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Post by Phobia/Pierce Fobster on Apr 13, 2010 11:43:35 GMT -5
Phobia had managed to successfully wedge himself into a decent corner when the omelet made itself known again. It wasn't exactly the first time he's had his mind invaded by another presence, but being familiar with the sensation didn't make it any less discomforting. The alien was also a lot more connected to him, and when he pulled up his mental walls to ensure that nothing important would slip by, he could distinctly feel its confusion.
"Not," he murmured, "a place that you want to see." At least the thing had enough tact not to push the issue, moving onto the more immediate issue on hand.
"No," Phobia mutters to the alien, "because he's huge and I suspect he really doesn't like me."
He buried his face in his hands for a moment before sighing, "fine." The door slid open and Phobia peered warily around the edge of the frame, making sure only half his helm was in veiw.
"... Your electrician says he can take the blue fellow so that I can, uhm, go?"
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Post by Mayday/Maddox Wayne on Apr 15, 2010 11:35:26 GMT -5
Leak. Nanite leak. Replicating out of control. Mayday hates nanobots. Of any type. Oh, they're all well and good when they're behaving, but they never stay that way, do they? Noooo, it's always replicating out of control, escaping their containers, not doing what they're supposed to. And then next thing you know they're invading your circuitry and devouring your processors or forming massive blobs and consuming everything in their paths or-!
He suddenly realizes that his knees are practically clattering together and he's been making strange whimpering noises. Whoops. He just... reeeeally hates nanobots. But he still has a job to do! And that job unfortunately - very, very unfortunately - involves dealing with escaped nanites. "Hnnngh... Uh, do you, uh, do you... have something. For c-cleaning that up?"
Busy staring in horror at the nanite goo, he almost doesn't notice Phobia poking his head back in, but... Electrician? Blue fellow? Taking? Wait, like with Breakaway and the engineering omelet? And blue fellow means him?! On top of the nanites, this isn't really helping. Mayday literally flails. "No! No. No. No no no no, absolutely not, no. No! Nooo. No-"
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Post by SceneMod on Apr 15, 2010 11:57:51 GMT -5
"Ib thoubt perbhabs heb got lost," Fred burbles. "Anb heb's not unsubervised. Theb electribtian's got him. Ob courbse, heb does look like heb has sombthing tob hide, but... youb all do."
Fred mostly just seems confused over the tension between the two. These are a people who routinely hide their insides from each other and then they expect them to be up front? It makes no sense!
At Mayday's question, Fred suddenly strikes out at a portion of the black, silvery blob with a hastily grown psuedopod, then retracts it. A portion of the black substance can now be seen inside him, slowly desolving.
"Ib can adjust the strength," Fred explains.
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Post by Breakaway on Apr 15, 2010 21:58:42 GMT -5
"I meant he was unsupervised before the electrician got him, unless he 'got him' immediately after he entered the ship." Breakaway sighs inwardly. These amoebas seem painfully naive, especially considering the planet they're on. He tells himself they must just have different cultural mores. They probably didn't come online on a planet where half your generation was trying to kill the other half.
The jet reaches out to put a hand on Mayday's shoulder, then realizes that would probably only freak him out more and pulls his hand back. "Mayday, it's gonna be alright. I won't let anyone hurt you. Or, um, get you dirty." He pauses and looks around at Phobia, seeing if the electrician shows any signs of launching itself, then over at Fred before turning back to Mayday. "Is this grey goo really dangerous? I mean, we're made of nanites, right?" Breakaway isn't familiar with the concept of a 'grey goo scenario.' Otherwise he might have phrased that differently.
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Post by Phobia/Pierce Fobster on Apr 17, 2010 7:53:24 GMT -5
"I was going to ask for directions to the Institute of Xenopsychological Studies, actually," Phobia says quietly, looking suitably miserable. "Didn't think I'd end up with an electrician in my head."
He felt the alien nudge at him to go out and get some work done then, figuring that Mayday wasn't going to cooperate. The bike-former makes a distant noise of discomfort but he quietly steps into the room, sticking warily to the walls as he moved.
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Post by Mayday/Maddox Wayne on Apr 18, 2010 20:20:30 GMT -5
Mayday looks up at Breakaway with wide, hopeful - and periodically twitching - optics as the jet-bot tries to reassure him. Would Breakaway really keep him safe from pain and filth? That was one of the nicest things anyone had ever offered to do for him. The effect of the offer is ruined by Breakaway's mention of being made of nanites and Mayday flinches slightly, but overall a complete mental breakdown has been averted.
Shaking his head to try and clear out the rest of his panic, he addresses Fred: "Wow, that's, uh, really useful." He's not being sarcastic. "Can you, um, could you clean up all... that-" He waves vaguely at the mess inside the pump. "- So I can try to find the leak? Er, please."
Wringing his hands with mild anxiety at having to work so closely with misbehaving nanites, Mayday gives Phobia a once-over while he waits. Shrugging, he says, "Doesn't look like trouble to me."
As far as Mayday is concerned, troublesome people come in the form of large, menacing, and possibly flight-capable. Really, Breakaway fits those descriptors better than Phobia.
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Post by SceneMod on Apr 19, 2010 8:54:05 GMT -5
The amoeba are pretty casual about invaders because they tend to just steal their bodies anyway. Well, okay, in the past they've learned that if they don't return the bodies when they're done they tend to get in trouble, so they just borrow them. But really, it's hard to be intimidated by a stranger when you're firm in the belief that any time you want, you can become that stranger.
