"Boss, there's a semi truck hailing us, it's the Jason."
"Extend all courtesies and tell him to suit up, I'll meet him at the prow beacon."
The semi conglomeration that was the Fateful Lightning stayed off from Hephaestus - the mass of trailers behind the cab was too large to fit easily. Instead, a small Toyota emerged from the rear of the trailer, and started towards the prow. A radio call goes out, "Coming in, and suited up. I'll meet you there."
The red-and-white strobe at the apex of the upthrust prow of Hephaestus started blinking as the Tercel approached it, and slid neatly in overtop of it to land in the cleared area behind it. The driver's side door opened - apparently, the car was already airless inside - and a suited figure stepped out. He appeared to be dressed in some sort of dark blue spandex suit, but what was most unusual was his helmet. There was a faint shimmering bubble around his head, but other than that, he didn't appear to be wearing one.
WG blinked repeatedly as he strode to the side of the Toyota, disbelief clear on his face through the clear glassy bubble of his helmet. "Is that?" He extended a finger gingerly at the faint shape.
The man grinned back. "Force field, yes. And you wouldn't believe how long it took me to get it right...." He was a large man, definitely someone who shouldn't normally be wearing spandex, with dark brown hair and a reddish-brown beard. He smiled, and offered a hand. "Kevin Eaches. But I go by the Jason. Good to meet you."
The similarly wide, but far shorter WG shook the proferred hand firmly and briskly "Nick Casler, I go by WG up here, pleasure's mine." Gesturing behind him at the dying, frayed vines arching overhead, cold, black, and dead against the starfield, "I assume you can see the problem?"
Kevin looked up, peering at the dying vines, and nodded. "Definitely. You need something spaceworthy and strong, at the very least. Did you want to stick with what you had, only a spaceworthy version? Or do you want something new? I can try either, though I'll need a sample of the original plant you used in yours if you want that."
The mismatched pair walked over to the verge of the land, dead grass and ground cover crunching under their boots. "I would like as close to what I've got now, aside from that dying thing, as I can get. The Fireweed is a pretty Alaskan thing, and I gotta remember my roots." WG stated, bending to grasp one of the woody stems in both hands. With no apparent effort, he broke the vine into sections, handing one to the Jason and considering the other. "We've still got quite a few pieces of live stock inside, you're welcome to them."
Kevin took the section, and nodded. "I can do that. I'll need at least a few live plants, and I'll see what I can come up with for you. I've modded plants for spaceworthiness before, so I have at least some ideas on what to do for that. And I have to say, the carbon fiber idea is a good one. Though I think I'll incorporate spider silk as well - that should help. Work for you?"
"Spidersilk, pasta noodles, whatever gets the job done. We're gonna need ground cover too, I'm afraid - but that can wait until we have pressure back."
"So what can we do in return?" WG checked his wristwatch, and looked out into the starfield.
The larger man nodded. "Yeah. And groundcover in pressure is easy - it's not as though you need anything modded special for that." He hmmmed...and reached through the forcefield to scratch the back of his head. "We could work up a deal for credit? I can always use new drone frames worked up or the like, special fittings..."
WG checked his watch again, glanced out in the starfield, and smiled. "I'm sure we can work something out, I can slap together nice sturdy drone frames in short order. Now, let's head back to the Point, Sparky's bringing in an asteroid, this ought to be something to see."
As the two returned to the apex of the prow of Hephaestus, with the Fateful Lightning looming overhead, giant doors opened in the rock below them, opening the front of the platform. Kevin grinned, watching with interest. "Nice setup...."
"First run. We've ran all the processes before, but never Upstairs. Looks like Sparky brought Doc out with him, that's the Suburban harnessed to the asteroid. Doc's the smartest of our 'worker bees'. This is the first all-up test, but the crew has requested me to stay hands-off for this one, so you wanna join us for dinner? Tonight's a good moose goulash and baked potatoes."
Kevin hmmmed, nodding. "Individual AIs for the various vehicles, then?" Then he grinned at WG. "Can't say that I've ever had moose. If I wouldn't be imposing, then sure."
"Well, not _quite_ AI. Internally, we call it 'big doofy dog' level intelligence, but the Boys seem to be happy, and they work well, so..." WG trailed off as the Suburban pulling away from Hephaestus cut loose from his harness and slid away from the rock, which coasted inside the massive doorway.
"Huh. Anyway, dinner's pretty much a community affair, so one more would be a pleasure. "
Kevin nodded. "...so why fix it if it ain't broke." He chuckled softly. "Most of the work that I don't do, my girls handle through remote drones. No need for extra AIs, but then, most of it is close-in work that remotes are just fine for. And that sounds wonderful. It's always good to meet new folk up here."
A faint thump rolled through the platform, the doors closing, as WG led the two of them to the nearest airlock.
