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Post by Absinthe on Dec 8, 2018 9:35:47 GMT
[ Claudius | Water Tank | Restricted Zone | Augustus Station ] attn: syrano The original computer core of what was being called the Arcturian Station was so tightly sealed that accessing it directly proved impossible for every party that had tried in the years that the station had been abandoned. It was sealed so tightly that no moisture or air from the station and seeped into the chamber in nearly that entire time. Thus the core maintained it's usual high level of efficiency, even if the computers of both the Starfleet and Octavian had been unable to interface with it. The lack of interface had been the result of Claudius himself wishing not to interact with them, at least not yet, not in a way he could not fully control. Instead, he had observed. He had watched the cosmos for a long time and a few years of watching some primitive bipeds wander around his station made little difference to him. When he chose to speak to specific individuals directly he would activate one of his monitors or system observation nodules and speak directly. No need to interface with less powerful machines than he. On that day, after a rather disappointing conversation with Parma, Hanja, or chief, of the Lienati. There were matters that concerned Parma that when looked into distressed Claudius just as much. Parma had wished to make contact with the those above, the colorful name for the Starfleet officers chosen by the Lienati, in an attempt to get them to return the light they felt was taken. As he had done for nearly 3 full years Claudius had advised against even making contact. The time would come for that, and far sooner than the Lienati would be ready for it. Indeed the most reasonable voice Claudius spoke with was often one of the newer life forms he had made his presence known too. He disliked being called upon to do anything, so he made his presence known to only a few, and only those who would know not to bother him with the trivial. With a soft click, he activated the sensor node in the water storage tank area and did a sweep of the area. He had limited usable monitors so he wanted to pick the best one to appear on. Unfortunately, he had none underwater, and if he did they would have been covered with algae. So he activated the underwater sonar dish and used it to speak through, he had long since adapted it's programming to act as both a sonar dish and an underwater speaker. " Oy! Syrano, ya' daft fish!" He called out into the murky waters. Long had he learned to not use titles, nor to show any respect at all really, it saved time to simply be rude and make others deal with it. The fact his accent came across so clearly under the water was no small feat of both programming and engineering. " Get your butt above the water so Ay can see ya! Ya, look like a cheap prom dress under t' water, all frilly and floaty. 'Ave ya' been messing with me power conduits? Ay told ya' not t' touch anything that looked like it went anywhere impo'tant." |
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Post by syrano on Dec 9, 2018 18:37:22 GMT
[ Oto Syrano | Water Tank | Restricted Zone | Augustus Station ] attn: Absinthe
The water tank was a hot, humid environment, bristling with lush leaves bigger than small children and vines that climbed every support and wall exposed to air. The water was green and not very translucent, with a layer of bright green algae coating the surface of the stilled waters. If one looked, there was something in there. A great shadow, or maybe flash of light. The tank was a cylinder. It had not been touched up by anyone, save for some structural integrity measures. It’s walls were no longer so pure, with moss growing in spots where the wall had given in and paint missing from some walls, filled in with such vibrant organic inks. The walkway around the tank was just as lush, the moss providing a luxuriously soft natural carpet. To one side of the walkway was his assortment of machines, used for making his Carwyl. Removed for some cleaning and adjustments before his next batch, they were silent and still. The vines of the wild flora that grew here were methodically woven together in an intricate pattern, covering the side of the cylinder facing the station. Baskets woven from the same vines stuck out from the vine-wall, with flowers and mementos of his just inside and willowing flowers dangling from them, meeting the surface of the water and just floating. The water was hard to see through, but below, there was a creature. Syrano had been enjoying his peace to the best of his ability, considering he was not conscious when Claudius rang. He was floating at an awkward angle, the side of his leg up against the tank wall and his head angled down towards the sandy, mucky bottom, his limbs splayed about and a newly-emptied Carwyl bottle cradled in one arm, slowly slipping away as he floated. He was still too drunk for his skirts to maintain his position for him, so he had drifted, and his skirts were everywhere. They were still moving, indicating he was still alive, but in a disorganized, lazy manner. Indeed, he did look like someone’s wedding dress thrown into the water. When he heard the annoying, booming sound of Claudius, his first set of eyes squinted, his second set opened just enough to glance around the tank. His head was ringing and he himself felt like he was spinning. He just wanted to go back to sleep. He rubbed his face with both his hands, the bottle now floating away on it’s own without him. “Claudius.” He groaned, “I did mess with your conduits. I turned your volume down, you nuisance.” He spoke, his voice sounding clear and beautiful under the water, even though he wasn’t well. He felt a wave of stomach pains. He would be sick if he didn’t right himself, but he was no longer able to do so with his skirts for the time being. He swung his legs under him, frail and twisted things that rarely, if ever, were used for swimming, and he began to swim upwards. He broke water, his face and head and cerata covered in nutrient rich algae. This would be breakfast, as he swum towards the mossy walkway and threw his arms on it. His skirts moved to cover his legs from view, he rested his head on the mossy walkway. It was soft and cool and made him feel less sick. “I assume,” He spoke, his voice more warbly and confusing in the air than in water, “that you’re here for a good reason, and not simply to antagonize me? I'll remove your sound entirely if you're here on silly business. I don't do silly business.” |