Fred looks back and forth between Breakaway and Phobia, but he seems to accept Phobia's explanation. "I'mb nob sureb whereb that is, but Ib beliebe there's a directorby at theb planetsibe taxi dock," he burbles. See? The random invader just wanted some help!
Fred then slinks closer to the metallic goo and crouches down next to it. "Hmmb. I'mb nob sure. Thereb's an aweful lob." Still, he strikes out with quickly forming psuedopods, snatching up bits of black goo here and there. When he's done, it's not gone entirely, but at least it should be possible to work around what's next.
Fred slithers back and then makes a sound distinctly like a burp.
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Post by Breakaway on Apr 19, 2010 20:49:11 GMT -5
Breakaway grumbles. He's not buying Phobia's explanation at all, but it's not his ship so he'll go along with it. Though if anyone is paying attention they'll notice that he just happens to be casually moving to be between Mayday and Phobia whenever possible, and keeps glancing oh-so-very-casually over at the disguised Decepticon.
"The toolkit there is supposed to contain an autopipette if we need to clean up any more of this stuff."
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Post by Phobia/Pierce Fobster on Apr 21, 2010 13:37:32 GMT -5
Honestly, he has little interest in getting near Mayday or Breakaway at this point. His day was already bad enough as it is; all he really wanted to do right now was get back to the Ship and find some dark, lifeless corner on it to defrag and forget about this entire event. Never again would ever go out exploring a new planet. Ever. Especially ones with giant omelets and amoebas on it.
"Oh, ah, thank you," Phobia says to Fred as the electrician drags him over to a set of panels to... do something that electricians did. Phobia's exposure to the field was limited, admittedly; wire A did something when correctly connected to a socket B in basic repairs. On Charr, it meant his hand worked again for a while. What it meant here was a little beyond the black bike's understanding.
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Post by Mayday/Maddox Wayne on Apr 23, 2010 12:07:42 GMT -5
Mayday is caught somewhere between honest gratitude towards Fred for cleaning the nanobots up and horrifying images of the amoeba slowly advancing on him, ready to slowly devour him alive. He shakes his head to clear it and offers a quick, "Thanks!"
"Hm? Autopipette? Oh! Yes! Wonderful!" Snatching up the tool, he searches the for the leak in the pipe, at the same time giving the rest of the pump's innards a look-over. "Nnh, leak should be easy enough to patch up, but I hope you have spare parts for this. Looks like the nanites might have been, uh, converting parts of your circuitry into building materials to, y'know, make more. Not sure if they're all salvageable."
Putting it that way seems less threatening than 'aaah, circuit-devouring nanobots, aaah!' You can be sure he'll be giving his systems a thorough purge of foreign particles when this is done. Regardless of whether or not these nanobots would actually feel inclined to disassemble Cybertronian materials.
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Post by SceneMod on Apr 23, 2010 13:23:18 GMT -5
Fred isn't that hungry, Mayday!
Besides, the equipment needs to be fixed first!
Fred burbles in dismay. "Web habe spare parts," he explains, then makes a strange, bubbling sigh, "but as Ib unblerstand, deabling withb theb nanibes whenb theyb escabe isb like herbing protozoa." He turns towards Breakaway. "Ab leasb, thab's whab youb saib last time."
He appears to be addressing Breakaway's 'rider.'
He is also implying that this is not their first nanite leak.
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Post by Breakaway on Apr 23, 2010 18:36:57 GMT -5
This is all a bit over Breakaway's head, so he falls back on what he knows. "Is there any way to just kill the escaped nanites? Hm, okay. So the mechanic doesn't know of any way to kill the escaped ones without also killing the ones that are still where they're supposed to be or further damaging the engine."
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Post by Phobia/Pierce Fobster on Apr 24, 2010 18:42:55 GMT -5
"There is a way to control them with applications of low electrical voltages, the same way they're controlled inside the tank- when it wasn't broken," Phobia intones hesitantly, "specific voltage, specific behavior. Make them docile and scoop them into a jar. Just, ah, need to get the tools for that."
Which he doesn't move to do because the toolbox is near a big, scary jet.
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Post by Mayday/Maddox Wayne on Apr 26, 2010 10:53:11 GMT -5
"I've... never herded protozoa." If sounds really icky.
Mayday looks at the somewhat cleaner mess that is the pump, glances at Phobia and 'friend', then back to the pump. "Well? What are you waiting for? I'd prefer not to have to touch any of these - ew, more are leaking out along that seam - these things than I have to. Even with an autopipette."
His left hand retreats into his wrist guard to replaced by a hooked nozzle. "I should be able to just weld that seam shut - preferably after it's cleared up - but that might just be treating the symptom, where the real problem might be with the containment system?" He looks to Phobia-plus-omelet for confirmation since he mentioned brokenness.
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Post by SceneMod on Apr 26, 2010 13:15:56 GMT -5
"Ib think theb worrby isb usualby theb shocks damaging circuits," Fred suggests, then peers at where the spill is. "Looks libe youb should be safe thereb, thoughb." He looks up at Phobia and Breakaway for confirmation. Once he gets it, one way or another, he announces, "Ib will go fetch theb payment," and starts to slither off, glistening clean trail behind him.
OOC: Not out of thread - he'll be returning next round.
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