"Extend all courtesies and tell him to suit up, I'll meet him at the prow beacon."
The semi conglomeration that was the Fateful Lightning stayed off from Hephaestus - the mass of trailers behind the cab was too large to fit easily. Instead, a small Toyota emerged from the rear of the trailer, and started towards the prow. A radio call goes out, "Coming in, and suited up. I'll meet you there."
The red-and-white strobe at the apex of the upthrust prow of Hephaestus started blinking as the Tercel approached it, and slid neatly in overtop of it to land in the cleared area behind it. The driver's side door opened - apparently, the car was already airless inside - and a suited figure stepped out. He appeared to be dressed in some sort of dark blue spandex suit, but what was most unusual was his helmet. There was a faint shimmering bubble around his head, but other than that, he didn't appear to be wearing one.
WG blinked repeatedly as he strode to the side of the Toyota, disbelief clear on his face through the clear glassy bubble of his helmet. "Is that?" He extended a finger gingerly at the faint shape.
The man grinned back. "Force field, yes. And you wouldn't believe how long it took me to get it right...." He was a large man, definitely someone who shouldn't normally be wearing spandex, with dark brown hair and a reddish-brown beard. He smiled, and offered a hand. "Kevin Eaches. But I go by the Jason. Good to meet you."
The similarly wide, but far shorter WG shook the proferred hand firmly and briskly "Nick Casler, I go by WG up here, pleasure's mine." Gesturing behind him at the dying, frayed vines arching overhead, cold, black, and dead against the starfield, "I assume you can see the problem?"
Kevin looked up, peering at the dying vines, and nodded. "Definitely. You need something spaceworthy and strong, at the very least. Did you want to stick with what you had, only a spaceworthy version? Or do you want something new? I can try either, though I'll need a sample of the original plant you used in yours if you want that."
The mismatched pair walked over to the verge of the land, dead grass and ground cover crunching under their boots. "I would like as close to what I've got now, aside from that dying thing, as I can get. The Fireweed is a pretty Alaskan thing, and I gotta remember my roots." WG stated, bending to grasp one of the woody stems in both hands. With no apparent effort, he broke the vine into sections, handing one to the Jason and considering the other. "We've still got quite a few pieces of live stock inside, you're welcome to them."
Kevin took the section, and nodded. "I can do that. I'll need at least a few live plants, and I'll see what I can come up with for you. I've modded plants for spaceworthiness before, so I have at least some ideas on what to do for that. And I have to say, the carbon fiber idea is a good one. Though I think I'll incorporate spider silk as well - that should help. Work for you?"
"Spidersilk, pasta noodles, whatever gets the job done. We're gonna need ground cover too, I'm afraid - but that can wait until we have pressure back."
"So what can we do in return?" WG checked his wristwatch, and looked out into the starfield.
The larger man nodded. "Yeah. And groundcover in pressure is easy - it's not as though you need anything modded special for that." He hmmmed...and reached through the forcefield to scratch the back of his head. "We could work up a deal for credit? I can always use new drone frames worked up or the like, special fittings..."
WG checked his watch again, glanced out in the starfield, and smiled. "I'm sure we can work something out, I can slap together nice sturdy drone frames in short order. Now, let's head back to the Point, Sparky's bringing in an asteroid, this ought to be something to see."
As the two returned to the apex of the prow of Hephaestus, with the Fateful Lightning looming overhead, giant doors opened in the rock below them, opening the front of the platform. Kevin grinned, watching with interest. "Nice setup...."
"First run. We've ran all the processes before, but never Upstairs. Looks like Sparky brought Doc out with him, that's the Suburban harnessed to the asteroid. Doc's the smartest of our 'worker bees'. This is the first all-up test, but the crew has requested me to stay hands-off for this one, so you wanna join us for dinner? Tonight's a good moose goulash and baked potatoes."
Kevin hmmmed, nodding. "Individual AIs for the various vehicles, then?" Then he grinned at WG. "Can't say that I've ever had moose. If I wouldn't be imposing, then sure."
"Well, not _quite_ AI. Internally, we call it 'big doofy dog' level intelligence, but the Boys seem to be happy, and they work well, so..." WG trailed off as the Suburban pulling away from Hephaestus cut loose from his harness and slid away from the rock, which coasted inside the massive doorway.
"Huh. Anyway, dinner's pretty much a community affair, so one more would be a pleasure. "
Kevin nodded. "...so why fix it if it ain't broke." He chuckled softly. "Most of the work that I don't do, my girls handle through remote drones. No need for extra AIs, but then, most of it is close-in work that remotes are just fine for. And that sounds wonderful. It's always good to meet new folk up here."
A faint thump rolled through the platform, the doors closing, as WG led the two of them to the nearest airlock.