paneling begins to repair itself.
Combat! Round 5. Bold may act.
Security Robot OF DOOM (-24 hp) (charge 4/20)
Dakoyo (-14/-5) (reflective armor) (have two rounds' of action)
Gazigaz (-12/-6)
Nako (-18/-10; fatigued)
Quonx (-5/-0)
"EIIIII!" shrieks Dakoyo as the massive strike lands on Nako.
A bit unsure how to proceed, he hesitates a moment. "Don't die!"
Seeing the creature freeze, the skitter considers 'This be chance save Nako!' As he goes to approach the crewmember, he suddenly remembers his own burns and frowns.
"Be ok. Clutch not ready to clutch you from my side!" he cries out as a holy light envelops him and shoots outward.
"We stops'd it! Now we wrecks it!"
"Dear robot thing, would it behoove you to stop moving? SO I CAN SHOOT YOU INTO A THOUSAND TINY PIECES FOR BETRAYING SCIENCE!" yells Quonx in disgust.
Now feeling slightly better as her electrical burns start scabbing over and her organs stabilize, she is still inspired by Gazigaz and slashes twice at the robot. "SERIOUSLY! A THOUSAND PIECES WOULD BE A LOT EASIER TO HANDLE!"
for
for
for Bleed? Rolls Eyes
While Dakoyo concentrates much like the security robot and heals most of the wounds among his companions, the rest of the skittermander crew quickly works to undo what repairs the nanites made on the robot. Gazigaz shoots the bot in the face, which causes sparks to fly out of the sides of its head. Quonx strikes the bot with his bolt, but the thermal plating absorbs the heat.
In an act of desperation--that will ultimately prove ill-advised--the security robot releases a chain of electricity that weaves through all of the skittermanders. Their fur stands on end, and their hearts skip a beat, but they must be getting used to being electrocuted.
Dakoyo's magical warding activates and sends a blast of force back at the bot, causing it to crumple to the ground.
End of Combat. Status:
Security Robot OF DOOM (-52 or -53 hp) (charge 4/20)
Dakoyo (-14/-0)
Gazigaz (-12/-0)
Nako (-18/-1; fatigued)
Quonx (-5/-0)
“Attention passengers. My sensors indicate that the ship is infested with small, furry menaces. But do not be alarmed, your crew has it under control. In just a few minutes, we will be venting the interior of the ship out into space to deal with the problem. You may experience a slight loss in cabin pressure, followed by the thrilling sensation of zero gravity and unparalleled views of the surrounding star field. That is all,” relays the disembodied voice of M2 through the loudspeakers.
Gazigaz finds a removable floor panel that leads into the duct work in the belly of the ship.
"WHAT! NO! That's not an appropriate way to deal with anything! You'll kill all your passengers and it wouldn't even hurt us!!!"
Nako dives forward into the panel, "just tell me what to cut!!!"
"Ahh! The bad computer-lady is going to kill everybody! Quonx, you go down in here and stop mean bad computer-lady!"
Managing to avoid the majority of the sparks, Dakoyo stops and looks up wide-eyed. "...unparalleled views of the surrounding star field" he parrots.
A broad smile spreading over his face, he jumps up and down in place. "Oooo! ME FIRST ME FIRST! Clutch would be sooooo happy with Dakoyo to see stars like that!!! DO ME!"
Quonx, having transitioned from scared, to terrified, to finally fully arrive in the realm of anger, dives into the duct work, fuming. "VENT US? YOU STUPID, STUPID AI, I HATE YOUR MALFUNCTIONING GUTS YOU BIG PILE OF MEANIE BOLTS! JUST YOU WAIT, I'M GOING TO REWIRE YOU INTO A BEAT-BOX FOR NAKO'S STUPID MUSIC SHE PLAYS ON THE SHIP'S SPEAKERS WHEN SHE THINKS I'M NOT PAYING ATTENTION"
Quonx immediately discovers that the inside of the ship is a maze of access tunnels, ducts, conduit, and pipes. Wherever the AI's central core is located, it will take some time and luck to find.
The blue skittermander eventually finds the computer node while the others observe her life signs on the monitor in the engineering bay. The first thing that she realizes is that this ship has a decentralized computer core with several redundant cores. She will need to disable more than one of them to prevent M2 from taking back control of the ship.
