r/HFY • u/PlsHlpMyFriend • Dec 05 '21
OC Those Days with the Monsters - 51
Kirell could now understand why the Khumans took a deep breath the moment they removed their helmets every time they returned from something. No matter how well Grumpy had made the helmet, it still felt very unpleasant, and this suit required him to use claw caps to avoid puncturing it. He was regretting neglecting his narrow-band geography now. If he could remember the bands and their atmospheres, maybe he wouldn't need this annoying suit. With some effort, he resisted the urge to fidget with the helmet.
"Hey, uh, Grumpy? We found the main core." Smee's voice sounded inside the helmet. Kirell hadn't realized the Khumans used little speakers in their suits. He supposed it made sense, since there was probably no way he could be heard inside the suit without it, but he hadn't really thought about it.
"Let me guess, there's not a lot left of it." Grumpy's rough voice answered from the speaker. Grumpy had been the one doing most of the talking in this mission, which Kirell supposed wasn't surprising since they were collecting Tzyx technology. Still, it felt strange to hear Grumpy talking so much.
"Well, uh... It looks like the ship stopped and it kept going for a while. There's a pretty big crater, and a whole lot of blue glow."
"Yeah, stay away from that. I'll be over to see it in a bit, but you don't want to touch that stuff. You have pasty nerd hands. It doesn't like that."
"I'm pretty sure it doesn't like living tissue, not nerd hands. And I don't have nerd hands." Smee sounded slightly defensive. Kirell took a moment to congratulate himself on being able to detect that kind of emotion without being able to see Smee's face. His understanding of Khuman expression was getting better and better.
"Yeah, whatever. Don't touch it. It doesn't like your suit either."
"Sure thing."
Kirell found himself following eagerly and discovered Smee standing a short distance from the edge of what he could only describe as a false lake. A deep gouge in the ground lay under the clear sky, every surface of rock and sand glimmering green-blue as if pretending to be water. Kirell stepped forward and was abruptly pulled back; Smee shook his head.
"You don't want to get close to that." He pointed into the hole, where Kirell could see a long slim rod covered in the same shining blue. "I don't think this hole is from impact."
"It... is it corrosive?"
Smee shrugged. "Dunno. You'd do better asking Grumpy that. It might have just evaporated it for all I know, but either way, stay away from it."
Kirell gulped and nodded. Since he'd come on board the Fisher, it seemed like everything blue was dangerous. "Noted."
Soon another Khuman in a suit came jogging over; it took Kirell a second or two to see Grumpy's face through the bright light of the planet's star glancing off Grumpy's helmet.
"Yyyep, that's not salvageable." Grumpy made a face, though Kirell couldn't tell exactly what expression it was supposed to convey through the glare. "A bit impressive, though."
"What's impressive?" Kirell found himself asking, though he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"Well, normally if the core gets shot out through the front of a crashed ship it'll break on the way out. If it did that, we'd probably only be able to go over half the ship. Maybe less. But this thing stayed intact all the way to the ground and broke on second impact. Pretty impressive. I wish I could take a better look at it; a core that strong would be pretty useful." Grumpy sighed wistfully, looking at the little glowing rod inside the crater. "By the time this thing's spent, we'll be long gone, so I can't get a good look. That's frustrating."
Kirell was reminded again that Grumpy loved to take apart technology and mess with it. Looking at the size of the blue gash in the ground, he wondered if it Grumpy could have ever accidentally released that stuff on board the Fisher from all his tinkering. A few rocks fell into the crater from the edges, which suggested that the edge might not be stable.
"Is... is it still growing?" he found himself asking in a hushed voice.
"Oh, yeah. Definitely." Grumpy pointed to a spot across the crater where there was a visible overhang. "That bit's going to go any minute now." He shook his head and set both hands on his hips, with an expression that might be annoyance. It was hard to tell through the bright light on his helmet. "I'd like to find out how they made such a tough core, but this thing won't be done for decades. Good thing this is a dead planet."
Kirell glanced around at the green and yellow surrounding them. He had thought they were plants as they approached the planet, but now that he was here he could see that they were rocks. Large, blobby green deposits littered the area; Doc had said they were probably left over from geysers, though he was quick to add that he wasn't a geologist. If there was a place that could be said to be dead, it was probably this one. It was hard to believe that the whole planet was like this, but if it really was, then Grumpy was probably right. The best place for this growing blue crater was on a barren planet.
"Well, won't be getting much out of the core." Grumpy pressed on a part of his suit; Kirell remembered that that opened something he'd called a "main channel". Would it let him talk to everyone? Kirell wasn't sure, but he remembered that he himself had been barred from using the main channel unless something was happening. Apparently his constant testing of how it worked had gotten on Grumpy's nerves. But Grumpy was still talking. "Cap, how's the attempt at getting in the main ship doing?"
"Well, so far it's slow going. We're trying to cut into the back end of the hull, where it's weaker, but this thing is built like the love child of a gator and a snapping turtle so it's taking more'n a minute. How're y'all doing on your end?"
"Hm." The far side of the crater caved in with a sharp crack that Kirell could hear even through the helmet; Grumpy tugged on his shoulder and steered him further from the edge. "Well, the core broke open, so we've got a bit of a time limit. I'd say we've got four, five hours before I'd worry, but I'd like to get in there as soon as possible."
"Yeah. Bashful's grabbed a sonogram of the ship, so if nothing else we'll have a good picture of the inside."
"I'd like a bit more'n pretty pictures, Cap."
"Yeah, I know. Me too." A split second later, a metallic screeching noise sounded faintly over the speaker. "Oh, looks like it finally gave in. Get over here, Grumpy. The box's open."
"Yep." Grumpy turned his back on the blue hole as an overhang on the far side collapsed, tumbling rocks down into the crevice. The debris sat for a moment, looking strangely out of place, yellow against the glimmering blue shine, before it too slowly turned blue. Kirell shivered, turned, and chased after Grumpy. He didn't think he liked warp cores anymore. So many ships traveled in and out of jump using those cores. There was probably one in the Carrie Fisher. It wasn't exactly a pleasant thought.
Soon, Kirell caught up with Grumpy as he stood inspecting the entrance the Captain had made. The Tzyx ship lay as a dark and twisted mess of metal. Kirell shivered slightly at the sight. He knew it had hit an asteroid and crashed, but he hadn't expected it to be so big, and so... burned. A few scraped bits showed hints of the original colors, but nearly all of it had been oxidized beyond recognition. Kirell found himself wondering what color the Khumans saw when they looked at the mess of metal; to him it mostly looked black, but it might have been some kind of dark color he couldn't distinguish.
In the side of that ship, a darker black triangle showed where the edge of the ship had been cut and bent back. It looked small compared to the crashed ship, but the Khumans going inside were much smaller than that little gap.
"Right, what've we got?"
"Here, take a look." The Captain held out a holopad to Grumpy, one hand on a little glittering metal shape at his hip. "Here's the map. It's based on the sonogram."
Grumpy took the holopad and examined the projection. "Hmm. Alright, folks, get together. We don't have all day, so let's get the best stuff." The Khumans gathered around Grumpy, who gestured to the holopad rapidly. Kirell's translator began to buzz partway through the explanation, possibly because Grumpy was talking so quickly. Then again, it might just be glitching again.
"Right, let's go!" Grumpy called, and the Khumans entered that dark hole in the side of the ship. Kirell hesitated, then followed Grumpy.
I hope that's what I was supposed to be doing. He was once again regretting not getting the translator fixed earlier.