Explain to the Doctor how to cool off the Core
An idea strikes you. Reactions. You need to make the energy react.
You are pretty sure this will work. Better tell the doctor.
You enter the ship, finding Feringus working at the controls panel. A new mechanism you didn’t see before is hanging down, a small bit of energy floating in it. The white energy is flickering along the insides of the walls in massive amounts, incredibly unstable and entirely uncontained.
“So you’ve decided to go back, then,” she says as you enter, not turning around from the console. “That’s understandable. Wait here and the ship will leave shortly.”
stay on the planet regardless.
You tell her that you’re planning on staying no matter what happens – but even better than that, you have an idea. You take out the music box and tell her that if it could cause storms when played on the surface, it could probably react even more intensely when played in here, maybe even enough to reverse the planet’s meltdown.
Claire marvels at the small music box as you hold it out. “…Amazing. The same trinket that lead us to discover the planet’s cooling mysteries helps solve them as well. Yes. Yes, I think that would work. Hold on, I’m ready to vent the energy.”
There is a
woooosh as the energy seems to seep into the walls and disappear. The interior darkens again.
You ask whether the ship has speakers that you could use to amplify the music box’s sound.
“No— …well. Once. We took them out when we set up the piano. Didn’t think we’d need them again. But no matter. I think the vibrations will be close enough to cause a react more than strong enough to lower the temperature acceptably. Perhaps more than enou…”
The last of what she says is just outside your hearing range as you rush down the ramp and back outside. You don’t know how much time you have left. Energy has begun to flood back out from the ship. You’ve got to do this now before anything else can go wrong.
play the music box.
You put your hand on the music box’s wind-up handle. All right. This thing better do what it’s supposed to for once. You prepare to turn it.
“Robot, stop. Completely. Do not move. Do not play the music box. Do not respond to me. Those are all orders.”
You feel yourself freeze up as the overriding functions following an order close off your will.
Feringus has caught up with you. You can only partially see her, unable to turn your head.
“The ship will be leaving shortly. I understand that you want to stay here. I warn you now that the reactions we will encounter shortly… will be rather strong. I cannot predict exactly how so. But I suspect the planet will become exceptionally volatile, and dangerous. Things may be hard for you.”
She takes the music box delicately from your unresisting hands.
“I don’t mean to interrupt your task. I mean to take it for myself. I have a terrible weight hanging over me. It must be relieved. I owe it to the cr— …the oculoids. This is my burden. I will not allow you to involve yourself further.
The ship’s door seals behind you, cutting through the still-extended ramp. It begins to float away, you with it.
“I used to hear these cries, robot. For maybe a year now. Screaming out in my nights. Sleeping was… all but impossible. I believed that Les was cursing me for abandoning him, that maybe if I had gone back I might have been able to find him before his injuries took him... that if I hadn’t been so
damned insistent on finding the energy source then maybe this entire nightmare could have been avoided.
“I no longer believe those cries to have been Les’ now. Robot, I used to… I have… I have these dreams where…” She trails off.
“No. No more nightmares. Let us leave those behind.”
The energy has now fully vented from the ship, which crackles black ever more.
“I will give you one final order, robot. And this one you will obey immediately and to the letter.”
She holds up the music box with a great air of finality.
“
Run, robot.”
The next update will be the finale. Not sure how long that’s going to take to draw. Could be a fair bit. Entertain yourselves in the meantime with lofty discussion?
There’ll be an epilogue after that, so there’s still two more updates technically. But we’re almost done.
(at which point I will take a long long nap to make up for the many 4-hour art binges I get into well after midnight just for one update)
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Topic: [ISG] Adventure Guy! - Epilogue (Read 518974 times)