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Post by Absinthe on Dec 10, 2018 8:40:05 GMT
[ Claudius | Water Tank | Restricted Zone | Augustus Station ] attn: syrano The bearded face on the screen bristled indignantly at that. He did not bother people with, so-called, silly business. If he was bothering someone it was for one of two reasons, either he was bored and stirring up trouble or there was work that needed doing. This was far more the latter than the former. But he needed information from the creature who had taken up residence in one of his water tanks, information that was more vital than some petty argument about volume control. " If ya been messing with m' po'er conduits, then tell me which ones ya been messing wit' sa Ay can set 'em ta right 'fore ya die," he said doing his best to control his temper, the last thing he needed was to blow any circuits and need them replaced. He only had so many in his stores and some of those stores were currently underwater, so they would need to be dried out and repaired before they could be made usable. He couldn't risk damage. " 'Less ya want t' die an' t' kill all the ot'er folks livin' 'ere." It was an empty threat, of course, Claudius knew he would likely track down the problem in the power system before too much longer. And it wasn't draining enough power yet to be a problem, just enough that he could sense it. He could also sense almost everything on the station, save for a few blind spots. From the small Starfleet encampment in the upper biome, to the large predators in the 4th biome skulking around in the darkness, to the Lienati tribe going about their lives in the 2nd biome, and Lienati hunters and gatherers plying their skills in the 3rd biome. His sensors picked it all up and relayed it into his massive supercomputer of a brain. He knew his station. He knew it well. |
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Post by syrano on Dec 12, 2018 6:19:05 GMT
[ Oto Syrano | Water Tank | Restricted Zone | Augustus Station ] attn: Absinthe
It was hard to hold onto the mossy edge. His body was already weak, it felt weaker when he was inebriated. He slipped a little, bobbing in the water and pulling himself back up again. His eyes fluttered under his lids. He should’ve muted Claudius. “You’ll find it soon enough, I’m sure.” He waved a hand halfheartedly, knowing the extent of Claudius’s reach and how futile his attempt to turn the volume down really was. It was more a prank than a real threat, in the true scope of things. His stomach hurt, and in the sudden wave of pain, he curled up some. “You really do make me wish I was capable of vomiting.”He wished he had more Carwyl to wash down the pain with. “Why don’t you state your business before I die, hm? Not like these old fins have much longer to swim, after all.” He placed a hand right where cerata met slimy skin and rubbed. His head throbbed. “Spit it out, boy, or I’ll fall back asleep and you’ll have no one to take out your childish boredom on.” |
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Post by Absinthe on Dec 13, 2018 8:22:17 GMT
[ Claudius | Water Tank | Restricted Zone | Augustus Station ] attn: syrano If there was anything that annoyed Claudius more than not being taken as seriously as he felt he should be, he could not think of it. He was not inclined to deal with people not respecting him and had not done so at all before the arrival of a certain pain in his processors. " 'Ow many times do Ay 'ave t' tell ya not t' mess wit' anything ya don't understand," Claudius replied angrily. "An' if ya need me t' be loudah, Ay can do that!" He said the last bit a fair bit louder. He wasn't certain if it was Syrano's meddling that was causing the problem, but at the very least he had a place to start looking. He activated his drones to go examine the conduits that controlled the speakers in the water tank. In the meantime, he wanted to bother Syrano, just as some petty revenge. "Or maybe ya could tone down yer drinkin' an' maybe yer head won't feel like some idgit keeps chuckin' bricks at ya." |
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Post by syrano on Dec 16, 2018 4:12:06 GMT
[ Oto Syrano | Water Tank | Restricted Zone | Augustus Station ] attn: Absinthe
Claudius had ways to repair himself. Syrano thought he’d seen one of these ways once, creeping by in the shadows. He wasn’t sure if they were beast or being, but there were things that moved on their own to repair the station for him. Syrano took Claudius seriously—but not so seriously that he doubted he could fix himself if the former noble made a few ‘adjustments’.
He regretted not muting the station AI entirely. As he shouted, Syrano groaned and allowed himself to slip under the water entirely, muffling the sound if only a bit.
“Silence yourself, or whisper at least.” He mumbled. He surfaced once more, but used his hands to shift himself down the circular walkway until he found his walking stick, a wooden stick with a hook on the end. He then shuffled towards the vine wall, some of the baskets holding unopened bottles of Carwyl. He was intent on drinking the pain away, again.
