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Overwhelmed by this spectacle, Hani nods in agreement with Zharis. "I suspect that we should be grateful for this gift. At least I hope it's a gift, and we aren't being misled. In any case, I can give the ship a thorough once-over when we arrive."
Duergar nods. Not bad.
The journey down the staircases is as tedious as the way up, but eventually you reach the bottom and exit out into the shanty town. The walk back to the landing site takes several hours, but excitement over seeing whether this "Speaker Ascendant" could really fulfill Zharis' wish provides the incentive to keep going.
After walking up the ramp to the building, the Sun Diver is right where it was left on the rooftop. But it looks different! Like bric-a-brac glued to a piece of pottery, the hull of the ship is textured with a bizarre array of what looks like scrap metal jutting out at strange angles!
Looking at the ship, Zarine isn't sure whether to be impressed or worried.
Okay, well, let's check it out and see if this is a good thing and not just a random experiment. I was thinking that the controlling AI was iterating on things and getting better over time, but I could certainly be wrong. It might just be insane.
"Indeed. If anything, the sun will take care of the extra parts once we depart." Jin dismisses the situation, going inside to check for stowaways.
Jin enters the Sun Diver to check for stowaways.
Zharis goes into the ship to make sure Hop isn't too traumatized.
Hey Hop. How are things? You feeling up to a trip home?
Hani attempts to ascertain exactly what the function of these additions on the ship are, what function they perform, and whether they are safe.
Tulgram joins Hani in exploring the strange "improvements" of the ship.
Hop responds to Zharis' question: "Pard, I feel like I've been staked out in the desert, stripped nekkid, slathered in honey, and feasted on by an ornery colony o' army ants! I'm ready to jump out of here at the whisper of a 'go'!"
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Hani documents the modifications with his camera equipment for further study back at the institute.
"It's brilliant! At least in it's own, unique way. These things that they added to the hull...this one will serve as a heat sink, and this could be a primitive vortex-dissipation channel. All together, this is a very safe scheme for heat shielding, and should get us back safely to the Burning Archipelago."
Once everything is checked over and the systems are all showing green lights, Zharis gives Xylian the green light to take them home, and whispers "go" to Hop. :)
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shouts Hop as the Sun Diver seems to almost leap off the rooftop! Once the ship nears the outer edge of the force-bubble surrounding Noma there's a tense moment of wonder: will those robots' crazy add-ons to the hull actually work? They do! All systems remain in the green as the Sun Diver rockets through the internal plasma seas of Mataras with only one destination in store: home.
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Okay, I'm going to set this thread to Inactive, but, as always, PM me if you need anything. I'll have a thread up for Chapter Four by the end of the month.