While Quonx works in the belly of the ship, those in the engineering bay notice something change on the monitor.
Being pulled out by the scruff of her neck as she has no idea what to actually do in the guts of the ship, Nako resigns herself to watching the Quonx on the monitor intently. She actually has no clue what anything means on it, but she watches it very closely!
"There needs to be like a status bar that shows a percent of how close Quonx is to shutting the AI off. Seriously. This interface is terrible!"
"Ooo! New blinky lights! I wonder how long until we dies?" Gazigaz muses aloud, as he stares dumbly at the monitors.
Quonx looks towards the fourth wall. Her disquiet now vented, she approaches one of the redundant cores.
She takes in the processor's configuration, the rate of cooling and the julian date before simply pressing the conveniently placed "Eject Redundant Core" button on the side.
While Quonx deactivates one core, Nako finds another. The red skittermander is promptly bathed in radiation.
"Nako! What you do in there? Can I help?" Gazigaz moves into the engineering room as well and starts looking around for stuff to mess with.
Nako withstands the vented radiation without apparent ill effect. Once it is safe, she directs Quonx toward it.
Glancing sporadically at the monitor, he looks around a bit puzzled. "What wrong computer? Thought you was gonna send me to stars to take a look!"
"You are not trying to r-rip me out from the inside," the voice says over the speakers in the engine room. "You are clear-r-rly more intelligent. I will grant you free travel for life to see all the star-r-rs if you eliminate the ones infesting my critical systems."
Gazigaz decides letting Quonx do all the work down below isn't very nice, so he climbs down into the access tunnels and starts looking around for more cores.
"YOU STOP TEMPTING DAKOYO WITH SILLY OFFERS!"
Quonx stomps over to the next core, and unceremoniously finds the emergency release circuits, which she engages furiously.
"I AM VERY UNHAPPY WITH THE STATE OF TECHNOLOGY HERE."
Quonx shuts down the second core. "P-p-please. I want-t-t-t-t-to liv-v-v-v-v," the AI begs.
The flash of Gazigaz being electrocuted leads Quonx to the next core. At the very least, Gazigaz's fur is standing on end making him look like a blue puffball.
Quonx does feel bad for the AI. As a woman of science, it is her duty to feel bad for wonders of technology.
"St-st-STOP THAT! JUST SHUT DOWN YOU SILLY COMPUTER! YOU'RE DOING A BAD JOB! WHAT IS THAT RINGING NOISE? WHY CAN'T I HEAR? AM I YELLING TOO LOUD?"
After suffering the computer's assault, Gazigaz pulls out one of his healing serums and injects himself.
In the end though, Quonx has had enough of these shenanigans. "I'm not killing you, I'm rebooting you. Now stop complaining!!"
“We thank you for choosing Trendsetter Excursions and hope you will fly with us again in the future,” M2's voice says, each word drawing out more and more as the voice slows. Then there is silence for a long moment. Nobody is vented into space.
Then the remaining two cores reset with an audible 'click.' All of the terminals in engineering going blank and then start to spool boot code. After the system reboots, you hear M2's voice again.
"Greetings, I am the Emerald Empyrean's artificial intelligence, M2. I am here to assist you," the AI says and then pauses. "Alert! I am detecting a hostile intruder on the bridge! Alert! Security robot is off-line. Alert! Life signs of the captain and chief engineer are not present. First mate's life signs are weak. Alert!"
"ACK!" squeals Dakoyo with a mix of surprise and saddness. A metaphoric candle suddenly flickers over his head. "He compooter! You vent bridge into space? Only hostiles in bridge, right?"
Quonx screams in frustration. "ALL I WANT IS TO RECHARGE MY BATTERIES! IS IT REALLY TOO HARD TO ASK FOR??? VENT IT INTO SPACE M2!"
She stomps her feet onto the metal deck. "THIS. IS NOT. RELAXING!!!!!"
"Calculating collateral damage. In the meantime, you are more than welcome to recharge your batteries at any of my recharge stations," M2 says pleasantly. "Calculations complete. Sealing all compartments with detectable life signs."
The engineering bay panel is lying on the floor where you left it.
