*sigh* this story is difficult to get done.
###############
The hatch of the POD was slowly closing, hiding its two passengers behind a chromed wall of steel until not even a seam was visible anymore. But from the inside the space around the small spacecraft was still visible.
Mizukis hands were flying over the console in front of her, running through a final check of the craft. A few lights became green and with a smile she hit the ‘power up’ button. The karaoke machine in the middle console activated, the two microphones lit up, one with blue and one with orange lining and a text appeared on the main viewscreen.
‘Loading music, please wait...’
“Get the mike, this will be fun” Mizuki said to inspector Zenigata as the grabbed her microphone. “Have you ever done some Karaoke singing?”
“What?”
Zenigata looked at the catgirl for a few moments, not sure if she just made a joke.
“Hey, its one of the quirks of the POD. Without the Karaoke singing, it will not go fast!” Mizuki said defensively. “It will play the song once, then again with the text on screen. Hey, its not that difficult.”
Zenigata rolled with his eyes, but he grabbed the microphone in front of him as the music started to play. “For the mission,” he murmured. “at least the music could have been much worse.”
Quickly the ‘Pinball Wizard’ song ended for a first time and the music started again.
Zenigata sighed shortly and tried to follow the flow of the music. He could hear that Mizuki was definitely more practiced in singing.
‘Your team-score: 153 Advice: ask the catgirl for lessons.’ was on the display as the music finally ended.
“Wow” Mizuki said excited, “I was never able to get it above 89 alone... maybe teams get better scores?”
With a light vibration the engines of the POD came to life and a wave of bright blue energy raced through the cockpit and outward to the hull of the vehicle.
“Ohh... thats much brighter than during my tests” Mizuki said with a grin, grabbing the control stick.
“Next station, Mars!” she cried and the POD raced out of the open airlock.
---
“So they both left for Mars this night” Arthur Nkomo asked and Cortanas avatar nodded.
“Yes, they two hours after you and Mr. Schmidt went back to your rooms. They will be entering the Mars orbit any minute and will land soon after.”
“Wait a moment” Arthur replied, “I remember Mizumi said something about eight hours to Mars, shouldn’t they still be hours away?”
Cortana chuckled.
“We are not sure, but the POD made a new speed record on the voyage to Mars, its running close to 19% lightspeed at the moment. Nobody expected this speed boost, so they have nearly finished their journey.”
Jürgen Schmidt gave Arthur a pat on the back.
“You see, it was a good idea to send the message to Mars yesterday” he said with a nod, “at least they got a warning about their visitors. So what is on OUR timetable for today?”
“We will hopefully get today a full analysis of the handwavium probe Zenigata found. And we have to look over all the pieces if we missed another important puzzle” Arthur said. “Cortana, can you make sure that our car is refueled and ready for a trip back to the inner system? If we find a good trail, I want to get there as soon as possible.”
“Should only take a few hours” Cortana said and nodded, “a little bit more if you want us to get some goods from the Warsies before you leave.”
---
“So what are you looking for Inspector Ichikawa Zenigata?”
Zenigata smiled while he tried to remember what Arthur had told him about Natsuko Aki before he left Jenga.
“Thanks that you have time to spare for me Inspector Aki, I am on an important trail of evidence at the moment and need help and advice” he answered. “We are looking for a large truck, most likely built here on Mars.”
“A truck... built on Mars” Natsuko Aki repeated, “I hope you have some more evidence.”
“Yes, I have... I have the minimum dimensions of the vehicle and I also know it has been built by cheap steel coming from the belt. It has been waved on Mars, most likely on the surface because it was contaminated with Mars dust during the process.”
He gave Inspector Aki a small data pad with a number of size estimates.
“The catgirls on Jenga said that its already a pretty large vehicle but made from cheap materials, so I hope its a really large truck and not a custom built vehicle.”
He was aware that most of the evidence was still shaky.
“And we have this” he finally said and put a small box on the desk. “Its a waved part of the vehicle, so we hope the manufacturer recognizes it and we can verify the whole thing by comparing the Handwavium strain and material.”
Inspector Aki nodded slowly.
“Okay, that limits the number of manufacturers a little bit... but I will be honest, it still will be a pretty long list. But at least you got something to identify the craft when you find it.”
Zenigata shrugged.
“I have to try it, just sitting and waiting for the case to solve itself will not help. I also have a catgirl from Jenga with me that could handle the Handwavium measurements I think.”
“Good. I will work out a list of people you should ask here at Helium and close to the town.” Inspector Aki answered. “This will be the shortest list and maybe you get lucky. In the meantime I will try to get in contacts with a few friends on Mars, maybe we can pinpoint where your dust particles were coming from. I hope you are prepared to spend a lot of time visiting a lot of people.”
“Yes, I am” Zenigate just said. He had to find Mizuki to start their tour through Helium.