“I thought you liked me better when I was drunk. Much quieter, easier to impress. I laugh more at your 'jokes'.” He grouched. It took him quite a long time to get there, compared to his usual grace and speed in the water. He lifted his walking stick up to try and hook another bottle, quite a task with his head pounding as it was.
“If you came to bother me, then leave, but if you have something important to say, say it now before I start this next bottle.” He said, as he struggled to hook his next bottle. Eventually, he settled for just knocking it into the water and retrieving it himself, the walking stick left laying on the walkway. As he let go of the wall and swam towards the free floating bottle, he sank under the waters again, his skirts completely unable to guide him. It was a clumsy, sad mess, watching him go after the bottle, but eventually he had it in his arms, his head floating just under the water, as he untwisted the cap and drank from the sippy cup like opening.
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Post by Absinthe on Dec 16, 2018 12:50:02 GMT
[ Claudius | Water Tank | Restricted Zone | Augustus Station ] attn: syrano " Ay told ya, ya fucked wit' somethin' ya shouldn't ah, an' now ya gon' die," Claudius said not lowering the volume of his voice much at all. To him, whispering was not really a thing. He could imitate the sound of a whisper, but then leave the volume of the speakers the same and all he would have done is change the modulation of his voice, not the volume. it made little difference to him how he spoke and if Syrano was messing with the power conduits in some hair-brained scheme to lower his volume, he was in for a nasty shock, none of the computer control was done in the conduits, just direct power transfer. And quite a lot of power was leaving the system. He had already started his backup generator just to compensate for it and was considering reactivating one of the stations deactivated and sealed ion reactor cores. The station had been in low power mode for so long he hadn't bothered using more than one. He'd rotate them out every 5 or so years, just to keep them working, but there was no need for more than one. Nothing on the station demanded that much power. Nothing had in ages past. " Now, tell me what part of my conduit system ya fucked wit' or Ay'll connect yer tank with the filter system and make 'er back to drinking water storage," he said in an almost casual threat. He'd threatened to do it many times, he'd never done it because it would take too much work to clear out the lines and there were other water storage tanks and the water recycling system was independent of the tanks. |
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Post by syrano on Dec 19, 2018 5:32:28 GMT
[ Oto Syrano | Water Tank | Restricted Zone | Augustus Station ] attn: Absinthe
Syrano only managed to down a mouthful before Claudius was talking, really shouting again. His head throbbed and his vision swam about in a manner unfitting of an aquatic being such as himself.
“Claudius,” He moaned in pain, “You’re yapping again. Fine, you win--It’s right there,” He finally gave in and pointed to the conduits he messed with, the moss covering the panel recently disturbed. Having no knowledge of land-based technology, he had messed with a conduit that formerly controlled the water purification system. As it was a system long ago turned off, Syrano’s meddling was futile, comically so. Had it been working, he’d have disrupted power flow to the water filter. There was no power flow to disturb anymore. The only reason the Pallucia thought it was useful was because the panel to this conduit happened to be right under one of the AI’s speakers.
Strange how Syrano didn't cause this cascading power failure. This time, anyways.
The engineering-challenged fishman float haphazardly in the water, tilting sideways as he rubbed his facial features. “Now let me be, you pestilence.” |
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Post by Absinthe on Dec 19, 2018 11:09:51 GMT
[ Claudius | Water Tank | Restricted Zone | Augustus Station ] attn: syrano That wasn't good. That wasn't good at all. Claudius fell silent as he began to run a complete scan of the power matrix of the station, looking for the source of the power drain. it would not be much longer before things got worse, especially if the drain continued to increase. Soon he would need to consider shutting down systems in order to maintain the life support of the station. Oxygen and heat would not be a problem for some time, given the numerous plants that took up much of the biomes, as well as the heat of the ion reaction core itself. He could channel the excess heat around the station. He could keep the station functioning well enough, but it would get dark, and with the dark would come the cold. And eventually, he would not be able to keep it warm enough for the plants to create oxygen for the animals on the station. He needed to figure out what was causing the power drain, where all the energy was going. But this much power could only be used for one thing on the station... " Ya know, Ay think Ay've bugged ya enough fer t'day," Claudius said suddenly, his expression one of sudden concern. And with and audible click his monitor went black. |
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Post by syrano on Dec 20, 2018 18:33:09 GMT
[ Oto Syrano | Water Tank | Restricted Zone | Augustus Station ]
For a moment, Syrano erroneously thought he had finally muted the nuisance. There was silence, and then Claudius said he’d had enough. He said that in a certain tone, with a certain cadence...that it bothered Syrano. It bothered him enough to take another drink and to surface once more, bottle cradled in his arm and caked with algae. He was not the engineering type. He wasn’t even the type to fly his own shuttle. He knew nothing about the station except through Claudius. All he knew was that something was wrong now.
Maybe it was time to sober up, he decided.
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