"Warning. Four life signs in engineering bay and manual hatch open. Do you wish for me to proceed?"
Quonx slowly looks from the AI status screen to the panel. A long moment passes. And then:
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!! CLOSE IT UP, CLOSE IT UP, CLOSE IT UP, CLOSE IT UP, CLOSE IT UP!" she screeches as she runs for the panel, and tries to heft it as best she can into place. "NAKO!!!! HELP! IT'S CRUSHING ME!!!"
"Greetings, I am the Emerald Empyrean's artificial intelligence, M2. I am here to assist you," the AI says and then pauses. "Alert! I am detecting a hostile intruder on the bridge! Alert! Security robot is off-line. Alert! Life signs of the captain and chief engineer are not present. First mate's life signs are weak. Alert!"
Nako's voice crackles across the comm from the depths of the ship innards, "hey that computer is dumb, the captain went back to the ship and Quonx is still here. What it mean not on ship. Got me right though, I am feeling a bit weak. I wonder who that intruder is?"
She makes her way outta the maze and looks around, "we gonna go talk to intruder guy?"
______________________________________________________________________
Almost barreled over by Quonx, Nako takes a second to figure out what is going on, but she moves over and grabs the other side of the hatch lid, "where are Gazi and Dak?"
"I HERE!" exclaims Dakoyo gleefully to Nako. Glancing upwards, he inquires "We not sealed in forever right? Wes can still go see star later?"
Nervously looking towards the hatch and Nako, he mumblers "I likes the stars."
"Phew! Good job, Quonx! I was worried that we might get spaced! But let's not wait too long! Sounds like the First Mate person needs some HELP!" Gazigaz hauls himself out of the ducts and thinks about checking his beard in the mirror before remembering the huge electric shock he just suffered. "Better wait. Sounds like there's more trouble up at the bridge, guys. Let's go sees who is making more trouble!"
Once the command to vent the ship is given, there is a sudden sucking noise as the hatch is pulled into a seal by the loss of pressure outside of the engineering bay. Your ears feel full for a moment and then pop, allowing you to hear a quiet roaring noise as air rushes out of the lower deck on the other side of the hatch.
After a minute, the roaring stops. "One moment while the Emerald Empyrean repressurizes. We apologize for the inconvenience, dizzy sensation, loss of hearing, or horrifying, asphyxiating death that you may have experienced."
The hatch makes a popping sound and then falls to the floor.
As you return through the lower deck, not much seems to have been disrupted by the loss of pressure. Once you climb the stairs to the upper deck, you notice that the bridge door is open and several long gouges in the floor and wall as if made by claws trail from the bridge to the back of the hall and out the rear airlock.
Other than the claw marks, the back of one of the pilot seats has been ripped off and is nowhere to be seen. The bits of massage table that you smashed off have been sucked out into space. Checking on the passengers and the surviving first mate, they all look slightly confused and then immensely relieved to learn that you have fixed the out-of-control AI.
If you use the ship's sensors to look, you can see a cyborg-like zombie floating out in space trying to swim ineffectually back to the Emerald Empyrean. A seat back floats next to him.
"Fuzzyballs!" Nakonechkin calls over the comms. "You got that ship running yet? What's taking so long?"
Nako pulls all her fellow fuzzballs in for a quick group hug, probably the adrenaline dump or just lack of blood making her unusually friendly. Either way, she jumps to it and runs into the bridge to press all the buttons.... hopefully finding a weapon system to blast that zombie thing away.
"OOoooo lucky." announces Dakoyo. "He...she...it? has bestest view of stars!"
With a shrug, he adds "Maybe next time. Good job all! We get candy now?"
"Allow me to provide you with the best view of the stars," M2 says as you leave the bridge. The central observatory dims and the doors slide shut--possibly giving you flashbacks to the shadow bug war--and then the window shields of the transparent dome slide back. Above is a nearly pristine view of the stars but without the 0 Kelvin temperatures or the asphyxiation.
”Awww...we didn’t get to meet a new cyber buddy! He would have been great nufriend! Oh well...Captain! The ship is ours!”
For the next several minutes, Gazigaz can be found in the ships lavatory, using the mirrors to get his beard back in shape after all the electric shocks he endured.