###############
The hatch of the POD was slowly closing, hiding its two passengers behind a chromed wall of steel until not even a seam was visible anymore. But from the inside the space around the small spacecraft was still visible.
Mizukis hands were flying over the console in front of her, running through a final check of the craft. A few lights became green and with a smile she hit the ‘power up’ button. The karaoke machine in the middle console activated, the two microphones lit up, one with blue and one with orange lining and a text appeared on the main viewscreen.
‘Loading music, please wait...’
“Get the mike, this will be fun” Mizuki said to inspector Zenigata as the grabbed her microphone. “Have you ever done some Karaoke singing?”
“What?”
Zenigata looked at the catgirl for a few moments, not sure if she just made a joke.
“Hey, its one of the quirks of the POD. Without the Karaoke singing, it will not go fast!” Mizuki said defensively. “It will play the song once, then again with the text on screen. Hey, its not that difficult.”
Zenigata rolled with his eyes, but he grabbed the microphone in front of him as the music started to play. “For the mission,” he murmured. “at least the music could have been much worse.”
Quickly the ‘Pinball Wizard’ song ended for a first time and the music started again.
Zenigata sighed shortly and tried to follow the flow of the music. He could hear that Mizuki was definitely more practiced in singing.
‘Your team-score: 153 Advice: ask the catgirl for lessons.’ was on the display as the music finally ended.
“Wow” Mizuki said excited, “I was never able to get it above 89 alone... maybe teams get better scores?”
With a light vibration the engines of the POD came to life and a wave of bright blue energy raced through the cockpit and outward to the hull of the vehicle.
“Ohh... thats much brighter than during my tests” Mizuki said with a grin, grabbing the control stick.
“Next station, Mars!” she cried and the POD raced out of the open airlock.
---
“So they both left for Mars this night” Arthur Nkomo asked and Cortanas avatar nodded.
“Yes, they two hours after you and Mr. Schmidt went back to your rooms. They will be entering the Mars orbit any minute and will land soon after.”
“Wait a moment” Arthur replied, “I remember Mizumi said something about eight hours to Mars, shouldn’t they still be hours away?”
Cortana chuckled.
“We are not sure, but the POD made a new speed record on the voyage to Mars, its running close to 19% lightspeed at the moment. Nobody expected this speed boost, so they have nearly finished their journey.”
Jürgen Schmidt gave Arthur a pat on the back.
“You see, it was a good idea to send the message to Mars yesterday” he said with a nod, “at least they got a warning about their visitors. So what is on OUR timetable for today?”
“We will hopefully get today a full analysis of the handwavium probe Zenigata found. And we have to look over all the pieces if we missed another important puzzle” Arthur said. “Cortana, can you make sure that our car is refueled and ready for a trip back to the inner system? If we find a good trail, I want to get there as soon as possible.”
“Should only take a few hours” Cortana said and nodded, “a little bit more if you want us to get some goods from the Warsies before you leave.”
---
“So what are you looking for Inspector Ichikawa Zenigata?”
Zenigata smiled while he tried to remember what Arthur had told him about Natsuko Aki before he left Jenga.
“Thanks that you have time to spare for me Inspector Aki, I am on an important trail of evidence at the moment and need help and advice” he answered. “We are looking for a large truck, most likely built here on Mars.”
“A truck... built on Mars” Natsuko Aki repeated, “I hope you have some more evidence.”
“Yes, I have... I have the minimum dimensions of the vehicle and I also know it has been built by cheap steel coming from the belt. It has been waved on Mars, most likely on the surface because it was contaminated with Mars dust during the process.”
He gave Inspector Aki a small data pad with a number of size estimates.
“The catgirls on Jenga said that its already a pretty large vehicle but made from cheap materials, so I hope its a really large truck and not a custom built vehicle.”
He was aware that most of the evidence was still shaky.
“And we have this” he finally said and put a small box on the desk. “Its a waved part of the vehicle, so we hope the manufacturer recognizes it and we can verify the whole thing by comparing the Handwavium strain and material.”
Inspector Aki nodded slowly.
“Okay, that limits the number of manufacturers a little bit... but I will be honest, it still will be a pretty long list. But at least you got something to identify the craft when you find it.”
Zenigata shrugged.
“I have to try it, just sitting and waiting for the case to solve itself will not help. I also have a catgirl from Jenga with me that could handle the Handwavium measurements I think.”
“Good. I will work out a list of people you should ask here at Helium and close to the town.” Inspector Aki answered. “This will be the shortest list and maybe you get lucky. In the meantime I will try to get in contacts with a few friends on Mars, maybe we can pinpoint where your dust particles were coming from. I hope you are prepared to spend a lot of time visiting a lot of people.”
“Yes, I am” Zenigate just said. He had to find Mizuki to start their tour through Helium.